Life in Moscow #1: A New Beginning

It was 4 o’clock in the afternoon (which is 8 o’clock in Malaysia) when we arrived at the Moscow Domodedovo Airport. The journey from KLIA to Moscow took us almost a whole day. The airline we chose was Royal Jordanian, the government-owned flag carrier of Jordan. The seats inside the airplane weren’t that comfortable and spacious, so I had a hard time falling asleep during the flight. However, the number of meals they serve was rather incredible. The air-stewardess never gave us any chance to have empty stomachs – they serve us 5 meals within 24 hours! So, if you ever had the chance to fly with the Royal Jordanian, don’t be surprised when you find yourself gaining a few extra pounds after coming out of the airplane. J

Our guide and Russian Language teacher, Ms Ayuna led us to the baggage claim where we got back our luggage once we got through the airport immigration. She left shortly after the employees from Sub Medic had arrived. Then, we took a bus and reached our hostel in Pushkin after an hour. A short briefing was given by Dr Pal, an assistant of Dr Farid(who is the ‘big boss’ of Sub Medic) to us. After that, Dr Pal passed us our room keys; my room was on the 12^th floor. My housemates Tzong Yew, Kien Peng, Jonathan, Junson and I carried our luggage to our unit.

Our unit had 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. The first bedroom can fit in 3 persons while the other can fit in 2 persons. My roommate Junson and I chose the twin sharing room just like we had agreed back when we were still in college. Our room was quite dusty and the condition of the furniture weren’t good. Furthermore, the size of this twin sharing room was really small. It was a few times smaller than my bedroom at home. To be honest, I was a bit pissed off when I first got in and saw the room. But, hey, what can I do? I’m already here, in Moscow, and there is no turning back. I had a look at the other room. It was much bigger than our room and it made me thought that I had made the wrong decision. Hmmph… What’s done is done. They might have a bigger room, but we have more privacy!

15 minutes later, we returned to the lobby to gather with the seniors from our university. I met Catherine, my ‘mentor’, and she’s supposed to take care of me, her ‘mentee’. So, I got a sim-card from her, withdrawed some money from the ATM machine, topped up my phone and called back home. Later, the seniors brought us and the other 1^st years to a restaurant and we had our dinner there. Just like I had expected, the Russians couldn’t speak English. So, Catherine helped us to make orders as we could barely speak Russian. We went back to the hostel after having dinner.

The weather here in Moscow was cold. 16 to 17 degree celcius currently, much colder than the weather in Klang. Everything in Moscow was so new to me. The people, the language, the weather, the architecture and so much more. Now it’s about time I experienced something new, something very different from what I had seen or felt or tasted in Malaysia. This would be the beginning for something new, something distinct. This would be a new beginning.  =)