Thursday, 28-Jul-2005 1:53 AM

Off on a mini vacation! =D

Can't wait to feel the sugary soft white sand under my feet!

Wednesday, 27-Jul-2005 1:45 AM

I'm still here!

Wow it's been awhile. I've been stressed but it's finally all over and I finished my last day of work on Thursday, one week after I was supposed to finish. I'm a little upset about a few things but otherwise the experience here has been great. I really shouldn't complain, so I won't. My patients have been great and it's been bittersweet having to leave. I got some gifts, a little strange, but I'm still very touched :) I got a lamp, an electrical toothbrush (are they trying to tell me something??!), small porcelain slippers from netherlands ... the funniest has to be when this patient came into my clinic and before leaving, said she wanted to get me something and looked all around for something suitable but couldn't really find anything. She pulled out a box wrapped in a big used envelope and then said to me 'Okay, I'll tell you what it is. Do you like licorice? It's a box of licorice from the Netherlands. I ate half of it already,sorry.' Inside the half eaten box of licorice were the little slippers wrapped up in tissue paper. It was really nice of her but my two assistants weren't impressed by the used gifts.

I took my mom out for dinner at Chilli's and to see the movie "Fantastic Four" with my first paycheck. She ended up making me pay for everything the whole week. Thanks mom :P

So I'm leaving soon and I'm going to enjoy all the tropical fruits and great food before I head back to Sydney, where I'll be eating nothing more than pasta, pasta, pasta. Because really, that's all my sister and her boyfriend can make and neither of them like my [very poor] chinese cooking.

Thursday, 14-Jul-2005 12:04 PM

I can't keep my eyes open and I have 7 more hours of work to go! It's my last day here at the second clinic. Saying goodbye has been a little sad and the way some of the patients look at me, makes me want to get all teary. I'll miss em!

Wednesday, 13-Jul-2005 5:43 PM

Ahh, stressful times! All sorts of crazy things going on. This is supposed to be my last working week but looks like I may be here a bit longer. Fingers crossed that everything will turn out okay.

Sunday, 10-Jul-2005 5:42 PM

My First Golden Experience

Last night I went to watch War of the Worlds with my parents in Gold Class. My first time! The lazy boy chairs were so squeaky, no one dared to move because it sounded like they were passing gas. It was also FREEZING in there! You can hire out blankets but I decided to tough it out. Bad move. I was already having a slight headache before I went in and it just got worse. So bad that I even took two panadols (and if you know me, you know I never take those darn things). I thought I could last through the movie but it was killing me to sit there and just when I was about to get up and leave for the bathroom, my mom left to use the bathroom (of which there is only ONE cubicle! Who designed the place?!). The exit was behind us and to the left but she decided to RUN across the front and on her way back in, she ran across the front again and FELL OVER in front of everyone. If she wasn't my mom, I probably would have laughed because it really looked quite funny in the dark. Poor momma. She was in a lot of pain after that and I would have stayed to sympathise but I was feeling so ill by then that all I could muster up was 'Mom, rub your knee, I'm going to puke!'

I couldn't get the lazy boy back up so I had to climb off it over the side, get my heels back on - another difficult task when your legs are frozen like icypoles, and rush out the door (no, I didn't go galavanting up the front like my mom).

And puke I did. Three times over until my throat was burning from all that stomach acid :(

I missed the exciting part of the movie but caught the end and when the lights switched on, I told my parents we had to haul ass out of there because I was going to throw up again any second. Back at the apartment, all these random people seemed to get into the elevator. Usually there's nobody! This time there were kids with toys and some weird lady who walked in with a dog about the size of a mango. She was trying to show us the puppy but all I could do was stand there, hand over mouth. I threw up the second I got home. Good thing I'm such a fast runner :P ha! I skidded round the corner into the kitchen because it was the closest and threw up in the bin while sitting on the floor. Then I made it to the bathroom and threw up somemore.

I wish it was a better night. The only thing Golden about it was the colour of my puke :( I'm sure some of it had to do with the twisties I ate during the first half of the movie.

Saturday, 09-Jul-2005 12:56 PM

You are my Sunshine!

The past few weeks I've been starting to wonder if this patient of mine doesn't like me all that much. He cancelled a few of his appointments already. Today though, I heard him asking my CA something and he was struggling to repeat it in English.

Then he poked his head around the corner and said to me :

"Doc! My sunshine go hometown, Australia!"

"Hmm?"

"My sunshine go back. Hometown. Sunshine go home!" he repeated. Then he frowned.

My CA explained to me later that he was calling me his sunshine and saying that he's sad that I'm leaving.

=)

Monday, 04-Jul-2005 6:15 PM

My dad and I get along great. My mom and I - not so great. My mom and dad? I won't even go there.

Dinner though has become a dreaded affair for me, except for last night, which I'll get to later. I have a brother and sister but being here without them makes me feel like an only child and I hate being in the middle of my parents at dinner. There is an air of grim silence that clouds the food. My dad avoids my mom, my mom avoids my dad. Her head is permanently cocked to the side, resting on her hand and a scowl permanently on her face. I hate it. And when they subject me to that, I almost want to hate them.

The last couple of times this week my mom's disappeared somewhere to look at shops and only returns when the food is at the table. It can get worse when it's just my mom and I. Lately we can't have a normal conversation without it turning sour. I can't tell her anything without her negative comments. I can't seem to do or say anything right. When we get back to the apartment, I hide in my make-shift room and pretend I'm asleep when really I'm just lying on the bed trying to pass time, waiting until I turn god knows how old...65 maybe.

I know I can't have everything but I can't decide which is better - to have a great job where my parents are but have to hang out with them and they're always in a bad mood when they're together, plus treat all my mom's relatives for free (don't get me started!) OR be in Australia where the job probably won't be great and I have to live with my sister and her boyfriend. Ugh.

I'd like to runaway to the US but I don't have a visa to work there. Who wants to marry me? :D I complain a lot but I give a mean massage!

Anyways, last night was pretty nice. Not initially though. My dad told me to leave all my valuables at home. No wallet, no phone. 'Take off your watch', he said. We drove down some dirt road, wide enough for one car, but it was a two-way, the jungle surrounding either side of us, nothing around but mosquitos and headhunters (just to make it exciting).. How did you find this place again? I ask my dad. Five minutes on and we reach what looks like an old factory with lots of junk around. When we rounded it, badabing! A whole string of outdoor restaurants strewn with huts and adorned with lights. There were so many people! I felt like I was in Thailand again, eating alongside the beach. Or like Flik from A Bug's Life when he reached the big city. Where the hell did all these people come from? It was like the entire town had come to eat. Even my parents were surprised, which lifted their mood.

We feasted on crabs, salt-bake chicken, fish, vegetables and omelette. We also had a coconut each to drink. Mm, delicious! I even got my parents laughing (at my expense), as well as the table behind them, when I thought there was an insect on my neck and freaked out but it actually just my hair :(

Sigh, good nights like that don't come along often enough.