Handy Dandy Cut out and Keep Guide to Functioning with Elevated Stress Levels

The world has gone mad and everyone is anxious and stressed about the pandemic and economic downturn. I have lived with OCD since I was 7, and 2 years ago I had a nervous breakdown. Since the beginning of this year, I have had the roof of my kitchen fall in (repairs ongoing), watched the most important person in the world to me die over a 6 week period, been caught in the middle of the family fights relating to it, been exposed to the pandemic like everyone else, worried about my ICU/anaesthetic doctor brother who is on the frontline and lost my job. I have experienced stress.

I am not a doctor or a psychologist, nor can I replace one. However, I can tell you, from my years of therapy that these are some of the most helpful things I have learnt from my wonderful specialists which are not commonly talked about in general articles on mental health and anxiety.

1. Sleep

Worrying/anxiety = extra activity by your brain. Just as students doing lots of study and exams are very tired, so are people experiencing heightened emotional distress, especially over long periods. You need extra sleep when you are worried. Sleeping also helps you to cope with the anxiety better while you are awake. Make sure you’re getting at least 7-8 hours per night. It’s not negotiable.

2. Nutrition

If you are like me, you may have an upset tummy when stressed. You don’t need to eat a lot of food, but it should be nutritious, so your body has all the tools it needs to keep you as healthy as possible. Your brain is also a very energy-hungry organ so eating healthy meals can help you to process what is happening better and think more rationally about it. Avoid excess alcohol, fats, spices and caffeine as these can all upset your tummy. Fats, in particular, are a culprit that many people underestimate. If you have serious pain/discomfort or if it continues for more than a few days, you need to go to a doctor just to make sure it isn’t anything more serious than stress.

3. Worry or panic =/= effective action

When we worry a lot, we feel like we are preparing for all possibilities of a situation and are achieving something that will help to protect us against bad things that will happen. It makes us feel like we are in control, but this is all an illusion. As an expert worrier, I can tell you that it is very possible for the anxiety to become so crippling it is impossible to get out of bed, or off the couch, even to do the basics. It makes you very tired, but the dishes still aren’t done, you may not have showered or gotten dressed, and the dog hasn’t been walked. By doing things that you need to do, you are not neglecting the seriousness of the situation. You are just doing what you need to do.

4. Taking action =/= not being concerned

In a similar vein to number 3, someone not panicking or not being obviously anxious does not mean they are not taking a situation seriously or not acting on it. Doctors, nurses, vets and scientists work with potentially dangerous pathogens every day, even when there’s no pandemic. Following infection control guidelines is important and effective. But you can follow those guidelines without being crippled by the anxiety. You do it carefully, then you do the next thing, then the next thing. You don’t stop everything else; you just have to follow the procedures. If you are worried about forgetting because it’s a new habit, write yourself a checklist or put post-it notes on things to remind yourself. But you keep going.

5. Brain fog/memory problems/procrastination

It is not uncommon for people experiencing a lot of anxiety or stress to become forgetful, to feel like they’re seeing the world through a cloud/fog, or to have trouble focusing on tasks and to procrastinate. This is not the only reason for it, so it’s important to check with a doctor if the symptoms are worrying you. If you are having difficulty accomplishing tasks because of anxiety or feeling overwhelmed, break the task down into smaller chunks. If you still have trouble, this means the chunks are too big, so break them down again and keep going until you can make progress. A tiny bit of progress counts. Then do a tiny bit more. Then a tiny bit more. It’s not as fast as what you might normally be able to do, but it’s surprising how much you can accomplish by doing this and it’s definitely better than nothing.

6. Logical =/= rational

It’s easy to think that because something is the next logical step, it is also the next rational step. But the two words do not have the same meaning. If something is logical, it makes sense and follows a series of steps that seem to be valid on the surface. However, just because something seems to follow a logical thought process, doesn’t mean that that thought process is reasonable or realistic. This is where rationality comes in. A rational thought process must be logical, reasonable and realistic given the current situation and context.

It is entirely possible to be logical, while being irrational. E.g. “There is a virus coming from China. We import a lot of goods that we use every day from China. Because China has shut down major cities, they will stop making the everyday products that we use to live (e.g. toilet paper) so there will be a shortage in the supermarkets. Therefore, I need to buy as much as I can now so I can survive for as long as possible if there is a shortage.”

The above statement is logical, but doesn’t take into account the specific details of the situation and so becomes irrational. Turns out, at least in Australia, most of our basics e.g. toilet paper are made locally, so there was never going to be any shortage if there hadn’t been any panic buying.

7. Exercise

I’m consistently being told to exercise because there is a lot of very good research relating to the benefits of exercise. It helps to boost blood flow and the endorphins boost mood among many other things. However, anyone with very serious mental illness will tell you how hard it is to do when they are feeling overwhelmed. So, if you can exercise, do it. It doesn’t have to be a full-on work out for hours, it just has to be movement for about 30 min.

8. Do something you enjoy

It is OK not to think about the current world situation every minute of the day. It doesn’t mean you’re not taking it seriously. It seems counterintuitive but making time to do something you enjoy every day helps to decrease stress levels and all the other symptoms associated with it. It will help you to increase productivity and be able to cope with this over the longer term. It also makes you feel good. 😊

9. Slow down and be kind to yourself

Your brain is a limited organ. That is, it can only cope with so much at any one time, just like your heart, your lungs, your muscles and every other part of your body. It is ok not to accomplish as much as you normally would, because your brain is already doing a whole lot of extra work. It is ok to need to rest more because your brain is working harder. It is ok if you can’t do everything on this list or that you think you ‘should’ do because you are not a robot, you are a human, trying to do the best you can in a new and difficult situation. We are often berated when we don’t accomplish something we ‘should’ when we are growing up or at work, but this time you are the boss of your own life. You don’t have a parent/teacher/employer standing over your shoulder making sure the dishes are done in a certain way by a certain time (at least I hope not!) Just do what you can today. Rest when you need to and then try again tomorrow. Keep trying and you will make progress. Any progress is good progress.

10. Simplify your life

‘Stress’ for the purposes of stress management, is essentially anything that takes up brain power. Learning new things, adjusting to new ways of life, starting a new routine, having to think more about daily tasks and planning what to eat for dinner all take up brain power. One way to reduce workload for your brain is to minimise the things that it needs to do at the same time. Write down lists to help you remember things. Break things down into smaller steps e.g. plan first, write it down, then just follow the plan. Put reminders up so you don’t have to remember so much. Cook things which are familiar and easy etc.

5. Acclimatising

March 4, 2011

Well what can I say… To be honest, nothing like the crazy first few days… I’ve officially been here a week now and I’m starting to feel very Russian. Today I had tea with lemon, while I ate Beef Stroganoff, while reading ‘The Russian Revolution’ by Trosky and I was cooling down a bit becuase I’d been walking around outside and because it’s a balmy -2 degrees I was sweating.

A couple of things have happened to make life a little easier – firstly I found a place called Traveller’s Coffee. The menu isn’t in English but it does have pictures and they can make a real cappuccino – chocolate powder and all. They also do frappes, but they call them “ice-dreams”. The best thing is, there’s one on the way home from work which is open till 11pm which also serves soups, salads, sandwiches, muffins, cookies and light meals. Basically, it’s an imitation Starbucks with full table service. It’s unusual to find sandwiches or muffins or cookies here, but they have them and they’re not the same as Australia, but they are definitely tasty. Their coffee is also available to takeaway! This is strange in itself (no one walks around here drinking coffee), they give u a straw for your cappuccino and you have to drink it v quickly otherwise it gets cold. On the plus side, there is a 20% discount for takeaway coffee.

I finally managed to change my few remaining US dollars – I tried in two other banks, but they wouldn’t take it because there was a slight (approximately 5 mm) tear along the centre fold at the top of the note. They told me to go to SberBank – I went to SberBank – they changed it for me and didn’t require me to have my passport either! I’ve also discovered that there is a bank on the ground floor of this building. I saw a sign advertising a bank, and I looked everywhere for it but couldn’t find it. On either side of the sign are two doors, which might look like they open a cleaners’ cupboard. They are marked with the numbers 102 and 103. They are the entrance to the v. small, but real Moscow Bank. On the outside it’s completely unnoteworthy, but on the inside, it looks like a bank! I had a bit of an explore around Krasnoyarsk and went to a bookshop nearby the other day. That was fun, although I had a headache by the end of it (too much Russian). I picked up a decent Russian-English/English-Russian dictionary – there were a lot of dictionaries that were Russian-English but not the other way around. I also found a biography of Hugh Laurie and a book by Jeremy Clarkson, but they were in Russian so I couldn’t read them. The few English books that were in the store were serious classics, like Shakespeare and Mark Twain.

I am finally managing to figure out the supermarkets, thanks primarily to the help and advice of locals who have been explaining things to me that I find confusing:) The supermarket near work is open 24 hours a day. In Kazakhstan, I held up the queue of people waiting to pay because I was confused with the money and needed to race to the ATM to get some more out. Here I’m holding up the queue because I forgot to get the girl to weight the fruit and veg or pelmini and put a price on it. They don’t do it at the register, they do it in the fruit and veg section and I keep forgetting.

I have also discovered that spring ice is more dangerous than winter ice. In winter, the ice is compact and hard, it doesn’t melt and it is full of divets from people walking on it. It’s made from compacted snow and there is still some on top. Consequently, even though it’s ice, it’s not that difficult to walk on. In spring, during the day if it’s fine, the ice starts to melt, so the top surface becomes water and then refreezes overnight. This means the next day, it’s very smooth, slippery (especially if it’s started to melt again) and there’s no snow. Even the locals slip a bit on that stuff! Around the city there are workmen everywhere, scraping the ice off the footpaths (it’s about 10 cm thick in some places) and clearing the snow off the gardens. Actually, I didn’t even know they were gardens until I saw some spindly little pine trees trying desperately to stand up straight – they were covered in snow (about 3 feet!). You can also see the different layers of snow, like sedimentary rock. It’s possible to see how many times it has snowed this year, and get an idea of how much snow fell each time.

I’ve got some more food in my house and am looking forward to a dinner tonight that is not instant noodles (I have pelmini – it’s like ravioli. There are big open containers in the freezer section full of it. You just choose how much u want and then give it to the girl to put a price on it before you get to the checkout. You can also buy some frozen berries this way). I have a couple of sausages and some cheese so I think I’m set for the weekend. Still don’t have a rope to hang my clothes on, but I have coat hangers, and I might move the couch so I can drape things over the central heating.

Got a reply from the bank in Australia today, telling me that I need to call them if I want to arrange any changes for my account. Tried to do it using their normal phone number, but it cost about 100 rubles a minute. You can get a meal for 100 rubles (about $3) and I didn’t even get to talk to anyone before I was cut off! I was talked at by a computer and then put on hold. I called them reverse charge (they have a number for this), with the help of Nastya and waited on hold for about 5 minutes being told my call was important to them. Finally got a person answered and sorted things out. They’re going to send me a chip which generates a single use password which I can use for my account. It’s not the end of the world, but I do wish I’d known about this before I left the country. A good time would have been when I went into the bank in person with all my ID and said, ‘I’m going to Russia and I need money, what do I need to do?’

They said, ‘Here, have a travel money card!’

They forgot to tell me that they would send a password to my Australian mobile number (which doesn’t work in Russia) in order to be able to use it!

Today I had my classes, and had a chat with the other staff. It’s another teacher’s birthday today (from Cameroon) and they got him lots of different types of croissants for a gift! Also am working tomorrow (Saturday) to compensate for not working on Tuesday. Tuesday is International Women’s Day and it’s a public holiday here. I love International Women’s Day – people give u all these presents, just for being female! They give you cards that say things like, ‘congratulations’. This always confused and amused me. Congratulations for what? I didn’t have any say in the matter! But there are lots of presents and a public holiday, so I like it. This week is also ‘pancake week’ here and they sell lots of blinni (like crepes). We don’t celebrate it much in Australia but it’s called Shrovetide. We have Shrove Tuesday where we have pancakes, they celebrate the whole week!

I’ve also started to learn Russian, on the advice of a friend because I was whinging about how I couldn’t understand anything and everything was so difficult. I now have a book at home full of vocab, a dictionary and I’m writing things down, trying to learn as much as I can. It’s going to take a long time…

4. An Interesting 24 hours

Three different ways of buying milk, tea, a pomelo and peach juice.

1 March 2011

It’s only been 24 hours since my last post and already I think I can nearly claim insanity on my travel insurance. Today, went to work, was warned about 3 children who are apparently really naughty. They were fine in my class – they started to play up a bit 50 minutes into the 1 hour lesson because they were tired and bored. Instead of responding badly to me only speaking English, they seemed fascinated and relished the extra stimulation. They also didn’t get as frustrated as I do when I can’t speak Russian. They knew they had to speak English to me or at least communicate somehow because they didn’t have a choice. They were great – I taught them about Australian animals – they loved the dangerous ones and the creepy crawlies- and then we sang heads and shoulders knees and toes. They thought it was very funny when we went so fast they couldn’t keep up.

Next class: I had been told that I was going to a school to have an individual lesson with a 15-year-old boy, pre-intermediate level who hadn’t studied the book before, but I would be told more this morning. I didn’t find out anymore this morning, until a man rocked up to the school to pick me up at half past 12 and told me that I was going to teach his 11-year-old daughter. I would go to his school. Although it’s across the road from a normal Russian high school (the one I went to yesterday, number 150) this school consists of 2 rooms and is basically a private tutoring company. There are two classrooms – one for the preschool/kindy kids and one for anyone who is school age to adults. They teach the preschool kids the alphabet, reading writing, basic maths etc and the adults English. They actually have an English teacher on staff, but these parents want a native speaker for their daughter. She used to go to a public Russian high school with about 28 pupils in the class but now she attends her parents’ school full time and is tutored on an individual basis for all her lessons. She starts class just after lunch and finishes at about 8pm. Personally, I’d feel really lonely – especially since you can see the public school across the street out her window, but she seems to be ok. She’s going to take the Cambridge KET exam in a couple of weeks. Her parents spoilt me rotten though – they picked me up, took my coat, gave me little medical booties to put on over my shoes so I wouldn’t muddy the floor and presented me with a tray of tea and biscuits. Then they took me home. They will, in turn, expect nothing less than the highest standard of professionalism from me, which is perfectly reasonable.

School no. 150
Playing courts of school no. 150
The whole school building – it’s all internal.

Came back to school, found some food (at the cafe) and decided that although my first impressions of the coffee here were good, I have changed my mind. It’s not good coffee – I was just being optimistic. Therefore, if anyone wants to send over Robert Timms coffee bags, they would be much appreciated. The honeymoon period also appears to be over and the serious culture shock seems to be setting in. I had a moment of wishing I could leave today, but it was just a little moment, and I can’t leave anyway – I’d get stuck in the middle of a frozen Siberian steppe – why do I choose to travel to these places?!

I received my final payment from Browns ELS today and wanted to transfer the money from my bank account to my travel money card. Though, of course, today was the day of the giant CBA computer glitch… though I don’t think it would have made any difference anyway. You see, I need a password to complete the transaction, that the CBA calls a Netcode and they send this code to my mobile phone. I changed my Sim card to roaming but I still couldn’t receive the password SMS. So I couldn’t put any money on the card. Then I tried to update my contact details with the bank, but to do that, I also needed a Netcode SMS. Consequently, I couldn’t update my contact details or transfer any money without a Netcode sms which I couldn’t receive because I was out of the country. Then I gave up and put my Russian sim card into my phone and discovered that I have a PIN code on my phone that I didn’t know about. I don’t have any of the paperwork for my Russian sim card – I gave it to the company as I was told to – I can’t read it anyway, so there’s not much point in me having it – or so I thought. The pin was on the sim card and I couldn’t get it because the girl who had my paperwork was out of her office. Finally, I found out what my pin was and told my phone that I didn’t want it any more (but to confirm this I had to enter my pin again) and I emailed the bank to say that their security system was so effective that I couldn’t access my own money.

Right…so at this point I was about to explode all over the office and let someone else clean up the mess. But I didn’t. I had a couple of hours until my next class and I desperately needed food at home (because last night I had two minute noodles, yoghurt and chocolate for dinner) and so I thought I’d got for a walk to explore some of the shops near work in the centre of the city. Here’s the thing about Russia: Just because a shopping centre has the word ‘Supermarket’ on the front of it, doesn’t mean there’s actually a supermarket inside. They can be tricky like that. It turns out, in this shopping centre were two shops that sold wedding dresses… one that only sold one type of perfume bottle and sanitary pads (WTF?) one shop that specialised in underwear, another that sold belts, hats gloves etc… a DVD shop… a chemist (where I got some vitamin D3 with calcium – she was really nice, but couldn’t understand why anyone would want to buy vitamin D without calcium – the Americans also told me that this combination of vitamins gives u kidney stones – is that true? Because I don’t really want kidney stones…) a place that sold stationery… etc. but no supermarket. Well I enjoyed my time there anyway, then slipped and skidded across the ice to a real supermarket that didn’t claim to be one – it’s called Krasnoiyar. I know. That’s why I didn’t guess that it was a supermarket till someone told me.

Update: After speaking to my friends who are from this part of the world, I discovered that in Russia the word “supermarket” can be used to refer to any type of shop that has products that you can select from shelves, and then carry to a checkout to pay. Traditional Russian stores have all the products behind a counter and you have to ask for what you want. ”Supermarkets” are Western.

It’s not a huge supermarket, even smaller given that about a 3rd of the shelf space is taken up by alcohol, and I tried to buy some fruit and veg. Got some carrot, garlic, am going to use the onion that the guy who lived in my apartment before me didn’t take with him, zucchini and crunchy pears. They get their pears from South America – they’re crunchier than the apples – no joke. The pears were picked green to stop them spoiling in transit and the apples have been in cold storage for a year. I tried to ripen the pears on the central heating at home – they went a bit darker on the outside, but were still very crunchy. Then I made my way around the winding paths (not straight aisles) of the supermarket and bought what I wanted, which was a lot…because I still don’t have much at home. I made my way to the random checkouts, which don’t really look like checkouts and waited in line for the person in front of me to finish. I was giving that person room to pack their things and get organised. Apparently, I gave them too much room for too long, because a grumpy old man (who didn’t want to wait for me because he only had a can of beer) pushed in in front of me.

I don’t understand Russian manners. I was holding the door open for a pregnant lady this morning, and she stopped and stood there on the side and looked at me and said: What are you doing, young girl? Apparently, no one has ever held a door open for her before. Probably won’t ever again either. To be fair, I was only holding the door open a little and at an awkward angle because it was heavy, but still… The girl at the checkout looked at me like I was stupid because I didn’t understand what she was talking about. Checkout chicks here always look bored and that you’re an inconvenience. I mean, I don’t blame them for being bored, but it’s a good job, and it’s not my fault that I need to buy something from the supermarket and they happen to be on the till. And why do I have to pay for plastic bags and why does she have to ask my permission before she can give me one? I mean seriously, I am groaning under the weight of my basket and she asks me if I would like a bag? I should have told her no, I don’t need a bag at all, I’m going to steal a trolley… except I couldn’t say that in Russian. I need that hat again that says, ‘I’m not stupid, I’m foreign. You think I’m wasting time but actually I’m trying to help you and be polite’. I don’t think I’ll bother… there seems to be little point.

After that exhausting day, it’s half past 7 at night and I have 1 more class to go. It’s kind of a demo class to promote the school to potential new students. I sort of know what I’m going to do, but I don’t know how old the people will be or anything about them. Only that they are adults, probably pre int/int level and because it’s scheduled for 8 pm they are probably business people who work during the day. I’ve got a couple of ideas, but I will probably have to put on a smile and entertain them (sorry… erm… give a demonstration lesson…) to ensure that we get the business. I’m not really concerned about that to be honest, it’s just that I’m so tired after everything that’s happened. Oh well, time to prep and put on a smile again. Can’t wait to go home and crash… despite having food I think I’m too tired to cook tonight and will probably eat instant noodles again… oh well.. maybe I’ll put some cheese with them.

A confectionery/convenience store on the ground floor of my work building

3. The Weekend and Shopping

28 February 2011

The weekend was great! I didn’t have to work and on Friday night I was particularly happy because I finally managed to boil water on my stove. I have three hot plates on my electric stove, two at the front and one at the back on the left. The two at the front correspond to their on/off switches but don’t warm up enough to boil water. The third switch, which is labelled so that it corresponds to the hot plate at the back, does not heat the hot plate at the back. It also heats the one at the front on the right. If you use the ‘correct’ switch for this hot plate, it doesn’t get very hot, but if you use the ‘wrong’ switch for this hot plate, you can boil a pot of water in about 20 minutes. I have also discovered why I keep burning my hands in the bathroom. Despite the label on the tap saying the hot is on the left and the cold is on the right, it’s actually the other way around. No more burnt hands for me! I haven’t tried the washing machine yet. That’s my next adventure.

I did a little celebratory dance on Friday night after boiling the water and then went to sleep. I slept most of Saturday because I was exhausted and it’s so lovely and warm in bed, especially when it’s cold outside. Having said that, it has been rather mild lately. This morning it was -12 when I walked to school. Not that -12 is warm, but it is noticeably warmer than -20. It’s actually a relief when the weather hits -10 or above. The only problem is the wind. The temperature is not too bad, but the wind is icy! Fortunately, for anyone who might be worried about my nose dropping off, I have it from an American expat that the locals here are particularly kind. In the cold, your body parts first go very red and really hurt; then they go very white, you can’t feel them anymore and that’s the first sign of frostbite. There was an Australian teacher here before, who arrived at school and complained to the others that the locals kept stopping him in the street and pointing at his ears and asking for money on the way. It turns out, they weren’t asking for money at all. They were trying to tell him that his ears had gone white, that he was showing the first signs of frostbite and that he should get inside quickly. He just couldn’t understand them. So don’t worry about my bobble nose, I trust the locals to tell me if it’s about to fall off.

On Saturday evening, the American expat, called Matt, showed me how to get to a local shopping centre up on the hill called Planyeta. It’s a standard shopping centre. I needed to buy shoes and about 50 other things. Matt also needed a couple of things, so we split up and agreed to meet in an hour or so. I bought winter boots from a place called O’Shade. They were on sale, but still cost 4000 rubles (about $130). Having said that, they have a low heel and come up to just below my knee. They’re black velvet and are lined with wool fleece. I waterproofed them 3 times on Sunday, which is just as well, because it started snowing yesterday. Apparently it snows 8 months of the year here. The locals don’t have as much affection for the fluffy white stuff as I do. Today I saw the wind pick up the fresh powder in big white frozen clouds off the rooves and off the ground. If you get caught in a snow cloud, it’s hard to tell if it’s started snowing again or not.

After buying boots, I went to the supermarket. It was chaos. The thing that got me (apart from the lack of order of anything, and trying to find what you want, and then not being able to find it, then thinking you’ve found it but you can’t read the Russian so you take it home and it’s a mystery product) is the different set of manners for walking around. For example, you don’t stand back from the shelves to look at something. Instead, you must stand with your nose pressed up to the product so that no one else can look at what is on offer where you are standing, let alone pick something up. If you do stand back and someone comes and bumps you from the side and you let them in because you think they want to pass, you’re stupid, because they don’t want to pass at all. They want to look at the products you’re looking at and instead of passing and letting you continue to look, they’ll stand right in front of you and what you’re trying to see. Same thing at the checkout. If you happen to leave a modicum of space between yourself and the person in front of you so that you don’t hit their heels with your trolley, someone else will think that you’re not really in line (and who cares if you are anyway) and will push into that space; again in the guise of trying to pass from one side of the queue to the other. I suppose the idea of ‘don’t push in’ ingrained into us at the tuckshop when we were in primary school is something I didn’t realise meant anything to me. Yet it’s amazing how annoyed I got when it happened, especially when it was seemingly so often. At this supermarket, you also have to buy bags before you pass through the checkout. Fortunately, I saw them under the conveyor belt on shelves because the lady behind me grabbed some and put them on with her groceries. You have to guess how many you need. I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t seen the lady grab those bags, because I had a trolley full of groceries. By the way, if the product doesn’t scan properly, you can’t have it. I suppose it’s a security thing? But I tried to buy something, and it wouldn’t scan, so the girl put it next to the till, said ‘it wouldn’t read’ and that was that. Fortunately, it was just white-out, and not something I was desperate for. Then I paid for everything and went around the counter to pack my own bags. Finally, I left, with a really big headache and Matt took me to ‘Chinatown’ (a shopping centre) where we met with some other expats and had Chinese food for dinner.

The food was ok. The restaurant is run by Chinese people who seem to be mostly from Beijing. It was very fatty, and not what I would call authentic Chinese, but that could also have been because of what we ordered. Apparently this group always get the same thing there. I didn’t mind – it tasted good and it was hot. The others were good company. There were two other Americans (both of whom were dating Russians) and a Brit. He’s from Manchester. One of the Russians who was dating the American was there, but she was very relaxed and happy and was definitely more Western than Russian. The only thing I don’t understand about restaurants here is that this is a country that generally looks towards Europe. It’s not exactly Western, but it’s not Asian either. There can be really nice restaurant and really nice food, which still has squatty potties! The only thing I can say about those is that they are very good for strengthening thigh muscles. Otherwise, it’s just a horrible experience, which I think I’m going to have to get used to.

I got home and the Americans kindly helped me with my bags. I think I watched a bit of tv and then crashed. Sunday I slept a lot, again, found some food and then cleaned my bathroom. The guy who lived there before me I don’t think was a particularly dirty guy. He had cleaned the place, but just not as much as I would have liked. Normally, it would not take me 3 hours to clean such a small space as my bathroom, but I cleaned the walls and everything else in there within an inch of its life. I discovered that when I wiped the walls down, they reeked of tobacco and the water turned yellow. After I finished, they were noticeably the right colour again, and they don’t smell of cigarettes anymore. While I was cleaning, it started snowing. I liked that. Then I had something to eat and watched an old war movie on TV. I can’t really say that old movies are black and white here. They’re kind of a reddy-brown and white. Everything, even if it’s a modern film, has slightly snowy reception and a faint red over everything, like you’re looking through a filter – it’s very odd. I ate sausages, baranki (big sushki) and cheese for dinner. I hate to say it, but I think I’m starting to get a bit sick of baranki. I’ll have to start to cook some real food from now on I think. Afterwards, I watched Over the Hedge and Bruce Almighty, and went to bed at the start of Sweet home Alabama.

On Monday morning, I walked to work so I could see the shops on the way. I found a bank where I could finally exchange some money, but they wouldn’t take one of my notes because it had a slight fold in it at the top. They were worried it might be counterfeit. It wasn’t, but it doesn’t matter. I’ll see if I can exchange it with one of the Americans later. Then I got to work and Nastya and I went to a local high school: School no. 150. The school in the new area up on the hill and to be honest, it wasn’t bad. The lockers were all inside and all the buildings were connected by completely sealed and covered walkways: once you were inside, you stayed inside. The colour scheme they had chosen was red and yellow; the same as the colour scheme for all the new apartment buildings in the area. Although the apartment buildings were new, they seemed to be built in exactly the same style as the old ones, but with different colours. The older apartment buildings are a bit ramshackle and tend to be blue/green. School no. 150 had a school canteen, European style with sit down tables (not like an Australian tuckshop) and we did our little presentation in the Geography classroom. It was a real Geography classroom I might add – I have never seen so many huge poster maps in my life. There was also a TV and a blackboard and in front of the blackboard was what looked like a washing line. It turned out that it was tracks that the teacher used pull the maps along when they wanted to show them. There was a whiteboard in the classroom, but it was being used as a noticeboard. I talked a little bit about Australia, the students did a quick diagnostic test and then we left. I think it was a teacher who picked us up from school and dropped us off again. He seemed to take a bit of a shine to me. I didn’t really like that. I mean, I didn’t really mind except that his fifteen-year-old daughter is one of our students and that he’s about 50! I mean, seriously! Has he no standards?! When he asked me in the car on the way home (when I was sitting next to his daughter) if I had a boyfriend, I wanted to say ‘none of your business’ or ‘as far as you’re concerned I do’. Unfortunately, I also didn’t want to be rude and break the business deal that Nastya wanted from this so I made a noncommittal noise which Nastya interpreted as a ‘no’…. I hope I don’t see him too often in the future.

We arrived back at school. I had some lunch and talked with another teacher about a class tomorrow I have with three children who are about 9 or 10 years old: two boys (who are apparently very naughty) and a girl. I’m going to prepare their class now… actually, I might take my things home and prepare it there because I’m hungry and I need to go to the supermarket.

Much love,

~Jane

2. Getting settled

25 February 2011

Dear all,

Things are much less hectic today – such a relief! Apparently Nastya was very worried about me yesterday, because I was so overwhelmed with everything, but she saw me today and was much less worried. When I got home from work yesterday, at about 8pm, I was still really overwhelmed. I made a cup of coffee and was planning to clean up the apartment a bit, but in the end I just got into my pjs and watched a bit of tv. There’s no digital tv here; just analogue tv with bunny ears. I chose the channel with the best reception. It was a silly tv show, but I watched it anyway. The ads are really funny here eg they have a Coca-Cola ad with the same song as we have, but in Russian – it’s kind of strange. I relaxed with some tea and sushki (hard round plain biscuits) and went to sleep. I was lovely and warm: my bed backs onto the central heating unit.

I have a studio apartment with a separate bathroom. Although it’s a studio, it’s quite big and I have a sofa bed, but to be honest, it’s quite long and although it can fold out, I don’t need it to; it’s big enough as it is. My only gripes with the apartment are the lack of toilet seat (it’s cold!), the stove that takes a week to warm up and the cigarette burns everywhere from the previous tennant. He also left a few things behind which he came and collected today, so anything he hasn’t taken I am going to throw out. I’m luckier than the boys who live here: they don’t have a washing machine and have to wash by hand. I have a washing machine in my kitchen, but no dryer. Nastya is going to give me an iron so I can dry my clothes (I hate ironing!).

Sunrise here is at about 7.30-8am and sunset is at about 4.30-5pm. During the day, it’s lovely and bright. Even though there isn’t much warmth in the sun, feeling it on your face and being out in it is still wonderful. Today I got up, had an apple and a coffee and the rest of my sushki, watched Good morning Russia on tv and then went back to bed. I had the stove on for an hour trying to boil some water. Actually, I put water that I had boiled in the kettle in a pot and put that pot on the stove. After an hour it still hadn’t boiled. I woke up, got dressed, then the previous tennant came and collected his things so now when I go home today, I can clean the kitchen (with an old-fashioned powder cleaner) and cook and put things where I want them to be. The cleaning products are really funny. The sponge advertises that it is contoured for your hands so that women with long beautiful nails don’t ruin them while using he sponge. It’s kind of like living in the 70s or 80s again. It’s not so bad really. At least I can remember a little bit about the 1980s.

When we walked to school today, Nastya tried to lend me some boots, but with my socks they wouldn’t fit so I had to wear mine again. There is nothing wrong with my boots, they’re quite comfortable. But the soles are smooth and so they’re very slippery on the ice. They also don’t have a lining, so if you’re out walking, they’re not really warm enough. Nastya brought me some socks for around the house, so I put them on over my normal socks to wear under my boots and I was warm enough. My feet were a little squished, but I was warm. We caught the bus this morning (13 rubles) so I knew how to do it and tried to buy a simcard from MegaFon but I have to wait until I’m registered with the city before I can do that. We got off the bus a couple of stops early and walked past all the shops. We bought some hot ponchiki (doughnuts) on the way and ate them outside near the river. It was a spectacular! There’s a big park near the river. All fountains have been closed off and the city has put light displays in their place. There was an enormous Christmas tree which seemed like it was 50 m tall. It was in the process of being dismantled and there were ice sculptures everywhere. They’re so beautiful, and they haven’t lost any of their shape. You can walk in them! Actually, they have made one on the stairs with a slide down the middle so people can climb on it and slide down. There’s another one with stairs that you can climb up and then slide down the other side. It’s like a kind of playground castle, but made entirely of ice. We had a quick look at the river. It’s still flowing and Nastya told me the city is separated into left and right bank (like in Paris). The left bank is where the main administration and the city is (where the school is and where I live) and the right bank is mostly suburban.

We arrived at school and my nose and face was frozen. I didn’t care, although the wind was starting to pick up. Then Nastya showed me where the cafe was in the building and she helped me order lunch. I ate while she went upstairs and started work. I had vegetables, chicken, a clear soup (chicken maybe?) and grechka (a Russian staple of boile roasted buckwheat). You could choose that or potatoes or salad. I also had a coffee (a choice between cappuccino or americano) made with real coffee beans and a coffee machine and the whole thing cost 172 rubles (about $5.70). Apparently, I should only eat at this cafe sometimes, because it’s not the cheapest place to eat. I like how they have cafes here. It’s not like in Australia. You kind of feel like the cafe is someone’s kitchen and the chairs and tables are in someone’s house. The women wear simple clothes, aprons and often slippers. They use household dishcloths and microwaves and the cutlery and crockery is what you’d find in someone’s house. The coffee was also real! It wasn’t the instant 3 in 1 Mac coffee which is dreadful and they made it with fresh milk. Although the taste wasn’t what I was used to, it was still very drinkable. I have a headache though, despite my caffeine fix. I think I’m still tired and whenever I stick my head out the door, there is so much that is different and new. I walk around with a semi-permanent stunned, fascinated, childlike expresson on my face. At least I’m getting faster at reading Cyrillic. I still read and write like a child, but I’m practising reading names on the news and reading all the signs. Nastya has lent me a dictonary from the school which I can use to help teach myself, too.

After lunch I went upstairs to work. Nastya gave me my timetable for next week. It’s a 6 day week, because it’s International Women’s day the week after, which is a public holiday. Because it’s my first week, it’s quite an easy timetable: only 3 classes. One group of 3 children (about 9 or 10 years old – elementary level); one group of 2 men (elementary level) and one individual student who will send a car to pick me up and drop me off so I can teach at his house. On Monday I’m also going to a high school to talk to a group of 15-year-olds about the school, play a game with them, promote English, and generally encourage them to learn with us. I think it’ll be quite fun. I was so excited when I received my timetable. It helped me to relax and gave me a bit of confidence, because if I can’t do anything else, at least I know what I’m doing when I teach. Nastya is also looking forward to giving me French classes. Even though there being a native French speaker at the school, he doesn’t want to teach French so I will teach French and practise my own French with him. Now, Nastya is working and I’m waiting for another teacher to come in so I can ask her advice about what to do with the young children. I’ve got some ideas, but it would be better to speak with her because children differ from country to country. Nastya also gave me some business cards which I am to keep with me. They’re not made for me especially; they’re for the school. But they have a place to write your name and all the school’s contact details, so if anyone wants to learn here, at least I can promote things a bit and give them a card. I feel special!

I think that’s about all I can write for the moment. The American teacher is going to take me to the markets tomorrow to buy anything I want to. The biggest problem at the moment is my nose constantly being sore and me being constantly thirsty from the dry air, but it’ll settle down soon. Thank you for your news and comments. I love hearing about what’s happening back home. Talk to you soon!

Much love,

Jane.

1. The Journey Begins

Introduction:

In 2009/2010 I was teaching English as a second language to international students in my home town in Australia. Tired of hearing about all of their adventures from other parts of the world, I decided that I needed a few of my own. I applied for positions teaching English in Chile, Turkey, Russia and a few other places, but the Russian company got back to me the fastest and with the best deal. So, in February 2011, I packed a suitcase and left Australia for a city called Krasnoyarsk in Siberia. I worked at a school called Business School – Link and taught English to everyone from kindergarteners to executives at one of the biggest gold-mining companies in Russia. While I was there I wrote emails home to my family telling about my life there. They are here for anyone who may be interested in reading them.

Part 1 – 24 February 2011.

Dear all,

I have arrived in Krasnoyarsk and am doing well, all things considering. Nastya, my manager, gave me a lovely welcome and has been looking after me so well. She even lent me some mittens and a beanie to help me and holds onto me when I walk across the ice, because the first thing I did when leaving the airport was slip on the ice and thwack my head on the ground. It’s ok, my head bounced. I have a headache now, but that’s mainly from lack of sleep I think. I got an hour or so in Beijing and maybe 4 hours on the flight. Then I was shown my apartment and got some more, after I had a shower and discovered that I couldn’t drink anything in my house. I wanted to go for a walk and have a look to find a little shop near where I live (quite close to the school by the way; when it warms up I can walk there). I didn’t go in the end because my hair was wet and I didn’t want to risk it. I should buy a hairdryer, but today I used the central heating pipes to dry my hair. Staff from the school also came round to my apartment and saw what things need to be fixed, or things that I need to buy (I don’t have a toilet seat yet) but I had a shower, the water works, the electric stove works – painfully slowly – I think it takes about an hour to boil a pot of water, but never mind. I’ll also use bottled water. The tap water Nastya said is fine for teeth brushing, but I got the impression the pipes are a bit old, and the locals seem to drink bottled water anyway so I’ll do what they do. I bought some fruit from the shops: they had red delicious apples and pears, for sale cheaper than in Australia. The school has also given me sheets, towels, cleaning products (because the tenant before me didn’t clean it very well…. actually his things are still there, apparently he’s coming tomorrow at about midday to finish moving out) and pots and pans and kitchen gear.

So many things have happened and are floating around my head, but so far I can only say good things about the company. They just gave me a 1000 ruble advance in my pay, and they’ve only just met me! They took me to my apartment, they took me to school, they fed me and gave me tea and coffee, they let me sleep, they’re going to let me aclimatise a little bit so that I start work properly on Monday. I can’t believe it! It’s not only civilised, I feel so special! It is unbelievably cold outside – now it’s not too bad, -15 celcius. Nastya said this is probably the last week of really cold weather, but when we landed this morning it was -32 C. Next week she expects it to warm up a bit to -10 or even 0. She said spring is coming soon, but it will be cold until about April. Actually, I said I came from +34 C weather and she got confused and said +24. I suppose it doesn’t really make a big difference to her, just as -20 and -30 are easily confused, but the reality is different! At the airport, in the field, there was about 4 ft of snow and a path cut through it, like u cut a path through a sugarcane field. The man sitting across from me in the plane just had a t-shirt on for the flight, and that made sense, but he didn’t have a jacket with him. I suppose he assumed that there would be a heated walkway to the terminal. There wasn’t. As we were standing up, preparing to leave the flight, I looked out the window and saw them wheeling uncovered stairs up to the aeroplane. The cabin crew were fine. As part of their uniform they have enormous down jackets with hoods that come down to their knees, then they have boots up to their knees, so they’re prepared for anything. The locals were also prepared and most other people, despite being cold had a winter jacket of some sort with them to wear into the airport, except this guy. He was noticeably nervous when he saw the stairs approaching. We got on a bus and he started shivering, but tried to make it look like he wasn’t. I suspect he’d led a comfortable life in China and didn’t realise things would be different in Russia – he learnt fast!

Then we drove home. There’s a serious problem with the driving here. Although the roads are clear, steam comes off the cars as they drive: it comes off the wheels and the exhaust pipes, especially so for trucks. In fact, if you drive behind a truck, there is so much of it, you can’t see anything at all, so if you change lanes you are driving completely blindly. We stopped off at the supermarket on the way home. Because I didn’t have any rubles, Nastya offered to lend me some. In the end, she didn’t need to – my Mastercard worked, no problem. The guy who came with Nastya to meet me was was called Dima and he texted while driving a Lada with suspicious brakes, blind from the steam of the 18-wheeler in front, while not wearing a seatbelt. He put the seatbelt across his body to drive past police. Petrol is quite cheap here too – about 30-40 rubles – about a dollar a litre anyway, and you buy it according to the octane number you want.

We arrived at my apartment, I figured out the shower and washed my hair. I couldn’t go out to buy water (which I forgot to get at the supermarket) until my hair dried anyway, so I had a sleep. I felt a bit dazed and confused afterwards, but I came to school and ate something and have been drinking a lot of coffee and am feeling much better! Dinner I think will be bread, sausages and fruit, which is not fancy, but will keep me going. I love the cheese here. I bought some Jarlsburg – I love it! I also have tea, coffee and fresh milk at home. I bought the milk in a funny sachet thing, because it costs extra to buy it in a bottle and it’s exactly the same product. I drank a little bit of that when I was at home because I was desperate for a drink and didn’t want to risk the water unboiled. It is pasturised, still tastes like milk, but has a really funny farm-like aftertaste. It’s like milk from a different animal. It’s not great, but drinkable, and I think in coffee it’s not a problem.

I met the other two teachers who work here. Matt, is from the US and asked if I lived in Perth. I said no, Brisbane, and he asked how I went with the floods. I was amazed: a worldly US citizen – maybe he’s a spy? I also met Daniel, who is from Camaroon, and I think it will be excellent working with him. He just came into the little teachers’ room where I was writing this and spoke to me in French. He told me he’s only going to speak to me in French, unless there is someone else who only speaks English/Russian, then he switches. They all seem very impressed that I can read and speak a little Russian, but to be honest, at the airport there is no English and on the plane the cabin crew all spoke to me in Russian too – so it’s a good thing! I also didn’t need any help filling in my visa form, because it was only in English and Russian, and most of the other passengers, who spoke Chinese, did. They have all been asking me about the floods in Brisbane. They think they’re so lucky to have someone from Australia where everything is upsidedown. I told them about the crocodile going for a walk in the street in Gympie and the shark swimming down the road in Ipswich and they thought it was a great story. The other foreign teachers have been here for 2 and 3 years respectively, which is quite a low turnover. This is a good sign and I feel very lucky to have a job here. The town itself is beautiful, the people seem to be much happier and more relaxed than in Almaty, and you can tell by the way they drive – much less honking going on, and a little more order to the driving. Everyone here by the way wears fur, well to work anyway. They all have mink coats and hats. When they’re in their casual clothes, they wear down jackets and jeans, but at work they wear high heeled boots (that have serious grip on the soles) and mink coats and leather gloves lined with fur because it’s more professional. The school itself is cute but nice I think. It’s not fancy, but it has everything you need and seems to be in better condition than Almaty.

That’s about all for now, and I need more coffee. Lots of love to you all – please keep me updated with what’s happening where you are! Take care and talk soon,

Jane