Small and Insignificant

Argh! Can barely keep myself sane for the last 168 hours. So freaking tired all the time. *Sigh* Been running on auxiliary battery. The energizer bunny died long time edi liao. With the 9am-5 pm schedule, you barely have time to yourself. When I do get home, the only thing on my mind is catching the much wanted ZzZ's. Sleeping on average at 10pm each night. Early right?

There's so much to learn, and yet so little time to finish all the tasks. I think that's probably the most important thing you have to learn; the fickle time management. 

My apartment is on the right.

Monday and Tuesday: Lecture from 9-5. Get home, change, read a few things. Sleep.

Wednesday: Lecture lecture lecture. Meet Fleur and Ngie Chang from Preston. Sleep.

Thursday and Friday: IPE (Inter-Professional Experience- follow other hospital staff other than Dr's) 9-5 pm. Since I was allocated to the X-Ray department, took the opportunity to visit the CT, MRI, X-Ray and Vascular Laboratory department. My lord, the freaking place is huge. The vascular laboratory in particular was interesting. Managed to observe an angioplasty procedure lasting for almost 3 hours. Feet felt like dropping off- more so when I was wearing the lead apron.

Medical student wear green scrubs. Which was awesome for me, Go Green.

I think we as future Dr's take for granted the work done by radiographers. Only when I was there that I realized a fundamental flaw in my radiography concept. There's a lot of behind the scenes work being done to obtain that simple black and white film (well, there's no such thing as a film now. All the scans are electronically uploaded into a central server that's readily available to all department. Gone are the days of searching for that pesky hard copy films).

Those scans are then electronically sent to an 'Advanced Window Room' to be viewed by an attending Dr and he'll state his observation + diagnosis. Those comments are then directed to the physician who ordered the scan; who'll then start a management plan. That means ladies and gentleman, scan to treatment plan can be done in less than 1 hour without having anyone running all over the hospital. How freaking cool is that?

 Random pic.

Come Thursday night, definitely need a booster. First of all, I really hate those kind of weird comedy with starring actors like Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler; but Tropic Hunter is a definite must watch. Nearly peed myself at one of the scene- you'll know which scene when you watch the movie. :-D

Maha, finally got you on camera. Yay!

This restaurant/bar was just opposite the cinema. Was so amazed at the variety of coloured-ever changing lights that I couldn't help myself from snapping away.

Brother KF came over on Friday night to stay at my place due to the early morning trip we had on Saturday. 

7:49 train bound to Liverpool

Woke up at 6:30 am for the much anticipated trip to Cheshire Oak (shopping galore). 4 and a half hour (involves a train change at Liverpool and a good 15 minute walk) later, finally reached our destination.

Shop. Can you spot my favourite brand?

More shops.

Even more shops. Must have died and gone to heaven. :-D

The place is so vast. By 6:00 pm, only managed to enter some of the shops (having spent a small fortune enough to run a small country for a day). Since the place closes at 7:00, literally skipped along to find a few more items to strike off the check list. 

6:40; Phone rings.

6:40; KF (panicky voice): Hey Min, did you take my Nike Bag? I can't find it.  It has my jacket I worn this morning in it. I think I've lost it.

           Me (stopped in my track): Where are you? I'm coming.

6:45; Found KF in a state. 

           Me: What happened?

           KF: I think someone stole my bag. I was sure it was with me when I entered the Adidas Shop. 

6:50; Tried viewing the Adidas CCTV, but the Adidas security was extremely unhelpful. It was obvious he didn't really view the CCTV and was eager to get rid of us.

           Me: Retrace your steps then to make sure.

6:55; KF: ****. All the shops I visited are closed. The damn jumper has RM 4k worth of valuables in it.

6:58; Made a report at the customer service and the security.

           Security: I'm sorry. I have no idea how to operate the CCTV (or words to that effect). Why don't you come in the morning and talk to Mr.C. He'll know what to do.

           KF/Me: But we live in Manchester, that's a good two hour away.

7:00; WTF! WTF! WTF!

7:30; Me; *makes a phone call* Hey Sharmaine (who stays in Liverpool), I need to come back to Cheshire Oak tomorrow morning; there's been a situation. Can I stay at your place for tonight. If I go back to Manchester today, I'll waste my time travelling back to Cheshire Oak. From Liverpool to Cheshire Oak it's only 40 min.

           Sharmaine: Of course you can stay over, don't waste money on trying to find a hotel there. Just stay with me. (My god, I love this woman- muackz).

7:40;Me trying to calm KF; Look, we can't do anything here now. Let's go back to Liverpool and get things sorted out in the morning.

9:00; Reached Liverpool. 

Thanks Li Shan (spelling?), Hui Ling (spelling?) and Sharmaine for taking us in. KF and I split after dinner. I went to stay with Sharmaine. Was so tired that I just slept immediately.

Unexpected guests from Glasgow. 

Sunday Morning; Met with Mr.C.

                                Mr.C: You need to give me a couple of hours to view yesterday's footage.

4 hours later (managed to spent yet another small fortune whilst waiting), we viewed security's CCTV. Confirmed KF went into Adidas with the bag and left without it. Spent almost 3 hours handling matters with security. When we finished with security, we shopped yet again (oh my god, no self control whatsoever).  Left Cheshire Oak around 7pm feeling quite depressed. Hope of getting the stuff back dwindled to almost nothing. Stopped by Liverpool to get our stuff and promptly depart to Manchester. Reached Manchester at 10:40pm. KF slept over again since he was so tired that night and left at 6:30am on Monday morning for an early class. 

If this whole incidence has taught me anything, it's too appreciate your friends. When I see KF in his lost and distraught state, it reminds me of the countless time when I have been in similar situation myself. Usually, it's me that's in the receiving end of God's bad luck. It's only when I'm on the helping side that I realized 'shit, this is hard work'. I mean, there were times when it took all my strength not to shout at KF for making irrational requests. To just take it in and carry his requests out. No questions asked. 

Hell, to think of all the times I placed Deb (and others) in those kind of situations. I am just amazed at the amount of shit we endured for the sake of friendship. To those who had their fair share of my... Thanks so much for everything, really glad to have you all. Muackz.

I think KF kinda accepted the fact that he probably won't get his items back. He's still trying to cope with it -praying that everything turns out well. 

Went home and calculated the amount spent. Bloody hell!!!! Hope my parents don't find out how much I've spent.

p.s As I am writing this, I officially ended my 22nd birthday and ushered in Hari Raya (UK celebrates it on the 30th of September). To those of you who wished me 'Happy Birthday', thanks so much ya for remembering. To the close friends who should know better, SHAME ON YOU! Muahahahaha! May guilt surrounds you for years to come. :-D

I don't think people realised how important it is to give meaning to the word 'home'. When I left Malaysia, that word was wrenched away, cruelly twisted and left to dry. How can you possibly call a place a home when you visit it once a year?

It has become a house.

My parent's house to be exact- but my home? Maybe.

To be homeless is a terrible thing. There is a sense of lost and misdirection that tugs the soul. When I finally moved in, I have this overwhelming urgency to call this place my own. To have laughter ingrained into the walls, to let life- my life, settle and blankets the room. A place to belong, a place to call home.

***

Thanks to all the MRI and Hope people who came down and help me move.

The summer accommodations

Tada!

I am not exaggerating,  the toilet is just a wee bit bigger than an airplane's latrine.

Note the same bedspread as the one I had in Vista. Oh, you can't have a place without plants.

Anyway, was talking about my new home to the Ang Moh's (thanks Deb for the spell check) and the idea of a Nasi Lemak dinner just popped out from nowhere. It's been such a long time since I cooked it, but I am sure it's like ridding a bike; once you learned it, you'll never forget. Had them over at my place and eating was supposed to commence at 7:30pm. We actually ate around 8:50pm (I was still running on Malaysian time). Sorry ah.

When they came over, I still haven't cooked the ayam masak kicap (don't think they can just eat the ikan bilis) and the sambal. Quickly cooked the ikan bilis and warned them off the smell. They said...said...it smelled like urine, haha!! I think we're so used to the smell that it doesn't affect us anymore. Not to brag, but our sambal and ayam masak kicap was awesome!!! 

Thanks Step for being the best helper ever! Couldn't have managed it without her. I am not a fan of Kacang, but her kacang tasted yummy.

Note the banana leaf. I even bought it for the authentic feel. 

They started with utensils, but after a while, they just gave up and used their hands. Steph and I had to do a mini-intro on how to use your hands properly. *smirks*

Finished it off with Mike's brilliant apple crumble that he made from scratch. It was freaking delicious I tell you. Still slobbering from the thought of it. Thanks Katie for the ice creams and thanks Andy and Tom for the drinks.

Apparently, our next meal together is going to be a typically British home cooked meal. Can't wait to see what they can come up with. Not to sound Kiasu, but definitely have to work on my culinary skills if they managed to beat me sound with their cooking.

Oh, before I end. If you guys are planning to cook for the Ang Moh's; tone down the spiciness and our erm, more traditional food- like Sotongs. :-D 

Phew. Finally, everything is settled. Accommodations: Tick. Uni stuff: Tick. Financial stuff: Tick. Internet: Tick Tick Tick.

I'll take forever to blog this past month since I've been to too many places and done too many things. I'll just give you snippets then. I'll leave out all the academic related issues first; I'll blog them later- already got loads of stuff to talk about.

Anywhoo, spent the first month getting to know this very metropolitan city. Much is as I remembered it. Weather is just as temperamental. People just as polite. Place just as clean- more or less. 

First stop in this very lengthy journey:

Spices are abundant here. If you know how to cook, you're sorted.

No, not the curry; but to the place where the curry was cooked. :-p. I was extremely fortunate when the Malaysian Student Association representatives picked Siti and me up from the airport. When they found out that I haven't settled my accommodation, I was quickly ushered into a spare room in their house. I am very thankful to their generosity. 

My generous benefactor- Asrar. Took a picture of Aslam (there were two of them), but I only discovered that it was badly blurred like 5 min ago. Bah humbug!

Second stop; I love all these old architectures

Trying to emphasize the vastness of the area

The next day after arrival, I found out that my permanent hall here in the UK would not be ready until the 18th of September. When I found out that I'll inconvenience my host for a month, I decided to move out into the university's summer accommodations. Kinda thankful for that actually. It's nice to have your own place. More so when you have the biggest, nicest park in Manchester just across the road.

The lake is shaped like a heart to symbolise that it's the people's lake. Awww, so cute.

Took this picture to show Wei Chun that Manchester's duck is just as cute. So hah!

Since I am going to be at the summer accommodations for quite some time, I'm going to need some furnishing.

You got three guesses to decide where we are?

Fast forward a week or two, and the rest of the Manchester people trickled along one by one. I think our first gathering plus our trustworthy and helpful seniors was at Kebabish.

Maybe I'm used to our Malaysian Naan, but nothing here can even come close to our mamak's. Definitely missing that. Huhu.

Much to my surprise, I found out that I am not the only one interested in photography.

My, what big lense you have grandma.

Salute comrade Ken Fong!!

Second gathering was at Arndale. Their equivalent of Mid Valley's first two floors. It's much nicer though.

Third gathering. The entire batch of Mancunians- split into three hospitals.

Left to right: Me (Manchester Royal Infirmary [MRI]), Ushank (Preston Royal), Rochana (Preston Royal), Aqil (Preston), Fleur (Preston), Jane June (Preston) , Ngie Chang (Preston), Lily (MRI), Stephanie (MRI), Kee Fong (Hope), Angelene (MRI),  Siti (Hope) and Wilfred (Preston).

Fourth gathering: Pearl City. Menu: Steamboat- reminds me of Deb's and Yx's haunted steamboat minus the wannabe scary decor. 

Fifth gathering was at Preston on a Saturday, which was a good 50 minutes away by train from MRI. The MRI and Hope people get to see each other once in a while- but the Preston people are kinda secluded from the rest of us.

Well, I say fifth gathering, but only Kee Fong and I made our way there for their pot luck dinner. Was actually hesitating on whether I should go or not, since my first ever  UK PBL was on the following Monday. That Saturday and Sunday would definitely have been wasted- especially when I had to sleep over that Saturday. But you know what? Glad I did go though. I met some really cool Prestonians there, especially Warrick- a Cambodian Chinese who's freaking hilarious and a great Bully. Kudos also goes to Simon and Ana who played...played... MAFIA till 5 am in the morning with us. Haha!! We've infected them with our Mafianess.

Thanks for the food- especially the effort to make the food Halal. Muackzz..

Don't know why, but when I am in Manchester, I am less inclined to take pictures here. Keep on thinking that there's plenty of time to do it. Need to be slapped- remember the Prom incident Min? *Waits for Deb to slap Min*.

Half of Preston Hospital, or was it the old Hospital? Don't ask me- it's complicated. 

You'll only get this kind pic in the UK I'm afraid.

This is the main road by the way. Note how empty it is, and it's only 7 pm on a Saturday. On a Saturday for God's sake. In Malaysia, this road would be teeming with people. 

Kee Fong. Dun perasan ok? You only get a personal picture because you helped me move into my permanent residence. Technically, the whole MRI and Hope people turned out, but he carried the heavy stuff. :-D

Fleur. She gets a personal pic as well because she's the only one kind enough to bring me around Preston while everyone else is still with the Sand Man.

That brings me to my last stack of pictures. Want to really really really give a big hugsies to my PBL mates who've made me feel more than welcomed into the UK. Was actually quite afraid of being an outsider. My eccentricities is not everyone's cup of tea, dun ye gentle folks know? 

Left to right: Katie, Tom, Mike, Me and Andy. Missing out Stephanie, Maha and Friyana who couldn't make it. Will hunt those ladies for pictures later.

Shoot, can't remember these girls' name who joined our table.

Har har! I know I am short. Don't patronize me. Hmph!!

Love this pic: very genuine.

Andy trying to get that bottled of beer open. 

Mike: what a freaking poser! He's the most easy-going guy I've ever met. Don't even know he could physically frown.

Muahahahah!!! Kajen's Tak Tentu Arah has spread to the UK