So a little bit about my timetable. I realise that for most people reading this probably isn't very interesting, but every time I tell a good anecdote a certain member of my family has a panic attack...

Anyway. I have 24 hours of teaching a week at the moment. That's 24 'academic' hours, which works out as about 18 or 20 'astronomical' hours, and so I'm not quite sure how many real or 'English' hours I'm on at the moment. For those people who think I'm slacking off, don't forget I spend a lot of time planning lessons, travelling, doing administrative things, and so on.

My teaching is divided equally between two centres. 12 hours a week are at Skhodnenskaya, which I've already mentioned, and the other 12 are at Mitino. Mitino is about 20 minutes by bus to the north-west from me, just outside the Moscow ring road. So technically it's outside of Moscow but it's more built up than where I live, at Planernaya. I think Mitino is/was a separate town but it has been pretty much swallowed up by the Moscow sprawl.