Dear December.

November faces.

So, November 2014 is going to an end in less than an hour.

November so far...been treating me okay.

In the first week of November, Russia had a four day-offs for Unity Day celebrations which I managed to go to Sochi for a quick getaway. Everything happened with no advance preparations whatsoever (I heard the best adventures are the ones unplanned!). So there I was with this Man, found ourself taking the night bus ride to Sochi from Krasnodar. Those who haven't heard about Sochi, Sochi is a city in Krasnodarski Krai, located on the Black Sea and was the host city for the past Winter Olympic Games 2014 thus makes the city more developed than Krasnodar itself, probably more than most Russian cities are.

So we arrived in Sochi the next day in the early morning. It was my second time in Sochi actually. Sochi welcomed us with a light rain, the weather wasn't so great. My back was hurt from sitting in the same position too long but anyway I was happy as I could be. We headed straight to the hotel in Krasnaya Pollyanna. The hotel where we stayed in was quite nice and cozy, with a friendly receptionist, nice bathroom and a balcony with a mountain view. I guess there was almost no one staying in the hotel beside us and that's exactly what I was hoping for. So I could rest my weary mind for a bit. I could hear nothing but morning birds singing. Short after a check-in, we spent a couple hours in the hotel room for a rest (seriously, we were so tired that we came so far just for sleeping.). 

After a heartbreaking moment of parting with my bed, in the late afternoon, we crawled outside to explore. We went to the Olympic Stadium, the new-built F1 circuit, had a greek meal on our way there, walked down the long road, took the wrong bus, got lost, blamed each other for that, had our way back in, and made fun of each other too. Night finally came, we were sitting on a bench in the Olympic arena, trying to make each other feels warm while watching the dancing fountain played Swan Lake.

There are usually no buses operating later than 10 at night, hence on 8.30pm we had to rush back to the hotel. We waited at the bus stop for half an hour, no sign of bus coming... We waited for another half an hour, but still...a big fat zero. Night got darker and colder. I could clearly see his worry drawn in his face but he still managed to convince me not to worry and told me the bus was coming in just a minute.

"Are you cold?" he asked.

"No..."

"Okay, hold on. The bus is coming soon."

"Okay, don't worry."

*10 minutes later*

"Are you cold?" again he asked.

"No, I said I'm not. You look cold." I replied, emphasised the 'you' word.

"No I'm not, don't worry the bus is coming in 5 minutes."

"That's fine."

*10 minutes later*

"Are you cooooold?" now I was the one who asked, with a tone he always find annoying.

"Noooo, I'm not!" then he wrapped his arm around my head. Cold.

That was funny because frankly I didn't even care about not getting a bus at all. We could just call and get in a cab, no? Haha. I didn't even mind staying in the airport which is located not so far from us until dawn. So yes people, it's true, travelling reveals the other side of a person you have no idea about before. But God told me the other way, God's been always so good to me He didn't want me to sleep in the airport nor wanted me to drain my money to pay for an overpriced night-cab, so the long-awaited bus showed up and I visualised a halo above as it was coming to us. It took us about 40-50 minutes on the bus before we finally landed safe and sound in the hotel room with a heap of crackers, croissants, biscuits and chips bought earlier. I changed my clothes and prepared myself for bed, we still had time watching Annabelle just a moment before sleep which turned out lame, I mean, that Annabelle movie is lame -_- 

I woke up earlier than I've planned in the morning with a horrendous cough. Anyway, time flies when you're having fun, we needed to take the first train in the morning back to Krasnodar, half-hearted. Thank God this time we took the train not the bus, the spacious four full flat-beds in each compartment, no more backache, no more curling the shit out of our body to get the comfiest position possible hehe. Here's a goodbye to Sochi, I left a pieces of my heart with you.

No, it's until I see you again.

***

Back to Krasnodar means back to reality. To which it feels like nightmare.

This semester things got more difficult than ever before. I've been so overwhelmed by tasks, essays, tests and so on. Noon-to-late-evening classes in every-single-day makes it even harder. The lecturers are also not so forgiving. Now reading a book in my spare time feels like a luxury. Baking a cake in an 'improper time' feels like cheating. Strolling around the city aimlessly feels like a time wasted. Every damn second I need to keep remind myself of things I need to get done. And I notice I turned out sour and cranky lately, no longer an easy-to-please me. That feels so wrong, at the same time I think there can be no progress or achievement without sacrifice.

Anyway, a couple days ago when I just came from my class at night, I passed by the table where usually all mails and letters that come to my dormitory are collected on. Knowing I'm not expecting any mails from anyone, I usually don't pay much attention, BUT this time my eyes were stumbled on a cute postcard with a chibi version of Conan Edogawa on it. That time I thought, "Holy crap what a cutie, I'd like to know whom this cute postcard was sent to." I grabbed and turned it upside down to see what's written on it. And as you could guess, yes MY NAME IS WRITTEN ON IT. I blinked my eyes. No way. I got so ecstatic that I smiled like a little idiot. That postcard is from Nabila, who was doing her internship in Singapore. It enlightened up my bitter day in a very second.

P.s: Nab, I don't know what to say, but if you happen to read this post, I just want you to know that I thank you and owe you everything. I know it's too sweet for you to handle and you might vomit. But I don't care. We may not talk to each other frequently, but it doesn't make me love you less. Whatever you're doing, I hope you're doing good.


And oh, I don't want to stay in this November for any longer. But I can't say I'm so ready for December. December happens to be both my favourite and least favourite month of the year. It's the birthday month of my two moms. But it's also when my exams season started. It's usually when the first snow falling in Krasnodar. But it's also the moment when I likely catch a flu. It's the month when people are busy putting up their christmas trees. But it's also a month when I mostly consumed by my thoughts and feel lost in it. It's gloomy and gleaming at the same time. Let's hope this December brings more joy than sorrow.