Celebrations

December is the time for various celebrations. Below are a few photos of some of December's events.

Thomas (centre) giving his scout's promise.

A certain well-known gentlemen, being ably assisted by Henry.

Lilli, eagerly viewing proceedings.

H-M, also paying close attention.

The horn is in the background because the tradition is that people have to sing to Father Christmas. The boys were keen on the idea, so Thomas played a few carols on his horn, and we sang a Christmas song, accompanied by Henry on guitar.


Christmas meal.

Lilli and Tiina tucking in.

And thanks go to H-M, who was the head chef, with Tiina the sommelier.

St. Petersburg

At the beginning of December, it was time for the next trip to St. Petersburg. This time, the focus was on culture - attendance at a KHL game was on the itinerary.

The usual suspects cheerfully set off on the Allegro train. Sesse managed not to lose her ticket and the only excitement was caused by Peter being singled out for extra thorough checking at the border - the only person in the whole carriage. Yippee!

We stayed at the usual hotel, Hotel Dostoyevsky, and the trip began with shopping for art supplies for H-M. Then it was time to head off for dinner, which Tiina had decreed would be in the fine restaurant, Stroganoff Steak House. The food was excellent. I enjoyed the Baikal omul, well, at least until I found out it was a somewhat endangered species, and the local sausages, and the others enjoyed the signature stroganoff (the adults) and the less-signature burgers (children). After dinner, we met up for a quick chat with Viktoria.

The breakfast at the hotel is really nothing to write home about and the ladies decided they wanted something rather better. So, we went off on a search, ending up at the Jazz Bar 48 Chairs, where the ladies had their breakfast and the boys a cup of coffeee (Peter) and orange juice (Thomas and Henry).

Sesse with her tea, but waiting for her omelette.

Interior of the jazz bar.

Suitably fortified, we went on our way into a rainy city, with Sesse, as usual, being an excellent guide. We were in Russia at the time of the parliamentary elections, as can be seen by the hoarding promoting the United Russia party. United Russia is the ruling party and did less well than anticipated. My feeling is that the people were upset with too many manifestations of the arrogance of power, in particular the decision to change the time, meaning that in St. Petersburg it doesn't get light until nearly eleven in the morning.

Electoral poster on Nevsky Prospekt, St. Petersburg's main thoroughfare.

The weather was not too friendly, but nothing to stop intrepid tourist like us.

Rainy St. Petersburg.


Rainy St. Petersburg (Singer Building on Nevesky Prospekt).

After a bout of sightseeing, it was time for a trolley bus ride, followed by lunch at a Japanese-Italian restaurant, Yakitoriya, where Thomas was a little disappointed with his portion, but Tiina and Henry were much happier with theirs.

Thomas eyeing his rather meagre lunch.

Henry and Tiina looking much more content.

Poor Thomas needed a snack immediately after eating his meal! Henry was very helpful and used his Russian skills to get him a meat pie (pirozhki). Thomas certainly does not need to slim!

Then it was off to the ice-hockey stadium to see the KHL game, CKA Saint Peterburg vs Spartak Moscow. The place was rocking, the hockey was good, and a fun time was had by all - except maybe the supporters of Spartak, as their team took a bit of a hiding.

Henry with his fan 'tattoo'.

Tiina and Henry

Building up the atmosphere.

Changeover.

A post-game snack - blinis at a Teremok kiosk.

The next morning it was an early start and the train back to Finland.

Of course, no report of a trip to St. Petersburg is complete without the obligatory photo of a church.

St. Isaac's Cathedral at night.

Andy Warhol

"In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

This autumn, it was Elk's Street's humble scribe's turn for ephemeral celebrity - as the photo below shows.




The award was given at a formal student dinner, which involved certain rituals, most of which come from the German university tradition, and at which I surprised everyone by holding the acceptance speech in Finnish.

Listening to some of the other speeches, I became more and more astonished at being singled out. With age, my classroom style is becoming more and more old-fashioned - I don't use electronic learning environments ('virtual learning' is just that - not quite the real thing), I don't use electronic feedback, I'm tardy with giving grades, and I hardly get round to being bothered to use the blackboard any more.

Mind you, Socrates didn't use much technology either - perhaps because he played football!

Thomas also had his moment in the spotlight. He was invited to the mayor's Independence Day reception. As with the Finnish President's Independence Day Ball, the event begins with shaking of hands - for a taste of this click here.

Thomas was maybe not quite as well-dressed as those in the video but he was still quite smart, as shown by the photos below.







How did the teaching story end? By the management in its wisdom transferring me to duties where I spend most of my time staring at a computer screen and very little time in the classroom. Hurray for managers.... not!