Hola..

I just came back from a short trip to Madrid. One word: breathtaking! 3 days and 2 nights holiday is definitely not enough to explore this historical city. I would love to come back to Spain in the future and visit other cities like Barcelona and Andalucia. 

Too tired to blog at the momentos and will leave you with few pictures. Adios.

Cantek isn't it..

Adios Southend

We will be leaving this town today. I have a feeling that I am going to miss this beautiful place. It is next to the sea, everything is within walking distance and the weather in the summer is great. 

Below are few of the photos of this picturesque town captured yesterday during our final stroll along the seafront.

Good bye Southend on Sea. I hope we will meet again. xoxo

Damages done

I suspect that I went a bit overboard with shopping. The consequence is...... excess baggage!!

 I can't seemed to resist myself as the prices of clothes here are way cheaper than Malaysia even on non sale items. Seriously, sape tak gile? If our luggage exceeds 20kg, we decided to ship our barang2 back home. 

Some of the old baju that I brought along will be donated to charity. I am sad having to part with my Power sports shoes (murah tapi best!) and my navy sweater from Miss Read (dah pudar tapi it never fails to keep me warm).

These are the some of the damages done:

Dorothy Perkins: a pair of jeans (I am currently 2 sizes smaller, hence, need to get a new pair), a chinos, 2 blouses for me and another 3 blouses for my sister

New Look: a sleeveless blouse, a cardigan (I wanted to return this but it was a sale item. Most probably I will sell it online later to whoever interested)

Peacock: a blouse (sold at RM35!), a t-shirt and a sweater for my hub, very cute lip balm for my cousin

H&M: t-shirts and pants for my daughter, a jumper for my niece

NEXT: a pants (agak solehah sebab loose, boleh pakai time oncall) and a sweater for myself, t-shirts size 3-4 years old for my daughter, make up for my sisters and a shirt for my niece

M&S: a pair of jeans for only RM125 (would cost RM250 in Malaysia)

Clarks: simple staple flats for moi, tried to order a pair for my hub and sis online tapi tak dapat coz they only accept UK credit card!

Tkmaxx: 2 shawls for RM50 each.

Few other things yet to buy: chocolates and biscuits to bring back home and souvenirs for close family members and friends. I am determined not to step into any Zara outlet when I am in Spain (cross fingers) :p

Last day at the hospital

Depan rumah orang pun jadi la :p

Sad mode.. today was our last day at the hospital. Even though our supervisor has left to Belgium 3 days ago, we still attended the out patient clinic and tagged ourselves with our favourite consultant from Sudan.  He allowed us to do full CNS examination, clerk a case and even practised communication skill with one of the patients. We just love him to bits, and I can sense that all of his patients were happy with him. Everyone will smile when they left his consultation room. Betul, tak tipu!

My partner in crime

This is the hospital compound, lovely isn't it?!

Anyway, I can see myself working in the UK in the future. I'll do so ONLY if I have my husband and daughter by my side. The weather is superb (probably as it is still summer) and I love the daily walk. I also have great respect for the people who are nothing but polite and courteous. Halal food and butchers are a plenty and prayer room is available even at the hospital. I really couldn't find any reason why muslims cannot survive in UK.

One of the historic hospital buildings,
I love the Harry Potter door

Still summer, cold but sunny

Tomorrow will be our last minute shopping. I need to get a pair of Clarks shoes for my sister and a long dress for my niece. We'll be heading to my cousin's place on Sunday and off to Spain on Tuesday. My only worry is that it'll rain on Wednesday according to weather forecast. That will be the day of our trip to Toledo, Spain. O Allah, please give us good weather that day and ease our journey.

By the way, I was sadden by the news that my staff nurse in Paediatric clinic just passed away few hours ago. Innalillahirajiuun. She was a very soft spoken lady, cooked very well (I missed her sambal tempoyak) and like a second mother to me. The irony was that she kept saying to me few months ago that she can foresee that umur dia tak panjang. She was never diagnosed of having cardiac illness except for hypertension, always looked after her diet but sadly died due to heart complication. 

My prayer goes out to her and her family. Dia sudah berada di tempat yang pasti, kekal dan abadi, pengakhiran kita belum tahu lagi kan. May Allah forgive her of her sins, have mercy on her, accept all her good deeds and placed her amongst the mukminin. Al-Fatihah.

‘O Allaah, Kak Sham is under Your care and protection so protect her from the trial of the grave and torment of the Fire. Indeed You are faithful and truthful. Forgive and have mercy upon her, surely You are The Oft-Forgiving, The Most-Merciful’.

Eyeing this

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Day 20: Famished Monday

Menu:
Rice
 Chicken cooked with garlic and ginger
 Stir fried broccoli with mushroom and prawns
Verdict: finger lickin' good!

Day 17: Taste buds remained oriental

Today's lunch:
Rice
Modified singgang ikan using sea bass
Broccoli and prawn cooked with oyster sauce

Hana + Half of Papa

Skyping

Day 15: Sad & Sorrow

It has not been a good day for me and my friend. We practised history taking with our supervisor on JIA and CF. Boy, I did badly! The history taking part wasn't that bad but when it came to the discussion part, I was left clueless. The questions were more detail than I expected. So I was upset with my performance and embarrassed at the same time. 

The supervisor was nice and advised us to read more. He even emailed me the latest guidelines on the topics above. That was very kind of him to do that. 

I am more determine to study harder and push myself further. I know I can do it, I just need to focus and study smart. Kena banyak berdu'a moga dipermudahkan as I know, only He can help me at this point in time.

Hana Dida

Pictures credited to my younger brother who posted these on FB. They were snapped during my parents' recent Raya open house, which I missed as I already left to UK. Gosh, I really miss her dearly...

You can see that my daughter donned on a t-shirt and a legging instead of a dress or a baju kurung to an open house. It is because her Papa dressed her that day instead of her Mama, the wardrobe manager/coordinator :(

Day 14: Blown away

I'm so impressed with the consultants in UK. Very kids friendly, seriously! They are so humble as well. I've encountered a consultant cardiologist as old as my father sang nursery rhymes to a baby during echo in an attempt to keep the baby quiet during the procedure. Paediatricians here are the nicest bunch of people. Siap consultant dia tanya to his registrar after she examined a patient "So, what's you finding, dear?" Baik kan?

Why in Malaysia I feel that it is otherwise? One of the reasons that I do not want to take up Masters programme is because I heard so many horror stories (which I shall not elaborate). Even my sister who is undergoing her masters training completedt her paediatric rotation felt that it was her worst experience by far. 

Well, in my opinion,  it is definitely one of the toughest field, which explains why not many doctors would like to pursue this carrier path. Hence, I feel that we should create a positive encouraging environment for everyone to work right? No bickering, no putting down others, humiliating your junior colleagues etc. In a tough working situation with a lot of stress, good working environment at least take off the pressure for a little bit, am I right?

I am determine to become a better employee, a considerate colleague, a humble doctor and work with humility. I vow to be more kids friendly and treat them with a lot of respect. I aspire to become like the consultants that I've met here, Insyallah.

Present for Hana

At first I want to get another design for her but the store run out of stock and has shoes too small for her. Hana is currently wearing UK 5, so I planned to buy 1 or 2 sizes bigger. I finally decided to purchase this rather cheap cute flats for my daughter.

I just showed her on skype and it really made her day. She got all excited about it, wanted to try the shoes on but of course, she wasn't able to do so via skype.  Papa reminded her that she can always wear the shoes when Mama returns home. Poor lil Hana.

Madrid, here we come!

It is in my plan to travel out of UK during our trip here. There are so many affordable countries to visit that I'm spoilt with choices. I would love to travel to Paris in France, Rome in Italy, Greece, Amsterdam, Norway, Turkey and many other wonderful tourist spots... I just wish I have more time and definitely money to go to all these places. I guess that's why you can see Malaysian students travelling all over the place as they are cheap and so near, like 1-2 hours by plane or train! 

My sister really strongly recommended me to go to Paris unfortunately Alya already visited France many years ago. So we decided to go to either Spain or Rome. Unfortunately, we have to fork out 500 to 600 pounds per person which is way beyond our budget. I did contact Perantauholidays travel agent but it is still be quite costly for us unless we can find another extra member. That will reduce the cost by 100 pounds but where can I find another friend to join us as they are all back home! Mind you, I need to come again to UK in Feb 2013 for my exam. Hence, I am feeling rather cheapskate here. 

Without a tourist guide, I am utterly worried of getting lost in a country where majority of them do not converse in English! I googled around and found  out that Madrid has good public transportation system. Their metro service was thought to be super efficient. 

We have come to the decision of going to Spain towards the end of our stay, just a short 3 days and 2 nights trip. Well, we can't afford to wait any longer as the airfare will get more expensive by each day. I booked a room online via Agoda for 39 pounds per night and purchased a return Ryanair flight ticket, a low cost carrier just like Airasia. In total, we have spent 190 pounds/person so far. In estimation we need to spend another 100 pounds on miscellaneous stuffs like food, local transportation to go around the city, tour to Toledo for 36 pounds, hop and off bus in Madrid for 20 pounds. 

I am quite uncertain about this, first time backpacking but at least I have my friend with me right. Well, Espaniol, here we come! Pictures credit to http://www.localmadridtours.com/

Madrid

Madrid

Madrid

Toledo: A world heritage city

P/s As a damage control measure, I need to do more locum in the coming months -___-

Wee spend our mid-day sweat, or mid-night oyle; Wee tyre the night in thought; the day in toyle.

It is 4.13am in the morning as I was typing this entry. I wasn't exactly burning the midnight oil. Last night was spent studying but the corner of my eyes were periodically focused on my favourite comedy show Friends rerun on the television. By 2am, I finished up reading on endocrinology and thought that I had enough of tall/short statures and puberty. I went on Youtube and checked out on Peter Russell, an Indian stand up comedian from Canada that my friend was ranting about. He is seriously out of this world hilarious and I find myself laughing uncontrollably in the wee hours of the morning.

I skyped for a while with my hub as it was already 10am in Malaysia but my little girl who is apparently down with a common cold was taking her morning nap. I felt bad that I couldn't be by my daughter's side, hug her and tell her that she'll get better soon. Poor hubby as well as he had to deal with Hana all alone, well..she can be really cranky whenever she is unwell.

It already 4.24am and Athan was just played on my laptop. It is the calling for Subuh prayer. I'll be hitting the sack soon after I perform my solat.

I'll leave you with a video of Sister Rebecca and Nye, 2 Muslim American Muallafs talking about Islam in our day to day life. May Allah bless them both.

Day 10: Diabetics 123

I attended their diabetic clinic this morning. The system here was superb! I was totally amazed by their set up. 

First, patient had to go for anthropometric measurements just like in any other hospitals. Then, they'll have their blood sugar and HbA1C taken with the result obtained on the spot. The same nurse will ask few questions with regards to their insulin regime, site of injection and examined the site for complications like lipohypertrophy. 

The patient will then seen by a child psychologist (if they have an appointment or if they feel like they have any issue to discuss) then to a diabetic nurse specialist (who normally see them at home on a regular basis) to discuss regarding their sugar monitoring. A dietitian is also at site should they need a consultation. Finally, the consultant will see the patient for fine tuning, and that session normally doesn't take that long. 

In Malaysia, I guess the doctor is the one who does 4 in 1 job. Dia lah dietitian, counsellor and a doctor, all in one. Here, they take the psychological and social aspect of the illness very seriously especially chronic ones. How are they coping at school, sports activity, school performance etc which is sadly lacking in our country. They compliment the patient a lot even on small progress. You will hear a lot of " you did well', "excellent", " you are a big boy now" and many positive encouraging words. 

Back home, we converse mainly in our native bahasa during our day to day consultation. Agak janggal bila nak translate ke bahasa Malaysia sebenarnya. "Bagus", "awak cemerlang", "tahniah", "takpe.. bukan salah awak".. all sounds kelakar la pulak kan. Hmm, macamana nak apply kat Malaysia ni?

Petang pulak, we had a communication practice with our supervisor. Kecut perut since he is one of the examiners for the membership exam. He gave us some komen yang membina. Learnt a lot from him as he shared with us lots of useful tips! We will be having another session with him tomorrow noon, if time permits. Takuuuttnye!!

Nak study and buat comm lagi tonight. We definitely need to practice more. Wish us luck ya. 

Tak sempat nak skype with my hubb and my lil girl. Missing them lots!!

Day 9: Missed Opportunity

We went to the clinic this morning and finally met our supervisor. He runs the rheumatology clinic together with another paediatric rheumatologis on Tuesdays. Last night me and my friend did some revision on the musculoskeletal so that we do not appear like a fool in front them :p

Sadly this morning only one of us can join their clinic. There were too many people cramped in a room, 2 consultants, a physiotherapist, a nurse, my colleague and another medical students. Ini tak termasuk patients and their families. They saw quite a number of JIAs, Ehler Danlos etc. Hmm, takde rezeki.

I joined another consultant instead and saw quite a number of interesting cases. Takpelah, Insyaallah next time I can join their rheumatology clinic pulak kan.

Okay, signing off now. Nak take a nap and study.

Day 8: First day at the Hospital

After a week in Southend, we finally able to start our clinical observer post in Paediatrics after passing our occupational health assessment. Our supervisor was not around today and we were put under another consultant instead. We started our day at the paediatric clinic. In total, we saw 10 patients of different problems, endocrine, gastro etc even though it was supposed to be a general clinic. 

I would say that I love how the consultant handled the sessions, he was an experience doctor, very thorough in history taking, examination and management. He is also gentle to the patient, talked through the problems and spent almost 30-45mins with each patient. The way he communicate with the patient and their families were just an eye opener. I am totally inspired to be like him, very children and baby friendly I might say. The parents and the kids are very kind and well verse with their illness as well.

It was a tiring day but I am now really motivated to study. Chaiyok!

Sekadar renungan untuk diri sendiri

“Bila Allah SWT cepat makbulkan doamu, 
maka DIA menyayangimu,

Bila DIA lambat makbulkan doamu, 
maka DIA ingin mengujimu,

Bila DIA tidak makbulkan doamu, 
maka DIA merancang sesuatu yang lebih baik untukmu.

Oleh itu, sentiasalah bersangka baik pada ALLAH SWT, dalam apa jua keadaan pun kerana kasih sayang Allah itu mendahului kemurkaanNya.”

Sumber: iluvislam dan http://mynewshub.my/2012/07/12/mengapa-doa-tidak-dimakbulkan/

Day 7: Buckingham Palace and Oxford Street

We went to London today. Our initial intention of going to the city was to shop. It wasn't in our itinerary, but we ended up visiting Buckingham Palace instead. There were throngs of tourists there, maybe sebab weekend. We walked passed by St James Park, had egg sandwich that we packed earlier and headed on foot to Oxford Street instead of hopping on the shuttle bus. That was our biggest mistake as by the time we reach the so called shopping paradise, we were already exhausted and again hungry.

Oxford street really is a shopping paradise especially for those with money unlike moi. This long stretch of road was very crowded despite summer sale has come to an end.  Macam Jalan Tar pun ada cuma high class skit. There are iconic department stores namely Selfridges and M&S as well as high street brands like Zara, DP, Forever 21 and Top Shop just to name a few. 

Frankly speaking, I prefer to shop in Southend than London.  I was too stressed up when I have SO many choices of very nice, hijabi friendly expensive clothes sprawling in front of me and my purse is half empty. It was not a good feeling at all. 

We were hungry by 2pm, tapi susah nak cari tempat makan. What I noticed is that McDonald's here memang laku habis. Penuh seumpama kedai mamak. There are food hall at Selfridges and M&S store but we would really like to taste their traditional fish and chips instead. Masalahnya it was so difficult to find or we were too tired to look for it. 

We only stumbled upon one halal stall selling this meal. The fish wasn't fresh, tasted bland, and there was no tartare sauce or lemon available. The fish and chips served at Fish & Co in KL are way better than this one. There is another shop selling them as their famous signature dish but the batter was made of beer, so tak boleh la makan kan.

By 5pm, we decided to call it a day. We bought cherries and very sweet flat peaches before we headed home via underground tubes and train to Westcliff. I did not purchase anything for myself though. Sale dah habis kan, so sad. 

Next weekend ada open house at Malaysia Hall London. Teringin nak pergi but I did not bring  any traditional clothes along with me. Sure students2 Malaysia all melaram sakan with their baju raya berlabuci bagai kan. Ala malu la kalau pegi pakai jeans je :( Ada orang Malaysia in London boleh pinjamkan baju kurung tak? Kalau ada baju kebaya lagi best (wink).

Missing hubby and daughter whom at this moment are having fun holiday kat PD. So not fair for leaving me behind :(