Russian Yoga

At first glance this statue was as as cryptic as Russian yoga instructions

Namaste everyone. This evening some fellow Brits and I made the courageous decision to attend a yoga class exclusively in Russian. The studio had an atmosphere similar to that of a Soviet PE class, well as I imagine them anyway, but with a lot more emphasis on дух, or breath for you Western Yogis. Much to my neighbour's disdain, I spent the entire 90 minutes staring at him upside down to make sure I wasn't falling behind. At one point he even had to translate an instruction for me when Olga the instructor's leg slapping wasn't quite getting the point across. It was all in all a wonderful practice that left me feeling so stretched that I could well have spent the time on a rack.

Peterburg still fills me with the same mixture of confusion and excitement as it did this time last week but my Russian is definitely improving and my social life ain't half bad either so things are looking up. See you on the other side of the weekend!

A snapshot of my favourite class, Язык СМИ, which is essentially everything and anything to do with Russian media. Depicted in this charming graphic is Obama conducting the orchestra that is Europe. We are still unclear as to which stringed instrument represents the UK.