Buying New Clothes

It has been quite sometime since I written something. Classes lately have been a bit too laid back, or maybe I am the one that have been laying back a wee bit too much. As the weather starts to turn from spring season to that of a tropical weather, the heat that comes with it has caused me to cuddle up in my bed with the fan switched on to keep me cool.
As summer closes in, the holidays that appear during summer also indicates the end of a semester- a time that had pass so fast since all I have done this semester was to play and enjoy myself and times flies when you are enjoying yourself.
With the holidays around the corner that brings you to that paradise you want to reach, the exams can be said to be found just before the corner is a place you have to pass in order to get to the destination. Hopefully, this obstacle will prove to be some easy task for me with some study.
Today, I am very very happy as I had a green light from my mother to buy a trench coat and a T-shirt that I had my eye on. After class, I headed down to the shopping mall to get them.
After trying them on again to see if I really think it suits me and whether or not I really want it. Even after seeing myself in the mirror and liking the outcome, I still had was reluctant to go ahead to the counter and pay up as the trench coat was no small amount to pay for.
After much hesitance, I braved myself to go the counter and paid up. I was surprised as I didn't remember the prices correctly and thought that it was more expensive. Hence when the receipt came, I was happy that it was not as expensive as I thought.
Sorry mum and dad for the extra expenses and THANK YOU very much !!!

Giving Birth

Today, I had my first experience at a glimpse of what it looks like when a new life comes in to this world. I have been having my obstetrics cycle for a week, but only today we had a chance to go into the birth ward.
It was as usual, a boring and a day full of chatter while waiting for teacher to come into the classroom/dinning room (we were having our class in the patient's dining area). All of a sudden a nurse came into our classroom and told us to go to the maternity ward.
Though, her instructions were very unclear and she spoke too fast that we were lost at where she wanted to direct us to. When we finally got to the ward, the baby had already came out from the mother's womb and our teacher was checking the placenta and clearing up.
The scene we saw was pretty messy, blood oozing out from the mother's vagina after being teared from the birth process. Upon this sight, the girls from our group shuddered and said they would opt for using the Cesarean section during giving birth.
For me, I felt lucky that I was born a male and would never have to go through this process. It also made me feel very thankful to my mum, for bearing me in her body for 9 months and going through a painful process to bring me into this world. A further thanks to my dad who also had to bear through all my mothers tantrum she might have thrown due to all the hormone imbalance that I caused while I was still in her womb. I could never repay what you guys have done for me, from bringing me into this world and bringing me up to who and what I am today. All I can do is to study hard and be a successful person.
On the way back from class today, I stopped by the market to buy some groceries as it was my turn to cook for the house this week. I found the new bread stall that had been under construction now opened and decided to buy a sandwich that looked not too bad in the picture.
The person in charge looked quite new to her job as she still had to look at the menu to see what to put into the sandwich and how much it cost when I paid for it. I was quite happy at what I got. This was because finally, my little town -Kursk is finally starting to produce more decent burger and sandwich stalls that can be found in other cities in Russia.
Ps : I only managed to take a picture of the sandwich and for the birth giving process, I couldn't take any picture hence sorry for the lack of any picture on that part.

New Injury,Classes and Dumplings

It has been a few weeks since I last updated, although I have been having a laid back time due to the relaxing classes and schedule. Last Saturday, while playing volleyball(not training, just having some fun time with my teammates) I reinjured my left leg which makes my record of 3 leg injuries in 3 consecutive months.(first I injured my left ankle on a basketball training on April, then my right ankle last month during volleyball games and now my left ankle again).
I haven't had any injury during my volleyball training for the past 3 years of playing it and all of the sudden I start to get injuries so frequently, I am really wondering what has gone wrong. Here are some postulations, my current sport shoes are a bit too loose and for aesthetic purpose I skipped down the last row of my shoe lace and tied it one row below so that the "lip" of the shoes will protrude more.
For prophylaxis of further injury, I will be buying basketball shoes and ankle guard. I will also do some ankle strengthening exercises.
This week I am having obstetrics and gynecology cylce. Upon reaching the class we were asked to go down to the registration counter and ask for the key to the changing room and change into our surgical gowns.
The place we had to go to change was underground and the stairs down was pretty scary with the lights on the stairs flickering non stop and steep staircases. To add to the matter, the changing room was in fact a room with bars to lock our stuff in, giving it a jail cell look. The place was also dark and very chilly giving all of us a sort of feeling that the place was what the Chinese call "dirty".
Today, I came home early as teacher had a conference that she had to attend to. So I decided to try once more making the "man tau" and dumplings with the red bean paste that I took so much effort and went through hell to make.
This time, I was rewarded as both the dumpling and the man tau seemed nice to me.

3 new items

Spring is finally here and with the weather turning warmer, the people around are starting to remove their jacket and change into their spring and summer closet wear. As the change of weather starts, it is also time for a change of lifestyle.
I have been lazing around the house and been slacking from my usual home work out after my leg injury a few weeks back. Now, with my leg back to 90% of its former condition, I have decided to make it a habit to have a jog near my house everyday, as often as possible so as to keep myself fit and to do some workout as recommended by the cardiologist I went to see last year.
This week, I've bought a few new things to add to my room and accessories. Among them are 3 more expensive stuff being a microphone (since my old one has gone haywire and can not detect any sound sometimes due to a loose connection between the wire and the microphone.), a slipper (I've been wanting to buy 1 for a very long time) and lastly a flower( to add some spring feeling to the room and to add more oxygen content in the room)
Firstly, I bought the flower in the market near the school for 40rubles and a pot for 50rubles if I still remembered correctly. I choose this particular one after looking at all the available flower at the stalls. One of the reason I chose it was due to its color. The resemblance of blue and purple made me get it. The flower also have a very strong smell to come with it.
Then I bought the slippers from a shop in a mall. After much thought, I bought the one that is the cheapest and still looks not to bad (since I am stingy and know that I should not spend so much to prevent giving my parents too much of a burden to my parents financially). I was a bit sad that I had to pay an amount of 550 rubles. But as I approached the counter and paid for my purchase, I was told that my card has an amount of 160 rubles of discount thus making me pay only an amount of 390 for the slippers which made me feel a tiny wee bit better.
Lastly due to the constant nagging by all my friends and parents while cam chatting with them that they could not hear me well and now that my microphone has gone completely haywire, I decided to get the cheapest microphone I could get my hands on. I almost bought a more expensive microphone due to its cool looks but with my friend there to remind me that all I needed was the basic type. I settled with buying the cheapest one that cost me only 299 rubles.

Coming to my senses

I have been quite lazy these days as after the Intervarsity games, we all feel fatigue and lethargic. To add to matters are that the cycle I am having now has a really hot teacher which has a model kind of body figure and looks tat could make people faint with a smile(ok, maybe I am exagerating a bit). She is my dermatology teacher, and what less can one expect from a dermatologist? Her facial skin is like so delicate and nice. We could not really see any pores or any facial defect, acne or spots even when we see her face up close (we get to see her quite close up since the classroom is very small)
After we came back, we were invited by a sports complex manager to join in a volleyball competition and after some thought, we thought we might want to give it a try. Since I was still partially out of shape to play 100%, they asked the two indian players which are in a whole different level from us(somewhat equivalent or better than Alex Lye) to play with us as a team since we were lacking from a setter.
I was absent on the first day of competition as I had lecture and thought that I would not be needed. Yesterday, which was the second day of the match, I tagged along upon the request of my friends to see how the indian setter played so as to learn stuff from them.
It was quite an eye opener playing against the Russian youth school teams here. I somehow was pulled on court to play as the indian setter was tired or sick (not sure there) and had to set for the Indian player which was our king card/star player of the competition.
During the game, i could see how bad my setting is, seeing the ball flying here and there, causing the indian player (Surya) to run around just to spike the ball that i send flying to him.
My friends even jokingly said it was the first time seeing Surya panting in a game and seeing him so tired and this was all due to my "excellent" setting skills. I hope I will get to be better and do a better job so as to bag the gold for our male volleyball team in the intervarsity games next year.

Back In Kursk

Finally, the yearly intervarsity games has ended. It has been quite a journey, 700km away from our home ground, our university gave it our best in an effort to get the overall champion cup once more, but we fell short of our goal with a few near calls.
As for our volleyball team, as this year, the guy who played in the national level when he was younger(Alex Lye) came to compete, after a grueling semifinal match with the Russian State Medical University's team which is getting better and better by the year, we manage to secure a spot in the finals with Alex's team.
Our female volleyball team also did as well as our male team and advanced to the finals without much resistance.
The final matches for both the male and female volleyball team was held on Sunday while on Saturday night, there was a concert that was being held which is a tradition of the intervarsity games. Having seen what the concert looks like in the previous few times, I decided to go out with my friends to have dinner ourselves in the town.
With the help of a friend of mine, we ended up in a restaurant near the RSMU hostel in which we ate korean food. Despite of the long journey from our hostel we were staying for the time being to the restaurant, we enjoyed our time during dinner with much laughter and enjoyment of the delicious food which can't be found in our native town.
During the finals, due to the fact that the organizing committee did not want to pay extra, we had to bear through the gruesome decision that the finals of both male and female teams will be held at the same time rendering the female team without a coach (because he is the captain of our male team).
The male team lost the 1st two matches again Alex's team before regaining the 3rd. Though after a close call, we the lost to Nizhny Novgorod State Medical Academy (Alex's university) and was left with a silver medal.
The girls played very well despite the absence of their coach, after we lost, we rushed over to aid the female team who were still in battle with the RSMU's female team which were playing the 4th match in which we won the 1st two set and lost the 3rd. With the cheer and support from our male team, they took down the set and bagged the gold.
I felt very guilty while seeing the guys playing the finals knowing that the results would have very likely be different if i were not down and out from the games due to a last minute injury.
By the way, since we had to check out on Sunday morning before the games started, we had to bath in the sports complex which only had a bathroom without cubicles and only a common bath area. Most of our volleyball male team were so embarresed to bath naked in front of each other and said this was the first and hopefully the last time something like this would happen since as asians, we are not really used to bathing with a crowd.

Sad !!

Today, I was quite happy that I was able to finish my exams early and allowed myself to have time to study for the final practical skills test for my current cycle class (operative surgery class) tomorrow.
Since I came back early, I had time to laze around before going out again for my volleyball practice. After a short rest at home, I jogged to the university for my training.
Upon arrival at the sports hall, I saw the captain if we were playing against the Indian students as practice matches today, and he said yes. I was pretty excited because we had not been playing with other teams for a long long time.
Though, I was a bit disappointed after knowing that it wasn't the whole team that came and only 3 of their players came to play with us.
I told myself to be careful and not to injure myself but at the middle of the game, I landed on one of the player's foot and heard a terrible crack sound. I immediately groaned and sat on the floor. The captain came rushing to me with a disappointed look knowing that most probably i will be out of the game.
I paid for a taxi fare back home as I was unable to walk and only to call the ambulance to bring me to the hospital for an X-ray scan due to the fact that my leg was really painful even without movements and the swelling is a bit weird.
Then I was given a cast around my legs and told to not walk for 3-4 weeks which means I would not be able to play in Moscow Intervarsity Games that will be held on next Friday,Saturday and Sunday.
Then I had to pay for another taxi fare to get back home from the hospital though I was relieved when I heard that there was no need to stay in the hospital and there were no serious problems with my ankle and foot.
I'm really sad that I won't be able to play on court with Alex Lye who is the star player in the volleyball teams which was something I wanted to do since 3 years ago.(1st year I was benching, last year he did not come for the competition, this year I will be benching again). I hope even though I won't be able to play on court, I would at least be able to walk around without clutches and my cast since I want to look at my best since there are students from other universities that I could meet.