I HATE HER!

*may not be suitable for those under 18.

Right now I feel as if I have never hated someone as much as I hate Olga. Olga the stupid lady in the dekanat (dean's office) incharge of our invitation letters (refer to previous entry). Olga, the donkey who promised us that we would be able to get the invitation letters by the end of April. Olga the @&!* who makes us wait hours and hours before telling us to go back and come again another day.

Yesterday, she told us to go to the dekanat at 12pm today. We were there at 12, and she tells us to come back in one hour, at 2pm. (1pm-2pm is lunch hour - even if the world is going to come to an end, the dean's office people cannot be disturbed at that time). Maybe it was the look on our faces, but suddenly, she said, OK, come at 1pm. So, we waited. For one whole hour, we waited. At 1pm, that fucking lady refused to open the door. I have no idea whether or not she was in the room, but we were not buzzed in.

After lunch hour, we saw her, and she gave us a stack of invitation letters. My mother's one was there, my father's one was not. Remember me saying that waiting for the invitation letter was like waiting for exam results (previous post)? Well, getting only one of the two invitation letters is like getting 49 marks for the exam when the passing mark is 50. ARGH!!!! What did she have to say? Come back on Monday at 12 and it might be ready then.

All I wanted to do was shout at her. If I did, this is what I would have said : " You made me come at 12 today, and told me to wait till 1 and then refused to open the door till 2. And you are asking me to come back on Monday at 12, again. Are you going to make me wait again? Do you really think I have nothing else better to do with my life besides wait for you in the dekanat? Why don't you try coming to my hostel everyday and wait for 3-4 hours and go back empty handed? You told us to submit the documents in March/April. We did. My friends and I sent in the documents at the same time, and yet their invitation letters are ready, and mine are not. Why? What the hell have you been doing for 2 whole months? When did you actually submit the documents? We could have just done the invitation letter back home, yes, it is a bit more expensive, but at least we don't have to keep coming back to the dekanat every few days. "

But I couldn't say all that. Even if I had, she wouldn't have understood because this is f***ing Russia. They understand minimal English and telling her all those things would be like talking to a donkey, an animal that cannot understand you. All I could do was ask her a few more times whether she is sure that it will be ready at 12pm on Monday or is she going to make me wait again like today. I don't even know whether she understood that. She just kept repeating, Monday at 12, Monday at 12.

You may think I am making a mountain out of a molehill. Maybe she has her own reasons. Maybe there is nothing she can do about it. Maybe she had some work to do and so couldn't make it on time. Let me tell you this, this in NOT the first time she has made people wait. My friends have waited for up to 5 hours for this lady to come to the office. She was the one who told us to come at 12pm today. She was the one who said the invitation letters would be ready. I can just feel my blood pressure rising thinking about her. I dont' want to think about her anymore. I already have a headache as it is.

Today is the first time in my life that I feel the word 'asshole' is too sweet to describe a person. OLGA, I HATE YOU!!

Some Random Stuff

I have been waiting for the invitation letter for my parents to be ready for quite some time now. The first dateline given was end of April, then it was 'come next week', 'come on Thursday' and in the end 'come at the end of May'. Yesterday (Thursday), most of my friends were able to collect their invitation letters. I did not get mine.

Olga (the @#!& responsible for the letters) said that all the letters will be ready by noon today (Friday). After living in Russia for 6 years, I know better than to believe her. I can only be sure when the letters are in my hands. If they are not ready tomorrow, I don't know what to do anymore. Should I wait till next week? Should I just do the visa through an agent in Malaysia although it is expensive (without invitation letter)? I don't know. I feel like I am waiting for an exam result to be out. I am nervous. I hope tomorrow brings good news.

________________________________________________________________

Another worry of mine (and also all the other 6th year students here) is how to bring back all my stuff. 6 years is long enough to collects loads and loads of junk. It's not just the things we buy here, but also those that we bring from Malaysia when we go back for holidays. Each year, we go back home with empty bags and come back to Russia with bags over the 30kg weight limit filled with food stuff and clothes and the occasional text book. Food stuff finishes, no problem there. Textbook, we tried our best to sell during the garage sale. So, now, we are left with the clothes, lots of them.

I have lots of clothes that I don't wear anymore. I even have clothes that I have never worn, and may never wear. But then, to throw away clothes that can still be worn is such a waste. Thankfully, a donation to the orphanage is being organized and we can donate whatever clothes that we want. I knew about the donation a long time back, but I never got around to sorting out my clothes. Yesterday, a notice was posted up saying that the donation is going to take place today. So, last night, I went through all the contents of my cupboard (which is small but messy) and tried my best to weed out whatever clothes that I no longer wear. Some clothes I could not bring myself to donate, so I just kept them, although the chances that I will ever wear them is very slim. Anyway, I managed to collect to Ashan bags of clothes to donate later today. Now my cupboard is less messy, but I doubt it will stay that way for very long, I always manage to mess it up somehow.


*the bag on your right contains only my winter jacket. One winter jacket. I bought it in my first year, and that was the only year that I wore it. It is super warm, super soft, super heavy and super bulky. I have another winter jacket which I am also going to donate, but that one is smaller. I still have that jacket and my winter boots to pack, which means that by today evening, I will have 3 bags of stuff to donate.


*a picture of me wearing my 'super' winter jacket. See how excited we were to see snow in our first year.

It is 3.15am now. I really hope the day goes on well; in other words, I get the invitation letters. Fingers crossed!

Little Kid With A Gun

This video was taken about a year back at the Denmark Royal Palace. The kid was already doing the march for quite a while before we decided to take a video of him. His mother was trying to coax him to stop (I think she wanted to go back home), but he refused. He was SO cute, even the royal guard couldn't help but smile at one point (although he quickly suppressed the smile).

When Only Blogging Matters

When blogging first became a trend (at least when I first heard about it), it was said to be an online diary. I never could grasp the idea – you write all your thoughts and feelings and let the whole world read about it? What if you hate someone in your class or school or you had a problem with you close friend, do you write that as well?

To me, a diary is a personal thing. When I used to write in a diary (there were short bouts of it in my secondary school years which never lasted more than a few months and there is an ongoing diary I am writing since my 4th year here which is now more of a vacation-log – I only write in it when I go for holidays somewhere), I tried my best to put in all my feelings, but I never really could, because I was too afraid that someone would one day read my diary and know all those secrets about me. I know not many people actually have the habit of reading others diary, but there is always a WHAT IF, and I did not want to take that risk.

Recently, however, I sort of felt that blogging looked like fun. There were only a few blogs I used to read before this – ‘Togo the dog’ and ‘Jack the Kia Spectra’ (no longer active), both by the same author. Occasionally, I read a few other blogs from here and there too. However, I never thought I could do the same – what would I blog about? And anyway, will I be hardworking enough to maintain it?

A few months ago, I was stuck in a situation when I didn’t know what to do with my days. (One does not expect this from a medical student, but this is Russia- we are very relaxed and are most of us are lazy). Yes, there was the internet, but tell me, what is there to do on the internet for the whole day long? There are only so many mails to check and reading the news doesn’t really take that long (at least for me). Friendster, facebook, multiply – after some time, they are not that interesting anymore, unless someone adds new pictures which does not happen that often too.

And so, when I started looking for things to do online, I began to read blogs, and the more I read blogs, the more interested I became in them and after some time, I thought, hey, I could do that too. And that is when I started this blog, and now, I think I am quite addicted to it (mildly addicted). I no longer find Friendster/facebook/multiply appealing. I just log in there to look at pictures and nothing else. I don’t even feel like uploading any new photos or whatever one is supposed to do there. I find blogging more fun, especially when there are many visitors (which does not happen very often).

Nowadays, my brain is tuned in such a way that when something happens, when I go out somewhere, I think – oh, I can put that in the blog. I think of what to write next, of captions I can write for photos that I am taking etc. Maybe it’s because I have too much time on my hands. Maybe once I start working I won’t have time to blog anymore (although I hope that that is not the case). But for now, I enjoy blogging. I enjoy thinking about it, writing it and reading/hearing comments about it. I am trying to look for things to put up in the right side of my blog site (which is quite empty for now) to make it more interesting. Some of my friends too have claimed that they are now attracted to blogging, but just don’t know what to write and stuff. All I can tell them is, try it out, you will lose interest in so many other things because blogging is much more fun!

What Is Wrong With Me?

I really wonder what is wrong with me. Why is it so hard for me to make a conversation with someone? Why can I chat/send messages without any problem, but when I am in front of a person I just don’t seem to be able to talk about anything?

I went to 2 different tadikas with completely different sets of people; I changed schools 3 times and each time knew no one in my new school and when I came to Russia, once again- a new set of people. I would expect myself to be used to making friends and be able to have a proper conversation without much effort. It is not so, however. When I meet someone new, or someone I am not very close with I become silent – this makes people think I am a quiet person, which is not who I am.

It’s not that I don’t want to talk, it’s just that I can’t ever think what to say. Maybe I can manage a few sentences, but never more than that. Never more than a few basic questions for small talk; after that I am at a loss. When the other party asks me a question, as I answer, I wonder whether the person really wants to hear my rantings and I try my best not to bore them by keeping my answers short. This means, not only I don’t make conversation, I also thwart the effort put in by the other party to have a proper conversation.

Do you know what’s the worst part of this disability of mine? I don’t just go mute in front of strangers, it happens even when I’m talking to someone I am not very close with – a friend or a relative. It’s like I have to really get to know a person and be comfortable enough with them before my brain actually starts functioning. And when it reaches that stage, people find it hard to make me stop talking. In short, the closer you are to me, the noisier I become.

I used to be terrible in making conversations. Now, I am just bad at it. It is an improvement, really. I wonder how people who have just met or who are not close friends can talk and talk when all I can do is listen to them at it. Will I ever be able to be like that? It’s not really that I mind it that much, not being able to converse freely, but I don’t want to make the other party feel awkward, don’t want them to think that I am too proud to talk to them because it is quite obvious that I am quite talkative when with friends. I don’t want the other party to think that they are boring me. *sigh*

Is there something wrong with me or is it a completely normal thing? Are there others like me out there?

Just To Pass Time

If you are feeling really, really bored as I was a while ago..
If you don't have anything else better to do than sit in front of the computer and look for things to do on the net..
If you need a break from your studies or work..
If you are a curious person..
If you would like to exercise your index finger..

Try clicking on the big, red button below (and keep going on). It did seem quite boring at first, but it was fun to see a button have a conversation with itself (am I making any sense here?). Have fun clicking!!

Put The Big Red Button on your site

What Studying Didn't Teach Me

My classes were over a few days ago. That was the end of my formal education. 18 years of studying and now it's time to move on with the next stage of life- working. Of the 18 years, I think the 6 years spent studying here are the most significant ones, because this is the only education that is preparing me for my working life (tadika was preparation for primary school, primary school was preparation for secondary school, and secondary school was preparation for university).

The thing is, if I am supposed to be prepared for my working life, then I am far from it. I remember maybe 10% of what I have been taught in the last 6 years. I remember so little, that I don't trust myself to diagnose or treat anyone, however minor the complaints may be. Thankfully, the government trusts us just as little - housemen are not allowed to prescribe medicine, everything is done under the supervision of an MO.

However, there are many things that I did learn..things that are not in the syllabus. I don't know why, but I really do feel that the 6 years I spent here are one of the most significant ones of my life. It has changed me in many ways, shaped me, and influenced the way I think. Here is a short list of the things I have learnt for the past 6 years :

1. to prepare a meal for myself - although it may be not very tasty, at least I enjoy eating it.
2. to bake a cake/pie - have to thank Yee Gin and Angeline for this
3. to be more independent
4. to be a good friend
5. to not judge a person too fast
6. to not trust whatever another person tells me
7. there is always more than 1 side to a story
8. to think about things from different perspectives before I come to a conclusion
9. to enjoy a good book/movie more
10. that no one is perfect, and sometimes you just have to accept a person as they are
11. money can make miracles happen
12. a good doctor is not one who knows all the answers, but one who listens to the patient - I learnt this by being a patient myself
13. guilt is not a good feeling - they haunt you forever and ever
14. you can never truly know someone until you live in the same room/house as them
15. you don't always get what you want in life
16. that the internet is a wonderful creation

There are many other things that I know I acquired, but right now, I don't seem to be able to think about them and put them in words. All I know is I am a bit more prepared about to face the many different types of people of the outside world than I was 6 years ago. At least I am not as naive anymore.

It Is Your Fault If You Are Raped

School uniform sexy, says group

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian group condemned the uniform worn by girls at government schools, saying it encouraged rape and pre-marital sex.

“The white blouse is too transparent for girls and it becomes a source of attraction,” National Islamic Students Association of Malaysia vice-president Munirah Bahari said in a statement.

“It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it,” she said, calling for a review of uniform policy so that it did not violate Islamic ideals.

In multicultural Malaysia, home to majority-Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians, female students at government schools have a choice of wearing a white blouse with a knee-length skirt or pinafore.

They may also wear a “baju kurung” and a headscarf is optional for Malay students.

Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”

“This leads to babies born out of wedlock and, to an extent, even prostitution,” she said.

“Decent clothes which are not revealing can prevent and protect women from any untoward situations,” she said, suggesting that girls wear a blouse of a different colour or with an undergarment.

However, the girls themselves also came in for criticism, with the association saying that some used the white blouse to lure men.

“This is the source of the problem, where we can see that schoolgirls themselves are capable of using this to attract men to them,” Munirah said.

“This could see them getting molested, having premarital sex and all sorts of things.” – AFP

What?? WHAT?! How can anyone say such a thing? How dumb can she be? What brainless person would say that the way someone dresses encourages men to molest and rape them? If this is true, wouldn't rape cases be a bigger problem in Western countries? Or is it just men in Malaysia whose brains are where their balls are?

If it is true that a girl is raped because of the way she dresses, then tell me why primary school children are raped? How sexy can they be? Why do fathers rape their daughters and grandfathers their grandchildren? Are girls supposed to be wrapped in a black blanket for their whole life?

(It becomes a distraction to men, who are drawn to it, whether or not they like looking at it)

The way this lady puts it, the raped girl is solely to blame..don't guys have any brains at all? A girl wears a white top with a black bra and immediately the guy is overcome with lust and has to rape her? What stupid logic is that?

(Munirah said that “covering up” according to Islamic precepts was important to fend off social ills, including “rape, sexual harassment and even premarital sex.”)

Does this mean that she can guarantee that one who wears a tudung will never get raped? I know of at least one person who wears a tudung all the time and got pregnant out of wedlock. What went wrong here, then? Do we blame the Western media? Or influence of friends?

The last time a comment like this was passed (at least what I remember), a Malay lady wearing a tudung was raped in a bus - remember that incident? Then, the person who made the original statement said that it was because of the way other ladies dress up that got this lady raped. Does the way a person dress really influence another that much? Are guys really that shallow?

I read once that many rape cases go unreported because the victim feels responsible for it. I guess it is statements by @#&! like this that allow SO many rapist to roam the world free. Till when will the victim be the one to be blamed? What if she (the person who made the statement) was the victim, will she blame herself?

Do you blame the victim of a snatch thief for carrying a handbag? Do you blame a person who was abused for being weak and not fighting back? How about the scores of people who were at the beach when the tsunami struck? Is it their fault that they were injured/died/lost love ones - why did they go to the beach for a picnic?

When will this mentality change? When will it be safe for a girl to walk out in the streets and not fear for her safety? Here in Russia, there are naked pictures of ladies in newspapers. Men's magazine are available everywhere. During summer, ladies wear see-through clothings, short skirts, low neck blouses, sunbathe in their bikinis by the river; I'm sure such things also occur in other parts of the Western world. But why is it that rape cases are not that prevalent in all these places? What is wrong with Malaysians? ARGH!!

Champion's Fair

I was planning to write about how my day went, but my flu-problem started just now and all I want to do is curl up and sleep. I wonder what caused my flu - is it because I had cold orange juice? Is it because I had to wash clothes with icy cold water? Is it because of the change of weather? Is it because I had ice-cream today? Is it because I didn't take my medicine yesterday? Well, no matter..just hope it will get better soon.

Anyway, today, we went for the champion's fair at the Red Square. No, I am not a football fan, but then since I have the chance to go for it, why not make the most out of it, right? People are paying thousands and thousands of Ringgit to just come for the game, I don't have to spend anything, all I have to do is take the metro to the Red Square!

The fair started on Saturday, and will end on Wednesday. We were there by about 10.15am (it opens at 11am) but the queue for the trophy room was already long. Am not going to write much more, the pictures will do all the talking. I missed quite a few things today because I had to hurry back for a class; hope I'll have a chance to go back there again, although I doubt it.

security check before entering the Red Square

queue for the trophy room

back 'gate'

even after soo many years, I still think the St. Basil's is very beautiful

'door gifts' - bags

the trophy itself!

the things animation/graphics can do..the best part- it's free!

with the Chelsea mascot (didn't see the Man U mascot anywhere though)

anyone can form a team and play a game of futsal

they showed a 30 minute video about football, i think (didn't watch it), in the hemisphere

the merchandise shop

missed this

missed this too :(

After class, my friends and I stopped by in Kvartal to get some groceries. Since Kvartal no longer gives its plastic bags for free, guess what they my friends used..yup, the bag they gave as door gifts.

Kahov's Garage Sale

Today, there was a so-called garage sale in Kahovs. I don't know who organized it, but it was a welcomed thing because we really want to sell our stuff, but don't know to whom and how. It was meant mainly for the 6th years (to do the selling), but even some of the 5th years decided to take the chance and sell their stuff as well.

The poster was up quite a while back, but being the last-minute-person that I am, it wasn't until yesterday that I snapped the pictures of the things I wanted to sell and did the price list. I wasn't the only last minute one though, there were many others who were doing the same. I was planning to sell one of my jackets (which I almost never used), some books and some containers/boxes.

I think everyone was rather looking forward to today. The sale was supposed to be from 3-6pm, and we expected quite a number of juniors to be here, especially the 1st and 2nd years because they are the ones who will most probably be moving in to our hostel. I, personally, was looking forward to selling off some of my stuff..especially my jacket and my surgery text book (the heaviest one).

Unfortunately, the crowd never came. I don't know what the condition was like on the 2nd floor, but up on the 4th floor, business was slow. I only managed to sell off 1 book, and it wasn't even my surgery book!! (However, I heard that someone wants to buy it, hope it's true!). I know some managed to sell off a few books, but I don't know how the overall sales really went; I'm quite sure they expected it to be better though. I was kind of busy today with a project that I'm supposed to submit tomorrow (although, it's a group thingy, so Von Yen did most of the work), so I didn't go downstairs to see how the sales was for others.

The thing is, I heard that the juniors are having tests this week, which may be why they did not come over to our hostel. Most of the one's who did the buying were juniors from my hostel. Well, at least I managed to sell off 1 book, that's something, right? Surprisingly, I did feel a bit heavy hearted when it was sold, never knew I was attached to it. I know the same would not happen if it was my surgery textbook 'cos that is 1 book I really want to get rid off. 5kgs, can you imagine carrying that all the way back when there are soooo many other things to carry?

The garage sale is over. Unfortunately, I still have my jacket and most of my books and my boxes. I now have a few choices- donate to an orphanage (which is what I'm going to do with my clothes), bring it back home or just leave it in the room. Hmm..there's still time..guess will just wait and see..anyway, my Pull and Bear winter jacket is still for sale if anyone is interested...only 300 rubles.

Wacky Day

Yesterday started with us not knowing where to go. We (Puspha, Swee Hung, Von Yen, Fen Fang and I) just wanted to go somewhere, but then couldn't think of where to go. At first the plan was to go to ВДНХ, an astronaut-related museum, but then the plan was scraped 'cos we were not really sure whether the museum was still functioning as a museum or is now a bazaar (need to do more research on it 1st). We ended up sitting on the 1st floor, fully dressed, thinking of where to go. Every now and then, people who were coming back from class would see us ready to go out, and say "it's cold today".

In the end, we decided to go to the train station 1st (I wanted to get train tickets to St. Petersburg for me and my parents), and on the way there, we are supposed to think of where to go. We finally decided to go to a place that Hajar and Nat were talking about in class about a month ago. A quick call to Hajar got us the directions to the place, it is called Kremlin in Izmailova.

After we got the train tickets, we headed to the place. The buildings were visible from quite a distance away; they were really big and colourful. As usual, we were busy clicking photos even before entering the place. Only when we entered the place, we were told that there was a fire not so long back, and the repair work is still going on, which means the place was mostly closed. There were some kids running around and stuff, but then the whole place was almost empty. It is supposed to be a Russian traditional park like thingy. I think, if it was open, there would be shows and people dressed up in traditional costumes walking around. Since we were already there, we took some photos here and there, and decided that we would definitely visit this place again and hope that it is open then.

they even have a vodka museum

As usual, going out means eating out. Deciding where to eat took some time too. Since it's been a really long time since we ate out in a restaurant, we decided that we are not going to eat fast food. Finally, we decided to go to an Asian restaurant which we had been to once before. We reached the restaurant at about 3.30pm, still in time for the business lunch. We ate, and we talked and we took lots of crazy pictures, and then decided that it was time to leave the place.

Von Yen de-mushrooming my mi goreng

Von Yen and I having who has the bigger eye competition


Puspha did not want to be left out


I throw another challenge at Puspha

Puspha retaliates (we decided to call it a draw)


Swee Hung's turn to make a face

Since we were all feeling thirsty and not really in a hurry to go back home, we stopped in a food court on the way bachome and had drinks and ice-creams. By the time we reached home it was about 8pm. The day ended with us watching a movie (August Rush) while eating chips and drinking juice. A day spent traveling in the metro and eating and eating. Not too bad, huh!

Discovery

Earlier today, a friend of mine passed me a video to watch- 100 greatest discovery in medicine (or something like that). It was a 50 minute video by Discovery channel, I think. Since I was really bored at that time, I decided to watch it, but surprisingly, it was quite a nice video to watch.

I do agree that almost all inventions/findings are miracles - electricity, telephone, cars, planes, internet, and of course the TV. But what I saw today somehow made me realize how much we rely on all the discoveries of those before us in the practice of medicine.

Some of the discoveries were related to anatomy itself, the fundamental subject in medicine. They told of a guy who dug up graves to find bodies to dissect just to know the basic anatomy of the human body. People didn't know about the blood circulation until another guy made an effort to actually study them. All we do now is open a textbook, look at the pictures and try to remember whatever we can, which in my case, is not much.

Cleaning/washing hands after examination of a patient - one of the first things we learnt when we started our clinical years. Do you know how many people died before someone realized that examining a patient after a post-mortem is not safe? No one knew the existence of bacteria and viruses back then; now, even a primary school kid knows that germs are harmful.

Almost everytime we discuss or read about a disease in class, one of the diagnostic method is X-ray. There is no need to even think it over. It's like our brain has been tuned to automatically tuned to think 'X-ray' when we think about instrumental tests.. How did they diagnose a disease before the X-ray was discovered? Almost all health centres now have an X-ray machine. Just imagine how dependent we are on something that was an accidental finding.

Can you imagine what it will be like if someones cuts open your abdomen without any form of pain relief? That was what surgeries were like before anaesthetics was discovered (couldn't find any other words to use). According to the video, many people opted to die rather than undergo surgery. I wouldn't say I blame them, I can't even imagine how painful it would be!

There are SO many different medicines that have been 'created' and used by many worldwide. The ones mentioned in the videos were penicillin, sulpha drugs and insulin. Millions and millions of people depend on this drugs every day. Millions are alive now because of this drugs.Vaccination has prevented and saved millions, maybe billions or trillions or (wsateva-ions that come after that) from many life-threatening diseases.

Many, many amazing discoveries. Trillions and trillions of people alive because of these findings. Thankfully these people took the effort to look for new things, to experiment, to let the world know of their discovery. Can you imagine a life without these things that we take for granted? I can't.

Interesting Videos

I don't know whether they are for real or are just pretending :




Another funny one..





Sometimes, we fail to realize how lucky we are..maybe all we need is a reminder.

Water woes

When I was raving on and on about how wonderful spring is in one of my previous entries, I forgot 1 very unpleasant thing that spring brings along - the annual hot water pipes cleaning. Yes, it is a good thing that they clean the pipes and make sure it doesn't get rusty bla bla bla...but then, cleaning up the pipes also means stopping the hot water supply to the surrounding apartments.

During my first two years in Moscow, I never felt the effect of this cleaning up process 'cos I was staying in a different hostel back then, and in that region of Moscow (where the hostel was), the pipe cleaning takes place in August when I am back home in Malaysia. But now, in Kahovs region (where my new hostel is) the process takes place around May or June for about 2 weeks (although it can take up to a month). That means no hot water for 2-4 weeks!

Are you thinking that we are too pampered? Why not just bathe with cold water? So many people in Malaysia bathe with cold water. So, why can't we? It's because the cold water is not like water back home. It is ice cold water. Like water in a water fall, maybe colder. Like water that has been just taken out of a fridge. Can you imagine bathing with that kind of water, especially when the weather itself is not exactly hot? (One thing I don't understand, how come the water never gets warmer, even when the weather is super hot..do they have a cooling system or something like that?)

Our solution to this problem is yes, to boil water. But then, imagine this- you want to bathe. You have a kettle which boils 2L of water at a time. How many litres of hot water do you think you will need? How many times are you going to boil water? I boil 2 kettles of water if I don't wash hair, and 4 kettles if it is my washing hair day. This is, for me, the minimum amount of hot water that I need. Even then, when I am done bathing, I don't feel like I've taken a proper bath.

And then there are those who are too lazy to boil water and opt to just bathe in the cold water. Usually it's the guys who do this. I sometimes bathe in cold water too, usually on non-hair-washing day. This is how it goes : have a nice sleep under a thick blanket, wake up feeling hot > grab towel, run to bathroom > switch on the pipe, watch it for some time while summoning up courage > brace myself, take a deep breath, go under the running water > step away from water, soap > step back into water, make sure soap washed off > wipe and dress up as fast as possible > exit hell bathroom. The whole process takes less than 5 minutes.

I tried washing my hair with the cold water once. I thought, "the guys do it all the time, why not I give it a try?" It was a really, really hot day, and I was really, really lazy. The first few seconds of my shower was OK, but in about a minute, the cold water gave its effect. My brain froze. Trust me, that is what it felt like. My whole head was like..frozen; there is just no other way to put it. Frozen and after a while started to be slightly painful. After the bath, I could feel blood moving towards my head. A headache later in the day made me never do this 'stunt' again.

The notice is out. There will be no hot water from the 14th onwards, yes, in 2 days. I did not bother to see the date when the hot water will be starting back again because it is always delayed. ALWAYS. All I'm hoping is, the weather gets warmer real soon and there is hot water when my parents are here. Imagine how many kettles of water I would need to boil each day if it doesn't.


A couple of tips on how to bathe in cold water (if you ever get stuck in such a situation) :
- express bathing :- just bathe as fast as you can (as mentioned above)
- jump while you bathe :- I have not tried this, but some of my friends do it to warm themselves up, you can give it a try. Warning : you may slip and fall.

Victory Day

I love the spring semester. There are many holidays during this semester, and Victory Day is just one of it.

According to Wiki : Every 9th of May, Russia celebrates the victory over Nazi Germany, while remembering those who fell in order to achieve it. 9 May was chosen, since in the night from 8th to 9th 1945 the German military surrendered to the Soviet Union and its Allies in Berlin (Karlshorst), for people in Russia this happened on the 9th (time change). A military parade is usually held in Moscow to celebrate the day.

I have never been to the parade; when we first came to Russia, we were advised to stay indoors during public holidays, for our safety. This year, however, my friend 'pujuk-ed' me with 'this is the last chance' and 'next year we wont be here anymore' and in the end, I decided to go for the parade. It was agreed last night that we would leave the hostel at 8am so as to be at the place where the parade was supposed to take place at 9am (the parade was supposed to start at 10am). Quite a number of people said that they would like to go and as usual, we agreed to meet at the 1st floor corridor.

8.30am this morning, it was clear that only 12 of us were going for the parade. Some guys were too hungover after a night spent with 4 vodka bottles, some guys were not feeling well after a barbeque they had yesterday. So, the trip today comprised of Puspha, Von Yen, Swee Hung, Yee Gin, Hajar, Natiara, Shilpa, Huey Yin, Chun Lin, Chin Keat, Ker Hsin and I - 11 gals and 1 guy.


We reached the Mayakovskaya metro station (the nearest metro station to the center which is not closed today) by about 9am, and chose a spot where we thought we would have a good view of the parade. Along both sides of the road, you could see many people starting to gather in to watch the parade.











After a while of waiting in the cold (weird weather), we asked a lady who was standing next to us about the parade, and the told us that the parade towards the Red Square was earlier in the day, and we are waiting for the parade moving away from the Red Square which will be at about 11am. What??!! It was cold, and we had about 2 hours to wait! After a while of fooling around with the camera and taking pictures, a few of us decided to warm ourselves up with tea and approached a nearby kiosk.

The hot tea helped, and after that, we huddled close together, not just to keep ourselves warm, but also because there were more and more people gathering up. We waited and waited and waited. First we heard some music, but no one knew where it was originating from. And then we heard some helicopters and there they were, 3 helicopters carrying 3 different flags- one is the Russian flag, don't know what the other 2 are. It was followed by few fly-overs by few different planes (fighter jets?).

A few minutes later, it was the tanks and missiles that were paraded. I never knew that SO many different kinds of tanks even existed, and I certainly didn't know that missiles were so HUGE!! I can just imagine how many thousands of people can be killed with just 1 missile. (The video doesn't do the parade justice, but then I've uploaded 1 video anyway.)

The parade lasted about half an hour, after which we took a few more pictures with the Victory Day banner and then headed off back home, mainly because they started cleaning up the road and we didn't want to get wet. On the way to the metro, we managed to take a couple of pictures with a few war veterans. They were sweet enough to agree to pose with us for the photos.










My last Victory Day holiday in Moscow. The most memorable one.

MMA graduation

Only in a MMA (Moscow Medical Academy) graduation :

- the students organize their own graduation

- the dean’s office elects the students who will organize the graduation

- students have to pay for their graduation

- any planning have to receive approval from the dean’s office staff

- the rector cannot travel 1.5 hours away for the graduation, but students are expected to travel that amount of time to class everyday

- the dean’s office agrees to an uglier, smaller hall just because it is nearer to the office (lesser travel time for them) and rejects all other halls

- each student can bring only 1.5 guests per person because of inadequate seats in the hall

- we have to pay for each guest- for the cost of food that will be served

- the graduation MUST include a ‘makan’ whether you like it or not

- we are not allowed cater food from outside for fear that someone would poison it

- the organizing committee prepares (design, type names) the certificate (yes, our degree)

- we BUY our graduation robe and cap

- everyone has to use similar pens for the exams- bought by the committee

- the yearbook cannot vary too much from those of the previous years

What I have spent/have to spend for my graduation :

- graduation fee (hall, pen, ‘makan’, robe, cap, yearbook) – 4500 rubles

- certificate holder – 400 rubles

- entrance for parents – 1700 rubles (2 people)

TOTAL (so far) = 6600 rubles = almost RM1000.

RM1000 to graduate after the thousands of ringgit spent for the past 6 years. I guess the name Money Making Academy (MMA) fits it after all.

A Phone Conversation

A few days ago, I called the JPA officer, Encik Azman regarding my flight ticket back home. I (and a few others) want to go back home as early as possible while some of my friends would like to stay here for as long as possible. So, we couldn't really come up with a common date for all of us to go back home. Thankfully, Encik Azman said that we could go back in two different dates. Thus, now there are 8 of us who want to go back early and 17 of us who want to go home later. I was told to call Encik Azman to ask about the earlier date, and the result of the conversation - "give a name list to Jufithri and I will get back to you later"

However, that is not what I wanted to talk about in the first place. I started the phone conversation in Malay. I don't know why, I just did. I know my Malay has deteriorated since I was here. I used to actually be proud of my command of Malay, but now I can't even write a short essay in Malay. Yes, it is that bad. However, for some reason, I decided to speak Malay to him.

I have met Encik Azman a few times before. I have never introduced myself to him or talked with him personally, this was the first time. I told him my name and that I am in the 6th year. Then I talked to him about the flight ticket stuff. When we were done talking, I was at a loss; do I actually say 'thank you, bye' or just 'thank you'. Just a thank you seemed so hanging, but to say bye seems weird.

I ended up telling thank you, and then tried to think what to say. There was a slight pause while my brain was trying to come up with something, and then, he said something and put down the phone. I THINK it was Assalamualaikum. Can you belief that? He wished me Assalamualaikum. I was (and still am) very happy. He thought I was a Malay, which means I spoke like a Malay, which means my Malay is not that bad after all. Hooray!!

My home, My cage, My prison

Hi. My name is Cilo. I am a pigeon. I was born in captivity, in a cage. It is a big cage, with over 30 pigeons in it, including my family. My owner is a man who loves rearing pigeons. He feeds us, cares for us and has never sold or given away any of his pigeons-he loves us too much.

Since I was young, I was curious of what the outside world was like. I could see other animals and birds outside the cage and always wondered why they were not in a cage like me. No answer my mother gave could ever satisfy my curiosity.

My owner has the habit of letting us pigeons out of the cage for a few hours each day. He usually let us out in the evening, and we always came back by sundown, when it was time for dinner. When I was younger, my parents would not let me out; for fear that I could not find the way back or would be harmed by others. One day, my parents said I was old enough. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t old enough the day before that; did I really change that much overnight? But I was too excited to ask them this question.

At first, I was only allowed to follow my parents wherever they went, but eventually, I was allowed to go out with my friends, and after some time, even fly away alone. Each time, I come back full of stories of my adventure (as I liked to call it) and each day, I look forward to this brief period of time that I get to stretch my wings. Why do I come back, you ask? Because it is my home. I was born here. My family is here. It never crossed my mind that I could go elsewhere.

As time passed by, I became a little braver and started talking to other birds I met in the outside world (I couldn’t talk to the other animals because they spoke a different language). They told me about places far more beautiful than I could ever imagine. They spoke of busy markets, beautiful parks, singing oceans. They told me that they could take me to a place a little further away where there were fountains and beautiful flowers, but I knew that I couldn’t go there because it is too far away for me to be able to fly back home before sundown.

However, my friends never gave up. They kept talking to me about this beautiful place. They kept trying to convince me that I should try something new, something different. One day, I blurt out to my parents, I would like to see the world; I want to escape this life I have. My parents look at me sadly and tell me stories of other birds who have tried to escape. Some came back, most didn’t survive very long. They tell me about the dangers that I would have to face. They tell me that they love me too much to lose me that way. I understand what they mean. I cannot leave them. I love them too.

The next day, I tell my ‘outside’ friends I cannot see them anymore. I find it too heartbreaking to hear their stories. The more I hear, the sadder I feel. Ignorance is bliss. I am now flying back to my home. Tomorrow, I think I will not go out. There is nothing new to see, nothing to explore. There is only so much one can see in a few hours and I think I have seen whatever there is to see around my house. Now I understand why the older pigeons rarely left the cage. I can already see the cage. I can imagine my parents waiting for me. In a while I will be eating my dinner with them. I am almost there - my home, my cage, my prison.

Just want to be normal

According to Wiki, normal refers to a lack of significant deviation from the average. The phrase "not normal" is often applied in a negative sense (asserting that someone or some situation is improper, sick, etc.).

The Oxford English Dictionary defines "normal" as 'conforming to a standard'. This, although almost right, is not entirely correct. "A normal" is someone who conforms to the ideals of society. This can be for any number of reasons, ranging from the positive (genuine admiration for and acceptance of society's standard, for example) to the negative (fear of humiliation, fear of rejection, fear of being thought mad).

____________________________________________________________________

Things that used to be considered not normal and is now accepted as normal :

- a primary school kid with a handphone

- eating out for every meal, everyday

- a lady getting married after 30

- a family owns more than one car

- couples living together before getting married

- a girl having a guy friend who is not a boyfriend

- going out with friends and coming back late at night

- flying instead of taking the bus (especially since AirAsia)

- girls smoking and drinking

- girls dressing up in short skirts/shorts and low cut blouses/dresses

- guys watching porn

- being able to go online

- having grandmothers/grandfathers who can read and write perfectly

- having aircond at home

- having astro at home

This list can go on forever.

All I wanted was to be normal.

I envy people who can be normal.

I am not allowed to be normal.

I am disappointed.

I will try to forget.

I will be OK.

Sleeping 'beauties'?

This is what happens if you have classes on a Sunday.

Barbeque 02.05.08

Arriving at the picnic spot

Collecting sticks to make the fire

Starting the fire

Setting up the spot

Starting the bbq with sausages

Collecting more 'seats'

Preparing the chicken

Chicken, sausages and potatoes

Girls waiting for food

Guys preparing the food
(what I like most about barbeques)

Siva scaring off some Russian kids

Got rather cold, wore Sukhi's jacket

Drizzled for a while

The whole group, full and contented

Fooling around

The guys did not want to be left out

Celebrating Kavitha's not-so-surprise birthday a few days in advance

All in all, a very nice outing. Took more than 400 pictures, most of it too crazy to be posted up anywhere. Happy 21st Birthday Kavitha!