This week’s definition: failure II

I am very sorry to have to disappoint you all once more, but the past week was as well everything but exciting. The only thing I can do is prove to you that my definition of “failure” is well worth a few pages in the encyclopaedia…

On Saturday me and Yves were relieved, because our week of bad luck had ended. So we decided to go to a big market 2 metro stations away. Coming out of the metro, one can choose between 2 different exits. One leads nowhere, one leads right onto the market place. Please take a wild guess which one these two smartasses chose… Indeed, the wrong one! So Yves made an appeal on his intelligence and came up with a plan; let’s just walk around the metro station to the other exit. And what do you know, we found another entrance. Unfortunately it was a different metro station... We had been walking long enough to reach the next metro station. So we came up with a new plan: we went inside, took the metro again and chose the right exit this time. Happy end??? Not really, considering the market had just closed… Yep, another week of failure was yet to come!

But nearby one kiosk was still open and I found some really nice, relatively cheap shoes. I decided I had to have some new once, seeing the reddies are no longer with us (God bless them, will you?!) and it had been so warm the past few weeks that I couldn’t wear my leather boots. But guess what… on Friday the temperature dropped with more than 10 degrees, yesterday it poured rain the entire day and by next week it will only be around 5 degrees. Well done Sarah!

Then, my trip to Vladimir on Sunday.





Getting up at 6, having to wait almost an hour because Russians like to keep others waiting, finding out the bus ride would take 3 hours, in stead of 1.5…what a nice beginning of the day. However, Vladimir was well worth the struggle. It is a very nice, old, small village. We visited a few museums, churches and cathedrals, walked around a while and saw some amazing buildings. So everyone was pleased and ready for the trip back home. And then, of course, all hell broke loose! Moscow is ever so famous for its long traffic jams and so we noticed. In stead of 3 hours in the bus, it took us almost 6.5 hours. Considering temperature reached almost 25 degrees that day and some youngsters at the back decided to drink vodka, get drunk, break the sound barrier and throw around some underwear in the bus, this was not all that pleasant…

On Tuesday we celebrated the 26th birthday of our dearest German friend.



We bought him some presents, cooked a delicious meal and threw a party (if we have to…). 18 people in 1 small room; very cosy, that’s for sure. Unfortunately I had to leave the party rather early, as I wasn’t feeling all that well. No mum, not because of the famous Russian beverage, but it turned out I was starting to get ill. Nothing all that bad; just a soar throat, headache and aching muscles. Yesterday I already started to feel better. It seems, though, the disease is spreading fast, because already 5 other friends of mine caught it. Also, that same night, my mother called in a great panic. She was watching the news and apparently there had been a major fire in one of the universities here in Moscow. They showed images of students jumping out of the windows and dying, but didn’t care to mention which university it was, leaving all parents worried, of course. The next day everyone here in Moscow was talking about this horrible event. It sets one thinking…

This week another one of our teachers from Belgian visited us here in Moscow. It was really nice to hear some of the latest news from our home country and school in Antwerp. Also, I noticed that my Russian is improving more than I thought. So I was very pleased to be able to tell her that I am really glad I came here and have no regrets whatsoever.

Right, so the rest of the week was rather boring. Lots of classes, things to be arranged, tasks, … On Friday, after the translation course, we met the students from the 5th year who are studying Dutch at the university. My first question: “Why the h*ll would you choose to study a language such as Dutch?”. Apparently, it was not their choice at all. Students here in Moscow have to study the language the State has chosen for them. I do pity them! Afterwards, I was told that I would finally receive my metro card. So, full of courage, I jumped on the metro and went to some office to go and get it. But no no, nothing can ever be that easy here in Russia. There I was told: “No, we can’t find it, try again next week”. No problem, only 1 month late... Long live Russian organization!

Yesterday me and 3 German/Russian girls went to the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Or so we thought we were… When we left, it started to pour rain, but determined as we were, we went straight on. Unfortunately, in the wrong direction (I know, it is starting to get funny). No problem, me and my new open shoes love to walk in the pouring rain without a purpose... Eventually we did find it but were then of course unable to get in, as this weekend there was some kind of world famous Channel Exhibition going on and the museum was overcrowded. Conclusion: “Go home and stay home, Sarah!”.


To forget all our Russian sorrows, me and the girls organised a small party @ours.


All went well until around 01.00am someone knocked on our door. And guess who it was; Russia's well-known security. We all turned pale at once, considering alcohol, smoking, noise, ...are all forbidden in the student's residence. We were in HUGE trouble! But, of course, Russians will always just stay Russian and so the guy sat down and had a drink with us. No need for millions, here in Russia one can buy anything and anyone with some fine vodka. In the end we had a wonderful time, but obviously have to pay the price for it today...