baby food

The Director of Studies and I had to interview a five-year old with a view to her having lessons. The little girl, having lived in Boston, USA, for 2 years had an impressive level of English for her age. Also there were her mother and 6-month old sister. Using a book for prompts, she was asked about her favourite food - burgers. Then Helen asked, “Does your sister like burgers?”

KVN/ КВН

KVN, pronounced ka-veh-en, is a national institution. The Club of the Joyful and Inventive is like the Cambridge Footlights kind of sketches and Whose Line Is it Anyway? turned into a competition. It takes the form of clubs, teams often from universities, who compete against each other at city level, regionally and nationally.

Higher Level Contest, from an official video

Meat disguised as chewing gum

AFP report that Russian customs officials have seized EU meat disguised as chewing gum...

The Smell

I could smell it. Walking around our 8th floor flat, there was a definite smell. I was walking around the flat, in that manner unique to locating an odour - head up, neck stretched, nose jutting out, like a feeding chicken stuck on peck.

could be a chicken; could be me sniffing in search of a smell

Russia: A Victim of Bad Press?

It's fair to say that Russia has something of an image problem. Despite the opportunity offered by this year's Winter Olympics to win new friends, Russia is in fact doing the opposite. In addition to the obvious, major candidate of Crimea and Ukraine, there is a steady stream of minor news stories relating to issues such as racism, freedom of speech and homophobia.

Screenshot of the Guardian website today

Recipe: kartoshka cake

The is one of the easiest Russian desserts to make. Kartoshka means potato, yet there's no potato in it... the lying bastards! [edit: my wife's just called me a hypocrite on the basis of mince pies not containing mince... touché!] Still, it's delicious and ridiculously moreish.

Tales of Fire #1

Some of the teachers had been out for a drink or two and got back in late. Two colleagues, Ian and Tim, had already fallen asleep in the lounge and I went to bed . The excitement for the night was not finished, though I didn't know it until the following morning.

 When I got up, Ian recounted the drama thus: