Thank you Yu Wan and Chau Wang!

Even though we all are going to have our end of semester exam really soon, despite the amount of studying that we have to do, Chau Wang and Yu Wan have been really nice to MISU!

Chau Wang bought us some dumplings. I was just grumbling to mom that I will not get to eat any of them since I am not at home...Chau Wang also baked banana cake and batik cake for all of us. It was such a shame that I was already asleep when the cakes were ready.



Chau Wang's rice dumplings chased my homesickness away!

Yu Wan cooked on two occasion for us. She made the famous potato salad (it was showered with compliment when she first prepared it in Bairnsdale). She also just cooked fried mee hon and baked chicken wings for each of us!

Yu Wan used one hour to cook for each of us!

Yu Wan and me in Bairnsdale Regional Clinical School

I am so touched by their generosity. The food seriously brings warmth to my heart and of course, to my stomach!

What a Guiness World Records owner!

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico's Manuel Uribe, once the world's most obese man, celebrated his 43rd birthday on Wednesday with a very short trip outside his house.

In only his third outing in six years, Uribe, sitting on his huge reinforced bed, was dragged outside his garage bedroom and onto the pavement outside his house in Monterrey in northern Mexico. Presents of suckling pig and lamb arrived.
Manuel Uribe chats with a reporter during an interview at his home in the suburb of San Nicolas de los Garza, in Monterrey May 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo)

Still weighing the size of three hefty men, Uribe sat on his bed wearing only a bedsheet, drank a beer and chatted to his mother, girlfriend and neighbors in the cool evening air, waiting for a cake.

"I'm happy that it is my birthday," he told reporters interviewing the man who weighed 717 pounds in May after losing 518 pounds since March 2006 on a diet of grapefruits, egg-white omelets, fish, chicken and vegetables.

Uribe is still unable to move his swollen legs and his dream is to walk again and visit the mountainous countryside around Monterrey.

Uribe spent the 1990s eating pizzas and burgers in the United States where he worked as a computer repairman. Addicted to junk food, he eventually tipped the scales at 1,235 pounds back in Mexico, bingeing on greasy tacos.

His bulk made him the world's heaviest man and won him a place in the 2008 edition of the Guinness World Records.

Copyright © 2008 Reuters

The monotonous study break

First semester exam is just around the corner and I have just finished my formative practical exam..

"Did you ask about the family history?" "Did you ask whether did he cough out blood?'

The patient said his family were well..For God's sake, he only had a cold....

Will you ask anything like that if you were me?I certainly do not want to scare my patients to death..By the way, it was OSCE so I was supposed to ask everything regarding the respiratory history no matter how morbid did it sound like, no matter whether did it fit into the clinical picture or not...

So, I have lost a couple of marks :(

Anyways, I was so bored studying that I ended up admiring my pot plants!
Finally, the flowers have started to bloom.



I do have better pictures though..just too lazy to resize...they certainly look much more vibrant in colour than in the pictures...

Thanks Jessica who reminded me to water my plants twice a day with tap water. Believe it or not, I used to water the plants with filtered water. And the plants almost withered...

How to stop sleeping in lectures!

Have breakfast... even if you don't feel hungry.
Eat every three to four hours
Fill up on more fiber.
Fuel your brain with omega-3s.
Stay hydrated.
Watch caffeine intake after noon.
Splash some water on your face or take a shower when you're feeling burned-out.
Suit up in a "power" outfit to beat the blahs.
Vent your feelings
Turn on some tunes.
Let go of grudges.
Take belly breaths.
De-clutter a corner.
Do some good
Cut back on TV and computer time after 8 p.m.
Hide your alarm clock.
Give your pet his own separate sleeping space.
Lower the thermostat.
Skip the nightcap.
Get your exercise
Follow the 15-minute rule.
Write down your worries

from webmd.

I am 21 !!!

Time really flies. I do not feel like I am 21 already. Well, the most important thing is to be young at the heart!

I wish to thank my friends for celebrating for me. I had 3 surprises this year.

On the last night in Bairnsdale, Sally, Gil, Brendan, Yu Wan, Daniel Lee and Lau, Yeu Sheng and Chean Ying made an ice-cream cake! Leo, a 4th year senior was there as well. I am so glad that I have met so many nice people during rural this year. I really enjoyed it so much!

They broke a bowl for the cake!

They are the group of friends who brought about so much laughter during rural placement.

When I came back to Clayton, MISU held a celebration in Rusden Nando's. I was so surprised that Sheryl, Li Ping and Adilah were there as well! We had a sumptuous feast on roast chicken.



It seems like i have a lot of presents this year!

Ryan also gave me some a big surprise by decorating my room and bought me a necklace, a bouquet of pink roses, as well as a nice photo frame!



Besides that, I have also received a lot of birthday wishes from the following friends: Sharon, Ivy, Christina, Lester, Wan Jie, John, Zepeng (surprisingly!), Chew Siang, Yong Wee, Kuan Yuen.

I love my birthday cards from Yu Wan, Li Suan, Daniel Lee, Sally, Gil, Leo and Brendan.

And of course, I want to thank Brendan mummy for the muffin that he baked! And Yu Wan again for the book -- Captivating!

Thank you everyone! I am so touched!

My first community placement!

I have started to believe that the uni is organising this for us, the second year medic students so that we can enjoy a day out of uni and do something meaningful yet relaxing. This is due to the fact that I had such a fun session at a centre for adults with various disability.

I had 3 firsts in my life in just a short 5 hour volunteering in the centre-- my first pottery, aboriginal painting and puppet show!

I started off by working with a half-completed aboriginal painting which I still have no idea what it is supposed to represent. My placement mate was helping with a painting of a snake in outback Australia. I had to paint numerous dots according to certain patterns. It had been a while since I last drew. I was lost at some point as I had no idea what pattern was I following but the end-product looked neat! I should have taken a photo!

It was just as exciting when i got hands-on for shaping a piece of clay. The client whom I was working with was really artistic. He was genuinely excited to his artwork as well as meeting me as one of the new volunteers. A lot of patience and concentration was needed though. I needed to translate his thoughts carefully onto the clay which is going to be an oval-shaped plate. Given his inability to move and speak freely, I did most of the job but it was a rewarding experience for both of us. This may sound cliche, but it has dawn upon me that a lot of things that I take granted in life maybe very difficult to be achieved by people with disability.

We then enjoyed a fun-filled afternoon with an awesome puppet show. There were real-sized pupets involved. With agility, the performer gave lives to the puppets just by moving the strings!

She made this puppet which can be 8 feet tall all by herself using simple materials like sofa cushion and cast!



This belly dancer puppet is named Chacha. She could actually twist her buttock when she was dancing with the rhythm!



The performer gave us some puppets to play with as well. I was holding a caterpillar puppet. Victor, Melody and Rebekah are my placements mates.



I hope the fun will continue when I get back from rural placement!

Post-exam celebration

Besides the Boxhill trip that we went which was described on Jess's blog, we just could not have enough fun!



*Jess, thanks for promoting my 'poo'... :P







Yesterday, we went to Springvale for grocery shopping. Oh my god, I have never seen such a crowd in Melbourne! It was as if the stuff were free. All the shops were filled with people and all the restaurants were so crowded as well. Sheryl (who is kind enough to drive us there), Jessica, Ryan and I spent 20minutes just to find a parking space for 2 hours.







We were famished by the time we got off the car. Sheryl recommended us to a Vietnamese restaurant which her aunt brought her to for dinner recently.






This bowl of beef noodle was bigger than my face! We also ordered beef tendon noodles, pork chop set and pork chop meehon individually.





The jackfruit smoothie was so delicious! And it was only $3.50! Sheryl drank 2 glasses when she had dinner with her aunt.


Afterwards, we had a very satisfying tomyam seafood steamboat together for dinner. There was lobster ball, salmon, crabstick, meehon (yes, again), mushroom, beansprout and prawn! (please stop salivating on your computer :P)



Too bad that we were all too busy eating to take photos...haha...





Anyways, I will be going to my rural placement from 28 Apr-9 May :)


I am so excited!