End of summer...

After a couple of hours of German grammar and 'Schreibenausdruck' (ie. written task) and various other German exam preparations, and after trying to plan our life with Jack ... after about more than one hour of planning the poor thing gave up and went to bed... I don't blame him - we've been running on low sleep, energy, time, and whatever else all summer it seems. ...and I can't sleep. Well actually I can, but I am consumed by this poem of Mandelshtam, you see. My Mum brought her old volume of his poems and showed me this particular one. I think it has to be one of the most brilliant things I've ever read. Even now, after I've re-read it a couple of dozen times it stirs me every time. Here it is in Russian (and here is a very VERY poor English translation):

* * *

За гремучую доблесть грядущих веков,
За высокое племя людей
Я лишился и чаши на пире отцов,
И веселья, и чести своей.
Мне на плечи кидается век-волкодав,
Но не волк я по крови своей,
Запихай меня лучше, как шапку, в рукав
Жаркой шубы сибирских степей.

Чтоб не видеть ни труса, ни хлипкой грязцы,
Ни кровавых костей в колесе,
Чтоб сияли всю ночь голубые песцы
Мне в своей первобытной красе,

Уведи меня в ночь, где течет Енисей
И сосна до звезды достает,
Потому что не волк я по крови своей
И меня только равный убьет.

17-28 марта 1931, конец 1935 (interesting - in Mum's book it says 1931)

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I've been learning his poems to train my memory and to feel closer to home - whatever that may be. My Dad knows something like 300 poems and has great memory, so perhaps one of these days I won't become senile.

Here's a short summary of what's been happening with us/here/without us:

1. As you already know from the previous post I got an offer from Free University of Berlin to do a Bachelor of Psych, and now in order to enrol I have to sit yet another (but *fingers crossed* the very very last) German test. So I'm madly trying to study for what is going to be the toughest exam yet. In the meantime I got yet another offer from Humboldt to study there, but since it's an offer for a Diplom in Psych (5 years and doesn't have an exact equivalent in Australia) I'm not so keen on it. Nice to be wanted though.
2. I quit as of 1st of October this year... which will give me a two week break before lectures start. Work said that if I want to come back next semester, and there is actual work to be done, then they'll be happy to have me back... which is nice.
   
3. Olchik was here for a couple of days.
   
4. Mum and Gleb were here - left yesterday in the morning. Hopefully more exact posts to follow on everyone's visits once I get that time off...
5. We were in Venice and celebrated 4 years of marriage... can't believe it's been that long already. Where are the kids?! ;P just kidding *boom boom*
   

So all in all - lots of changes. And lots of things to organise and worry about - or not worry as the case may be. One of which has been - which wine to buy... because this european wine is really different to what we're used to back in Australia... of course you do get the occasional Cab Sav or Merlot, but most of them have these weird names and pictures. This forces us to be adventurous, which lets say 70% of the time ends up pear shaped... like now I'm sipping this wine from some french Chateau... and as Jack has correctly described it "it tastes like cardboard".

For those of you interested in Russian politics, ten people were detained as suspects in the killing of Anna Politkovskaya. I've read her book 'The Russian Diary' and would very much recommend it. I guess it's a good thing that they've caught someone, but the reality is that it makes the government look good by showing that they're being proactive... but the people who ordered the murder are probably happily sipping vodka right now and living their cushy rich life.

To end this post on a more or less happy note - it's Quiz time!!! ;)

You Are Absinthe

You are a sloppy drunk, purposely so If drinking doesn't make you feel crazy, it's not any fun Truth be told, you tend to prefer drugs to drinking But you'd never pass up any absinthe that came your way!

What Alcoholic Drink Are You?