Year 3 - a reflection

Tomorrow will be the first day of Year 4 official learning day. Two days of briefing last week gave me some idea of what to expect in this year 4 (damn, I'm actually into the fourth year being a medical student). It feels more challenging in terms of the amount work you have to do than Year 3 and it demands a more mature 'me'. It therefore creates an opportunity for me to reflect on Year 3.

I must say in the first two years of being a medical student, I lack the clear focus, which I then regained in third year. After learning it through the hard way in second year, I improved my approach in studying medicine. However, it took a great amount of time for me to improvise and tailor it into my own style, and hopefully this will improve in Year 4.

First, I would need to improve on my prioritisation skills. I love to do a lot things, other than doing medicine. However, I sometimes made unfair compromise to many things and ended up losing the grip for all the things that I want to in life. I need to learn how prioritise things - 'being effecient is knowing how to do thing wells; being effective is knowing well when things should be done'. That said, this would include procratination. If that superseeds above all, then my priority in life is not right, and that creates a lot unnecessary strains on myself.

Second, I must be able to see to bigger picture more frequently. Last academic year, I was frequently commented by my consultants in all (but one) of my firms that I lack this ability. I lack the skill of thinking of situations hollistically, and I instead just vomit out (silly) answers as soon as the issue is posed towards me. Most of the time, I got the answers wrong, or partially correct. I should have realised by now that medicine is about breadth first, then details. I should be able to categorise 'causes of chest pain' rather than just regurgitating the answers. Besides that, if only I see the big picture of the clubs and societies that I joined, I believed that I could do so much more for the organisations.

Third, explore life more. Get involved with the community more, go traveling, form stronger bonds with friends, not settling for mere monotonocity and do a lot more. Makes life more interesting when you have a lot of interests.

God willing, if I can learn to master these skills, I would grow more.

The Ultimate Cuti-Cuti Sabah Blog Entry

I know this is a long due entry. Having loads of fun back in Malaysia. Unfortunately I had to return to London not long after that. I would have been in Malaysia longer if not for the late notice by the medical school that our term was only going to resume on a Thursday instead of a Monday.

Anyway, here is a quick run through of what else had happened during the holiday!


Kampung full of Kelapa sawit!
I have always loved to go back to Sandakan area, because I have a lot of relatives there. Seeing the green palm-oil tree plantations running in both sides of the road is pretty cool. I bet the villagers can easily be rich because at the moment for 1 tonne of palm oil seed, they are paid RM700+. Imagine if they produce even 10 tonnes, that’s already RM7000 every month. Talking about money growing on trees!

Hanging out with cousins!
Went out clubbing in KK for the first time. I don’t think it’s fair to compare KK to London’s scene (although I like the latter), because the different size and huge difference in the average income of the population. Went out from 8am and came home around 4am. Hoho. Kena ‘sound’ jugalah.

I think to go clubbing as a local earning in ringgit is pretty expensive. 1 glass of alcoholic beverage is already RM15-20, and if you’re the ‘kaki arak’ type, you’ll probably drink at least 5 glasses. Then if you belanja orang lagi, lagilah banyak kau belanja. Easily in one night, RM150 would have been wasted. And if you’re earning the average Malaysian income which is probably around RM1500, that’s already 10% of your income. So, if you want to fit into this kind of lifestyle, you must be either: very rich, very little financial commitments, or … the club belongs to your family.

And otherwise, just met a lot my family members!

The KK outing
Kota Kinabalu city has pretty much changed since I last went home 1.5 years ago. It now has opened several flyovers, avenues and shopping malls. More housing development projects are running too. Beautification of the seaside with the esplanade development project, of what said would be the longest esplanade in Asia, take place(although the stinky smell from the dirty sea is still there). Also the new Airport terminal was opened in the 3rd week of August. It looks a lot like KLIA.

I also noticed how intense the cleanliness campaign happened. DBKK used the HUGE billboards on the main streets of KK telling the people along the line of ‘they are being watched. So, don’t throw your rubbish out of the window of your car, or you would be fine’.

There are couple of food I would miss: the Tuaran mee, teh-c-ping, kaya ball and Yoyo!

Conquered mount Kinabalu!
It proved to be a challenging activity as I struggled with high altitude, thin air and cold weather. But it was worthwhile when I finally reached the top. Must say, it was not the greatest view (very misty). 10 minutes later, it started to rain heavily and I was forced to descend from the top. My gloves were wet. My hands become painful and numb. The wind accelerated this development. The descent felt to be more dangerous as visibility in reduce to 1-2 metres, slippery and steep terrains all over the place. Thank goodness the weather improved and I could actually see the path we actually took during the ascent. Pretty deadly if you didn’t heed the advice of the guides of holding on the ropes tightly.
Went all the way down to the Timpohon Gate (where I first started) on the same after resting few hours at Laban Rata.

And for the next few days, leg muscle sores were inevitable. It was especially painful if you have to bend your knees, e.g. climbing down stairs. But that was pretty good fun!

Island hopping!
15 of us hired a boat to go to Pulau Manukan, Pulau Sapi, and Pulau Mamutik.

Had nice tan. Doiiii….being sooooo westernised. Hoho.

Tip of Borneo!
Never knew Sabah would have a nice place like this

Marriage
3 cousins kahwin

Parents’ 25th anniversary – silver one. Makan-makan at NewYorkNewYork (it’s ok-ish. My food was no longer hot as I waiting for everyone's food to arrive. The waiter should have served all meals together). Then they had a studio photoshoot.

Missed my KK-KL flight!
I was supposed to fly on 22nd. Just didn’t quite understand why I thought it was on 23rd all those times I was in KK. I guessed I was not ready to fly lagi. Well, learnt to be meticulous about my plans in future. I still had to buy a new flight – much, much more expensive. It was indeed, figuratively and literally speaking, a costly lesson.

KL outing!
I don’t really like KL because of its terrible traffic jam and appalling public transport system. I was wishing really hard the public transport would be as efficient and effective as London. Wishful thinking.

I love the shopping malls in KL, though. Beautiful and plenty of options.

Incidents
Sabah's beloved hypermarker, Servay, was burnt to collapse. The very first hypermarkert in Sabah, was burnt due to short circuit that occurred in the stock room. I was quite sad actually with this news because I grew up with this shop, seeing it grew, from a small store to its occupation of the entire lot of the row of building in Bandar Penampang Baru. I would imagine many people would be moved by this unfortunate incident, as evident by the headline it made (twice) for New Sabah Times and Daily Express, the main newspapers in Sabah. Those who lived around Penampang, like myself, went to the ground-zero-site of what once used to be a place of happiness for shoppers. 'Paid' my last respect.

Another story: Saw an accident in KL happening right before my eyes. It involved a bus with a motorcyclist and his passenger. Scary. I should have done something, since I think I have enough medical knowledge to help the victim out. But I didn't, too shocked, probably. I didn't even called the ambulance. Thankfully, the were policemen at that time to handle the situation.

Floyer and Dawson

I'm back in London after a rather short 6-week holiday break. I have moved into my new home in Barbican called the Dawson Hall. Today I have unpacked all my stuff and rearranged them nicely in my new home.

On the 2nd day of my stay here, I can already make some comparisons between the this place and Floyer House:

Things I will miss about staying in Floyer House (and Whitechapel):

1. Dawson is probably not as 'meriah' as Floyer because there are a lot more of my Malaysian collegues of the same batch over there.

2. It's in Whitechapel - the Little India of London.

3. The big nearby Sainsbury. It is cheaper to shop here than in Central London.

4. The nearby wet market

5. The orang-orang mabuk 24hours on the streets

6. The Chinese crew of illegal DVD salesmen.

7. The olympic-size swimming pool at St Georges where I brave myself learning swimming in 3m-deep water

8. Within-walking-distance Regent's canal

9. Its Canary wharf's view

10. Its Genesis cinema

11. Its nearby Nando's

12. Cheaper to travel to hospitals

13. The oversized bathroom. So big I can add a bed and studying table inside.

Things that made me thankful to have left Floyer for Dawson:

1. Dawson has beautiful lawn, and my room is facing it!

2. Barbican is a much nicer place to stay than Whitechapel. There's St Pauls cathedral and River Thames especially.In 4th year you travel to different hospitals quite frequently, so why not pick somewhere nicer to stay if you are paying about the same rent?

3. Location: Barbican is in central London. There are a lot more travel options if I want to get to Oxford Circus, compared to Whitechapel. It's nearer too!

4. It's time for a change. 2 years in Floyer are enough!

5. My new room is bigger! Also, I have bigger space for storage,and for studying

6. Thank God for the lifts in Dawson (if not, I would have suffered terribly trying to transfer my heavy bags). Floyer doesn't have lift!