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Last night was another good evening at the theatre. There were three short plays that were nothing special, but it was relaxing to sit in a comfortable seat in a beautiful auditorium and see Katya have a good time. The first play was about a debt-collector who falls in love with the widow who he comes to get money from, the second was a monologue that I didn't understand, then the same actors did a sketch about an anniversary celebration in a bank, where the director's loud wife stole the show. The best part was the superb guitar player, who appeared in all the plays wearing a black jumper and jeans while the rest were in nineteenth century costume! Even I put on my smartest outfit for the occasion; Katya seems intent on showing me off. It's a very attractive building. There are perhaps five hundred seats, and a foyer on the first floor where the audience can spend the interval. It has cream marble floors, red carpet and low sofas to sit down on. The place feels Soviet as I imagine it to have been; especially the appreciative slow hand clap at the end of the performance.

A taste of culture.

Jonathan Campion
2006-04-15 16:39:15

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Last night was another good evening at the theatre. There were three short plays that were nothing special, but it was relaxing to sit in a comfortable seat in a beautiful auditorium and see Katya have a good time. The first play was about a debt-collector who falls in love with the widow who he comes to get money from, the second was a monologue that I didn't understand, then the same actors did a sketch about an anniversary celebration in a bank, where the director's loud wife stole the show. The best part was the superb guitar player, who appeared in all the plays wearing a black jumper and jeans while the rest were in nineteenth century costume! Even I put on my smartest outfit for the occasion; Katya seems intent on showing me off. It's a very attractive building. There are perhaps five hundred seats, and a foyer on the first floor where the audience can spend the interval. It has cream marble floors, red carpet and low sofas to sit down on. The place feels Soviet as I imagine it to have been; especially the appreciative slow hand clap at the end of the performance.

Lena taught us this morning. We learned different meanings to prefixes for certain verbs. It was quite a dry topic so she used funny examples to make her point - then when she wanted to move on she was too polite to tell us to stop giggling! It's still frustrating when I realise how far I still have to go before I have the freedom to say anything I want to. My Russian has mood swings: one day I can speak it well, the next I struggle.

Six of us went to the Tashir pizzeria for lunch. It was horrible as usual but now the biker bar has closed for winter there's nowhere else.

Olga was in a good mood too. I read another Esenin poem but it was hard to get the pitch of my voice right because of the complicated language. Clare stayed asleep on the sofa for the first lesson - no-one could wake her up after the lunch break!

Boris Aleksandrovich - our 'boss' - gave us our second visas today. They are multi-entry ones, so I should be able to travel to Ukraine without too much of a problem. Now I have six weeks to plan something exciting to do at Christmas that will make up for not being at home.

My final doctor's appointment at the poliklinika was at 3.20. I had to speak to the same ladies with my shirt off again but the news was good. My heart is fine, it is only in pain because of the weather and stress. If I fall ill again I have their working hours written down so I can call back.

Today's only bad news is that Chris U is leaving us on monday, six weeks ahead of schedule. He's had some very bad luck with his landladies, the second place he moved to is also irritating him and the Russian way of life has become too difficult to cope with. Having lived very comfortably in London for a long time the lifestyle is even harder for him to adapt to than for us. Everyone will miss him. He has been a calming influence on all of us along with the added responsibility of communicating our problems to Yartek and RLUS.

He will be in Moscow next semester where he has friends, and has invited me to some of the dinner parties he's planning!

Some people are going to play pool at Evropa later so that is where I will spend my evening.