Like in all the best places on earth, the sun and warm weather brings out all the town crazy folk, and Russia ain't no exception. In celebration of summer and being able to, y'know, walk on the actual ground instead of on an inch of snow, there have been several 'summer tents' erected around the town. Here one may purchase cheap pints of Baltika and reasonably reliable food - ie. you can identify what you are eating. So, all this merryment has meant that all the people who hibernated in their homes over the winter months have now come out to play... I feel humbled when I see drunk middleaged couples dancing cheek to cheek in a dirty beer tent whilst the karaoke singers entertain them. There's drunkeness sure but none of that nastyness that you see in big towns in the north west of England *('surely you don't mean Manchester?' say the readers)* There's no girls sobbing on the side of the pavements, no sick, no men brawling over taxis... it's quite pleasant really. And the Baltika's good!

I have had a lesson with the little devils and, as expected, they haven't changed. There was the usual pencil throwing, head banging, screetching, jumping, climbing etc etc... but this time I'm not stressed, I don't care! They gave the teacher who took my lessons while I was away a hard time too, she came up with a nickname for them too and it wasn't dissimilar to mine.

I don't have many lessons this week but I have to be careful bacause this time I'm on a real Russian wage (that means I get about 160 pounds a month) but I realised that even if I work only 20 hours a week I'd still get paid more than a fully qualified doctor in this country. So really I have a very good deal, especially considering the Baltika is the equivalent of one pound... haha!