Eggs - Soft, Letters - hand and soft, Memory challenges - hard

(Tuesday 28th September 2011, written same day)

Phew, that was a tough day. A good day, but a tough day. My head aches. It isn't over yet. Now that I've finished supper, I'm going to write up these notes as some light relief before settling down to learn some verbs (imperfective and perfective pairs).

The day started out well with a really nice breakfast. I don't know what this dish is called, but I liked it. I may try to produce something similar at home some time. Here is my attempt at describing it:

• Take some rounds of french bread,
• Remove some of the middle to leave a hole (but leave some of the bread as well),
• Fry the bread.
• When you're frying the second side, crack open small eggs (I think these were quails eggs) and drop one into each hole.
• When the the egg is just set, serve with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese on the top.

Delicious!

After breakfast, it was time for school. I thought I had the "wrong" teacher yesterday. It turns out the one I should have had, had a cold, like me. Only I think hers must have been worse than what I had. We continued where the previous teacher left off yesterday. The school manage hand-overs very well. Before the lesson proper, we had more of the conversation "what did you do at the weekend/yesterday evening?" I'm getting better. After that, we moved on to more of the "imperfective", "perfective" stuff. It interacts with past, present and future as well. You can't have "perfective" in the present, but surpringly, you can in the future. That means that it is easy to say:

• "I _finished_ reading 'War and Peace' yesterday.", or
• "I _will have finished_ reading 'War and Peace' tomorrow.", but saying:
• "I _have finished_ reading 'War and Peace' now." takes more words.

My homework challenge is to start learning loads of "imperfective-perfective" verb-pairs. That's what I'm starting shortly.

One bit of additional work I tried to give myself is a problem with pronounciation. There are two letter in the Russian alphabet (called respectively the "hard sign" and the "soft sign") which have no sound of their own, but with modify the sound of the letters around them. This is something I'm struggling to get right. It is hard for a non-native speaker to do, and hard for a native speaker to explain. The problem isn't really language, more "voice coaching". We'll see.

After lunch I did some homework exercises, and a little of the "learning". I also bought some souvenirs. Small icons. I think they're beautiful. I hope the intended recipients agree.

Then at 17:30 we had a presentation on the "Russian Character". Nothing really deep, but how not to offend people, or how not to be offended. All useful and interesting.

Then home. Supper was cooked by my Landlady's 17 year old son. It was good "Pelmeni", round ravioli stuffed with meat. Last night I had "Vereniki", pasty-shaped ravioli stuffed with potato and mushroom. Both are very good if you get the opportunity.

And so to verbs!

"Mamma's takin' us to the zoo tomorrow..." (today actually)

(Tuesday 27th September 2011, written same day)

Today's lesson was more of the "Imperfective", "Perfective" stuff. It's strange but I like it. My teacher told me that it is a feature peculiar to Slavic languages. She mentioned: Russian, Ukranian and Polish.

One of the exercises was reading a passage about a man who has a very boring routine and who watches James Bond films in the evening. I think my Russian is still halting and clumsy, but the teacher and I actually had a conversation about the films. There is something pleasantly strange about having a conversation with a Russian about James Bond movies! She says they are popular in Russia as well. She knows about Sean Connery and Roger Moore (and my mind went blank about the others).

I guess the fantasy of the films is one that lots of us enjoy. I managed to make her laugh twice. The first time by saying that "The girls want to meet Bond, and the boys want to be Bond" (which I happen to think is pretty true). The second time I made her laugh was by telling her that, in the books, James Bond isn't English! It's true. He has a Scottish father and a Swiss mother!

After lunch, we went on a trip to the zoo. My teacher came along with us. The journey there was by trolley-bus. Novosibirsk has a metro, trams, trolley-buses and various kinds of buses. The trolley-bus is a quick and effective way of getting around. The zoo itself was good. I'm not a great fan of zoos, but the animals in this one seemed to have sufficient space. Some of the cages were interesting geometric shapes.

One of the stranger things we saw was a stag who still had "velvet" on his antlers. There were rags of flesh and a little bit of blood. I'd never actually seen that before. My teacher was a little bit perturbed, but I was able to reassure her (in English) that this happened every year, and what was going on.

We also saw a red squirrel. I'm not sure if this is the same species we have in Britain. This one was a native to Siberia.

He was such an acrobat, and so quick that there was no possibility of me taking his picture.

Photos:

• Fountain at the entrance.
• Dinosaurs
• Eagle
• Aviary
• Liger explanation (in Russian!), Liger, more Liger
• Spotty Cat
• Polar Bear
• Dear Deer
• Black Wolf

(Blog Post updated to include pictures directly, rather than as links. 17th November 2015)

Now that's what I call secure!

(27th September 2011 - Not about any particular day)

The front door to our flat is impressive. Comparing notes (and keys) with the other students, the locks at least seem to be pretty typical. I don't know if Russians are particularly security conscious, or if there is a real, or perceived problem with burglary, but it seems most Russian flats have good locks on the front door.

You need three keys to enter my flat. To get into the building where I live you use a "button" key, which you touch to a socket on the intercom. I don't know how it works. I would be surprised it it was particularly secure, but it is only intended to protect the stairwell. This building front door looks like it was replaced fairly recently. There is an inner door which isn't locked. Once upon a time, I don't suppose the outer door was locked either.

The front door to my flat is pretty impressive. I think it would do justice to a small provincial bank! The door is made of steel and is fitted to a steel frame. I expect the frame is securely fastened to the building. The door opens outward and has hinge bolts. It is secured by a two stage lock. If you are "just popping out for a minute", then there is a night small key. Even this has more positions than the equivalent English lock. If you are really going out, then you use the larger key which operates a number of bolts, integral to the door, on the lock side (I think I counted 5) and the top. You then lock the lock with the small key! Hmm. I think that is secure. I believe some flats have an inner door whose purpose is to keep any draughts out. The space between the two doors is used for shoes and coats.

While we're in the hallway, the internet here has not been completely reliable. I'm not sure if this is the cause, but there is a junction box on the landing which has loads of wires hanging out of it. My untrained eye can identify; coaxial, "cat something-or-another twisted pair" and flat speaker cable, all associated with the same box. In this case I really do "know nothing". I'm leaving well alone!

(Blog Post updated to include pictures directly, rather than as links. 17th November 2015)

Washing, Cleaning, Brushing, Peeling

(Monday 26th September 2011 written same day)

I don't know when this is going to reach the blog. The internet at home isn't working at present. I've tried restarting the router, and I don't want to mess with anything more than that. The network diagnostics show that the router says it is connected to the internet, but every website I try to connect to times out. I will probably copy the text files of the blog entries onto a flashdrive and load them at the school. Pictures will have to wait.

Today started with mist. I wore an anorak for the walk to school. It was just a little chilly. I didn't think to look at what any of the buildings said the temperature was. I still feel a little groggy with the cold. The leaves are falling from the trees and everywhere you can see people sweeping them up and stuffing them into sacks and other containers.

The work at school today started with conversation. A review of what I did at the weekend. Unfortunately, the "cold" meant that wasn't as much as I had wanted, but there were still some things to talk about, like going to the shop and buying food. Apparently my choice of provisions counts as "healthy". I think there was rather too much dairy, but I think that just shows differences in attitude in different countries. I definitely think the Russian diet contains less meat than I am used to, and that is probably a good thing.

After the conversation, we moved on to the homework. My insight with the "cases" was pretty much correct. I am beginning to understand how to use the crib-sheet I've been given to work out what ending to use when a noun should be in a particular case. I'm making lots of mistakes but I've moved beyond randomly changing the ending of the word and hoping it is appropriate.

The new work today is more about variations on a theme of cleaning. I suppose when teaching a language it is easiest to have themes for different sections, and there are probably deeper objectives to choosing particular words which are not obvious to me, but sometimes it seems like the text-book authors have an obsession with something, in this case - cleaning. Today I had verbs for "washing" (the laundry), "washing" (vegetables, or the car) and finally "cleaning" (with a brush). This last one includes the sense of cleaning your shoes (with a brush), cleaning your teeth (also with a brush) but also (to my mind strangely), peeling or removing the skin from fruit or vegetables. Seems odd, but there you go.

More homework to do, most of which I did in the afternoon.

I had thought about taking a weekend trip to Tomsk. I think I've abandoned that idea. I like the idea of Tomsk, but the trip involves 3+ hours on a bus each way, it requires a night in a hotel and it will take up the whole weekend. It also works out a little expensive. I think I would rather save the money and save the effort. On the plus side, the school have suggested a trip on the river on Saturday. That is a nice alternative. If the weather is reasonable (and the forecast says it should be), then that will be something to look forward to.

I've tried running some diagnostics on the internet connection. Just tried "ping". As I thought, I've got a good connection to the router, but the router isn't talking to the internet, even though it says that is is. It seems highly unlikely that all the sites I've tried are equally broken.

It's 21:00 and my landlady has just arrived with the shopping. Goodness me she has a long day. And this is after the (looked like it was unplanned) trip to Tomsk which took up all of the weekend.

It's after 23:00 and supper was excellent! Sasiski (Frankfurter sausages) with rice, and sour cream and tovorak and the inevetable black tea plus... I've just drunk something and I'm not at all sure what it was. My landlady said it will be good for my cough. It consisted of milk which had been boiled with nuts in it. The "nuts" are about the size and shape of maize kernels but dark red-brown. I looked at the pot were it was prepared, and there's a cedar pine cone as well. The whole concoction tasted a little bitter. I'm feeling sleepy, but the internet's back, so I'm going to do the posting and then go to sleep.

Feeling Better, Cold Nose - Warm heart

(Sunday 25th September 2011, written same day)

I woke up at about 07:30 feeling much better. Not perfect, but much better. Shortly afterwards, I found that Boosa (the dog) knows how to open the door to my room. Sniff, sniff. Face being licked by dog. "Good morning Boosa!" The dog then left and a little while later, my landlady's son closed my door. I think the dog wanted to "be taken for a walk". We all went back to bed. By the time I got up an hour and a bit later, the son had gone out.

I made myself breakfast from the remains of supper. Then I settled down to working through the homework. After I had completed most of it, I went out for a walk and had lunch. This time I tried a burger place called "Carl's" I'm going to check whether it is Russian or from somewhere else. I messed up my order, and got an extra portion of fries. These are the things you have to expect.

On my return, I got on with the rest of the homework, a fairly large piece of translation. I managed ok, but it takes me ages as my vocabulary needs to be bigger.

Once I had finished with this I started looking at a "graded reader" I have borrowed from the school. Once again, it's a pretty substantial translation job.

My landlady's son came back and asked me if I wanted him to make supper. Naturally I said yes. It turned out to be very good: pelmyeni (sort-of ravioli stuffed with potato and mushroom). While he was preparing the meal I had a look at my notes. I think I may have developed a slightly clearer understanding of how to use one of the aids I've been given. I'm not going to bother with it now, but I'm going to look at something again tomorrow. If I'm right, one of the "rules" (to do with the "Accusative case") may have become a bit clearer.

I would like to find a way of remembering stuff more easilly ("pomnooyou"), but until that happens there is no alternative to repetition, and making up little rhymes and strange associations. I'm trying all sorts of tricks, but still struggling with recall. It it was easy everyone would be doing it!

Time to settle down for the evening.

Interra, "Cold" in Siberia and a little shopping

(Saturday 24th September 2011, written 25th September)

I woke up this morning, not with a hang-over, but knowing that I had a cold. I've suspected this for about a day, but it has caught up with me. I had planned to do a bit more exploring today, but I didn't feel much like it. I took some asprin, had a bit of a lie in and then went out for lunch.

I had a look at some of the Interra displays. It looked interesting, but my heart wasn't in it. I came home and went to bed. I dozed for most of the afternoon.

I woke up feeling much better and decided to go to a local supermarket and buy "the makings" of supper and breakfast. It all went to plan. I had one unsettling moment when I wondered if they had sold out of bread, but then I found what I was look for. Supper was cream cheese (Tovarok), black bread and tinned spratts with black tea, followed by one bottle of beer. It may sound a bit strange, but it's very similar to what I've been served for supper once while I've been here, and I've already been served spratts for breakfast. After all, sardines on toast used to be a popular "tea" dish.

I didn't do any homework. My head isn't in the right state for that. It feels kind of muzzy.

Off to bed early.

Half-way point. Testing times and a departure

(Friday 23rd September 2011 written Sunday 25th September)

The homework last night was in two parts. I struggled with it a bit. I'm still trying to understand the "cases" situation. I feel I'm making progress but there is so much to remember. So often the thing I want to remember seems to be "just out of touch". It's frustrating but I suppose the answer is to keep on trying. Things do stick, and then there is one less thing to struggle with, so I can give more attention to something else.

Then I had a test. It was a comprehension piece about a Russian celebrity. Naturally I hadn't heard of her and the only bits which I remember now are that she is a singer and she has red hair. I don't know how well I did yet. I found it a struggle, but I think it was intended to be a challenge.

There have been three students at the school: Charles, a French skiing instructor who lives in Switzerland, Jardina, a Spanish IT manager from Barcelona, and me. Today was Jardina's last day. She leaves for Spain at 07:00 tomorrow and has an early taxi booked. The school gave use a small "tea" (buns and biscuits and tea). The school awarded Jardina with her certificate, giving the level she has achieved. Actually, they gave her two certificates, one in English and one in Russian. I'm pleased about that. I don't expect to achieve the same level as Jardina (she has been doing this for years), but it would be good to have some semi-official recognition of accomplishment. I keep on thinking of the Scarecrow and his diploma from "The Wizard of Oz".

After the tea, and sending a few eMails, Charles, Jardina and I went to the pub. The one we chose was "St Patrick's Corner". It's an Irish pub. Novosibirsk has several. It's quite a reasonable place (but it is not on a corner!). It's strange how close you can feel to people after only two weeks. The three of us have really only shared lunches and trips, but we feel we have shared the experience of being here in Novosibirsk. I hope Jardina had a good trip home.

One very funny thing happened. For the past two weeks, naturally, one of the topics of conversation between the three of us had been "language". The other two had asked me about the Irish Language. I had confessed to knowing very little and said that it was quite different to English and that they would probably find the spelling a challenge. I did say that one of the things I had been warned about was the labels on toilet doors: in Irish M (for "Mna" means Lady) and F (for "Fir" means Man). I didn't think about it any more. During the evening, Charles went to the toilet and said with a laugh that he had remembered what I had said and gone through the right door! The toilets in "St Patrick's Corner" are labeled in Irish! Russian toilets are usually labeled M for "Man" and a different cyrillic character for "Woman". You can probably see where this is leading. We wondered how the Russians would cope with this. The answer is, it confused them. It would probably confuse most English speakers as well. During the evening, we (the three of us, two men and a woman) encountered a number of confused Russians: men exiting from the Ladies', and a Woman coming into the Men's. So, the international pictorial lavatory signs do serve a useful purpose.

When I got home, I met my landlady, who announced that she had to make an unexpected business trip to Tomsk, and that she was leaving NOW! That was alright. I know now that I coped!

Have you finished reading?

(Thursday 22nd September 2011, written same day)

There are no pictures today, and I'm afraid the weather feels like it is changing.

To my surprise, I did pretty well with yesterday's homework. I was all about the differences between "Seeing, Watching, Hearing and Listening", with a bit of the present and the past thrown in. It's reasonably reassuring. I'm making progress. I can ready stuff (from the text book) reasonably well now. I still feel awkward when speaking and naturally listening can be a bit of a challenge. If it's a recording, often I can work things out after a couple of hearings, but of course the real world doesn't work like that.

Today's lessons were a review of what happens to a word when it is the "object" of the sentence. The rules are complicated: it all depends on whether it is singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter and whether it is animate or inanimate. Some really strange things happen, not the least of which is that a corpse is animate! How I hate grammar! Then I listened to a recording of some drippy teenage go on about her crush on a rock-star. At least, thank goodness, the rock-star and the band are fictitious. At least, I hope they are.

Then came something, which although awkward, does make a kind of sense. If said "I read 'War and Peace' last night", could you be sure what I meant? If I said "I stopped reading 'War and Peace' last night", would you know if I had finished the book? Russian has a simple way round this ambiguity. The language technicians call it "Perfective" and "Imperfective". It's a pain, but useful.

After lunch I did some of did some of my homework, and then it was off to "The museum of the USSR". This was housed in what would have been a shared flat. It was very interesting and for me emphasised how things have changed. I bought my first souvenirs. Anybody want a fridge magnet of Lenin? I resisted the temptation to buy Stalin!

After that it was back to the school to watch a Soviet comedy titled "The diamond arm". It was about diamond smugglers, and actually really funny. I can smell dinner cooking, then I have to finish my homework.

Since writing this, I've learned that at the time the film was produced (in Soviet times), it was actually legal for Russians to import diamonds and gold INTO Russia (though I doubt they would have had the money). This adds a further layer of irony to the film.

Have you finished reading?

(Thursday 22nd September 2011, written same day)

There are no pictures today, and I'm afraid the weather feels like it is changing.

For some reason, I found Monday depressing. Things have been improving since then. To my surprise, I did pretty well with yesterday's homework. I was all about the differences between "Seeing, Watching, Hearing and Listening", with a bit of the present and the past thrown in. It's reasonably reassuring. I'm making progress.

I can read stuff (from the text book) reasonably well now. I still feel awkward when speaking and naturally listening can be a bit of a challenge. If it's a recording, often I can work things out after a couple of hearings, but of course the real world doesn't work like that.

Today's lessons were a review of what happens to a word when it is the "object" of the sentence. The rules are complicated: it all depends on whether it is singular or plural, masculine, feminine or neuter and whether it is animate or inanimate. Some really strange things happen, not the least of which is that a corpse is animate! How I hate grammar! Then I listened to a recording of some drippy teenage go on about her crush on a rock-star. At least, thank goodness, the rock-star and the band are fictitious. At least, I hope they are.

Then came something, which although awkward, does make a kind of sense. If said "I read 'War and Peace' last night", could you be sure what I meant? If I said "I stopped reading 'War and Peace' last night", would you know if I had finished? Russian has a simple way round this ambiguity. The language technicians call it "Perfective" and "Imperfective". It's a pain, but useful.

After lunch I did some of did some of my homework, and then it was off to "The museum of the USSR". This was housed in what would have been a shared flat. It was very interesting and for me emphasised how things have changed. I bought my first souvenirs. Anybody want a fridge magnet of Lenin? I resisted the temptation to buy Stalin!

After that it was back to the school to watch a Soviet comedy titled "The diamond arm". It was about diamond smugglers, and actually really funny. My understanding was helped by it having English subtitles!

I can smell dinner cooking, then I have to finish my homework.

Museums and Pride

(Monday 19th September 2011, written same night)

Something I forgot. On the way to school today, I paused to read the sign a the entrance to a small museum. The was a mongolian looking man outside who invited me inside. I apologised and said that I was on my way to school and that I didn't have time but that I would come back.

On the way home I saw him again. On the spur of the moment I greeted him and asked if the museum was still open. He said it was, I asked how much and he said it was free. I went inside and was glad that I did. It is a small place. Probably a municipal museum, or a citizens club with some funding. It covers the history of the "Central Rayon" (The "Central" Borough of Novosibirsk). There are only three exhibition rooms. There seem to be three staff; the gentleman, a lady and someone I didn't really see in an office. The lady was very helpful. She gave me a tour and explained the exhibits. There were:

• "Heroes of the Soviet Union" who came from the area
• History during the Second World War (Great Patriotic War). Novosibirsk was not the front, but was used for treating casualties. Children from Leningrad were evacuated there.
• Soldiers who had served in Afganistan (recent conflict)
• A WW2 fighter pilot who had shot down 100+ planes
• Artefacts from peoples homes

All sorts of stuff from before the Revolution, up to much more recent. It was all about people. The curators were obviously genuinely proud of it (and were entitled to be). The took the time to explain it to a foreigner. I did't understand everthing, but I understood some. I signed the visitors book. I'm going to take my colleagues along (I did, today 21st Sept).

Almost next door, I popped into what I suppose could be described as an antique shop. Enormous range of prices. Interesting. I'm going back.

Akademgorodok "Academy Town"

(Tuesday 20th September 2011, written up 21st September 2011)

Today was more irregular verbs. I struggle with learning all the words but it's necessary. While it is quite possible to communicate quite effectively speaking, or writing a limited vocabulary, it is absolutely necessary to be able to "receive" words without constantly going to the dictionary. It makes life hard, but there you are.

Today's exercises are around the words for "To see", "To pay", "To ask" (beg or beseech) and "To clean" (or peel, as in peel fruit). The homework exercise is around some strange character who seems to be in love with potatoes! Also, apparently, the Russian Army have potato peeling competitions!

I'm trying not to be a tourist (I have so much homework that can't afford the time), but it was such a beautiful day that I decided to join an excursion to "Akademgorodok". The weather was sunny and the indicators on the buildings said it was 24 deg C.

"Akademgorok" means "Academy Town". I want to say "City of Scientists", but that isn't quite right. It used to be a "closed" town which meant that most Russians weren't allowed to go there, and you had no chance as a foreigner. It is a few kilometers from Novosibirsk, and we travelled there as passengers on one of the many little buses. These are a cross between a bus and a taxi. Although they are badged "Gaz" (a Russian manufacturer), they are obviously Ford Transits (or perhaps derived from) and seat 15 passengers. They run a fixed route but have no timetable. The driver waits at the terminal stop until the bus is full, or he decides to go. They operate with a fixed fair (35 Rub = 0.88 Eur). They will drop you along the route. They definately have stops to pick up passengers. The road to Akademgorodok is a busy 6 lane dual carriageway (think motorway, but with very variable surface, and side roads). On the way our driver was stopped by the police and fined for "exuberant driving" (my words). None of the other passengers seemed the least concerned. Just one more experience.

The transit van taxi/buses are interesting. I said that there is a flat fare. That isn’t surprising, what is surprising is how it is collected. The fare is 35 rubles. All the passengers get on and take their seats and the van sets off (maybe that should be “takes off”). The passengers collect the money themselves, and pass it up to the passenger who is sitting with his/her back next to the bulkhead, who then passes it through to the driver (who is probably using a mobile phone). If you don’t have the right money, you trade with your neighbours to get the change you need. If that doesn’t work, the driver exchanges money for change until it is all sorted. The whole operation takes place in motion! Can you imagine that working in London? Or for that matter anywhere in Britain? I don’t want to think what would happen if you tried to take a ride without paying. I suppose it might work if you were a charity-case, but not otherwise.

Akademgorodok is essentially a University campus in the woods. Once you are inside the town the roads are fairly quiet. The main road in was pretty peaceful. If you look at a map, you can see that it is not a huge place. It's quite easy to walk round.

A man called "Lavrentev" is given the credit for founding the town.

The buildings are not particularly interesting architecturally. There is a "Hydrodynamic Institute" (anyone from Feltham remember the "Ship Tank"?), one of the main meeting buildings and library is known as "The house of scientists" and accommodation is provided in blocks of flats of various designs (nothing over 5 storeys tall). The streets have flower beds, and there are paths through the forest.

You can see it was autumn. The leaves on the trees are starting to turn. Akademgorodok must be a very pleasant place to live and work. I have been told it is popular, providing of course that you can find work there.

While we were there there was a market going on.They were selling all sorts of things. Cut flowers, potted plants, mushrooms and berries collected from the forest, fruit, clothes (felt boots, socks, jumpers), arty stuff, and loads of honey!

On the way home I stopped off near Lenin Square, and took a picture of this Compass monument in Novosibirsk. The heraldic animals are from the coat of arms of the city. There is one at each point of the compass. Around the base are the names of cities in Siberia. The message is "Novosibirsk is the centre of Siberia".

When I got home, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the entrance hall of my flats. It's not the most welcoming place, but it is clean. This is it on a sunny day. You can't see it, but the "nose" on some of the stair treads is worn down to the reinforcing bars.

Old Ladies help me cross the road, and a magic carpet ride

(Monday 19th September 2011, written up same day)

Well that turned out to be more exciting than I expected. No pictures I'm afraid. There was nothing very visual anyway.

It's Monday, so it's back to work, not that I ever really stopped. Lessons started with me being asked about what I did at the weekend? In my case that meant: the walking tour of Novosibirsk on Saturday morning/afternoon, the trip to the Opera in the evening, Sunday morning trip to view the River Ob and afternoon trip to see Dali. I'd expected this to happen, so I'd prepared notes. I'm glad I did, but I was subjected to a gentle interrogation, which was directed not at finding out what I did (I'm sure the teachers don't care that much), but at how I could express what I did. The questioning soon guided be into uncharted territory, but I managed. By-the-way, there is a theatre in Novosibirsk called "Clockwork Orange", after the Book/Film by Anthony Burgess!

After "What did you do at the weekend" seesion, we moved onto my translation of the text "Granny's Birthday". This required my to summarise the decendants on Granny's family tree. This was followed by my answers to simple questions with yes/no answers, and then questions which required longer answers. This was all about developing my understanding of the "genitive case". Another way of putting this is "X is the _son of_ Y", "Q is the _wife of_ R" etc. We identified the imperfections in my understanding and moved on.

Then some exercises about negatives, "not having". This led to a tragic story of a begger who has lost everything. My homework (apart from doing the translation) is to provide an (imaginary) explanation as to how he lost everything. I did the homework at school, and that is a very good thing.

One of the things which worries me a little in Novosibirsk is that they drive on the right. I'm worried that my reflexes will take me the wrong way. As a result I tend to follow Russians and stay "down stream of them" when crossing the road. Hence I sometimes shadow old ladies. They help me cross the road!

I left school at a little after 17:00. When I got home, there was nobody in. I went out and bought a bottle of mineral water and a bottle of beer (purely to practice my Russian in a shop, you understand). When I returned home, I put them both in the fridge and settled down to do some drills involving "Not having" in Present, Past and Future tenses. I also tucked into some watermelon I'd been told to eat.

When my landlady came in, she asked me if I wanted to go shopping? I said yes. After all, it sounded interesting. It was interesting alright! I thought she meant groceries. I was wrong! The first surprise was when I was asked to get into the landlady's boss's car, which already contained her sons. Next stop, the place where she is living while her flat is repaired. We off-load the sons. Next _IKEA_ where she has ordered a carpet for something at one son's school. My job is to help with the carpet. We have dinner in the IKEA restaurant, then it's off to the school, where two young fellows are waiting in the dark to take the carpet inside. I get to see a lot of Novosibirsk by night.

Eventful and better than my language drills!

And so to bed.

Sun, Bridges and Dali

Bridges, Sun and Dali

(Sunday 18th September 2011 written on same day)

Today was officially a day off. I walked south to Rechnoi Vakhsa (River Station). It was a beautiful day again. I didn't see anything to indicate the temperature, but I'm sure it was over 20 deg C. The River Ob is very wide. It is spanned by a road bridge, a metro bridge and a railway bridge. There is a park and amusement park along the river bank and I spent some of the time trying to read the various signs. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn't.

The city art museum is a very short distance away. In the afternoon I went to went to an exhibition of Salvador Dali lithographs. I like Dali pictures, but they don't make any more sense to me with Russian captions!

On the way home from the exhibition I noticed a travel agent listing places the could fly you to from Novosibirsk. Here's the list in English: Egypt, Tunisia, Greece, Spain, Italy, Goa, China, Cyprus, Indonesia, Thailand, Turkey, Cuba. Russians like the sun too!

When I'd returned from Dali, I finished off the homework exercises. First, questions on a short story (eg "Whose wife is a good cook?", "Who are Natasha and Julias parents?", "Who studies physics at university?". Then I have to compose a number of sentences about my own family. Not very exciting, but I can see that it serves a useful purpose.

Flying Solo: Food, Water, Beer and Opera

(Saturday 17th September 2011 written up same day)

What a fantastic day! I have literally walked miles, on a self-conducted tour of Novosibirsk. I've held (simple) conversations with people, bought things and been to the opera!

It's my day off! Except it isn't! I had to fly solo for the first time. If I hadn't been able to speak, I wouldn't have been able to eat, or drink. Apart from "enjoying the experience", I set myself the objectives of:

• Buying a decent meal in somewhere new,
• Buying something in a shop, and
• Buying a beer in a bar.

I "exceeded requirements" on all objectives.

My tour started by looking down one of the side-streets near my home.Wooden houses are typical of Siberia and of Novosibirsk. When this place started out in the late 19th Century, it was a construction site. The most readily available material was lumber. Here are a few photos of some old houses I noticed:

• Wooden house dated 1906
• Another wooden house dated 1906
• Yet another, but I don't know how old it is

I walked North into town. When I got to "The Centre of Russia", I noticed a wedding party. I paused for a look and realised that couples come there to have their photos taken. Some seem to have arranged for a blessing as well. It was a Saturday, and the sun was shining brightly. A great day for a wedding. Winter is coming too. I passed the church several times during the day and saw several parties. Here are a couple of photos (Two Weddings and Another Wedding). Apparently the church is not that old. The original was demolished during the Soviet era and this replica was built only a few years ago. It seems that God and maybe tradition are stronger than governments.

I was looking for a place to have lunch. This is it "Sunny Bake": salad and a cutlet and green tea and bliny. If you get the opportunity, you must try Russian blini. They are pancakes or crepes. Excellent! Mine was served with melted butter and smetana (sour cream) but there are a wide range of fillings both sweet and savoury, including smoked salmon, mushrooms, sugar and chocolate (not all at the same time, I hope). I ordered it all with words, not just point and shoot.

After lunch I went for a walk in "Central Park" (in Novosibirsk, not New York!). It's a really attractive place, with fairground attractions, rides for the kids, a stage for bands. From this view along one of the paths, you can see how sunny it was. It was warm but you can also see the leaves are changing colour for Autumn, and they have started fall.

Next stop was "Novosibirsk Glavniy" (Novosibirsk Main) Station. This is on the Transiberian railway, half way between Moscow and Vladivostok. From Vladivostock you can get a ferry to Japan, via Korea. There is an enormous paved area in front of the station. The station clock and another one nearby said that the temperature was over 20 degrees C. I was thirsty. Russian street vendors were selling cold kvass (weak beer) from little tankers. How civilised! I bought a half-litre from a street vendor (17 rubles= 0.42 eur). It was excellent! The lady asked if I was German. I told her I was English. We both laughed. My Father would be horrified, but it's easier to say that than bring in another two countries. Kvass is very weak beer, they say it is "brewed from bread". I don't quite understand that. It is so weak you would give it to your children, like bottled shandy. It has a slightly acid, almost lemony taste. Good for a hot day. Just off the square, I went into a shop and bought a litre bottle of mineral water (as in "Perrier" or "Evian" 35 roubles = 0.88 eur).

I walked back from the station by a different route. On the way I saw this restored church, which is right next to the Circus. I'm not sure if if there is something a little odd going on here, because in Russian the two words are very similar: Circus = "Tsirk" and Church = "Tsirkov". Then I went along Gogol Street to join Krasny Prospect. I passed a Russian bar. I would have stopped for a beer, but I already had a plan. It would have been cheaper if I'd had the beer in the Russian bar.

Close to the school is a bar called "Old Irish", which I had already found on the internet. I popped in there for a drink. The bar is nice enough, but the price (290 rub = 7 Euro)! The price of 1 pint was more than all my other purchases. I won't be spending much time in there, but I will probably have a pint of Guinness on "Arthur's Day" (sometimes I'm a mug for advertising). It just shows that prices can vary a lot and you have to be careful in foreign countries. I just put it down to experience.

On the way home I couldn't resist taking a picture of these fountains. The building in the background is the museum on Lenin Square I visited on Wednesday.

I got home, bumped into my landlady, and just had enough time to post pictures onto Facebook before it was time to go to the theatre. The school had booked me a ticket so I felt obliged to go.

The Novosibirsk Ballet Opera is the largest in Russia. It's not the sort of place I would normally go to, but I'm glad I did. I have some pictures of the inside on my phone. It is a magnificent building. I'll post them when doing so won't cost me an unreasonable amount of money. The opera was "Iolanta" (by Pyotr Tchiakovsky, which is unrelated to "Iolanthe" by Gilbert and Sullivan. That had me confused too.). The opera was entirely in Russian, with no "titles". Strangely, I started off hearing only music or babble, but by the end I was hearing words. I didn't understand it, but I probably wouldn't have understood it in English either. It was a magnificent spectacle, and the staging was really interesting, making use of backlighting and projections. At one point I really thought it was raining on stage.

After the show I went home to Dinner. It was good. Vegetable stew, with pureed veg and ratatouille, served with dark brown bread and green tea. My landlady probably thinks I'm mad about food. I'm not, but it is easy to talk about: "I like this", "this is sweet", "what is this?" etc. I've found some interesting problems eg they have one word for both vegetable marrow and aubergine! I've also been served three entirely different things, all called "Kasha" (porridge) for breakfast. One of them was rice pudding! Good job I'm a true omnivore.

The landlady had some music on while she was doing the ironing. I thought I recognised it and checked. I was right. It was "Enigma". Some things travel well.

Writing done, I'm going to post this.

And so to bed!
(Blog Post updated to include pictures directly, rather than as links. 17th November 2015)

Nominative, Accusative, Genitive, Bus Tickets, Pleasant Peasant Dinner

(Friday 16th September 2011 written on same day)

How things change! Yesterday dinner was; early in the evening, with the upper classes in a fancy restaurant, watching an Italian chef (called "Fabio") make pasta dishes, throw pizzas around and make ice cream with liquid nitrogen. Today dinner is eaten after 10:00, and (something like) cottage cheese, black tea and brown bread. All in Siberia.

And with a clear sky the temperature changes from hot (walk around the streets in your shirtsleeves) during the day, to cold (brr) at night.

My landlady just arrived and it's time for dinner (after 22:00 at night). I'll describe dinner first and then the rest of the day.

Dinner this evening is "Slava" (Tvorak (cream cottage cheece), Smetana (sour cream) and sugar mixed together), pureed vegetables (carrots and I don't know what), several kinds of bread and black tea. Delicious!

This morning I found that I'd "got away with" my translation. I could answer all the questions (verbally) and the only significant mistake was that I can misunderstood one word and turned a desire into a reality (and future into present tense). Not too bad considering it was done under pressure.

Next was more grammar: Nominative, Accusative and Genitive cases. You don't want to know!

After lunch, which was "you know where" all three students set off down to the bus station to give moral support to one of our number (the Spanish lady) who is making a weeked trip to Tomsk. Good for her! Mission accomplished we returned to the school, and I got on with my homework.

It was really pretty hot outside, providing you are in the sun. On the way home I took photos of the Opera House at the back of Lenin Square, and the base of the Novosibirsk Architecture Preservation Organisation (or something like that). I'm going to the Opera tomorrow.

Then I did some more homework, and fell asleep. I was thinking about going to bed when my landlady arrived.

Verbs, a Mammoth, Films and Pizza

(Thursday 15th September 2011, written up 16th September 2011)

Now that was a busy day! There are no photographs because, although there were some interesting things to see I didn't have my camera with me at the time. I didn't have time to write things up at the time, because I didn't finish working until nearly midnight, by which time I was well and truly ready for bed.

The internet connection in the flat isn't working at present, so there may be some delay before this actually gets recorded.

At breakfast I was told that I was going out to dinner. I was told that the place we were going was "Rimski Caniculi". At the time I was told this meant "Roman Holiday". I have to confess that at the time it took a little time for exactly what I was being told to sink in, but I got it in the end. By the time I left for school I knew where the restaurant was, and what time I was to be there (Krasny Prospect 42a, for 19:00). Fortunately the address is near the school so I was able to find the building and the restaraunt on my way there.

The morning was spent with lessons on verbs. Lots and lots of verbs. I think at the time I was told there were about twenty. Even a day later it has become a bit of a blur. There were lots of new verbs, and before they had time to settle in my mind, lots of exercises requiring me to find the correct conjugation for a verb in a particular situation (I run, She runs, They run...)

This was followed by a game where there was a standard sentence and using cards drawn from the 3 different piles (Subject Gender: Masculine/Feminine/Neuter/Plural,

Verb and Location) I had to provide a "Subject". The objectives of the exercise were to put the (new) verb into the correct conjugation, provide a suitable subject, put the subject into the "Accusative Case", and put the location into the "Locative" Case. There's also another little wrinkle, in that you have to be "in" some locations and "at" or "on" others. There are a few which can be both (you can be both "in" and "on" the sea). Don't worry if you read this and don't understand it, I not sure I do either! If you read it and _really_ understand it, explain it to me some time.

As you can imagine, some of the results were a little strange, if not surreal. One that has stuck in my mind was:

• "It" (=Subject) "waits" (=Verb) "toilet" (=Location; this is the room by the way)
• to which I added "Service" (=Object), so after some changes to the component words we got:
• "It waits for service in the toilet."
• I really don't want to dwell for too long on what that might possibly mean!

The result was often a bit like David Bowie or Brian Eno lyrics. Sometimes it made real sense, sometimes it was complete nonsense and sometimes it had a slippery quality which made me think that perhaps there was some peculiar message hidden in the sentence.

(by the way, my landlady has just come it. It's 22:00 and time for dinner!)

Homework was a comprehension exercise. I had to translate a passage and answer questions on it. I was given the passage as a sound file for my computer, and the passage text is in my textbook. The teacher made sure I understood the questions before we finished.

After this, it was time for lunch (thank goodness). Lunch was our now favourite (only) restaraunt, "Vilka-Lojka". Apparently, not only is there a chain of Vilka-Lojkas, but there is a class of restaraunts known as "Staloviya" (dining room).

After lunch, there was an opportunity to visit a museum in town with one of the teachers. I wanted to visit the museum but that created a possible problem with the homework, because of dinner.

The museum was the "Novosibirsk history and natural history museum" (I'm not sure of the correct title. I may update thisket). It's situated in a hundred-year-old converted metro station just off Lenin Square. Admission is cheap (For us. 200 rub = 5 Eur). Like many Russian public buildings, you are expected to leave your coat and bag in the "garderobe". The first thing that meets you when you enter the exhibition proper is the skeleton of a mammoth. You're probably already aware that from time to time they did up mammoths in Siberia. The museum contains sections on:

• Natural history
• Native cultures - Siberia has a number of peoples somewhat like the native americans and inuit.
• The way people lived at various times the Russians were colonising siberia.
• The Revolution
• The Second World War (or Great Patriotic War)
• Artistic material

The contents are interesting, but it's difficult to explain the intensity of the experience of really trying to understand what the labels of the exhibits say in a foreign language. At least I was able to tell the teacher who was acting as our guide that the motorcycle in the middle of the "Revolution" section was a Norton and that it was made in Birmingham, England. And that was before I read the label!

After the museum we returned to the school and so I go stuck into the comprehension. Rather than listen to the passage (which was difficult at the school), I decided to translate from the text first and then listen later. It was a good job I did, because otherwise I would have run out of time. In the mean time I attended a presentation on "Soviet films" (which was pretty interesting). I had completed about three-quarters of the translation when it was time for the school to kick me out, and me to go to dinner.

The restaurant ("Rimski Kaniculi" (Roman Holidays), use your web browser to translate) was only a short distance away. I spent a little while trying to look inconspicuous waiting for my hostess to arrive. My hostess is my landladies employer (I think) she was accompanied by two of her sons: Ivan (12) and Anton (9). They arrived just a few minutes late. My landlady was delayed. I was struck by Ivan wearing a military uniform. He attends a "Officer School" and the uniform was for the "Siberian Cadet Corps". Wikipedia has an article of the historic Siberian Cadet Corps. I'm not sure about any associations between the modern and historic organisations, but I know that "the cadets" are significant in Russian history. Both sons spoke a little english and we were able to converse, me speaking Russian, and them speaking English.

Dinner for me was an extremely good lasagne. As we dined we were entertained by an Italian chef (named "Fabio") demostrating how to cook a couple of pasta dishes. Later he demonstrated making ice-cream using liquid nitrogen. Later still, he demonstrated tossing pizza bases to the music "Love, Sex, American Express" (?!). The Russian word for show is "spektakl" and this was certainly spectacular! All we drank all evening was several different varieties of black or green tea. At the end of the evening my hostess gave me a lift home at about 22:00. It was a thoroughly good evening.

I got home and had to get down to work. I had the translation completed before midnight, and so to bed.

Work, lunch and money

(Wednesday 14th September, written same day)

Today was a straight "work day", so not many photos. Lessons in the morning, administration at lunch-time, homework and prep in the afternoon, presentation on "Siberian Cities" in the late afternoon.

The day started with a lady friend of my landlady's arriving for breakfast. She spoke some English, but we spoke Russian. It wasn't an exciting conversation, but we communicated. I used my pre-prepared stories, she told me a little about herself. I'm starting to understand things. It's limited, but I'm improving.

School was more individual work. This time I had a man teacher. I think it is good to move between different teachers. Different tones and vocal styles help my understanding.

The first exercise was about Ireland! It was conducted in Russian. At first I didn't really understand what was happening, but it was very good. The objective was to teach me, what I knew already about my home country, and how to express that in Russian.

• How big is Ireland?
• How many people?
• Famous people?

To my surprise I found I was holding a conversation, in Russian, about a subject I hadn't prepared. You wouldn't call it "fluent", but I came away with a resource sheet, which I had completed, in Russian which I can use as the basis for small talk. The exercise was useful, and the product was useful. I also learned the equivalent facts about Russia.

Then on to more grammar. More on personal possessive pronouns and Nominative, Accusative and Locative cases. Don't worry if you don't understand, because I'm not sure if I do. I do the exercises and I think I'm learning, but it isn't clear yet.

This is followed by an exercise in aural comprehension supported by written comprehension as well. It's all about some ghastly little boy's plans for his birthday. The boy may be horrible, but the exercise is good. Part of the homework is finishing off the written translation and checking/completing the answers to questions.

The rest of the homework is conjugating verbs (don't worry...) and the prepositional case (...).

When the 3 students escape from their lessons, we all go to eat in Vilka-Lojka. This is the McDonald's meets a works canteen. It's good and cheap.

After lunch we go back to the school. One of the other students has the same problem as me, his cards won't work. With the help of the school we identify another bank to try, and also go armed for my "Plan C", which is to exchange some of my emergency stash of Euro's and Sterling.

We're in luck! We find a bank which accepts our cards. We have access to money. We can eat! The other student suggests a celebratory beer. I think that's an excellent idea. So we do. Half a pint of (keg) London Pride, with a Frenchman in an Irish themed pub in the middle of Siberia. And it feels great! I haven't felt so good about getting the equivalent of 25 Euro out of a cash machine since I was a student (and they didn't have cash machines, I cashed cheques)!

Back to the school where I spend the afternoon doing the translation and answering the questions.

Then we have a presentation on "Cities of Siberia". The teacher giving the talk has an excellent style. Not slow, but clear as a bell. Even though I can't understand it all, I can make out the words. After the presentation, I explain that two of my reasons for being interesting in the City of Tomsk. One is the name: it stands on the River Tom. The other means that I have try and explain "The Wombles" to the Russians! It got a few laughs anyway.

After the presentation, I went home by a new route. I took a photo of the roof-line.

At home, after tea, it was conjugating verbs.

Then write up the journal, and so, to bed.

First Real Day. And Locomotives.

(Tueday 13th, written up on Wednesday 14th)

Beautiful autumn day. Here is the view from my window. On the way to school I saw a poster advertising an exhibition: "Siberia through Chinese Eyes".

This was the first day of real work. I don't know if something has gone wrong (or right), but I'm getting something more than I expected. I (thought I'd) booked group sessions with some additional tuition. What I seem to be getting now is individual attention. There is no escape! No hiding at the back while the class swat answers all the questions, or while the naughty student distracts the teacher. There is only me. It's relentless, but rather fun!

The morning was spent doing revision exercises. Revision of what I've covered, or maybe not covered, in other places:

• What questioning words correspond to answers to which parts of a sentence (who, what, where, whither, what-kind-of...)
• Plurals
• Parts of the head (hair, eyes, nose, mouth...)
• Parts of the body
• Months and Seasons
• Animals
• Antonyms (North-South, Morning-Evening...)
• Posessive pronouns (my, his, her, our, their...)
• Choosing the correct question to elict something about an object or person (difficult to explain in English)
• This and that (but for different genders: masculine/feminine/neuter)
• Cardinal numbers

My head is spinning!

Then there is a load of homework to be done by tomorrow.

It's a beautiful day outside, so I decide to go on a trip, organised by the school to the "Transiberian Railway Museum". I uploaded the pictures yesterday. Only just managed after the homework. It was a terrific day: Metro trip (15 Ru = 40c), Mini-bus trip (35 Ru = .87c), Admission (200 Ru = 5 Eur), Bus-trip home (14 Ru = 35c). That's an afternoon out for 7 Euro.

By the way, "Euston we may have a problem here". A money problem. It's not that prices are higher than I expected, but the credit card I planned to use to get money doesn't seem to work, and the back-ups don't work either. Time to try plan's "C" and "D". No point in worrying yet.

The metro ride was what I expected: clean, efficient, fast. I will go back when I have more time.

The minibus ride to the Museum was exciting. The roads are busy.

The museum is just amazing. There were just the 3 of us: 2 students (including me) and our teacher/guide. The entrance is a the side of a busy road. Our teacher bought the tickets, but we paid.

Once inside there are loads of things to see. These are just a sample:

• Impressive locomotives
• Industrial equipment (reminding me of my time working for British Steel)
• Snow clearing equipment
• Soviet motor cars and trucks and tanks and tractors.
• Wagons for carrying prisoners, or first class passengers
• An "Elektrichka" local electric train
• A maintenance wagon (can you spot the motorcycle engine to drive it?)
• A metro train
• Even refrigerated tanks for carrying wine. The were great to hear about but boring to look at, so no photo.

That was just a fraction of it. I expect any train-spotters are drooling. All you have to do is come here!

The ride home was exciting as well. A crowded bus in the rush hour!

From the bus terminal in Novosibirsk I decided to walk home. Partly to save money, partly because it was such a nice day and partly to explore a new bit of the city which I had seen from the internet. On the way home I passed an interesting looking church. Later research shows that it is dedicated to St Alexander Nevski.

Just when I thought I was safe, I get home to find that my landlady's boyfriend is visiting. While she cooks my tea, he tries to engage me in conversation. He is friendly and helpful. This is what I came here for, but boy is it hard work! I'm relieved when they go out.

Then it is time to do the homework, which takes almost all of the rest of the evening. There is only time to upload and annotate the photos.

And to bed.