Гроза, 9. Students book. Unit 4. Lesson 6. Exercise 1

Tapescript:
Interviewer: Could you, please, start by introducing yourself? Tell us a little bit about yourself and your job.
Brian: Yes, sure. OK. My name is Brian Maguire, I’m the British Council manager in Nizhny Novgorod. Err … I’ve been living in Russia for three and a half years now.
Interviewer: Have you experienced anything that you may see as typically Russian and did you enjoy it?
Brian: I can say “Yes”. Err … A year … , no, it was two years ago. I was invited to a “dacha”. Right. Everyone, even in the West, everyone’s heard of a “dacha”, but up till then I’d never been to one. And it was such a wonderful experience. It was in the countryside, outside Moscow, err … it was a typical Russian wooden house with a really nice garden and we spent the day enjoying ourselves talking, joking, eating shashlik, then we went for a swim.
Interviewer: Oh, really?
Brian: … in a nearly lake … We had a really, really good time, we enjoyed it.
Interviewer: Great! Have you taken part in any other traditional leisure activities, Brian?
Brian: In Russia, yes. I mean I can think of two other ones. One is cross-country skiing and the other is the banya. I’ll start with skiing. Skiing is not something that we do very much in England. Err … It’s a problem because we don’t have much snow … err … and it’s just not part of our tradition, but in Russia there is a lot of snow and it’s definitely part of your tradition. And I was invited to go skiing by some Russian friends more or less as soon as I arrived. And it was wonderful, I mean, I found out how to get up after falling over, then I managed to stay upright and managed to move and I really, really enjoyed the exhilaration of skiing in a Russian wood or a Russian park.
Interviewer: You mentioned banya …
Brian: And the banya … Right. OK. The banya. That was a very surprising experience. Err … the first time 1 went to a Russian banya, again with some friends. Err … Sitting in a really hot steamy room, sweating and talking, I found it rather strange. When someone came with birch branches and started beating everybody … I found it absolutely incredible, incredible … I was told it was good for my health and I believed it … and just have to say that was a remarkable experience.
Interviewer: Thanks, thanks very much.