Choiceless

My father's words, in memory : "Keep the lights on brightly, keep the door open widely to bring in good luck. This way, burglars will not dare come in".

I have never dressed up/celebrated Halloween in my life. I'm not even sure if one is supposed to look freaky or pretty on this event. I mean, the real dresscode isn't a Princess in Dreamland or an Angel with fluffy wings I think. Rather a rotting Princess in the Tower or an Angel of Death with broke wings, perhaps?

My Halloween suit LOL

Anyways, instead of partying with ghouls and goblins in the city.. Turkish and I went to check out another apartment. The location is good, convenient transportation and it's a 2-room apartment. I don't like the layout of the house, whoever the architect was must be an idiot. The kitchen is small, living room way too big and the bedroom is like a corridor, in an oblong dimension. But I really can't complain because the rental is reasonable.

We are set this time. I don't even want to think about visiting elsewhere. Waiting to move is a real drag *sniff*. I just want to get it over and done with. This week has been pretty hectic at the hospital. Maybe it's the climate change, patients pouring in like the rain :(

Happy Halloween!

Either Ways

My father's words, in memory : "Your mum always pretended she couldn't eat much, like she keeps a tight figure, but every time when I turned away for a while and look back at the plate, it's empty".

I forgot to write that I was picked up by a Russian at M.Park Kultury, sometime last week. Maybe the week before. I was waiting for the train by my loneself and suddenly I was approached by this young man..

Unknown : Pryvet, where are you headed?
Me : What?

I took off my earphones. I thought he was asking for directions, but it was rather noisy since the train arrived on the other platform so I had to strain my senses.

Me : What did you say?
Unknown : I noticed you from there. Where are you from?

Hahahahaaa he is actually hitting on me.

Me : How old are you?
Unknown : Uhhhh.. 19 *gave me a wide grin*
Me : You can be my small brother. What happened to your hand?
Unknown : Injury from sports *his hand wore a cast*
Me : Football?
Unknown : Boxing

What a turn off. The train arrived and we both boarded the wagon. He's got some balls for wanting to continue the conversation when I was obviously uninterested. He kept grinning at me, which was irritating me at some point.

Unknown : Vot, tak.. I am..
Me : It is very strange to befriend someone in public
Unknown : You mean in the Metro? Or on the streets?
Me : Both, it is just strange for me
Unknown : Tak.. (Tak is a Russian style of saying "So..")
Me : I'm going out now, take care and da svidania.

Unknown had his handphone whipped out already but I guess he sort of knew asking for my number would be a futile effort so he backed off, disappearing behind the wagon's closed doors. I felt a bit bad for the dejected look on his face. Young or old, he's a stranger and could be dangerous!

I told this to Turkish later in the evening and he said I should be flattered because it means that I still look young. Hahahahaaa I said I should feel offended, this dude might like older women.

Archive Room

My father's words, in memory : "There are few kinds of payment that one cannot owe - medical bills, education, temple and old folks home".

I dropped by the Dean's Office later in the afternoon to hand some documents. At the end of the hallway of 11th Floor, I passed by a room with its door ajar. I peeked in and guess what, it's the Archive Room!

It wasn't opened on purpose for me to sneak in, of course. The methodistka was ransacking some files by the first aisle so I just stood quietly nearby. It was pretty interesting, really.

I saw labels on the aisles, 1978, 1980, farther in, 1981 and 1986.

Hahahahaa those are like historical records of the alumni of MMA. It was amazing. The 11th Floor is solely for the foreign students, the room could easily contain thousands of faded brown-colour files and boxes (prolly in the hundreds) of zacheot books! I really wanted to go inside, damn it. I managed to snap a pic or two of the cupboard closest to the door though ;)

Boxes labeled "zacheotki" and registration slips at the bottom

After squinting really hard..
This super (100x) Senior is from Peshawar, Pakistan

The person on the registration slip was born in 1968 so that makes her 40 years old today. Hahahaha she could be a famous doctor/specialist in our field. Check out her hairstyle in that black and white photograph! Reminds me of the yearbook yourself goof LOL

Trick Candles

My father's words, in memory : "You're a big girl now".

And so, I turned 24 years old today :)

I received alot of birthday messages on Facebook (even days earlier) from Fats, my friends/ex-batchmates in Malaysia and abroad, private ones on my Inbox and sms (my phone didn't stop beeping!).

I felt very touched, really. Just funny that I have 1001 friends on my Facebook, just 10% wished me. Mummy and Joanna were the only ones who called, and Amanda who greeted me in person (I bumped into her on my way home LOL).

"You can't expect everybody to remember you" - Mummy.

The rest of the day was spent with Turkish. He is a wonderful boyfriend, definitely the best I've ever had. For some reasons, as much as I would like to share stories about my lovely evening.. I think I might just want to keep them to myself this time. The sweet things Turkish did, I never expected them :)

He makes me very happy and I love him so much

It was a memorable birthday, with a different mood/style. 6 birthdays spent abroad have varied every year, in its own special way and when I look back, I smile at every one of them. They say that you get wiser as you grow older and I surely hope that I do.

Wait, I do (I think). Turkish's birthday is on the same date in November. I have some ideas in my head on how to celebrate it with him already. The number of antiques he's buying me, I know what to do when I need cash LOL

Time really flies.


ps. having a band singing in Spanish by your table is funny, it's nice but you have to refrain from eating, gotta listen to them till the end of the song then only resume back to gobbling the yummy food LOL

Light Up

I wish all my beloved friends, here and back home in Malaysia a very happy Deepavali/Diwali holiday. May you prosper, be healthy and successful in your careers. May love blossom, may friendship grow stronger and let bygones be bygones.

That is what celebrations are all about.

This special occasion always reminds me of the goodies I'm missing in my best friends' house, with delicious Indian food and the warmth on the Festival of Lights. I am glad my Indian batchmates are celebrating for the first time in 6 years with their families. Have fun, rejoice! :)

Junk Wheels

Daylight Savings Time ended.

I am 5 hours behind Malaysia as of today.

I was very pleased to have breakfast at Starlite Diner this morning. We couldn't decided what to do until past noon, can you believe it. The Moscow News stand stood empty meaning guide magazines, zilch. We had half the mind to go to the train station and ride to destination anywhere. But Turkish pulled out some old notes from his wallet and the Auto Museum at M.Liublino caught my fancy.

I am not a big fan of cars but a museum of vintage cars located at the outskirts of Moscow sounded fun and it would be another adventure! An adventure alright LOL We got to M.Liublino, got lost and prolly covered the entire district of plain fields, blocks of apartments and busy traffic. We did find the Auto Museum though, it wasn't much of a museum but at least we managed saw something.

M.Liublino (light green line) is located south east of Moscow

Hahahaa freaky picture..
A girl looking on at the boys play Soldiers in the bush

Som billboards and view of the region

Lomakovsky's Auto Moscow Museum. we found you!

The so-called Auto Museum displays less than 20 cars (or maybe 20). Not all are shiny, sparkly and polished. Some are so dusty it couldn't reflect anything. Old style being old style, they differ very much from today's design. Many of the cars have driven historical figures before, drove or owned by them. They could be haunted, my God. Who knows how many Jewish the Germans ran down with in these cars :P

Flash rides locally made by GAZ
They look alot better than today's Lada

Old plates, tools and Soviet collar pins in showcase!

Mercedes Benz for Hitler's boys, the Schutzstaffel (SS)

I was tempted to bag the bottle LOL
The Auto Museum depends quite a bit on donations

Horch - the luxurious, high-performance German cars (long time ago)

Even BMW looked like a tank :P

My boyfriend attended Austrian High School back in Turkey, when he was a student. Since the syllabus were taught in German, he speaks the language. Therefore he has the habit of pronouncing W like "veh" and speak correct German. Hahahaa he sounds very cute.

"Vvvehn was it?" (When was it?)

"It's Behhh-Emmm-Vehhh" (It's BMW/bee-emm-double yew)

"No, you call it Fowl-Vehhh" (VW/German V is pronounced as fowl)

Our Sunday was really alright, in the end. We explored a place I bet no one would bother going LOL M.Lioblino seems to be a nice place but I won't stay there, that's for sure. The Metro ride takes way too long and under-developed. It's not very cool to say I live in M.Lioblino. Hehehe people in this region make very good use of their car though.

Gross.. selling raw meat in the boot!
Exhaust pipe still smoking somemore!

Hahahahaa bootiful of apples! ;)

Most importantly, DO NOT HONK

Future Showtimes

Quote of the day : "We buy tickets for December" - a parent on the queue

So we kept walking towards Svetnoi Bulvar right, and guess what we discovered? I never imagined we would make so much discoveries by just walking!

Durov's Wild Animal Theatre

My eye caught the blue building with bronze animal statues on its roof on Ulitsa Durova. We walked over and found out that it is none other than the very famous Durov Animal Theatre! I could vaguely remember the name of this circus/animal show.. maybe I don't at all because of its lack of advertisement but it's definitely famous with the locals alright.

Why else would tickets be sold out till the next month?

Turkish and I just jumped into the bandwagon and followed the crowd to queue. All tickets for October and first week of November are sold out LOL Seriously, this circus has to be really good. We purchased 2 tickets for 9th November (the next day is RnB Festival :P) and I so can't wait! The name of our show is "Around the World Without Tickets" and it's held at the Big Stage meaning a lot of animals will be performing.

A modest ticket counter

Even more modest tickets (tore with ruler LOL)

We returned home and surfed about the Durov Dynasty. They sure have a long history. It's a family business that ran from generation to generation, with skills and the gift to tame animals. They claim their training methods are different, without any for of punishments but giving treats to the trainees. One has to be really gifted to train wild beasts and domestic animals alike, that's for sure.

Old newspaper cutting of Vladmir Leonidovich Durov

So cute ;)

My guess is that this show will be solely about animals, not like the average circus shows with clowns and acrobats and trapeze, or like gala shows. I have a strong feeling about this. Unbelievable.. tickets sold out and I overheard people in the queue buying tickets for December. Hot seats! This is in higher demand for RnB Festival, moo!

Spell Spontaneity

My boyfriend is so good at cheering me up, I swear I love his optimistic character. We might not be moving into the studio apartment we set our minds to earlier. The bloody owner who returned from Egypt decided he wants to raise the rent to 40,000pyb (RM5248) per month. 1-room apartment for that price? In Malaysia we could rent a mansion with swimming pool for less.

On a brighter note, Turkish suggested we visit The Garage, a contemporary art gallery on this sunny day. It is located 20mins walk away from M.Novokuznetskaya and we need the sunshine to aid our good feet. The whole district reminded me of some other European city, really. I didn't feel like I was in Russia though Turkish claimed the contrary. The residential buildings were fancy, trolleybus lines zig-zagged metres above the ground but much later I figured out why I felt that way.

No Lada in sight (maybe 1 in 15 vehicles).

Very interesting looking apartment.. can't we rent here?

Sweet angels guarding the entrance of the apartments

Meet Baks, the foot-long lizard placed in a Paediatric Clinic

And also the street pussy, which tailed us for a while LOL

We did reach The Garage, I was damn happy that I recognised the old bus station (with makeover) like I saw on the newspapers except the down side was.. it was closed. WTF. I guess with the economic crisis and Roman Abramovich's badly hit, Ms.Zhukova better take a break. Abramovich can't afford to buy her millions, billions or gazillion worth of dollars for her collection right now.

These times are harsh for everyone..

.. that was why we made a U-turn into Ulitsa Sovietskoi Army to the Ekaterinsky Park. It's free, it's beautiful and great spot for photography. And what do ya' know, it's located at the end of the street where we attended TB classes in our 6th Year. That was one helluva cycle! ;) Sometimes I really think, one can recover humanity from visiting these recreational parks, surrounded by nature and families, children especially. For some reasons, they're always seen running around with the brightest clothings. Hehehee cute.

Good spot! Assembly of Ekaterin Institute
Since 2nd half of 18th century-1st half of 19th century

Layout of the park.. quite a huge park I must say

One of the many Soviet/propaganda signs all over the park LOL

Turkish reaching for an apple :P

Hehehee cartoonic graffiti on the eletric room

The north exit of the park leads to the Olympiskii Stadium!

I love autumn, it's just so damn beautiful :)

Scenic photographers usually take pictures like this
I wanted to practice/make believe with mine :P

This duck is definitely not affected by the bad economy LOL

Impatient Move

Quote of the day : "The house is, in a way, a birthday present for you" - Turkish

As keen as we are to shift to our new apartment, we can't yet. The owner is skinny-dipping in the Red Sea or watching Mummies strip-tease, whichever that rocks his boat. We need to sign agreements with him so why is he still in Egypt!

Our excitement has to be put on hold now.

I'm very happy for my friends who finally received their induction letters. They attend BTN (Biro Tata Negara) 3-day course camps at different locations followed by a 2-week long induction course will ultimately be on Pulau Pangkor! I bet they'll have a blast! LOL Then they will start work at the hospital within a month or so, I think. What a big holiday! Our government has so much funds to finance the courses at Bayview Resort, whoever says that Malaysia is in turmoil with the economic crisis! :)

Weekend's here but I'm afraid it'll be freaking boring. I don't feel like doing anything. I wish we could move! I want to shop for furniture! I want to buy unnecessary necessary things for the house! But like the saying, "Patient is a virtue". I guess I should stop pushing the plans to budge when we can't really help the situation.

I shouldn't behave so negatively.

Plus next week's my birthday :)

OMG.. I'm old.

Follow On

Perhaps I don't have to snap pictures in discreet? :)

Steel Strong

Quote of the day : "Frequency of my messages may be less but the time I remember you is more, that's why science says that "frequency is inversely proportional to time!" - Sukhi

One more day, one more day to Friday and then it's weekend again. OMG. Weeks by weeks have passed by so quickly. As tired as I may be, I don't dare to take a power nap because I might just knock out cold. I brought some work back to do at home, some documentations and read ups.

After that, I caught updates of my friends' blogs and watched videos on Youtube! I realised my boyfriend and I have been watching US Presidential Debates, pep talks and speeches on rallies by Obama and McCain (Obama mostly). I kinda forgot the nice shows which I used to load tabs after tabs. I continued watching Britain's Got Talent 2008 this late afternoon ;)

Some contestants are brilliant, others are definitely delusional. This show is entertaining to watch also because of the judges combo - Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan. The audience just makes too much noise, sometimes they seem to be uniformly deaf or lost their marbles altogether.

Andrew Johnston, 13
Simply beautiful, I couldn't help crying


Madonna Decena, 32
One of the earliest contestants in 2008


A dance group called Flava
Fantastic dancing, for a good cause

Feel free to watch all 32 videos from SpiritmanProductions.

There is a contestant named Dave Crowe who does beat-boxing but I don't think he can beat the phenomenal French beat-boxer, Joseph. Get impressed.

Sore Sight

Quote of the day : "If you want to be rid of the atopic dermatitis, the most radical treatment you can get is move south. Move to a country with warmer climate and stay there" - Prof.Ivanov

Days seem to be getting more hectic than ever. I didn't sleep so well last night. I think we need to calm down about the new apartment and all. I dreamt of shopping for furniture last night, Turkish said he dreamed something similar and sms that poured in at wee hours in the morning distorted my sleep too. It wasn't Sebastian's fault, his network went haywired I guess.

Many young men are crowded at the department lately. All came in for acne, big small mountains on their faces. I wrote about my irritating colleague, Tamara sometime back. I still don't like her because she is freaking pretentious. Her tears can flow just like that. The next second her eyes are totally dried and wet again. Very skillful, eyes not even red. If I'm a Drama Queen, she's a Drama Goddess with Oscars.

Dr.Grabovskaya and Maksim, examining Justin Timberlake

Today, Dr.Grabovskaya brought in samples of cream for the hand, shampoo for seborrheic dermatitis skin, dermatitis, exfoliate, emollient and other goodies into the room. She gave Maksim to open the package to which he mistook it for a present.

Maksim : Thank you.

Dr.Grabovsksya : What thank you? I only asked you to open it.

Hahahaha oops! But she did give out 2-3 samples to him, to a few who stood around and some who conveniently grabbed a bunch of them. Evil. I didn't take any though. Come on, this is not even for personal use. It's recommended for people with skin problems! I think it was impolite to take so many tubes up to the extend when Dr.Grabovskaya left her post, they ransacked her table.

1. Tamara who sneaked off when the doctor returned
2. Natalia who was too engrossed in her business, got scolded

I need to get enough sleep.
It's only Wednesday and I'm freaking worn out :(

Happy Home

Quote of the day : "The driver can drop you to the Metro station in the mornings, we can leave the house together after a nice breakfast" - Turkish

The studio apartment is perfect. It's furnished but not that modern. Reminds me of my ex-apartment on Nikulinskaya Ulitsa (with Pisa and Boss) except ours have new wallpapers. The kitchen is very spacious! I like. The bed is exactly like the example picture I posted a couple of entries back.

In a separated space! :)

We need to add in wardrobes and clear the place. It's quite a mess. No previous tenants who moved out can be bothered to tidy up anyways. But overall, we really like the apartment and by next week, we should be moved in already. There is Internet cable and Internet TV suscription too! I can watch English movies un-dubbed with Russian language!

However, the location isn't close to the Moscow Zoo. I doubt the agent's skills to navigate because we are like 6-7 blocks away from the animals. We are near the Roman Catholic Cathedral though. I don't think that place is much heard about but it's beautiful, we shall visit it some time. I still can't make out the location because we went there by car and it was dark. I think transportation isn't a problem at all.

This weekend, where else but..

Definitely 1-2 paychecks!
My boyfriend shouldn't have given me the green light LOL

Cry Outloud

Mondays are usually very interesting. The department is always busy, extra noises, a lot of work, conversations are within ear shots and new patients. Challenging cases pour in at the beginning of the week, as though the patients feel that it's goddamn time to get treated but after the weekend first.

Hehehee there was an extremely embarrassing (and loud) episode today, which was rather uncalled for, I feel. Lab tests of this particular male patient came in around noon. He has volcanic eruptions on his face for many months, like really bad acne problem.

Dr.Gabovskaya read the tests and went berserk.

Dr.G : What! How is this possible? Your tests show that you have intestinal flora on your face! Don't you wash after going to the toilet? Haaaa?

Patient : Yes, I wash.

Dr.G : Then why do they find Enterococci on your face! Haaaaa? *shaking her head*

Patient : .....

Whole room - awkwardly silent.

Me - laughing inside. OMG. Was that screaming even necessary?

Dr.Grabovskaya might as well ask,

"Did you smear shit on your face?"

That wouldn't have caused so much tension in the room LOL Poor fella.

But this is how Russians roll. Screaming. Doesn't matter if it results a positive outcome or none at all, but by raising the voice till kingdom come simple gives the screamer a satisfaction. And every Russian has the right to shout. The entire female race in the country especially crooked old grannies. Men do it too, but not as common.

Since I started my Ordinatura, I haven't been scolded nor received any sarcastic remarks from the doctors YET (I hope it stays that way!). In fact, it's a bit weird to be receiving compliments and pats on my back from them. I mean, it's nice but also not very nice so often in front of my colleagues. Maybe because I'm the only English-speaking foreigner.. when I perform well, they become awestruck.

Like a blind man driving without crashing the car.

Or a mute giving a speech on New Year's Eve dinner.

Something like that :)

This is Nina, with her acne-faced patient
I think she was preparing solutions for him



Warning: Below is a classic picture of a bare bodied patient
who has Plaque Psoriasis for the past 2 years WITHOUT treatment.



BUTTERFLY, do not scroll down.

I repeat, DO NOT scroll down.





























Others may feel free to do otherwise.












80% of his body has raised and inflamed skin with silvery
scales covering them. You don't want to see him without underwear

Quick Work

Quote of the day : "Our lives will be much better than this" - Turkish

We must be damn eager to shift, we are done packing!

China bags are so handy, I feel like getting a few more!

These cloth bags are superb as well
No weight, keep the clothes clean and easy to store

IKEA boxes always look good, can't have too many of them ;)

The cupboards and drawers are emptied, maybe just some clothes for a few days' change. Things left to pack now are what I dislike most. Those small sized items, deco stuff, mini-mini statues and whatnots. Lucky for me, Turkish said he's got them covered :P

We will only check the studio apartment next Tuesday, but not like we will consider much about it anyways. 90% we will take it. The agent described the place to us and it's also modernly-furnished, it cannot be bad. The last tenant is a single female, an architect meaning it should really be okay. Location is a walk away from M.Barrikadnaya (where the Moscow Zoo is LOL).

2 more days.. 2 more days!

Hahahahaa I can't really believe we had McDonald's for dinner! Turkish isn't anti-McD's but he prefers not to have fastfood unless it's the last resort, like clueless where to eat. Since there is a branch at M.Ulitsa 1905, we agreed it was the best idea to grab some burgers and return home. We were exhausted to go anywhere else. It was kinda fun actually. We also got a copy of Moscow News :)

Same menu, only in Cyrillic letters!

Featured menu- McGreek and Greek Salad

It's very rare that I go out with glasses :P
But we just ate at the neighbourhood McD's, it's okay

Just Big Mac and Double Cheese for Turkish
I'm loyal to McChicken and French Fries, BBQ sauce is a must

Pretentious boyfriend of mine, he loved it!

He even tried to steal my fry!! LOL

McChicken.. MmmMMmm..
If it isn't so unhealthy, I can eat it on daily basis

Funny thing was, both of us weren't the only one taking pictures in McDonald's! Families with children posed with their Happy Meal toys, posed with their folks.. so we weren't exactly jakuns to be whipping out our camera. I caught the guy next to us shaking his head as though we've never been to McDonald's before.. actually no. This was our first time in a McDonald's restaurant LOL