Life as an impoverished student

Oh nooo... medical books here are so expensive! Went to Ramsay Bookstore to get a white coat and this surgery book (Clinical Problems in General Medicine and Surgery by Peter Devitt). To my utter horror, the prices are almost the same as back in Malaysia, only they're in AUD. In Kamal, it's RM90. Here, it's AUD89.85 (So damn weird wan, 85 cents). OMG!!!!!!! It's like triple the price! And the labcoat is no cheaper la. Seems like they were short white coats here, not the nice, long white ones. Been getting some mixed advice bout whether we must wear our coats to the hospital, but bought one anyway just to be on the safe side.

I'm starting to appreciate the little things back home that I took for granted. A constantly well-stocked kitchen, not having to think of what to cook every night, cheap Asian groceries, Indian kedai runcits with the old-fashioned coconut grinding machine....etc etc etc... We've been cooking dinner almost every night now. Eating out is just way to expensive. Must start planning my cooking and make a shopping list already. We've been buying groceries almost every day and the following day sure got something we forgot to get!

Being a lousy cook and student in country where everything costs $X2.8, we can't help but convert everytime we buy stuff. I'm gradually getting used to the prices here already though. Can't keep converting and freaking myself out of eating every time. Here are some things we've managed to cook so far...

Staple food for the first week: Lebanese Pita bread with ham + pastrami + fried egg + cheese + siew pak choy. Not bad actually.

The super-oily and super-jelak honey beef sausages! The sausages here are nice (but very soft/lam pek pek compared to Malaysian ones). However, this was the second night we had honey beef sausages, and somehow they were drenched in oil. Ugh. Just watching Ken finish them up made me nauseous. The pot on top contains ABC soup courtesy of Jebbrine.

Now this meal was tasty. Sick of the oil, we started microwaving our food instead. The grand-daddy of all choy sam (had to boil for quite long to make it edible) and chicken drumsticks + egg in piri piri spices and black pepper. Our first spicy meal here!

I know it doesn't look appetizing, but it tasted pretty good.

Jebbrine with her spaghetti and siew pak choy.

Nope, we didn't cook this! Went to this pizza place last weekend and got this super huge pizza. Very nice. :) Especially after walking 10 minutes in the blistering cold. In shorts.

I never thought I'd resort to doing this: One of our IMU seniors told us of some buffet places in Chinatown where you pay lets say $5 and get to pile your plate with as much food as possible. Considering that I spent a horrendous amount on that surgery book and white coat, might as well save some money. No $5 buffet though, but we found this stall with a $6.80 buffet. So Jebbrine and I shared a plate. There's fried rice and noodles with some dishes just like those economy rice stalls. We desperately (and very kiasuly) piled mountains on our plate... It was like borderline gluttony I tell you! Had to stop when brocolli started rolling off my plate. Thank goodness we weren't the only ones doing this. Some ang mohs also exhibited typical 'Malaysian' qualities too. Suffice to say, we were quite full at the end. The food was not that good. Very, very oily. Can feel my arteries clogging up already. Jebbrine and I couldn't finish the rice because it was so oily. On the other hand, beggars can't be choosers. Where can you find $3.40 worth of rice and dishes per person?

A mountain of food for Jebbrine and me: fried (oily) rice, brocolli, Szechuan chicken, fried calamari (1% squid and 99% flour), honey chicken (a big pile behind the rice), and 2 BBQ chicken drumsticks. Hopefully we'll be able to cook tastier and healthier meals when we move in to our new houses.

Welcome to the land down under

Ok.. this will be a super long post...

It's been 11 busy days since I left Malaysia. I'm now in Adelaide and will be starting my 4th year of medical school in the University of Adeaide along with some of my batchmates (Jebbrine, Bryan, Sheng Kai and Jee Ken) + 6 other M204s. The weather here is so crazy!! It's summer now, so it's supposed to be hot right? Just a few days ago, it was a horrible scorching 40 degrees. Not a cloud in the sky, and everything was as dry as a desert. Then yesterday it rained and the temperature dropped to 18 degrees. Somemore yesterday we went grocery shopping in the city. Ended up running around with bags full of meat and vegetables and fruits in the rain trying to look for the right bus stop. Today it's even colder. When the wind blows, it really gets to you. But besides that, Adelaide is a beautiful place. Very quiet and erm... peaceful for a city. Shops close at 5.00p.m. and on weekends they close even earlier. Such a far cry from KL, isn't it? *sigh* Not a mamak in sight...

It was a tiring and hectic first few days. Reached in the morning, met with the uni representative, went to our hostel, and then came out again to the city. Walking really is the main way people like us have to get around. Walk to the bus stop, walk from the bus stop, walk to shops, walk to find the right bus stop, and walk if we can't find a bus stop. Our first night was interesting, in its own horrendous way. After a short break at the hostel, we took a bus to the city to check out the uni and familiarize ourselves with the roads and stuff. Followed Bryan, Jebbrine and Sheng Kai to check out their potential permanent accommodation, bought some stuff (bottles of mineral water, shampoo, conditioner and shower gel. Those things had to be taken out from my luggage because it over the weight limit). We had dinner at Chinatown. The around 9.00p.m., we looked at out bus schedule, and thought we missed the last bus back home! The hostel is in a suburb called Hindmarsh and it's 15 minutes bus ride from the city. So there we were, frantically running around the city looking for a bus stop. And all the while we were lugging bags of huge mineral water bottles and toiletries! Not to mention that it was cold at night. And dark. Shops all closed, the city quite deserted. Haih.. but in the end we found a bus. No way we could havee walked back home in the dark on our first day.

The first week was very very hot and dry. Got sunburnt from a whole day of house hunting. Jee Ken and I learnt the hard way that some buses don’t stop at certain stops on weekends. Out of the 4 houses we were supposed to inspect, we only managed to get to 2. And in between inspections were just endlessly walking around while looking at our metro guide maps. It takes a while to understand the way buses work here. But when you do, you'll find that the buses here are quite efficient. Anyway... that Saturday wasn't a good day when it came to buses. Got quite burnt like a sakai already. Another thing different about Adelaide is the flies. They follow you around and are really persistent. For some unknown reason, they seem to go for the guys (esp Jee Ken). Perhaps there's some biochemical reason for this? Hmmm... Oh yeah the water here tastes funny! People drink water right out of the tap without boiling, and it's full of fluoride and chlorine and God knows what other mineral deposits.

Last Sunday, we went to the beach! There're a number of beaches around here. One of the more popular ones is Glenelg beach. Took a bus to the city, and then took a tram which goes straight down to the beach. Very nice place, but still cannot compare to tropical beaches like Redang and Perhentian. Sun was hot, but the breeze was very cooling. Had fish and chips by the beach! Still can't get used to Aussie food portions (don’t want to get used to is also). Thank goodness there's Jebbrine here to fill in for Andrew as my food buddy! Lazed around a bit, walked along the beach... pretty much the most relaxing day we had since we arrived.

This is a tram that runs from the city right up to Glenelg beach. Takes around 15-20 minutes to get here.

View from under the pier. It's really cool in the shade, but scorching hot in the sun.

L-R: Me, Jee Ken, Jebbrine, Sheng Kai.

Bryan and me.

With Jebbrine.

The beach just goes on forever...

This is how the sky during an Australian summer looks like.

Seagulls are everywhere, and they're not afraid of people.

Fish and chips by the beach!

On the pier with Jee Ken.

Notice the helicopter in the middle of the picture? They have these things called the shark watch. Shark attacks happen here quite often, so they monitor their movement from the sky, and ring some sort of alarm when they spot a shark swimming close to the beach.

And here we have an Aussie 'stuntman' jumping off some pole on the pier. It's prohibited FYI.

Ang Mohs here really love the sun and can really tahan the cold. UV radiation here is no joke. Adelaide has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world.

Some interesting stuff they sell at the beachside flea market: weird and funny quotes and signs.

They even have camels for tourists to ride here.

My temporary accommodation is a little creepy. But after being here for 10 days, I'm kinda used to it already. It's called Hindmarsh International Hostel, run by this nice Korean lady and they's an IMU senior staying here as well. It's OK and all, but most of the time the place is pretty dark (not many lights on) and... there are some interesting features to this hostel... Apparently, this place used to be a hospital.. -_-“ So yes, let me give you a guided tour of the place... You'll see some remnants of the hospital environment here and there, and this is what give this hostel its unique sense of creepiness...

This is the entrance. The hostel is a small single-storey building (like most of the houses here) located on Holden Street, Hindmarsh. It's around 15 mins bus ride from the city. It has I think around 50 rooms and the residents are from all over the world, like Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, Nigeria and Malaysia (of course).

Hindmarsh sports stadium is just directly opposite the hostel. There was one evening where tons of people came for some soccer match (I think). Damn bising.

The place is not that well lit at night. Even during the day it can get a little creepy to walk the corridors of this ex-hospital... Even the doors of the rooms are like those you see in SJMC.. With the metal bar handle. Some of them are quite heavy and still have "STAFF ONLY" printed on them. Like hospital room doors.

Our common room where residents have dinner and laze around/watch TV.

The porch outside the common room. Seldom hang out here.

This is our cold room, where we put our foodstuffs like meat, vegetables, milk, etc. Someone joked that since this was a hospital, for all you'd know the cold room might have been the morgue.

The reception area.

Our kitchen. Everyone cooks their meals here. If you have good company, it can be a fun experience. Unfortunately some of the pots and pans here are quite old, with the Teflon worn off them. There is also another small kitchen specially for Muslims.

Laundry area. Washes are AUD3 per load and dryers are another AUD3. Damn cut-throat!

Seems that Jee Ken's room used to be the radiation room. Really. Even the set-up of his room is very like a radiation room (i.e. it has 2 smaller 'rooms' which was most likely patients' changing room. And the above sign is on the door to his bed. -_-"

This is my room. The walls are quite high, so Bryan said it could have been the room for psychiatric patients (yeah right). Anway I've gotten used to it and it's actually pretty comfortable here. I can get a fairly strong signal from the wireless internet modem here most of the time.

....and for some strange reason, there are power points and what looks like a phone port on the ceiling...

Unlike most rooms, I get my own bathroom. Look carefully at the shower, though. There's something suspicious there.

See this round, white button on the bottom right corner? The first time I showered here, I thought that was the button for the heater. So I kept pressing it. Then later when I discovered that this place used to be a hospital, it all fell into place. This button is what they have in patients' rooms in case something happens in the shower and they wanna call the nurse. Unfortunately for me no one came to my aid despite having pressed it half dozen times.

Behold! The flying cockroach that was camping out in my room for the first three days! On the first night, I felt something brush down my hand, so we all thought it was... *ahem* something to do with the history of the hostel. In the subsequent nights, the others had their own 'incidents'... Then on the third night, I felt the thing brush past me again. When I turned around, the cockroach was flying in mid-air! So... yeah. I smacked it with a slipper, squashed it with some tissue and promptly flushed it down the toilet bowl. But not after the fella flew into the jacket I was wearing...

Our bridging course started last Wednesday. So far, the university staff have been very friendly and helpful. They organized some discussions and clinical skills practice for us. Having just finished their EOS, I bet everything is still fresh in the M204s' minds... It's been 6 months since I touched my notes! Luckily the CSU tutor didn’t blast us or anything la.. I think in this one week we've done more communication skills sessions than we did in our 2.5 years in IMU! They must be trying to compensate for it or something la... Supposed to be revising my stuff, but no... I spent my weekend blogging instead...:P Hmm what else... went shopping with Jebbrine last Monday. It's sales period in Australia and some clothes are really cheap. If you count it dollar for dollar, stuff here is pretty affordable. But then again... I still can't stop converting the prices to Ringgit.. So depressing... The one and only phone call I made to my family so far cost me AUD9 on top of the international calling card credit. Didn't know that I had to make calls from a landline instead of a mobile phone. Somemore we only talked for about 10 minutes. Thank goodness Tiong, my old secondary schoolmate offered to help me out with getting a phone from Malaysia. Unlocked phones in Australia are bloody expensive... Met up with him last Friday after years of not seeing each other. :)

Ok then, will put up more pictures of Adelaide and my permanent accommodation soon! Internet connection today is crappy... Miss you all so much!

Leaving on a Jet Plane
John Denver

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go
I'm standing here outside your door
I hate to wake you up to say goodbye
But the dawn is breakin', it's early morn'
The taxi's waitin', he's blowin' his horn
Already I'm so lonesome I could cry

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

There's so many times I've let you down
So many times I've played around
I tell you now they don't mean a thing
Every place I go I'll think of you
Every song I sing I'll sing for you
When I come back I'll wear your wedding ring

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
Don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Then close your eyes, I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to come
When I won't have to leave alone
About the time I won't have to say:

Kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Leavin on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh babe, I hate to go...

Surreal

Omigod NOW I'm starting to feel it. I'm leaving for Australia in 4 days!!! And I haven't packed yet! How on earth did 5 months fly by so fast? And what did I do with my time? I can't remember...

Spent the past few days clearing out my trash and unwanted items. My family's gonna move house after I leave. Sucks that I won't get to choose the furniture of my new room or even sleep in it for that matter. Most likely my family will be using it as a 'storage' room while I'm away. -_-" So, yeah... as I was cleaning up, my heart suddenly felt so heavy and I thought to myself: "Shit this is the last Friday I'll have in Malaysia in a long time! Then next Friday I'll already be in Adelaide. Without my family and friends! I'm not ready for that! Oh no....." Now it still feels weird and it hurts right *here* but I guess that's the way it is. Seng Kiat commented earlier that I don't seem to feel sad or worried or anything bout leaving. That's not true. Of course I feel sad (excited also la). But it only hits me at the last minute, just like how I start to panic insanely when I enter the exam hall. My retarded brain has this humongously long lag phase. I think I'm gonna cry at the airport. But my parents will be there and most likely they'll laugh at me. Crap.

*Sigh* I'm gonna miss everyone here. Even the people whom I didn't get to meet up during the holidays. I guess holidays give a sense of complacency. Makes you procrastinate until it's too late to even start scrambling. And my group of Subang friends, I can't imagine life without you guys around! What will I do for entertainment? Or more importantly, who can I count on to be there when I need it the most? I'll miss my family, especially since I've never been away from them this far, for so long before (and no Ma, I don't just miss you because of your 'labour'). Sisters Chin, it's gonna be hard with no little 'piggies' around to torment. :(

Ppl I'm gonna miss:

- My family (Obviously)

- Darling

- Andrew (Miss Moist can't be moist without Saint Skank)

- Vee Han (By the time we see each other, I'll have to call you Dr. Lim!)

- Calvin (Enjoy Seremban...:P)

- Meng Lee (Your life is a drama, and I'm one of your biggest fans)

- Seng Kiat (Since you 'claim' to be bi, I'll bring back an Aussie hunk for ya)

- Shing Wei

- Ching Ee (When I go off, you come back! Haiyah...)

- Shiau Wei (Thanks for the good times)

- Christine (Haih.. at least I'll be 1.5 hours closer to your time zone)

- Wei San

- Sue Wei (Thanks for the Bak Kut Teh!)

- Cindy (Good luck for your USMLE, and thanks for being my Karate buddy!)

- Karen (The days of SAM are long gone, but I'll always remember you :))

And all my other friends from Subang, IMU etc. You know who you are. :)