Sunset

The day started cloudy and kind of cold. The weather wasn’t great — around 22 degrees, with a cold wind hitting from time to time, which made it feel chillier than it actually was. Still, I didn’t cancel my plans to visit the last spots I had in mind from yesterday. Actually, I did the opposite — I started as early as possible and managed to finish everything before 6 PM.

Later, after dinner and on my way back to my accommodation, I kept walking around the streets of the district where I’d been staying all week. Funny enough, I had only properly stepped onto these streets yesterday. But today felt like the final walk — quiet, calm, just me wandering under the streetlights. There was something about the atmosphere that felt really unique, like one of those moments you know you’ll remember later.

Today ended up being a shopping day, so everything felt pretty calm, but also more expensive than I expected. Honestly, I hadn’t planned to spend that much money, but it all happened spontaneously, and I really wanted to keep updating my wardrobe. I ended up buying some essential clothes from brands that left Russia after February 2022, and since I can’t find them back home anymore, it felt like the right decision to get them now. Still, this led to another problem — how I’m going to bring everything back on the plane. I don’t have any checked luggage, and my backpack is already full and overweight, so now I have to figure out where to fit all these new clothes and somehow get them home without issues.

I got completely stuck on a task and didn’t manage to finish anything. This was already my third full day working on it, and I’m starting to feel a bit unsure about my situation with my team lead. He might ask me, “Where are your results?”, and although I do have some progress, I’m not confident in it. The task itself is quite specific and involves working with a Google API, which makes it more challenging. Honestly, it made me feel a bit down. Just yesterday, our CEO was talking about productivity, and today mine was extremely low. That didn’t make me feel good at all—if anything, it made me stressed and annoyed.

My day was quite busy. It was my last day in Moscow, but I decided not to attend the conference even though it was the final day. Instead, I slept until 9 AM and then started packing my things. The whole routine took around two hours and turned out to be a bit challenging. I had several presents with me, and it was difficult to pack them properly with the rest of my belongings. Because of that, my backpack ended up being overweight. Fortunately, nobody checked the weight at the airport, so everything went smoothly and I had no problems with it.

Today was the eighteenth day of Ramadan. My day was calm and peaceful. I spent the first half at home, completing some tasks. In the afternoon, I decided to drive around the neighborhood and take some sunset photos. The weather was harsh—-20°C with a freezing wind—but the sun was shining brightly all day. That sunshine was the main reason I went out; I couldn’t just stay at home watching it through the window. I wanted to feel the cold air and see how, even in early March, temperatures could still drop so low.

My trip started at 11:30 AM, after I successfully started my car engine. Before that, I spent about ten to fifteen minutes installing the car battery. The day before, I had brought it inside my house to keep it warm. Since I don’t have a battery charger, that was the maximum I could do. Fortunately, it worked: the engine started without any issues. Overall, these small actions paid off and made me happy, because I managed to leave on time and complete all my tasks.

I also want to share a few observations about the weather. While I was working on the car, the temperature was still around minus 26 degrees. However, the sun felt almost like a spring sun — bright and surprisingly warm. It didn’t bother me at all; on the contrary, I felt quite comfortable while tightening the battery terminals and other mechanisms.

Today I had a very scary dream and woke up at 3 AM. At that time, I felt a bit sick. I had a headache and was a little sweaty. At the same time, the temperature at home felt quite high. Because of that, I couldn’t fall asleep for some time. However, I had already started to feel the headache around 11 PM, and apparently it continued until 3 AM. I’m sure of that.

In the morning, when I woke up, I felt 100% healthy. I didn’t have a headache anymore and I wasn’t sweating; I felt comfortable. So I did my morning routine and went to the village. There, I had some tasks to do with my uncle. I had also promised to show what I bought yesterday, but I decided not to show everything. It was just some plumbing tools. I delivered them and explained everything to my uncle. After that, he will be able to install them himself.

Yesterday I mentioned the New Year event from my previous workplace. Today I was informed about the exact time it would take place, but unfortunately it turned out to be inconvenient for me. The event is scheduled for December 24, after the working day, so I decided not to participate. However, they also changed the venue. Initially, they planned to hold it in a restaurant, but in the end they rented a house. Honestly, the house would have been more convenient for me. In a house, there are fewer chances of meeting a tamada or a similar host. In addition, while I was working there, I had already participated in events held in rented houses, so I can say that I had positive experiences without any worries.

Today I was supposed to start rinsing my mouth with chlorhexidine 0.05% because my dentist wrote about it in the prescription. However, when I tried it, I noticed that the operated area started to ache a little. I also noticed that my swelling seemed to increase slightly. I’m not completely sure about this, and I have some doubts — maybe it was just my imagination or it happened spontaneously. So I decided not to use chlorhexidine for a few days to observe the situation. If everything is fine over the next few days, I will try it again. If something happens, I plan to discuss it with my dentist.

In the prescription, the dentist wrote that I should use it three times after meals. The first time I used it after lunch, the second time around 3 PM, and the third time I planned to use it after dinner, which is my last meal of the day. However, I skipped the last time and didn’t use it. Now the operated area doesn’t hurt. Even this morning and during the first part of the day, I felt that the swelling was smaller than yesterday or had even disappeared. I also stopped taking antibiotics — today was the last day.

It was the last day of my weekend, and I spent it as productively as possible. Yesterday I went to bed around 12 a.m., then I woke up at 3 a.m., and in the morning I woke up again at 9 a.m. In total, I slept 9 hours and 30 minutes. It’s my new record here. I don’t remember sleeping that long since I arrived in Russia. Yesterday night I started to feel a headache. I thought it might be because of a fever, but fortunately, in the morning I felt good. During the day, I also felt fine, even though I went for a walk at –15 degrees. Today the temperature was very low, and it felt like –20 to –25 degrees, according to my relatives. However, when I went for a walk, I felt cold, but I can’t say it was extremely cold. It was fresh, walkable winter weather. Even my car engine started without any problems, although the battery is already old and a bit discharged.

Yesterday I wrote about the snow, but today everything was wet and dirty. Around midnight, everything started to melt. I realized it when I went to bed and looked through the window. It was around 1 AM, maybe 1:30 AM. At that time, drops started to fall from the roof, and puddles began to appear on the roads. In the morning everything had melted, and all the white blanket had disappeared. Now the weather outside is +9 degrees, but fortunately, it didn’t rain, even though the whole day was cloudy.

I slept until 10 AM because I went to bed very late, around 1 AM. Because yesterday I had a busy day, as I mentioned before. When I woke up, I spent another 30 minutes lying in bed and reading Reddit, so it was already 10:30 AM by the time I got up. After finishing my morning routine, lunch was already ready, so I skipped breakfast and started my day with lunch. For lunch, I had something very similar to manty — I couldn’t remember the name and didn’t take a picture. I always try to photograph my unique meals for my blog, but I always forget. It was something rolled, filled with a mixture of meat, potatoes, and onions inside.