Updaticus:)

Sorry for the long MIA...here is the summary for the whole week:)

Official clinical classes started last week, it's solid clinical training, from 8am to 5pm..Clerk patients, theatre sessions, ward rounds, clinic attachments, PBLs, firm teaching sessions and GP posting! I'm based in Urology firm, so the cases that are presented to us are prostate cancer, bladder cancer, kidney transplant and kidney stones( commonest of all! )

I'll be attached to this firm for 7 weeks, then we are allocated to another firm, gastro wards i guess. So far so good, kinda surviving well here cause my firm consultants are super organised kinda person, he scheduled us nicely, and even map out an attendance list for us, making sure we attend the sessions in the timetable. So yea, hectic hectic, compared to other of my course mates, it's up to their own initiative whether they want to clerk patients or not, attend clinic attachments or not..but for us, it's a big FAT NO..all sessions must be attended and there is even a checklist whether you have performed a abdo examination, rectal examination, presented a case, taking blood..bla bla bla..but am really glad i am in this firm, generally all the consultants here are real approachable and knowledgeable!

GP posting was not bad. We're supposed to go every Wed for 7 weeks, like wat i told you guys earlier in the previous post. hmmm, but the journey there was so much longer than the 1st time we went. We have to wake up uber early to catch the earliest bus 740am, our hall packed us lunch box and off we went. We HAVE to reach the clinic at 9am, but due to the many stops the bus made, we arrived 10 mins LATE. Imagine the journey, it's actually just 20 mins drive by car, but we took more than 1 hour to arrive. Drenched in the rain...and when it's time to take bus home, the rain started again, PLUS SUPER strong wind and guess wat, the bus we waited for never came, so Lily n me...freezing for 45 mins till the next bus arrived. We're gonna go thru this for 7 weeks. oh gosh...Pray for punctuality...BUSES!!

In short, weekdays in hospital, fun, fulfilling yet exhausting...

weekends(Saturday)...Cheshire Oak shopping spree..It's basically a factory outlets with like 140 shops:) and the price of course is cheaper than what you get outside. It's called The World of Guilt Free Shopping.The trip was organised by Malaysian society:) When Malaysian shops..Woohoo..Malaysia BOLEH...madness in the town..:Pthe many shops in CheshireBought a Nike shoe for 27 pounds only. Outside price was 45 pounds. good deal :PPINK windbreaker:) my winter will never be freezing anymore

and a few more other stuff..not gonna show them here:P but no worries, i buy all necessities only..muakakakakkak

Reached home around 615pm..then 630pm, off we went to Social Night in church..it's a welcoming party got the freshers organised by the student fellowship:)

Expecting a buffet style dinner but to our surprise, we have candle light dinner instead:) creative indeed! Gurls were all given a stalk of rose, guys..hmm a pen!:Pmy rose and PRAWN CRAckers..

Louisa from KK, 5th year medical student. She was the waiter of the day:) Have to take order, serve food..good job:)Main dishes offered: Authentic Singapore Chicken Rice and Sarawak Laksa..The new comers are mainly from Malaysia..Cheers. Sarawak LaksaThey even serve us teh tarik!Dessert: Cincau plus longan plus pineapple

We had games after dinner, and mass dancing!

Got to know the church members better, esp the students fellowship peeps:)

we're the people that ROCK( Reach Out to the Community for the King)

Theme of the year for student fellowship

go MAD(Make A Difference) for Jesus!

yup, lots of Asian attending this church and it's amazing how God led me to this church, through my brother's Ex cell leader who was in Sheffield and is now settled in Manchester after got married to a Manchurian..Complicated? yea..it is. But God works in miraculous ways!

(Sunday)

After church, uncle Michael and wife, aunt Swee welcomed all the students to their house for lunch:) Aunt Swee is from Melacca whereas uncle Michael is from Hong Kong. But both settled down in Manchester 30 years ago after graduating from the UK:) Felt so at home meeting these people. And have a peep at the food they prepared..They knew, we missed home cooked food..:)
thank God for the food..thank God for the hands that prepared them

Cheese pastaLor beefChicken plus potatoBak chan gai..:P(correct spelling not?) steamed chicken larrLor Eggs...miss this so much!Potato pastaLily*Angie*Lisa*Helen*Joanne*Emmabusy women in the kitchen!Esther, cute-nyer!finally, the couple who hosted us:)

thank you for blessing us with your love and FooooD

oh, Elder Eric and wife had a open house last week too..sorry no pics:)

Indeed, in this foreign land, these are the people who made us feel we're warmly welcome:)

::Announcements::

Hand warmer i got from M&S:)

my NEW phone! Sony C902!!! with 5.0 megapixels camera..boo, my babee!
NEW dessert we found..it's called Faluda! only in Manchester. *it's actually some jelly, with lotsa vanilla ice cream, mixed with ....milk? dunno larr...* but it's AWESOME!


wasSup Doc: Guess i wont have time to update that often dy..maybe once a week? sorry ar..Medical student on a RUN..for God! Yihaaa.

Tired yet fulfilling:)

Weekends...Finally arrived. It has been a fulfilling week:) Thursday and Friday were our inter-professional days. We're supposed to follow the nurses and other health care workers( NOT DRs) and observe what their work is. Hmm, smth like Nursing Day in IMU:) So yea, Lily and I were allocated to ward 27, which is a Haematology(blood) ward. However, the patients here are all leukemia or lymphoma patients. So they patients stays in the wards for quite some time dy, for their chemo treatment. Kinda sad place to work at as these are fatal cases..it's CANCER of the blood...We help the nurses to change the patients' bed sheets, serve their meals and most importantly talk to them:) Really sad to hear some of their stories..some who found out that they have leukemia, just through a regular check up at a GP. Kinda devastated for them as this disease will take away their lives and there is no absolute treatment for Leukemia for the time-being..oh, since this ward are ALL immuno-depressed patients, we have to change our aprons and gloves everytime after we finished cleaning a patient's bed. It's a STRICT RULE that has to be followed! The 2nd day was more fulfilling, there was a grand ward rounds by the top consultants(haematologists). So we got to tag along the group and see how they discuss each patients' conditions. Phew, when the consultants asked us questions, thank God we can answer a few, but of coz we couldnt answer the HONOURS question, which is 'what gene is affected in haemochromatosis??' i also dunno..but a FY2 dr managed to answer that...geng! i still dunno which gene is that:P oh, then we got to see a pleural tap being done. REALLY INVASIVE..when i saw the dr insert a 50cc syringe from the back of the patient..whew..500ml of fluid was removed..and i could droplets of tears coming down from her eyes...:'( it must be really painful...

we were FORCED to wear this green scrub for our IPE:P

in short, though we didnt do much within these two days, i experienced great joy, even just changing their bed sheets, have a short talk with them..the little i could do to make the patients feel the love i have for them... made with passion for the community people

Intro weeks have finally come to an end..Our REAL REAL clinical starting from next week and THANK GOD FOR ANSWERING MY PRAYER...Lily and Me are in Urology WARDS!! We wanted this ward badly cause rumours said it's the BEST ward ever..the consultants are very organised and the classes will be from 8am to 5pm!! Woohoo....It's gonna be busy busy..but we LOVE it, rather than the 2 hours we had last few weeks! And we have to go for community placement every Wednesday. So this time around, we are placed in Urmston..somewhere far far away from our place:P
So, since we have NO idea where Urmston is, we decided to take a bus and search for it. Oh, we did google the location of the clinic, but apparently, there is NO public bus that directly reach to that road! So, our only clue is to get to Urmston...FINE..we must find that place now in case we cant find it on wed morning and we will be in hot soup:P cool..got on to the bus and fingers crossed..Urmston, here we go..... Half an hour passed...Urmston bus station at sight, but it's a big town, where is Church Road where the clinic is...so we asked the bus driver..and he said:"you have to walk down this valley, over the hills...." With the little info..we got off the bus and followed his instructions.
Through the valley....the hills....the fields...overall 15 mins walk from the bus station we stopped...TAadddaaaAAA...
URMSTON GROUP PRACTICE...luckily we came to find it..if not, we sure get lost on our community day..but it's definitely not easy to get to this place..Ulu larrrr. a small green town:) Kachaa..took a pic to make sure we know where to go next Wed:)

and guess what,we saw this newspaper pasted on the door of the clinic...It said, the doctor we're attached to has just retired last Thursday after serving the community in Urmston for 30 years..WAT a time to retire..now how??? haih, hopefully there are other doctors to guide us..will contact the uni PIC asap..How could they not know..we even stopped by to take picture..green green grass of hope:)
We cant see these beautiful flowers in Manchester city..only the outskirts:)we love green field...*_* and sun

and we took 1 hour plus to get back city because we were caught in the jam at Old Trafford..

I looked down from the bus and all i saw was RED DEVILS!

Pool of Red....Angels:)
It's Man Utd vs Bolton match at home ground:) Woohoo we won!

We had a dinner with some of our batch mates at this Korean Restaurant. Nice food!!:)

weekend is a day that you must NOT eat western food..hehe.Lily and Steph:)Angie and HaniBeef beef beef..rice with..erm i also dunno. but it tasted real goodKimchi fried riceKimchi pancakeBeef ribs...Yummilicious!the ASIANs gang...Posers people:)Lelaki: Ben(Jakarta), Simon( Japan+Hong Kong), Tony(Hong Kong), Hong(China)

Perempuan: Angie, Hani, Lily, Steph (Malaysia)

wasSup Doc: 5 loaves and 2 fishes offered by the little boy..though the gift is small, it makes a huge difference. With the little i have, i want to make an impact..by God'd grace..thank you:)

my HOME in UK:)

FINALLY...i'm ready to show you my hall and my room..the place i call HOME in UK:)

Let me tour you around St Gabriels Hall...Strictly for gurls only:)This is the entrance...St Gabs Hall!Once you walk in, you will see this building. It's the main building:) It's where we stay..It's a very old building, used to be a Catholic Gurls boarding school i think..The small little garden we have..

Then the security doors that have a pin number to enter:P

Once you step into the building..it's the reception area!Since i'm staying at the Top floor, i have to walk up this winding stairs everyday..some exercise:PPhew, then you will see the rooms along the corridor. See the shoes nicely arranged beside? That's my room:)

Rule number into Angie's room...NO SHOES ALLOWED!

And guess wat? the 2nd day when i woke up, my fellow flat mates arranged my shoes in this way:P

the initial image when i first move my barang-barang over..BANYAK kan?!Tadaa....my lovely room:) Study table:)Make-up table*_*the small little wardrobe..But the wall in my room is terrible..coz my room is next to the bathroom, and so the wall lumpy bumpy and eye sore.have a closer view..CANNOT TAHAN, ugly yea...Being an OCD, of coz i need to do smth with it..it's my favourite place in UK k..
So i recycled the posters given to us and use it as a SHOUT OUT board

this board is called the 'HE SAYS' :)

The timely reminder from my Papa..the JCR hall...a place for us to hang out, watch TV, pool, ping pong and party:)

we have our personal bar too..open on tuesday and wednesday onlyour very own Library..old books available only..but it's a nice place to study:)The common room in the main building. It has a home home feeling:)

and finally our dining hall!!!

and our catered food....i actually enjoy it though many people says the food sucks!

Mummy, i am eating real well..from the pics are cereal, OATMEAL, EGG, TOMATOES, croissant, toast and FRUITS..good and healthy food.

we have bacon and sausages but i don't enjoy those food, coz it's FATTENING!:P

oh, sometimes we have baked beans toO.
Dinner..Lasagna+carrot+beans+POTATO!(Denise!!see it's HUGE right?) and not to forget the dessert:cream puff plus chocolate sauce!

Dinner: Salmon+rice+salad+ STRAWBERRY CHEESE CAKE!!!

Dinner: Tuna pasta+Broccoli+corn+potato fillet+APPLE CRUMBLE & custard!!

phew...the food is good right? Like those 5 stars hotel food..but maybe we'll be sick of it after few months of the same food. hopefully our chef will be more creative:)

we have a small gym at the basement and a basketball court behind the building:) *sorry no pics here*

Fresher's fair is on now..It's smth like recruitment drive in IMU. But there are so many societies and stalls!! Most of them are those BARs offering free alcoholic drinks and all..but there are good offers too. Lots of freebies! Chocolates, sweets, colourful leaflets, free pizzas, stickers, pens, bags, vouchers and CONDOMS! Haih..it's so open here.It's like encouraging them to have sex. Different culture here.. The whole Manchester city is now very crowded with students. It's so different compared to the few weeks i first arrived.

the many things i got..oh, they even give out SPATULA for cooking! So cool..:)

So i use those colourful leaflets given to decorate my board! Muakakka...
I'm so smart:P

i like this small hairy thing MOST..

It says PURPLE and PROUD!

Purple is the official colour for the university of Manchester

wasSup Doc: I am now part of the PURPLE community and i'm PROUD of that!