Of verbs and old buildings (and pretty ladies)

Well I've done my week of learning Russian and its been tough! Three hours of one on one tuition, on average three hours or more of self revision and net result – I'm not certain. My vocabulary certainly improved, I can even manage past and future tense of verbs now – but actually stringing a sentence together under pressure is still really hard – and as for understanding anything that is said in reply to me well that is still hopeless. Despite the pain  I've actually enjoyed it – but I've decided to shorten week two to just a couple of days as I think the gains from anything more are not going to be worth the lost time.

When not studying lists of verbs and adjectives I've been walking around Irkutsk – its a lovely town that somehow almost completely missed out on the Soviet 50's era concrete “Kruschev flats” and still has a mass of older buildings and houses.  The buildings in the main street (Karl Marx Street -  a change from Lenin Street in most towns) are ornate stone and usually either beautifully restored or well on their way to be restored.  You feel there is money flowing around this town.

[caption id="attachment_304" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="The Town Hall (or something similar) - at rush hour there are 8 lanes of traffic here and using the crossing in the foreground requires some nerve (or in my case walk closely behind the locals)"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_305" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Typical street facade"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_306" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="and another (look carefully and you'll see assorted weaponary in front of the building - this one is some sort of military museum)"][/caption]

Off the main street many of the older buildings are of wood, much larger and ornate than those I've seen in the villages - remarkable structures in varying states of repair as can be seen in the photo's below. Whilst their lovely to look at and some are obviously renovated and well cared for many others are obviously very basic – its very common to see people collecting water from the standpipe out in the street so many obviously don't have running water (so we won't think about bathrooms and toilets). Talking to the girls who run the hostel I've been staying in it seems at least the importance of the houses is recognised and a lot of effort is being made to preserve them and not simply knock down and replace. In fact you can quite often see old ones that have semi collapsed being carefully taken apart with each log numbered presumably to allow later reconstruction.

[caption id="attachment_307" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="New wood houses being built"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_308" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="A restored one - still in the minority."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_309" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="and a grander one."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_310" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Ripe for renovation"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_313" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Might need a bit of work on the foundations."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_314" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="as might this one."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_315" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="and this one is in the take down and reconstruct category."][/caption]

Talking of reconstruction - here are a few photo's of typical construction practice; as I've mentioned before health and safety laws are obviously not as strong here as we are used to.

[caption id="attachment_316" align="aligncenter" width="480" caption="Look carefully at the roof."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_317" align="aligncenter" width="338" caption="no safety lines or harness."][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_318" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="same again"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_319" align="aligncenter" width="412" caption="meanwhile at ground level the electrician disconnects a street lamp."][/caption]

Finally just so you don't think I spend all my time looking at buildings and work practice here's one of a pretty lady on the street - and the streets are full of them - usually in impossibly high heels which they seem to walk about in as easily as if theywere born in them.