The First Snows

Goodness, is that the time? I must have been longer than I thought. Let me fill you in on a few more details of this curious lifestyle I have adopted.
I have moved house. This has been a great enhancement of my lifestyle as I now live just fifteen minutes walk from the city centre, with all that it offers. The culmination of several factors precipitated the decision to move, with two other friends, into our own place. Firstly, I previously lived 25 minutes' metro ride out of town, in a shoddy suburb. This may not sound too bad, but the last metro home leaves at 12.30am, and on numerous occasion s I have run along Nevsky Prospect in a rush to catch the last train. One day I didn't make it and the ensuing three hour walk in cold (but cool by Russian standards- about 0 centigrade) was not much fun. Secondly, the rent was quite high for the space and service we recieved. Although the old babushkas were not too bad, and could more or less cook, they were a little oppressive, and fuss too much. After an incident involving a rather late night, beer, a film, and a kantankerous old bat, me and my neighbour decided to look for another residence. With another friend roped in and the grand total brought to three, we could easily split the rent for a reasonable appartment and pay less than before. And so it was. After a week of hunting, with the help of a few agencies, we saw a number of very different appartments and settled for a modern style place very near a metro station which was great for all of us. It is also walking distance from our language school, so even more money is saved on transport. It is much more fun. The jaccuzzi bath is also enough to provoke jealousy from various friends....... So I am now resident on Moskovsky Prospect. I moved all my belongings out over one weekend, and on the Saturday afternoon when I left the building the first flakes of snow were whirling through the trees in the wind. Russia just got a bit more Russian.
The other great development was the offer of a permenant job at one of the schools I teach at, in Pushkin. It would allow me to teach from January 'til June next year, after my return from teaching in Finland over the Christmas holiday, which was another great opportunity that I have taken. Hopefully I will be able to persuade my university to accept the proposal to change course, and I will be able to take the job in Pushkin. Fingers crossed! Apart from that I'm working in several schools a few days a week, teaching a managing director a couple of (early) mornings, and a girl from the university at the weekends. The latter is strictly professional- I need the money. I may look for a little more work for extra beer money. Russian study seems to be something of a sideline, but I naturally speak plenty in everyday situations, which is more practical than lessons, and I can learn slang. Everything is going well.
Last weekend two friends from Moscow came over for the weekend. Coming home early one morning from a club (enjoying this new possibility) we were confronted by a tall Russian guy dressed in balck jeans and a black 'puffa' jacket. He heard us speaking in English and came up to chat a bit. I was very uninterested and just fired German words at him, and consequently recieved little attention. One friend, however, was less cautious. After the Russian asked whether anyone knew any judo, my friend said yes- quite honestly- and was then 'invited' to practice some moves. A few seconds later, and a few loose comments later, he apparently lost interest and walked away, leaving us somewhat surprised. It didn't take my friend long to realise that his 'phone had disappreared, and we rapidly engaged the guy who we figured had stolen it. We grabbed his arm as a car pulled up and he attempted to get in. Not being exactly sure what had happened we were a little cautious until he really just sat firmly down in the car and looked very guilty and eager to leave. The car set off briskly down the street, but I wasn't giving up so easily. Holding the door of the car open with one hand, and the roof with the other, I ran beside the car for some distance, shouting at the driver and trying to remember what few Russian expletives I know. eventually, as the car gained pace, I had to let go, but to no avail. They weren't going to stop. With a last shout I spun around to see where my friends had got to, and saw a police car pull out from where it must have been casually observing the goings on, and roar off up the street in pursuit of the thieves. By the time I had run to the end of the street the two cars had disappeared, possibly to settle their differences in a less conspicuous place. The police here are quite corrupt, and will take cuts of theives' profits. Mobile phones are apparently very popular among the tea leaves of the streets these days. Speaking for myself, I'm ringing off...