my first full day at home

19th june 2009- i survived my first full day at home...im adapting to the life at home..probably its just fated so that i will appreciate my home more than i should :) im trying to take things positively, no point throwing tantrums or mourn over it anymore. no matter i like it or not, i just have to stay at home till 23rd june 2009. hence, i think i will put on more weight as im hunting for food like my nature of a mouse..keke..so, dont shock to see me like a hot air balloon..to my dear friends, hope to meet up with u all after this period..just hope my flu symptoms will go away..the weather is FREAKING hot..

14-18th june..beginning of my nitemare...

14th-18th june 2009- the activity on sunday was cancelled, so basically we were doing out last minute pack up and cleaning the hostel we had been staying for the past month. i couldnt sleep that night or i just had my short deep slight of 4 hours and woke up around 4am. i tried to get back to sleep but ended up tossing around the next two hours before i decided to wake up and surf the internet. around 8am, we started washing the blankets and bedsheets and just lingered around in the living room. around 10.15am, we went over to shi
gu's house to eat the specially cooked red bean plus a few other wheats with milk for breakfast. it's quite speacial as this is the first time i ate this but it reminded me of the black glutinous dessert(bee koh muai) we usually have back at home. after the breakfast at shi gu's place we went back to the hostel and did our final packing. i went down to tapao my favourite 'kala chicken burger' for my last lunch in hualien. its just so yummy and i definitely gonna miss it...

around 3.00pm, we departed to taoyuan by train. 8 of them got down in taipei while the remaining 5 of us got down at taoyuan. there were some miscommunication as the shi bo in taoyuan didnt expect us to reach until the following evening. everyone were basically saying the same thing when we were there and they kinda 'blamed' us for changing the flight earlier. we had hard time convincing them we didnt..sigh..really dont know which part
went wrong.. by the time we reached taoyuan's jing si tang, it was already 7pm plus. we were very fortunate and thankful to the shi gu who warmed up the dinner for us..really gan en oo..after dinner we waited for yu shen's aunty to reach and only managed to talk to her for a while. we headed up to bed after that but thank goodness that we managed to get the password for the wireless connection..so, managed to update the rest of our whereabouts.

the next morning, we had breakfast at 6.30am before attending the morning dharma sharing by master cheng yen. after the meeting, we headed back to our resting room and surfed the net or took short naps in between as we were actually quite tired. i didnt manage to sleep the whole night and was basically scratching like mad as i was bitten by some bugs and mosquitoes.. at around 11am, we went down for lunch and by 11.30am, we went over to the airport as our flight to manila was at 1.55pm. after checking in, we gave the shi bo(s) and shi gu(s) the gan en cards and some souvenirs from sabah. they were so happy to receive it as it was really unexpected...

we landed on manila international airport (it is actually has a special name, nang oi or something close to it) at around 4.pm..after taking our luggages we walked out and were greeted by two of the shi gu(s) whom we had met during our first trip there and another new shi gu..they were so happy to see us, so am i..i felt so so so much at home in manila probably coz they speak more english here with hokkien, not so lost in taiwan :) we stopped by at a famous cake shop on the way and shi gu treated us the most expensive cake there, a super richly coated chocolate cake.i felt so so happy and blessed. fam and i even had our
cups of coffee for the day..hehe..and fanjiet was also lucky to be treated with the famous halo-halo as he didnt eat the first time coz he was having flu and cough that time..after that we continued our journey but the traffic was REALLY SUPER bad that we actually stuck in the jam for around 1 hour plus and its time for dinner..most of us were actually quite nauseated with the bad traffic and the driving was terrible, with the sudden jerk here and there..shi gu(s) brought us to a vege restaurant and they ordered so many dishes; fried rice, a type of vege (something like lo sun), herbal vege soup, fried banana, fried seaweed(fake
squid), some fried vege wrapped with big seaweed and fried fake 'kidney'..it was very delicious and we were very full up to our esophagus levels..really really gan en..

after dinner, we had a sharing and discussion session with the manila tzu qing. it was a nice experience meeting them and they really opened up to us on their obstacles and asked our opinions on ways we could guide them.of course, fam said all the things with some of us chipping in here and there. really happy to be able to know them and its even more touching to hear that many of them have been with tzu chi for so many years ranging from 3-10 years while we are actually so junior with only one year of experience. in short, its a beneficial
learning and sharing session with the other tzu qing...

the next day, we had breakfast at 7am. it was a nice breakfast of sandwiches, cakes and fruits. its my first time eating smashed mushroom sandwich. its cold inside but its nice..keke..yumyum. had my morning coffee, if not, my head would be banging the whole day. after coffee, we went over to the free dental mobile clinic. we didnt do much, but helping around to take blood pressure, temparature and some of them were lucky to assist the dentists. it was a nice experience to be able to be there. we can see that the dentists are
very compassionate and dedicated to their work despite the rain and the lack of facilities. i really admired the dentists for setting up the equipments and arranging the things around them without any fuss or instructing others to do this and that. it showed how humble and modest they are and not showing that they are one level over the rest...oo..ya..forget the important part. i was interviewed by the tzu chi media team..keke..it was embarassing, first
time talking in front of the video recorder in front of me and i hope i didnt do any blunders..oopsie.. unfortunately, i cant view the video sent over via email to me..hmm, just too bad i guess.. anyhow, it was nice meeting uncle willy, paolo and the rest who were very friendly to us..thanx for giving us the opportunity...
after lunch, we headed back to jing si tang. we were pretty exhausted and rested until almost time when shi gu came up and called us down. before departing, we went to the kitchen to take our dinner box and still had the time to eat a piece of freshly steamed hot 'chai kuih'..keke..really love all the shi gu for all their efforts and love for doing and preparing so many things for us..even in the van, on the way to the airport, we were eating a big bowl of hot halo-halo, something like bo bo cha cha but without the santan. it was yummy, i love it..and we were each given a vege bread and 5 packets of dried mango to bring back..so so
so touching.. words really cant describe how thankful i am to them for all the hospatility, the care, the love..all these touched me so deeply inside and made me felt so at home. it reminded me of wat my parents wil do each time when im flying back to sabah, the loads and loads of food and stuff...i love all of the shi gu(s) in manila..hugsssssssssssss

we touched down on lcct around 1am on 17th june 2009. we were all so glad to be back in malaysia...we passed the health screening test in lcct. we went separate ways after taking our luggages. the other four were picked up by their family members while i went over to mcd to rest and waited for my flight to penang at 7am. i talked to my parents for more than 1 hour and then read my book before using my laptop to play some games..i survived the 6hours in lcct alone..yeah... its nothing to me ler, so used with the travelling alone kinda
thing.. but by the time i boarded the plane, i was already drowsy, coz didnt sleep for so many hours and so tired with everything. i dozed off for some time though the flight was only 45-50 minutes.. when the flight landed on penang international airport, i was so much alive. all the tiredness suddenly disappear. after taking my luggage, i pushed the cart out and mum was already waiting for me there and saw dad nearby in the car..so glad to be home..we went for breakfast before going back home..i love my home so much... the feeling
is so unbelievable...after unpacked all my things, its time to start my story telling session with my mum..keke.. certain things cant be shared with dad (winks)..after lunch, i talked to mum till i dozed off. the tired effect finally struck back.. we went out for dinner at a new kopitiam that i havent been before. ate so much..keke...after dinner, dad drove me around town as we were planning for the trip for aldrin and aaron plus fam who will be coming on
saturday...there were new 'happening' places that i didnt even know. what more, i havent even been to the new wing of gurney plaza...gosh...

18th june 2009- after taking mum to the hosp for her biweekly BP monitoring, we went over to pg's jing si tang as i brought back 2 parcels from taiwan to be given to the people there. i had no idea whom should i pass this to, so i just gave to one of the shi gu and left..was a bit clumsy here and there, so i didnt even 'wenshin' when i was there..opppsieeeeee... after breakfast at the market, went to tesco with mum.. its a MUST go place everytime im back..simply love the shopping spree there...keke..as usual, brought some food back..hehe.. but this time a bit 'guai' ady, trying to avoid all the junk food as i had put on
weight in taiwan..(keke..the real thing is, i saw a lot of junk at home ady..keke)..we had lunch at mcd and tapao one set for dad..went back to home after that...and while i was dozing, there was a phone call from my house...i was a bit irritated coz i just received a call from one idiotic mandarin speaking lady who hung up.. i was about to prepare to 'scold' if its the same person but thats when my nightmare started.. the person was calling from lcct or hosp, confirming my address and asked if i was just back from overseas. he said he would call back if there's anything..so, the anxiety and panicky feelings started to accumulate in me and the time when the house phone rang again, i knew my nightmare would be starting..(i was feeling something not right the previous night but i just couldnt tell what..so i guess i got my answer) the other person was confirming my travel history and my whereabouts the past two days..i couldnt stand it anymore and asked them why..so thats when they broke the news..the new 26th H1N1 case was on the same flight with us, the
flight from manila to lcct..they didnt knew the exact person but i received the news this morning from my fren that the person was the philipino guy sitting our front row!!! goodness... thank god we were wearing masks since from hualien. so the officer who came yesterday already knew what 'conversation' i had with his colleague. i was 'bargaining' at that time as i really cant accept the fact of being issued the home quarantine for one week...arh... all the plans and stuff, i really felt so bad for aldrin who will be arriving from bangkok on sat..it took me some time to get back to reality..sigh..what more when im also in
the medical line and knew about the incubation period, the transmission period and stuff..sigh sigh sigh..really felt so miserable..was given the conventional thermometer and face masks. i even have the guts to tell the officer the masks dont help actually and was requesting for the N95 eh..keke..i know im very cheeky..i have the N95 mask actually..keke.. the officer told me he will go back and tell his doctor..keke.. neway, i was made to sign the agreement of home quarantine and if i ever break the rules, i can be charged..sigh..so, have to guai guai lah.. an officer will be coming to my house daily to take
my temparature. they dont want to tell me a fix time as they fear i will be escaping from home before or after they are here...sigh..guess, things happen for a reason.. better start doing my reports..so i can get a full holiday after this quarantine period.. im room quarantining myself and wearing mask at home..i dont wana harm my parents..bro was laughing all the way in puchong..purposely 'perli' me and said hope the new car wil come
during this period so the whole family can go out and leave me alone in the house,,huhu..so bad so bad.. hope things will be allrite to all of us..GOD please bless us all...

yippie...my hualien trip is quite fulfilled

11 june 2009 - it was a nice outing today..YES.. i went over to
the Fragogry ocean park as planned though i wished we didnt
have the meeting at 11am. kinda destroyed the plan a bit but
thank God we managed to make the best of it with the limited
time available and the weather that was not very encouraging.
we had lunch at the curry house first and i really like the
curry there, which i think was the best in hualien or maybe
taiwan..the business was good. after that, we(myself,siow hui,
soo fei and bf) went over to the ocean park. it was soo fei's
second time and i think her bf is more excited than us or he's
just trying to create a happy and enjoyable
atmosphere..hehe..we managed to watch the sea lion, dolphin
and another something like an acrobat's show which is very
nice even though the beginning was a bit boring. the show
included some funny or humorous scenes here and there,
indian dances, modern dances, sommersaults, and a few other
things i dont know the correct terms for it..we cant take
photos during the show, something like copy rights thingy..so
we basically just enjoyed it..after the show, we were rushing
for the rides as its almost closing time. we managed to take 3,
2 rounds of mini roller coaster, the bumper boat ride and the
last was the boat which could swing up to 90 degrees..yeah..it
was screaming session for me as i just wana release the pain
and stress in me..i felt so much better and enjoyed maximum
of today's outing..thanx to soo fei's bf also for encouraging
me..hehe..and ya thanx to him for borrowing me the money
only to almost finishing it again today..haha...so..i better be a
goody goody girl ady..till then..wil be last day in hospital
tomorrow..

moody??

9th june 2009 - today is the second day of the last posting..

we didnt do much today except attending the morning grand

meeting which talked on hematopoietic stem cells. i could stil

understand some of it thou. after that we thought there

would be a bedside teaching but unfortunately the class was

some sort of cancelled as the patient was kinda ill..so, we

went back after that since evening class was cancelled as

well.

somehow, my mood these few days isnt that nice, i dont know

why but i seem to get agitated and irritated easily, thats why

im 'hiding' myself in the room with my music on most of the

time during the nights as i couldnt take the 'extra noises' in

the living room..all these weeks i learnt so much of ppl's

attitude. i guess it was the long term patience that is keeping

me sane, if not i would have blasted a few times.. it annoyed

me when some tried to say that im 'scolding' someone when im

just barely talking or reminding the person. wait till when i

really scold them only they will know what 'SCOLD' actually

means. i just cant understand why some have the habit of

'adding fire and oil' or just wana make ppl hating each

other..what benefits do they get? popularity? sigh..its another

wonder of human nature...

first day of the last week...

8th june 2009- today is the first day in the last department
for my elective posting. we chose hepatobiliary/
gastrointestinal department as it was considered to be one of
the recommended departments in this hospital.. we were bit
late when reporting as they had started the morning meeting..
we were then briefed of the department and separated into 2
teams. there are 3 other clerks beside us. the clerk who
teamed up with us is actually kind enough to guide us and
discussed with us on the cases assigned to us. we didnt do
much today except to clerk the patients, did some physical
examination and then check the case notes. i guess the clerks
and even interns here refer the case notes before they see
the patients, which is something not very recommended. the
specialist also knew of our 70% diagnosis from history and
physical examination..hehe..of course ler, where got every
patient send for CTscan?? the specialists will stare at u eh..
neway, learnt a few things today.. the HAIC, TACE, RFA,
ablation therapy etc etc. they really have those technologies
or maybe its just us who is lack of technologies...the not so
nice moment when the specialist broke the 'bad news' to the
relatives of a patient who is diagnosed with hepatocellular
carcinoma with metastasize.its really disheartening to see
them 'shook' their heads as if they knew the prognosis wont
be that good no matter how well the treatment goes..my
prayers to the family..any how, everyday is a learning
process..so..just see how i cope for the last week...gambateh

i need a peaceful mind

7th june 2009... another 10 more days before i reach home and i know it sounds stupid but im REALLY missing everything back home...i really am not adapting well, i guess i have the answer but i just have to bear with it..my max level of threshold for noise is reaching its peak..its really getting on my nerves..i just dont see why ppl need to shout or scream when they talk.. dont they realise that the amount of volume they are contributing is disturbing others??? when others complaint about it, they dont even realised the suffering others have to go through everyday...sigh..just wish these ppl will wake up one day.. i have my share of lessons this trip and i wont eloborate more..its just lessons that make me stronger and ya..i shud thank them for it... i cant wait to go back home..i need the peace and rest of mind.. the language barrier is not helping either..i feel so handicap but i do thank those who have been helping me so much... jus hope i didnt trouble them that much...till then...

one day trip..yeah...

6th june 2009 - happy birthday to my foster brother who is
in Laos for his birthday..neway, i had my own share of fun for
the day as well..6 of us, may feng (the main organiser of the
trip), may hou, amy, xiaopek, joan and myself, started our one
day trip as early as 7.30am.. we were ready at about 7.15am
and decided to stop by at our favourite breakfast shop to
order some sandwiches to fill our empty stomachs. i still love
the 'kala chicken' burger as the meat is marvolous, just nice,
not overly fried. while we were waiting for the sanwiches, the
taxi driver called..so we basically rushed the poor aunty for
our breakfast and rushed of after paying..yippie, get to sit on
the 'toyota wish'..our first stop was at the lake (.i dont know
most of the places' names as they are in mandarin..so those
who knows how to read mandarin, can view my photos in FB
which will be loaded soon) we got into the boat for 6person
and all of us had the chance to paddle(it cost 150NT per
person, more expensive than we expected)...its a tiring task
just trying to get to the opposite side of the lake but we had
our own share of fun though..the scenery is just splendid... u
just have to come and see it with your own eyes (and i wil be
repeating this phrase many many times along this blog)... the
water in the lake is clear that we could see the base and since
it was also the venue for the dragon boat festival last week,
we could see some 'zong zi' floating around..after 1 hour of
paddling, our knees were really screaming for some rest. we
bought the famous papaya milk blended drink(50NT per cup)
but it wasnt as nice as expected.too little papaya and too
much milk..after that, we continued our journey but stopped
on the way to get some special sugar cane blended ice or
something and u are allowed to have 2 toppings. the original
ice itself is nice as the toppings covered the original taste..but
it is still something special and recommended. one bowl cost
NT50 as well. our next stop was at the park or garden which
is so huge and consists of cow farm, orchard, mini zoo etc
etc.the entrance fee is abit high, 350NT per person.we rented
the car(something like those golf kinda car) for 500NTand a
2person tricycle for NT200..we had some fun and crazy time
over there especially when we were rushing like mad as 2
hours really passed by too fast and we still had lots of places
to go.we snapped quite some photo but it was too hard to
cover every corner of the place.my body is aching real bad as
myself and may feng were helping to pull the tricycle with
xiao pek and joan on it while may hou was stepping at the
accelarator. we were using the help of the 'golf car' to help
pull the tricycle as it is impossible for them to cycle that far
journey in 5 minutes time...at one moment i thought my back
bone was going to snap as my position wasnt that
proper..thank god we were allrite..
after that, we went to some historical place..i really cant get
the name (i will bug my frens for the names of all the
places..give me some time.)..it was a short trip but we were so
impressed by the word carvings or sculpture done by the
people...it needs a lot of hardwork, patience and of course
skills to produce such beautiful pieces of work. too bad we
werent allowed to take photos of the carvings..so..just have to
come and see it urself..i had a good time eating the taiwan
sosej thou..oopsie...then, we stopped by at some place for
lunch, i know its a famous place as well..we ordered some
'traditional' kinda food..its pretty costy as our lunch came up
to 1300NT with only 5 dishes;1 meat, 1 fish and 3 vege dishes
and the special 'purple rice'(which consists of multiple
grains).. after lunch, we stopped by at the place which is so
famous for ice cream. we ordered 2 types, one tasted like
ribena and the other is made from 'brandy'..nice nice..
then, we continued our journey..on the way we saw a lot of
interesting view, and we were shown the prison from a
distance..it doesnt look like a prison but more like a nice
building of shopping complex...impressive..and the older prison
we passed by also look like a building for school, and they
dont need all those 'big grossy wires' in their fencing..guess,
their security is better in a way.. the sceneries along the way
was marvellous.. we had a short stops after that as we were
pratically rushing for time as the taxi fare would be
depending on the extra hours we spent... i really couldnt
express the contented feeling of seeing those views we
stopped by as its beyond words..we had our ''ooo and ahhs' all
along the way...one of the best was the cliff like thingy in
which it reminded us of the simpang mengayau in kudat sabah..
ya, its just so so special..before the trip came to an end, we
stopped by at the famous food stall selling some 'roti canai'
thingy with half cooked egg in it..its super nice..yummy..
so my conclusion for this trip was enjoyable thou it burnt a
big hole in my pocket as the total came to 2000NT..ya,i am
damn broke as i didnt prepare money for outing, tot 10K NT
is more than enough, mana tau its not enough.. din realise
things are expensive here...so..have to bermaggi ady this last
week and guai guai cannot go out liao..i still have lots of things
to buy back...sorry my dear frens, i not enough money to get
gifts for u all ady...till then..last week ady....

last day of 3rd department...

5th june 2009 - happy birthday to my dearest fren
dinesh..just realised it has been almost 16 years since our
friendship started..though we were drifted apart after
primary school, by chance we became close after the
gathering in form 5..oh no, im missing my dearest fren
now..can deny the fact. the meeting i had with him the other
day was too short..so, i guess i will spend one whole day with
him and the rest when im back... i miss the whole gathering we
had...gosh..all those times.. thinking when we can have a big
reunion, maybe when we are old enough..keke
ok, today is the last day in cardio...hmm, i am really so blur for
this week's teaching as there are too many mandarin for the
medical terms..i really cant catch most of it but i indirectly
'survived' as in, its OVER..hehe...i wasnt impress or anything
when i saw the facilities they have as i have seen all of them
during my cardio posting in my 3rd year elective in PGH but of
course i dont see those in QE hosp.. somehow i think their
teachings are good as the students have pretty strong basics
but 95% mandarin every teaching is not helping me...hmm,
guess i really need to buck up..we gave the clerks the
'sompopon' we bought from sabah and i think they are shy to
receive it considering they are all guys and we are both
gals..hehe...
neway, nex week is the last week..we will be heading for
hepatobiliary dept..will meet back the intern from the
endocrine department..the nice nice dr..but oopsie, i forgot his
name ady...so..till then...MISSING HOME SO BADLY...

3rd and 4th day of 3rd week...

3-4th June 2009 - i didnt have the mood to type the activities
done for the week..dont even know what i was bz at..anyway,
this week me and siow hui is allocated in the cardiovascular
department.. i thought things would be more understandable
as the other week in endocrine, i didnt have much problem as
many of the specialists and interns were trying their best to
use more english in their discussion once they knew we are
from malaysia as they realised that our lessons are in english
and its pretty hard for us to get the mandarin term. if siow
hui is already having problem understanding i guess there is no
need for further elaboration on my part..sigh..
neway, most of the specialists are nice and their teachings are
pretty good, but with the condition that u are familiarize with
all the mandarin terms. i couldnt really follow most of the
teachings especially when they used all medical terms in
mandarin..its really depressing on my part.. wish they could be
that good in full english lesson as well.. nevertheless, the
interns and clerks are very nice to us. one of the interns is
actually a malaysian from johor bharu. he treated us lunch
during our first day and asked us a lot of the health care
systems in malaysia. he was quite surprised to know most of it
as well especially on the opportunities we have even as medical
students, and we have some feelings he would be coming back
to malaysia one day to serve..
siow hui and i was asked to present a case today and we did
pretty well i think except on the investigation part as we
werent familiarize with the short terms they used and didnt
know how to log into the investigation data.. neway, i used full
english today. im not sure if they understand what i said, but i
think they were concentrating more on the power point than
listening to me. thou i may speak as normally as i usually does,
it may not be to them...hmm, but i was taken aback when the
specialist told me i was testing them when i said im using
english to present.. i tot things are learnt in english, so wats
the big deal of using full english to present..sigh.. guess i am
really not suitable in this mandarin world..its really too much
for me to handle and im not into this situation when i need to
depend on someone so much...it makes me like a handicap
indirectly...just hope things will go on smoothly.
oo..and we went to a seven star lake this morning at around
5am..goodness..we wanted to enjoy the view of the sunrise but
the cloud was too thick, hence we were only lucky to catch a
glimpse of it..after snapping some photos, we headed back to
the hostel and i enjoyed a delicious breakfast before heading
back to my bed to catch a nice sleep.. so so so sleepy...