Russian Billiards

Lost the last 2 posts on here for some strange reason....

Cat Stevens wrote a song about Friday night - ooh no - saturday night and I aint got... well it was one day earlier here. that's my justification - sue me.

I finished my class and for a change it was only Mary Ann and I to close up. She was meeting her boyfirned - 'Coconut-head' at midnight after he finished his night out with the boys or his wife or another girl... siiiiigh. So I said - lets have a beer and a chat and sooooo weee did. She was off her face on a pint and chatty as a windchime...

The new teacher arrived today and I must admit had the first impression of a dish cloth eminate... a 65 year old kiwi from Brissy... He dyes his hair for gods sake... I am aloooone soo so sooo aloooone... 'cept for the skipper...

Ginger worked her ass off his week and was wearing it too (her ass), my boss got married and told no one. Farkin odd one that one and now we all know, (through gossip) we are a more that a little ticked she could not even tell us... she is a twistered sister that is fo sho...

Obi happy to be outta moscow ta-morra!

Its All Happening!

Fridays here are funny days. I have the whole day off except for a class at 7 - 9.30pm... prime social time. Oh well, it is a small price to pay...I have not wanted to move off the sofa today. I just wanted to stay in bed all day. I stayed up far too late last night.

I made a nice meal for the skipper and I and he got home quite late so we watched The Usual Suspects on my laptop and then went to bed. Last nights Business class was good as usual, but I think I will have to change direction with that class. I have had a persistent headache for days and it is tiring me.
Been in contact with some old California highs school friends of late. Tho I am still worried about The Mr Douglas, I would love an email telling me what the lowdown is...

Maybe Mr Douglas would like to visit me again, same guy - different country. Hehe.I quite liked the real McCoy bar I met the Fatman and Nick and Chris at, but by the time I got there they were well hammered, and there was no way to catch up to them. I have some photos of the night fellas, so email me and I can zip em and send em...What else can I tell you? My first adventure in another city this weekend! That will be great!

Special Hello to the Gaijin Girl - it was nice to see the pics of you and the fatman in Japan!
Obi needs a shave an a haircut - 10cents!

Late September

Last weekend I went to ARBAT with a new friend (name wif-held), she is chatty and loves to talk in English and I must say her fluency is remarkable, but after Japanese for lunch and 4 hours of walking through streets and seeing sights the light in her eyes was justifiably fading...

She made me walk for at least 15km and by the end of the day I was exhausted.

My Lovely niece got my message to get my mum and dad up to speed on the whole email and internet chatting thing, so now they can communicate with me at any time... That lil TJ is a pearler!

All is quiet here and I must say that I will be happy when the new teacher arrives. He is another Aussie but nigh on double my age, so we'll see how much in common we have... VB maybe...

I must say I need to structure my time a little more effectively, it does take an hour to get to work and I usually don't start til 4pm, but I am wasting most of the day and morning when I could we washing cleaning shopping emailing or other worthwhile activies...

Unlike another teacher whom I am in contact, Gary, I don't report the weather each time I write a blog - tho I just might start... I send out a hello to him and ask him to drop me a line now he is back in Britian.

The Fatman should be calling me in the next 24 hours. I am keen to see a familiar face and fill it with beer and jagermeister! HA!!

I just heard a great Russian Proverb - "There is no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." I like it.

I have read a litlle or Alain DeBotton and I must say I crave his words at present... Sure it could be called Pop Philosphy, but I like a light read that guides me to structure deeper thoughts. I was surprised to discover he had written a few novels. Any comments on him, his writing or his hairstyle are welcome...

I had a cancelled class today. That is fine with me, I get to dawdle at work and write my blog. Sure i got the internet connected at home but I find I just download files and chat there - nothing overly structured or contributing to me being a better teacher, which for me is the number one priority.

Next Saturday I am off on a personal invitation to see Tolstoy's Estate. A fellow teacher - The skipper knows the current heir's personal secretary. so I get an invite on long coat tails! NOICE!

Obi's got more culture than a 200ml Youghurt container!

The Low Downski

I am sorry to all for not posting as often or as well or as detailed as I could/should...

But please bear with me...

This posting is dedicated to the fatman... I am looking forward to seeing you soon and sharing a brew...

The low down...

Peace to mah peeeps in the nose bleed section

Is There A Good Reason To Learn English?

A funny thing happened on the way to the llama rodeo

Hello dear readers... Thanks for popping by.

I would like to tell you a little about me - I am an ESL teacher in Russia and new to the field of endeavour. I am lucky to have the patience and skill of the skipper to sail the choppy seas of the grammatic straits and the deep waters of english.

The Skipper is a relaxed fellow with a positive disposition. He has been teaching English for the last 8 years here and there and has been in Russia now for 12 months. I share a little grass hut with him and together we are a lean mean English machine.

Lovee is the shy boss to us all and does not speak to often but when encouraged can chat for hours. She has many things on her mind at present and so do I. We first met and shot each other. something like that bonds people I think... long story.

Thurston is the the rarely seen but devoted partner of our beloved boss. a chatty fellow with lots of energy.

MaryAnn is the hub on the office and is always busy with something, she is a flirtatious and gregarious angel that mans the front lines and deals with both students and organising staff alike... speak english at a mile a minute and is very chatty.

Ginger is another story. She is rather reserved and conserative. She is a quiet achiever in the office and deals with other matters usually, I find her desk close to mind and that we chat often, she thinks I am strange in a good way and I think she has a dry sense of humour.

The Professor I have yet to meet, he is the senior fellow around these parts and been teaching now for many a moon, tho at present, his guidance and direction are sorely missed by all at the school. He has personal matters to attend to and we wish him well.

Where do I fit into this bunch of coconuts... Well I am the skinny red shirted fellow - luckily not a star trek red shirt sort, more than tripping over his own feet kind of guy.

The New Brunette

slept badly again and so wacked dreams. woke up and decided what I am gonna teach Ilona... just gotta put the lesson together - something very different. music and interpretation...

outta bed at 11.30 - collected my dry cleaning with much bother coz I did not have the reciept. had to cosign my documents that my visa to get to moscow! so I can look respectable now at work. Just gotta walk the walk now...

2pm - sms from Mary Anne - she has gone flying with her man and will be back in town later tonight. okay I thought. sms back and said call me when you have finished flying and we will go out. it is now 11.30 pm - can confidently say that I have been fucked over.

mental notes made and saved to hard drive...

So DVD day again and beers again and now Dr Who on DVD. Tomorrow - shopping for vegies and making a nice meal or 3 for the week. thru all the beels and whistles, flowers and candy - I am still standing tall in the solitude... well at least the bull dust has cleared.

Peace from the New Moscovite = (greetings to the new brunette)

Practical Magic

Slepted in as much as I could though it wasnt much and i felt puffy around the eyes

Spent some time dawdeling on the net and looking for resources and emailing, shits me my parents are not on the net or at home for that matter - it will be weeks before they get home and eons before they work out whatt he hell to do about email.

all I had to do was teach Business english to a level I did not know even tho they had been evaluated before I got there, so I just went with an open mind and a few extra lesson plans. 90 minutes and down at Volgogradskaya.

Obi - meet Grindstone...

Sleep O Death

woke up reluctantly at 8am and i didn't like it. I had to get the place ready for the owners inspection. Phil was gone and so I was there to face the music alone. she didnt kn ock, in fact she staarted unlocking the door herself, lucky I heard her coming because i quickly unlocked it from the inside and opened the door and said - Dobi Ootre. she introduced herself in russian and started around the place looking in cupbaords and general busy body stuff. Phil came home and when she left we had a nice cup of tea and a ham sandwich. It aint wonderbread but hey - it sure close and damn hard to find...

off to work on the 47 tram, Phillip had most of the day off but he still took me to the stop. I jumped on the tram, 15 roubles (50 c) and took the arduous journey to the campus I was teaching at. I did not havet he code for the door there so I had to get attention thru the window. I was expecting a conversation class for Olga and Pavel, but only pavel showed up. so 2 1/2 hours with a guy I didnt know at a level I did not know and text I did not know. He and turned out had a great time, he was pre intermediate but wanted to do business english after that course. So that was the last of Summer's classes there. 12.30 I took a walk in the rain and then the train to work, found my way no problem.

exhausted - I hung around at work all day - didnt do much except prepare the plan for summrs last evening class. Summer was a previous teacher that split suddenly last week, dunno the details. don't care really.

went to a late lunch with the Office administrator, Veronika. She speaks english almost flawlessly, quite the fun chatter and we talked about a few things I had seen in moscow that week. back to work and Julia had organised my internet connection for me nad it will be insatlled Sept 4th! I was so happy I almost hugged her.

I had to assess a new student today, 2 actually. a 9 year old girl sweet as a button and shy. Her brother Igor was in the lobby as she sat the test - seems he went to australia and wants to study at townsville university. excellent english - but as he kept saying between laughing and chatting - ' I haate english" - yeah right...

Assessed another lawyer who was super keen but was at pre intermediate. seemd okay but we will see.


The conversation class started and students to teh number of 5 dribbled in for their last conversation class of 8. I played guess the celebrity and some idioms and phrasal verbs and if a discussion began in the class I would encourage it between the students.

sashlick and beer

came home and fixed Phil's laptop - put office on it as well and he was so happy! We watched Dr Who (which he avidly LOVES) I bought a pirate copy of superman which I was adamant that must be in english - NOPE. there goes 120R

sleep -

Obi Outta tooown

The Laaag Baby The Laaaaaaag....

Needed the sleep had a bad nights sleep. up too many times. my bed is the cause. the dust in my room is making my eyes sore in the morning and sore throat.

Wore jeans into work and dawdeled around all day really, I had nothing to do so check my emails and emailed everyone I knew chatted and laughed with Yulia and had a few people to interview for the new courses next week.

I have a full 30 hour timetable, some of which includes Ilona - my boss - no need to be assessed every 6 months, oh no - she'll have hawk eyes on me as a student and a boss.

Mary Anne - (Gillian's Island) missed her lunch as so, as the nice fella I am I went to the Bellini stand and bought her a ham and cheese and a nice cold ice tea. the office is a humid place. we had one person at 6.15 to wait for and she didnt turn up. Veronika and Ichatted more and hse asked me if I was not busy for moscow day, I agreed to meet her the next day.

Phillip took off to Tula to see his sweetie and have a romantic weekend and I am here all alone. at least the Proodukti very close by and so I have had a steady supply of beer and what every I can discover is eatable.

DVDs, beer and sleep