I’ve got more cream on me than a Russian cake.

We’ve been in Petrozavodsk for almost a week now and so far everything is going swimmingly. I can hear my Russian improving, I’m happy to be back with my Russian family and so far Anabelle and I haven’t had any major problems as group leaders. Hopefully it will stay this way!

I do find it funny how I have just settled back into normal life… but in Russia. I’m not really having any great adventure here. I’m doing exactly what I do at home: catching up with my friends, searching for jobs and checking facebook! I’m just doing it all in Russian (apart from the facebook checking).

We do have excursions most days with our group of students though to stop it being just like home! Yesterday we took them to an exhibition of photos that were inspired by Tolstoy’s short stories. Although it was only small and not at all clear which photos were inspired by which stories, it was only about 40p and a nice break in the day! At first we thought the exhibition was just photos of people’s perceptions of Russia which got me thinking about what I would take a photo of to show my perception of Russia. So far I think it would be a sofa bed covered in small coins. I think my idea needs some work. Suggestions?

So the biggest news of today is that my ankle looks like a tennis ball as it has swollen up after being bitten by a mosquito. They never used to like the way I tasted (and so I never got bitten) until last year when I got like 59 bites in one day after stupidly going into the woods without insect repellent on. Ever since then it seems I’ve been a lot tastier to the insects. Anyway, yesterday I was sat on my bed and suddenly realised that one of my ankles was twice as big as the other. Gross. I don’t like it when my body does weird things. (Side note: MUM don’t worry, its ok.)

Summer has also arrived in Petrozavodsk and it is absolutely boiling outside! Russian weather always means I have to prepare thoroughly before leaving the house – in the winter I need to put about 12 layers of warm clothing on and in the summer I need to cover myself with insect repellent and sun cream. I hate burning so at the moment I have more cream on me than a Russian cake…