But of course on rare occasions that is not true and I do make some very good friends, but as a rule, I don t. And as for the most comfortable role I would say as a facilitator, someone who facilitates learning, that s what I would like to think I did. I was delighted actually, because I ve been to St. Petersburg a couple of times before and done courses, but in the city centre and this course was run out in the country, on a lovely lake in the forest, about two hours from St. Petersburg. And the meals are certainly different, generally good, the thing that s struck me was the quantity of food, you know, quite a big breakfast, very big lunch, very big dinner. Seems that we are expected to eat much more than I really eat in Britain.
Pleasant impression is that it is such a beautiful city.
The last time I was in St. Petersburg I stayed in the hotel St. Petersburg, just opposite is the battleship Aurora and every morning at eight o clock there was a bugler who played on the ship and that was really nice and really romantic thing to look out to, to see that and to listen to that. Unpleasant thing, I guess I have to say that, is the fact that there are a lot of prostitutes in hotels, if you stay in a hotel that s quite off-putting. Besides, it was difficult to find somewhere a medium priced and local to eat. I hope that you continue to be as enthusiastic as the teachers I ve come across, that you don t become as cynical as some of us, teachers in the West. And obviously I hope very much for you that your working conditions get better, because I know that at the moment they are still quite tough.