I found a new place to stay
Since yesterday i m living in the city center at nevsky prospekt (the main shopping street in petersburg). My room and the location are good and i m really happy and satisfied with the siuation. But i have to get used to live in a shared flat with a mother (she is the owner) her son and another girl from central russia. To rent a room in st petersburg is pretty expensive and not everyone can afford it. For europeans its allright, but for russians, whos average income is 20000 rubel (500 euro) prices inbetween 150 to 300 euro for a room, are to high. Thats why many young people have to live with their parents or with some others in one room, even if they would prefer to live alone. I m happy to have my own room in the center, which isnt far away from the university and not far away from my working place. After three weeks travelling 1,5 hour to the city i was really tired and annoyed. 7 o clock in the morning in a tram, which is so overcrowded that its hard to imagine for you .
After some little problems at the start, everything is running as smooth as possible now (as smooth as possible in russia)...
for example, every foreigner arriving in russia, has to be registered inbetween 3 working days. I arrived at the 30th of december and registerd myself at the university at the 11th of january, because from the 31.12 till the 10.01 are russian new year holidays. They told me i have to pay form my educational program, because my grant documents from germany havent arrived yet. So i payed and have been told from the international affairs department afterwards that i dont have to pay. Ahhhhhh. After long discussions, the dean of the faculty of philology agreed to pay me my money back. It was absolutly ridiculous! Everybody tries to get a much as possible from you... besides these negative facts i had a lot of positive experiences. I made a lot of new friends at the university and i really like my work at the circus. Tomorrow a russian television team will shot a report about the circus project... we will see J