This Thursday was HIV testing day. Apparently, and I say
apparently because our friends in St. Petersburg didn’t need another one, you
need this to be able to extend your student visa. It only lasts for 90 days so
we have to get it made longer and you have to not have HIV to do this. Some of
us were excited at the prospect of missing a little bit of class, and some of
us terrified at the thought of blood being withdrawn from our arms. I was a
mixture of both, not pleased that Sasha was going to make us return for the
rest of the lesson after such an ordeal. We all boarded a bus and made our way
to some dodgy part of town, chocolate being handed out for morale.
This is the place we were taken to, not a valid medical
institution on any level but apparently we still have to let someone put a
needle in our arm here and pay them for the pleasure. A nice little £19. Not
too excessive but then it’s another £20 to extend the visa and then £6 to buy
Russian insurance that we apparently have to have. I’m not entirely sure this
is true so I didn’t pay but they forced a certificate on me anyways. This place also had me questionning whether we
were being tested for HIV or injected with it. Inside it was perhaps a little
more hygenic, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough.
 |
| Medical Centre?? Brothel?? |
The weather’s been funny this week. It’s either really
really cold or pretty pleasant, like it can’t make up it’s mind whether it
wants to snow or give us tans. There was the most delicate sprinkling of snow
on Thursday night. Just a light dusting and it didn’t settle and you couldn’t
really see it unless you were outside, but it was there and it was a nice
reminder of the sub-zero degree time we have ahead of us.
Me and Olivia popped into the Sportsmaster in the shopping
centre, Maksi, and discovered that children’s shoes go up to a size 38 which is
a UK 5. This was a nice surprise as the boots come in an array of bright
colours and are half the price of adults’ shoes. Definitely excited to make a
nice purchase of those when the time comes and the snow cascades.
We’re in the process of booking for our reading week which
is on November 1st. We’re heading to St.Petersburg and Moscow on a
series of overnight trains which is actually cheaper than spending the night in
a hostel. Half the time in each place and it’s all very exciting! We should get
to see all our friends from Sheffield as we all converge on the 2 main cities
for exciting times full of culture and tacky souvenirs. I’ve already bought a
jigsaw magnet of the 1000 ruble note to take home with me. I’ve actually bought
5 and I’ll dole them out the next time we see the family.
On Tuesday me, Maddy, Olivia and Robin have this
presentation to do for this English class of 14-15 year olds. I’ve chosen to do
about Will & Kate because honestly, who doesn’t have an unhealthy obsession
with them? Apparently they’ve also planned a concert for us filled with English
songs. I’m pretty darn excited to see this. Plus their teacher’s been telling
me how excited they are to see us. I feel like this may not be true, it’s just
an excuse to get out of class for a while isn’t it. So we have to be all
excited and speak English that they won’t understand and don’t care about for
free? Remind me why I said yes again.....
I may potentially also have a new tutoring client. Some lady is a teacher herself but wants some speaking practice. She didn't sound too sure on whether or not she actually wanted me so I have my trial with her on Monday. I was like trial???? You know what lady, you're on trial. If you're not a good student I'll dump you. Works both ways, K? But once again, she is paying me so I'll keep the sass down to a minimum.
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