HELP!

Im positively suffocating under the sheer amount of work for this end of module exam. I really wished there was no exams so that I could go in every day and roam the clinics and wards and enjoy Paediatrics & Dermatology. (Or they could just cut down the number of weeks i had to spend in GP.)

Im currently swinging from 2 extreme ends of total panic to complete depression & hopelessness.

I really cant wait for this all to end and head off to Italy, Croatia, Paris and Turkey. Actually, I want this to end so that I can have a good night's sleep without nightmares and having to wake up to mug.

So all you kind souls out there, pray for me that I will somehow get through this with some sanity intact :D

Happy St Pats Day!

Happy St Patricks Day everyone!
And for those who intend to wear green and get really wasted tonight, why not add go green on your to do list as well!

I think I really have finally reached the age whereby birthdays ain't such a big deal anymore. I can't decide if it's cos I'm so paranoid of flunking my upcoming paeds end of module exam or that I'm feeling the age. I don't think I've really recovered since public policy challenge from the lack of sleep. It appears that I can no longer do nights like I used to in my teens.

And I promise to blog about public policy idea sometime soon :)

Happy St Pats Day!

Happy St Patricks Day everyone!
And for those who intend l wear green and get really wasted tonight, why not add go green on your to do list as well!

I think I really have finally reached the age whereby birthdays ain't such a big deal anymore. I can't decide if it's cos I'm so paranoid of flunking my upcoming paeds end of module exam or that I'm feeling the age. I don't think I've really recovered since public policy challenge from the lack of sleep. It appears that I can no longer do nights like I used to in my teens.

And I promise to blog about public policy idea sometime soon :)

A Father's Love.

I'm not a Christian but I really do want to share this video with all of you out there about a true story of a father's love for his son.

I have to admit I was bawling by the time I finished the video not only because I was touched by this case but 'cos I have seen so many similar cases in the Paediatric wards that Im roaming in now. The sacrifices and unconditional love that each parent would give to their children is just overwhelming, and I find it so beautiful that every single child is the most amazing thing that has ever happened to them no matter how imperfect/wrong medical opinions would classify them.

So, may you enjoy this (:

And love your parents more every day.

A Son asked his father, "Dad, will you take part in a marathon with me?" The father who, despite having a heart condition, says "Yes". They went on to complete the marathon together. Father and son went on to join other marathons. The father always saying "Yes" to his son's request of going through the race together. One day, the son asked his fater, "Dad, let's join the Ironman together."

To which, his father said "Yes".

For those who don't know, Ironman is the toughest triathlon ever. The race encompasses three endurance events of a 2.4 mile (3.86 kilometer) ocean swim, followed by a 112 mile (180.2 kilometer) bike ride and ending with a 26.2 mile (42.195 kilometer) marathon along the coast of the Big Island.

Father and son went on to complete the race together!

For more details: Google Team Hoyt

Helping Japan.

For those of you guys who are thinking of doing your own little part for Japan, one of my friends have set up a JustGiving page to raise some funds for Shelterbox. Shelterbox provide emergency shelter and lifesaving supplies for families around the world who are affected by disasters at the time when they need it the most.

I tried to do my part by putting in some money and keeping them in my prayers. My friend has set up this page and pledged to give a 100USD Amazon voucher to 1 lucky person. (Although this should not be our motivation in contributing anyway, but if it gets the job done, I suppose its good too.)

I know ideally, we would all like to give abit more than just cold hard cash. But, I guess whilst money isnt everything, it can get us some things as well. So, hopefully with this little bit that we are doing, it can all add up to alot. Spread the word, like this you are giving more than just your X-amount.

For more details, your can visit Rachel's page.

Back from PSC Public Policy Challenge London

Am absolutely shattered now having only slept less than 4h last night.

But am a very happy (and well fed) girl and am really really glad for the amazing experience I had over the weekend.

For now, good night! Need to catch up on the sleep, my head is spinning right round right round ...

1st Morning of PSC Public Policy London

At St James Sofitel London now with 3 of my best mates in UK as part of the Singapore PSC Public Policy challenge, which is an initiative to get some of us from the younger generation thinking about policy making. Cynics see it as Singapore's ploy to recruit/ tie down more of us to the government whilst optimists see it as their way to attract more talents into the public service to do good for the country.

Was such a pity I had to come late for the event last night cos I was tied down in clinic with my Prof, but they did serve a good dinner (complete with macarons even though Im not a massive fan but I can imagine girls back home all going nuts) and that was definitely a good way to give any Singaporean a good impression.

It was followed by a talk on how to craft a public policy challenge and what really struck me was how much drafting a public policy mimics medical practice (or vice versa). It appears that the principles behind coming up with a good public policy is what should be guiding us young medics to become a good clinician. Shant talk too much about the concepts here. Propaganda or not, but I was impressed by how well Singapore as done thus far (based on the accounts of the speaker). But as most would know, I am ridiculously patriotic.

And on a more bimbotic level, the room is absolutely beautiful here at St James' Sofitel. The rooms are vintage meet modern, and I am truly inspired to model my home in future after this.

7am, bright start to the day, Im ready to get my case scenario. Till then, adieu! xxx

Hwa Chong Night London 2011

Last weekend was definitely amazing, and it got me counting my blessings.

(Omg, my Itunes just started playing 心旅 as Im typing this.)

I have to admit I had formal events like this. I hate it that I dont know how to put on make up properly and that every single dress makes me look extremely fat.

Yet I love that it is an excuse for all of us busy people to out aside what we are doing grudgingly and end up enjoying ourselves tremendously anyway. At events like this, I count my blessings that I have such great friends around me who can always make me laugh, whom I could count on and who make breathe a sigh of relief instead of turning bright red when they remind me that I have a wardrobe malfunction.

4 years down, and I love and trust them even more than ever.

Presenting the 32nd in London 2011 (:

And for the first time, I could really relate to the song lyrics. And in our eyes, I see signs of "having seen the world" and "age".

Gosh.

Please let the weekend come now.

I am so absolutely knackered that the weekend feels like its never ever coming.

That being said, Im glad that my idea to roll CPR out in schools in singapore as a station for napha tests during PE is slowly taking shape with some motivation and help from my best mate in London.

Its HC night this coming sat, and I have been junking so much these few days to keep myself at work and at home that Im positive I cant fit into any dress without looking like a freaking dumpling. Damn. I hate it that girls have weight woes all the time.

I am truly proud to be a Singaporean.

This is my fave version of Home so far!

I think coming to London to study has really made me really appreciate home and love it all Singapore- both her good and bad. Yes indeed, we do have our flaws and Singaporeans aint the most perfect people in the world, but i still do love my country and my people so very much. I know we are kiasu, but we are also efficient. I know we speak Singlish, but sometimes there just isnt another better word to substitute "damn sian". And yes, we dont have any Michelin starred restaurants, but we have the Tiong Bahru Market, Katong Laksa and even Food Repulic serves awesome food. We dont have Eason Chan or Madonna, but I think JJ Lin, Stef Sun and Kit Chan amongst others does a pretty fine job too.

Yes, we dont have much political freedom, cannot hold strikes/ protests unless we apply for a licences and cant even buy chewing gum. But at least, we still have a working government -a damn good one as well-, a reliable MRT & bus service (muahaha, no tube strikes and no lost income cos you cant get to work) and I never have to feel pull a chair to sit on and feel a sticky disgusting piece of thing under it.

I am patriotic, I dont deny it. I know its not very cool, esp so amongst people of my generation.

I know Singapore aint perfect, but I love her all the same. Thats what love is about right? Appreciating whats good about someone and accepting the flaws as well.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

May your day be filled with love, romance and kisses!

Starting Afresh!

I've decided that I've enough of black and I need more colour in my life. Anyway to us Chinese, black isnt the luckiest of colours as well.

So here's a new background (template and sorts remains the same cos I know nuts about HTML) to welcome Spring! ((((:

Agatha Christie's Mousetrap!

Mousetrap's well worth watching!

I have never really liked watching plays in the past, because I used to find it so hard to catch what the actors are saying and 'cos I have a very short concentration span. Unlike musicals, you cant just zone out for a bit and come back again. Once you have fallen into the Whats-Going-On blackhole, you are pretty much stuck there forever. Plus, I always found them alot less entertaining than musicals (less prancing about and repeating the same sentence many times till i finally could sing it too).

But I had decided to go for Mousetrap partly because of all the good reviews it has gotten (but I have to admit I was still slightly skeptical then) and mainly 'cos I wanted to meet up with a mate of mine from Oxford who had come down to London for the show.

But Mousetrap was real good, I never got bored at any point of time and possibly because Im a terrible detective, it got me guessing till the end. Having watching 2 really good plays in London thus far (Woman in Black and Mousetrap), I am now ready to embrace the theatre more!

On a side note, doing my GP rotation now (despite not seeing very many white patients because the location Im in tend to see more immigrants), made me realise that the uptightness, properness and politeness we see of the Brits in films/plays are so very true (esp so in the older population)!

Ciao, off to wingchun practise now! Unfortunately it doesnt look anything sunny enough to take a walk in Hampstead Heath.

CNY 2011- London & Faro

I know I havent been updating for quite some time but thats because I have been so ridiculously busy with so many things--- a weekend trip to Faro, Portugal, a couple of CNY dinners, my dearest flatmate's bday (I baked a Victorian butter cake- My 1st ever baking experience other than the other time I made bread pudding which really doesnt count as baking.) and so many other small random stuff that seems to make my days pass in a daze. Its definitely been one of the best chinese new year away from home.

Faro '2011:

Pictures of Faro would be up once I order my all-in-one memory card reader and get the photos into my Mac.

It was a lovely trip- perfect for a weekend getaway cos there was nothing to do there except for beach activities. Moreover since it was off- season (winter), it wasnt crowded. Although we couldnt swim (wayyy too cold), there was still some winter sun and I was thankful enough that we were able to stroll about in our shorts and sleeveless tops. We were definitely inviting stares at our inappropriate attire (most people were in sweaters and long pants which to me was pretty absurd cos the temperature was possibly about 18degrees or so.).

On our first morning there, we took a long 2h stroll from our hotel (Hotel Monaco- Highly recommended. Clean, friendly staff, Awesome room at Hostel Prices!) to Faro's only beach. Because Im a traveller who values the experience more than visiting 1000 churches or tourist attraction, the walk there was one of the highlights of my weekend trip. The weather was beautiful (sunny and warm but not too hot), and there was hardly any traffic so we could easily walk along the expressways and sometimes in the middle of smaller roads. We walked past the airport (our hotel was about 5mins drive away from the airport), across the Faro's massive nature reserve at low tide (Which was alot of marshland, but it was still a pretty sight in its special way.), stopped by a fruit stall set up along the roads, chatted to the very friendly fruitseller & had the best and biggest oranges I have ever tasted (8 for 1euro!), took many many photos along the way and finally made it to the beach. The waters were too cold to swim in, but since it wasnt peak season, there were only a couple of locals sitting about and enjoying family time, we had a really nice walk down, picking up seashells and enjoying the waves.

Of course, a trip is never perfect without good food (and desserts). We found a lovely bakery near our hotel which served awesome sponge cakes and coffee, plus at a cheap price (we paid about 8euros for 8 plates of cakes and 3 cups of coffee). The custard portuguese tarts were kinda disappointing though- Im not sure if its cos we overdosed on custard (they somehow had to add custard to everything, and a generous serving of it) or that Im expecting something like Magdeleine's egg tarts in Singapore or Macau's take on portuguese egg tarts.

Another thing which I thought the Faro-ians (or maybe its a Portuguese thing, Im not too sure) did beautifully was homemade potato crisps. The chefs at the local restaurants would hand sliced potatoes and then fry it before serving it immediately (literally piping hot!). I love those which are crispy at the sides and yet soft in the middle- Its like getting the best of both kinds of Mac's fries. If you like your fries/ chips/ crisps crispy, the smaller slices were also fantastic.

Finally, the highlight of my trip was the discovery of WHITE SANGRIA (served by a very cute Portuguese bespectacled bartender). I had a bit too much that night (at least a pitcher), so much so I was asking for more (very unlike my usual behaviour I must clarify), asking D & K ridiculous questions (I dont remember what exactly though) and doing alot of pointing & big actions according to K. Whoops. But definitely worth it. I cant rem what exactly is the name of the bar but its one of the 2 bars that people like to go for pre-drinks. Will definitely share if any of my travel buddies can recall.

All in all, the people there were also really lovely, all very friendly and helpful. Friendly locals definitely rank as one of the most important factors when Im judging a place and Faro would get loads of stars for that. The food there was good and cheap and so were the drinks. So thats adds more stars to it. Plus, we paid 20euros per night for a very lovely hotel!

But that being said, 1 weekend is definitely all that is needed for Faro (:

新年终于来了！

Since I am now too stuffed to shower and sleep, I thought I might just do a quick entry here to wish everyone 新年快乐，学业进步，兔年行大运!

Hoping that everyone out there has had a wonderful reunion dinner with your family, friends and loved ones!

I have had a extremely lovely steamboat dinner complete with LOADS of food (chicken, squid, abalone, yong tau foo, fish, 烧肉, chin chow, 年糕, home made banana cake ... BURP), loads of laughter (always the case when you have a hyperactive mark around) and loads of good company! I count my blessings here everyday that I have such lovely friends like them around when Im here in London.

I think when Im back in Singapore, Im definitely going to look back at these times and wish that I could be back here for something like this again.

All in all, Im thankful for the very beautiful CNY reunion dinner which I just had, even if it was cold outside and we didnt have as much pineapple tarts and bak kwa as we would like.

张敬轩－ 我的新欢。

Recently I discovered a singer who has pretty good songs.

Even though he has been around for quite some time, I have never heard of him. But i have definitely heard some of his songs on Yes 933 in the past. I youtubed his name and it came up with quite a few old songs which I used to liked, but I suppose never enough to want to google his name.

张敬轩- 吻得太逼真 (click here if video doesnt load)

This was the song which Yes 933 played that caught my ... ears.

I have since been listening to it on loop.

-

And 新年快乐 to everyone, its 除夕 tomorrow!

To me, its possibly the most important day of chinese new year and Im glad Im spending it with my pseudo- family here in London.

I do hope that all of you friends would be spending it with friends and family and loved ones wherever in the world you are at now (:

Happy birthday to my favourite credit card bill payer!

Happy Birthday to Lee Pa Pa!

Wished I could be home for this and for CNY :(

At least Im trying to make it slightly more festive for myself by having a massive clean up of the house to rid of dust, dirt, bad luck and expired food, creating a mini CNY corner full of goodies and reading my favourite chinese work of all times- 绝代双骄.

Plus, my consultant (? italian) said he would give me an angpow cos his wife is singaporean. Muahahahahah.

And the CNY celebrations starts for Peish (:

I only wished I had brought my camera with me cos it was really lovely today at the Singaporean CNY street market. It was properly crowded even though it was held in UCL's south cloisters (which is basically not bigger than half a bball court). There was happy chinese music & CNY songs blasting through the air. There was also a good selection of good ol' Singaporean/ Chinese food like kaya, chwee kueh, orh nee, cheng tng etc. Most importantly, there was loads of Singaporeans! It always makes me happy to meet fellow schoolmates and countrymen (how very communist i sound). Even if occasionally, I have to make (awkward) small talk with hi- bye friends or admit (very embarrassingly) that i cant even remember their face, much less names.

But all in all, its a good feeling and Peish is a very (tired and cold but ...) happy girl today!

-

PS. Need advice for the following:

(Am as usual being my very indecisive self)

1. Singapore VS Spain?

Should i go home (singapore) for easter for 13days (Ie. Sun and Comfy bed and wakeboarding and friends & family) OR 7 Day Spain/ Canary Island trip for beach times +/- weekend trips with my medic friends from singapore who would be in the uk for weekend trip?

2. Singapore VS India?

Should i go back home or India for a 6 week medical elective?

新年快来了！

Had a day off today, which really is a great luxury. Despite that, I didnt quite manage to sleep in, was up and about by 8am. Unlike most uni students my age, I have trouble sleeping in even when I want to. I just have this extreme paranoia to jump out of bed asap cos I have 1001 things to do.

I have been feeling very festive recently. I mean since Im in a land whereby 99.99% of the population doesnt know that the biggest event of the Chinese calendar is next week, its really up to the individual to create the 气氛.

It actually feels really good to start chucking all the bits and pieces which I have been collecting in the past year but have never used (I still have the garang guni/ rag & bone man mentality. You know when you are young, you would keep everything from wrappers to broken toys 'cos you just dont wanna throw anything away. I still have this bad habit.) and ridding the house of all the dust and dirt. Started with my loo yesterday and Im going to work my way to my study area, room and then the living room.

On top of that, Im really looking forward the CNY eve reunion with my favourite people in London (32nd councillors) which Im sure will be filled with laughter, joy and loads of food! And then 人日 celebrations with the medics, of course over even more food!

Its been 4-5 years since I last celebrated CNY at home with family and friends and solid good quality singaporean yummies. I really cant wait for the day that I can throw my square cap in the air, get the scroll I have been working for for the past 5 years and take SIA back to Singapore for the last time. Its gonna be bittersweet, but I think its time for me to go home. I have had my good share of fun.

I really want to go home for CNY.

Everyone has a soft spot for something/ someone. For me, its my little brother even though I have never mentioned it to him before.

So today when he txted me to ask me when I would be back to go wakeboarding with him, it just got me terribly homesick. And really it doesnt help that CNY is in about 1.5 weeks time. We could still have steamboat dinners, pineapple tarts, lo hei and Stephen Chow films, but it just aint the same when its not in Singapore.

But I did make the choice of coming here 4 years ago and promised that Im gonna complete it and do it well. Afterall, I cant let my daddy down. Just like how I want everything to turn out perfectly for my brother (Eg. I was ridiculously happy when I heard he got into good unis), I know my dad has a soft spot for me and its going to make him insanely happy when I graduate ... well.

Ahhh, venting helps. Now, Im ready to continue with the term (: