Slushies on the street

It is the time of the year again, where the floor is covered with what the American bullies like to use as their tool to humiliate people - the slushie. The road and streets are now being covered with slush - it is a mixture of water and snow, which makes walking and travelling above it very difficult. First of all, this is due to the presence of water everywhere which tends to splash around when you walk across it. Secondly, the snow in the water thickens the consistency of the water making it harder to cross while going through it. Hence I really hate this time of the year. Hopefully, it will all melt down into water and spring will start soon rather than a repeat of the vicious cycle where the temperature drops down and the streets turns icy and slippery before once turning into slush again.

Resolutions

So far, my resolution on working out daily has been going well. Except for the fact that I skip working out on Saturday and Sunday(cause I have basketball or volleyball training later in the day), I have been sticking to the plan of going to the fitness center every other day. This morning, I went to the gym right after I woke up. This was because its Army's Day in Russia which is a National Holiday here in Russia hence no class and I have volleyball training later that day. Hence I opted to do my workout in the early morning. As for my studies part. I find that I study better with no pressure (ie : I seem to study a bit more on Saturday and Sunday opposed to on my weekdays where I have to study for my classes as well.) Not only have I been slacking quite a bit on my self studies, I also have been making very little progress (that's what to bound to happen though, how can I make a lot of progress in studies when I have been slacking ?) Hopefully everything will turn out for the better.

Time Flies

To my surprise, I studied quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday and by studying I mean studying additional materials not the ones that I have to study for classes. But as Monday came, I'm not sure it is from the blues the first day of the week or due to the lengthy time we spend in class doing nothing that made me feel so lazy. I came home not doing any real studying and I even had the guts to not study for class (though I had to part my lazy ass off the bed at a mere 5am to study and boy did I regret it). Gym training is starting to become one of my daily routine and I hope it stays that way. I want to try to get back into rhythm of my old high school habits where I study and do all the necessary stuff with efficiency. Time really flies fast, soon it will be the annual intervarsity games and then after it will be finals and home sweet home. Can't wait for the last on the list to come.

Busy day

Today was quite busy. After finishing class at around 12, I headed straight home and slept as sound as a baby on the mini van. Upon reaching home, I had to quickly finish up my assignment and sent the photos one of my groupmates needed as I was bringing my laptop over to my friend's place to get it reformated. I then proceed to go to the gym. During training, I found out that my friend left his installer disc at another person's place and couldn't do anything with my laptop without it. Since, I wanted to get over with it as soon as possible, I opted to go get it for him. When I reached home, I got a message from my groupmate asking me to send him the photos which I did earlier. I was so mad at him as he literally said "Hey Nate, I'm waiting". I'm doing him a favour here, not like I'm obliged to work for him, so I asked him to be careful of his choice of words and intonation. Then after dinner, I had to go out to print my assignment as the printer in my house which was owned by my fellow housemates will only print it for themselves and some close people (which I think I am not included seeing how they reject me time after time). I went to collect my laptop after the printing was done but had to stay there till half past 10. I'm now exhausted and have done nothing to study for my classes tomorrow. Hopefully I'll do better on the next few days.

Needles and Blisters

Today I went for my yearly HIV test which is needed for my visa extension. As usual I got a large needle cut when the nurse retracted the syringe and needle having taking my blood. Went to gym later on for my workout. I usually start with a 30 minute jog but the treadmills were all occupied so I went and start with pumping some metals. When I returned for my cardio workout, I found myself panting and out of breath when it was only 13 minutes into the session, I lowered the speed and took a slow walk and stopped after a mere 20 minute workout. I resumed training but felt my palms starting to ache. I told my friends this and they said my workout gloves needed to be changed as it doesn’t protect ur palms from getting blisters. Upon hearing this for the first time, I was amazed but couldn’t do anything about it as I was short of cash lately. These past few days, I wasn’t totally slacking off from my aim of studying but neither was a having much progress. Hopefully, I’ll do better soon.

Back to working out

Today is Valentine day, being overseas, I had no one to spend my valentine with. Was a bit late for class today, and received news that our teacher was changed. I was very happy with the change as the substituting teacher was a better and more experienced teacher. More importantly, he did not waste our time forcing us watching videos and not teaching (which was exactly what the previous teacher did). After class, I came home and started to do some studying before going out to the gym that I haven't been to for a long time. I was so wrong to think that just because its Valentine's Day, the place would has less people. It was the exact opposite. The fact that I haven't been working out for a long time made me tire myself out very quickly and also giving me a dizzy spell. I went home feeling dizzy and planning to sleep but as soon as I regained my breath and composure, I felt alright. Hopefully, I can keep up this schedule. Keep a watch to find out how I fare.

Day 13 - Riga Airport

The day started off like any other day, slow waking from the sleep, dragging ourselves to the breakfast, then we went back to finish last minute packing and checked out. Reached the airport with loads of time to kill. Few hours later, we found out our flight has been canceled (in my opinion it was because there were very few amount of passengers and they combined it with the night flight out. Having that, I had to cancel the booking for our hostel stay in Riga. We flew out of Warsaw in a Fokker 50 ( go google it and you’ll be amazed by the plane) and the flight was.pretty scary. Upon descent, my head throbbed with excruciating pain due to the pressure difference. The pilot did a good job landing the plane which was something didn’t expect given the type of plane I boarded. I wrote this blog while lying on my makeshift bed in Riga International Airport.

Day 12 - Warsaw

Today was pretty much uneventful. Woke up and had the complimentary breakfast in the lobby. We then went back to a park to have a look at the palace on the water or so to say “on ice” as the temperature is way below zero degrees. In the end we found ourselves looking at the peacocks and chasing after squirrels instead of going into the palace. The park was more like a zoo as we saw quite a few animals despite the cold weather. We had dinner in the local cantine and somehow tried their local soup which was just boiled macaroni with boiled milk with water and sugar. And that was really unpleasant to the tongue. We then went to the Warsaw Rising Museun which show photos and videos on events that occured in the place. It was pretty depressing and makes me realize how severe things was during the 2nd world war. We then went back to shop a bit and ate dinner in a Vietnamese cuisine as it was one of the cheapest food. Before dinner, I finally got myself an English book - Inheritance (book 4 of Eragon series). I wanted to buy the 3rd book as well but it was in a very ragged state. So I’m left to read book 3 on pdf format before being able to enjoy the book.

Day 11 - Warsaw

Reached to the Warsaw town at a little before 6am and having just woke up, we were groggy and a little off our bearings. To add to the misery, the weather out in the open was 20 degree celcius below 0 ( Ie : -20) Wheb we finally got to our hostel, we couldn’t check in but thank God we could leave our bags and warm ourselves up in the common room. After resting and warming up properly, we went on to check the city out. We found ourselves constantly going from one shelter to shelter to warm up. Se ate dinner in a nice cozy area which we found out during out tour in the city. After our meal we headed to the mall as we didn’t want to walk out in the cold. Here, I bought myself a 75ml perfume by Davidoff for about 70zl (Polland currency). During our walk in the mall, I found on the floor a bunch of cash worth of 140zl. I took it up and standed there and wait for someone to come back looking frantically for their money but no.one came back. I’m thankful for the big guy up there who blessed me with this.

Day 10 - Prague

Falling to sleep late at night, I woke up a little later than usual though it didn’t matter as we were checking out the hostel only at 11am. After a slow breakfast and packing up, we were up and about once again to revisit the tourist attractions Prague had to offer. While finding our way from lnr destination to the other, we bumped into a sex shop and we went in to kill our curiosity. The place was full of sex toys and kinky wears. We went in as a group of 4 people and I felt embarrassed after sometime due to the fact we kept staring at the items that were on sale in awe. The whole day, I had to keep a tab on my remaining cash as it seems that I have overspent. My mind busy with calculations made my friends think I was being a bit more emo than usual. All I was able to do was to shrug. Heading to Warsaw in a coach now, with my mind trying to figure out how to manage my leftover cash in the best way.

Day 9 - Prague

Woke up today receiving a missed call from my sister. Had to practically drag myself off the comfort of the bed into the hostel kitchen to not disturb my fellow friends as it was still quite early. That sort of gave me a bad start. Thinga changed for the better though. Having visited most of the places already, we were juz taking a slow walk to recapture pictures with the attractions that we didn’t have time to take with. As we were walking about, we went in every shop to find for the cheapest souvenirs we could get our hands on. We had lunch in a Chinese bistro for a relatively cheap price before heading up to the Prague Castle once again. We then came down having satisfying our picture crave and crossed the Charles bridge for the second time to look for souvenirs. In total we crossed the bridge 4 times seeing 3 different views - midday, evening and night. We had dinner in a Chinese restaurant buffet style before heading to St. Giles church for a charity concert which was had their orgab playing which is what I really wanted to see. It was quite an experience, being able to listen live to an organ being played in an old Catholic church in a cold winters night and wrapping yourself in a woolen blanket (I think its woolen).

Day 8 - Prague

After a nice homemade breakfast in the hostel, we took slow stroll to the meeting point of the free tour we were attending. The weather was one of the coldest we have endured so far. My guess of the exact temperature would somewhere between -5 to -3 degree Celcius. The free tour started at arond 11in the morning and ended at 2. We opted to follow the paid tour which starts at 2.30 in the noon and we had another walk around the Prague castle which ended only at 6 in the evening. We then took our dinner and ewent straight back to the hostel as we were half frozen from having walking and visiting the most of Prague’s attraction by foot.

Day 7 - Prague

Everything started out smoothly in the morning, with waking up and having a slow and nice breakfast. We checked out the hostel a little behind schedule but we thought everything was ok. Upon reaching the central subway station to change between lines, we found out the line we needed to take for our journey to the bus terminal was closed and down due to some unknown reason. We were directed up and out to the streets by the person in charge which couldn’t really converse in English. On the streets were a huge bunch of people waiting for the replacement bus though we were short of time and henced asked around for an alternative way to get to the terminal. We were told to get on the subway and transfer to a tram to get there. We were getting nervous as time was running out and we are also short of local cash. After getting of the underground, we had to get a ticket but we didn’t know where to get them and was once again directed to the counter which had a long queue. However, when we got to the counter front, the lady closed the counter while talking gibberish. She didn’t even allow us to ask question on how or where to get a ticket. We asked around and was told to get a ticket from the automated machine which upon our trial, didn’t want to work. We were frantic by that time and sweating profusely from adrenaline overdrive and fear of missing our ride. We somehow managed to get on a tram and get to the terminal but the next obstacle was waiting for us. We had no idea where the bus was located and had to find it. We ran around like chickens running away from the slaughter house, looking for our bus. Alas, we got to our bus with just minutes to spare. That concluded our amazingly eventful morning. The bus ride from Budapest to Prague was quite a long one but the bus itself was pretty much very comfortable hence making the trip up quite enjoyable. Upon arrival in Prague, we found a little short of cash as neither of our bank cards seems to work with the local ATM machines. Eventually we got to a machine which allowed us to withdraw the amount needed though I opted to change my remainding Usd and Euros. We theb had a slow walk to find our dinner which was fantastic. On our walk back to hostel we got ourselves some local bear to drink. We didn’t quite like what the people rated as their best beer as it has a queer aftertaste (in my opinion).

Day 6 Budapest

I slept very soundly through the night, having a few dreams along the way. Though a dream was a bit more vivid than the rest. I remembered having my best friend - HK giving her boyfriend CH a surprise birthday bash. When they arrived we gave him the boring old but effective “surprise” yell. He blushed a little and thank us for the party. After greeting everyone, someone started to yell “Kiss kiss kiss” and before we knew it, everyone started chanting along. HK got a bit shy and kiss CH on that nose but it turned out like a cartoon scene because she bit his nose and pulled it making it extend. (Don’t judge me, It’s a dream, anything could happen) Seeing no real action going on the croud started whining and requesting for some affectionate show. Hearing this, CH cupped HK’s face tenderly with his hands and reeled her in for a slow and sensual kiss. The group started “ohhs and ahhs” seeing how much love was being potrayed and poured into the kiss. By that time both of them were deep in their own world, giving and showing each other their love for one another. The air was practically sizzling with electricity radiating from them. I couldn’t remember what happened next but I knew I got excited from their display if affection. Or maybe a bit too excited. That ended my memory of the dreamAfter a light breakfast and slow stroll around town, we walked to the meeting point for the free tour. The local tiure guide had a fairly good command of English. The tour lasted a little more than 2.5 hours and we decided to give them 500Huf per person which is equivalent to about 2 euros. We then headed to a Museum which in my opinion was a total waste of time and money which made me even more broke than I already was. I was totally not interested in it but just went along with my friends. We later tried to look for the restaurants recommended by the guide but we ended up with closed stalls or places we didn’t like. Finally picking a place to dine in a restaurant and since they allowed to use euros to pay, I could eat in peace without having to worry to much about the money. After dinner, we went on our way down to the bath house and heroes square which was located quite a distance from the center. We read on the ticket that within an hour we have unlimited rides on the subway but on our return from the square after a haste photo session, we were told by the mean conductors that we had to buy a new ticket. With that comment, our mood was sort of deteriorated. After knowing that we have nothing much to spent on, I wanted to buy a shirt that I didn’t buy on the other day though the shop had already closed. So i went to buy some local alcohol. I had to even ask the shop owner if I could buy the alcohol cause I was short by 10Huf. Me and my friend practically had no money on the way back since we spend it on the alcohol.

Day 5 - Budapest

It’s the last morning in Vienna town today. We’re leaving for Budapest on a 7am coach and thus have to wake up at the wee hours of 5 in the morning to get prepared. Hello Budapest, here we come ! We got to the bus station with 20 minutes to spare. Though I went to the toilet before leaving the hostel, I had a very strong urge to release my bladder contents yet again. I tried to go to the washroom that was free but it was still closed at it was only 6.40am. The one in the station was a paid per entrance type and being an Asian, I didn’t want to pay for that. I opted to hold the urge. Little did I know, I was actually on dire need of one as within 30minutes of the bus ride the urge became stronger and I was finding it hard to sleep. 1.5 hours later, we reached a drop off point and barelt able to hold back, I asked the driver if I could use the washroom nearby and he said no, I told him i was in need of one. His next reply left me shocked and very happy. “There is a toilet in the bus?!” Having completing and satisfying my urge, I am now enjoying myself with the free wifi of the bus. After the journey ended, our journey in Budapest city begun. We started off with a train ride to our hostel. According to the internet blogger’s advice and tips, we were told to take care of our tickets while riding on the public transport as the conductors check frequently for passangers not paying for their ride, especially on weekdays. And alas, they told the truth, during our short ride to our hostels, we were stopped twice by different conductors. Upon reaching our designated subway stop, we tried to allocate our hostel and the sign was so insignificant that we practically passed it 2-3 times without realizing it. We checked into the hostel and started touring around the city. Later that night, we tried to find a place recommended by the keeper of the house but all we managed to do was went shopping.instead. Hence, I ended up oversspending again.

Day 4 - Vienna/ Bratislava

Woke up at 5.30 in the morning as we are trying to finish our rounds in Vienna before leaving to Bratislava for a day trip. Hopefully our legs won’t give away from the soreness of walking later in the day. Bratislava, it is a very nice town full of ancient structures and building which has yet not to be tainted by the tourism culture. We arrived at the town at about 10.30 in the morning and started to walk around town and allocating our bearings. After some trials, we managed to find ourselves in the information center to fill in our empty minds on what to do and where to go. The place was pretty small anf we got to tour most of the places before the clock struck 2. We then headed towards a pub recommended by bloggers and the receptionist at the information center. The food we had there was very delicious and comparatively cheaper than in Vienna. With our stomachs being filled, we had to satisfy our hearts next - shopping. I manage to secure.myself with the checkered box shirt with the cost of €4.95. Mum and dad, I’m really sorry if I used more than I planned to. Hopefully, you guys will forgive me. After reaching back to town, we got ourselves some breakfast and got them ready in case of an emergency. While,waiting for my turn to bath, I looked through the map given by the hostel and found out about some bars located not far from the hostel. Wanting to know the difference in these bars and those usual ones I see back in hometown, I decided to check them out. I only dared to walk pass them but not go in. Coward eh ? Maybe next time. Oh well.

Day 2 - Vienna

Time to wake up! Long day ahead of us. Today,we will be trying to find our way to our 2nd stop - Budapest and also do our sightseeing of the city. We managed to get to know 2 youngsters from Budapest who offered to help us get a bus ticket online for only 10 euros but we had to access the internet which was down at the moment so they decided to meet up later as they had somethings to tend to. 30 minutes later, we went back to the hostel lobby to try to gain access of the internet and to meet the girls but we didn’t see any of them. We opted to go get some rest and try again tomorrow before checking out and move into another hostel (Its a long story why we have 2 different hostels for one city) Hence we are to check out here before 10am but only allowed to check in at the next hostel at 2pm. That’s 4 hours of backpack on.ur back which makes me groan thinking about it. They male my shoulders ache so badly i wonder how those.Europeans do it. Hopefully, we will enjoy ourselves today. Before we checked out from our hostel, we were informed that we could leave our bags at their luggage room and collect it later free of charge. Hearing this news really added smiles onto my face knowing I do not have to walk aroubd town with a heavy bag resting on my shoulders. We first went to get some information about our transport to Budapest. We headed to the Schonburg Palace where we saw the residence of the Viennese Royal family. We tried to look around for breakfast bur couldn’t find any. We then settled for having breakfast by buying some stuff in the local supermarket. ( I got myself a loaf of potato bread and a couple of hams which was delightful and pleasant to the tongue.) The tour of the palace and their gardens left us feeling sore in the feets. After that, we finally got to eat our fried noodles for lunch which makes me salivate thinking about. While going back to collect our lugages and check in our next hostel, we were caught by a local which told us about an orchestra performance that was being held tonight and only cost £18. We were excited about the idea but at the same timw worrying about the authenticity of the orchestra. We decided to go to one of the locals and ask about the event. I could never forget the face he had after we asked the question. (He had both the features of shock and amusement plastered on his face) Upon verifying its authenticity, we bought the tickets abd hurried to get checked kn and settle down. Dinner was a quick one by sharing a Kebab while walking. Finally we made it to the theater and found that it wasn’t as grand as we thought it would be but never the less it was not the worst. The orchestra group was quite small but adequate. The hall slowly became full with audiences and we realized that most of them were Asians which came with a tour group. During the concert, somebody’s cell rang before the solo singer had a chance to sing. That lead her to look at the direction of the source of the sound and I felt so embarrassed by the actions of my fellow audience in the hall. To make matters worse, they seem to like to clap before the orchestra comes to a full stop. I personally enjoyed myself and was more or less satisfied with the performance.

Day 1 - Vienna

Finally after countless hours of journeying, I got to my 1st stop - Vienna. Upon arrival, I got of the plane and went into the terminal walking aimlessly, only to realize a moment later that we haven’t pass through the customs before leaving the terminal. I went back to ask the information counter if we needed to pass by the custom upon arrival and all we got was a shrug. We proceeded to the arrival terminal to rearrange our luggage sd everyone stuff their liquid into my bag. While rearranging, my toilet paper kind off unrolled itself in the airport making me feel so embarrassed and I felt my ears burning red. Next we found our way to the city center to get to our hostel. I misread the station which our hostel was located and ended up taking a huge detour before realizing the mistake. After checking in and refreshing ourselves, we headed out to look for food and to have a small tour around the city. After walking around for an hour or so we settled for dinner in a restaurant that seemed to be filled with locals. Dinner was fabulous and we had trouble to finish it since we had a light snack before heading down town from our hostel. We toured around for another hour or 2 before we returned back to the hostel for our long deserved rest.

Leaving for my 2nd Europe Trip

It is 6 in the morning and I just reached Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow which in my view is way better than the one in Domodedovo. Few more hours before I embark for my journey to Vienna. I’m already getting hyped up ! As I was sitting on the airport waiting to be checked into my flight out of Moscow, I was able to witness the airport K9 unit in action. The dog wasn’t exactly the cutest but I would say it’ll do fine with the job. During their routine check, they came across a unattended luggage which they stopped by. The dog sniffed it and “declared” it safe but the owner didn’t turn even half an hour later. Further involvement of the airport officials were included and announcement were made to request the owner to come forth and claim his baggage. The policewere even brought into the matter and the k9 unit left. The police waited patiently for the owner to turn up. In a few moments, an African turned up and the case was solved ( not before he was gave a warning and even so he didn’t seem to think that he shouldn’t leave his baggage uncared for as a serious matter)