RG's Reality in Dream

Today, 29 October 2006 is exactly one month I reach this Volgograd city and stay in this No.42 room of Hiroshima Hostel…

I had reached here for one month already…I’m going to express some of my feeling over this past one month…

Firstly… my feeling bout my room…Basically, I’m very satisfied with everything in my room… It’s comfortable…and thanks God I have the convenience to online anytime at my table after moving in here 2 weeks… Laptop is on my table all the time and I just need to connect it to internet whenever I wish (although need to pay for it la…)… and we have bought a carpet for our room…it makes my room looked very nice…In addition, our room have nice and fine curtain too… So far…I feel great when staying in my room… (Next time if possible, I will post some pictures bout my hostel la…)

Malaysian seniors here mostly are super very kind and helpful… I just don’t know how much thanks are enough to express my appreciation to them… and I meet some of JPA seniors here too, especially non-malays...there are so few of JPA non-malays seniors only… To be fair, I don’t want to mention any helpful seniors name here because if I really manage to write all, I think it will be quite a long list (haha)… but really thank a lot to those who had helped us whether by cooking us dinner, bringing us to shop, guiding us and helping us in various aspects…

Russian people are very cool, rarely smile…But most of them are good-looking…However, I don’t feel any extreme physical differences between Russians and us… Their height and size look about the same as Malaysians…While our lecturers here of course, are Russians…and they are very very nice and good…

There are 7 students in my class… There are 4 JPA students including me (they were my KUTPM college-mates last time also… the only malay guy in my class was my housemate that time too)…while the other 3 students are India’s Indians… So…I am delighted that my class has a mix of students from 2 different countries…It adds some fun elements in the class… For example, we can teach each other our own languages…and can tell each other about our countries too…(The possibility for us to know Russian students is very rare because we are in international program while Russians take their Russian medium…So, even when in lecture, there will be no Russian students also…)

I realise that I begin to feel tired and bored with intensive Russian class everyday… Whenever in Russian class, I will keep on looking on my watch...wishing the time to pass as soon as possible… I found that I hardly pay full attention and concentration in every moment of 7 hours long Russian class most of the days… and I feel that I not yet prepare myself to seriously learn a totally new language…I just still can’t find the enthusiasm from myself to really treasure it… I keep on thinking that it’s just a matter of time for me to pick up Russian language… The difference is just whether it is sooner or later but it makes same result in the end as long as we can communicate in Russian… So poor this thinking right…

Frankly…for this first month, I didn’t make any close friend yet… Most of the time I am doing my thing alone in the room…but so far I just like such life… Laptop and Internet has become my best companies over these weeks… and I definitely understand myself who is a person very slow in relationship…My history has proved it…Most of my close friends now from jit sin are not my close friends since the very beginning of form1… The same things happened when I in KUTPM… My close friends in the end are mostly those who I know them after few months studying there… So… I am just 1 month here…why I should demand much… Don’t scare it’s slow, but get the best…hehe…

By the way…there are some of my Jit Sin seniors are studying here too… Few of them are in first year also after they finished their A-level, STPM and others… There are quite a lot of Penangites in first year too…

It’s time for me to be independent in life… I have nobody else to rely on… I have to cook for myself… Have to take care of myself in the unpredictable weather…and many many more things that I need to deal on my own… I hope I will truly grow up when enduring all of these here…

Miss home? Not really… Maybe after I have bored enough seeing and touching the real snow, then maybe from that moment, I will begin to feel miss home… Because till now, witnessing snowy winter is my little dream here that I not yet fulfil…

Generally…If you ask me how I feel after being here for one month… Honestly, I can’t give an exact answer… I am not very gloomy, yet not very happy… everything is still under observation and adaptation period to me… but at least till now I am quite satisfying bout my life here and I have strong confidence that the huge hope is in front…

Still clearly remember that I took flight to Russia on 26 September 2006 at 11.50pm… and the last time I saw my family was at 10pm something…

It was one month already…

The life here is still not very stable yet… Sometimes I really feel very happy and enjoy… but at times, life is hard here…

Russian Language is still the biggest problem to me… After one month of intensive classes, we still not really able to communicate in Russian… To make the thing worse, I begin to feel very bored and dispirited whenever attending Russian classes…Most of our Russian classes are as long as 7 hours per day…and we have 36 hours of Russian classes a week… It’s quite hard to make sure yourself being very focus in the class for such a long time… and sometimes it depends a lot on the teaching style of lecturer too… On Thursday to Saturday, our lecturer is quite boring la…

This timetable will be worked for 2 months…That’s mean it still has 1 month to go…

However, our Russian is surely better than the time when we just arrive here as that time we knew nothing… and I realize that we should not expect too much to master a totally new language in just one month time…

It’s just one month only… I can’t really expect how my life here will be in future six years… Just hope the best is always in front…

Oh ya…I just know that begin on next week…Our time here will move back one more hour because night time will fall earlier during winter…This is a system called ‘Day Time saving system’…and it will be in use till Spring… Therefore, the differences between Russia and Malaysia will be 5 hours at that period of time…

Erm… Let me mention again… the Russia city that I am staying now is Volgograd, a very beautiful city that is around 900km or 2hours flight time from Moscow (to the south of Moscow)…and I am studying in Volgograd State Medical University (VSMU).

My Russia phone number is: +7927 5059445

First of all, let me talk bout Internet here… Finally my room internet connection set-up has completed and now onwards I can online in my room without troubling any senior… Internet here is using LAN connection…Since there is just a LAN plug in my room, we bought an extension harp so my roommate and I no need to take turn to online. Internet here is not free of charge anyway… it’s using top-up system and the fee is quite expensive also if compare to Malaysia…It’s counted on how much Megabytes we have used and 1 Megabytes cost us bout 1.3roubles (RM1 = 7.25roubles)… Therefore, it’s pity that I cant simply download songs… and I have to change my internet setting to ‘don’t show picture’…However, chatting online won’t consume too much Megabytes, so basically I’ll use this internet mainly on MSN and avoid to surf net too often…Another thing, some people asked me to post my pictures... Erm.. TTP has recommended me a way to minimize the size and quality of photo before uploading it to reduce ‘Megabytes-consuming’… But I need time to process it first… Though there are some restrictions and not free of charge, I still very grateful and satisfy that I have the convenience to access internet in my hostel… It’s much better than nothing…

I am living in the hostel called Hiroshima (Volgograd is a city full of history of World War II, so I guess it’s named for that lo…) I am in 4th floor whereas there are 10 floors here…and got lift here but it always works slowly… From floor 3 to 8 are all occupied by Malaysian students…therefore it’s just like in a Malaysia community when we move around in this hostel… We have to pay for hostel fee on our own as JPA won’t pay it for us… So we have to take money from our monthly 500USD allowance to pay it la… The fee is 700USD a year…Tat’s mean around 58.33USD per month (RM215)…

Each floor has four 3-person rooms and four 2-person rooms… I’m in 2-person room… The bed is double-decker…and everything that we basically need is given here…Got centralised heater in each room also (of course no air-cond la)… Each floor has 2 bathrooms, 2 toilets and 1 kitchen… The kitchen has 8 stoves with various sizes… The gas supply is from electric, so there is no worry bout fire... Each floor got 2 normal size refrigerators and a large freezer… so far there is no any problem of insufficient space to keep our raw materials… Here got room cleaning service and laundry service too… I’m quite satisfied with the condition of my hostel here… So far the main problem of hostel is sometimes the hot water in bathroom can’t function… and the hot water supply here is super very hot whilst cold water is super cold… So, we can’t bath if there is no hot water supply without boiling water ourselves… Heard from seniors that this problem will occur more often during winter…Gosh…Scary!! Another concern is the light in the room is quite dim…therefore we need to get desk lamp…

There are 2 hostels for Malaysian students at VSMU which are Hiroshima and Kim… All JPA and MARA students are located at Hiroshima, but there are quite many private students here also… The benefits of Kim are nearer to university and more convenient to buy things, but there is no internet system and the hostel facilities there are not as well as Hiroshima… So don’t surprise if you got friend in VSMU but never online while I online often here… Some more I heard residents there can only bath on certain time only… However, for residents of Hiroshima, we need to walk about 10minutes to the nearest trolleybus stop everyday and the bus ride to university takes around 15minutes whilst it takes less than 5minutes from Kim to university and their bus stop is right in front of the hostel… So…we have to go out much earlier before the exact time of our class as we will spend 30minutes for travelling… don’t forget that everyday we have to walk about 20minutes to and back from university in freezing cold and windy weather, especially during autumn and winter…and during winter, the roads will be very slippery… Seniors had told us their funny experiences of falling when walking in winter… Maybe our time to tumble is soon too...

Volgograd is indeed a very beautiful and green city… There are lots of trees and plants along the roads… There is a river called Volga River here…It is the longest river in Europe…It’s within walking distance from our university…The scenery there is very nice… Besides, since Volgograd is a city that experienced heavy wars during World War II, here got a lot of memorial statue and things that related with wars and military… We had visited most of the attraction places here during the escortion on the second day we arrived here…However, heard that there is an army museum here and those who had gone there before said it is very good and interesting…so hopefully I can go there one day…

The vehicles here are not too many… Most people travel with public transports and by foot… Pedestrians are very often here… Crossing roads here are very safe as the traffic lights will give time to pedestrians too… The main public transports here are Trolleybus (Bus that moved by electricity), Tram (a kind of train that move in the city, but not same as our LRT and KTM…) and mashrut (something like public van)… The fee of public transports here are very cheap…If take Trolleybus, each time will be charged 6roubles (no matter u go to where), but we bought student pass that allow us to take Trolleybus and Tram with unlimited access… It cost us 300roubles per month (RM41.40)…It’s very worthy as we need to take these public transports everyday… While Mashrut is kind of van that can fit 15 passengers…If taking Mashrut, we can stop at any place that we want (if take trolleybus or tram, we can only stop at the station)… But we need to know how to tell the driver to stop at the place we wish…So for the time being, we rarely take Mashrut without accompaniment of seniors as our Russian still…haih… the fare for Mashrut is 6roubles to 10roubles each time…

The weather here is becoming colder…Recently daytime is around 5C…and it is slightly below 0C at late night... But sometimes the weather here a bit crazy one…Someday it will be super chilly, then the next day weather might be quite ok with some warm sunshine…Normally during early morning and late evening, the wind will be quite strong…and got few days I need to walk to bus stop or back to hostel during that time… It’s quite suffering especially our eyes and nose will feel painful, sometimes the strong wind will cause me a bit headache too…

Leaves have begun to drop and turned into yellow or brown colour… Winter is near already… I believe all the newcomers here are waiting eagerly to see and touch real snow for the first time in our lives…However, I am sure that after enjoying few days of winter, I will dislike it due to the freezing weather and all kinds of inconveniences… Nevertheless, at the moment, I am enthusiastic to experience winter too…

Ok…Write till here first… Take care!

I'm trying to post this re-size picture to see how much it wil cost me...as the internet here is counted on how much Megabytes we had used... so..I choose this picture to try first...

小小的时候，当知道有亲人或其他人要入读大学时，总觉得那对我是很遥远的事…

但，现在我却已踏入大学的大门了。而且，是出国到一个蛮远的欧洲国家。一个人地生疏的地方，有机会去见识固然令我期待，但未来有多少难熬的时候，是我仍无法预料的。只愿一切安好。

在温暖的马来西亚成长十九年了，经历不多也不少。

幼儿园特别的回忆已不是很深了。四岁开始读幼儿园，三年内读两间。最后一间是育才幼儿园。也还记得我在五岁时就被爸妈带去学钢琴，开始了自己小小的音乐路程。

六年的小学生涯是在平民华小经历的。一至三年级应是时时在爸妈敦促做功课的情形下度过的吧。三年级的跳班考试，是我第一次面对政府考试，而我意外地考到了。无论如何，我没跳班，也因为这样，我后来的生活不一样了。四年级，对我的生活是个转折点。我开始接触课外活动，尤其是乒乓和时事常识比赛，都是在这一年开始正规练习的，这多少影响了我后来的学生生活的方向。当上校队后，常常出校四处出征这两项活动的比赛，也赢回了不少奖项和美丽回忆。六年级的生活也是很精彩的，因为很多比赛都是以主力身份参加的。总结小学生涯，它是单纯，快乐的，也为我将来的生活扎了些根基。

中学生活肯定是人生中最美的经历之一。我有幸在日新国中就读。中一并没有什么特别的事，但通过这年的校内华语常识比赛，我认识了一个至今是我最要好的朋友之一的好友。中二最美的回忆就是考获中学生涯里最好的成绩，这一年也认识了很多后来都成为好友的同学，同时也是我第一年挤入日中乒乓校队。中三起，中学生活在有下午留校这回事后，开始更多姿多彩了。三年来，每天下午都忙着补习，团体活动，练球和踢球，累计起来的回忆，是一生都回味无穷的。中四算是最精彩最难忘的吧。在班里总是欢乐十足的，课后的生活也是精彩的。这一年，我们都担起了领导团体，学会或球队的任务。中五是意义甚大的。这年的努力，多少也为我现在得到的有所贡献。这年，我们毕业了，也来到了分道扬镳的时候。

中四和中五这两年，校外比赛为我留下了太多的回忆。中四的一场乒乓双打赛，我与好拍档亲身经历了奇迹。那一刻起，我真正相信我的生命是有奇迹的。那是一场至今我最难忘的球赛，而奇迹的形成往往是无法解释的。中五我们也取得了中学打球生涯最好的胜利。这两年我也参加了一些时事常识比赛和口琴乐赛，都是回味无穷的经历。为比赛准备的过程虽然有些艰辛，但一切过后，都忘了曾经流过的汗水，回忆里尽是快乐的。真的好怀念过去大家一起扛着日新名誉打拼的日子…

中学毕业后，我有机会到了吉打大学预科班学院就读。这是我第一次在外住宿读书，虽然只是短短的一个月又十天，但那一段日子好深刻。那时每天放学后的时间，就是欢乐友谊发光的时候。过后预料之外地得到JPA奖学金，并在被派去印尼的情况下毅然接受这奖学金而到KUTPM去就读。而在那里的一年，我也不想多说了。但一切辛苦和折磨都过去了，如今那段时间所留下的都是它的精华--友谊。之后，因一些问题的发生，令我被改派到现处的俄罗斯。这也是我不曾料到的。但，我很满意也很感激上天现在所给予我的。有时总觉得这几年我似乎一直活在出乎预料的。无论如何，我很欣慰现在无需花到家里太多的钱来深造。

我自认不是个很善于交际的人，所以如果你能和我很熟，你是幸运的。当然，不论你在我的人生道路上与我擦肩得很近或远，我都很感激和珍惜我们这一份相识。

这些年来，我了解自己的一些喜好。我喜欢看球和体育节目，支持曼联，喜欢音乐，喜欢文字，喜欢吃酸和辣的食物，喜欢宁静。我会弹钢琴，小提琴，口琴，爵士鼓，但没有一样是真正很行的。我曾幻想要当个音乐家，或流行乐幕后音乐人。但音乐的道路毕竟并不是随便就能踏上的，它还得包含勇气和缘分。音乐，是我永远的梦，一个永远无法达到的梦吧。

十九年来，除了时间，我失去的其实并不是很多，因为有很多东西我还没得到。但，遗憾一定是有的，毕竟有些东西过去没得到，错过了的，往后永远都不会再有机会得到了。

很感激我最爱的爸爸妈妈这么多年来对我伟大的关爱和容忍，也许伟大并不完全贴切形容他们，但我也实在想不到别的字眼能更贴切的来形容他们。今天我背负您们的期待来到这里，我会努力不让您们失望的。爸妈，您们要活得健康快乐啊。妹妹，家人亲属，老师们，和所有曾在我的人生中为我祝福和加油的人，真的真的感激不尽，愿您们永远快乐和能在自己的道路上找到最高点。

医生…是的，从小学始，每次填写志愿时，我都写医生的… 这不是个梦想，而是我的意愿。求学生涯，我在课业上，一路跌跌撞撞的，甚至自己有时会怀疑自己的料到底能不能读好医学系…我只有相信，上天庇佑我至今天来到俄国真正读医科，未来的种种不如意，要坚毅面对吧。我永远不知道我的明天会是怎样的…

(Haih..our floor internet set up still haven't complete... now still have to climb up to upstair to use internet in seniors' room...)

Feel like just all in a sudden, I have been in Russia for quite a time already…

Since leaving Malaysia on 26 Sept night, everything seems in uncertainty for me… Russia is a totally strange place for me… Although I have been here for more than a week already, there are a lot of things that I still don’t know... Unable to speak in Russia is absolutely the biggest problem for me here… It has caused plenty of inconvenience and problem especially when wanna buy things and doing other stuff… People here never speak English also…Thus, so far the communication is really difficult…

Besides, I still can’t get used to the city where I stay now, Volgograd… I still not really know the ways to take public transport here and the roads here well… Public transport is very important for us to travel to either university or places to buy stuff… In addition, the weather during autumn is getting colder and colder… At first I felt the weather was enjoyable as the cool feeling was just similar as what we experienced at 4 seasons house in Bukit Cherakah… but when days go on, the weather has become worst… it’s quite suffering when walking outside recently, especially if there is a strong wind… It’s just in autumn and temperature is around 15 Celsius only… I wonder how much we have to suffer during winter where it will be until -30 Celsius… Anyway, I am grateful that I have the opportunity to experience four seasons…

Let’s talk bout my experience since I took the flight from KLIA…Our first flight was headed towards Frankfurt, Germany and it took about 12 hours…so long… the space of each seat in MAS flight was very limited…it made me felt not very comfortable when sit on the seat…But we able to enjoy great entertainment when in the plane…There was a screen in front of each of us and we can enjoy various kind of entertainment such as music, movies and games throughout the time in the air… Then, we had to wait for nearly 4 hours in Frankfurt airport for transit… We took the plane of Luftansa (Germany Company) to Moscow and it took around 4 hours… After staying in Moscow for 2 nights, we flied to Volgograd by Aeroflot which took nearly 2 hours and it was quite terrible…The plane was not very stable when in the air…

This was my first time to take such long journey flight and it was a great experience… Basically, the seat in each 3 flights didn’t have much space…while MAS service was considered the best…I think that can explain why MAS can emerge as top 3 service air company…

During in Moscow, we went to Embassy of Malaysia to attend a function… Besides, we had been brought to stay in a high-class Korston Hotel & Casino. The worst part was each of us had to pay 450USD for 2 nights in that hotel… It was really a shock to us as we need to pay such big amount for hotel only… Anyway, JPA officer in Russia, Encik Asman explained to us that it was safer if staying in a high class hotel and actually we had been paid 700USD for ‘Penempatan Fee’ by JPA, so it means we still earn a bit from that fee… But frankly, the hotel room was quite normal and almost the same as those in Malaysia…Ignoring that, the hotel has a casino and actually we as the hotel’s customers can go in freely…and inside the casino, it was a nice restaurant…We had our late night supper there for 2 nights as it had included in our hotel package… The environment and view of that restaurant were really very great…While the buffet in that late night supper was mainly comprised of western cuisine…

Moscow is really a very large city till it can have 4 airports there… The view of the city is very nice too… However, the living cost in Moscow is quite high too… Overall, I had an enjoyable and interesting time when in Moscow…

Ok…I stop here first…I will tell bout my hostel and university life in Volgograd State Medical University in the next post…


小启: 对不起怀璘，凯升，Derick，如晴，采缤，燕楣等等(我不清楚当天还有谁会出席)，真的很对不起。对于25号晚所发生的事，真的很抱歉。当天时间和交通上的问题并非我预计的。直到现在当我想到这事时，我仍觉得很歉疚和失望。也许，上天要我带着这次的失信出国，要我时时记得在国内的朋友吧，并提醒我回国时要与你们见面。所以，下次我回国时，一定会抽空到吉隆坡几天，以实现我之前的诺言，毕竟到时也许有更多现就读中六的朋友将会在那里了。