This past week has been great.  I finally discovered where the metro stop was and it is only a five minute walk if you cut through the estates.  Although the estates look a bit dull and unkempt, they all have playgrounds in the middle of them and with not one bit of graffiti on them and outside courts.  

I have made some friends this week.  On Tuesday I decided to go and speak to the concierge in the apartment block but he doesn't speak any English so he rang for someone who could and it was a delightful lady called Irina who is a part time primary school teacher.  She should be retired but says she can't afford to.  She lives on the sixth floor with her husband who is a journalist and writes about the military.  I also met her daughter who was very helpful in setting up my Russian mobile phone in English.   

For the past weeks in the run up to Moscow I have been on an website called Expat.ru.  It has been a useful sight to get a rough idea of what life in Moscow is like for the ex pat.  One of the frequent posters asked if I could bring out some Smarties for him.  He happens to work in a pub called 'Booze Bub'.  So on Thursday I decided to go and find it.  This required a bit of skill using the metro as I had to change lines but I had drawn the directions to the place on a scrap of paper with the address on it and lo and behold I found it the first time!! I was then in the bar introduced to a few other expats, an American, Aussie and a fellow Brit  (walked into a bar) who said I was the first English girl he had spoken to in the 2 years of he had been living in Moscow. The Yank and Aussie are married to Russian ladies  and the Brit is engaged to one.  They work in the field of oil, support service and I didn't catch what my fellow Brit did.  

Teaching has been great this week but L is tired as she is back at school.  The amount of hours I have done this week is a grand total of 6hrs so far and with the possibility of up to eight hours tomorrow means that potentially I will have only worked a maximum of 14hrs this week!! Compared to the stupid number of hours I worked as a housemistress; this is like a dream.  

The weather is getting colder so hopefully I can bring my long coat out of retirement and get lots of use out of it.