Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Return to Vodkaberg, Part Four: The Teachers (and the Cat)

At the risk of alienating readers who come here for heavily edited pictures of the cleavage and buttocks of Russian chicks, I'll fill you in on the current teaching situation in Vodkaberg. And my cat.

So there are a few teachers I knew left in Vodkaberg, about three.

The guy who took my cat is still there, and he still has my cat. It's reported to be getting old -- it's 13 now --but still the fine affectionate animal it always was. I didn't visit her. It might have made me cry.

This is her after she managed to kill a bluebird from the windowsill. That's the bird's head there.

This is her eating a Cheeto.

Me and the cat at one of the after-club bunkin' parties I occasionally hosted. 

 The guy who keeps the cat doesn't seem to be doing too well, suffering from numerous chronic mysterious health problems and not yet having made any lasting connections with Russian women. He's a few years older than I am and continues to work at Communication Chain.

Communication Chain is still going on, and even has a new building; it sounds like there are still the same problems with bizarre schedules and a lot of travel time, and nobody I spoke to seems too happy with the salary compared to the cost of living in Russia 2013. But of course they don't have any problem finding teachers ...

One other guy I know managed to get a job at a high school, and seems to like it well enough, with a nice apartment that allows him to walk to work and enough private students to feel like he's got some dough, as well as a nice girlfriend.

Another guy works mainly doing private lessons, with a few hours at a university to keep his visa, and is very happy with the money he's making.

They're both about the same age as me; they both agreed their social lives weren't nearly as exciting as they used to be and Vodkaberg was a far more sedate place than it was a few years ago.

I mentioned this to Girlfriend and she said, "You guys need to open your passports and check how old you are."


And the other teachers mentioned in VODKABERG? Slappy is still roaming the Balkans. Uncle Cool is in Moscow. Bear is still married, living in America. Sam is living in China with his Russian wife. Sasquatch Rick is back in America, working a normal office job. Glasses is working in Siberia. Chuck and Crazy Bob are both in the Middle East, and I imagine I'll be seeing them both soon. . .

NEXT: RETURN TO VODKABERG, PART FIVE: LITTLE VALYA

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

How did both the guy working at the high school and the one at the uni get those jobs? They speak Russian well / connections?

English Teacher X said...

Well, they'd been there a while, so I guess it was a question of being in the right place at the right time. Jobs at uni are part time and don't pay much.

Anonymous said...

If the party's over in Vodkaberg what city do your sources mention as close to the orgy filled glory days?


You can't tell me that horn dog english teachers are becoming celibate, unless the provincial girls have suddenly changed.

Anonymous said...

Are the teachers there mostly Yanks or Brits nowadays? Any news about Kate C? don't tell me she's still around terrorizing the place

English Teacher X said...

Yeah, she's still there. Both of the second two guys I mentioned have girlfriends. I think the new teachers are a mix of Brits and Yanks. It's not like people are going to stop drinking and fucking completely, just be a bit more circumspect about it.

Anonymous said...

What's your take on good ol' Kate?

English Teacher X said...

http://englishteacherx.blogspot.com/2008/10/director-of-studies-f-kafka.html

http://englishteacherx.blogspot.com/2009/09/all-over-but-shouting-or-why-i-left-my.html

Anonymous said...

This seems counterintuitive. Wouldn't a school expansion mean that English teachers would get a larger batch of potential gf's?

Are there too many foreigners there now that it's actually a downside to be foreign?

English Teacher X said...

Well it's not the attraction it once was, let's put it that way. I mean, put a little effort in, I'm sure you'll be fine. But the extra students are almost undoubtedly not uni age chicks, they're children, housewives, and older professionals.

Dion McTavish said...

I would have loved to have heard about Doofus again.