A Series of Unfortunate Events

Today was just one of those days, a series of unfortunate events, which seem to happen in Russia quite regularly. I went to lessons, like I usually do, and it was fun. There were only three of us because the others were off travelling. Afterwards we went to a little restaurant and that’s when the troubles began. I ordered lasagne and chips and the lasagne was cold and the chips were soaked in oil. I couldn’t be bothered to say anything.

Anyways, I had to leave earlier to meet my landlady. She teaches English and she wanted me to give a talk about Norwich, the nearest big town to me, and about the differences between the UK and Russia. I spent the whole night before working on my presentation (there’s a lot of differences, ok) and I was prepared. I was waiting near the statue of Peter the Great and it was absolutely freezing. I waited and waited, while the babushkas around me were looking for food in the bins. Half an hour passed, then an hour. By then my feet were about to drop off from the cold and I thought: another 15 minutes and no more. She never came, so I just before I died from pneumonia I went.

I decided to go somewhere warm, and there’s a museum round the corner. Guess what, though? It was closed. I didnt want to go home so I decided to walk down Prospect Revolution and find somewhere to go. The next thing that happened to me to make me want to scream was when this women dressed in shiny knee high boots and a fur coat came up to me and asked me for money. She looked rich. I just said ‘I’m not Russian, I don’t understand’ and walked off.

So, eventually I ended up somewhere normal, and more importantly, warm: Cao Kakao. It’s a really cool cafe in Voronezh, there’s two, and the one I was in opened just a couple of weeks ago. It’s our favourite hang out spot here (after MacDonalds, of course) and it’s good. I ordered the usual, hot chocolate. It’s not just any old hot chocolate, it’s actually pure melted chocolate, so thick. On a cold day it is heaven. So anyway I stayed there for a bit, read some of my book and thought about Kiev… (we’re going there this Friday, by the way).

Cao Kakao