Green Valley

This picture was taken on my way to Marae few weeks ago, using my phone camera. The driver stopped at this very beautiful place (which i forgot its name) and told us some story (which i didn't pay attention to). The scenery is really nice, and i saw heaps of sheep, but all of them are morbidly obese, and that's why i thought they are cute, haha!

Today during my posting in a GP in Bishopdale, a patient asked me: "Are you from Thailand?" (blanked for a few seconds) Do i look like a Thai? Nobody told me that before...

Risotto

It's Sunday morning, i laze in my bed till 10.30am. Study, nay! I feel like watching a movie with nice breakfast. Hmph...how about risotto? Yea, it would be nice. The craving becomes more intense when i think of my last risotto at Little Italy in Bangalore....yummy.... Let's get things done!

If you want recipe from me, sorry can't provide any, because my risotto is from the instant pack that i bought from hypermarket, haha! It is pretty easy to prepare, just add water and boil. Less than 15 minutes, a full bowl of steamy risotto is ready for me to devour. To be honest, it tastes like typical instant noodle, sigh....

The package states that it can make 4 serving, so not true. I can finish the whole thing before the movie that i watch, Madagascar 2 ends. Does my appetite increased since i came to christchurch? Oh no, i don't want to gain weight.....

Lantern Festival

Me, Jun Ken, Ah Beh, Chong Yu, and Michelle(senior) in Victoria Square during the Lantern Festival last week. Actually i still don't really understand since when Chinese celebrate 'lantern festival'. The most i could think of is Mid-Autumn Festival a.k.a Mooncake Festival and to certain extent we would call it Lantern Festival too. But isn't too early to celebrate that now? Then we saw a long queue at one corner, and wonder what it was. Guess what, some chinese were selling paper lantern with $2 each. Oh my, i guess i could buy a pack of ten paper lanterns with RM2 back in malaysia. The ang mohs who bought it seemed really like it, maybe they though it was worth the price, i should have open a booth there too, haha!

Speaking of senior, Michelle had helped me alot before i came to new zealand. I always bugged her in msn and fired tonnes of questions. And she is kind enough to clear my doubt and provide substantial information. Thank you so much! Must to mention her wonderful blog, it's like my 'Lonely Planet' for Christchurch, check out her blog in my link list.

Oh ya, my parcel that i sent through shipping had arrived. It took exactly 43 days to reach Christchurch from Chemor. Pretty fast, huh! I paid around RM100 for 18kg of stuff. Pretty cheap, huh! I'm so gonna ask my mum to send more stuff to me, haha! Can't believe Pos Malaysia actually is quite efficient, proud to announce it to the world.

extra stickers that i never see before i sent it

Moisturizers

In order to prevent legal problem, i have blurred the brand name, but it is a famous brand anyway, they should gimme commision, haha!

The weather here s pretty dry, not like malaysia ("panas and lembap sepanjang tahun", quote from geography textbook). When i first came to nz, i didn't really take good care of my skin, plus my previous systemic fungal infection, so it was quite scarry when the keratin is peeling off my face, abundantly. After staying here for a few weeks, i have learnt that it is inevitable to spend some money on moisturizers. The picture above tells it all.

Valentine

My wishes to all reader a very happy valentine's day. The picture was taken this evening at Victoria Square. It was so crowded because the city council organized a lantern festival/chinese new year celebration there. For the first time i saw so many living people in christchurch, haha!

青蛙

露营回来后，才知道家乡又变天了。政治僚乱，经济萧条，人民可活在水深火热当中啊！身处异地的我，虽不能亲身感受其热潮，但并不减我对家乡的关注。

首先是国阵领回霹雳的执政权，人人在都喊骂许女士。回想几年前，我和许女士有过一面之缘，真不敢相信媒体对她的指责，很想立即亲口问她到底是什么一回事。真的是贪图名利？或是身不由己？政治有多黑暗，我不敢去知道，只希望真理在人间。

过后又听说补选要来临，媒体声称又是另一个民意公投。自308后，我依然存有同一个矛盾，那就是支持民联是因为要教训国阵，还是因为民联是值得信赖。前几天在露营时，开始接触到纽西兰的政治。他们的政治与我国截然不同，没有上下议院，三权完全分立。大选时，人民都分开投选其心仪的代议士和执政党。换句话说，他们的政府不可能由一党来独大。过后同学问我家乡的政治如何，我解释后，他们问我反对党和执政党 的党念是什么。这可是难到我了! 他们问是否像外国的左翼与右翼，不是阿，我们选反对党纯粹是要在国会里有些反对的声量。由此可见，我国的政治成熟度还处于萌芽介段。。。

民联要人跳槽是正义的？国阵拉拢跳槽是卑鄙的？那天在网上看到一篇文章后，像棒头一喝，唤醒了我那先入为主的关点。切记，在观看时事与历史时，不要被文字的唆摆而丧失中立的看观。

Marae

For the past 3 days, i went to Onuku Marae to study Maori Health (maori is the indigenous people of new zealand). Maori health is the compulsory subject in new zealand medical schools because Maori is the second largest population here, thus it is very important to understand their culture and belief when we encounter them in the future.

Onuku Marae is around 45 minutes away from Christchurch, by bus. The journey was pleasant, because of cool breeze and awesome scenary. Whenever we think of new zealand, we think of vast greenland with cows and sheeps. That's so true! Can't believe i actually saw it with my own naked eyes when the bus came out from the city centre. Feel like just jumping out of the bus and roll on the grass.

Later we reached our destination. The marae has a main hall(wharenui), a dining hall(wharekai), few toiltets and a church behind it. In front of the marae is a calm, blue sea whereas behind the marae is hilly area. So you can imagine what a beautiful place it is! Really regret for not bringing my camera along....

There are a few customs and rituals that we had to follow during our stay in marae. It's really interesting to understand a culture by immersing myself into the particular environment. Most of the time, we learned its languages, beliefs, and taboos. But the worst part was, an assessment would be conducted before we left, such a nuisance!

The food was great and abundant, they really wanna fed us well. But the annoying ulcer beneath the tip of my tongue has been forbidding me from consuming more food that i possibly could. Sigh....

The experience was really memorable, and hope i can pass my assessment, haha! Kia Ora!

This is the main hall of marae, we had most of the activities there, and all of us slept inside too. The problem of sleeping with a big gang was the thundering snoring from unidentified people (and rumour was saying it's from the dean, haha). The picture was taken from the net, as i said justnow, i didn't bring my camera, what an awful mistake!

Standing the the ground reception of my school

This week is my first clinical orientation week. On the first day, all the 4th year student gathered in the lecture theater and sorted out some administration procedure. Then all of us needed to do a MRSA swab test, which was pretty weird and i'm sure you wouldn't want to know. After that, we went to our assigned group for briefing. I am having General Practice run first, and according to seniors, it's the most relaxing run, and i hope they are right, haha!

We met quite a number of malaysian students here, all of them are very friendly. I even met one indian guy from Ipoh, what a small world!

On Wednesday, my group had a 'Shift with Nurse'. Basically we just need to follow a nurse in the hospital for a full shift. The nurse that i followed that day was Caroline, from Acute Medical Assessment Unit. She is a very nice lady, very willing to teach and extremely kind to the patients. Though she is just one year older than me, she is awesomely experienced in everything she does, and it made me felt so inferior. Overall it's a very good experience.

The rest of the week, i had history taking and physical examination, in which my skills have been deteriorated since my sem 5 exam last year.

Friday no class, yeah! Long Weekend...

What i plan for my long weekend are..... sleep till late morning, watch a few movies in my laptop in order to clear my memory space, complete a few mission in Need for Speed Most Wanted, get my groceries done, get my weekly laundry done, etc.

Can't wait for the next holiday!

A Pleasant Afternoon

Movie and cake, perfect combination of treats after a day of hard work

I am having General Practice now, relatively relax compared to other runs. The most challenging problem now is to adapt otago's structure and teaching format, its slightly different from imu, definitely. And one more thing, the kiwi's accent, sigh....

But don't worry, i'm good in pampering myself after schooling, haha!

Welcoming Cake

Raenna and all the newbies

Gluttony me.... my flat senior, Raenna Chan, actually like to bake cake but doesn't like to eat, and me on the other hand, don't know how to bake at all but absolutely have no problem if you offer any kind of food to me. She really reminds me of my aunty (三姑）who loves baking but favor none of her great production. Thus while i studied in KL, my aunt had been sending slices and piles of fantastic cakes for me to devour. Yummy..... Then Raenna here took over my aunt's role, i'm so blessed, muahahaha.....

Raenna is a very nice senior, she felt obligated to look after all the juniors who just arrived Christchurch. Thus she kept on apologizing to us for not being here last week. We told her that she has no such responsibility and we are doing fine so far. She insisted of baking one cake for compensation, well, how can i say no to food, haha!

We ate the cake together, very tasty! Then we had a briefing session (about everything, ranging from study to travel in Christchurch) in the lounge. I'm very glad that all the seniors here are so friendly and helpful. Thank you so much!

Studying Bathroom...

The bathroom in my flat is really fascinating, though it doesn't have pond-sized jacuzzi nor automated digital shower system. Physically it looks exactly like a typical bathroom back in malaysia, but there are several 'odd' things i would like to point out.

At first glance, it looks normal, sink with mirror (except that weird steam machine)

Then there is an air pump near the window. James asked, "this is not a toilet, no smelly poo-poo gas, what's the point?" I also don't know. But few days later, Limin (super senior) came and explained to us. Actually the gadget is very important, especially during winter, coz when we bath in hot water, steam will be produced and condensation will take place once it reaches cold surface like window or the wall. Droplets of water that remained inside the bathroom will favour fungal growth. Thus it's very important to pump out the steam as much as possible.

The weirdest of all is this icy aluminum base at the shower spot. I don't understand why they choose this material instead of tiles. Apparently it's very common in nz because according to james, his hostel's bathroom in auckland also have this aluminum base. Limin didn't explained its rationale though. The base is extremely cold in the early morning and night, which is time for me to bath. Can you imagine how much courage that i must have everytime i put in my first step into shower room? Why should i be punished for keeping myself hygenic? WHY......

Guess i have to reduce the number of shower that i take everyday then.