Friday the snow flutters started and the temperature dropped to -2 C. I walked to the bus stop as I wanted to go shopping and waited in the freezing cold for ages for the bus that never came! I finally took a taxi to the shops and managed to get a bus back. This is the second time it's happened to me where a taxi has actually stopped to tell me there is no bus. There is a bus time table but at every stop it's different so I'm not really sure which one is corre...

My name has been changed to "Mitsa!" Because the majority of Russian names end in "a", they find it hard to remember that my name ends in "i". It's not only the kids, but the teachers as well that call me "Mitsa!" I have everyone call me at least six times before I actually reply. It takes a while for me to realise they're atually wanting to speak to me. One little boy in the big group, Kirill, calls me Mitzi and its quite cute when one of the other children ...

I have now figured out exactly where the other two schools are and where they are in relation to my school and to Moscow City Centre. I now go to those two schools on a Monday and a Friday. I have a super hyperactive 5 year old little boy, Andre. He cannot sit still for more than two minutes and wants to fiddle and touch and feel everything. I teach in one of the classrooms at this school which is actually quite annoying as teachers and pupils walk in and out...

I decided that going into Moscow for day trips and only being able to spend 3-4 hours in the city is ridiculous so I went in for the entire weekend and found a lovely hotel near Arbatskaya Metro Station, Element Hotel. Apparently every room is different. My room was a lime green. Very nice and calming. The hotel does not have a dining room so breakfast is served in the room. I don't recall when last I had breakfast in bed! It was wonderful. A pity I had to...

I'm starting to settle in nicely although communicating with the other teachers is still not possible and we're still having to use sign language. I have picked up so many words mainly from the children. After them using the word a few times, I've managed to figure out what it means. Everytime I walked into the really little kiddies classroom, they would come running to me saying "ya khochu puzzle." It took a few times of them saying this to me for me to reali...