..Ranbaxy Afidil..

I have sore throat and a mild case of running nose for a couple of days now. It worsened today. Temperature was normal, good appetite, no headaches, I sense that when I exhale, the air was warm. Now the inside of my nose feel ticklish,which means that I will sneeze soon, which I don't really like. Well, they say that we make the worse patients, and I think there is some truth to that. I just hope by drinking lots of water, having a rest and taking the medicine prescribed by Abah will do the trick. I don't have fever, but I don't wanna go to that stage. The end of the semester is near and I can't afford to play catch up with my classmates.

Look at the handwriting. Thats what real doctors are all about eh :p

..the first of the Seven Sisters..

I woke up sort of early today. And suddenly I had the urge to go take pictures. I just wanted to take a walk really. So what are these Seven Sisters? They are Stalinist style skyscrapers with almost the same characteristics and specs, commissioned to be build by Joseph Stalin of course, who wanted the West to know that the Soviet Union means business, and have character.



So today I only went to one of it, the main building of the Moscow State University, the most prestigious university of Russia. When my parents came here last summer, me and my sister brought them here as it is one of Moscow's main attraction. I wanted to finish visiting all Seven Sisters today, but then realized that they were too far apart and it was kind of hard to finish them all in a day. It is possible, but today was not the day for me. It was a fun experience though. I walked all the way from behind the Red Square until I actually reached Metro Oktyabrskaya. I never knew it was that near! Anyway, enjoy the pictures taken by my modest little digicam :)

The library of the Moscow State University.

The underpass from the library to the main building of MSU.

The first of the Seven Sisters, the main building of the Moscow State University.

First stop of the day was Metro Universitet.

Exit of the underpass from the library.

The statue of the founder, Lomonosov.

Neo gothic and Stalinist style skyscraper.

Having a bit of a break at Beard Papa, with its awesome creampuffs.

Students roaming the compound.

High end restaurant with unusual exterior.

Low end snack and fast food ;)

A statue and its pet lion.

A couple was having their marriage pictured with what seem like a professional photographer.

Храм Христа Спасителя. Quite a marvelous architectural achievement.

Somehow I like this picture the most amongst others.

Taken from the bridge.

The Red October Chocolate Factory and the controversial and unpopular monument to Peter the Great.

Trying a Venice shot :p

Very nice weather for today.

Funky ass lamp.

What kind of movie is this? Only in Russia.

Lomo.

For those Disney enthusiasts.

From here, I started walking into the unknown, with pleasant surprises :)

Weird building. Of course a picture is a must!

Pancho David Villa.

Actually my main mission was to find a new table lamp, to cool down my laptop.

I like Ashan Gagarin a lot. Its clean, large and there's not too much people.

So I found Viet Cafe! :)

..Silver Medallists..

Moscow derby against M1.

Trying catch up with the M1 "mat motor" as I would call him.

Dinie gave away an unfortunate penalty.

Silver medalists.

Happy hour, qualifying into the finals.

With the band of supporters.

RSMU's Gattuso.

RSMU first eleven. Not according to jersey numbers.

Pretty awesome shot.

I mentioned in my earlier post about me playing with the university football team. Turns out I was selected for the Inter-varsity Games after all, and much more than that, I was selected as the first eleven. We had only our second training together to acclimatise ourselves with the field and a friendly game against MAI (Moscow Aviation Institute) and I must say, those MAI guys can pass the ball around with ease, and are much more comfortable with holding the ball. As for us, we were quite decent in the first half, but to the end of the second half, they scored 4 goals in what, about 5 minutes or so and thus they beat us 4-0. So you can understand our pessimistic goals for the coming games, so called Sechenov Intervarsity Games (SIG 2011).

We were the first to arrive, at about 8.00am or something, and it was a cold morning. But we were used to the weather and was sure our training was much worse than this. The badminton guys and ping pong were also playing at the same venue, so we had some supporters here and there. Then there the Raptorz boys who were cheering for their star player Shan, our friends Dol, Mok and the lads who came after their Sudeb cycle not that far from there, and others who I forgot to mention. A special thanks to them.

The team from Volgo was supposed to play first but since they weren't here yet, we had to play first, against strong favorites and home team, M1. The game was quite balanced, and we created better chances, but a slip from Aman was capitalized quickly by their nippy striker and he slotted the ball coolly past our reserve keeper, Dinesh. The game ended 1-0, but to be honest, we deserved at least 1 point. At that point, I was only thinking of getting through the day one game at a time, plus I was quite hungry.

Then my sister and Allysha came to support, together bringing with them energy drinks and some food, so it was really a morale booster, so thanks sis! :D Our second game was against Volgo, and I only knew 1 guy, Izwan Syafiq. The Volgo guys were stunned with Iqbal's quick thinking when he shoots from just around the D area, into the net. Its celebration time since it was our first goal of the day. Then came the tricky game against dark horses Kursk, who indeed uses black jerseys, which was intimidating. We though we could get 3 points against Kursk since they were just beaten by M1 some time before, but they stood their ground and we couldnt get past their defence, so 0-0 was the final score.

Our final group stage game was against the slick and quick passing team, MAI. I was nervous, and it was a tough time trying to keep myself strong against their winger, but mostly their attack just came from the middle and as always, the reliable pairing of Lavan and Azzam, and some help from Aman, helps soothing things around. Then we have our own Gattuso, Shazli who did the dirty work and stopped all their attacks. Shan and Iqbal controlled the midfield, while Vara by now was out injured until the end, with hamstring attacking him, gifting a place to Mizi, which was later proven crucial. It was still early in the second half, and we have ourselves a corner kick. I somehow thought, "lets give this a try" and just went up there on my own as they were only about 3 of our guys in the penalty area. Shan did an out-swinging corner and I just missed it by a bit but then Iqbal kicked or flicked back the rebound just before me, and I just couldn't miss an open goal, scoring with my head and screaming with delight. We settled ourselves and went away with a 1-0 scoreline, getting second in the table and with a semi-final against Kursk in our way.

I really though Kursk was going to be a tricky game, as surely they would have already know our tactics by now. But our midfield general Shan was not to be denied, as he scored a delightful long range shot from the middle of the pitch I reckon. It was a beaut. Then Shafiq finally opened his account for the day by scoring his characteristic long shot. He was there again in the second half as his delightful cross found the flying header of Mizi and the old man also got 1 goal for his memory.

3-0 was the final scoreline and we were delighted as the silver medal was surely ours, and it was a long and unpredictable journey to the final. Going into the final, we were only left with just a few of our players. Joining the injury list were Iqbal, Vara, Reez, Shafiq and others I dont remember. All I know was the defence was rock solid and lastly only Lavan went out with an injury. I was really proud with the lads but we were really tired and out of depth, and so we lost to M1 with a 3-0 scoreline which I think was kind of justice because really the M1 guys played better and they are damn fit. Thanks guys for getting me a medal which I really appreciate. I even have my own story to tell with my headed goal which sealed our passage into the semis.

The RSMU footbal team :

Goalkeepers : Dinie, Dinesh

Defenders : Mate, Aman, Lavan, Azam, Naqqib, Sam, Awi

Midfielders : Shazli, Shan, Reez, Che Pooh, Iqbal, Vara, Mizi

Forwards : Shafiq, K

..Playing in Winter..

Its April, and there's still snow. I'm tired of complaining about the weather, so I'll just let it slide. I like to think of it as God's judgement to all those rude and selfish Russians, who treats foreigners very badly.



I had a very bad day yesterday. Granted, it was fun playing with the uni team on a proper football field. I was shortlisted as one of the players, so I went to our first training in the cold. As we reached there, it just happens that it was raining. At first it was moderate, then all hell broke loose. Knowing that I would have no grip whatsoever if I just used my futsal shoes, I went with Dinie to buy new and proper football boots the day before, such was my excitement :D

So I bought these bad boys.

Not really my first choice or my cup of tea, but it was desperate times. Its quite cheap for Puma shoes, as I got a 50% discount. I was quite excited as it has been literally years since I wear proper football boots and play on a football field. The place where we played was very far from our hostel though. It takes about 1 hour by the metro to reach there.

This metro station is named after the Soviet guy who commissioned the killing of Russia's last imperial family.

It was fun playing there, but I personally think that I've let myself down. The boots were great, no doubt, its just that I haven't really settle myself when playing yesterday. I didn't make a single tackle. I managed to assist a goal, planted a header from a corner kick against the bar, but apart from that, I just missed so many balls. Misjudgement of the ball, out of position, although I was only out of position just because I wanted to help the guys, because I think they weren't really penetrative enough. Anyway, seeing other guys in my playing position doing rather well kind of dampens me. Alas, I want to do damn well when the next training comes, and by that time, I want to teach the wingers or attackers a lesson :)