My Day (мой обычный день)

   I want to tell you about my daily routine. On working days I usually get up at half past 7 in the morning and go to the bathroom. I wash myself, brush my teeth and comb my hair. While I am in the bathroom my mother makes breakfast for me and my brother. I usually have porridge, omelet or pancakes and a sandwich with cacao for breakfast. At half past 8 I leave home and go to school. It is not far from my house, but I don't like to be late for my classes, that’s why I leave home earlier. On my way to school I often meet my classmates and friends. We talk and discuss things.

   I usually have six lessons at school, sometimes seven, but never eight or nine. The first lesson starts at 9 o’clock in the morning. At school we have a lot of subjects: Math, Russian, Literature, Biology, Geography, English, Computing, Physical Education and others. We learn a lot of interesting and useful things at school. At 12 o’clock we usually have lunch at school.

   After school I go back home. I have my dinner at 3 o’clock in the afternoon. After dinner I go for a walk with my friends. In winter we play hockey or snowballs, in spring and autumn we usually play football in our yard. We have a football field nearby and spend lots of time there.

   After walking I come back home and start doing my homework. When I have problems with it, I ask my mother or my brother for help. My father comes back from work very late, so I ask him for help just at the week-ends. At 7 o’clock in the evening my family has supper. After supper I like to play computer games or to watch some film.

   I also have a habit of reading a bit before going to bed. So I lie down in the bed at half past 9 in the evening and read up to 10 o’clock. Then I fall asleep.

   That’s my usual day.

My Hobbies and Pastime (Мое хобби и времяпровождение)

   Hobby is what people really like to do and do in their free time. People have very different hobbies that correspond to their interests.

   One of the most popular hobbies is collecting different things. Some people collect badges and stamps, some people collect bottles or flowers. There are people who collect paintings or cars.

   I collected pocket flashlights when I was at primary school. I have a collection of about fifteen flashlights. I remember I used to hang them on the walls and to put on the bookshelves in the evening. I switched on all of them at the same time and was very excited because of this unusual light.

   Making things with hands is another type of hobbies. This includes drawing, knitting, painting, handicraft and others. For example, my granny is fond of knitting. All over the year she knits socks and scarves for everybody in our family. Playing computer games has become a very popular hobby nowadays. Lots of my friends are addicted to their computers. My parents don’t allow me to play a lot, so I can’t say that this is my hobby.

   My major hobby is volleyball. I attend sport school 3 times a week. We have 2 and half hours of training. I usually get very tired after it but this sport game gives a great pleasure to me.

   I also like listening to music. I have a big collection of CDs with different kinds of music. My favourite genres of music are rock and reggae. I also have some favourite singers and I collect information about them.

   Now I want to talk about ways of spending free time. I think that hobbies and pastime are connected with each other because you do whatever you like in your free time. As for me I go to sport school during the week so at the week-ends I mostly go out with my friends. We like to go to park. Sometimes we roller-skate there, sometimes just walk and eat some ice-cream. I think that it’s very good just to walk and listen to birds singing. I like to be close to nature.

   In the evenings I like to read. I like to spend a couple of hours with a new interesting book.