Am I really on my GP rotation?

Luckily I managed to find my GP surgery this morning. The place was lovely and the people there were even nicer.

Was encouraged to explore the surrounding area during my long lunch time. After walking for 10 minutes, I came across:

Sheep busy munching away on the steep hills. Wait, that's not the exciting bit....

Conwy castle. Switched to tourist mode straightaway.

Shortly after, I came face to face with the map of the area. Really have to become a tourist even if I didn't want to.

The lone tourist wearing formal wear while touring. Hmmm...

I really need to improve my self-shot skills. It'll come in handy in the near future.

Gp. What gp? Who gets to sightsee during lunch breaks on a Gp rotation?

Prague through pictures

Prague - the city with 100 spirals. How true it is. On the first day of exploration, I've already climbed up 2 towers. What I really love about Prague is that every corner is a photo opportunity. Seriously, I've never been anywhere with buildings as beautiful as this place.

Day 1: Prague castle area

We took the metro to Charles Bridge and from the moment I stepped out of the metro station, I was busy snapping away.

Views of St. Vitus cathedral surrounded by Prague Castle from one end of Charles Bridge

First tower which we ascended after paying 50 kroner was the Old Town Tower:

It was hard work climbing up early in the morning but the view from up there was breathtaking.

Paddleboat to get the view from under anyone?

Don't ask me the story behind why John of Nepomuk was drowned in the Vltava river. Something to do with him not revealing what the queen of Bohemia confessed to him. There's his statue on the bridge and apparently if you touch the metal figure below it, you'll definitely return to Prague one day. That's what I'm doing on the left lower corner.

You can see the Lesser Town Tower behind me, the one on my left. Along Charles Bridge, there were so many vendors selling arts and handicrafts.

View from the Lesser Town Tower. Yes, we climbed another tower within the hour. We could get a closer view of Prague castle and a really nice postcard view of Charles Bridge from there.

We made our way uphill towards Prague Castle passing through Nerudova street which is one of the most filmed and pictured streets.

Would someone take pity of this beggar?

Entrance to Prague castle. The statues next to the gate looked intimidating.

When we got there, the change of guards had already started and there were just too many people. One thing which I thought was really practical was that the musicians positioned themselves at the windows on the 1st floor which helped with the sound projection.

St Vitus church

This church had Gothic designs which did look intimidating. Inside, the tomb of John of Nepomuk can be seen and it is made of real silver. Wonder how many tons of silver was used.

I wanted to visit the Golden lane where Alchemists resided last time. I really need to find out their secret to transmute gold!

There was a toy museum which showcased so many types of toys including pregnant Barbie dolls.

The palace gardens were so colourful. Loved the orange, red, yellow and green.

Day 2: Old Town and Charles Bridge part 2

What caught my eye first was Tyn church. It didn't look like the typical church you will expect these days due to it's Gothic designs. Looked like some haunted castle from the fairy tales

The Astronomical clock. Since my experience with the one in Bern, I've learned not to expect too much. The sequence just lasted half a minute where there's some music and the twelve saints showed their faces briefly at 2 windows.

Shopping area which still looked like part of the main attractions. I am still amazed by the designs of the buildings!

Municipal house

Finally, the sun showed itself but that didn't last long.

Lunch at Himalaya Restaurant.

We took the tram to the Flea market and guess what I saw there - Sailormoon costume!

Vyšehrad cemetery -the resting place for many famous people.

Vysehrad castle

The view as we were going downhill to catch the tram back to Charles Bridge.

National Theatre

We went back to Charles Bridge for the night time view and it was so lovely.

This picture just says it all.

Tyn church at night

The cakes there were really delicious. My favourite is the Medovnik. We purposely went back to this shop after 6.30pm as they gave 20% discount after this time. Hahahaha.

Many thanks to S for accommodating us and your superb hospitality not forgetting to mention, feeding us too well.

Goodbye Prague. May I return someday.

P.s.....

M, you're looking at your birthday present. Giving you super early this December so that you can drink your sorrows away. Let's try the Czech way of setting the sugar cube on fire first.

Siu Mai - the 2nd and successful attempt

Today, I even went down to Chinatown to get salted egg as the yolk is used as the orange garnishing for Siu Mai.

It's 40p each and is so difficult to get. Maybe I could make it myself but I'm not even a big fan of salted egg, so why the hassle? I think this will be the first and last time I buy it in Liverpool.

I added more chicken, water chestnut and sugar to the mixture to try to reduce the saltiness.
It worked!

Steaming in progress.

Now, this is what I call successful Siu Mai.

Hope that those of you who came over enjoyed it. Remember the taste as I don't think I'll be making anymore in the near future. Too much hassle and too lazy. Muahahaha.

First attempt at Siu Mai making

I felt like I was a scientist carrying out my experiment to test out this ingenious plan. Ok...I'm exaggerating. It is my first time making Siu Mai and halal version of that some more. Been promising my flatmates that I'll make them since last year but using the excuse of preparing for finals, I somehow managed to procrastinate for such a long time.

So, with chicken substituting pork and following all the other instructions, I started the experiment this afternoon.

It was tough to separate the chicken meat from the bone as I used the thigh and drum sticks as the meat was juicier. Minced the chicken meat, diced the prawn, mushrooms and water chestnuts. Put them all into the mixing bowl.

At least I didn't have to make my own pastry.

Next add egg white, tapioca flour, sugar and salt. Mix well till its sticky and leave in the fridge to marinate for 1 hour.

Had quite a fun time trying to fold the dumplings. Some was just over-flowing. Steamed them for 15 minutes and Tah Daaaahhhh.....don't they look delicious?

Verdict: Too salty but texture was almost perfect and presentation can be improved.

I'm going to have another go tomorrow. Hopefully this time, it's going to be as authentic as possible.

When did the dreams stop?

How did all the dreaming stop?

When did I start growing up?

What happened to all the chasing?

Where did the forgotten dreams go?

Why is this happening to me?

Who am I without dreams?

Written when the author's brain was too active in the middle of the night to help induce sleep

shouldn't have planned, seriously shouldn't have even thought about going anywhere

Even if it is mentioned in the handbook that we're not supposed to be out of Liverpool during reflection week, but I think at least 80% of the 5th year students will be some part of the globe other than Liverpool during that week.

I booked a flight to Prague then flying back to London so that I could make my visa for Morocco on Friday of reflection week. Thinking that everything will go smoothly, I asked my consultant if I could arrange for a meeting with him next week for the final feedback. Guess what, he's away tomorrow onwards and the whole of next week and he will only be back on the Monday that I'm supposed to fly to Prague.

Great, now what. Went to see his secretary after abandoning him in his Cath Lab, set a time to meet on Monday, which I had a really bad feeling that if I want to get it done on that day, I wouldn't be able to catch my flight. In other words, the possibility of my canceling my flight was close to 100%.

Decided to go home after seeing his secretary cause was too depressed and my mind wasn't thinking straight. Was worried how should I break the news to my travel partner, thinking of whether is there any chance that I could maybe go a day later to Prague.

Came home, checked air ticket....there's no flight on Tuesday evening....it's either 89 pounds to fly on Wednesday morning. But what the point? half a day in Prague then flying back the next morning. Too sad and tired to think, decided to take a 2.5 hours long nap. Was rushing my essay the last few days cause I thought I could hand it in next Monday and there won't be any obstacles to my trip. How wrong was I. If anyone asked me if I went through bereavement before? I think I can answer yes because I went through all 5 stages of grieve from denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Ok, initially I did think that it was denial, anger, blame, guilt and acceptance. Someone told me that I should form my own theory.

Woke up from my nap, had a 'Eureka' moment. That's the power of napping. Found cheap ticket from Prague to Liverpool on Thursday. Better to burn London trip rather than Prague trip right? Bought it as backup. The only thing now is, to see the secretary and seriously hope that my consultant is free on the dateline to hand-in my feedback form. Or should I just try my luck to get everything done on Monday and save both the Prague and London trip? Or should I just hand-in essay on Monday, meet him on Friday for final peta meeting?

Haih.......obstacles, obstacles. This is what life is all about.

Bahasa Malaysia for Science and Maths?

Currently, the Ministry of Education is proposing to reverting back teaching of Science and Mathematics in Secondary Schools in Bahasa Malaysia in year 2010. I would like to know what your views are on this matter and share my own take on what I think.

English has been used to teach Science and Math for the past 6 years. When I heard that news, I was already long past Secondary school so it didn't affect me much but I did support that move.

Let me start with my own experience. I was in the first batch of student when they introduced the Science subject as a paper for UPSR. Since I went to a Chinese Primary school, I learned all my Science, Mathematic, Kajian Tempatan, Moral Education in Mandarin.

Next, it was Secondary school. Everything from Science, Math, Geography, History, were taught in Bahasa Malaysia(BM) or Malay, except for Mandarin and English. I admit that it took me a while to get used to all the new terms and expressions. But nonetheless, I adapted to the system in no time.

Soon after, it was college. Now, everything was taught in English except for Malay literature. Hmmmm......at least the spellings for scientific terms in BM were similar to that of English. The biggest challenge was Physics, I would say, but luckily, I didn't have to take that subject. Let me give you an example. Symbiosis was simbiosis in BM. Friction was geseran in BM. Mandarin is totally different story.

See the change that I had to go through? From Chinese, to Malay, to English and one can argue that it is not a big deal if so many people like me turned out all right in the end. I would care to differ as not everyone can adapt that easily.

I do agree with opinions that Malay should be used as the medium so that students from lower socioeconomic classes where usually BM is their stronger point, will find it easier to understand the concepts while learning Science and Math. However, will it be fair deny other students from gaining an advantage by learning it in English as one can put 90% or more of scientific and mathematical resources are in English? You've solved the beginning problem of coping with learning the two new subjects, but they will bound to run into obstacles again if they want to move higher up. Can everyone adapt that easily?

Another argument is that learning Science and Maths is like learning a new language. Most of the terms and numbers used are universal. So, what's the big deal? The most important thing is learning the principles and concept. There wouldn't be a problem of finding resources at the beginner's stage but when it comes to higher levels or even at world stage, who can keep up translating all newly published journals into BM? Even in Japan where translation of articles is common, they are unable to keep up as well. That is why English is so widely learnt in Japan.

One would wonder why don't they allow flexibility in the language that is used to teach Science and Maths? At least at school level. Or maybe it should be up to the teacher to explain it in the language of preference. Basically, no matter how easy you try to make it for a student to learn Science and Maths, it will be down to how much interest and effort they want to put in to learn.

If Malaysia wants to put its mark on the world stage in Science and Maths, there is no running away from publishing those papers in English. So, how long can the Ministry deny the important of learning Science and Maths in English?

P.s. Do share your views by clicking on the poll on the right.

Why? How? What should I do? Whatever, I give up

Firstly, who said 5th year was easy again? Kena tipu by the seniors when I was busy preparing for finals last year.

Secondly, Noreen, why did you leave everything to the last minute? Why? WHY?????? If I can't finish my essay, case histories, personal formulary in time, it's goodbye to my trip to Prague and London. This is highly likely to happen looking at my snail speed in writing.

Thirdly, sorry blog. I've abandoned you for a long time and will continue to do so as I've lost my interest in blogging. So many things happened over the last few weeks and I have no interest or motivation to blog about them. I think I smell some signs of depression.

Fourthly, to apply or not to apply, that is the question. To stay or not to stay. Balik or not to balik. Not to mention, I don't even know if I have time to attempt those questions! Y3 ah, why didn't we make a firm decision over summer holidays? WHy???? Now I kepala sakit.

To turn over the whole hutan khatulistiwa from tomorrow onwards. I don't want to be the first person who fails a SAMP rotation. I don't want to.