Teluk Intan

Clear traffic, kopitiam within 5 minutes drive, largest mall being the Giant supermart.

It's a sweet sweet place called Teluk Intan where I was posted at for the past 2 weeks in the Peads Dept. 

Things that I found really warm and beautiful in this small town was the obvious slow down in the pace of life,  cars driving on the roads at leisurely pace, very approachable people and doctors who care about the patients social needs. 

we were asking a random uncle at a kopitiam we were eating at on places to go for nice chinese food around town. he didnt just give us directions. he walked my friend out to the street to show him the direction. and a friendly lady at a drinks stall at the hawker centre chatted with us about Ice Age and how she really enjoyed the hillarious cartoon and showed us the way to the cinema. 

it's a really homely feel. i think even back in kuching now these kind of friendly conversations with random people in kopitiams are deficient. 

didnt forget to stop by for some Teluk Intan Chee Cheong Fun, get some Heong Peng (some kinda caramelised puff) and snap a photo in front of the leaning tower. :P 

Parents here are very willing to talk to us medical students and allow their child to be examined. and the specialists are very willing to teach and are nice and approachable. The environment is great and no doubt the lack of entertainment makes it a good place to settle down and hit the books. 

I'm missing that place already. Back in KL, time to hit the wards here!

Group photo from the previous ppd camp. privileged to get a very nice and approachable facillitator, Dr. Kong Wei Yen. 

The 1st hour of camp. Anticipating internet withdrawal symptoms for the next few days in camp cz no reception found in the jungle.

In teluk intan with my dear roomie, Michelle :D In front of the leaning tower.

The leaning tower in its majesty :P (it doesnt look like it's leaning from this angle tho hehe)

It's a Learning Curve.

It just crossed my mind how the term Learning Curve came about. (thanks for the correction juin yi :P) its an uphill journey, steeper for some, more gradual for the rest, and I'd say mine was just somewhere in between. but probably more of a gradual progressing to steep curve instead of a steep then plateau curve.

our 1 year research project has come to an end. this might sound like my ppd reflective writing haha, but well yeah i did really pick up a lot throughout the 1 year.

I'd learn to work with and grow with a group of coursemates whom i had never had the chance to really work with closely before. Every person was different. every past group work was different. this was the group that bonded through humour and had a strong spirit of give and take. not calculative, accepting and forgiving to my weaknesses and intermittent blur-ness. i admit i wasn't the best of a leader, there are times i procrastinated, gave them last minute notices, made mistakes. but they were accomodating. in the same way, i learnt to give and take, to love ppl for their strengths and weaknesses.

I used to be individualistic in completing work or projects. I relied a lot on myself. But this was one project i couldn't do on my own. it required a lot of labour. telephone interviews, tracing blood profiles, etc. hvg group mates spurred more motivation. n bcz i was the leader, i was forced to make decisions and set targets for the group. some to the point of procrastination xP, but got it done.

last but not least was God's grace. when things looked impossible, unexpected favours enabled us. when things were going fine, or so we thought, we were able to meet the statistician, discover mistakes in our data analysis and make corrections at quite the last hour.

there were ups and downs. but i'm glad we made it. :) most of all, I gotta thank our supervisor Prof Shahrir for the guidance throughout.

our dear poster, Jeans, me, Nashrah and Hafiz

MUASRM's abstract book. an awesome design to infinity :) by kevin tan

the abstract

Looking forward to starting the postings! Gonna begin with Peads! (after a week of camp in the jungle devoid of internet connection and phone line woots) :P

Living By Faith and Sight

Every person you come across in your life leaves an imprint. whether its a tiny trace of aura or a huge footprint stamped onto ur shoes, or face, there's something. Recently I parted ways with a dear friend of mine as she flew back home to Kuching. She was very special. Through her I learnt to love unconditionally. I learnt to appreciate sight. I valued more the words Live by Faith Not By Sight.

most of us live by sight. it gives us security. we recognise where we are, who we're with, enable us to protect ourselves when we spot suspicious weirdos on the streets, venture onto unfamiliar ground with a sense of liberation and control. Now what if we had no sight. Just imagine if one day, we were to be robbed of our sight by a catastrophe, a disease, something least expected. Now that would be a shocking test of faith. Without sight, you'd realise you have no choice but to trust others. those around you, people on the streets (though to an extent not evil random strangers), most importantly God. as of now, we can't see God, but we feel Him. sight kinda distracts us from this abstract thing called faith. not sight literally. but what we can predict and control. but how about things we cannot control? we say, now let's hope for the best and see what happens. that's the usual case :) do we have the faith to believe that we will be delivered? Do we truly trust our almighty Father?

Faith is in fact a much bigger test without literal sight. when we meet blind people on the roads, what comes to our mind is, blind people find difficulty in travelling because they cant see where they're going. now it extends to more than just that. (read on if u're interested) try blindfolding yourself for 5 minutes. oops. can't remember where I put that book I just read, my keys, phone, purse. What colour is this shirt I'm holding. would it match the colour of this skirt. is my hair out of place? where did i put my bag? what food is there in front of me. how do i pack a luggage. how do i take hot water without being scalded. can i turn on the fire on the stove and cook without injuring myself. did i just ruin that shirt i ironed. what do i do with that dead insect in front of me (seriously). i can't imagine clearing up a dead cockroach without sight. :S yeah. just an illustration. lots of memory space to remember where you had put every single thing and how something feels like so that you can recognise it again when you touch it later. but that's mostly daily menial things that we do. those are important. but they're other things far more important. I think if we'd reach the stage where we can get past that (difficulty of doing the menial tasks and stuffs without seeing), I think we'd have a levelled up faith. *level up! Beep!* :P

so where was I? ah yes faith. Faith in those around you to guide you and lead you to safety. For us, faith that ppl we trust and love will give us advice in making good decisions and put up with our everything. Faith in God? in everything ultimately. do we have enough of it. something to think about. :)

He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20

Have a faith filled week everyone :)

Awareness. Rather, the lack of it.

Awareness is something that gains you insight. It changes your mind, deepens your understanding and prevents you from embarrassment or making out-of-this-world remarks. No kidding.

Lately I had a personal encounter with a person (given the benefit of the doubt) who lacked awareness. And obvious tactfulness. either that or he was really evil in nature. lol.

I was having lunch with a friend who is blind. 100% loss of vision. so something startled her in the coffeeshop and she was afraid and clutched my hand. something along that line. and this dude sitting next to our table, looked at me in the eye and asked 'Is he toothpick?'  i was like ...??? Sorry??? he repeated it like 5 times. forgive me. his pronunciation was really hard to comprehend. finally i got what he was saying. he said 'Is she stupid'. 

can u believe your ears? even if he was dumb enough to think so, it was utterly unacceptable that he asked me that.

i retorted NO SHE'S NOT and ignored him. I mean a person this ignorant and blunt (saying he's blunt is giving him a MOUNTAIN of benefit of the doubt that he didn't mean to be rude) isn't worth the time explaining to or giving a response to. 

now lets look at the situation. there are two possibilities.

a) He really didn't know she was blind and might have meant mentally handicapped but didnt know how to phrase it so he used the word stupid. he might have thought the word stupid is acceptable bcz (now this part of reasoning is really hard) bcz.. er... in his upbringing he uses the word stupid like saying hello or bye to his friends. 

in this case, he stone cold lacks awareness.

1) how do u recognise blind people?

2) what are their needs?

3) how do you help without causing more trouble?

4) what does it mean to be mentally handicapped?

5) how to greet people without getting beaten up.

Interestingly, I learnt a little about how to help the blind without causing more chaos on that day n thought it'd be helpful to share it here.

1. if u wana lead them to cross roads or to navigate them to places, they usually hold the white cane in their right hand. so take them by their left forearm (upper arm). 

note: left. and upper arm. cz they tend to feel insecure if u hold their hand (as in the lower arm/palm/fingers) cz they need to feel/sense ur body movement as u walk to get a sense of direction.

2. if due to religious hindrances u cant hold a girl's arm, u can just lightly put her left hand on ur shoulder. do not, hold the end of her white cane. xD (has happened)

3. after crossing the road or leading them to a place, let them know that they have crossed and where they are (direction wise), and whether there's drain or steps in front. do not just say You're Welcome and walk away leaving them clueless to where they are.

4. if u see any of them trying to hail a cab, take some time to help them stop the cab and get in. cz roads tend to be busy n noisy so they cant sense whether a cab has stopped in front of them n they dont know where the cab door is.

5. u dont hav2 carry him/her into the cab (true story no kidding some1 has tried doing that b4 xD) what we can do it open the cab door and put his hand at the edge of the door. try to preserve their self dignity by letting them do what they're able to do. :)

6. if u're having a meal with them, let them know where their eating utensils n cup are. indicate positions using the clock system. eg. there's fish at 9 o clock of ur plate, veg at 2 o clock. etc. 

The blind can sms and facebook too. pretty cool right. :)

this post has gone on to a bright side that i dun wana talk about that weird dude anymore. lol. 

b) is suppose to be that he was inherently a mean person and just asked that question to provoke me. which in this case i'm not even going to waste my time acknowledging his presence. there were hurtful words -my friend heard it. 

so yeah, awareness is important. i was amazed at how blind ppl today are so empowered, motivated and  leading successful lives in society. u think u're unlucky? try blindfolding urself (no peeping! :P) and live for a day. u wouldnt, i wouldnt survive 5 minutes. i'm filled with so much respect and awe for them. 

if u would like to volunteer and wonder how u can help, u can approach the MAB (Msian Association for the Blind) and give ur time to help turn ordinary books into Braille by reading/typing. 

have a great day ahead folks! :)

Peter

Reading the book of 1 Peter, I realised that Peter had a good hand in writing gentle words of wisdom and advice! The entire book encourages the people, advises people on ways of living and when u read it, u just feel his spirit of gentleness washing over you. you just feel as if it was a grandpa or elder sitting down and giving you those wise words that yield with it so much strength and love. *awe*

Sidetracking a little, I wonder how it's like to have cute grandparents sitting in a rocking chair (ok a one too many of the Grimm brothers fairy tales or cartoons) or baking cookies and knitting not by a fireplace xP

pictures.net

my grandparents passed away young and my oldest grandpa who was in Penang lived up to when i was 6 or 8 (sorry was young and was pretty confused) though i have the sweet privilege of having a very loving lady of currently, 81 who is just like a grandmum to me. she was my babysitter, not my baby's sitter teehee, she was the sitter when i was the baby. ok hehe slight confusion? aside, (yikes punctuation fail) i grew up communicating in english from my pre-pre-school days bcz she spoke to us little kids in english. at home, my parents tried training us to speak Mandarin but me answered them in english every time they spoke to me in mandarin. oooookay sidetracked way too much. *slaps forehead.

Getting back, I look at the Bible in a different light now. If previously I had thought of it as a serious formal compilation of scripture -hehe well yeah it still definitely is one- , I now look at it as a book of life experiences of different people being shared to us. you can feel the Author of each book telling you his story as he journeyed along time. and each author had different characteristics, personality and style of story telling. like. ain't that awesome :D

Curiosity burning. I'm wondering, what was Peter's background. *Google! 

Peter and his brother, Andrew were fishermen. He was described as a slow learner, but when given responsibility is mature and capable. He was the spokesperson among the 12 disciples of Jesus. It's interesting that, whenever there was a list of the disciples, Peter's name always was the first.

The famous stories of Peter are when he walked on water but sank when he lost faith (Matt 14:28-31)

and his denial of Jesus three times when Jesus was being captured (Matt 26:75)

Peter was the first man (after the 2 women) that Jesus appeared to after Jesus ressurected. :)

He went on to preach the Gospel and performed many miracles in the name of Jesus. He was famous for preaching at Pentecost. you can refer to this link for more on Peter http://www.bible-people.info/Peter.htm 

Interesting :)

I'll end here with a word from Peter (1 Peter 3:8). Such gentle words. 

Hong Kong, looking back..

i thought i should get to it before i completely get lazy and decide to store all memories in the not so reliable soft disc of mine.
i'll make it short and sweet. just a few takes on my recent trip to Hong Kong with my girl buddies Pei Sun and Pik Sien. :)

if u ever plan to travel to Hong Kong, it's very self-navigatory-possible. yeah i just created that word. umm on the account that u can read chinese words. a plus point if u speak cantonese. if u don't but can speak mandarin, just as long as u have thick skin and good observation skills, u'll do fine. :) but be very ready to be thought of as a tourist from Mainland China.

1. Point One, once at the airport, equip urself with maps, maps and more maps. zoomed in and zoomed out view, tourism board's recommendations on places to tour, bus schedules, all. it is very possible to survive by taking the MTR and then walking to wherever u wana go through map navigation cz the street signs are reliable. :) that says all about how well planned the city is with great road sign-age and all. :D

2. Hong Kong has a fast paced lifestyle. they walk fast, cross roads fast, eat fast, board the train fast, train also comes fast (1 train every 1-2 minutes can u believe that?? WOW), whip out umbrellas fast, talk fast, weather changes fast - kidding, but yeah it rained on n off in all the 5 days i was there. u get my point. hehe. thank God pei sun talks at jet speed and we managed to survive the food-order-at-the-table scenario. no time to look through menu and think what u wana order. u just gotta spill it all out the moment the waiter comes. (random note: the trains going to disneyland have mickey windows!)

3. Hong Kong public toilets grade A. they're super dry, clean and well maintained. *level up*

4. Macau is super different from Hong Kong. It has loads of Portugese influence. (which i didnt know til a day prior looking at the road maps, all the street names are 'Avenida '. super long street and building names wow. the buildings there have Portugese architecture. makes u feel like u're in Europe. :P







5. Shopping in Hong Kong is pretty good! i used to think the things thr are superrr expensive, but heck, no! nice places to shop at Jordan Street, Wong Kok and Tsim Sa Tsui (pronounced Zhim Sa Zhui in canton, and Chim Sa Chui in English) hehe.

6. Before going to Hong Kong, plan out ur trip first. micro-plan to the point u know the exact address for the breakfast shops u wana go. i mean, if u dont it's not going to destroy ur trip, bt if u've got limited time like mine-just a 5 day trip, u wana make sure it's maximized. :)

7. Accomodation- staying at Tsim Sa Tsui is ok. it is still pretty safe. it has kind of a Chow Kit Road environment. slightly better in fact. so if u're from KL, u're well trained for it already, no worries. hehe. we stayed at Carlton Guesthouse in the Chung King mansion. the room for 70HKD per night was 10 times better than i expected. there was aircon, tv, hot water, water supply provided. very happy. :)

8. walking all around hong kong and macau gave me the feeling of the apostles back in those ancient days after Jesus ascended. we walked n walked n walked like no one's business. our sandals got wet in the rain, dried, then wet again, soaked, dried, vicious cycle. dear sandals, u have served me well. dear purple umbrerra, u served me well too. i got a little taste of how the apostles felt, minus the fact i had maps, street signs, an umbrella and money. salutations...!

so here's my itinary for my 5 day trip. it might help u if u plan to go HKong in future. super duper credits goes to Pei Sun and Pik Sien. i was like a protected species going ard with them. xD i cant speak canton or mandarin well enough. so i just smiled at ppl throughout the whole trip. lol.

Day 1 - from airport took the airport express bus 21A from outside the airport to our guesthouse.
lunched Dim Sum at a shop near the Central Station.
then took the multi level escalator pass Soho.
worked our way to the Medical Science History museum but unfortunately it was closed..

walked up to the Peak tram station. dinner-ed the wanton mee up thr. springy noodle!



watched the Symphony of Lights. pretty cool.

back with supper -Pork Burger at the Woodhouse beside our hostel.


Day 2 - breakfast at Cafe de Coral. it's a franchise so u see loads of it ard HKong.


Disneyland!
The Lion King Musical is truly spectacular :D this picture shows a float carrying timon and pumba :D forgive th

*i just realised my post got cut right here. either my blog was hacked or some random thing happened while editing =( there was a day3-5 account but its gone nw n i cant exactly rmb what i wrote. sorry folks.. *hearbroken.

Growing Discoveries

This year end holidays, being the longest of all my uni break so far i think :P gave me the liberty of going back kuching for 6 weeks =D officially have 9 weeks of hols, 2 i spent in uni to collect data for a research module, 1 to a coming trip to hongkong. :D

while stil in kl, bumped into a long lost sister! hehe.

and went to a hot air balloon fair in putrajaya. thanks Alisa! :)
such cute balloons. my 1st time seeing a kiwi bird, bday cake and tree shaped balloon.

Along the way, I had the fun of discovering the little things in Kuching that even for the past years of bringing friends touring ard did not reveal to me. had the opportunity to bring Ai Jing and her 3 friends -Amy, Elaine, Alex up and around town. i didnt think i could discover anything newer (if u dont count the new buildings under construction around town - Cue: new shopping malls coming up! hehe. hopefully by next year).

1. We went to the Semmongoh Orang Utan Rehabilitation Centre. I've visited this place quite a number of times and had the oppor to see some cool climbing gymnastic routines -kidding. no sommersaults. - by middle age orang utans (ok i dunno how old they are but i think they're equivalent to our middle age. or young adult?? ok. maybe adolescent. ok nvm i hav no idea how to judge an orang utan's age). they were medium sized. xP and a mother orang utan dubbed Hot Mama (such a cute diva name) whom i was looking for this time but she wasnt at the centre anymore. maybe they shifted her to the Matang Wildlife Centre. and her baby. and a grandmother.

this time, I saw Ritchie. a male orang utan with super duper giant cheekpads of machoness. I never failed to be wow-ed when coming here!

2. ok better cut down on the rant. holidays has made me over-ranty.
Found out that Kuching has a river kayaking package that brings u kayaking up to 11km in the wilderness?? ok maybe not wilderness. through the pristine rainforests of Kuching. :) the one my friends took up was RM188 per pax, day trip n all, food, transport included. i didnt go, but from the photos it looked like a tonne of fun. :)

3. Discovered Sunny Hill ice cream parlour has a schedule for the ice cream flavours they make for a particular day. (sorry! i think this i ought to have known earlier than just now) lol

4. n that the ikan bakar place beside McD in Central Park doesnt open til maybe 8pm. and that the foodcourt at Jalan Song is called Peach Garden. had my first try at the 101 Avenue food court (didnt know it existed). and umm.. owh. the Hui Sing pasar malam with the famous White Lady n Metahon closes on Wednesdays. (so weird i didnt know that. but it wasnt like the 1st/15th of the month pun).

5. just realised that there was a reason the Fairy Caves was named that. my friends found a fairy. hehe.

5. more photography tricks

had lots of fun. :)

Back in Kuching I joined the Lifeguards & Watchmen for life group under Johnson and Lina. Have been really blessed by the brothers n sisters here. the 1st life group itself witnessed my car breaking down (alamak. yes another car crisis by xu vin driving the Proton Wira - hv never been short of stories on this) n who but them came to my rescue! *hooray? !* =P
They take a group shot after every Life Group. such a cute 2012 resolution. (so yay i get to be in a group photo) lol =P

Have had a guitar in my room since KTSN days in Year 2 but have been neglecting it (guilty of having an awesome guitar but not making full use of it). this holidays is a time i challenge myself to practise playing it properly b4 going back to kl. hehe. found a guitar sifu @Johnson. thousand thanks. :D

Been reading some books as well. and as I read, I somehow found back the love for reading (I stopped reading for fun since secondary school days n never really had the habit of reading since.)
A book that i found most inspiring was Divine Mentors by Wayne Cordeiro. Check out his books. the way he writes made me just wana keep turning the pages. really amazing book. I rediscovered the joy and excitement of hearing from God daily through the Bible. and it daunted to me the urgency to build my foundation strong in His words.

I found myself growing more n more (thumbs up to homecooked food. :P and also to good guidance from Christian leaders)

Heading back to KL for the wkend on the way to Hong Kong next week with 2 other friends. =D