tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-40562492024-02-08T12:43:13.726+01:00That Was RussiaJD's log of his second and third times teaching English in Russia, from 2002 until 2004.JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1102786570301662002004-12-11T18:32:00.001+01:002008-08-02T21:26:42.483+01:00THE END IS THE BEGINNING ETC ETC.'Na konets'You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything on this weblog since September. That's because I've done remotely connected with Russia since September. So, until I get round to writing up my final notes and experiences, you can consider this weblog dead, or ar least in deep hibernation.Thanks for reading.JamesJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1094645359384641602004-09-08T13:06:00.000+01:002004-09-08T13:09:19.383+01:00I DIDN'T THINK MY WEBLOG WAS THAT SHODDY
Hello. I had this site recommended to me. Apparently it's just like mine except professional. So if you want to read some stories about Russia by someone who's actually there, check it out. Plus he's got lots of pictures. Whereas I have two.
http://www.peterabryan.co.uk/
JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1094478307604292682004-09-06T14:40:00.000+01:002004-09-06T14:48:11.030+01:00YES, I AM A COMPUTER GENIUS
You may not believe this, but I actually did a little bit of coding to improve my weblog. If you look at any of the entries on this blog, now you'll see a little envelope symbol by the title, after 'Posted by James'. If you click on this envelope, you can forward the entry to a friend. Cool hey?
You are not, however, according to Blogger, allowed to use this feature JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1094476595993731242004-09-06T14:16:00.000+01:002004-09-06T14:39:50.676+01:00'KHARCHO!' 'BLESS YOU!'
When I was living in Moscow I had great fun rummaging through the cupboards in the flat as they were all full of junk from the 1970s. One of the treasures I uncovered was a postcard series which featured traditional recipes from all the corners of the Soviet Union. Each card had a picture of a dish on the front, and a recipe on the back. I took the card for my JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1094417991480143092004-09-05T21:49:00.000+01:002004-09-05T21:59:51.480+01:00APOLOGY
Yes, there's been quite a while since posts. Um, a couple of months. I even started to get complaints, surprisingly from people who see me on a regular basis. So, sorry about that. But now there will be photos (with enthusiastic captions!) so I hope that it compensates.
RUSSIA SIEGE
The school seige was terrible, that goes without saying. I don't know if you noticed, but the BBCJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1094417023472336852004-09-05T21:43:00.000+01:002004-09-06T14:40:31.573+01:00OH MY GOD IT'S FULL OF PICTURES
No, it's not a mirage brought on by excessive vodka; I have just worked out how I can post pictures to the weblog. So here is one of me in my old flat at Planernaya in Moscow. I think it was taken in late spring.
Isn't it a glorious place to live? Gareth is still there, lucky boy. Have a good look at the tasteful bedding. And the decorative wallpaper. Now JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1089133952273926352004-07-06T18:12:00.000+01:002004-07-07T09:58:16.636+01:00THAT WAS RUSSIA
To clear up a bit of confusion... I am already back in the UK, but I have such a backlog of Russia stories to write about that I'll probably be posting on-and-off for another month or so! The trouble is, you can either live your life or write about it - but not both at once. For the past month or two I've been living my life, and now I'm back in England I have time to write JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1088807149378755002004-07-02T23:07:00.000+01:002004-07-02T23:37:07.790+01:00FIVE GO TO SERGEEV POSAD, OR, YES I AM A BIG GIRL'S BLOUSE
I mentioned in passing that Gareth, Anthony Ian and I went a while ago to visit a friend of Gareth's, Marina, who had invited us to stay and look around her home town of Sergeev Posad for the weekend. SP is one of the towns of the Golden Ring, that historical region to the North East of Moscow. You may remember that I toured round partJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1088805958707792722004-07-02T22:58:00.000+01:002004-07-02T23:05:58.706+01:00THE SEVEN PLAGUES OF IAN - PART TWO
I did not mention it before, but Ian does not have much luck with metro trains. Once, when he was on a train with Gareth and I, he failed to even make it off the carriage at our destination before the doors shut and the train whisked him somewhere else. Gareth and I were left on the platform looking gormless and wondering if Ian had the sense and the abilityJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1087912940403790002004-06-22T14:41:00.000+01:002004-07-02T23:39:46.986+01:00THE SEVEN PLAGUES OF IAN
Let me introduce you to Ian. Ian is an English teacher who has been working down in the sunny Russian resort town of Sochi, on the Black Sea. He is English, like myself, mild mannered and bespectacled, like Clark Kent, and is an old friend of my flatmate's. In fact, Ian is staying with us at the moment. Oh, one other thing - Ian is the unluckiest man in the world.
JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1085599713579764322004-05-26T20:13:00.000+01:002004-05-26T20:28:33.580+01:00MY OLD MATE PETE
I realise that I haven't written anything about my trip to St. Petersburg in the May holidays with Julia and her family. That isn't because it wasn't interesting (and eventful), but because I'm busy (and lazy).
To begin with, we very nearly missed the train after going to the wrong station. It was only after I asked a Georgian fruit-seller that we realised our mistake and JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1084536705200115722004-05-14T13:06:00.000+01:002004-05-14T13:12:39.893+01:00THE BREAST IS YET TO COME
Another anecdote about my flatmate, Gareth. This one's a corker.
Julia's elder sister, Blake, was visiting from the States. It was her second night in Moscow and the three of us, plus Gareth, were sitting in a bar. It was the first time that Gareth and Blake had met and so they were making polite conversation, as you do.
Blake had been telling Gareth about her ten JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1084536233967243092004-05-14T12:53:00.000+01:002004-05-14T13:03:53.966+01:00I hope that you've read my dad's account of our adventures in the Golden Ring. Well, if you thought that we had some problems, you should hear what happened to my flatmate. This is his story (in my words, because he is Welsh).
Gareth had decided to spend the holiday week way down in the south of Russia, in Sochi, on the Black Sea. That's a day away, at least, on the train.
So Gareth headed JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1084459001186708912004-05-13T14:35:00.000+01:002004-05-14T12:52:58.043+01:00A guest blog from James's Dad:
It only Hertz when you laugh.....
I've just returned home after a few days in Russia visiting James and doing a bit of tourism. We decided to hire a car and James came out to meet me at the airport where I had arranged to pick the car up from Hertz who, amazingly for the world's largest car hire company, only had a single desk on the end of a row of desks run by JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1083320286242241392004-04-30T11:18:00.000+01:002004-04-30T11:22:17.606+01:00A much shorter anecdote here.
I was walking around the (admittedly rather dull and residential) part of Moscow that I call home one night with my flatmate. It was pretty late, about midnight.
Now, you might not know but Russia is full of little roadside kiosks that sell all sorts of stuff pretty cheaply, from fried chicken to knick-knacks, but more often than not the kiosks just sell alcohol.JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1083319513315591822004-04-30T11:05:00.000+01:002004-04-30T11:09:24.856+01:00Wow - I haven't written anything here for a while. A few people have even started to complain! My brother suggested that it's because I'm finally 'going native' and just don't notice all the strange things happening around me. Trust me - I still do! But sometimes I'm too busy having things happen to me, to write.
So here's something from a little while ago.
UNORTHODOX EASTER
Julia wantedJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1081233651627552882004-04-06T07:28:00.000+01:002004-04-06T07:44:30.903+01:00PARK KULTURI
On Saturday Julia and I went to 'Park Kulturi', Moscow's very own 'Park of Culture'. Opposite the Central House of Artists and in the historic heart of the city, I was expecting somewhere refined, beautiful and, well, cultured.
I wasn't really expecting a fun park. Which is what it was.
Also, it being the start of April and a little nippy over here, it was also almost deserted.JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1081232843929804392004-04-06T07:18:00.000+01:002004-04-06T07:31:37.153+01:00This isn't really Russia-related, but I wanted to tell you anyway.
My hair had been looking rather shaggy, and when my boss started making Austin Powers jokes every time I walked into the room I knew that it was time to get it cut. Not being a big fan of barbers, I was pleased when Julia told me that she had worked in a salon in Portland for a while and would happily cut my hair for me.
So it JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1080070232346674472004-03-23T20:30:00.000+01:002004-03-23T20:33:53.793+01:00GHOST STATION
At the moment I am quite excited about the discovery of a 'ghost station' on my metro line. You've probably heard of similar phenomena (if I can call it that) on other metro systems. I know that my brother and sister-in-law know of a few on the Tube in London.
My own ghost station, here in Moscow, is an unfinished station that the Soviets started to build back when the line was JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1080069635829049102004-03-23T20:20:00.000+01:002004-03-23T20:34:20.373+01:00MANEZHNAYA WHERE?
I hope I didn't confuse anyone with my last post. The fire at the Manezh made it onto international news, though only briefly I hear.
The Manezh is (or was) quite a famous early-19th century building just off the Kremlin, which rather symbolically and spectacularly burnt to the ground on election night. Perhaps it was an accident (it's not the only important building in JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1079431880089063102004-03-16T11:09:00.000+01:002004-03-16T11:23:37.043+01:00WHEN PUTIN WON HIS SECOND TERM
When Putin won his second term
his men had guns and moved us on
and glass gave up and stone gave in
and metal was all molten
The sky was red it fell like rain
we saw them let the Manezh burn
the world was full of fire and flame
when Putin won his second termJD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1078815924669264772004-03-09T08:05:00.000+01:002004-03-09T08:11:17.263+01:00OUR MAN IN VOLOGDA
I am back from Vologda.
It was a city of a third of a million but felt like Wokingham. Though obviously not in every respect.
I will now list everything of interest in Vologda, in roughly decending order:
1) the world's oldest statue of Lenin, from 1924. The statue is also lifesize, which doesn't make it a very impressive monument (Lenin was, I now know, rather short). JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1078487041540547962004-03-05T12:44:00.000+01:002004-03-05T12:47:34.246+01:00VOLOG-WHERE?
This weekend is yet another three-day holiday weekend (International Women's Day has rolled round again), so I am off on a jaunt. This time the destination is Vologda, a mid-sized and more than slightly obscure city about 9 hours north-east of Moscow (yes, I'm sick of this southerly, mild weather). It's on the river, er, Vologda. Which is easy to remember.
Why Vologda? Well, a JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1077773757350835482004-02-26T06:35:00.000+01:002004-02-26T06:38:43.763+01:00This morning I caught a central line busker playing the DangerMouse theme tune on his accordion.JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4056249.post-1077279132810903292004-02-20T13:12:00.000+01:002004-02-20T13:14:51.840+01:00THE STRANGEST SIGHT I HAVE SEEN TO DATE IN MOSCOW
It was 9.30 on a bright Tuesday morning. It was a novelty for me to be awake at this time, let alone in the centre of the city, but I was planning to visit the foreign-language bookstore to pick up some graded readers for one of my groups.
So I was walking along one of those mostly pedestrianised old cobbly streets in the Theatre District. Up JD (The Engine Room)http://www.blogger.com/profile/00836972574430969375noreply@blogger.com