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That Moment


Whether you’re at university, school, or an NGO in the unofficial capital of Eastern Siberia, there’s always a moment when your schedule suddenly just fills up. It tends to go from nought to one hundred in the space of a couple of seconds. One minute you’re sitting on the floor in someone’s kitchen wondering whether the uni has forgotten to put on lectures for you, the next someone has presented you with the link to the elusive ‘online timetable’, and you are confronted with the harsh reality that your lectures started three days ago, and that you have a total of four free hours in the next eight weeks.

For me, this moment came on Tuesday. It was a doubly harsh blow, because I’d also just gone out shopping that morning and discovered to my horror that they didn’t sell Nutella at the supermarket. I had to sit down cross-legged in a darkened room, breathe deeply, and make a mental list of the reasons that I want to be here. Then I turned on the lights and searched for flights home anyway. But flights are crazy expensive, and I could probably have Nutella shipped over here from Moscow or somewhere for the same price as going back, so it looks like I’m stuck here.

When I looked at my phone, I had a flood of messages on VKontakte which had all arrived within a few minutes of each other. There were suggestions for joining choirs, expressions of interest in my proposed English club on Wednesday evening, planned outings with friends, and details of upcoming meetings at work. Most of the evenings for the next two weeks just vanished before my eyes. Why can things like this not happen gradually? It’s very distressing. My response to this was to eat. You remember those thirty chocolate wafers I mentioned two blogs ago? Gone. In one fell swoop. *Bows*

There’s an ecological festival in Krasnoyarsk next week, and I’ve been tasked with organising an ‘interactive square’ as part of it. I’ve got a town square, a table and two chairs for about two hours, and I have to do something which raises awareness for something environment-related in that time. It’s hard to know where to start really. The document which explains what the festival’s about looks like some kind of party manifesto, full of terms like ‘hereafter referred to as’ and catchy acronyms like FGBOUVO. I’m thinking of trying to make a game of some description out of recycled materials, but any suggestions would be very gratefully received.

Syoma managed to pull a door off its hinges today. His strength is growing. I fear that soon he’ll be too strong for us. If you don’t hear from me in two days, I’ll probably be locked in the kitchen making him chicken pilaf.

If you’re concerned about what you’ve just read, please don’t panic. I’ve since found Nutella in another supermarket. You can sleep easy.

Imagine this in the snow. Phwoar. Welcome to Christmas

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