From: Maria Benfield saucemaz@hotmail.com
Sent: 12 February 2018 16:05
Subject: Russia Season 1 Episode 2
Dear All,
It is -3 today and it feels like the Bahamas! Everything is relative...
My period of training last week was actually just a period of working and I even did overtime on Saturday attending an open day which was rather hellish as there was very little to go on and I had to just wing it with activities depending on who came in the room, at one point I had 15 students from kindergarten to adult with totally different abilities. It wasn't easy, BUT we got quite a few sign ups.
I have mentioned to a few of you that I feel a bit under qualified, a lot of my peers have PHD's in linguistics or studied languages as their major at uni.
I am aware that everyone seems to be able to speak loads of Russian and I have been panic swotting and probably know more Russian in a week than I did Vietnamese in 14 months!
Nothing like a bit of pressure...
It is very apparent after a week that the commutes are brutal. On average 4 hours a day are spent on trams or trains and it is not as if you can read a book. Often you are so packed in that you can't even get your hand out of your pocket. On a positive note you can literally fall asleep and you wouldn't fall over.
The only time the carriage dynamic changes is if there is a homeless person on board. Then everyone bolts down one end.
These poor souls are very evident as they sleep on the trains because they are warm and they smell absolutely dreadful. I actually sat alone in a carriage with one yesterday because I just couldn't find it in my heart to move away. This old, old lady must have been the loneliest person in the world. I squeezed some money into her blackened fingers as I got off the train but really there was no feelings of appeasement for the injustice. My act of charity felt hollow and almost offensive.
The train journeys are giving me a chance to practise the alphabet and combined with pre-prepared scraps of paper I am slowly working things out.
I am also able to observe the Russian people going about their usual day and in the main it doesn't take much to convert those cold, hard faces to a grin. Well, either they are being genuinely friendly or they are humouring the mad English woman with her bad Russian and stupid face!
Fur is a big thing here.
Carli, your mother was so right! Wall to wall sable.
Instead of jewellery the standard coming of age gift in Russia is a pelt of some kind.
Russia at this time of year has a 'Narnia pre-Aslan' thing about it. When I come out of the metro at Strogino there is a mad little stage, painted dolls and a carousel that make up a kind of mini winter wonderland thing.
Jenny, there is also a ticket office and Depeche Mode are playing at the end of the month!!
On Friday all the sights in Red Square were free due to some 146th year anniversary so I, by sheer luck of the gods managed to get free tickets for both St Basil's Cathedral and The Museum of the Patriot War of 1812. (quite a mouthful that one...)
The first time walking into Red Square was nuts. The Kremlin is right there and the flag was flying so the main bloke was home. Fooking Hell!
The buildings that frame the square are straight out of Disney and none more so than St Basil's Cathedral. And of course the amount of history that has taken place here is a little overwhelming.
St B's is an overload of crazy paving and has been privy to uprisings, executions, concerts and festivals in equal measure.
So, Ivan the Terrible commissioned the Cathedral in 1552 to commemorate the capture of Kazan. Legend has it that he had the architects blinded in case they tried to design anything comparable.
Bum move Dummy. What about the extension?
Inside it is a bit like the Vatican, elaborate fresco and artefacts, gotta wonder who has to do the dusting...?
The twisty turning nooks were splendid though.
Then it was on to the museum.
The Russians have been involved in two wars of Patriotism. One was the second world war and the other was in 1812.
Basically the Russians said 'no thanks to the French'. As you do...
In 1807 Tsar Alexander negotiated the Treaty of Tilsit which gave Napoleon the west and Alex the east and importantly, both in opposition to England.
However, in 1810 the Russians did a few under the table deals with Blighty and Napoleon lost his shit!
The Grand Army he sent was 700 000 strong and they weren't mucking about.
A horrid battle ensued at Borodino and 100 000 soldiers lost their lives in ONE DAY! Serious. W.T.F???
The burnt out city of Moscow wasn't much of a win for Napoleon but the pompous arse ignored the fact that very few of his men actually survived the cold, disease and starvation.
How was that 'welcome home party' Buddy? Few sandwiches and a flat bottle of coke?
So just to close ( I know some of you are hanging in there but totally dying...)
What I really liked about the art work in the museum was the painting of the horses in the cathedral.
Isn't that absolutely a given...?
Loving and Missing.
Mozza, Maria, M, Marie, Mousey, Maz, Celery, Wembs, XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX