2011/2012

Tonight my friends and I will be boarding a train to Moscow to celebrate New Year at Red Square, Moscow - our first time in 7 years. :P

Yes, I celebrated New Year(s) at Amsterdam, Dubai, Dammam & Malaysia for the past 7 years but never in Moscow. So now since I have the luxury to do so (no exams for 6th year 1st sem students), provided having the greatest company to be with, so why not?

Actually none of us had celebrated New Year in Moscow before, so basically all the three of us are excited like three kids in a candy store. Yes! We had this planned since a month ago and it didn't take us long to really make up our minds. One day we spoke about it, the very next day we purchased our tickets..

Moscow, see you tomorrow!

Meanwhile I hope you guys will have a fantabulous New Year celebration as well, no matter where you are, how you celebrate it or with whom you will be, as long as it is a great one, good enough for a  start to another new year.

Hope the year 2012 will be a better year for each and everyone of us.

*back to packing*

 Tickets - checked!

Breakfast in the train - checked!

 Toiletries - checked!

Enough chocs to staple my tummy - checked!

Make-up - checked!

To make sure you won't get frostbites (2 pair of gloves, 2 pair of Pippi Long Stocking socks, muffler, ear muffs & winter boots - checked checked checked!)

Let's get on board!!

Jolly Happy

I was on my way back from class, at Oblastnaya Hospital. A mashrtuka arrived after we waited for quite sometime and everyone seemed to push themselves into it, as if that was the last mashrut for the day. Anyway, I managed to squeeze in without the need to struggle (Salah satu hikmah baca Yaasin lepas subuh, Allah akan permudahkan urusan).

I entered, sat at the 2nd row and I was just listening to the radio, as there was no much of scenery to be seen - the mashrutka was packed!! After a while I realized that what I heard the driver spoke was the same thing that I heard coming from the radio few seconds later. Felt weird but to lazy to bother. Later, everyone became so excited and talking to each other, creasing their eyebrows as if they are in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" show. Actually they were! :-D Ok, of course not on that particular show, but the driver was on air and he was answering the questions given. I didn't understand the whole thing but as far my Russian could pick it up it was a quiz on cartoons and old folk tales. All I can hear is Winnie the Pooh, Shrek, another old granny name in Russian. Everybody contributed answers to him including a small boy who was sitting with his mom. Good thing that the boy sat at the front row.

After the driver confirmed that he won, he declared it out loud and thanked everyone.
Everyone cheered and congratulated him.
So much of joy in such a small space packed with so many people.

It's nice to be in such a jovial atmosphere like this, especially when the weather suddenly turned harsh out of a sudden and holidays are in 2days time, so all you wanna be is - JOLLY HAPPY.

Just in case for those who have no idea, this is what we call Marshrutka. A common and more preferable transport over here.

Wordless Wednesday

MY Games '11 - Futsal

Have you ever heard of the Malay proverb "BIDAN TERJUN" ?

 Literally bidan = traditional obstetrician and terjun = jump off (from a high place, of course). 

So what the whole proverb here means is a person who has no experience at all in doing something, but has to jump in and do that particular thing in an instant despite having no any talent nor experience. 

This situation occurred to me during MY Games '11 for futsal. I'm not a kaki bangku (another Malay proverb for a person who doesn't know how to play football). I have no problem in kicking the ball, just that it won't enter the goal. Who cares anyway?? Even David Beckham misses sometimes too,right? 

Anyway, that wasn't the matter, the matter was I had the least privilege to kick the ball but given the honor to catch the balls and use my hands, (read: save all the balls that were kicked towards me) Yes, you got it right! I had to be the goalie. *bite nails*

 Being a spectator always makes you think you can make a better goalie than the one in the game.

I was bitten by my own act! 

Not a very wise decision made. I had more butterflies in my stomach than anyone going out for a first date, praying that these people will also play like me (will kick the ball but somehow it will  divert from the goal post). All that was on my mind at that time was my defenders better be damn good playing defense coz the ball MUST NOT come to me at any point during the game. NEVER.

I was drop dead nervous, I could feel my stomach in my throat.

But as people say, there's always a first time for everything ,right? Or else you wouldn't know your hidden talent. So to cut the story short, we did make it to the finals and eventually won the gold medal. My goal only bolos once howkay, and it was during the finals, already tired, sleepy, & hungry by that time.

I know that it wasn't me who brought the team all the way to win 1st place, but hey, I'm a first-timer and don't you remember how nervous I was?? So, I, too  have a fair share to brag about our victory ok? :)

Starshii Kursk teams (M) & (F)

The guys were 1st runner-ups. 

Besides, during semi-finals, it ended with penalty kick as both teams scored nil. 

I promise you, that was the most nervous moment I ever had while I was in med-school . Even oral exam for internal medicine is far better than this ok, at least I learnt all those before, so I know something! Here, I know nothing!

Seconds before penalty Wan gave me valuable tips that I'll remember for as long as humans live on earth.

After my 3rd save...

...we confirmed our tickets to the finals.

The futsal match was a wrap for our Last MY Games here.

6 games.

2 gold.

1 silver.

1 bronze.

Countless fun times!

Wordless Wednesday - The day I got LOST!

MY Games '11 - Basketball

If you ask me what kind of sports I love the most in the universe - the answer will be BASKETBALL.

I love to play basketball

I love to watch people play basketball

I love movies about basketball

I love everything or anything that has got to do with basketball!!

Yes, I love it that much!

And, that's why I love my basketball team so damn much too!

This year our team name is UNPREDICTABLE.

Last year we settled for bronze & this year we finished off better at 2nd place.

During the match, we played back to back non-stop for about 1 hour, coz one of the teams came late, so the organizers had to reschedule. Boy, I was like a waterless fish by the end.  Good thing that we were out of time so they had to postpone the semi finals & final to another day....

which, wasn't really that good after all, because it was rescheduled on  a Sunday morning at 9AM. (Who wakes up that early on a Sunday?)

During the league 

I got a souvenir from an unknown source too!

Results

Semi-finals 

Finals

Post-game mini celebration

Later during the weekends we had a small potluck gathering to celebrate our silver medals, our 2 years of being a team, our (Me, Santhi, Phraveen)'s last basketball MY Games and as a token of appreciation for our loyal supporters cum awesome photographers.

De Team

 De Team & De Supporters

De Red Velvet Cake

De Potluck

Wordless Wednesday (can cancel this one out from my wish list already)

;)

THE Wish list

To me dear family, friends, and whoever who feels generous..

I kindly present to you my wish list for this coming Christmas/ New Year

Prada Candy from Prada. 

I could die for its smell!!

 Oh Lola! by Marc Jacobs

It's sooo pink, I could die for this one too!

Rose the One by D&G

I know this is quite an old perfume from D&G but I still can't get over it!

Chloe Signature by Chloe.

Got a free sample while buying another perfume.

Love it's scent. Sweet & humble!

Limited edition hand cream from L'Occitane (Desert Rose & Cocoa Flower)

I fell in love at first touch..

Sephora's bathing line - body wash, body scrub, body lotion.

I like it all!

But it's sad that PINK set is for pineapple :-(

While my favorite is vanilla-creme brulee

All these items can be found at Il de Beauty, Pushkinskiy Mall 

I have a 10% discount card, don't hesitate to ask if you guys need it !

I'm so excited for the end of the month....

Choconana Cuppies

I don't know what has gotten into Totoy but this soulmate of mine suddenly had so much of ineterest in baking.

Totoy came one day will all the ingredient to cook choconana - first trial.

However since I have leftover cream powder for cupcake topping, we decided that- cupcakes it is then!

Using the same choconana recipe, but made it into cupcake portions. 

Same duration of baking as cake.

After 6o minutes of waiting and salivating (since the whole house smells of choconana)

Taadddaaaaa!!!..

With vanilla cream topping

and sprinkled with colorful round flakes

Close-up

Ready to eat!

Goes well along with tea ;)

A kind reminder, never add banana flavoring into it. The smell doesn't blend well, guess the amount of banana in the recipe is sufficient enough.

Charity Action

We had our Paediatrics Infectious cycle going on last week. Luckily, on our last day of the cycle, the department had an event called "Charity Action" where we get to visit the orphan babies admitted there.

I was at first all excited about it, went shopping for the kids as if it was the first time shopping for my own kid :P (I felt like buying everything at the store for them)

But all my excitement & joy turned into sadness & pain the moment I stepped into the room. In the first room, there were 5 cribs - all babies aged a year old to 2 years old. They are left there, just themselves. There is no one to attend their needs specifically, no one to pay attention to them at every second they cry, no one to sing them a lullaby & no one to be there for them all the time, unlike what every other kids have.

I straight away did a reflection upon myself. Even at this age of life, I still demand attention from my parents sometimes, I still have some needs I want them to fulfill, I still ask them for help in many situations and I always needed them more than anything else in the world, at every second. Honestly, I never had been so much grateful that I have parents since that day. I couldn't picture myself not having them now, worse still, not having them since young! (I pray for their long lasting lives, Ameen)

 This baby is suffering from organic brain dysfunction. He is unable to turn his head, or even change his body position. He looked at me through the angle of his eyes when I rubbed his chest and patted his tummy. He seemed to like it! He started to cry the moment I lifted my hand from his tummy.

 I forgot this boy's name but he is a charmer. Most of my friends were attracted to him at once! 

After that he was a bit cranky, since he poo-pooed in his diapers.

 This baby Sofia is the prettiest baby I ever met. Cherry lips, sparkling blue eyes.She stood up with a smile on her face when we stepped into the room, welcoming us, and cried when she sensed that we are about to leave. Made me cry inside too.

This big boy is Sergei. He also have some neurological problems. He enjoys being tickled and made me do it over and over again. I didn't mind since hearing his laugh is so overwhelming.

Lastly we visited a new kid who was just admitted to the hospital. Her case was a bit different. She is not an orphan, she has parents and its not her parents whom sent her here, but the social service. Her mom is a chronic alcoholic. At first, we enjoyed each other's company - she liked our gifts, we played with her, we took pictures together and all of us had a great time. Until one moment, she started to ask "Where's mommy?". We all looked at each other with a gulp in our throats. She kept asking repeatedly and since we had no answer for that she started crying, of course, calling her Mommy.

A situation like this, really rips my heart.

Again, I am thankful that Allah has been fair enough to me, to not put me in this situation, and on top of that He's been more than kind to me, for giving me a set of wonderful parents, till I cant ask for better ones!

However, I pray that these kids will make their way through life, come what may and grow up as strong & great people one day. I even hope that they'll make a great set of parents - learn it the hard way!