Memories

Nine days in Sydney flew by so fast. We had a pleasant stay in SiauCern’s boyfriend, Matthew’s Uncle’s house. His name is Uncle Francis, with Auntie Gloria and their children Charmaine, Felix and Tim in the house.

They have 3 dogs too, which stayed indoor most of the time! :o) I’ve never realised humans and dogs can build such intimate relationship. However, I’m still not inclined to have any pets in my house, because of my hypersensitive nose.

Although we were in no way related to them, but all of them treated us so well! In our 1st night, while we were asleep, Auntie came in to our room and put on another layer of blanket! Even the heater was on full blast.

Most of the nights, we had home cooked dinner prepared by Auntie Gloria. After half a year of hostel food in a foreign country, home cooked Chinese cuisine can really bring you into tears. From char siew, to roast duck, to steam fish, to soup.. :o)

There was a night uncle brought us for a Japanese dinner in King’s Cross, which is the red light district in Sydney. The restaurant only opens at 630pm and reservation is compulsory to have a meal in there. Since we arrived at 600pm, uncle decided to take us to a walk around King’s Cross. :o) Interesting..

The restaurant is built underground. Thus, there’s only a small uninteresting door on the ground floor. But after walking down a long staircase, the interior was magnificently Japanese. We had sushi, salmon steamboat, sashimi and many others which I couldn’t name. Everything was so good! But of course, the price was even better!

On Saturday morning, they brought us out for dim sum (better known as Yum cha here: i.e. Let’s go for yumcham..). It seemed like wherever you go for meal in Sydney, you need a reservation, which fortunately we had. The queue was so long. Inside, the restaurant was double storey and each storey was as big as a football field. And they were packed! And they were all Asians, which sometimes make you forget that you were in Australia. :o)

Auntie would buy fruits for us everyday and before we leave, she would make sure we have refilled our bottles and brought our umbrellas along.

I wanna express my gratitude to uncle and auntie here again! They have inspired me to treat my future guests with similar hospitality! :o)

Everyone! Welcome to my place.. wherever it may be! :o)

Bondi Beach

Hyde Park

More pictures of our trip to Sydney can be seen on Steph’s blog! www.stephwong.blogspot.com

‘Good morning sir, my name is Chun Peng. I’m a 4th year medical student.’

I’ve been rehearsing this phrase ever since my results came out yesterday! Yes. Finally i’m a 4th year medical student, after one and a half year of 3rd year.

After IMU, we are supposed to continue as fourth year (sem 7) in most of the partner university and begin clincals. However, in Uni Melbourne sem 6 and 7 is a research year (we called it AMS) and we are exempted from it. Since they couldn’t put us in sem 8, so they put us in sem 5 again! Thus, we had to stay for another semester in pre-clinical, going for lectures and doing tons of PBLs again.

In sem 5 here, we did Microbiology, Immunology and Oncology. It’s a difficult semester because the focus of curriculum here is very different from IMU.

In IMU, we were a lot more clinical based, which means we focused a lot on pathology and clinical features of the disease. For example:

1. We’ll understand the different types of leukemia, their respective risk factors, their presentation and prognosis.
2. In microbiology, we know EHEC causes bloody diarrhoea. But we were never expected to know the mechanism.
3. We had practicals where we looked down into slides too see various organisms. But, as quoted by Ganesh, this will never come out in exam! True enough, many of us attempted to skip.
4. We focused a lot on physical examination on the patient. We had to report every step we do in the process.
5. History taking.. Our aim is to gather as much information as possible regarding the patient’s illness within the 5 mins.

Melbourne is very research based, which means they would want us to understand mechanisms to the very molecular level in each of the disease.

1. Using leukemia again, we need to know which gene is involved and what is the effect when that gene is translocated to its new location. But we are not expected to know the types of leukemia.
2. In microbiology, we need to know the exactly which toxin EHEC produce and which ion channel it affects and how it damages the capillaries to cause bloody diarrhoea and eventually lead to haemolytic uraemic syndrome.
3. We have practical every week. We learn about different cultures and the various investigation methods for each microorganisms which can only be found in IMU notes.
4. For physical examination. We are only required to act it out, no reporting at all.
5. History taking.. We focus on the biopsychosocial model, thus besides understanding the presenting illness, we need to find out how has it affected the patient in every aspect of his life.

These are some of the fundamental differences between IMU and Uni Melb. Studying here is definite challenge. But I’m quite proud to say that I have a better understanding in microbiology, immunology and oncology which we learned them only as bits and pieces in sem 1 and 2 in IMU.

Congratulations to the M1s who are sent to Uni Melb! Most probably we will organise a gathering together with the M2s who will be coming here at the end of this year!

Cheers!

Here I come Austin Hospital!!

Girls—————————
———–are like apples——
——-on trees. The best ones—–
—–are at the top of the tree.—–
—The boys dont want to reach—
–for the good ones because they–
-r afraid of falling and getting hurt.-
-Instead, they get the rotten apples-
from the ground that arent as good,
but easy. So the apples up top think
something wrong w/ them when in
-reality they’re amazing. They just
—–have to wait for the right boy to
—-come along, the one who’s
———— brave enough to—–
—————climb all———
—————the way——–
————–to the top——–

Wow! This analogy is just amazing. I came across it in some random place.

For the girls: It is alright to wait for a while. The right guy is out there waiting for you. The competition to reach the top of the tree is a tough one. Just make sure you yourself do not fall from the branch and turn rotten. :o)

For the guys: You gotta to climb that tree! It shows that you need some effort to get the right girl. Don’t give up just because you are afraid of the consequences which may not even happen if you don’t try! :o)

I woke up at 8am. My room was particularly warm with the heater turned on full blast the whole night.

I saw the Sun! ‘Today must be a good day’, I told myself as I havent seen it for the past few days. I decided to wear shorts and slippers that day.

I need to mention that residents in Wadham (the building that I live in) are very lucky for the dining hall is right under our rooms. People from other residential buildings do not have the luxury. They will have to battle the weather before and after every meal.

However, I realised that we may not be that fortunate after all. Staying indoor has made me totally oblivious to the weather. As soon as I opened the main door of International House, I froze. The temperature was only 9C and apparently that day was the coldest day in the entire autumn. Time was running out, so we walked.

Everyone around me wore at least 3 layers of shirts with jeans and well padded shoes. Surely, they laughed. I was named ’superman’ for the day.

That 20 minutes walk to uni seemed eternal. My toes were so cold that they hurt. My body was shivering involuntarily. The situation in the classroom wasn’t very helpful either. Chilly winds crept through every gap between the windows.

I was so gald that the day was over and finally made my way back to my room. One major lesson learned: Read the weather forecast before deciding what to wear.

I love Malaysia..

P.S. Weather in Melbourne this year has been erratic. Usually by April, all the leaves should have turned yellow and by this time, the trees would be bald. Now, the temperature is in the appropriate range, but the leaves are still green and hanging on the branches!

Somebody once told me that the articles that I wrote in my blog are too serious. Thus, I have decided to share this story I heard..

There was a lady who was staying alone on a land far far away. She had a boyfriend who stayed down the road. It was late at night when she rang her boyfriend up one day.

‘Oh darling! Please come over to help me solve the puzzle!’

‘What kind of puzzle is it?’

‘I don’t know, it has a picture of a rooster on the box. Please help me. I am really stressed out!’

‘Alright. I will come over right now.’

So the boyfriend went over.

As soon as he got into the house,

He said to her, in a very gentle tone,
‘Darling, let’s make ourselves a cup of coffee. We shall sit down around the table and slowly clean the cornflakes up.’

Most of us enjoy staying within our comfort zone. This is where all our basic needs as a social being are fulfilled. We have companionship and we feel belonged.

Surely, what else do we require? However, the idea of comfort zone has dampened our desire to explore. It has bound us to certain cultures which we may not be totally proud of. It has shut our ears from hearing new things. It has prevented our hearts from receiving new ideas and motivation to venture into unfamiliar territories.

I once heard of a saying: He who is unwilling to step out from his comfort zone is like living in prison, caged from the world by his own invisible wall.

Why should we limit ourselves to just what we have, friends and the things that we have achieved? Are we satisfied with the amount of information that we know? Consider these questions:

• How much do you understand about the Keynesian economics theory?
• What are the causes and impacts of East Asian economy crisis in 1997?
• Who Constantine was and his influence on Christianity?
• Is carbon dioxide the main greenhouse gas?
• Which is the least populated country in the world?
• What information can a ‘bone scan’ give us?
• What are the criteria for Jus soli citizenship?
• Who is Daniel Tammet?

As Mark Finley quoted: let’s take the entire world’s knowledge as 100%, how much do you think you have acquired? Do you think you have read 10% of all the books in the library in your school? How about 5%?

(Mat 7:7) Ask and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Indeed, ask, seek and knock. Open up your hearts and start talking to the people around you. Meet new friends and understand their culture. Share your knowledge and discuss your understanding.

You will realize that there are always new things to be learned and to be amazed at. It is then we can appreciate better what is good and what is bad, what we should adopt and what we should change.

You can learn something from anyone whom you speak to as long as you are willing to - Ganesh Ramanathan, adapted from Socrates.

We are brothers and sisters of the 21st century. Comfort zone is an ideology of the past that most of us should discard. The world is getting globalised, so should we. People round us are socializing, so should we. Let the burning desire to explore rekindle! Let’s challenge ourselves and achieve great things for mankind!

We are just one night away from the most anticipated event in IH - the CAFE!!

Just for some background information, CAFE is an annual fund raising event started since the 80s. Its orginal purpose was to raise funds for students in IH so to reduce accomodation fees and also improve on facilities. However, in recent years, under the leadership of A. Prof Jane Munroe, IH has enjoyed $5 million dollars revenue every year. Therefore, due to surplus of budget, the CAFE committee and directors of IH this year agreed to donated 100% of the proceeds to an organisation known as Interplast.

Interplast — the first humanitarian organization to provide free reconstructive surgery for children with clefts, disabling burns and hand injuries — has provided 64,000 life-changing surgeries for those  who have no other access to care. Working in underserved regions of 16 countries throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, Interplast teaches, empowers and partners with volunteers and overseas medical professionals so every child living in poverty has free access to the safest and highest-quality care — now and in the future. Interplast is committed to transforming as many lives as possible, allocating 90 percent of its budget to medical programs.

Understanding the objective behind CAFE, most of the IHers have contributed in as many ways as they could, such as performances, sound and lighting, decoration, waitering, ushering, washing up, prizes for Raffles, invitations and lots of administrative details.

The theme for CAFE this year is Golden Globe. CAFE will begin at 8pm on Saturday night. All 240 seats, worth $70 each, were sold out. Raffles prizes worth thousands of dollars are ready to be claimed by their lucky owners. Everyone involved in organising it is pumped and ready to go!

We had a CAFE preview yesterday, which was a full-dress rehearsal catered for the students in IH and their friends and family. The entrance fee was only $1. Unsurprisingly, the dining hall was packed before the event began. The performances started with a bang! The highlight of the night was definitely Thriller, led by Pat Tan. And of course Joyful joyful (Sister Act 2) and Step Up (led by Darren Ow) which I am involved. :o)

One more night!

CAFE!

Cheers!

Church camp was so cool! It’s also known as Planet-uni. As the name goes, it was meant for uni students, which made it even more cool! We had it at Phiilp Island, a place well-known for penguin inhabitation. However, we stayed within the campsite throughout the 3 days 2 night camp and did not even smell the scent of those cute little penguins. But It was alright. Penguins were not the main issue. The more important things were some really great friendship were formed and all of us, I believe, were touched in our own way. Thank you Ps Matt, Ps Sam and the four generals for their wonderful sermon! And also everyone who participated in the camp! You have blessed me in ways that you may not know! :o)

Jumping photo!

My roommates - Reza and Ruddy, with Freddie and KangMeng. It was 4am.

Fellow IH brothers and sister of Christ!

My Urban-Life leader - Eelin

"Let’s meet at 930pm for choir practise!"

"We’ll be dancing in the JCR from 530pm till dinner time."

"Badminton semi-finals is tomorrow. We’ll meet at 610 in the morning."

"You are in the darts team!"

"All those who wish to join the basketball team, pls meet at the back of the dining hall after dinner."

"Church camp is this weekend! Yeah!!"

Just to name a few. There are football tryout, practises for other CAFE events, ping pong games before and after meals, rowing competition, General Meeting and the many occasional dine outs and having fun.

Life is International House is too exciting! There are so many things going on here at the same time. So much so that many of us lose focus on our priorities.

We are students. As my mum quoted, ‘Your main responsibility as a student is to do well in your studies.’ True, we are here to study and that is why we write ’student’ as occupation.

A student studies.

According to Dictionary.com, ’study’ means application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge, as by reading and ‘occupation’ means a person’s usual or principal work.

Thus, our principal work is to apply our mind to acquire knowledge through reading!

Definitely singing, dancing, playing darts or badminton for your college is fun because you’ll get to spend time with your friends. However, it’s of utmost importance that we can strike a balance between our ‘principal work’ and other activities.

Aim to excel in both! Not either!

Cheers!

Analyse these photos…

There are certain things that I can’t fail to notice :-

1. The ratio of females to males. (What on earth?!)
2. There are no Asians.
3. They all look good! :p

Let’s first consider the girls photo. I did some research on their background.

• Jessica Alba - Hot dancer in Honey! She’s hot, and I look like her the most, which means.. :p It sounds wrong.
• Emma Watson - Hermione in Harry Potter series. I wonder if Ron will change his sexual inclination.
• Ali Landry - Miss USA 1996!
• Petra Nemcova - Swimsuit model, rated 89/100 in Askmen.com
• Tia Carrere - Hawaii’s most famous actress, Cassandra in the Wayne’s World series.

Now the Guys.

• Eddie Murphy (why? why?) - Best supporting actor in Golden Globe for Dreamgirls.
• Jon Seda - Boxer. Acted as ‘Chino’ in the film "I Like It Like That".
• Christopher Uckermann - Mexican singer actor.

Haha! So what do u think? :o)

Cheers!