well me and yingwei spent alot of time in the student lounge watching youtube on sat. hahaa we checked out this singaporean 黃靖倫 who's competing in 超級星光大道第三季. he has made his way up to top 5. haha he's v monotonous voice is very funny and he's in general a v funny guy who likes to use cheng yu ++. he's really q funny. check out the bits at the end after they give him score and he's always doing strange stuff after the compere prompt him. damn funny

黃靖倫 從開始到現在.2

it's damn funny when he talks ha.. cheers me up abit.
an unpackaged typical singaporean haha i tink he's q a good representative for singaporeans..

20080529_星光的孩子們_黃靖倫&潘嗣敬

him and sugi frm project superstar. there's another girl 嘉航 from campus superstar in the competition at the beginning also. but he's the only guy left.

2008.5.23-十強晉級.黃靖倫 訪問

singaporeans love food, dont we?


6搶5 簡鳳君好評連連 黃靖倫妙語如珠(相簿另有擷圖)

sigh. despite having a wonderful wkend. i'm in a terribly bad mood now. wth is wrong w me?!? sigh.

well.. 2 weeks of nuh paeds just flew by lidat. it was really kinda xiong and stressful, because I realized there are so many things i don't know and need to revise on. but cute kidos is a plus point for paeds posting as usual and i must say i've got really good tutors this time. dr lau is A+++ tutor and Dr OHT is really funny and Dr S was rather nice to us as well. But i was in a rather bad mood because of chronic fatigue, hope i take this wkend to recover and have nice time in psy. good luck to all starting sip! :D

the constant gardener



I watched it this evening. Have been looking for it since Dr George recommended it. Thanx ser for helping me rent it. :)
It kinda gets you thinking about what pharmaceutical companies are after when they give out free medication to people in 3rd world countries? This movie talks about the conspiracy behind exploiting the Africans with TB, HIV and getting these people to take a certain drug as a drug trial, covering up all the deaths due to side effects, even before the drug is safe enough to be out in the market. It's quite an interesting show.

kidos!
haa some of the kidos i've gotten to know while i was there
Ian is a boy who went to climb the hills w us on our first few days in kisiizi, unlike the rest of the kids he never once asked me for money or anything.. he just followed us up the hill, we just chit chatted, n everytime he sees me outside the GH/in the hosp he'll come up to say hi.. a nice n quiet kid.
matthew n judy
dr jo & moses 2 younger kids.. there is still jojo they are so so cute.. i really love them. judy was really shy at the beginning but towards the end, we became such gd frens
edwin & his fren - 2 kwashakior kids.. edwin took our hearts away when he came to us n grabbed our hand his tiny hand.. he's so cute n every mouthful of egg he takes, 10% of it drops out haa.. his fren, is really cute too.. but i never found out his name
alan is sis ruth's son.. cute!!
ethan- dr denise & dr tonny's elder boy... he's so active and playful but i really like just wrestling w him.. haa on the grass patch outside moses' place heh he's a v smart boy
timothy- a v smart kid.. his mummy is one of the physiotherapist in charge of the ortho camp..
ye gang- son of korean missionary dr lim. wh really likes him alot. me too! he's so cute, the first boy to compliment me and say "i like your shirt" haaa n i was pleasantly surprised n told him i like his too.. baby pink n baby blue look nice together haha


well he's kinda short so i like to squat down so tt we're at eyelevel but the cute thing abt him is he likes to imitate me n squat down too.. haa so i tink this is a really cute pix showing us.


more photos of banet! :)

i really like this pix. NY took it the last day banet was ard. well i knew he was leaving tt day because i did the discharge for his ahgong. but i was stuck in theatre the whole day. after the last case suddenly NY appeared in the OT to tell me tt Banet was getting into the car w his family n leaving for good.. i was like OMG.. i just yank off my cap my mask and ran out in my scrubs n the OT boots! (which i'm so not supposed to) well together w the patient's notes/med chart which i'm supposed to write and went to him. well i kinda left the OT staff abit stunned n Sis A was abit pissed cause she cant lock up cause i hafnt changed and the S/W staff cudnt find the notes cause i had them. q paiseh.. but anyway i saw Banet for the last time.. carried him for the last time.. and said goodbye. he was abit aloof tt day hahah guess he didnt know tt this will b the last time we're seeing each other. but i'll always b grateful tt NY came to get me frm OT to say goodbye to him :)


banet... he's the 2nd boy that has a special place in my heart after Emmanuel. I really love cuddling him and i'm always on a look out for him everytime i step into surgical ward ha. he's the grandson of a patient and he's mr Kaypoh haaa that's y everyone loves him.. he'll go ard w the nurses during their hand over and during ward rds.. he'll just come and grab my hand or py's or hang on to dr robert's leg macam like tree trunk.. then he'll just b the 3rd medical student and finish the rds w us haa. we'll i've watched him laugh, watched him cry, watched him bathe and all i really really like him. i'll write to him, well he's kinda too young.. but i've got his aunt's add. mayb we'll b in touch till he grows up haa.


well Dr Robert is this MO who's always teaches us during ward rds.. he's like one of the few drs who will quiz us abt stuff n get us to read up on the topics and the next day quiz us again.. making ward rds really long.. (sorry sisters) so doing rds w him always meant there's alot of reading up to do but i dint do my part in reading up on all tt he told me to. but anyway he's Mr. Bacilli haa (aka Baksai). He likes to ask "you get?" and laughs and runs in a strangly funny way, tells us that his fren once said, "prostate cancer is more common in males" and he loves kids. he's kinda shy in front of the camera, but all in all i really enjoyed working w him.

this picture was taken just as we were leaving the guesthouse in lesster's car. all the house girls who took care of us so well and had been our fren for the past 2 mths. thnx so much. i miss u all. -olivia.gauda.jackie.leticia.generous.stella-


stella is the guest house manager.. she frowns subconsciously when she's deep in thot. she is to me a big sister who is v sensitive towards our needs.. she'll b one of the first to notice if anyone's feeling down and offer a listening ear or a push on the swing to cheer u up. she has planted 2 trees in the garden and they're so tiny. one has got 2 leaves, the other has 3. mayb i'll go bk one day after many yrs to find 2 hugh trees in the garden of rose cottage.


generous is like a mummy to us.. she, together w the other house girls, takes care of all our needs in the guest house. she's a great cook and will cook anything we like for us, avoiding those we dont like. she'll quietly take our shoes that are so dirty and dusty and intended to b thrown away at the end of elective, to wash till it's so clean tt it almost looked brand new haa. i really miss her. she's so nice to hug~!


andrew! who is dr sutherland already..
i miss andrew and his funny expressions :) he's such a wonderful fren who we've gotten to know.. cause his medical elective started a wk before ours n ended a wk before as well.. so basically the 5 of us were on elective together. it's cool chatting w him and he LOVES white chicks like us. haaa well none of us were brave enuff to tell dr robert "wat a beautiful chocolate man" but it was really funny. the elective would not have been the same w/o andrew.


paul.. our first non-african fren we gotten to know in kisiizi. he kinda arrived 1 hr after we did and he had been here 30 yrs ago, so he brought us to the waterfall and mast the 2nd day we were visiting.. haa he's also an interesting and the 4 singaporeans have a rather unique relationship w him.. i kinda miss hearing his "isnt it lovely?" and i'm sorry to disappoint him because i didnt get my hair braided haa


alan is an interesting fren i've gotten to know staying at the guesthouse. he's frm kampala and came by to fix the internet for us.. :)

i took about 16 gig of photos this trip. here are some :)


the 4 of us @ kisiizi.. me peiyun bingzhu ningyi.
actually i do miss the times we spent facing each other 24/7 for almost 2mths.


this is the view frm chapel.. u can see paeds ward below, maternity ward above in the foreground and isolation ward below w medical ward above in the bkground..
it's a beautiful place w lovely flowers blooming in lots of places :)
kisiizi hospital.


surg ward.. where we learnt that if we dont run the rounds no one would cause the surgeons came by to list them and ll b stuck in theatre the whole day.. but it's a place w alot of memories, banet one of my fav kidos, being exasperated by things not getting done aft u told the staff but at the same time see pts u help during the operation recover n discharged..


this is medical ward.. where we take care of patients, do rounds, do ecg and enjoy the company of the lovely staff


6 of us - ningyi, bingzhu, wenhann, jialin, peiyun and me
and of coz lesster.
these are the 5 other meddies i travelled to africa + hongkong w... i found this trip a great experience to know more abt my frens more and to know more abt myself, i'll always remember them and i'm grateful for these pple to be there for me when we r so far away from home..
and of coz lesster and mei. i'm really grateful for them to take us in and take so good care of us in Uganda when we were total strangers just a few mths before and have only communicated via email. thanx for everything, your friendship, hospitality, advice and care!


this picture was taken at the ground floor of our apartment in hongkong, we were on our way to the busstop to take A11 to the airport. it reminds me of the planning before the trip, the packing before the trip, the throwing out stuff at the airport before the trip, lesster and mei, making our way to nyakishenyi bus w lotsa black pple grabbing us our 2nd day in kampala, packing & unpacking countless of times, the 40kg load we brought bk w us n hiding loads of heavy stuff in our handcarry so tt we dont have to pay for excess baggage, the thrill of going home.

well i love this poster most, out of all the sex and the city movie posters, probably because it reminded me of me and my girlfriends.. how we go out together to hang out, shop, drink, have fun, laugh over the silliest things and at the back of my head i just kinda know that we will continue doing it all till we're old and dying. i really like the last bit of the movie when they gave a toast for samantha's birthday and a toast to the next 50 years.

i had a fantanstic saturday.. started off w a swim at serene's place, well a great part of the time was spent chatting and laughing in the pool and a little tanning. it was a great relaxing way to spend a day haa.. then i had tsui guay and the salad, ser tossed that was really nice, and of cause lotsa love and attention from tanahbear.

then there was shopping, the kfc craving and the movie watching.. it's really sweet to see rows and rows of 4 girls coming in to watch the movie, seated in front and behind us four... sex n the city is a very girly show and it just reminds me alot abt gang and other girlfrens.. how we grew up together, in search of the many good things in life, and how we are there for each other during both good times and bad. and it seem like a prelude into the future, how we'll have to deal w marriage, family, work and all. and when i got home i received a wedding invitation.. the first to be from a classmate! see marriage! well we're there at the age where wedding invitations will keep coming in and the it's such a coincidence that eunice's jc classmate is the groom. congratulations to chyan ying and teck chuan!

haa anyway i kinda missed my last train home, luckily my erge sent us back :P kinda reminded me of the days me n serene will have to run to catch the last train at dhoby ghaut because we r out drinking n having fun :P

truly i'm grateful to have my girlfrens :) i love u girls..

heh new blog template. well i've been wanting to change the template of my blog since alot of friends told me they have problems tagging and also the nice font usually doesnt come out in most computers. but i've been procrastinating because i cant seem to find a blogskin i like, those new free blogskins i find are usu too angsty for my old soul haa. then there is always the horror of having to edit the template u dl to have those links n tagboards and it's a pain for a low-tech person like me. until i decided to try out the customize your blog thingy frm blogger. it's kinda easy but now i'm not sure if i can use my own template next time haa oops.

still organising the photos frm uganda/hk wow i've damn alot of photos. will try to post them soon.

tadaima!
hellohowareyoui'mfine
i'm finally home after 10 weeks. yes please.
ehk?!! i shall no longer flick off your head, rearrange your face or qiak si ni.
haha

my room felt abit foreign when i first got bk home but now i've unpacked and finally settled down. uganda feels like a lifetime ago and hk is really mai dong xi, chi dong xi. haha the amt of shopping i did is almost equivlaent to the amt of things i'll buy in abt a yr or two if i'm in singapore. and i ate alot of good food!! most of all i'm grateful to have fantastic travel mates that made my trip so fun.

thnx py jl bz wh ny for making these 10weeks so fun and worthwhile. i'll miss facing u guys everyday haa..

last day in uganda. haha i'm all ready to go home. it's actually a pretty nice place, friendlier in village kisiizi than city kampala but staying in lesster's place in suburban bunga is v nice too. cool chilly fresh air, that's not too humid minus all the dust is a nice weather. wonder when i'll b bk but meanwhile byebye africa! hello hongkong! :)

well as my time at kisiizi hospital is drawing to an end, i'm feeling abit sad and i know i'll miss the place and the people here especially
after all that has happened, i really learnt alot about myself, my frens, relationships between people, btw me and my patients, me and my co-workers.
dr leong told us it was a journey of the heart and i tink it's really true.
my heart kinda has gone thru alot, it's in the process of becoming stronger but yea still akan datang but yea i've felt many emotions which i've not known of, esp in relation to my profession as a doc next time.
the view from our room, the roses in the garden, the swing that i sat on in the cold chilly nite, the multiple blackouts, my 2 fav boys, all my new found frens, the mountains, the sky are things i'll miss
but i do miss home. happy to b going bk soon but i'm really thankful for this opportunity to come to this far away continent. kinda once in a lifetime. i told alot of pple even if i wan2 come bk it'll b 7 yrs time.. wonder if it'll happen? paul told me he took 30odd yrs before he came bk again. well by then i'll b 60 n it might b a good time heh
in conclusion i'm still glad i came on this elective, as it's a wonderfully exciting new experience which i dont think i'll ever forget.

was happy to talk to ser n huay yest. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUAYU! aww i'm sad to be missing both our bdaes but let's celebrate when we get bk ok? n was trying to webcam ah tan but internet here's too unstable n slow. but i tot i saw zhou chu ming in her bk grd and heard some new 9pm drama serial theme song haa. it's really interesting. i realize i can do w/o internet and tv for almost 2 mths, mayb i cud just quit this vices for good haaa. matt here said he hasnt had a tv for more than 10yrs. david asked if he didnt like it but he said it's because he loves it so much he cant get anything done if he had one. i shud learn frm him heh

anyway it's almost dinner time and i'm looking forward to watch safari's op later in theatre.

takecare all my dear frens. i'll b bk in s'pore in no time :D

finally internet connection!
it left w alan and came bk w him as well. hope it doesnt leave again w him on monday morning

i've been at kisiizi for a week. it's been tiring. i do love the place and the people here and have seen many things that i've not seen before in my life. enjoyed the food the weather the hospitalitiy and all. but this wk has been particularly rough. 3 pts under our care died. i dont even really know y they did. but doing surgical ward rds w py, together w the nurses, by ourselves, proved to be v challenging. and sometimes i feel bad for being impatient w the nurses but things are just not being done like now-now. btw now is different frm now-now, which has a more urgent connotation. inx that i order can be just not done by the next day. we need to do wound inspection and even vitals ourselves coz sometimes the nurses jus look so sian n bohchap tt i dont even bother asking. yest woah we even had to do gynae rds. great. well had a chance to do VEs and PRs and all but i just feel useless n incompetent most of the time actually. my patient was dying in front of me and i dont know wat to do for him at all. apart frm monitoring his vitals n his clinical condition. had to go look for help and waited another hr or 2 before dr denis came and things started happening. then i realized that in my frenzy there were a lot of impt things that were not done by me. the 02 wasnt even connected correctly for a long time n i didnt even check. the nurses just sat in front of the bed in the ward cause there's no ICU and watch me do the vitals. i wonder if i'll make a fantastic nurse but they just told me this man is going to die. now. well he didnt for the next 12 hrs but did eventually at 10.30pm on thurs nite. so yea my sinking feeling in my tummy was rite when i saw the bed empty on fri morning once i stepped into the ward. another pt died aft we passed by her bed before we ended rds on the other side of the ward and i wonder y i dint go pull down her blanket to even look at her. instead just followed the doc to the next bed aft he said, she's for palliative care n ordered physio for her contractures. i dint even look at her despite the fact that i was there by her bed just mins before she died. this is all q fucked up.

depressing stuff aside, there are really great things and people here. some doctors and nurses are really dedicated and good and efficient and i respect them. other nurses will do the things properly for u if u breathe down their neck to get them to do it, which i'm still trying my best to maintain cool abt, giving my biggest smile and thanking them w all my heart after they do it. i can feel my heart getting stronger by the day and i'm trying to learn to deal w all these emotions which are uncommon for me but yea i'll learn.

but i know i'll miss this place when i get bk. i know this place has kinda left an impact on me despite have a sec of "eh, y am i still here?!?" this past few mornings when i woke up. wonder when will b the next time i'll b bk. haha

it's been only my 1st week here and i've got more than 600 photos.. been trying to upload them but i cant.. i'll try again now


finally!! one foto :)
these are my darlings at rehab
in the foreground there's christ in her yellow n blue dress
then the row of kids behind her starts w cheeza, daphne, christian, emmanuel. and me!! they are so cute, i'll miss them when they leave. now their granny's in the medical ward. apart frm daphne, the rest are siblings and they've been abused by their dad. christian is diplegic, cheeza has a squint n an ataxic gait and emmanuel cant speak. but they are such beautiful kids that i love to carry n hug.

ok i cant seem to upload anymore so just one foto for now :)

6 happy people at changi airport..
this is a "before" picture we'll take another one when we get home.
So here begins our exciting african journey! :)

my parents bro n sis-in-law sent me off at the airport on 03/04/08

wow.. i've finally got internet connection at Kisiizi Hospital, Uganda!
greetings to all my frens... :D
I've been here for a week already and starting to get use to the way of life here.
It's a beautiful place surrounded by mountains and we climbed up the moutains a few times already, it's kinda chilly here as well, esp in the evening or when it rains :)
The pace of life is kinda slow and the concept of time is slightly different tho..

We are very well fed here as well, fantastic food prepared by the housegirls like Stella, Generous, Allen.. It's always Western food w potatos, stew, occ Chepati and rice and there's always dessert, custard or fruits but forever pineapple/banana +/- passionfruit etc I'll get fat here :( ha

The hospital is a nice place, filled with nice and happy pple. but the lack of some facilities makes us feel kinda helpless. I feel useless n stupid q abit and sometimes it’s kinda frustrating, cause there is so much I don’t know, esp when the outpt dept allows u to see everyone, it can be a paeds/ ONG pt or pts who have complaints frm each systems as u go thru systemic review because they accumulate all their probs before they come.

Went to the anti-retroviral clinic and saw many patients. Sister Maureen says that it’s easier to catch ladies because we see them at antenatal outreach clinic and paeds ward. Some patients will come forward to be tested and some HIV + patients form gps to go ard telling pple how to prevent HIV transmission. Sis Maureen is a wonderful lady and so are all the nurses we’ve come to meet so far

I love the kids at rehab. Emmanuel is my fav boy and there are the little ones like daphne Christian, Christ, cheeza and they big boys like Apollo who is so shy, bensen, bright, deus, Edison…. How can I pass them their fotos?

Went for outreach programme that’s really meaningful. Altho I don’t do much except hang kids on a karang-guni like weighing scale to weigh them n do BP for the preg mums but I think it’s a great prog. Mothers from the villages will come down when the outreach team comes by once a mth, letting their babies get vaccination, getting their abd palpated by midwives, getting BP, and HIV testing. Some walked great distances to come to the area where we do the prog. I cant imagine how many more km they gotta walk to Kisiizi to get these services if there isn’t such prog. Most of them have young babies or are heavily pregnant. But it was a great experience

There are so many stories to tell, I’ve be diligently keeping a diary jing gave me so it’s good I tink. Will write more next time.
Me Peiyun Ningyi Bingzhu are safe and fine here at Kisiizi :) Think wenhann n jialin are too :)

photos of my dage's wedding!

my family at the tea ceremony.. :)


my parents w my bro n sis-in-law at the tea ceremony! :)


my dear gang who helped out as the MCs n receptionist.. :D


my family at my dage's wedding :)

i have not blogged for a really long time.. haa i guess it's because my TPN proj was so draining that everyday i get home, i just struggle to keep awake to continue more data analysis or data entry or sumthing related to sch work.

these few weeks have been q an experience.. i see me n my frens working when we're v stressed.. haaa my temper isnt exactly the best when i'm stressed i guess, but glad everything has come to close for now. my project bit and i can cont when i get bk..
getting stuck in the MRO for days/nights is no joke, altho we met wonderful people like the mr funny-guy-who-loves-to-watch-videos on wkends and of coz babara.. she's a really nice lady v helpful v cheerful has a strong loud voice that is ever so distinctive.. the little things she does for us is v sweet and kind of her. there's also a v softspoken florence, frm our dept that i've gotten to know and i really like her as well. of coz our tutor. dr L has alot more in him then wat u might expect from your first impression of him. he's v gentlemanly and q funny and did many Awww things for us that makes us feel alot better alot we r slogging our ass off while he's skiing :P then there is dr T in the land of Anyonghaseyo whom we missed, him and of coz all his Mudderhood statments that can appear in our abstracts haa.

altho my posting turned out to be 90%research n 10% clinical to my disappointment but i dont feel v upset coz i tink there are lessons i've learnt frm this whole elective. i know where to find many things in the casenotes now.. things that i never knew. read abt the admissions of so many patients and sometimes it feels that i'm there in the past sometimes in 2006.. with them as i witness how they present at hosp, how they progessed, got well get d/c or got worse and died. these are like true stories, if u think look upon it as reading a book. but i regret to say my revision is no where near where i shud b, but i hope to catch up on abit of work in Uganda.

we went down to tuas once, the cisco recall place. it was q an interesting experience cause i spent a few hrs in the morning at the park opp.. i sat on the swing for a long time, dozing off on my book and watching little kids w their mums, watching old people exercising. it felt surreal? haaa a stark difference frm my bz bz days. i was just on the bench watching people go by and i feel old, like an old homeless lady in the park watching time flow by. but that was only for a couple of hrs before i get bk to where i came frm, the land of casenotes n projects.

had a few memorable meetings w frens. judogirls met up for steamboat.. think it's our first ever and it was nice, just chilling out over food for hours and ending off w yummy desserts, altho we met a guy that freaked us out abit cause we were wondering if he was some bad guy n he looked kinda suspicious. but i dint think much happened after that. met mel as well, a dear fren i hafnt seen for a yr?
Gang had our first midnight movie that was nice. Stepup2.. my first movie since ratatoullie? if i rem correctly. hanging out till late into the night was fun but it's a pity me n ser where too tired on sat to go stjames. we must do it when i get bk ya :) then there was CG13 outing!! we hafnt met for 2 mths since we parted aft patho exam and i really missed everyone. i've always had v nice CGmates but my CGs dont really go out together but this is the first, mayb cause we were together for more than a yr and we've gotten used to having each other ard. they are the funny pple of my freq, potentiates my lewd-ness, make me laugh and feel at home. it was CG outing to explore T3 and a rare sight to see ah hong eating fast food haaa. we sent jh off to uk and sent jenheng off to india. have a safe trip guys, cya when we're all bk in singapore.

i'm leaving on a jet plane..
well i know i'll b bk on the 17th near midnight.

when my fellow ugandians (ahaa) prayed for our trip the one thing that really tugged at my heart is praying for those we leave behind, while we embark on this journey. thinking abt it makes my eyes water again. hai..
i'll miss my dad my mum my brothers my dearest frens when i leave tmr afternoon.
i'll miss my comfort in s'pore my bed which i refuse to get up frm this morning, all the conveniences and familiarites i can find here.
but i'm excited and i'm looking forward to everything i'll see, feel, smell, hear and everyone i'm going to meet.
i hope this will be an enriching experience and a trip that we change me, that i can tell people i'll never be the same if i hafnt gone on this trip.
i dont really have much expectations but i hope to learn about life and about people.

i really need to get to packing and i'll post fotos if i've time before i set off tmr.