Russian Language School "Enjoy Russian" (http://enjoyrussian.com): Cold and wet living in the north

воскресенье, 11 ноября 2012 г.

Cold and wet living in the north – the way to love it.

My tea's gone cold
I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all
The morning rain clouds up my window
And I can't see at all
And even if I could, it'd all be grey
But your picture on my wall
It reminds me that it's not so bad
It's not so bad.©

It’s not really a good idea to start with the sad facts, but you should be well aware, when you come to Karelia: the sun rarely comes here. Autumn, spring, summer – seasons change, but it seems like rain never stops here. Raindrops keep falling on your head/window/umbrella, people look like ghosts in the fog...But it doesn’t mean that you have nothing to do with this.

The first way to escape grey and wet rainning karelian reality is to stay at home with your new Karelian friends and neighbours - turn the light on, brighten your life; put some tea /with some...mmm...strawberry jam/, warm your life; play games, tell wonderful stories, paint your life with different colours. Rain and cold weather will only strengthen sense of closer, comfortable and friendly atmosphere – Karelian people are very nice, they are always ready to talk to you, to tell a lot of different stories, to have fun with you, to cook you tasty traditional food, like pirozhki /baked pastry with various filling/...both at your home and at their own – like all Russians they are very hospitable – so don’t forget that you’re always welcome.

But if you need to be outdoors...well, it’s also not a tragedy. You cannot change the things itself, but you can change the way you think about them. Bright umbrella /imagine: variously painted umbrellas would seem to be beautiful ancient ships, lost in endless sea.../, lights, reflecting in the running water...catch the mood of the rain – its bright sorrow or funny running from the sky right to your feet, remember your childhood, when you used to laugh while jumping down the rainy streets.

You don’t need to stop enjoying your stay in Karelia. Petrozavodsk in the rain isn’t less beautiful than in sunny days /sometimes it seems even more attractive/. Secretly, when you come to bank of the Onego lake /especially, when it’s covered with fog/, the town reminds us cities of the past, depicted at the ancient paintings...

“It cannot rain all the time” – as it was said in one famous movie. You will obviously see the other side of our region – smile of rainbow, heat of the sun...But as you love a person you love both his negative and positive sides, you love a region/country/city in any weather...