Week three without hot water (I managed to avoid most of it!)

Back in Moscow to find it covered in weird floaty, fluffy pollen things. It's the second coming of the snow! It's like someone blew a giant fluffy dandelion all over the city, bizarre and a nightmare for hay fever sufferers! Starting work on Monday, after not very academically challenging year it will be a major shock to the system to start working a 40 hour week. (Whaddya mean you want me to start before noon, that's outrageous!) But before then I'm studiously avoiding writing my essay, still, to the extent that I was on a jet ski this afternoon. As one does, dahling. My mum helpfully informed me that my insurance doesn't cover dangerous sports and to be careful. You gotta love the Moscow life.

I'm off to unpack the suitcase that is glaring at me in the middle of the room.

Apparently, according to one of our Russian friends who knows about this kind of stuff, I was probably bitten by a snake. Is it bad that I'm kind of proud about that? Can walk much better today, should make the 12 hours of travelling that much easier.

Home today for the first time in 5 months, YAY!

Passport...Check!
Tickets...Check!
Migration Card...Check!
Visa...Check!
Invitation Letter (to get visa to get back in)...Check!
Massively swollen foot...er...Check!


So some enterprising little insect bit me, THROUGH MY SOCK, on sunday. No biggy, I'm a mecca for biting insects, they love me. Yesterday I noticed that my foot was a little swollen and when I got back from picking up the necessary documents to get me out of the country and back in again, I noticed that it had gotten a lot more swollen. By 1 am last night, it was resembling the nutty professor's foot, before he took the potion. Olya and Anna went to the chemist for me to buy antihistamines at that stage (the legends) but by this morning it was still swelling and REALLY itchy. So off I hobbled to the 'European Medical Centre' (for that read ridiculously expensive money printing business), I was overtaken by a little old lady with a walking stick on my way, the shame. Later, with a sore ass (from an injection), a sore arm (from blood tests) and a sore credit card (231 euro for 20 minutes, nice work if you can get it!), I went to college to do my oral exam. On my way home I got a call from the doctor saying I had to come back in because my foot was infected and I need to go on a drip, cool. I've picked up the weirdest injuries this year...

And the moral of the story is... I should never, ever try to leave this country, something is bound to go wrong (see the visa fiasco in december for details!)

Week one without hot water....

My group of friends has split into two groups: the haves and the have-nots (hot water). The have-nots are split again into the subgroups of haves and have-nots (boilers). The have-nots who have boilers are the most self satisfied of the whole group while the the have-nots who have not share battle stories about hilarious scrapes with transporting boiling water from kitchen to bathroom, wearing copious amounts of perfume and always wearing their hair tied up. (for some reason all of my guy friends here have access to a boiler for when their hot water gets turned off so their little selves don't get too cold, it's a Russian conspiracy I tells ya!) Home in two days for a proper shower...yay!

Other things are actually happening in my life apart from the inadequate plumbing. Summer arrived very suddenly yesterday, it had been cold and rainy all week and then yesterday the temperature got up to 30 degrees and it was beeyootiful. We had amazing thunderstorms all last night as well. Went to a jazz festival with a minigarch (not quite an oligarch but well on his way) yesterday too, found out where all the Russians with fashion sense were hiding...

Day three without hot water...

Here's the method the ladies of the flat have adopted to maintain our usually clean selves.
Step 1. Boil water in every available vessel
Step 2. Enlist friendly flatmate to wash your hair, doing it yourself in a basin is just way to much hassle.
Step 3. Boil more water. Throw water in general direction of self and hope for the best.

I've started having dreams about showers.

It would be ok if it was the middle of summer and really warm. A cold shower might even be refreshing, as it is, the weather has been the wrong side of dry for the past few days and bloody cold. Who do I complain to about this, it's JUNE for crying out loud.

On the upside, we are finished all but one of our exams. We were supposed to do our oral today but the lecturer who was supposed to assist our deaf Russian teacher was missing, presumed drunk. If I don't get it done by tuesday I'll never get it done because this time next week I'll be home, busy eating my parents out of house and home, yay!

Day one without hot water......

Poor Olya forgot today and hopped into the shower and waited for the water to heat up, and waited and waited and waited. We are now bathing nomads, chatting up total strangers to see if they still have hot water and if we can shower in their place. Have ducky, will travel!

Luxury is a water boiler...

Somebody copied our idea!!! They will be hearing from our lawyers!







Our hot water gets shut off on monday, for three weeks. It's pretty standard in Russia, they shut off the water region by region for three weeks every summer. According to Olya, our resident Russian, it's because they have to replace the pipes every summer because they use cheap ones. Why a country with billions of dollars in excess oil revenue still has to do it is beyond me. So it'll be cold showers for us for the next three weeks (except I'll be in Dublin for ten days of that, nicely planned!) or else randomly call over to friends living in different regions with towel and rubber ducky under our arms.