Poem?

I usually write a poem.

If I didn’t would you care?

One about the Russia bear,

How it crushed my bedroom chair,

Making me suddenly aware

Of how I must take care

When going to the fair,

And seeing animals at te-

-rribly good prices.

 

 

Well hello. It’s been about three weeks since we got back from our little jaunt in the Kavkas and it’s been a bit of a bother having to go back to university and the comparative ugliness of Voronezh. However, needs must.

 

We’ve hit a bit of a wall since we returned. A high wall. A wall of boredom. The wall is made of old bricks, it is crumbly and not completely impervious to blows of interest, but it hangs around us just enough to annoy us most days. One of my friends back home asked me why I was bored in Russia and I responded as follows:

“Russia is not boring, Russia is fantastic and I wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything. Voronezh is not the best. Imagine being in Reading (or any large town, smelly dusty, etc) where no one speaks your language, nothing is written in your language, there isn’t that much to do, people don’t really communicate to you and it is an effort to get anywhere other than Reading”.

“Oh” he replied.

 

Don’t get me wrong, I am still having a good time, but we have been here approaching three months now and have done most things that would interest us. Many days whisper away into an indefinable mess of reading, drinking and ruminating over how very much we love and miss our beloved England.

The wall however has been punctured by some defiant clubs and hammers of the students here. Some have escaped to Moscow and Kiev, some to Holland and England. I myself intend to kick through a gap in the bricks and sneak off to the capital after my birthday in a week and a bit.

Smaller bullets and pellets have also peppered the wall of boredom the last few weeks to provide some small windows that allow dusty light beams of curiosity and diversion to stream through while many of us count the days until we say goodbye to the motherland.

Shortly after we got back to Voronezh from our trip, Anne White – our lecturer – visited us, which was nice. We met up with her in small groups of two and discussed how we were getting along, what we spent our time doing, how we found university and what we were planning for our projects. My own topic is ‘To what extent is there a difference amongst leisure pursuits between the younger and older generations in Voronezh?’ or something like that. And that will be 3000 Russian words thank you very much!

Shoot me now.

 

I also had my hair cut with the help of a Russian lady friend, which although not exactly fun, was quite an experience. For seven pounds the salon cut my hair quite respectively. Something that led me to chuckle slightly was that the name of the place was Фея, which in Russian means fairy. Now that little Cyrillic word I just wrote is spelt, in English, as Fea. Now, and this is what caused the slightly pathetic chuckle, fea in Spanish is the feminine form of the word ugly. Now isn’t that ironic…ish.

 

A larger hole was temporarily punched through the wall of boredom in the form of the День Победы (Dyen Pobedy), which is Victory Day – 9^th May. Russia, to be blunt, goes a bit overboard on this day. It’s fair enough I suppose, given that they won the war. From 11 o’clock there was a big parade of the infantry prowess on Lenin square (bespattered with tanks and old veterans) for forty minutes, which I struggled to see and photo due to the hundreds of people – such is the unluckiness of the cameraman. Then more processions down the main large street that runs through the town centre – Prospect Revolutsia. This road was closed off from traffic so one could stroll down it. Revolutsia is probably a couple of kilometers long and down it were many small stages where people danced and sang (the oldies dancing the waltz in front of a brass band was quite a sight), stalls that sold tat (my friend Nicky bought a red balloon that I tied to her wrist so I could spot her in the crowd), stalls that sold shashlik (the barbecued meat) and old world war portable canteens that gave out free food to those who waited. The food consisted of buck wheat, a bit of meat, some bread and tea with a healthy, optional splash of vodka to warm the cockles.

 

Quick V-day note: It is customary on this day for the ancient war veterans to bring out their old uniforms covered with medals and awards and walk around, often with equally ancient ladies on their arms. It is then also customary for families and their children to walk around with bunches of little flowers that they hand out to the veterans with words of thanks and praise.

 

In the evening, which greeted us with an enormous rain storm, there were more concerts and also some rather good fireworks down by one of the many squares.

 

There are hundreds more little nuances and sights that we saw during the day and that I could write about, but let’s move on shall we.

 

Another themed day was our, more or less (with the presence of one girl who lived in the house), Boy Day. This was the four guys – me, Tom, Chris and Sean – watching boy films, eating crap food and drinking beer on our day off. We started early. Tom and I purchased unhealthy supplies in the rain from a kiosk, met Sean at the base of his flat and took the lift up to the ninth floor. We woke Chris to incredulous exclamations of our arrival time – he not having been informed of it. We started comfortably with some BBC World in the kitchen, as well as sampling some 16 yr old Marmite that was found in their fridge. On opening we gazed upon the hard, set wax like cats who’ve found a new moving thing in front of them.

What to do? What to do?

What? Yes! Good idea.

Microwave. Burnt smell. Tar-like substance on bread. Not trying that again. Back in fridge.

 

START PROGRAM

Phase 1: Film//TOPGUN, Victuals//CRISPS + CHOCOLATE, Beverage//CARLSBERG

 

Phase 2: Film//LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS, Victuals//CRISPS, Beverage//CARLSBERG, BALTIKA-7

 

Inter-phase – Increasing purchases.

 

Phase 3: Film//SNATCH, Victuals//PISTACHIOS, Beverage//CARLSBERG, BALTIKA-7, TUBORG GREEN

 

Inter-phase – Slight increase in purchases + drunken play-fighting

 

Phase 4: Film//FIGHT CLUB, Victuals//PISTACHIOS, CHOCOLATE, Beverage//CARLSBERG

 

END PROGRAM

 

Yes…not our finest moment of healthy living or making the most of our time. Neither was it a shining example of how to lead one’s life. But it was a lot of fun.

 

That’s more or less what has been going on for the last three weeks. Obviously we have continued with our university program, which fluctuates from useful and interesting to ‘where be the rope?’ Helen also received a package, after five weeks of waiting, from her mother that contained wondrous treasures. It included English snacks, some personal wants and importantly two series of Peep Show, some films and, most importantly a small jar of Marmite for yours truly. We have also, in stages, been bidding farewell to our Americans friends as they finish their time here. It is a shame they have to leave, as we may never see them again unless we visit them in the US, but that’s life as old blue eyes said.

 

Anyway, I shall leave it there.

 

I’m checking my karabiner right now, putting talcum powder on my hands, tightening my ropes and breathing long and deep, focusing my mind and readying my grip. I intend to climb this wall, get to the top, see the view and cross over for my last month or so here.

See you on the other side…I hope.