A lot of things have happened during the last few days. First I received a surprise message from my long lost best friend which went over to China in order to pursue his dream. Chatting with him made me remember the times we had together and how important he was to me during my high school period - that young and innocent me which used to think and hope that a friendship can last forever.
Another thing that happened this week was that my mother had a fall from the bicycle due to a black out. Fortunately, after being thoroughly examined, she was said to have suffered from the loss of consciousness due to exhaustion and thankfully that all she had was a fractured elbow. She has went through an operation and everything should be fine. It was told that she could be released from the hospital tomorrow if everything goes well.
I would like to thank those who have prayed for my mother and helped her through the ordeal. With blessings, I can only keep my fingers crossed and pray that she doesn't go through anything like this anymore.
Another thing that happened was that yesterday, me and my fellow volleyball teammates had a friendly match with our University's Russian teammates. It was like sort of a competition and we were playing our second game (the first game was held last Friday).
Due to the fact that we just came back from Malaysia and had not been training properly, I did not really expect too much from the competition but just to gain some experience and at the same time expose some of the juniors to the game play.
Though yesterday, while playing against the University's first squad, I felt a sudden high stress due to a very lousy performance on the second match. During the first match, we were sort of leading and had a good chance of winning but lost at the end. During the second match, I could not make out what came over me. I was making a lot of amateur mistakes and could not focus on what I had to do. In the end we lost the match.
After that I felt really bad and down due to the fact that I was the main reason for the downfall of our team. I became quiet and went off home a little while later. All the time keeping silence and not talking to anyone.
I seriously have to change this habit of mine.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Lighting up lanterns
A few weeks has passed by since I flew back from my home country back to Russia in order to continue with my studies. With the passing of time, my will of studying hard and changing over a new leaf has also been dying down. Though, because I'm in the education committee for the Malaysian Student Associations, the responsibilities there has kind of forced me into doing a bit of studying. And with more time, I think the momentum will grow and the small bud will grow into a large tree.
Other than being lazy on my studies, the rest during summer has also deterred me from going to the gym for my workout sessions. In compensation, the badminton outings with my friends in Malaysia has made me regain my interest in badminton once again and with that my weekends has been filled up with sport activities for an astounding 4-6 hours on these days.
As you may have known if you follow my Facebook, in conjunction of my town's 980th Birthday, they had a lantern lighting up festival(放孔明灯）. It was the first time I had ever been able to see this up close and also got a chance to actually light one up and make a wish.
The event was planned to start at 9pm and hence we had a couple of friends come over to my house for dinner. From there on, we went to the event together. As we had quite a heavy dinner, we decided to have a walk there instead of taking public transport.
While walking there, one of our friend who went ahead to help us get the lantern called us and said that the people were already starting to light them up and asked us to quicken our footsteps. We were still about 5 minutes walk away from the point of gathering when she called.
All of a sudden, from the far side, we could see small colorful lights starting to float up the sky, lighting up the dark night skyline. The sight was just amazing to look at. With that, we hasten and willed ourselves to reach the area as quick as possible.
Though we only realize the amount of people that had gather when we began to approach the gathering point, the place was so crowded with people that I ended up my two friends that I was walking with.
When we finally meet up with our other friends, most of the by standers had already light up their lantern and there were only a few people left that were trying to light theirs up.
In order to gather up some other friends of ours, one of my friend started to wave with the lanterns on her hands, that attracted a whole herd of locals to us asking how much is the lantern for and where can they buy it.
At last, when everyone was gathered we tore out the lanterns from its plastic and prepared ourselves to let them loose.
Seeing them fly up the sky and crossing our fingers in hope that it will float up steadily and that hopefully our respective wishes will come true!!
Other than being lazy on my studies, the rest during summer has also deterred me from going to the gym for my workout sessions. In compensation, the badminton outings with my friends in Malaysia has made me regain my interest in badminton once again and with that my weekends has been filled up with sport activities for an astounding 4-6 hours on these days.
As you may have known if you follow my Facebook, in conjunction of my town's 980th Birthday, they had a lantern lighting up festival(放孔明灯）. It was the first time I had ever been able to see this up close and also got a chance to actually light one up and make a wish.
The event was planned to start at 9pm and hence we had a couple of friends come over to my house for dinner. From there on, we went to the event together. As we had quite a heavy dinner, we decided to have a walk there instead of taking public transport.
While walking there, one of our friend who went ahead to help us get the lantern called us and said that the people were already starting to light them up and asked us to quicken our footsteps. We were still about 5 minutes walk away from the point of gathering when she called.
All of a sudden, from the far side, we could see small colorful lights starting to float up the sky, lighting up the dark night skyline. The sight was just amazing to look at. With that, we hasten and willed ourselves to reach the area as quick as possible.
Though we only realize the amount of people that had gather when we began to approach the gathering point, the place was so crowded with people that I ended up my two friends that I was walking with.
When we finally meet up with our other friends, most of the by standers had already light up their lantern and there were only a few people left that were trying to light theirs up.
In order to gather up some other friends of ours, one of my friend started to wave with the lanterns on her hands, that attracted a whole herd of locals to us asking how much is the lantern for and where can they buy it.
At last, when everyone was gathered we tore out the lanterns from its plastic and prepared ourselves to let them loose.
Seeing them fly up the sky and crossing our fingers in hope that it will float up steadily and that hopefully our respective wishes will come true!!
Friday, September 14, 2012
Lengthy post
It has been quite sometime since I have uploaded a new post, with holidays and practicals taking most of my time, I could not find any spare time to take a rest and write down about the recent happenings.
Now that I am back in Russia to continue with my studies, I have more time to waste and spare so I can finally fall back and recall the sweet memories I had of this summer break.
This summer, I had to do practicals back in my home country - Malaysia. I was attached to a military hospital and I had loads of fun there. From going to lectures and learning from the doctors, and mixing around with nurses and other trainees, I really found myself enjoying my future job and my posting there.
After my posting, I had more time to go about and meet up with all those friend of mine which I have not seen in a year. Because of my hectic schedule of meeting up with all those long lost friends I spend very little time with my family, and for this I feel very very bad and also regret for not spending more time with them.
This year I also had my very first time have friends sending me off in the airport. I was so shocked and happy when my friends told me they would be sending me off. What made it even more shocking was that these friends are mostly from a group that I only meet not a month ago. I am really happy to have found this group of close friends and deeply hope that our friendship will last.
A small post on what I have been doing in Russia. Only yesterday, after a lecture I went to in the University, on the way back home, me and Tabitha found a women lying on the ground unconscious. We were a bit worried about her safety so we called the ambulance and waited patiently for it to come. What shocked me was how the team responded when they saw here. All they did was check her blood pressure and gave her some ammonia so they she would wake up. When she took a sniff of it, she only turned her head away and not wake up. They then carried her into the ambulance and sent home. From what I have seen, they do not plan on giving her any treatment. They even wanted her to go home by herself at the beginning. I guess this is because the Russian have seen way too many drunkards for their own good that they have become numb to it.
Now that I am back in Russia to continue with my studies, I have more time to waste and spare so I can finally fall back and recall the sweet memories I had of this summer break.
This summer, I had to do practicals back in my home country - Malaysia. I was attached to a military hospital and I had loads of fun there. From going to lectures and learning from the doctors, and mixing around with nurses and other trainees, I really found myself enjoying my future job and my posting there.
After my posting, I had more time to go about and meet up with all those friend of mine which I have not seen in a year. Because of my hectic schedule of meeting up with all those long lost friends I spend very little time with my family, and for this I feel very very bad and also regret for not spending more time with them.
This year I also had my very first time have friends sending me off in the airport. I was so shocked and happy when my friends told me they would be sending me off. What made it even more shocking was that these friends are mostly from a group that I only meet not a month ago. I am really happy to have found this group of close friends and deeply hope that our friendship will last.
A small post on what I have been doing in Russia. Only yesterday, after a lecture I went to in the University, on the way back home, me and Tabitha found a women lying on the ground unconscious. We were a bit worried about her safety so we called the ambulance and waited patiently for it to come. What shocked me was how the team responded when they saw here. All they did was check her blood pressure and gave her some ammonia so they she would wake up. When she took a sniff of it, she only turned her head away and not wake up. They then carried her into the ambulance and sent home. From what I have seen, they do not plan on giving her any treatment. They even wanted her to go home by herself at the beginning. I guess this is because the Russian have seen way too many drunkards for their own good that they have become numb to it.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
One hell of a scare
As you know, I have been doing my practicals or what the locals call elective posting in the hospital lately. While I was there, I did a full blood test. What I did not prepare myself was when the results came back with me being detected to have Hepatitis B antigen.
A short note on what is Hepatitis B - It is a virus that attacks your liver causing slow degradation to the organ and lastly liver failure which can be fatal. It is transmittable via blood products, sexual intercourse and hence can affect one's sexual life and also career for someone who works as a doctor or nurse (which I am). Hepatitis B antigen detected means that there is a high chance that the virus has invaded into your body. Whether it has started attacking your liver or is remaining as a carrier is not certain.
Hence, when I received the results I was really afraid. Anyway, upon returning home yesterday, I told my mum which as expected freaked out (but worse than how I thought she would) and rushed me to the nearest lab to get my blood retested. That night, I think all 3 of us(me, my dad and mum) did not have a good nights rest due to the shocking news.
The next day, I was still anxious to get the results and was afraid of what the outcome might be. Never in my life have I be so afraid of getting a single lab results. I now understand what those people who were told some serious illness such as HIV or Cancer feel like.
I came back earlier today because my ride had something coming up and had to leave before the time was up. I called my mum and asked her if she has taken the report (it was supposed to be out at 12noon and I called her at 1pm). She said "the report is out but your dad didn't want me to go get the test results by myself, he asked me to wait for you." I told my mum I would go get it myself and if they require the receipt I will ask her to come then.
Throughout the walk to the lab to get my results, my heart rate spiked and my adrenaline was pumping vigorously in order to anticipate the shock I might have to face upon receiving the results.
When I finally got there and the results given to me, a wave of relief washed over me upon seeing the words "NOT DETECTED". I couldn't thank God or whoever is up there more for it.
A short note on what is Hepatitis B - It is a virus that attacks your liver causing slow degradation to the organ and lastly liver failure which can be fatal. It is transmittable via blood products, sexual intercourse and hence can affect one's sexual life and also career for someone who works as a doctor or nurse (which I am). Hepatitis B antigen detected means that there is a high chance that the virus has invaded into your body. Whether it has started attacking your liver or is remaining as a carrier is not certain.
Hence, when I received the results I was really afraid. Anyway, upon returning home yesterday, I told my mum which as expected freaked out (but worse than how I thought she would) and rushed me to the nearest lab to get my blood retested. That night, I think all 3 of us(me, my dad and mum) did not have a good nights rest due to the shocking news.
The next day, I was still anxious to get the results and was afraid of what the outcome might be. Never in my life have I be so afraid of getting a single lab results. I now understand what those people who were told some serious illness such as HIV or Cancer feel like.
I came back earlier today because my ride had something coming up and had to leave before the time was up. I called my mum and asked her if she has taken the report (it was supposed to be out at 12noon and I called her at 1pm). She said "the report is out but your dad didn't want me to go get the test results by myself, he asked me to wait for you." I told my mum I would go get it myself and if they require the receipt I will ask her to come then.
Throughout the walk to the lab to get my results, my heart rate spiked and my adrenaline was pumping vigorously in order to anticipate the shock I might have to face upon receiving the results.
When I finally got there and the results given to me, a wave of relief washed over me upon seeing the words "NOT DETECTED". I couldn't thank God or whoever is up there more for it.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
OT
It has been more than a week since I started my elective posting in HATTM. For me, being here was very fun(though of course there were dull moments). I was first sent to the A&E department where I got to handle a lot of different cases and experience the way Malaysian health providers cope with them.
Further down the week, I was sent to the department of my choice -O&G. Here I was tagging with a doctor and learned the ways of basic clinical handling of outpatients. Also here, I attended a seminar that was given by a drug company which was promoting their drug to the hospital and only yesterday, another company which sent one of their staff over to promote their scar healing drug(for cesarean section scar wound healing) was being pushed away by the doctor as she had a busy morning and had not taken her lunch despite it turning to 3pm soon. I then told her about my burn wound and scar and then got some samples to apply on my wound. Hopefully, it will all turn out good.
Today, I was able to go into the Operating Theater and there I saw a few operations one of which was a C-section. And later on, I managed to witness a natural delivery.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time in the hospital learning stuff. Hopefully, with the passing of time, I would make a good doctor in the near future.
Further down the week, I was sent to the department of my choice -O&G. Here I was tagging with a doctor and learned the ways of basic clinical handling of outpatients. Also here, I attended a seminar that was given by a drug company which was promoting their drug to the hospital and only yesterday, another company which sent one of their staff over to promote their scar healing drug(for cesarean section scar wound healing) was being pushed away by the doctor as she had a busy morning and had not taken her lunch despite it turning to 3pm soon. I then told her about my burn wound and scar and then got some samples to apply on my wound. Hopefully, it will all turn out good.
Today, I was able to go into the Operating Theater and there I saw a few operations one of which was a C-section. And later on, I managed to witness a natural delivery.
All in all, I really enjoyed my time in the hospital learning stuff. Hopefully, with the passing of time, I would make a good doctor in the near future.
Monday, July 2, 2012
First Practical in Malaysia
With the return to my home country - Malaysia, the summer holidays have officially begun. Even though it is called my summer holidays, I still have to do an attachment with the hospital of my choice in order to brush up my skills to prepare myself for the up coming job upon graduation.
The hospital I choose to work at was Tuanku Mizan Hospital, which is a newly opened hospital that is located some 1 hour ride away from my house and to top that, it is a military hospital. This means that the hospital is used mainly for the purpose of checking the health of militant personnel and also to give treatment to them and their family.
The LRT ride from my house to the one nearest to the hospital took an estimation of 45minutes while the walk from the station to the hospital is another 10-15minutes of walk.
Arriving the hospital, I had to pass the guard house(where I had to leave my IC in order to get a pass to go into the hospital) before reporting to the commanding officer. It was quite a scare for me as I have never been anywhere which has any relationship with the military forces, hence the way things work around the hospital was pretty scary (the constant attention and salutation to one another and their seriousness).
After going through the admission department, I went to the A&E department (accident and emergency) instead one of the 2 departments I requested for (O&G and also Therapy).
Over here, I found 3 other interns - one which studies in Moscow, another from Edinburgh, and the last which is a foreigner that studies in Texas, US. After some basic introduction, I went along tagging after the doctors and getting an idea of their work.
At the beginning, the flow of patients were pretty slow, but slowly, as the doctor were busy with other stuff, the amount of patient grew and I got to see a few different cases, ranging from basic flu to heart failure. It was a pretty amazing experience.
We were allowed to go home at around 1pm but since I found the cases so interesting, I told myself I wanted to stay for this case and after that another one. Just like that, time flew by and when I knew it, my watch showed me the time with its hour hand pointing at the figure "4".
I then headed home after a tiring but fruitful day. Hopefully the next few weeks will continue to be this exciting.
The hospital I choose to work at was Tuanku Mizan Hospital, which is a newly opened hospital that is located some 1 hour ride away from my house and to top that, it is a military hospital. This means that the hospital is used mainly for the purpose of checking the health of militant personnel and also to give treatment to them and their family.
The LRT ride from my house to the one nearest to the hospital took an estimation of 45minutes while the walk from the station to the hospital is another 10-15minutes of walk.
Arriving the hospital, I had to pass the guard house(where I had to leave my IC in order to get a pass to go into the hospital) before reporting to the commanding officer. It was quite a scare for me as I have never been anywhere which has any relationship with the military forces, hence the way things work around the hospital was pretty scary (the constant attention and salutation to one another and their seriousness).
After going through the admission department, I went to the A&E department (accident and emergency) instead one of the 2 departments I requested for (O&G and also Therapy).
Over here, I found 3 other interns - one which studies in Moscow, another from Edinburgh, and the last which is a foreigner that studies in Texas, US. After some basic introduction, I went along tagging after the doctors and getting an idea of their work.
At the beginning, the flow of patients were pretty slow, but slowly, as the doctor were busy with other stuff, the amount of patient grew and I got to see a few different cases, ranging from basic flu to heart failure. It was a pretty amazing experience.
We were allowed to go home at around 1pm but since I found the cases so interesting, I told myself I wanted to stay for this case and after that another one. Just like that, time flew by and when I knew it, my watch showed me the time with its hour hand pointing at the figure "4".
I then headed home after a tiring but fruitful day. Hopefully the next few weeks will continue to be this exciting.
Sunday, June 24, 2012
I'm coming home
With graduation of some of my seniors earlier this week, and the summer holidays arrival, my drive to study has been quite low. But thanks to my exemption from the first examination, I had extra time to prepare for the only final that I will be taking. I just hope that everything will go smoothly and I will soon find myself on the plane with its final destination being - Malaysia.
The thought of being able to go back brings excitement to the core of my body. Thoughts of seeing family members which I have not meet for a long time, close friends that I miss dearly, have made me look forward to the trip back.
But, (ah, yes. The infamous but that always appear) the thought of having to do practicals in a hospital where I have no friends around is pretty scary. I'm afraid because I might be deemed stupid and ignorant for not knowing my materials (which I think is quite true) and also afraid that I'll be wasting my time there since there might not be anyone willing to teach me or allow me to tag them. Furthermore, after hearing that there are quite a small number of patients due to the hospital's policy, I am really afraid that my time there will be boring. At the same time, I'm also quite excited as this will be my first chance to really act as a doctor (the last time I practiced, I didn't do much back in 3rd year I acted as a nurse assistant, and on the 4th I went to follow the ambulance). I'm looking forward to be able to do some manipulations and be able to witness some surgical procedures.
I'm writing this entry as the time ticks away with less than 24hours away to my final paper and around 4 days away from my arrival back in my beloved home country (love my family members there and food only, the rest - not that much).
Wish me luck guys !! Hopefully the next time I'm posting, it will be either from the airport or from Malaysia!
The thought of being able to go back brings excitement to the core of my body. Thoughts of seeing family members which I have not meet for a long time, close friends that I miss dearly, have made me look forward to the trip back.
But, (ah, yes. The infamous but that always appear) the thought of having to do practicals in a hospital where I have no friends around is pretty scary. I'm afraid because I might be deemed stupid and ignorant for not knowing my materials (which I think is quite true) and also afraid that I'll be wasting my time there since there might not be anyone willing to teach me or allow me to tag them. Furthermore, after hearing that there are quite a small number of patients due to the hospital's policy, I am really afraid that my time there will be boring. At the same time, I'm also quite excited as this will be my first chance to really act as a doctor (the last time I practiced, I didn't do much back in 3rd year I acted as a nurse assistant, and on the 4th I went to follow the ambulance). I'm looking forward to be able to do some manipulations and be able to witness some surgical procedures.
I'm writing this entry as the time ticks away with less than 24hours away to my final paper and around 4 days away from my arrival back in my beloved home country (love my family members there and food only, the rest - not that much).
Wish me luck guys !! Hopefully the next time I'm posting, it will be either from the airport or from Malaysia!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Summer
Summer holidays are round the corner, most youngsters are trying their best to get back in shape to attract one another for a short lived fun. The sky is filled with the heat of the sun. These are what we know about the summer weather.
But these few weeks, instead of having the forementioned weather, I have been stuck with the gloomy rainy weather of autumn. The floors being filled with puddles of water, the sky crowding with dark ominous cloud.
This gloomy weather has made me much of a laze. I’ve been spending my last few weeks on my bed doing nothing except sleeping and eating. I haven’t been to the gym for a week or so, and the condition has worsened till that I’m lazy to even cook and eat a proper meal.
Now, all I have in mind is to get over with my exams as fast as possible and get home to where my parents are so I can have the comfort of my family
But these few weeks, instead of having the forementioned weather, I have been stuck with the gloomy rainy weather of autumn. The floors being filled with puddles of water, the sky crowding with dark ominous cloud.
This gloomy weather has made me much of a laze. I’ve been spending my last few weeks on my bed doing nothing except sleeping and eating. I haven’t been to the gym for a week or so, and the condition has worsened till that I’m lazy to even cook and eat a proper meal.
Now, all I have in mind is to get over with my exams as fast as possible and get home to where my parents are so I can have the comfort of my family
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Buying new shoes
It has been quite sometime since I wanted to try on a new type of shoes. It is not something I am used to wearing. It is something in between the formal shoes and a casual wear. Today since I was free, I invited some friends over for dinner and while going out to buy groceries with Tabitha, we decided to take a detour to the mall upstairs and have a walk around. We went into a discount store for shoes. There, everything shoes and handbag was priced at Rub 699.
It was here that I found the shoe that I have always wanted to try. After some persuasion from Tabitha, I bought the shoe. With that I'm Rub 699 poorer, how sad. Hope that my parents wont mind. I took a photo of the shoes close up and in the photo of myself, you will be able to see the shoes. Do comment on how it looks on me.
The other photos are of a new fountain that was constructed recently over here in Kursk. As the night darkens, the fountain will light up with neon lights and it will have a show according to the beats of the music being played through the speakers found there. All in all it was quite a spectacular sight to behold.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Just another post
It has been quite sometime since I last updated my blog. Quite a few things happened. I had an exam, will be having another one on the coming Monday, got a survey to give out and to report. Sounds quite hectic ? Thankfully, I'm having Russian cycle and from what our teacher said, seems like next week we are able to have the whole week off as we have already done the hours which the university requires.
As you know, I have returned back to the gym and I took a photo of myself in the gym after my session today. The photo was edited so it will seem better than it actually is and also due to the fact that my muscles were all bulged up from the workout session, the definition and "wow"ness of the picture is giving me more credit than I should really have on a usual day.
Monday, May 14, 2012
Gym, thoughts and movies
It has been quite sometime since i last went to the gym, somewhat around a month or so. My burn wound has been healing slowly and although it still causes me discomfort often, I try my best to go through my daily routine with as much normality as possible.
I'm really feeling bad for my parents as I have been using quite a large sum of money to pay for my medications that I need to help my recovery and ensure that I do not face any complications. Hopefully, I'll be able to get well very very soon and that when I am well, the scar from this encounter will be a small one, or better still - non existence.
With the summer coming by, I have already hear some of my friends having and enjoying their holidays while some are busy preparing for their finals before heading off to the long holiday they have ahead of them. The news of my couple friends going away to different countries with their partners for a sweet retreat and enjoying one another's company makes me feel lonely, rendering me to think - when will I have a chance to enjoy the company of my partner in a place where all I have to care is the both of us, a place where only two of us are at. Guess its the spring fever and the pubertal hormones playing tricks on my mind.
I am writing this post after watching a movie clip online which was narrating the final few years of 3 cancer patients in the pediatric departments, the struggle they go through, and what they have to tell the world. I strongly recommend this clip to those who are having hardships. The title of the movie/documentary is "Lovelife紀錄片". All you have to do is copy the few words I mentioned just moments before and search for it in youtube. This movie is very touching and for those who have an hour to spare, Pleas do watch it.
I'm really feeling bad for my parents as I have been using quite a large sum of money to pay for my medications that I need to help my recovery and ensure that I do not face any complications. Hopefully, I'll be able to get well very very soon and that when I am well, the scar from this encounter will be a small one, or better still - non existence.
With the summer coming by, I have already hear some of my friends having and enjoying their holidays while some are busy preparing for their finals before heading off to the long holiday they have ahead of them. The news of my couple friends going away to different countries with their partners for a sweet retreat and enjoying one another's company makes me feel lonely, rendering me to think - when will I have a chance to enjoy the company of my partner in a place where all I have to care is the both of us, a place where only two of us are at. Guess its the spring fever and the pubertal hormones playing tricks on my mind.
I am writing this post after watching a movie clip online which was narrating the final few years of 3 cancer patients in the pediatric departments, the struggle they go through, and what they have to tell the world. I strongly recommend this clip to those who are having hardships. The title of the movie/documentary is "Lovelife紀錄片". All you have to do is copy the few words I mentioned just moments before and search for it in youtube. This movie is very touching and for those who have an hour to spare, Pleas do watch it.
Monday, May 7, 2012
BBQ outing turned bad
Today was the day me and my group mates decided to have our first BBQ outing. Despite the fact that it rained yesterday and that the weather forecast that later today will be raining, we ignored everything and went on with our plan.(The event was also joined with the university’s badminton team)
We were supposed to gather at my house at 3pm but being the usual Malaysian. Most of the people were late. At last, at around 4pm, most of the people arrived and we headed down to the riverside to get things started. The sky was dark, with a pending doom sign, though our cheerful spirits was not any dampened by the gloomy clouds.
While we were walking down the slope to the riverside, raindrops started to fall from the sky. We however, insisted on continuing with our BBQ session.
Slowly the rain started to fall with bigger water droplets and it was getting harder to barbecue our stuff. We opted to move the stove from an open air site near the river to a spot further in which was shaded by the trees.
To avoid getting wet from the rain, we spread open a plastic cloth which we wanted to use as our mat on the ground overhead. In a matter of minutes, the rain drops turned icy cold and before we knew it, it was raining hailstones. The hailstones were pretty big and we could even see the hailstones on the ground. The stones were as big as a cherry!
With hailstones falling from the sky mixed with the fury rain, the place started to flood with water and we decide to bail on our barbecue plans. While packing up, we saw a huge flow of water slowing creeping down the slope with what we thought was a certain speed and strength.
We managed to get out of the place in one piece just as the site was flooded by both sides with fast streams of water. The climb out of the riverside through the slope was not an easy one as the slope has turned muddy and slippery.
Thinking we had the worst behind us upon arriving the hill top, we found a car stuck and on the verge of falling down the slope. The Russians pleaded for our help but we were a little afraid as it was very dangerous and we ourselves could be pushed back falling down the slope with the car on our tail if things went wrong.
Nevertheless, we helped them as the car was blocking our way out. After another 10-15minutes of hiking through a water filled road, we managed to get back to the safety of my apartment and get some rest.
It was a very eventful day and surely something to look back and have a smile plastered on my face, to think of the days I had.
We were supposed to gather at my house at 3pm but being the usual Malaysian. Most of the people were late. At last, at around 4pm, most of the people arrived and we headed down to the riverside to get things started. The sky was dark, with a pending doom sign, though our cheerful spirits was not any dampened by the gloomy clouds.
While we were walking down the slope to the riverside, raindrops started to fall from the sky. We however, insisted on continuing with our BBQ session.
Slowly the rain started to fall with bigger water droplets and it was getting harder to barbecue our stuff. We opted to move the stove from an open air site near the river to a spot further in which was shaded by the trees.
To avoid getting wet from the rain, we spread open a plastic cloth which we wanted to use as our mat on the ground overhead. In a matter of minutes, the rain drops turned icy cold and before we knew it, it was raining hailstones. The hailstones were pretty big and we could even see the hailstones on the ground. The stones were as big as a cherry!
With hailstones falling from the sky mixed with the fury rain, the place started to flood with water and we decide to bail on our barbecue plans. While packing up, we saw a huge flow of water slowing creeping down the slope with what we thought was a certain speed and strength.
We managed to get out of the place in one piece just as the site was flooded by both sides with fast streams of water. The climb out of the riverside through the slope was not an easy one as the slope has turned muddy and slippery.
Thinking we had the worst behind us upon arriving the hill top, we found a car stuck and on the verge of falling down the slope. The Russians pleaded for our help but we were a little afraid as it was very dangerous and we ourselves could be pushed back falling down the slope with the car on our tail if things went wrong.
Nevertheless, we helped them as the car was blocking our way out. After another 10-15minutes of hiking through a water filled road, we managed to get back to the safety of my apartment and get some rest.
It was a very eventful day and surely something to look back and have a smile plastered on my face, to think of the days I had.
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Future
Yesterday night, upon reading a post of a friend of mine in Facebook regarding a movie by Datuk Michelle Yeoh and after watching its' trailer, I decided to download the movie and watch it.
I was first impressed by my newly upgraded internet speed (it was recently upgraded to 20Mbps) and during my download in torrent, the speed went up to 2.3Mbps at some point of time, the fastest I have ever seen on my computer.
When I watched the trailer of the movie, I was somehow reminded of a story that someone told me recently, who I do not remember. The story that was narrated to me by that certain person turned out to be the exact same plot as the one I watched.
The movie was certainly very touching and heart breaking. I do wish that what is happening in Burma will never happen anywhere else in the world more so my home country- Malaysia. I also sincerely pray that the oppression the Burmese people are facing will come to an end soon.
Recent nights, I find myself unable to sleep well, despite going to bed only around 12 midnight, I still startled awake with no reason at least 3-4 times throughout the whole duration of my sleep and eventually decided to wake up even before my alarm rang.
I manage to dream in that short span of continuous sleep I had. From what I remembered, in it, I witnessed one of my seniors here also with a burn wound and I asked her how long has she have it. She said that it has been one year since the event. The remaining scar was pretty bad as what I saw in my dreams for her burn scar was only a little better than what is currently on my leg. I really pray and hope that my leg will heal fast and swiftly and that I will no have scars that are hideous nor big.
I was first impressed by my newly upgraded internet speed (it was recently upgraded to 20Mbps) and during my download in torrent, the speed went up to 2.3Mbps at some point of time, the fastest I have ever seen on my computer.
When I watched the trailer of the movie, I was somehow reminded of a story that someone told me recently, who I do not remember. The story that was narrated to me by that certain person turned out to be the exact same plot as the one I watched.
The movie was certainly very touching and heart breaking. I do wish that what is happening in Burma will never happen anywhere else in the world more so my home country- Malaysia. I also sincerely pray that the oppression the Burmese people are facing will come to an end soon.
Recent nights, I find myself unable to sleep well, despite going to bed only around 12 midnight, I still startled awake with no reason at least 3-4 times throughout the whole duration of my sleep and eventually decided to wake up even before my alarm rang.
I manage to dream in that short span of continuous sleep I had. From what I remembered, in it, I witnessed one of my seniors here also with a burn wound and I asked her how long has she have it. She said that it has been one year since the event. The remaining scar was pretty bad as what I saw in my dreams for her burn scar was only a little better than what is currently on my leg. I really pray and hope that my leg will heal fast and swiftly and that I will no have scars that are hideous nor big.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Consequences
It has been 3 days since I injured myself. The burn wound has been healing but the effect is kind of slow. I had fever the last two days which came on and off usually in the afternoon and at night. But today, I felt all better. Hopefully, with the time passing my wounds will heal swiftly.
Only today, I remembered the policy our new Rector had implied on the university, which was that sick leaves are no longer allowed as a reason to not retake the class. It is possible to not attend the class but we would still have to resit the class when we feel better. Hence I will go back to class on Friday (since lucky for me there is no class tomorrow.).
Only today, I remembered the policy our new Rector had implied on the university, which was that sick leaves are no longer allowed as a reason to not retake the class. It is possible to not attend the class but we would still have to resit the class when we feel better. Hence I will go back to class on Friday (since lucky for me there is no class tomorrow.).
Monday, April 30, 2012
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Hospital Visit
After sometime, the pain was becoming overbearing and I decided to call the ambulance to get some 1st aid help and pain killers. It took them around 20 minutes after the call to reach me. While waiting for them, the pain killers I took seem to took its effect only to disappear a few minutes after.
Because of the long wait and feeling uncomfortable being only draped in my towel, I decided to wear my pants and go to the toilet. When the paramedic finally came, I was in a bit of a rush to take of my pants and change into my towel that I burst the blister I had.
The paramedic team ask if I minded to go to the hospital for a more detailed checkup and I resisted at first as I didn't want to stay overnight in the hospital. With the persuasion of my friends, I gave in. The paramedic gave me a jab to alleviate the pain and gave me a temporary gauze bandage before giving me a ride to the hospital.
After reaching the hospital, I was first brought to the emergency department. I had to take off my trousers in front of the doctor exposing myself in full glory for the doctor to see. Though, I did not have the awkward feeling I usually have if that action was necessary.
I was transferred to the burn center of the hospital where ointment was applied on me by a nurse (I had to once more take off my pants in front of female nurses).
I'm now back home feeling much better as the pain isn't disturbing me and with the sick leave paper, I'm exempted from classes tomorrow. Hopefully I'll heal fast and will be able to be back to normal soon.
BURNED
The day started out quite well, eating a nice breakfast, and went for basketball games. Although I was late because I wasn't informed on the change of time. I still enjoyed myself.
I had too much time to kill before I needed to go for volleyball games. So I headed to supermarket to cool myself with an ice-cream snack. Games today went pretty smoothly and I kind of enjoyed myself in whole today.
Things turned for the worst after i returned home. I was halfway through baking my first cheesecake (photos of which I will upload later when its done), and getting my dinner ready. I had a pot of chicken soup being heated to prevent it from spoiling. I was trying to transfer the amount I needed to a smaller pot to cook the vegetables in it when the pot slipped and poured its contents to me. I was wearing a thick pants at the moment and it soaked up all the soup which made the pants really hot. Lucky me, I had my knowledge on emergency medicine revised this week and knew how to act. I had to take off my pants to remove heat source but seems like I had to take off my undies as it was also soaked.
I then ran to the bathroom to run ice cold water on the burn sport as taught by our teachers so that the burn surface and severity might be decreased. This also helped by numbing my pain senses.
After running water on the site for about 5 min. I felt well enough and went back to my room to dress myself (yes, I ran from the kitchen to the bathroom naked, lucky for me my house was empty, or so I thought) and to have a look at how badly i hurt myself. The first picture was taken at that moment. I then went back to the kitchen to clean up the mess. But soon found the pain unbearable and went back to the bathroom to run it under water again. I then went back to the kitchen to finish clearing up my stuff before taking my shower (if you remembered, I just came back from sports when all these happened)
The next photo was taken after my bath. Suddenly I heard one of my friends room door open. I thought I was alone at home but seems like I was wrong. I shouted for her help and asked her if I needed to call an ambulance. We decided against it.
Here I am now, still in pain while writing this entry. My fingers were also burned and that was one of the less sever sites as no blister formed. But I can't even type for a minute before I have to press my fingers on a cold pack i prepared for myself to ease the pain.
Hope that I'll get well soon.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Korean food and Medical checkup
How should I describe my day if I was limited to a word or two? I have no idea. Lucky me, I have a blog and here, I can freely write and describe my day in whatever length I deem fit. So my day started off pretty badly. I woke up as early as the day before (around 6am) but I wasn't able to go out for my morning jog as I had to report to the medical center at 8am to get myself checked. What made the start of my day awful was that I had to collect my feces and to those who have done it, they know how disgusting that can leave you feeling. I do not want to gross anyone out by describing how and what I had to do to get my feces sample into a container.
After breakfast and some entertainment online while eating, I felt slightly better. But the moment was not long lived. Upon reaching the med center, the series of check up begun. Most of it was pretty standard and non memory scaring. Though the check up which I hate the most and made me feel violated without fail is the probe we had to go through which consist of having your urethra poked to get samples and your anal region sticked with scotch tape and also invaded with some tools. These always left everyone feeling highly violated. I'll spare you guys from the details of the horrible experience but for those who really are interested, you are more than welcomed to ask me about it . I had to go through the usual therapist check up and as I suspected my blood pressure was increased though the level she told me was slightly alarming (150/80). The only positive outcome from this was I was given a 24hours Holter monitor procedure where by a device will be placed on me to record my ECG for a whole day. I am really looking forward to this test and hopefully it will give me an idea what is wrong with me(though I pray that it is nothing serious).
After the test, we still had to take a ride to another center to get an X-ray of our chest done. The only good (or for some other people bad) result from this check up was that our class for the day was cancelled.
Since we were around the place where the restaurant that served Korean food was, we decided to visit it as none of us has ever been there. After asking around and blindly trusting our instincts we got to the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant is a Korean that has been living in Russia his whole life. He was very kind and lead us to a private room/house where we won't be disturbed by Russians. Over here, we found ourselves in a room equipped with a full karaoke set and a personal bar (which we didn't use). It was sort of the private rooms in those Chinese restaurants back in our country.
The owner was a little too friendly and talkative. He was talking all the time before our food came and after we were done eating. He also sang one of the songs in his karaoke set (old Korean song -though what came out of his mouth definitely didn't sound Korean to me).
After having a satisfying meal (I still craved for more food as the portion was pretty small though at the end I felt alright with the amount I ate), we went our separate ways home. I took a small break before heading out to gym for my workout. On the way home, I went to collect my hard disc. Thankfully, all my data was preserved and all that was wrong was that the casing broke down. So what I needed to do was to get a new casing to get my hard disc back online. For that, I had to pay an amount of Rub800 (around Rm 80) for the casing and the diagnostic fee. I was relieved that I didn't have to pay a sky high price to get my data back.
With everything that needs fixing done, hopefully I can now study and live peacefully till I reach back home - Malaysia.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Reanimation Cycle
Today was a fairly eventful day. With some crazy ideas in my mind, I woke up at 6am this morning and went for a jog on the streets before heading to my classes. I had this thought of jogging early in the morning sometime back but decided to only act on it when the sun is partially up at that hour and not a total pitch black. The results of jogging was pretty rewarding, I felt refreshed and energized at the beginning of the day. Though, at class while we were drawing near its closure, tiredness swept over my body and I found myself going in and out of dreamland several times.
This week I am having Reanimation cycle. This is a cycle where we learn how to give emergency aid to patients who are in critical conditions. The classes were once again held in the university which allowed us to have a bit more time to sleep in before heading out. And to our surprises, the classroom was loaded with all kinds of dummies for us to practice our life saving skills.
I was overjoyed to be able to finally try doing a CPR on a dummy and thanks to our new dummies which were sort of electronically equipped, we were told whether or not the actions we were doing were correct.
After class, I went back home to have a bite or two since I was feeling hungry before heading to the gym. This is the 1st time I am returning to the gym since I stopped training on the week of the Intervarsity Games (it has been a little over 2 weeks). Upon returning to the gym, I found myself being unable to pump the metals and work the machines on a level I used to before this. I got tired really easily. Hopefully I'll be able to get back in shape as soon as possible.
After working out, I went to the computer guy to try to get my hard disc fixed and to get the new USB sound card which after looking around was still the cheapest (Rub 950). I guess Kursk doesn't have as many cheap and lousy products as KL has. I am yet to know how much the repair of my hard disc will cost as he said to come back tomorrow for a diagnostic result. Hopefully I won't burn a pocket to get it fixed.
My housemate called me while I was on the way home and asked me to get some stuff from the pharmacy for the medical checkup tomorrow (boxes for collecting feces). I had a hunch that the pharmacy near my house will not have what I was looking for but I ignored my feelings. Alas, I had to travel out again so I could get the stuff and by that I took another 5-10 min stroll. (Guess I am doing a lot of cardio workout today).
I took a catnap after returning home and bathing but for unknown reasons I didn't really sleep well. I then decided to start setting up the USB soundcard i got while having my dinner. I was surprised that I had to install the soundcard as the previous few I had only needed to be connected to the laptop and everything was up for running. Guess that's what you get for paying more ? A better quality.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Hectic Saturday
Alas the weekend is here but to my dismay i had loads of work to do. First of all, yesterday my USB sound card jack spoilt and I had to go get a new one. Also my external hard disc has been sitting idly on the side of my table which means its needs repair to retrieve my pictures of me since I came to Russia. Because of that I left earlier for class in order to take a trip to the computer guy. Though since its a weekend, the computer guy wasn’t there and the USB jack was so expensive (around Rm100). During class, I was supposed to present my project which was on Tuberculosis, and weirdly I forgot to place in to my pendrive. Hence I had to present the topic without the documents. Thankfully the teacher didn’t give me any trouble. After class, I had to rush home to cook for the party I was having later. Now I’m having a breather while in cell group. Hopefully I will have a good time in the party later.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Router !!
Today, I went to do some router searching after class. Because the device is being shared between me and my friend. Hence I had to consult her opinion. But lucky for us. We manage to come into an agreement pretty quick and got a router after comparing prices in a few shops. While doing some market survey, we bumped across one of the rarer stalls in Kursk that sells punkish and anime stuff. And it was here I got the bracelet in the photo above. Guess the price? It was only for an amount of roughly Rm 8. Can't believe right ? The price for these back in Malaysia is around 4-5 times of what I paid for over here.
After getting the router, we walked down further to a stall to get some lunch and on the way back to the bus stop, we decided to take a stroll back home instead of a quick ride with the public transports, as we had quite a heavy lunch and thought it would be a good idea to do some exercise.
I am very happy to say that I manage to fix up the router without too much trouble and that everything is now back to normal. Can't be more grateful.
After getting the router, we walked down further to a stall to get some lunch and on the way back to the bus stop, we decided to take a stroll back home instead of a quick ride with the public transports, as we had quite a heavy lunch and thought it would be a good idea to do some exercise.
I am very happy to say that I manage to fix up the router without too much trouble and that everything is now back to normal. Can't be more grateful.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Games
Frustration
After having my whole afternoon ruined, I'm now sitting in front of my computer to retell the story of how my day turned bad with some minor events.
The day started out like a normal study day, going to class and coming back after being done with it. Upon returning home for a rest, I found out that the internet was down (not that it was the first time), so I fiddled with the router to see if I could get it back on track working. Frustration one came in knocking my door when even after an hour of switching off and on the router the connection still doesn't work.
With that, I decided to try my luck at the router settings to improve its function only to realize later that I may have made an irreversible damage. This is because after that certain handling, the router started to have a total meltdown in its function. I couldn't even go into the main page to configure the router. And to fuel the fire on, I couldn't even reset the router.
I was lucky that I could get a friend of mine who lives nearby to come and take a look at the router and set up a direct line to my computer (if not for that, I wouldn't even be able to write and post this blog). But my friend was also at the mercy of the router's evil plans to stop me from going online.
Knowing that there wasn't much I could do, I decided to bring the router to the nearest computer technician to have it diagnosed and tested for its problems. I was then told that all ASUS product were handled in a center further away, which I also went.
Reaching the center, I was told that just for a simple diagnosis and test I would have to pay 300rub and since my warranty has run out if there is anything wrong with it I would have to pay for the service myself. Moreover, just for the testing, I had to leave my router for a stunning 7 days ! Which after hearing I said no thank you.
On the way back, I stopped by an electronic shop to check out the prices for a normal router, it ranges from 1500rub til 2500rub. Hate the fact I might have to use that amount of money after the trip I took to Nizhny for the Intervarsity Games. Sorry Mum and Dad beforehand for the extra cash that I might be using.
The day started out like a normal study day, going to class and coming back after being done with it. Upon returning home for a rest, I found out that the internet was down (not that it was the first time), so I fiddled with the router to see if I could get it back on track working. Frustration one came in knocking my door when even after an hour of switching off and on the router the connection still doesn't work.
With that, I decided to try my luck at the router settings to improve its function only to realize later that I may have made an irreversible damage. This is because after that certain handling, the router started to have a total meltdown in its function. I couldn't even go into the main page to configure the router. And to fuel the fire on, I couldn't even reset the router.
I was lucky that I could get a friend of mine who lives nearby to come and take a look at the router and set up a direct line to my computer (if not for that, I wouldn't even be able to write and post this blog). But my friend was also at the mercy of the router's evil plans to stop me from going online.
Knowing that there wasn't much I could do, I decided to bring the router to the nearest computer technician to have it diagnosed and tested for its problems. I was then told that all ASUS product were handled in a center further away, which I also went.
Reaching the center, I was told that just for a simple diagnosis and test I would have to pay 300rub and since my warranty has run out if there is anything wrong with it I would have to pay for the service myself. Moreover, just for the testing, I had to leave my router for a stunning 7 days ! Which after hearing I said no thank you.
On the way back, I stopped by an electronic shop to check out the prices for a normal router, it ranges from 1500rub til 2500rub. Hate the fact I might have to use that amount of money after the trip I took to Nizhny for the Intervarsity Games. Sorry Mum and Dad beforehand for the extra cash that I might be using.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Intervaristy Games 2012
It has been a very tiring.four day journey away from home, away for the yearly Malaysian Intervarsity Games. It took a rough estimate of 15 hours bus ride to reach the venue. The game I was to play in was scheduled to be on the second day while the first day, the female volleyball team were to compete first. Since I had nothing better to do, I sat down and cheered for the female team while spotting for any pretty gals to approach. Me and my mates were practically making a fool of ourselves by randomly shouting stupid cheer remarks. At the meantime, I bullied my male juniors by making them give me a shoulder and neck massage from time to time. 1st day passed pretty uneventfully and the second day came, the day we have been training hard for all year round. We did fairly well, playing at our best performance. We manage to beat the team we feared the most - the one we knew that we would have to fight against to bag the gols medal. The male tournament started at 8 in the morning and since the female semifinals and finals were to occur before the male could have theirs, our male semifinals were postponed to a very late time. We only started our.semifinals at around 8pm. We were afraid that the finals might be postponed to next morning which will be a hassle for us as we have players that will have other games to attend the next morning. So during the semifinals, despite going against a fairly weak team, we went on full force and did a massacre which in my POV was a pretty bad show of sportsmanship. By the time 3-4th placing started it was close to 10.30pm and there was no other competition going on elsewhere. Hence, most of our university players came to cheer on our finals. Though we were all slightly annoyed by the long match the 3-4th placing match had to use. When we finally got to play, it was fairly late and our predictions turned out accurate, we were going against the university we thought that is going to be in the finals with us. During the earlier clash we had with them, we manage to emerge as victors with 2 clean sets and I think that gave us some sort of advantage. We manage to produce a very nice and entertaining match for our supporters who gave up their rest time to cheer for us and deliver the gold medal.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Feelings
As you guys may know, I have been hitting the gym on a regular schedule lately, and this has caused my groupmates to question, “Why are you so uptight on keeping that tight training of yours?” One of the reason is because I constantly complain about having to go to the gym after classes have end during which most of my classmates just head home and enjoy lunch while I slave away in the fitness club. I never really gave them my real answer other than one particular person that is my confidante here in Russia. The reason is fairly simple but to make things exciting, I would keep it to myself. Or not?
Back to my other feeling. I just finished viewing a movie named “Real Steel”. In this story the father who bailed out on his child was reunited and as usual the jerk of a father did all kinds of stupid stuff to the kid. The kid however, being a kid loved his dad and just wanted to do his best for him. The action in the movie where the robots fight one another was nice but what I concentrated my thoughts and emotions on was the bond that was slowing growing between the father and son. This movie showed me the love that will always be found in a relationship that can never be broken, one that was forged through blood (or so to say through a mixture of DNA from a male sperm and a female ovum - sorry for breaking the moment with some information that was just way to scientific).
Watching this reminded of my family back in Malaysia, the ones that I have never been too closed with. During my secondary school life, I was attached to my friends in high school and had the wrong idea of placing my priorities for my friends first and family second. Being in that rebellious age, I disliked all the ideas and nags my parents throw my way and only enjoyed being in the company of my friend or more correctly- my best friend.
It was until I came over to Russia and lost my best friend due to the strain from the long distance and scarce contact that I realized that “FAMILY” is the one and only shelter that will welcome your presence with open hands, a place that will always place you as their upmost important agenda.
I’m sorry Mum, Dad for never opening up to you guys, to never let you in my circle and allow you to share my happiness and sorrow. I’m sorry to my sister as well for always being a pain in your ass and constantly being a trouble to you.
I just want to end this post with an old statement :
F - Father
A - and
M - Mother
I - I
L - Love
Y - You
(Ps : to my dearest sister, I also love you dearly too !!)
Back to my other feeling. I just finished viewing a movie named “Real Steel”. In this story the father who bailed out on his child was reunited and as usual the jerk of a father did all kinds of stupid stuff to the kid. The kid however, being a kid loved his dad and just wanted to do his best for him. The action in the movie where the robots fight one another was nice but what I concentrated my thoughts and emotions on was the bond that was slowing growing between the father and son. This movie showed me the love that will always be found in a relationship that can never be broken, one that was forged through blood (or so to say through a mixture of DNA from a male sperm and a female ovum - sorry for breaking the moment with some information that was just way to scientific).
Watching this reminded of my family back in Malaysia, the ones that I have never been too closed with. During my secondary school life, I was attached to my friends in high school and had the wrong idea of placing my priorities for my friends first and family second. Being in that rebellious age, I disliked all the ideas and nags my parents throw my way and only enjoyed being in the company of my friend or more correctly- my best friend.
It was until I came over to Russia and lost my best friend due to the strain from the long distance and scarce contact that I realized that “FAMILY” is the one and only shelter that will welcome your presence with open hands, a place that will always place you as their upmost important agenda.
I’m sorry Mum, Dad for never opening up to you guys, to never let you in my circle and allow you to share my happiness and sorrow. I’m sorry to my sister as well for always being a pain in your ass and constantly being a trouble to you.
I just want to end this post with an old statement :
F - Father
A - and
M - Mother
I - I
L - Love
Y - You
(Ps : to my dearest sister, I also love you dearly too !!)
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Fail
Today I had my last class for my medical psychology cycle and that means I will be having a small conclusion quiz test to allow the teacher to squeeze out as much information as our puny brains could grasp on for this short days we had classes.
One by one my fellow mates took the oral test and finally it was my turn. Topic by topic he asked and I managed to scrape and dodge through his bullets with little damage. The question he asked me were the tricky question where you had to analyze the question and think a bit before you can pull out the answer he wants from one of the text he gave us from classes. Alas, I was unable to get one of his question correct and was failed for that topic and that meant I had to come back to resit for that particular topic in order to get the credit I need. After that, he said he wanted to have a break and went out of the classroom though he still had 2 more topics he still hasn't question me about.
We were all giggling in the class as most of us have already taken the exam leaving me with two more topics and one of my fellow classmate to endure the whole questioning process from the beginning. But, when he finally came back from the long rest, he skipped questioning me and proceed to question the last person. I kept calm and thought he might ask me after he has finished his rounds with my friend.
Except, things doesn't always go the way we want it to be. He told us to resit for classes he failed us and that he wishes good luck. I immediately stood up and told him that he had skipped me and didn't even gave me a chance to answer before he failed me.
His answer was " You fail one class you fail another, what difference will it make, go back and prepare all the topics, if you really knew the material, the time you need to resit the test will be less than a few minutes for all the topics." and with that he dismissed me.
By that time I was raging and fuming. He failed me for 3 classes just because I was unable to answer correctly for one ? All I can blame is that I was not in favour at that particular moment and hope I will do better next time.
Though I couldn't help feeling disappointed and angry for the treatment I was given in class. I tried to lash out at the gym to get rid of my anger and depression but I couldn't get all of it out of my system. So here I am, trying to fuse out the remaining sparks by writing my heart out.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Blizzard and Tests
It has been a bad bad day. Waking up this morning, I could feel the cold seeping in through the windows. Although I braced myself for the chilly weather, I didn't expect myself to walk into a snow storm. It had been pretty warm for the past week and most of the people were not prepared for the sudden return of winter.
As a result, there was a massive jam this morning rendering me and my friends stuck in the bus stop waiting for the bus for over an hour, which after boarding took us another hour to reach our destination. By the time we got there, we were all shivering in cold and hugging our bodies as tightly as we could to preserve whatever warmth we had.
When class finally started, the teacher came in and ask about the topic which was about thinking. After a short discussion, the teacher proceeded to show us how the test were done on patients. I became the patient while teacher became the physician.
During the 1st test, I was given a bunch of picture cards and was told to sort them into groups according to whatever ways I see fit. With the whole class hawking my every actions, I started to grow nervous and aware of my sorting of the cards. I felt like I had some psychological problems because of the reactions of my teacher and fellow classmates.
After class ended, I was so reluctant to go to the gym as it was miserably cold. Though, I forced myself to go ahead but I was a bit lazy so it was pretty unproductive.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Medical Psychology Cycle
This week, I'm having my medical psychology cycle. For this cycle, we have to take a special bus that will travel only to the psychiatrical hospital, which is where we will be having both our psychiatrical and medical psychological classes. I know some will be wondering what are the difference between these two subjects. The answer is, you should go find out yourself on the internet because reading what I wrote will not make you remember it as you had no hardship in getting the information.
Back to the topic, so here I am this week, finding myself in a psychiatric hospital. Monday was pretty uneventful. On Tuesday, we were given a patient to talk to, the patient had schizophrenia (has delusions and hallucinations), which made him tell us a lot of bizarre stories like he has been to the moon and how he came back from the moon. Today, we saw 2 patients, 1st of which we think he has severe depression and low self esteem. His stories seems to be quite normal though he kept looking very sad and told us that no one wants to talk to him. The 2nd patient we had was one with paranoid schizophrenia. This subset of patient or at least this patient seems to be hurrying and doing everything very fast. His speech was very fast and were blurry at the end of the sentences. He also had some delusional and hallucination problems. After that, we were sent home but since the place is secluded and the buses only came once in a while. We had to wait for 30minutes in the cold before getting up one.
By the time we reached back to the main station, it was 12.05 noon and we were having Russian classes at 1pm. I forgot about the Russian classes we had and packed for my gym session after my Psychology class. I had no choice but to go for an hour of gym being able to only do my cardio workout before going to the class and heading back for another gym session. With that, I ended my day around 4.45pm heading home for my hot dinner.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Spring's arrival
With the arrival of Sunday, which under usual circumstances means I get to play one of my favourite sport - Basketball, it should be a very nice day. I realized that I wasn't included into the university squad and will not be training with them this weekend when I didn't receive any message regarding the training schedule on Saturday. Surprisingly, I wasn't feeling to sad or bad about it. This might be due to the fact that I had a hinch that I wouldn't make it.
Anyway, as I woke up this morning, I could feel the temperature markedly rised and that it was a very nice day. The weather was just right, with the sun shinning high up in the skies and the temperature being cooling and not cold. The only drawback is that the snow on the floor has melted and has turn the roads into a big slush with all the water and unmelted snow being mixed by the footsteps of us humans walking on top of it.
I baked my first carrot cake this morning after I woke up but I forgot to take a picture so I have nothing to upload. The cake taste alright in my opinion and I would most probably be making more of it when I have the time.
Later that evening, I went to my usual volleyball practice and exhausted myself by doing some physical training. After the training, I decided to walk back as the weather was just too nice to waste on going on a transport. The skies were covered in a dark blue color with a hint of sunlight making it just visible enough to scout the surroundings. While walking back, I saw loads of couples strolling hands in hands. I couldn't help but wonder, how would it have felt, if I could do the same thing, taking a stroll with my loved ones in this perfect scenery. It brought a smile to my face thinking about it. But, for now all I can do is imagine. Someday, someday...
Thursday, March 15, 2012
King Of the Class
Today, we had classes as usual at 9am. Like every other day, our dear Kenyan groupmate - Philip was late, only this time he was not only late. He arrived in the classroom without a labcoat and with no bag. To top that off, he was a bit high and his eyes were glittering. He sounded a bit more hyper than usual and was talking to most of the girls in the group which was something he usually avoids.
We later found out and deduced that he went out clubbing yesterday night as it was lady night and might have gotten drunk or taken drugs (or both). He then decided to come to class straight after and we guessed that’s because he most probably had went home with someone else doing stuff we shouldn’t know.
Lucky for him, the teacher didn’t scold him for not coming to class wearing his labcoat and when he was caught sleeping and snoring in class, the teacher only chuckled and ignored him. After class, while walking down to get out of the hospital, I saw him tumbling around like a drunkard and his eyes were now dropping like he couldn’t keep them opened and was half awake.
During class, after training our opthalmological skills, we had quite a bit of time to kill before teacher returned. So my friends started gossiping and talking about Philip and other stuff which I was uninterested. I left my mind to wander around and I found myself writing his name and saying that I miss him. One of my friends saw it and started to tease me about it. But I was in luck as she couldn’t read my writing and had no idea who I wrote about. She only could guess that I was missing someone. I didn't realize that I was actually writing the names of my best friends back in Malaysia while I was reliving the moments I had back in high school. Something that I have not and could never feel with my current friends. I guess its true that as we grow older and start stepping into the society, our innocence is lost and that we will start to act like adults having gossips, backstabbing one another and not being able to trust people.
I guess that's why I miss my high school friends so much.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Rekindled passion
Yesterday, me and my volleyball mates went to have a friendly spar with a Russian volleyball team. We had to take a 40minute ride just to get to the venue though due to some miscommunication, we arrived at the wrong place and had to walk quite a bit of distance before getting up another bus to get to the arena.
The opponent team consist of a university volleyball represantative and a Sri Lankan player while the rest of them were made up from kids aging from 10-15 years(my guess). The university rep was very tall and used that advantage against us. Despite having our first team playing against him and the fact that most of his teammates are just high schoolers, he played his game well and we lost quite a few matches to his team.
During the match, I felt the fire and passion for volleyball return to me. Even though we lost most of the matches, I was really thrilled and enjoyed the game tremendously. I guess, the monotonous routine of having a training session all these while and no actual competition put out my fire on will to strive and do better.
Today is White Valentine's Day and I would like to wish everyone out there a Happy White Valentines.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
It's a Sunday, and it means that I get to play basketball. I’ve always shown an interest with the sport since a young age. Truth to be told, I wanted to join my current university’s Malaysian basketball team when I first came over, but back then, being a junior and more timid of the hulking seniors, I chickened out and went to volleyball. Oh, and by the way, the picture above is some of the cookies I baked today. It’s my second time making it and I think there will be more to come. Today, the basketball captain has voiced out that he has to further cut down the amount of players so he can concentrate on those that will be playing in the coming intervarsity games. I really hope I make the cut though I might now be able to help much as I have volleyball to attend to and the competition time clashes.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
International Women's Day
Tomorrow is International Women's Day, and hence today we gave our teacher a little gift to " bribe " her into being nice to us in class. She promised us that we will be able to see an operation that she will be performing today and she held true to her word. The operation was called adenoidectomy and it was being performed on a small kid. The area of operation was endoscopically and through the mouth hence there was only so much that we could see going on. After a while, we got bored and our legs were starting to hurt from the rigid posture we acquired to get a better view of the operation.
Before the operation, me and my male classmates helped out to keep the child in place as he was trashing around being afraid of the needle that was introducing the anaesthesia solution. I thought the kid was already partially sedated as his eyes were closed and a mask that I thought had cloroform(sedative) was being used. But to my astonishment, when the anaesthesiologist called out the kid's name, his eyes fluttered open and he was staring right back into the doctor, during which I was just situated just beside her. I got a fright with the intense of his stare and his eyes (they were a clear blue color).
After our class, we had to go for our Russian class which all of us dreaded. We bought her a small bouquet of flowers on the road side (being the cheapskate Chinese we are) and presented her with it in hopes of being able to skip the class. And lo behold, our wishes came true and I headed to the get some groceries as I planned to bake some cookies later during the day.
I went to gym for the 1st time after a 1 week plus of rest at home being lazy. I had a new personal best of running and exhausting myself of 500kCal and having the longest run on the treadmill I ever had. Though, the success was short lived as my plan to workout longer was turned into ashes went my fatigue kicked in.
After reaching home, I started to prepare the ingredients for baking and started my attempt of creating a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Instead, I got fed up with the pastries as my dear beloved oven (a blowing oven which fans heat out from a fan above) wouldn't want to bake the cookies in its usual manner and only form a layer of crust on the above while leaving the lower part still uncooked no matter how much time I gave it.
Anyway, shout out to all the girls and women out there!! Enjoy yourself on the auspicious 2012 International Women's Day!!!
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Saturday, March 3, 2012
1st Spike
Today, is a Saturday which means, that I have my weekly volleyball training. Week after week, I find myself loosing interest in this game that I have found myself enjoying only a few months ago, it feels like I’m only getting more and more impatient with my teammates and the juniors. I really have to start working with my temper so I do not lash them out at any innocent people.
Back to the training, it was as usual, doing some basic skill training followed by some in court game module. And it was during this time, I had my first ever nicely carried out spike. I was in the setter position as usual, and had been standing near the net, and the ball from the opposite of the court came back to my side being high and near the net, I jumped up seeing it was a perfect height, I swung my hand and with that done, I managed to spike the ball down.
At that moment, I felt so happy and excited. I received some “oohs” and “waaaas” from my friends. The spike in my opinion was equivalent to most of the spike that our main spiker - Ka Shing or Kii Han does (which in my opinion is not that bad either)
I really regret not playing and training as a spiker but I had no choice as there were no other player willing to take the spot at that time. I regret my choice of not taking up basketball as my main sport when I just joined the university. Basketball has always been my main interest in sports rather than volleyball.
But what that has been done is done, there is no use dwelling in a past that can’t be undone. Let’s us look forward and create a better day.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Slushies on the street
It is the time of the year again, where the floor is covered with what the American bullies like to use as their tool to humiliate people - the slushie. The road and streets are now being covered with slush - it is a mixture of water and snow, which makes walking and travelling above it very difficult. First of all, this is due to the presence of water everywhere which tends to splash around when you walk across it. Secondly, the snow in the water thickens the consistency of the water making it harder to cross while going through it. Hence I really hate this time of the year. Hopefully, it will all melt down into water and spring will start soon rather than a repeat of the vicious cycle where the temperature drops down and the streets turns icy and slippery before once turning into slush again.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Resolutions
So far, my resolution on working out daily has been going well. Except for the fact that I skip working out on Saturday and Sunday(cause I have basketball or volleyball training later in the day), I have been sticking to the plan of going to the fitness center every other day. This morning, I went to the gym right after I woke up. This was because its Army's Day in Russia which is a National Holiday here in Russia hence no class and I have volleyball training later that day. Hence I opted to do my workout in the early morning.
As for my studies part. I find that I study better with no pressure (ie : I seem to study a bit more on Saturday and Sunday opposed to on my weekdays where I have to study for my classes as well.) Not only have I been slacking quite a bit on my self studies, I also have been making very little progress (that's what to bound to happen though, how can I make a lot of progress in studies when I have been slacking ?) Hopefully everything will turn out for the better.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Time Flies
To my surprise, I studied quite a bit on Saturday and Sunday and by studying I mean studying additional materials not the ones that I have to study for classes. But as Monday came, I'm not sure it is from the blues the first day of the week or due to the lengthy time we spend in class doing nothing that made me feel so lazy. I came home not doing any real studying and I even had the guts to not study for class (though I had to part my lazy ass off the bed at a mere 5am to study and boy did I regret it). Gym training is starting to become one of my daily routine and I hope it stays that way. I want to try to get back into rhythm of my old high school habits where I study and do all the necessary stuff with efficiency. Time really flies fast, soon it will be the annual intervarsity games and then after it will be finals and home sweet home. Can't wait for the last on the list to come.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Busy day
Today was quite busy. After finishing class at around 12, I headed straight home and slept as sound as a baby on the mini van. Upon reaching home, I had to quickly finish up my assignment and sent the photos one of my groupmates needed as I was bringing my laptop over to my friend's place to get it reformated. I then proceed to go to the gym. During training, I found out that my friend left his installer disc at another person's place and couldn't do anything with my laptop without it. Since, I wanted to get over with it as soon as possible, I opted to go get it for him. When I reached home, I got a message from my groupmate asking me to send him the photos which I did earlier. I was so mad at him as he literally said "Hey Nate, I'm waiting". I'm doing him a favour here, not like I'm obliged to work for him, so I asked him to be careful of his choice of words and intonation. Then after dinner, I had to go out to print my assignment as the printer in my house which was owned by my fellow housemates will only print it for themselves and some close people (which I think I am not included seeing how they reject me time after time). I went to collect my laptop after the printing was done but had to stay there till half past 10. I'm now exhausted and have done nothing to study for my classes tomorrow. Hopefully I'll do better on the next few days.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Needles and Blisters
Today I went for my yearly HIV test which is needed for my visa extension. As usual I got a large needle cut when the nurse retracted the syringe and needle having taking my blood. Went to gym later on for my workout. I usually start with a 30 minute jog but the treadmills were all occupied so I went and start with pumping some metals. When I returned for my cardio workout, I found myself panting and out of breath when it was only 13 minutes into the session, I lowered the speed and took a slow walk and stopped after a mere 20 minute workout. I resumed training but felt my palms starting to ache. I told my friends this and they said my workout gloves needed to be changed as it doesn’t protect ur palms from getting blisters. Upon hearing this for the first time, I was amazed but couldn’t do anything about it as I was short of cash lately. These past few days, I wasn’t totally slacking off from my aim of studying but neither was a having much progress. Hopefully, I’ll do better soon.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Back to working out
Today is Valentine day, being overseas, I had no one to spend my valentine with. Was a bit late for class today, and received news that our teacher was changed. I was very happy with the change as the substituting teacher was a better and more experienced teacher. More importantly, he did not waste our time forcing us watching videos and not teaching (which was exactly what the previous teacher did). After class, I came home and started to do some studying before going out to the gym that I haven't been to for a long time. I was so wrong to think that just because its Valentine's Day, the place would has less people. It was the exact opposite. The fact that I haven't been working out for a long time made me tire myself out very quickly and also giving me a dizzy spell. I went home feeling dizzy and planning to sleep but as soon as I regained my breath and composure, I felt alright. Hopefully, I can keep up this schedule. Keep a watch to find out how I fare.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Day 13 - Riga Airport
Day 12 - Warsaw
Day 11 - Warsaw
Day 10 - Prague
Day 9 - Prague
Day 8 - Prague
Day 7 - Prague
Everything started out smoothly in the morning, with waking up and having a slow and nice breakfast. We checked out the hostel a little behind schedule but we thought everything was ok. Upon reaching the central subway station to change between lines, we found out the line we needed to take for our journey to the bus terminal was closed and down due to some unknown reason. We were directed up and out to the streets by the person in charge which couldn’t really converse in English. On the streets were a huge bunch of people waiting for the replacement bus though we were short of time and henced asked around for an alternative way to get to the terminal. We were told to get on the subway and transfer to a tram to get there. We were getting nervous as time was running out and we are also short of local cash. After getting of the underground, we had to get a ticket but we didn’t know where to get them and was once again directed to the counter which had a long queue. However, when we got to the counter front, the lady closed the counter while talking gibberish. She didn’t even allow us to ask question on how or where to get a ticket. We asked around and was told to get a ticket from the automated machine which upon our trial, didn’t want to work. We were frantic by that time and sweating profusely from adrenaline overdrive and fear of missing our ride. We somehow managed to get on a tram and get to the terminal but the next obstacle was waiting for us. We had no idea where the bus was located and had to find it. We ran around like chickens running away from the slaughter house, looking for our bus. Alas, we got to our bus with just minutes to spare. That concluded our amazingly eventful morning. The bus ride from Budapest to Prague was quite a long one but the bus itself was pretty much very comfortable hence making the trip up quite enjoyable. Upon arrival in Prague, we found a little short of cash as neither of our bank cards seems to work with the local ATM machines. Eventually we got to a machine which allowed us to withdraw the amount needed though I opted to change my remainding Usd and Euros. We theb had a slow walk to find our dinner which was fantastic. On our walk back to hostel we got ourselves some local bear to drink. We didn’t quite like what the people rated as their best beer as it has a queer aftertaste (in my opinion).
Day 6 Budapest
Day 5 - Budapest
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