Wednesday, September 29, 2010

First Day of Third Year

I was overhelmed when I stepped into the brand new lecture hall.
Parquet floor, plush seats and great ambience.
Imagine plywood box, that's how it looks like.

Makes me totally forget the rain and grey outside.
There are new additions to the batch.
A friend transferred to Prague so, there's minus in our class too.
However a great deal of people decided to extend their holiday so the class was pretty empty.

So, nobody actually says welcome to third year but I'm gonna pretend someone says that to me.
This school year seems to be promising, subjects are more exciting and more hardwork is needed.
When for a great deal of people, third year spells final year and promises a graduation at the end, for us, it represents the first half of university life.
Yes, a looong way to go.

I'm kinda law abiding student so I came early today and got busy the moment I get hold of my Pilot pen.
Unfortunately for us who decided to honour the first day, the lecturer decided to skip some essential talks and save it to another session when everybody will be present.
Whatever happen to gardens are not made by sitting in the shade.
Well, kiamat sudah dekat.
Dunia sudah terbalik.

Conclusion is, I wish that I enjoy every seconds of school and work and get the best out of it. Amin.
Btw, summer holiday was beyond great.
Had tonnes of rambutans, mom's cooking, hugs and kisses.
So, it time for school!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Jintan Manis, Jintan Masam, Jintan Masin

I'm or I was always a failure in the kitchen.
Since my help in Penang is limited to cutting onions and the likes, my knowledge doesn't go that far.
I don't really know which stuff goes first, and what's this seed is called.
When I was home this summer, I was asked to go buy jintan manis.
Since I have no idea how it looks like, and the spices sold in our grocery have no label, I just play safe and tell the grocer to go get me one since I don't know which one is jintan manis.
I caught sight of a nearby young woman look of disbelief.

And for the past 2 years, my cooking is very basic.
And since we love to pick and throw almost every familiar packet into the trolley, I get to know what this seed is called.
In Czech language of course.
At first, things were fine, until today.
Since I have picked up a considerably good skill from observing my mom at kitchen this summer, and annoyed her with questions regarding taxonomy of the seed and powder in our kitchen, I kinda know what really goes into this pot to produce wonder.
But my memory is so bad that I forgot them.
Gambar sekadar hiasan dari savagechickens.com

Honestly, most of the time, I rely on internet for recipes.
It is practical and doesn't babble back to me. =p
Problem arises when the website gives me ingredients in Malay.
Or maybe, the problem is, I maybe know the names of all the spices in my rack, except that I know some in Czech, some in English and a hand-not-full in Malay.
U get the drift?
So, when I decided to do some research and make an english-malay-czech dictionary of spices, it fails, big time.
I couldn't believe it that there's a mixed up of names, especially regarding Malay-English names.
I hope someone makes me a pictorial list of spices in English-Malay.
Can ah?

Friday, September 24, 2010

Summer Practise

I was located in the Gerontology and Metabolism ICU with the other 3 for 5 days in our faculty hospital.
If you wonder what is gerontology it's something to do with healthcare for the elderly.
When the other 3 boys were playing with babies, we, 3 girls and 1 boy were taking great care of the elderly.
Basically babies and old people are the same.
They need care from other people.
The difference on the other hand stretch from both ends of the building.
For instance, a baby's surface area is small compared to his gramps and they are lighter too, the babies.


Basically, we learned the hardship of a nurse.
Washing the patient means patting the body with wet towel, applying oil and whats not.
The hard part is of course the smell and on the last day, we were presented with poo. TWICE.
And no, we didn't take care of that.
The nurse did. and it's an admirable act.
We pricked fingers, sucked drainage from the trachea, recorded things and watched procedures.

It's an opportunity that you get when having practicum over here.
First hand experience

Most of the patient have urinary cathether and tracheotomy.
Tracheotomy is an act of making a hole in your neck to provide better ventilation.
Old age has taken it toll on them.
Most have paper skin, bedsores and bruises.

Of all the patients, Mrs. Bohad* would be the most remembered one.
At 82, she suffers from Alzheimer.
She kept taking off the device for measuring oxygen saturation from her ears.
And she likes men.
She would be surprised when you tell her that she is in the hospital.
You see, she thinks that she is in the train station in some town.
We had the opportunity to witness how they remove her gallstone.
Taking care of the old people certainly is not an easy job.
Gargantuan patience is needed.
It tests your personality.
For me, I learned some shortcomings that I have.
5 days swooshed by and I must say I'm glad that it's all over.
I'll talk about the procedures that we witnessed in upcoming posts.
Maybe. =)

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Láska, apa tu?

Heartless.
Yes I am.

Monday, September 20, 2010

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Been back to Bohemia and is assigned to gerontology and metabolism unit.
What a coincidence.
My own treasured granduncle is critical back home and has amnesia.
The news reached me few hours before I'm assigned to the olds.
I can't stop thinking how is his condition after seeing all the patients today.

Oddly, this time the flying gets my cool, simply because I have to leave the loves behind.
But I believe that He has planned it well.
The families are bonding back home and I'll do my part over here.

Friday, September 10, 2010