Ginger and Curls on the Road: A Traumatic Week at Work Followed by a Weekend of Pancakes

It's Saturday morning and I am enjoying a pot of Earl Grey tea before I attack the housework. The weather outside is pretty average, it's cold and grey with a lumpy blanket of ice and snow on the ground some of which must be more than 3 weeks old.

I'm feeling much better this week, plans for lemonade aside I wrote a letter to my awful Russian boss which lists everything I'd like to say (but most certainly don't have the balls or the heart to send to her). I've included it here so you have an idea of the principle reason which makes living here in Moscow so damn difficult...

Dear Irina,

I will not be returning to work because of the following;

Your:

1) endless and un-constructive criticism
2) lack of time management which means that you do not have enough time to do your job properly
3) lack of understanding about my students and consequent inability to provide useful support or advice
4) dismissal of any 'details' if you don't listen to a problem, you cannot help solve it
5) bad English
-you don't 'clear out' a problem, you 'clear it up'
-stuff is un-countable, there can't be 'one more stuff' there CAN be 'one more thing'
-your stress on 'display' is the wrong syllable - when you're talking about those damn disPLAY boards by reception the stress is on the second syllable, not the first.
-its quite cute that you like to use so many colloquial expressions and phrases but it really doesn't ring true when you can't use them correctly and your general English isn't that great either.
-Oh and PS, asking a question in an exam which should be 'where do you live' or 'what's your address' should NOT be re-phrased in your own special way as 'tell me the name of the location where you live' and listen when I tell you that!
6) shocking team leadership 'skills' which consist of
-talking to your teachers like we're badly behaved children at best or like we're drooling idiots at worst (yes sometimes we might not understand because your English is so bad that it takes a lot of effort to grasp the meaning of what you are trying to say, but that is your fault not ours).
-It is bad professional practice to inform your teachers that you will be dropping in on a class 5 minutes before that class is due to begin or when the class is beginning to observe the lesson.
-It is also bad practice to launch into criticism of the lesson before the students are even out of the door and before you have offered the teacher to give their opinion of the lesson. Not allowing the teacher time to reflect on the good (and there will always be good points to any lesson) and bad points of the lesson is unfair and counter productive, you may even find that given the chance to express their opinion, the teacher will actually pre-empt much of what you were about to say, saving your breath and leaving them not feeling so criticized. We know when something is rubbish or not up to scratch and it is embarrassing to have a senior point the flaws out and ask you to concur (like we need it pointing out).
7) bad breath, eat some mints/chew some gum
8) forgetfulness, which when you forget something that your teachers have told you, you try and blame on us for not having even told you
9) shit school who doesn't pay or appreciates it's staff. Staff who are taken care of, not patronized and who are paid on time will work so much harder for you.

Last but not least, I'd like to say that I've nothing against you personally but because of your work ethic or lack of it, I would like to tell you to go and fuck yourself.

I hope you get the teachers you so truly deserve in the future, maybe some monkeys who'll accept peanuts for payment and don't know when they're being praised or patronized.

UP YOURS IRINA

I hasten to add that while I've no intention of sending this little love note now, it makes me feel so much better to know that she is one piss-take away from a nasty letter and one less English teacher. I have now broken up from school for the best part of 2 weeks which gives me time to catch my breath and chill out. Thursday, my last day, was good. It was the busiest day of my week (7 lessons in the morning and 4 in the afternoon) but the afternoon involved a party for the little kids with cake, chocolate and juice and then cake with fizzy pop for the bigger kids (and some discreet champagne and orange juice for us). After school Francesca, Jonny and I headed for a sushi bar for some beers and de-brief, it was a good way to end the term.

Back to today - Djalma and I are meeting at Kolomenskaya Metro Station to go and see the festival for Maslenitsa which is a 2 week long Pancake Day Holiday symbolising the end of winter and the beginning of Spring. Apparently tradition involves; eating lots and lots of pancakes (obviously!!) which symbolise the sun (warm, round and golden), a bonfire at the end of the holiday with the burning of a Maslenitsa effigy, performing bears (not so good) and fist fighting (delightful!!). And of course as it's a park and there is still snow on the ground, there'll be a spot of boarding too with yours truly as the obliging camera woman.

http://goeasteurope.about.com/od/russia/a/maslenitsa.htm

Well, despite our best intentions the weather got the better of us with the freezing temperature, a brisk arctic breeze and snow driving us back into our little hole. We had pancakes in this old log cabin.

From Ginger on the Road

There were several of them all packed with cold people wrapped up in massive coats, it was jam-packed. We headed out to find one of the larger slopes and got no further than a hundred metres before D, who only moments before was intent on getting some board jumps in, suggested going home and getting back into bed. Well, he may have suggested it and although I was game for a run or two down the slopes, the thought of freezing my tender English buttocks off in the inhospitable weather did not greatly appeal. Back we went, finishing off the day with some honeybeer (not that nice), a nap and some research into Egypt.