The Weekend

Visit to Home of the Brave Men

Hmm...finally end of the week..finished a long wk at rheumato..haaa..learnt quite a bit of stuff lahz..and saw a super psoriatic posriasis..those in s'pore are too well treated..haha...

okiez..on sat morning..me n lau joined the tzu chi volunteers to visit this home for the bravery...
yupz..basically its a home for retired china soldiers who are trapped in taiwan after the communist thingy....
and so they are all alone...lucky tzu chi help to build up this home for em to stay till their last days..
not too bad a place..big..and has all e facilities..

so we went there to celebrate duan wu jie (dumpling fest) with em..hee..
din bring dumplings there to distubute though...haha...
but had lotsa laughter with us...
the uncle that i "took care" of had endless things to tell me..haha...so most of the time i was listening..but yet cldnt quite catch most of the stuff..cos he came from yunan..so his mandarin had an accent to it...haha..so i just kept similing n repeat certain words that i cld catch...haha..
hope it helps =P
think the uncles there all quite poor thing..no one to tok too...sigh...watch tv lohz...n think uncles are not chatty when they come together...hmm..n afterall they know each other for so long..prob have nuttin to tell each other..
n oh ya...my uncle likes to dance....haha...he danced in front of the crowd when some girls were dancing/ singing...n when this other uncle sang...haha...
he said he learnt if from the tv...haha..so interesting...he can really twist his hips despite he's 88...hahaz...
yupz..so this is sat morning...spent quite some time waiting to use the washing machine n for the clothes to be washed n dried in the tumbler...sianz...wat a waste of time...

Tarako Gorge

Wha...this is simply magnificient...guess no amt of words can describe how i felt when i went there..haha...hmm..hopefully the pics that we took will help...
really like the scenery there....all the mt ranges with visible folds...gorges...rapids..mini waterfalls with plunge pools..haa..btw..the water is really grey in colour..unlike the yang tze river that i saw in yunan....hmm...so somehow looks a bit wierd..haha..grey river...
my legs are aching a little now with all e walking this wkend..
brought my junior n guanhao+wenjie ard this wkend..haha..re-visited some places of interest here..yupz...hmm...
and this thing called guan cai ban ( coffin board) bought at this night market..is less tasty comapred to the 1st time i ate it some time ago...sad...hopefully taipei got nice ones..
basically...its deep fried french toast...with fillings in it...u can choose the filling lahz..got chicken, beef, mutton, seafood..blah blah..cooked in all sorts of ways..bbq, fried etc...
so yupz...it was really nice the 1st time i ate it...cos its really buttery n crispy on the outside...n the filling i ordered was mayo crabmeat...wha...sweet n soft on e inside...superb man...
and it comes with a drink..all for S$2!!!
but the 2nd time i tried...the bread is no longer crispy..so not nice...sob sob...

haha..okiez..that's all for today..
started our 1st day at TCM...learning abt accupunture..lost in e sea of names..sigh...hope it gets betta...den i can accupunture u guys when i get back...hahah...dun run when u c me ok? =P

So it's finally thus..
managed to sneak back for an afternoon nap yest....
ha...going to do a physicial examination edmo today....and best...rhemato system....
it's basically a head to toe ortho exam actually...

the docs and students here actually don't do system based PE...
they generally do like whole body...the hospital clerking sheet style..
good and bad la huh... :)

and ya...because they do a lot os caring for patients...they're very good at drugs...management....etc...the real life practical problems...
but they don't do much PE...

hmm....

anyway....ya....here's a fre photos again


Ok that's me in my room...small little old old room...unlike some other people's one














Tha't angela with the train we took to rui sui :)...
not bad la...seats quite spacious



ok...off to do our daily progess notes

Short blog

Hey how come stil no comments....
ok..i know jol read my last entry....then rest le??....tsk tsk...
then my dear little sister who's always commenting on other plp's nlog??...ha ha..

ok..ant's turn today..

Xiaomayi says:
hee..greedy me just ate another ji pa for dinner..haha..plus deep fried shitake mushroom..n peach ice blend...wha...cannot take it...so unhealthy....
and lau put on 1kg liaoz..ahha..me haven...haha..hope i wont =) shall maintain my wt somehow..hmm...maybe shall go climb e mountain behind e sch...haha..
the view as mentioned is fantastic..has been raining this couple of days...clouds are forming at e foot of the mountains...
so its like u only c e body of the mt in btwn e clouds..feel as though u r living in btwn e clouds man..shall upload e photos to show u guys..haha..den u all dun be jealous ok? =P

Hey how come there're no comments on my blog one??...tsk tsk...
ok...i've ended off with some photos....and jol comment how come the photos got scenery and food but no humans..
ha...so at the lib now b4 palliative self help grp....

anyway...this's me in Xin Men Ding(taipei) eating some mee sua that's like super long queue and every1 stands to eat :)

Ok this is ang trying to play with the kids with the "ke xue wan ju"...remind me to show u all hwo to make the toys when i'm back k...tom got another session...looking fwd to it

Ok this is me at the tzu chi hosp overhead bridge(which nobody uses). Most people risk their lifes crossing the road with aggressive drivers

Ok this photo is a bit dark again...sorry about taht...

windows 2000 is qutie slow with phto editing..so ....ha...

this's my "CG"?? last week...the girl is an "intern"(last clinical year) and has lots of nite duty so poor thing..

we managed to join in with the "clerks" which are the 1st 2 clinical yr students...ha..so at least no duties...ha.... :) so ribena voka......can't wait to see u guys and gals...or hmm A GAL...is she one??

hee....

2 kind souls

Shall talk about 2 kind souls i met this week, both in the course of travelling :)
we usually walk to the city....walking distance is about 50mins if you don't stop to shop around in between....
ha....cos there're barely any public transport here, and taxi service is extremely expensive...
so anyway...1 of these days..think it's last fri...3 of us(with another fren from malaysia) we walked to this place where they sell precious stones....and after we finish the touring and shoping it was like 10.30pm....
then at this last shop, we met this sweet young lady who offer to drive us back....
i mean...i old bought like 10 dolars worth of things from her...and i bought like much more from other shop..
anyway..after some paiseh..ness and some hesistation, our tireness gave in and we had a nice ride back on her daddies car while she rode her little scooter back with her mum...


then on sun....we decided to take a train to rui sui...and from there we were told the farm is 3km away...so once again we decided to walk....
sadly, the main road was under contruction we walked and walked nv endingly for like 45 mins b4 a car passed us....U turn back to pick up...and Uturn back again to drive us to the farm....
yet another sweet taiwan lady....

have been touched so many times by the people here...
it seems like it works this way...the more people re nice to you...the more u'll be ncie to people...and the love will just spread...:)

anyway...we're in rhemato now...wow...my patient is a RA patient with anemia, multile jts replacement, spetic arthritis with pul fibrosis...
sigh....complicated hoe :)

ok...some photo :)

It's my turn!!

Hi all..

hee..its my turn to jot down the happenings here =)
hmm..all has been well..just dun like the part that we've to clerk pt here..bleah..
cant take afternoon naps..deprived of my sleep....
but its a good start to SIP next yr i guess..n we only have to care for 1 pt each..hee..
n oh ya..kinda dry here...causing my skin n hair to be dry too...but den again..u dun feel so sticky like in humind s'pore..haa..and it's cooling when e wind blows =) n we are in air con places most of the time...

hee..n ya..its kinda funny to read the case notes here...erm...cos their eng sounds a bit weird...haa...eg " pt condition was stable now", "pt during pain were given analgesia"..hmm...
guess learning eng later in life is not easy...arent we lucky?

n ya..ppl often gathered that we are not locals, most likely s'poreans cos me n lau converse in eng...sigh..not fun..cannot integrate into e crowd =P
n e more experienced ones..who has quite a bit of contact w tourists..can tell frm e way we speak mandarin..
hmm..wonder will things change over time..

i like e ppl and scenery here...
e ppl are really nice...got 2 free rides so far...haha..
and they are all so friendly..hee..can just chat up w u..blah blah...
including most but not all of e nurses here..haha....much betta than nuh p****s dept
where trolleys just get pushed into e rm without notice...lalala..

ya..and there's lotsa mountains here..not hills mind u..haha..
i dun mind being a pt here..imagine e scene outside ur window...mountain ranges..clear blue sky with patches of cotton wool..whoa...think dun need medication oso can...haha...the scenery is therapeautic enuff =D
ya looking outta e window is my new past time during ward rounds...haha...

hmm...greedy me must tok abt food rite?
actually..i think s'pore got a fantastic variety of fd...haha..n m'sia has so far been e ultimate...cheers..
here...hmm..not too bad..same price as s'pore...
but e variety is lesser...n most of e food is actually pretty similar..ya..
n all e jap restaurants are sprouting like nobody's business here...
hee..i like e ji pa (chicken cutlet) here..$2 for a bigger piece...haa..without chili powder pls =P
hmm..n in hua lien..e muah chi is famous...will bring some back..so no worries ok? =)

okiez...think i'll stop 4 now...or else got nuttin to write next time..hee..
n seemed like i'm sounding kinda grumpy w my lack of sleep...lalala..
5 min to e next teaching round...
oh ya...think hot spring is fako..it's just a hot water pool..bleah...to think we travel 3 hrs just to get to it...n it's so hot that i cant stay in e pool for more than 1 min each time...sianz..
shall bring ice next time...if i'm ever going again...

okiez..shall sound more excited e next time..haha...
take care guys...jia you to gab n jj!!! =D

Sorry for the late update

Hey guys,
so sorry for the alteupdate.
cos we only got the internet password today...so finally.
wished i could upload some photos, but my cam is with one of my taiwan frens so he down copy the photos for us.
yes..my 300mb of memory is all used up...by like almost 200photos...
so think can have a 2 hr long photo session when i'm back ya.

went to a special home on sat, went to buy precious stones at nite.
went to HOT SPRING...wow...hee...on sun....
so quite a tiring but rejuvenating experience.

on ya went ot "Jing Se" essence home..which is the origin of Tzu Chi.....
and wow..the nuns there grow their own food, policy of no work, no food.
and they earn their own money, all donations goes only to help the poor and not the poeple in the nunnery.
and...hmm...the nice humerious and wise An shi fu give us a little chat and wow....i felt enlightened....at least for that moment...before i lapse into playing too muh yesterday again. :)

and we met 2 kind souls who fetched us 1) back to hostel from the city and 2) to the farm when she saw 3 of us poor thing walking...
there're actually so so many kind souls in this world....hope i'll be one too :)

anyway today is angela's turn to blog ha ha.. :)
once again..grab and JJ...jia you :)
and the rest of u...thanks for reading and sending me mails k :)

lau

The Beginning

Hi,
this is my or say our 1st attemp at blogging. Generally, it doesn't seem like i've so much to share. maybe because all my close frens area always nearby and around.

But coming to taiwan is a really overwhelming experience for us.
To all our close frens out there, firstly we missed u guys a real lot. Wonder if you guys are having fun down there. As for grab, jj, you ahve our support all the way ya :)

The first day at taipei was quitr fun, but jsut like any routine travel, lots of eating, shopping and walking. Taipei is quite a noisy, busy and messy city. But the people here are quite good. Say for example at the underpass, every1 keeps to their right, so you will almost never clash into any1.
at the train platform, people actually queue for the trains...can u believe it...wow... :)
So for the 1st day we ate and ate and ate and ...hmm ate...


Mango ice...nice le..hee Hee dumpings here cost 25cent sing each :)

ha...and taiwan is a animal place....esp dog....
there are all sortd of animals as pet...even a pig...ha :)
anyway....we say a "lion dog" that really looks like a lion but is a dog....
and the saussage dog...that's the doggy with really really short legs...ha cute..


anyway...i really wanna tell u guys about tzu chi in hua lian.
on the day we arrived, it was their 40th anniversary....and already we were awed by the number of volunteers they have. The hospital is really nice and huge...and impressive looking.
and ya...they gave us free accomodation.

most people here call each other "shi jie shi shiong"(senior) or junior etc...and the medical cohort is really closely knitted. The first thing that impressed me was one of the doctor, when he had a patient who needed MSW referal, he didn't "refer" the case. The looked for the MSW, and told him " i've this paitent who might need your help, shall we sit down and discuss this"...and i was like WOW......

also here they have an ideology, when u take from the patient, you give it back to her, so they do try to take care of their patients by going to the dr in charge to remind him of some "minor" problems that he might have overlooked(like constipation).

Then again, the students here face the same prob of patients ignoring them when they know they are students...ha .....happens everywhere in the world.

what impressed me even more is that every ward has at least 2 volunteers who would do everything from comforting, talking to patients to pushing them to take x-ray etc....
and they re all doing it for an altruistic reason. hmm.....

i wonder if i'm sounding conherent here, cos many of these feelings actually overwhlemmed at that moment. like how i wished things were somewhat similar in singapore.

Anyway....nurses are nice here and they are really cute, and they wear u know the white cap/hat...ha...have been wanting to take a photo of them with the hat but...hmm.....shall wait and see... :)

then on tue, we went for a pallative care sharing session. there was this girl who had ALL, and the amount of love, care and concern she got from the drs, nurses and all the volunteers were so so much adn encouraging that she was smiling throughout the session(despite being nausea)
and this brought me back to the ALL girl that we clerked during our hemato elective, and wondered if she could have enjoyed the same kind of support

then we went for a "fun science toys" class. where this teacher taught the children how to make really fun toys with really simple stuff.








i've been typing a real lot right? haven't really told you about our acaemic work here, which is really tiring, but shall leave it to next time.

finally some words for thoughts from the ALL patient. shall show u guys the pciture she drew next time :)
lionel : need translator?? hee :)