Classes and practical

Today I will update you on my classes; what do they look like and how are my language skills developing. Some students follow group lessons, while others are taking individual lessons. Marta and I are pretty much at the same level, but where as she understands almost everything that is being said and finds it harder to speak, I'll just throw every word I know in a sentence and have to pay very close attention to what is being said. The third lesson was really hard because I hadn't had much sleep, as there is so much to do here in this big, big city, but luckily we have a very patient teacher who is very nice and explains well! The Thursday lesson went better and today we had a different teacher with whom we talked about grammer, but mostly practiced our communication skills. We have got four hours of class each day  and then some homework, which, as I believe I have mentioned before, is mostly done at night.
In addition we have practical lessons, which are intented for improving conversation. Tuesday afternoon Marta and I met our teacher Pasha in the city. Pasha helped us to buy tickets for the Swan Lake. He prepared a city walk and Marta and I could mention what we wanted out of this afternoon. We walked through the Field of Mars, where participants of the February Revolution of 1917 were buried. It was transformed into a park in the 1930's and in the centre of it burns an eternal fire for those who died.

Eternal fire in the Field of Mars

We crossed the bridge over the Neva and went to visit Peter and Pauls Cathedral. This main building within the fortress stems from the 18th century. The design of the church is a combination of traditional western religious architecture and ancient Russian Church design. Detail our "guide"mentioned, is that the bells were supplied by Belgium. The fotress was built to protect the city from possible attacks from Sweden. The building was only finished after the Swedish were defeated and the fortress became more of a prison. The entire family and staff of the last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II, were shot to death are still buried there, as well as other Emperors and Grand Dukes.

Peter and Pauls cathedral

After this visit the three of us strolled along the river side, very much enjoying the view of the Hermitage at the otherside, to finish standing in the Neva with bare feet and sitting down to write down some of the words we leaned this afternoon. It was a great day, Pasha new a lot about the history of Saint Petersburg and I was really able to put some Russian verbs, adjectives and nouns into practice!

Take a look at the beauty inside
the Peter and Pauls cathedral

Pasha and me with in the background on the right the Hermitage