Currently : Relaxing after a tiring lecture.Haha it’s friday evening!!I
luv weekends!
Currently listening to : IslamicFinder’s maghrib azan.baru msk waktu.
Current weather : Spring is in the air!12 deg celc and it is getting
warmer,sunnier and the daytime is getting longer.the wind is very pleasant,like
aircond.some flower and leaf buds have started to blossom already.
Even as far away as from Moscow,I do have the chance to read online Malaysian
newspapers,namely Utusan and B Harian.Baru2 ni mmg quite kecoh ngan masalah
junk food kat malaysia.The gov even tried to ban fast food ads on RTM,but
finally they decided to only avoid advertising fast food products during the
peak hours only.The target group is mainly children.
Yeah,I agree that malaysians dont practice good eating habits.dont just mention
western and local junk and fast food…just look at our traditional
dishes:oily,use a lot of santan and eggs,fatty.only the older ones avoid such
food.they love our traditional vege and herbs like ulam,but the younger ones
love fattening food.no wonder many of us are obese (haha im just a lil bit
overweight,but not obese,but i really regret it and feel miserable…lol)!!
However,Russians,in contrast,have really such a good eating habit.pushing aside racism,political and social problems here and skinheads,but as a student
living here for half a year already,i can hardly find a fat,overweight russian
youngster!!they are pretty good in shape,not to mention the girls.even the
ordinary female McD cashiers and underpaid nurses are eligible to become
supermodels,bcs of their good looks.the same thing goes to men.fat men can be
literally counted.
I think this is bcs of their rejection to fast and junk foods,and awareness to
keep themselves in good shapes.their traditional dishes (which i love so much!)
are pretty healthy and tasty too.one of my fav is borsch:a vegetable soup with
some beef,beetroot,cabbage and tomatoes,topped with sour cream,that i must
order everytime i visit the halal restaurants near my hostel and at the
campus.they view fast food like McD as "occasional meals" only,not a
routine meal.that is why mcD has only a few restaurants across this city of 10
million ppl.while junk food like instant noodle,mashed potato,potato chips are
also occasional,only as wut we malays call ‘alas perut’.
speaking about instant noodle and mashed potato,they are pretty popular among
malaysian students studying at our MEDICAL university,while the russian
students rarely consume them.those junk food at the kiosks are depleted by our
malaysian students (including me..huhu) so fast that by the middle of the
day,they can sell no more.


Left: ,,Роллтон лапша с креветочным вкусом" (Rollton instant noodle with
shrimp flavour)
Right: The popular ,,Роллтон Картофельное пьюре" (Rollton instant Mashed
Potato)

The kiosk where we usually buy these junk foods.
This kind of Russians that I see everyday.believe me they are even prettier than what u
see here!
How about me?haha before writing this blog i loved them,but
after these two incidents i started to realise that i am destroying myself.they
are:
- My physics lecturer,Prof
Alexandra Maksina reminded me that junk food is awful for health.
- Just this afternoon in the
hostel lift,i talked with my russian neighbour for the first time.she also
reminded me not to buy junk food anymore as they might be tasty,but it
will deplete my health.
Incident 1 : Prof Alexandra
Maksina’s advice

Picture: Prof Maksina giving a stressful physics lecture.
It was not a lecture,but was just a practical lesson,one fine October day.She
gave us a break,so we went our buying something to eat.at the end of the class
she found out that I bought ,,Роллтон Картофельное
пьюре" (Rollton instant Mashed Potato).
Prof Maksina: What is that you are eating?
Ilyas: Haha,just my instant
lunch,prof.It’s ,,Роллтон Картофельное пьюре" (Rollton instant Mashed
Potato).
Prof Maksina: That is your LUNCH?
Ilyas: Yeah.
Prof Maksina: Urgh.Don’t eat junk food.It’s awful for your health.
Then I just gave her a nod and bade her goodbye,as the class had ended.
Incident 2 : A Russian neighbour’s advice
It was a tiring Friday afternoon after Prof Maksina’s physics lecture today,so
I went to buy some snacks at the grocery shop downstairs.the snacks were
potato-based:,,Роллтон Картофельное пьюре" (Rollton instant Mashed Potato)
and ,,Картофельные котлеты" (Potato cutlets - traditional).When i was
paying for them,behind me stood a cute Russian girl (let’s name her Аня Anya)
who just looked at what i bought.
As i ran for the lift and the lift doors were about to close,the girl ran to
the lift where i was in and cried "Подождите!Подождите!"
(wait!wait!).She pressed 15th floor,where I stayed.It was in the lift we had
this first but meaningful conversation in simple Russian (English translation underlined):
Ilyas : Извини,но
ты наша соседка,да? "Izvinite,no ty nasha sosedka,da?" (Excuse
me,but aren’t you our neighbour?).
Аня : Да,наверное. "Da,navernoye" (yeah,certainly!).
Ilyas : Ты учишься в нашем университете со
своими соседами по дому? "Ty
uchish’sya v nashem universitete so svoimi sosedami po domu?" (Do you
study at our university with your housemates?).
Аня : Нет,не
с ними.Я учусь в другом институте. "Nyet,ni s nimi.Ya uchus v drugom
institute" (No,not with them.I study at another institute).
Ilyas : А
ты не работаешь? "A ty ne rabotaesh’?" (And you don’t work?)
Аня : Нет. "Nyet" (No).
Аня : Знаешь,что
плахая пища, которую ты купил в магазине вредит твоему здоровью?Может быть она
вкусная,но это тебе будет кашмар здоровья!Ты
медицинский студент должен знать это. "Znaesh‘,shto plakhaya pishcya,kotoruyu ty kupil v magazine vredit tvoemu zdorov‘yu?Mozhet byt‘ ona vkusnaya,no eto tebe budet kashmar zdorov‘ya!Ty meditsinskiy student dolzhen znat‘ eto." (Do you know
that the junk food you bought at the provision shop downstairs will harm
you?Maybe it is tasty,but you will experience a health nightmare!As a medic
student you should know that.)
I then realised that she was right!
Sodium/Potassium
Nitrate and Nitrite — chemical preservatives used in meats, cold cuts,
frankfurters, sausage, smoked meats and cured fish as a color fixative. These
are extremely toxic substances that destroy nutrients and vitamins. When
combined with protein (amino acids), they form powerful cancer-causing
substances: nitrosamines.
BHA/BHT — chemical preservatives and antioxidants used in beverages, gum, ice
cream, ices, candy, baked goods, gelatin desserts, soup bases, potatoes, dry breakfast
cereals, dry yeast and shortening. They can cause stress, liver and kidney
disorders and allergic reactions. They are possibly carcinogenic.
MSG (Monosodium glutamate) — use as a flavour enhancer in almost all processed
foods. "Accent" is pure MSG. This is the substance believed
responsible for the "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" consisting of chest
pain, headache, dizziness or numbness after a Chinese meal. It causes brain
damage in young rodents and other laboratory animals. It can also cause effects
in the reproductive systems and may be carcinogenic.
These are just a few of them!
Ilyas : Да,ты права,но я очень редко покупаю ее.Я ее кушаю только когда я голоден ночью и утром. "Da,ty prava,no ya ochen’ redko pokupayu yeyo.Ya yeyo kushayu tol’ko kogda ya goloden noch’yu i utrom" (Yes,you are right,but I seldom buy them.I eat them only when I feel hungry at night and in the morning).
As we arrived at the 15th floor,we walked to our rooms.On the way…
Аня : Ты откуда? "Ty otkuda?" (Where are you from?).
Ilyas : Из Малайзии.Мы все приехали из Малайзии. "Iz Malayzii.My vse priyekhali iz Malayzii" (From Malaysia.All of us here come from Malaysia)
Аня : Ну,рада тебя видеть!Пока! "Nu,rada tebya videt’!Poka!" (Well..it’s a pleasure to meet you.Bye!)
Ilyas : Я тоже.Пока! "Ya tozhe.Poka!" (Me too.Bye!)
Great!What a lecture from a girl I met the first time!haha.Since then I promised not to buy any junk food anymore,whenever not necessary.
However for some reasons we Malaysians practice better lifestyles compared to the Russians,of course.Despite the fact that they avoid eating junk foods,almost ALL of them smoke!!regardless they are men or women,young and old,rich or poor,almost everybody here smoke!if i am not mistaken,even that Anya who lectured me just now smokes.that is a horrible lifestyle.One funny case was regarding our bioorganic chemistry lecturer,Mrs Elizabetha Negrebetskaya.during the break between two parts of the lecture,she expected that students would not see her hiding behind the door smoking,but haha terkantoi.she’s a lecturer u know,smoking in the presence of students.not to mention the students here.there are a few non smoking areas within the univ,so they smoke everywhere,messing up the univ.crazy ppl…do they think they can last long by smoking?
another thing is their vodka ..Водка…their traditional liquor with the highest amount of alcohol!recently two of our Malaysian girls and a Russian guy was hit by a car driven by a drunk man in front of our university.that stupid man got out of the car and stupidly ran away leaving the car (would it be faster to run away with the car??haha).these three victims were just hospitalised.luckily the injury wasn’t that serious.see they are not just harming themselves…they are killing many others!
Well i guess…if that Anya thinks that I can slowly die by eating junk food,she should think that she will die even earlier if she smokes and drink vodka a lot.
THE END!!