THERE IS NO ESCAPE

I'm coming back to Russia next year, by the way. I have signed a new contract for the next academic year starting in September. I'll be based solely in Schodnenskaya, so no more trips up to the wind tunnel that is Mitino.

Getting a contract involved me meeting the head honcho, our number one, the great leader, for the very first time... he's a hyperactive, sarcastic Jewish American, a sort of portly Quentin Tarantino figure, if you can imagine that. He said I looked Scottish.

Incidentally, a girl serving in a kiosk started speaking to me in French when she heard my foreign accent! That's a lot better than being mistaken for a German or an American...

Other plans. I'm taking a CELTA course over the summer in London, so I'll be a proper fully-qualified teacher. Well, it'll keep me out of trouble while I'm home anyway....