Life in Nagoya – the first couple of weeks

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I cannot believe that I’ve been in Japan now for almost three weeks.  The time has flown as I’ve settled into my new life here, got back into the swing of teaching again and adjusted to working in a regular 9-6 job, something I haven’t done for two years.  And of course, I’ve spent the weekends exploring my surrounds with my camera.

I’m really enjoying living in Nagoya, a clean modern city of 2 million people, approximately 2 hours south of Tokyo by bullet train.  I came to Nagoya straight from Narita airport and then two days later, travelled back to Tokyo for the induction programme with the 100 or so other new teachers.   Then it was back to Nagoya and time to start earning my keep.

I’m teaching at Sugiyama University – an all-girls University, and am really enjoying my students.  They are so polite, they work hard and speak only in English for the entire lesson, unlike my Russian students!!!  I’m teaching English Conversation classes to approximately 40 students every day, so it’s a very different type of teaching from that which I did in Moscow or Istanbul.  The campus is lovely and set in a really nice part of Nagoya.

After two years living in Moscow and not teaching until late afternoon most days, I’m finding it a bit of a struggle adjusting to a job that requires my alarm to go off at 6.30am every day.  Rosie (my fabulous colleague who  teaches with me at Sugiyama) and I have a 15 minute walk to the subway station, then  we travel by subway for 30 minutes right across the city, and after a 10 minute walk up the hill at the other end we are there.  Our first class starts at 9.10am and we don’t finish until 6.10pm, although we do have some breaks during each day.

I decided it’s time to get fit again so I’ve joined the local council gym – at the grand price of NZ$18 (£9) per month. I’ve been going on alternate days after work, which means I don’t get home those days until about 8.30pm – a very long day.   Friday nights have so far been spent having a drink in a Japanese bar and catching up with other Westgate teachers here in Nagoya. Bars here are different from elsewhere – you have to take your shoes off at the entrance, and you’re escorted to a little booth  with a black curtain at the entrance way,  where you stay all night and order drinks and food on an electronic menu.

I’m living in a small single apartment in a block that also houses 3 other Westgate teachers.  My kitchen comprises a 2-burner element and a sink tucked into a recess in the entrance hallway.  I don’t have any bench at all, so I have to be very strategic in preparing and cooking my meals.  My bedroom is supposed to be in a loft up a ladder above the kitchen but I decided on my first day here that climbing up & down the ladder each time I got into or out of bed was asking for trouble, so I’ve pulled my futon & quilt from the loft down onto the floor in my living area.

One thing that frustrated me has been my inability to get a SIM card for my -iphone.  Unless you are Japanese or living here for 12 months or longer you cannot use your smart phone .  You cannot get a SIM card at all and contracts are for 12-24 months.   So  I decided to rent a Japanese phone in order to keep in touch with my family using SMS texts, only to find after I’d got it home, that I could not send SMS texts out of Japan.  Rosie and I have discovered however, that if you pre-register, you can use wifi at Starbucks, which has meant we’ve bought far more coffees there than I’d anticipated.  So I now have a Westgate phone (which can only be used to call school related numbers), an i-phone that only works if I’m in Starbucks and a rental phone that only works if I call someone locally.  Grrrr….

So what are the standout features of life that I’m enjoying here so far – tiny Japanese gardens with beautiful flowers, moss and sculpted trees tucked into handkerchief sized spaces in front of houses; toilets with heated seats with music; vending machines selling cold drinks on every corner of every street; immaculately clean streets without any litter; sunny hot days with a bit of a breeze; plastic models of meals on the menu in the windows of all the restaurants, amazing sushi and other wonderful Japanese food; and so many shops in Sakae selling fabulous funky clothing.

Yes, I’m working hard, but I’m having a great time living in this fascinating country.

After Moscow

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Its hard to believe that just over two months have passed since I left Moscow.

I spent the first month based in a cold, miserable London with Katie, Fran and Amara.    I caught up with a number of special friends, drank many decaffeinated cappuccinos (no decaf in Moscow!) and enjoyed helping Katie who is now working part-time, and above all,  I just loved being GG (Grandma Glenda!!), especially in the middle of the night when Amara needed a cuddle.

It was really hard saying goodbye to my family and friends in the UK, as I’m unsure when I’ll next be back, but the sadness of leaving was softened with the fact that I would be spending a few days in Santa Barbara, California, with my sister Leanne and her husband Murray.

Life doesn’t always go according to plan.  While I was still in England, my mother took a tumble while walking her dog, resulting in a broken ankle, crutches, wheelchair and moon-boot.  Leanne was able to fly home to NZ to care for her during my last week in London and so got back to California a day after I’d arrived.

After a long Russian winter and a miserable spring in the UK,  I soaked up the beauty and sunshine of Santa Barbara and enjoyed exploring the lovely little towns nearby with Leanne.  It was fabulous to walk along the beach each day while Dahlia their dog, spent her time racing in and out of the surf retrieving a tennis ball.  Santa Barbara is gorgeous with blue skies, spanish architecture only and lovely surf beaches.  All too soon it was time to board NZ1 and head back to Auckland after 20 months away.

My time in Auckland has been really busy and very special.  I’m so pleased I’ve been here  able to look after Mum as her leg healed, (the wheelchair, crutches and moon-boot are now all gone) and of course I got to know my beautiful new  grandson James, who was born 10 days before I arrived.  Its been a special time with Teresa, Tim and James and I’ve loved supporting Tere as she adjusts to sleepless nights and the demands of a brand new baby.  I’ve also caught up with friends and other family members over the past month, so its been a really fabulous time.

As well as spending time with those I love and care for, I’ve enjoyed the beauty of Auckland as I’ve walked Mum’s dog each day in Cornwall Park or walked and relaxed on Auckland beaches on both coasts.  I’ve soaked up the warmth and blue skies that have dominated an unbelievable long hot summer and now in this last week, I’m ‘enjoying’ the autumn rains that seem to have settled over Auckland.

Now after 8 weeks of rest and relaxation, its time to get back to work again.  On Tuesday I fly to Tokyo to start a three-month contract with Westgate Corporation.  After arriving at Narita airport, I”ll catch the bullet train for a two hour trip to Nagoya, a city of 2 million people.  I’ve been assigned to an all girls University where I’ll be teaching Conversational English.  My life will be very different from my time in Moscow as I’ll be teaching only at one University and not at a number of schools all across the city as I did in Moscow.  In Moscow, I mostly taught in the afternoons and evenings, whereas in Nagoya I’ll be working business hours – welcome to a morning alarm clock again Glenda…

Clearly the title of this blog ‘RussianKiwi ‘is no longer appropriate, but as I’ll be in Japan for three months only, its not worth setting up a new blog for such a short period of time.  So, in the meantime, I’ll keep using this blog to update you all on life of this ‘Japanese Kiwi’.

I’m looking forward to the challenge of living in a new country, exploring new places, experiencing a new culture, learning to function in another language and meeting new teachers and students.  I’m sure the first few days will be demanding but exciting, so I’ll keep you posted.

Last post from Moscow

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Apologies to everyone for the long delay since my post before Christmas, but here I am finally.  So what have I been up to…

I had a wonderful Christmas in Salamanca with Katie, Amara and Fran. Salamanca is a beautiful old Spanish city, and home to one of the oldest universities in the world. The sky was blue and for several days the temperature hovered around +15 degrees.  I felt as if I’d died and gone to heaven after the very cold weeks we’d had in Moscow.

It had been only 8 weeks since I last saw Amara, but I was surprised at how much she’d grown and developed into a very determined little person who was now walking and definitely has a mind of her own.

It was great to meet Fran’s parents, his brothers, their children (Amara’s Spanish cousins), and Fran’s extended family.  I arrived in Salamanca late afternoon on 22nd December and was immediately whisked off to a bar for tapas with Fran’s brothers, cousins and children.   For the next few days I felt as if I rolled from one meal or tapas to the next.

We celebrated Amara’s first birthday on 24th, with a big meal mid-afternoon followed by an enormous birthday cake.  In Spain, Christmas dinner is traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve, so although we’d already eaten a full dinner earlier, at 9pm we sat down to a five course meal that included soup, Iberian cold meats, roast piglet, prawns, spanish wine, champagne and dessert (as if we needed that!).

I was completely surprised the next day to learn that yes, the traditional Christmas dinner is on Christmas Eve, but nowadays everyone also eats a big meal on Christmas Day and so mid-afternoon we repeated the entire meal of the night before.  I think I ate more meat in those 24 hours than I’d eaten in the past 24 months! It was wonderful and I felt very privileged to be part of a Spanish family during their Christmas celebrations.

On 28th December, I flew to Rome where I stayed overnight before travelling to Florence by train.  I adored Florence. I visited art galleries, wandered through the streets and markets, ate and drank wonderful Italian food and wine and spent a lot of time taking photos.  I did a day trip to Cinque Terre – a group of five villages that run horizontally up the side of the coast on the Ligurian Sea. These villages were until recently, difficult to reach, so have changed little over the centuries.  I spent New Year’s Eve in Florence where there were 4 open air concerts playing round the city centre – classical, rock, folk and jazz.  From about 10pm onwards, young men were letting off quite frightening fireworks in the crowds so my goal when walking was to ensure I side stepped anything glowing on the ground!!!  At midnight, everyone opened bottles of spumante, poured glasses of bubbles and then once the bottles were empty, smashed them onto the ground. I’d never seen so much broken glass in my life.

The next day I took the train to Siena where I stayed for three days.   Another fascinating Italian city with just so much history. One day I visited and explored San Gimignano – a beautiful old Tuscan town.  After Siena, it was on to Venice – which was breathtaking.  Definitely has to be on everyone’s bucket list.  I was overwhelmed by the small streets to begin with and got lost frequently until I  worked out I just needed to know which bridge I was heading for and follow the signs.  My camera definitely had a good workout in Venice.

It was strange coming home to Moscow knowing I had just six weeks of teaching left. I finish my contract on Tuesday, and will leave on Friday with a head stuffed full of great memories of a fascinating country, interesting people, wonderful friends, students and travels.  I’ve had an amazing time.

I fly to London on Friday 15th, where I’ll be on grandmother duty in between whizzing round the UK catching up with friends.  On 19 March, I fly to Los Angeles and travel to Santa Barbara where my sister Leanne and her husband, Murray have just moved.  I haven’t seen them for a couple of years, so it will be fabulous to catch up again and see their now home town. I arrive back in Auckland on 27th March.  I’m very excited about seeing all my family and friends again, especially my first little grandson who should arrive in Auckland about the same time as I do!!

For those of you in Auckland who are interested in catching up, I’d love to see you, so let me know and we can arrange a time/place.

What next?  I’ll be in Auckland from the end of March and all of April before flying to Japan where I’ll be teaching until mid-July at a University Summer programme.  After that, I have no idea ….

Moscow Winter – here we go again…

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During the last few weeks in Moscow, we have slowly slid from Autumn  into Winter.  The days in early October were lovely clear, cool and sunny, but these gave way to rain later in the month and during much of November – it was utterly depressing.  Last week the snow finally arrived and although we had a few rogue days where the temperature rose above zero and it rained, the thermometer is now finally heading in the right direction.  It was lovely to wake up this morning to a clear blue sky and -6 degrees.  Beautiful….

One of the things I love about Moscow is that it’s a city full of art galleries and theatres.   Russians are passionate about the theatre and going to see a play is often preferred to going to the movies.   Little kiosks selling theatre tickets at reasonable prices are scattered everywhere in the central city and ever and since I’ve been here I’ve been keen to go.   So given that my Russian is rudimentary, I was thrilled to discover that the Royal Shakespeare Company was coming to town to play Julius Ceasar.  It would be in English with Russian subtitles on two screens showing on boards at the sides of the stage.

I went with three other teachers – two of whom are Russian.  The theatre itself was gorgeous It was very intimate and beautifully fitted out in an art deco style.   The performance was magnificent – the story was set in Africa and all the actors were black. They were amazing and it was a real treat watching such accomplished actors perform.  During the interval, I was surprised to find that small cups of coffee and tea were provided free of charge to everyone. Overall it was a fabulous night and another Russian experience to put in my memory bank.

One of the things I love about teaching English in Moscow is that I get to hang out with lots of interesting teachers from all over the world.  A couple of weeks ago, two American friends hosted a Thanksgiving Dinner for about 20 people.  It was amazing. Their oven works – unlike our ancient gas oven which is far too dangerous to use – so for the main course I enjoyed roast turkey and all sorts of vegetable dishes that I’d never eaten before.  Then there was dessert, which Americans excel at – pumpkin pie, apple pie and all sorts of lovely Russian cakes.  Because my daily diet contains none of the above, I was a bit of a glutton and could barely move after I’d finished.

This year, along with most of my friends, I won’t be in Moscow for Christmas, so we’ve decided to have an early Christmas Dinner on Sunday.  I’m looking forwards to the food and the company, and will try not to over-indulge this time.

So where will I be for Christmas?  I’m going to have a Spanish Christmas in Salamanca with Katie, Amara and Fran, and his family who live there.  I’m really looking forwards to meeting Fran’s parents, his two brothers and their families.

I fly to Madrid on the 22nd December then take a bus to Salamanca where I’ll stay in a small pension near Fran’s parents until 28thDecember.  I’m excited about this trip because Amara’s first birthday is on the 24th and then Christmas celebrations start that night with a huge meal at midnight.  Amara is now walking, so it will be fabulous to see her again, although this time I’ll have to share my little girl with her other grandparents.

Because Russian New Year Holidays run from 1-8 January, I decided to go to Italy for the remainder of the holiday season, rather than return to Moscow and rattle round here on my own.  I will fly to Rome on 28th and then spend the next ten days exploring Florence, Siena, Venice and their surrounds.  I can’t wait.

So that’s it for me for the next few weeks.

I’ve really loved getting emails and Facebook messages from so many of you – thank you so much.  Its a wonderful world we live in where we can communicate so easily over such vast distances.

Finally, I’d like to wish you all a really special Christmas and a Wonderful New Year.

London again – unexpectedly

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One evening late in September, my lovely daughter Katie announced that she and Fran were getting married.   Lovely I thought until she told me the date – the end of October.  Wow, I had four weeks to re-arrange things here, organise leave, find a dress, book flights and get myself to London.  I managed to find a dress I liked and could afford – most clothes shops for ‘women of a certain age’ assume  you have a bank account that stretches to designer European dresses.

My trip to London was on S7 (Russian airline) via Kiev where I connected with BA & flew to Heathrow.  I knew it was going to be a problematic trip when the check-in man at Domododevo Airport said to me as my bag disappeared down the bag beltway, ‘I’ve checked it through to Kiev, you have to collect it there.’

‘But I’m not going to Kiev, I don’t have a visa, I’m going to London’

He adopted that unhelpful Russian look and replied, ‘I’ve checked it to Kiev, you have to collect it there.  Next please,’ he called to the person next in line.

Once we took off,I tried to remain calm regarding my bag, but things weren’t helped when I heard the sound of phones being turned on all through the cabin as our plane was on its final descent and approach into a grey foggy Kiev with minimal visibility.  We were landing for heavens sake – the most dangerous time when pilots on all other airlines insist on no radio interference.  Apparently this isn’t a problem for Russian airlines!!!! Our wheels were barely on the ground and the engines were still in reverse thrust when people started standing up and opening the lockers.  The cabin crew asked a couple of people to sit, but with the entire plane load starting to stand and open lockers, the crew gave up and sat back themselves back down!!!!

Once in the terminal at Kiev I was rushed by van to another terminal after telling the woman at Transfer I needed to get my bag.  No problem she told me, but I knew differently.  The van drew up at a kerbside, the driver pointed to a glass door and as soon as I’d got out and shut the door he was off.  I went through the door to discover myself in an empty half-completed waiting room smelling of newly poured concrete.  There was a partially constructed staircase to one side.  A couple of workmen were smoking so I tried asking them for directions, but they just shrugged and ignored me.  Great, so not only had I lost my luggage but I was now somewhere in partly completed airport in a country I had no visa for.

Since the staircase was the only option that looked remotely useful I picked my way up it avoiding the missing bits and was pleasantly surprised to find myself in an empty but completed customs hall.  I eventually found a man who knew where I needed to go.  He asked me about luggage so I told him my bag had been checked to Kiev and I needed to get it.  He started to tell me off for not checking it through to London and that’s when I lost the plot and started telling him what I thought of S7 and what I expected him to do.   He made a few calls and told me it was impossible as the flight was ready to depart.  I was the last person to board my BA flight – the cabin crew were wonderful and made all the right sympathetic noises as I tried to calm down after the discussion I’d just had. The cabin door remained open for quite a while, then suddenly a baggage handler came on board, located me, gave me a baggage chit and told me they’d found my bag and it was on-board.  He left, the door was closed and we were off.  I drank a couple of small bottles of lovely French wine and enjoyed BA hospitality.

Once through Immigration at Heathrow I raced confidently down to the carousel and waited, and waited and waited.  No suitcase!!!   The man at luggage was amazingly helpful, located my suitcase on his computer in the blink of an eye and told me it had been put it in storage in Kiev.  Goodness knows who’s bag had been on the flight to London.  He assured me I’d have it by the next day, which I did.  A bonus of it all was that I didn’t need to drag my suitcase up and down stairs at Earls Court or East Putney Tube station.  Welcome to London.

It was wonderful seeing Katie, Amara and Fran again.  I couldn’t get over how much Amara had grown and developed.  Everyone was tired as Katie had recently started work three days a week and Amara had started nursery which had resulted in her having endless colds and a nasty ear infection that she was still getting over.  The bright side was, because she was unwell, I got lots of cuddles from the usually busy Amara.

One evening I had a wonderful time catching up with John and Molly Bedingfield, friends from Hillsborough days who I hadn’t seen for nearly thirty years.   Molly is the founder and director of Global Angels, an international charity that raises funds to support and empower disadvantaged children all round the world.

The day before the wedding, Katie and I had our nails done and breakfast together.  It was special although we really missed having Rebecca and Teresa (Katie’s sisters) there with us.  After breakfast I took the train to Windsor where I spent a lovely afternoon with Tracey & Richard, my friends from Somerset who had come up for the wedding.  Lots of talking and walking in Great Windsor Park on a perfect autumn afternoon.

While I was in Windsor, Katie’s host sister and mother arrived from Austria.  Katie had done an exchange year for her final year at school and the two families had visited each other several times since then. We spent a lovely evening  eating, drinking and catching up on each other’s news of the past few years. They’d barely left when I started feeling nauseous.  The next thing I knew, I was hanging over the toilet emptying my stomach.  I think it was a bug that was going round London and that Katie had a couple of weeks earlier.

I woke on the wedding day feeling less than brilliant but OK.  Taxis had been booked for 8 of us to leave from Katie’s flat, but an extra friend arrived unexpectedly, so we hailed another taxi and re-arranged who was going with who.  We got to the Chelsea Registry Office, and while we were waiting for Katie and Fran to come in, the best man asked if I had the bag containing Amara’s stuff and the rings.  No-one had it.  It had been left in the boot of the taxi. The Marriage Celebrant was brilliant when  told there were no rings (you should have seen Katie’s face!) – she asked who had rings that fitted and the ceremony was completed.  The taxi was tracked down and the bag retrieved within about an hour.

After photos, we had a lunch together, then went to another restaurant in Putney overlooking the Thames where all Katie’s and Fran’s friends joined us for drinks, nibbles and a party.  It was wonderful catching up with everyone.  Even through Amara was still unwell, she was a little star all day – hamming it up for the camera and being utterly adorable.  Unfortunately because I was feeling seedy all day, and looking after Amara, I didn’t take any photos.  So apologies for the lack of photos in this blog.

The remainder of my time in London flew and before I knew it I was on my way home to Moscow where it had been snowing.

Autumn in Moscow

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It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been back in Moscow for two months since my summer holiday.  When I arrived back at the beginning of August, the temperatures hovered round 27-30ish, the sun didn’t set until about 9.30 and people spent the evenings having a drink with friends in the various parks round Moscow.  Because a lot of Muscovites head out of the city for a break in the summer, few classes at school were functioning, so it was nice and relaxing.

Since then, the weather has cooled, the days have shortened and classes are filling up.  Temperatures are now reaching a high of 10-13 degrees and the sun sets around 7pm.  However, no-one is complaining because autumn in Moscow is gorgeous with mostly clear, sunny, still days.

It’s the season to get out and enjoy the fabulous parks of Moscow. These are large, so you feel as if you get away from the noise of the rush and bustle of the city. Many have been left wooded and completely natural.   Today I spent the afternoon wandering with friends through one of the many parks lining the edge of the Moskva River.  It was magical with the light coming through the gold leaves of the trees and reflecting off the river.   Families and groups of friends were having picnics, barbecues or just enjoying walking through the woodland.

This year so far, I don’t have any classes with children or pre-schoolers -  just teenage class and the rest are adults.  My teens class is interesting – 4 girls who are bright and have been learning at BKC for a while, so know the ropes, are together with 4 boys, who have never been taught here and have no idea what they’re doing.  The boys also have great gaps in their knowledge of grammar and have never been taught by a native speaker, so are struggling to understand me.  They’re also not that interested in spending two afternoons each week learning English!!!  The girls are very tolerant of the time its taking me to get the boys sorted, but hopefully everyone is learning something.   Sometimes you get assigned classes you’d prefer not to have and next Friday night I start teaching an intensive class from 7-10pm.  Not exactly the way I would choose to spend Friday evenings, but that’s the life of a TEFL teacher.

Life is full of surprises and  in just three weeks, I’ll be arriving in London on a completely unplanned trip.  Katie and Fran have decided to get married – so I’ll be there representing all the family.  It will be wonderful to see them both again along with little Amara who is growing and developing so quickly.  She’s now standing and cruising round furniture and legs, so it won’t be long until she’s walking properly.  It will be a flying visit – just over a week, but I’ll also catch up with a few friends – including Katie’s host sister and mother from her year as an exchange school student in Austria.  I haven’t seen since they visited us in New Zealand about 8 years ago.

So all in all, life is good as I speed my way through my second contract and head towards my second winter here.  I trust you and those you love are all well.

Summer Holiday – Vilnius

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Vilnius, the capital of LIthuania was the last stop on my tour of the Baltic states.  The city, also with Unesco World Heritage Status has a unique history, having been one of the largest cities of Eastern Europe in the 16th century.  Vilnius was founded in the 1300s and is now the largest baroque old town in Europe, full of countless Orthodox and Catholic churches – they seem to be on every corner – as well as cobbled alleyways, and crumbling buildings.  Its a city full of arts, crafts, fashion design and creative industries.  There were lots of interesting little shops selling gorgeous locally clothing, crafts, souvenirs etc.

As usual, I wandered down lots of little backstreets and alleyways, giving my camera a good workout.  Unfortunately, it rained almost constantly for the entire time I was there and was quite cold even though it was mid-summer.  I spent quite a bit of time sheltering huddled under the roofs of buildings, drinking coffees in the numerous cafes or trying to take photos while balancing my umbrella.  I’d love to go back again for a few days provided I knew it was going to be dry and warm.

The recent history of Vilnius is very interesting.  It was occupied by Germany during WW1, then it became part of Poland until WW2 when it was again occupied by Germany.  Following WW2, then it was  incorporated into the USSR during the Soviet period. In the late 1980s, VIlnius was a focus in the push for independence from the USSR by all the Baltic States.

Prior to WW1, 40% (100,000) of the total population in Lithuania were Jewish, and the city was regarded the centre of Jewish Yiddish culture for all Eastern Europe with Jewish schools, theatres, libraries, newspapers, prayer houses and a synagogue all flourishing. Then the Nazis arrived.   and the entire Jewish community of 100,000 was liquidated in 46 days.  On a single day, 11,000 Jews were marched about 10 km out of the city and murdered in the forest at Paneriai.  I found it incredibly upsetting walking round the remains of the Jewish ghetto – how anyone can treat other people in such a way is absolutely beyond me.

I was also fascinated by the social history of Trakai.  It was originally home to the Karaites – a Jewish Turkish minority sect who were brought to Trakai in 1400 to serve as bodyguards at the castle.  The Karaites have their own language, but now there are only 12 Karaites families remaining in Trakai – t the smallest ethnic minority group in eastern Europe.

So my holiday in Vilnius was fascinating – I felt privileged to explore round the edges of a country with a very sad history and loved trying to capture images of a very interesting and beautiful corner of Europe.

Summer holiday – Part 3 – Riga

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The rain started falling as the bus drew out of the bus station in Tallin.  For the next four hours, we drove south on the motorway in heavy rain through the flat Estonian and Latvian countryside.   I saw small forests, villages and large open areas of grassland – completely unfenced because the animals farmed here live indoors most of the year.  In one small town, we had to wait for a very sodden Midsummer’s Day military parade to pass through the main street.  By the time I arrived in Riga, the rain was easing thank goodness, so I was able to find my hotel in the medieval Old Town, then go exploring.

Riga is very different from Tallin.  Tallin is Scandinavian, whereas Riga is definitely Central European.  The Old Town has UNESCO world heritage status and it wasn’t hard to see why.   The narrow winding, cobble-stoned streets are lined with an amazing array of ornate art noveau or gothic buildings.  Interesting sculptures sit in the most unlikely places, and many of the buildings are covered with statues, gargoyles and elaborate decoration.  Some of the buildings date back 800 to 900 years.  As a Kiwi, I’m always extremely impressed by history and very old buildings. I loved it.

I turned down one little lane and was surprised to find myself in front of the ‘Kiwi Pub’.   On the outside wall was a big silver fern.  I just had to go inside and have a look.  I was immediately transported back to NZ – the TV was playing a replay of cricket match between NZ and Australia,  NZ beers were on tap and the walls were covered in NZ memorabilia.  I chatted to the barmaid – she was Latvian, but said the bar was owned by a couple of New Zealanders.

My first night in Riga was Midsummer Night – an important festival in all the Baltic countries.  Open air bars and restaurants had been set up in many of the town squares – so I found somewhere sheltered out of the wind (it was quite cold) and ordered a glass or wine.  I was sitting there enjoying the atmosphere when a jazz band came in and set themselves up on a stage I hadn’t noticed.  For the next couple of hours, they played a mixture of jazz and traditional Latvian music which everyone sang along to.  It was wonderful.  At 10pm, it was still light and I was getting hungry, so I went looking for a restaurant or café.  Everything was full, but I noticed crowds of people all heading in the same direction – towards the river.  I decided to follow and see what was happening.  Wow, I’m so glad I did.

About a kilometre of the street running alongside the River had been turned into a giant open air party.  There were about forty big tents set up selling salads, bread, cakes and drinks set up along the edges of the street.  They all had giant barbecues operating and people were buying the food, then sitting at long trestle tables on the street to eat their meals.  I was so pleased that I hadn’t found anywhere to eat, and joined in with them.

Several stages had been set up, most belting out live traditional Latvian music.  Down the middle of the street three enormous structures of wood for bonfires had been set up.  Families were eating, chatting, singing along with the music until about 11.30pm when a group of people carrying flaming torches processed down the street and lit each of the bonfires.  Everyone cheered.  A number of circular metal bowls about a metre wide and filled with wood had been placed on the edge of the street between the food tents, and these were also lit.  Once the wood in these had burned down, families pulled out strings of sausages and started barbecuing them.  The smells of smoke and meat barbecuing were amazing.  Many of the women were wearing wreaths of flowers on their heads, while the men wore wreaths of oak leaves. The dancing started in earnest once the fires had been lit – it really was amazing.  One of those nights to remembers, especially as it was grey, but never really got dark.

The next day was a public holiday and everything was shut, so I took the train to Jurmala – an old Soviet resort town.  It was a bit drizzly, but I really enjoyed walking along a sandy white beach that went as far as I could see.  The town itself was about half a kilometre inland from the beach, with lots of old wooden houses in between.   Some of these were falling down, some had been renovated.  Many had towers, elaborate facades and very ornate decorations on them.

My final day in Riga was spent just enjoying the city, walking in the gardens by the river and continuing to explore parts of the Old Town I’d hadn’t seen.  My time in Riga was amazing – I’d loved Tallin, but for me, Riga was even better.

Holidays – Estonia

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Because I love exploring new places, I decided to travel to London via the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  I almost didn’t make my flight to Tallin due to a harrowing taxi journey that took nearly two and a half hours across central Moscow in rush-hour.  We passed five different breakdowns or accidents, and spent half the journey crawling at about 10k/hr.  I was glad that I’d insisted that I had to be picked up at least 2 hours ahead of check-in even though the driver had assured the school it would take only an hour.

When I landed in Tallin at about 10pm, it was still light because it was further north than Moscow.  I caught the local bus into the centre of the city, and then as often happens, I immediately got lost.  I couldn’t get global roaming on my phone and was becoming a little anxious as the sky was darkening slowly.

When I asked a young man where the old town was,  he answered in Russian telling me he didn’t know, but would help me. With the help of his i-phone  we found my hostel quickly.   After dragging my bag up four flights of circular steps with practically no lighting, and going into the hostel,  I was given a key for my room.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be already occupied.  Very embarrassing for everyone as I threw open the door and walked in!  Eventually a room was sorted and I was in.   My holiday had started.

The Old City of Tallin is gorgeous and definitely worth visiting.  It’s a small, walled medieval city with UNESCO heritage status.  Many of the buildings date back to 15th & 16th centuries and all are painted in pastel hues.  The streets are narrow and only pedestrians or cyclists are allowed in during the day.  The city is full of tourists and plays on its medieval theme.  Some restaurants and shops sell medieval food, implements, clothing etc., the street entertainment reinforces this theme as does the clothing of the some shopkeepers.

As in much of old Europe, Tallin had lots of fascinating little sculptures with the unexpected at every turn.  The locally made clothing, shoes and handbags were creative and original, and baskets of flowers hung everywhere.  The sun was shining and the air was warm – perfect really.  I had a great day exploring the nooks and crannies of this fabulous little city.

Tallin is split in half, and I got very excited when I saw the harbour from the top half of the city.  I hadn’t seen the sea since last August.  I also noticed how much fresher the air was than in Moscow, and no-one smoked in cafes or restaurants.  Fabulous.

While in Tallin, I got to experience the Northern White Nights.  The sun set each night around 11pm, but it never got really dark.  Between about 11.30pm and 2am, the sky was a weird greenish half light. Just after  2am, it was properly light again, although the sun didn’t rise for another hour.    It was fascinating.

After living in Moscow for 10 months, I was desperate to be in for some wide open outdoor spaces again so I took a tour that went east from Tallin to Lahemaa National Park.

The tour guide, Kaur,  was a university graduate who had just completed his MA (equivalent) in English and Spanish.  He spoke Estonian because he was born there, but his mother tongue was Russian as was 30% of the Estonian population. They or their families were brought to Estonia as workers during the Soviet occupation.  When the Soviet Empire collapsed in 1991, they had the choice of remaining in Estonia or returning to Russia.  Many remained, however, in order to gain Estonian citizenship, they had to pass an Estonian language test – with the result that 8% of the population still has no citizenship.  I asked Kaur whether he thought of himself as Russian or Estonian – he said he is Russian, but his country is Estonian.

The tour was a day of highlights that I shared with four Germans (who of course spoke good English).  First we drove to see the remainder of an old hydro electric dam on a river in the forest.  There wasn’t much of the dam or power station left – because when the USSR collapsed, the Russians tried to smash everything they couldn’t take with them, and after they’d left, there was no work or food for many people, so anything that could be dug up and sold was taken.

We then visited a German manor house and estate.  These are scattered all across Estonia, which was ruled by an elite group of German gentlemen in the 17th/18th centuries.  I learned that during that time, all Estonians were slaves with no rights whatsoever.  I found such a situation hard to comprehend.

It was wonderful to get out of the van at a fishing village on the edge of the Baltic Sea and smell the ozone and feel the fresh wind in my face.  I could easily believe that during winter the Baltic Sea is frozen over – so thick is the ice in most parts, that it is almost possible to drive to FInland.

We walked through the village, then clambered over rocks by the edge of the sea, and climbed up one or two of the enormous glacial rocks that have made their way from Scandinavia.

While we were having lunch of salmon and potatoes in a private little museum in the village, a man dressed in a short smock-like outfit came in & talked with Kaur.  Next thing we knew, we had the opportunity to be the first tour party to take a trip in a Viking boat he’d built to scale.   Even though the sea was pretty smooth, we were never going to make it to America like the real Vikings had!!!  Our rowing was hopeless, but it was lots of fun, and great being out on the sea again.

Kaur then took us to walk around the remains of an ex-Soviet submarine base. Although it too had been stripped back to its bare bones, it didn’t take a lot to imagine submarines (think Red October) in the pens, with thousands of men working and living on them.  It was a real reminder that empires come and go.

The day ended with a hike through a bog-land which contained a string of beautiful small still lakes.  Apparently, it had started as a single large lake, but the pines had grown up and broken the lake into these smaller lakes.  It was a gorgeous clear sunny day and my camera went ballistic.  The one drawback was that the forest was home to the most ferocious mosquitoes I’ve ever encountered – they just licked off the repellent and kept attacking.

The following day, the weather turned and it started to rain, but it didn’t matter as I took a two hour bus trip to Riga – capital of Latvia. The fare cost me the princely sum of 6 euro but I later learned I could have got a different bus for 4 euro. I’d missed out!!!

I had loved Estonia and its people.  How would Latvia compare?  Next blog – I’ll tell you.

Summer Holiday – Part 1

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I’m home again in Moscow starting my second teaching contract after a wonderful six weeks of holiday.  I’ve arrived back to a hot Moscow – 28 to 29 degrees with 32 degrees forecast for today.  Its certainly a lot warmer than London was and I find it hard to believe that in just a few months I’ll be rugged up in my winter coat and fur boots dealing with temperatures 50- 60 degrees colder!

So where have I been in the past six weeks?  I spent nearly two weeks travelling through the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.  I started in Tallin, then travelled by bus to Riga and onto Vilnius before flying to London at the end of June in time for Katie’s birthday.  I had a wonderful month in England catching up with family and special friends in London, Bristol and beautiful Carhampton.  From London, I returned to Moscow via Copenhagen where I stayed for a couple of days.

I enjoyed spending time with my camera and took heaps of photos, the best of which I’ll upload onto this blog over the next couple of weeks.  In each place I visited,  I enjoyed being able to get out of the cities and into the nearby countryside or beaches, each with its own unique scenery, peace and quiet.   Definitely the tonic I needed after living for 10 months in busy, manic Moscow.

The biggest highlight of all was spending nearly a month in London with my daughter Katie, and getting to know my gorgeous grand-daughter Amara.  While I was there, Katie and Fran moved flat from Fulham to Putney, so my contribution to the move involved keeping Amara entertained while Katie and Fran packed, moved, then unpacked.  I also spent a night with Amara on my own so Katie and Fran could have a night away to celebrate Katie’s birthday.  I felt like I got to know Amara during the time we had together – she’s an outgoing little girl full of energy and curiosity about life.  She is constantly on the go.  Amara certainly knows what she likes and doesn’t like and isn’t slow in letting everyone know.  It was fabulous watching her development– when I arrived she could roll but wasn’t confident doing so.  When I left she was all but crawling.

Other special experiences in England included spending a day in Bristol riding round the harbour on the Bristol Ferries with my friend Holly and her 18 month old daughter Pippa.  Although it was a grey day, the rain stayed away and I gained a totally new perspective of the beautiful city of Bristol.  I spent five days with my friends Tracey and Richard in Carhampton (near Dunster and Minehead).  The Somerset and Devon countryside is beautiful and we explored and walked for miles along beaches, on Exmoor, in the forests and coastal villages.  I left Carhampton feeling as if I’d recharged my batteries again.

I love tennis and never expected to be in London during Wimbledon or staying in a city during the time it was hosting an Olympics so the final two weeks in London were amazing.  London was absolutely buzzing and even those who have no interest in sport have been totally caught up in the atmosphere and excitement of Wimbledon and then the Olympics.   A few days before the Opening Ceremony, Katie, Amara and I went down to the South Bank and just soaked up the carnival atmosphere with buskers, musicians and hoards of people from every corner of the globe full of anticipation for the Games.  The Olympic Torch relay passed through Fulham so Katie, Amara and I had a lovely picnic in Holland Park before the torch came through. Fran couldn’t join us as he was busy at work, but it passed the gym where he works as a personal trainer, so he managed to pop out and see it as well.  Lots of hype all round, but fun for everyone.

On the first weekend of the Games, the men’s and women’s cycling road races went right past the front door of our new apartment block on Upper Richmond Rd.  We watched the beginning on TV, then when the cyclists and helicopters were getting close, we zipped downstairs and out onto the pavement to watch, then repeated the whole exercise later in the day as they returned on their race to the finish line.  It was very exciting with people waving flags from many countries and cheering them on.  Mind you the cyclists were so fast and whizzed past so quickly, I couldn’t work out who was in front so had to go back upstairs to check with the BBC.

Another day I caught up with Melissa, a friend from Moscow, and we took a water taxi from the South Bank down to the Greenwich area where the equestrian events and the gymnastics were being staged.

So to sum up England, its been family, granddaughter, friends, beautiful countryside, lots of walking, cafes, Wimbledon and Olympics. Brilliant – what more could you ask for from a summer holiday.   In my next blog, I’ll talk about the highlights in the other countries I visited

Now that I’m back in Moscow, I’m finding it very hard to feel enthusiastic about teaching this week.   Things are quiet here on the teaching front with many Muscovites on holiday and most of the regular English classes in recess.  Just as well – I can ease myself back in gently.