Monday 29 November: 5014руб
My alarm goes off at 6:00 am, and I energetically get out of bed. It’s raining cats and dogs outside, so I decide to run after work. I make myself some green tea, write some emails, and update my work plan. I also use this time to call my mom; she is also an early bird, just like me.
Zimbabwe is 1hr behind Moscow, so the time difference is not severe. I take a shower, eat breakfast at 9:30 am, I head out for work. My laboratory is in the centre of Moscow, and it takes me 90mins to commute.
For perspective, Moscow is built circularly, so the city is divided by four ring roads. The innermost ring, Boulevard Ring and the second ring, called the Garden ring, is Moscow’s very heart /centre. Inside this ring, we have the Kremlin, Red square and location Zero or Kilometre Zero (location from which distances are traditionally measured).
The Third Transport Ring (TTK) is a high-speed freeway, and the fourth ring is enclosed by the Moscow Automobile Ring Road (MKAD). MKAD marks the city’s border, so if you live outside MKAD, that region is referred to as Moscow Oblast. A lot of people commute to the centre using the suburban train to bypass traffic. The cost of the train is 26 руб.
I use public transport to my lab once I am in the centre, i.e. subway, tram, minibus, and autobus. I use my prepaid social card for public transport in the centre, and the average cost per trip is around 12 руб. I grab some coffee for 180 руб and arrive at my lab at 11:00 am. I immediately dive into my experiments and work diligently until 14:30.
I sit in my office for some administrative tasks and video lectures on Coursera. At 15:30, I head out for lunch at the local canteen. I ordered soup, grilled vegetables, pork shashlik, and a bottle of water, which cost me 360 руб. I finish my lunch then head to the lab.
I prepare samples for sequencing, work in the culture room and around 18:30; I am done. I do one final sweep of my email and to-do list before I head home. I leave the lab at 19:00. I am travelling for vacation on Wednesday 1 September, so I need to buy some pieces, and after work, I head out to the mall.
My bill for 2 pairs of pants and a summer hat is 4796 руб. After shopping, my boyfriend treats me to dinner, and I arrive home at 23:00hrs. I take a shower, brush my teeth, and at 01:00 am, I go to bed.
Tuesday 30 November: 6016 руб
Yayyy, last day of work before I travel for vacation. As usual. My alarm goes off at 06:00 am, but I am a bit tired, so I go back to bed for another hour. At 07:00 am, I wake up, shower, and at 07:30 am, I head out for work.
Because it’s quite early, traffic is light; I use the bus to go to the centre for 50 руб. My friend and I talked about our research, visa issues, and the impending status review during the bus ride. We part ways in the subway, and I arrive at the lab at 08:56 am. The average cost for the subway is 12 руб. I make myself a cup of black tea and check my mail.
Today I have one big experiment involving 32 samples, and it will take me around 4hrs to complete. At 14:00, I call it a day and head out to the mall. I need to buy some vacation supplies. I spent 5519 руб in the mall.
After shopping, I ordered an Uber for home, and it cost me 435 руб. Tomorrow I have a 06:10 am flight to Gelendjik, so I pack my bag, clean the house (I hate coming home to a dirty house!!!!). At 02:00 am, I get some sleep.
Wednesday 01 December 0.00 руб
My boyfriend wakes me at 04:00 am; he is a terrible insomniac, so he didn’t sleep at all. I dress the bed, shower, and we head out at 04:20 am. It is a 45-minute drive to the airport. Once we arrive, we check in our luggage and go through security etc.
Our plane takes off at 06:10 am on the dot. We arrived at Gelendjik airport at 08:34 am, and the hotel sent us a car to ferry us from the airport to the hotel. It’s a 1hr drive, and finally, we arrive at our destination at 10:00 am.
I unpack our luggage, shower then head out for lunch at 14:00hrs. In the restaurant, it’s an all you can eat buffet, and I take some soup, chicken, potatoes and fresh veggies, nothing too crazy haha.
After lunch, my boyfriend and I head out for the water park and chill there for a while. At 18:35, we head back to our hotel room and change into running gear. We jog along the beach for 45mins then have dinner. After dinner, I take a shower at 22:30, we both get some shut-eye.
Thursday 02 December 2021: 0.00 руб
Vacation day 1!!!!!!! I am soo excited, but the weather is dreary. It’s raining outside, and nobody is walking around the resort ( city of the dead, lol). Today I slept till07:00am. Then kill some time in bed waiting for my boyfriend to wake up.
We head out for breakfast at 9:30; then, after breakfast, I go to the gym. I do a 70min run on the treadmill, which also is my first 10km for the month. I enjoy doing Strava running/hiking challenges; I am a cardio junkie. After the gym, I take a shower, put on some makeup, and start exploring the city.
The first stop is a castle at the peak of one mountain close to our hotel. The view is breathtaking but walking uphill was no fun ( this is why I don’t do trail running). We explore the castle and all the territory around it.
Next, we walk around the city centre, checking out some local crafts, wines and street food. Around 21:00, we head back to the hotel, and I do some work on my computer till bedtime.
Friday 03 December 2021: 0.00 руб
My alarm goes off at 06:00 am, and I immediately take a shower. While waiting for my boyfriend to wake up, I go through my video lectures on Coursera. Eventually, he wakes around 09:00 am, and we go for breakfast.
Today it is bright and sunny outside, so we decided to spend the day tanning at the beach. After breakfast, I change into my bathing suit and pack my beach bag; we head out. We listen to some tunes, read and drink some cocktails.
I am petrified by open water swimming; I imagine that the waves will envelop me and ferry me far from the shore, but I am so tempted to swim in the sea. I settle for dipping my legs in the water ( compromise). The atmosphere around the beach is quite lively, so I am not bored.
We stay there till 14:00, then head back for lunch. Food in the south tastes so yummy. The flavours are vibrant, the fruits are juicy, and the veggies are so fresh, so please pardon me for stuffing my face!
After lunch, I take a siesta for an hour then head out for the swimming pool. I stay there till the sun sets, then check out the territory around the resort. We scheduled a couple’s massage for 20:00, so around 19:30, we headed back to our room and prepared to leave for the spa.
I don’t know about you, but Thai massage really hurts. The pulling, the pressure and all that stretching really left me exhausted. After the massage, I decided to binge-watch the office till I fell asleep.
Summary
This week my expenses were more because of the vacation. I sure did splurge on those vacation supplies but overall this is what my week of expenses look like. Cheers till next time my dears.
By Comfort Lulu.
