Flags, explosions and parties

Hello everyone! Its blog time again!

Since I last updated the blog, things have changed slightly. Due to various reasons, chiefly that I don’t have anywhere concrete to live for the rest of my time here in Russia, and also that there will not be any other staff around for 2 weeks in June, it has been decided that I will come home earlier than originally planned. It means that I will have a bit more time to spend in France this summer, and also that I don’t need to worry about finishing my year abroad essay before I leave Russia, as I won’t be heading to France straight away. The upshot of this is that actually I am coming home on the 5^th June – or, in two weeks! It was a bit of a surprise, but I think that it is the best situation, especially given the fact that no one else will be around in June.

So, things are all over the place – I am trying to pack my stuff, visit places for the last time, and see people before I go. I have made it into the Hermitage and the Russian Museum again, and we went to watch the bridges go up (at 1am – it was only just dark!) We were given a 30-day plan for what to do for our last 4 weeks here at the debrief conference– it turns out that I’m already about a week behind!

Housing-wise, I am sorted until I leave. I am currently staying in an amazing flat, on Nevsky Prospect, the main street in the centre of the city. It is rented by a German couple that go to our church, but they have gone away to Switzerland for 2 weeks, so they have let me stay with my friend Beck who is from Australia. The flat even has a dishwasher! Next week, I will be moving one last time (but with a quick visit to Moscow thrown in for good measure!) to the flat where a former staff member lives. I’m looking forward to spending some time with her too.

Work is going as normal, with a lot of advertising for the English Camp which will be part of the summer project that will arrive at the end of June – students from England coming to do a short term project. This involves for the most part standing outside one of the many universities here (yesterday it was the State University of Refrigeration and Food Technology), wearing a British Flag we painted on some card, and handing out flyers. I spent some time yesterday convincing someone that the flag that I was wearing was not the American one – somehow I don’t think she will make it to the camp!

Also yesterday, I went to the orphanage. We had good fun, although the kids were going wild as they finish the school year today. The staff told us about an explosion that had happened somewhere near St Petes, and that apparently it is better not to spend a lot of time outside, or to have the windows open. Apparently, the advice is to drink milk with iodine in it. The only news story I can find about it is that Iodine supplies are running out, due to an excessive demand as people are panic buying. However, people are on the streets still, and life seems to be normal, so I really don’t think we need to worry…

On Tuesday we had a final girls party for the year. We decided that as everyone was working hard for their exams, that it would be best to have an “exams de-stress” session – we made face masks, let people paint their nails, and eat healthy snacks like green tea and carrot sticks. It was really good fun, and although we had fewer people than at the other parties, the people who came seemed to really enjoy it. Jiyeun shared her testimony and how she copes with stress, which people related to very well.

Right, language homework time!

Lots of love

Sarah

xxx