princess anna

To get some extra easy money, i have agreed to be the personal tutor for a 15 year old russian girl. She has her FCE in 1 week, so for the past two weeks, I have been preparing her for it, and receiving some rather generous cash in the process. Not that money is an issue with these folks: princess anna lives in the biggest Moscow flat I have ever seen. It takes up a whole bloody floor of the flat block. It has at least 15 rooms, maybe more, I still haven’t scoped out the whole place. It has all been newly remonted in late imperial Russian style. If the help were ethnic Russians, I would expect them in Nicholas II era clothing…but they are all Asians.
The entire flat is immaculately clean, I suppose thanks to the maids who are always fussing about. I arrive, having passed through gates of guards and security cameras, then when I walk in the door, the maids remove my street shoes and bring me rabbit fur slippers. We have our lessons in the princess anna’s study room (she has multiple rooms to herself). the room has the latest computer and other electronic equipment. Princess Anna has different colour ipods for her various outfits. She normally wears jeans, but I have never seen her wear the same pair twice. On her desk are frame and signed photos from people like Britney spears. The funny thing is, I don’t even really have to do anything. The girl is obviously a good student and I am convinced she will pass, with or without my assistance. So we spend a lot of time just chatting (I cant believe I get paid for this) she tells me about her favourite places, like harrods and various resorts in Switzerland she goes off to. We compare notes as to which floor of harrods has the best stuff. Sometimes she tells me jokes, such as:
“a new Russian goes through customs at sheremetevo 2. the customs officer asks him what is in the three bags on the trolley. The Russian answers that the first bag has cocaine, the second 100,000 in cash, and the third clothing and various gifts. ‘is it all yours?’ asks the customs officer. ‘oh no’ says the new Russia, ‘this is all yours, mine is coming next.’”
Only in Russia would a 15 year old think this was a realistically funny joke. But I suppose she has learned some tricks from her dad (a buznizmeni who is more often in London than Moscow) the mother is also rarely around the flat, or if she is I don’t see her much. But then the flat is so big that when she wants to ask princess anna something, she calls her on the mobile, even when they are in the same flat. I guess the mother just cant be bothered walking through all those rooms to ask something in person. But as the say, dengi ni pahnut