Happy 22nd Birthday, James

Exam and Test

First week after coming back from holiday was torturing....The momentum was slow, motivation was low, work efficiency was low, and yet various pressure kept pestering me and yelled 'Hey ya, MOVE!'

Next week having 4 exams, microbiology, pathology and psychiatric osce on thursday, end of run exam on friday. Sigh, this weekend is gonna be on nerdy mode!

To keep up with the standard level is so hard....

Easter Holiday- Queenstown Road Trip

Yeah, it's holiday! After 2 months of my clinical study in nz, finally i've got one week break during easter. Though it's not very long, i'm happy enough just to have some time off.

For the past 3 days, me and james had a road trip down to Queenstown, approximately 600km from Christchurch. We decided to have this road trip because people said that the scenery along the road was very nice. Hence we booked accomodation, rented a car and left christchurch 5am in the morning of Good Friday.

Once we enter the province of Otago from Cantebury, the landscape seriously becomes very beautiful. Can't resist to stop the car at the side and take picture.

Oh my, it's snow! For the first time, i can touch real snow with my bare hand (snow that i touched before was in Mines Wonderland and Genting Snow House, but that's fake). I know it's abit jakun, but i'm so excited about it!

Sitting by the lake in Queenstown, my favourite thing to do there. All i need is just a bench and a pack of fish and chips. Feeling the cool breeze while enjoying myself with the magnificent scenery, what a blessing! That's why i kept on dragging james to company me, though he complained about the coldness, don't care, haha!

This is the city centre of Queenstown, small but filled with tourists. Very pleasant but expensive to live in. Home of bungy jumping (but it's so bloody expensive, still preparing my gut and money for bungy jumping, must do that in my next visit to queenstown)

Another potential blog header, yeah! (thanks to photographer james)

Finally back in Christchurch, after countless hours of driving. It's been so long i never drive, so got a few embarrassing problems arise which i shoudn't mention here, hehe! Posing at Cathedral Square after dinner while the church having a special mass.

Holiday Mood

This picture was taken in an early morning when i openned the window curtain, and saw this unusual phenomenon. Amazed by the orangy colour trail that it left behind, still didn't know it's from a jet or from an asteroid

Today i had pizza buffet with the imu seniors for lunch at Northland Mall, $11 for unlimited pizza (but with limited choice), salad, pasta and dessert. Not sure if it's worth it, but one thing for sure was i left the restaurant with a tummy full of pizza and pasta, like a pig, oink oink!

Easter holiday is coming (4 more days), hooray.... I'm totally in my holiday mood now, don't feel like study at all and slacked through the whole weekend. Tomorrow when people ask me how's my weekend, i will definitely say, "Great, i relaxed and did nothing!"

But after the 10 days holiday, i will be having neuro OSCE, microbiology and pathology exam. Must study hard after all the vacation...

Tire Punctured

Today was pretty unlucky. I haven't found any interesting or suitable patient for my long case, and the ethics tutorial made me yawned for uncountable times. So around 4pm, i grabbed my bike and headed home.

Right after i passed the roundabouts near Princess Margaret's Hospital, the front tire of my bike became flat. Oh gosh, i can't push the bike and walk back from here, it's so far.... Then, i decided to push my bike for awhile and hoped there would be one bike shop at the front. Unfortunately, there was none, unlucky me.... I looked at the watch, oh no, it's almost 5pm, all the shops would be closing soon. No choice, i needed to try my luck on other main streets, so i hopped on my bike and started biking, poor bike!

I passed by Warehouse (a department store) and quickly went in to look for help. They did sell the tire tube, but they don't provide any assistance service. I went into the bicycle accesories aisle, saw various size of tire tube, but i wasn't sure which size suits my bike. Sigh, i should go to the bike shop instead!




Time checked, oh, it's quarter to five, i asked a guy in a shop, "where is the nearest bike shop?" The guy said, "there is one along Colombo street, another one at the end Milton road, there should be one along Lincold road too..." Good, i would pass lincoln road, bet my luck for the last time.

Thank goodness, there was one bike shop that hadn't closed yet. They managed to get me a suitable tube, but cannot put it on for me. WHAT....felt like swearing on the spot! I'm the customer and how dare you to refuse my request? In the end, he said i could leave the bike here and they could fix it up by friday. WHAT....chill, must have good control on my manner. Fine, it's my bad day so i left in the end, with my flat tire and the 10 dollar uninflated new tube.

Once i reached back home, glad that my bike hadn't shown any sign of major deformity (hope everything is still intact when i bike it tomorrow...). I tried to fix it by myself, and glad that ah beh came along and helped. Chow went online and checked the proper way of doing it and heng taught me how to patch the punctured part.We met some difficulties, but in the end, we managed to replace the punctured tube, apparently it was due to some glass pieces on the road. Who are the inconsiderate moron that indirectly causing so much misery on me? Geram betul....

Anyway, at least i learned something new today, i know how to replace a punctured tube, without the aid of any proper tool. Really pity my bike for what it had been through on my way back.....

Registrar

Today i went to Princess Margaret Hospital's library to borrow a novel, the librarian looked at me and asked, 'Are you a registrar?' I puzzled for a few seconds and said, 'i would love to become a registrar now, nay, i'm medical student.' The librarian laughed and thought i'm either a registrar or a house surgeon.

By the way, do i look that old? Don't care, i just take it as a compliment.

Felt so happy for the rest of the day.....haha!

End of General Practice Run

Today is the last day of GP run. 5 weeks had gone, wow, that's real fast! I really enjoy this run, first of all, it is not as hectic as the others, plus the lecturers are extremely friendly and a bit too enthusiastic, haha! We had a written test justnow, and i saw my groupmates wrote very long answer for each question, making me feel so worry about the result. Anyway, it's over and i should enjoy this weekend to the max!

For the past 5 weeks, i had to go to GP clinic 3 times a week during the afternoon. When i first got the list of GPs, i had no idea which one should i choose. The only issue that i had in my mind was the distance. So in the end, i chose Mairehao and Bishopdale, which are not too far or too near from the city centre. Lucky me, the doctors in this two places are so super duper nice, making me feel like becoming a GP in the future.


This is Dr. Chris Hill from Mairehao, graduated from otago too. He worked in Brunei before and been to Malaysia for a few times, he even knows where is Ipoh. On the first day, he showed me the pictures he took in malaysia, from penang to ipoh to kl. Guess what, the first picture of ipoh that he showed me is the main street of Chemor (oh...suddenly feel so homesick...). He understands that i am still strugging with the kiwi accent, thus after every consultation, he will discuss with me just to check if i know what's going on. At the same time, he also taught me some slangs that kiwi use most of the time. I really admire the way he clicks with all the patients and made them feel so comfortable throughout the whole consultation. And i like the way he introduced me to the patient, "this is How, nearly a doctor!" (still have 3 years to go though, haha!)


This is Dr. Chris Leathart from Bishopdale, graduated from liverpool. He is extremely knowledgeable, still can remember details of the basic stuff, which really amazed me. I have no problem with his accent because he has no kiwi slangs at all. ( he said perhaps because he is an english, and tend to enunciate words more properly, which is quite true...) He is like a walking textbook, able to tell the full name of underlying pathology, which is very helpful for me to do revision. And he is very humble even though he has been a GP for more than 20 years. Really learn a lot of stuff from him.

So sad that GP run has finished, will gonna miss them.