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Prelude: I’m still alive, people! Work is draining but I’m getting the hang of it. Challenge is good. Orthopedics demands its Housemen to be more independent, which is actually very, very good. So now you guys know why I’m updating this blog less and lesser. Since I’m now working seven days a week, I’d rather NOT talk about work when I’m not working (or reading stuffs related to work). Travel recollections seems like a good therapy for me since I’m not one who seeks comfort in foods whenever I’m stressed.

So all aboard for chapter two of my recent trip to Melbourne, Australia.

Intro picture to grab your attention. Heh. Lame self-advertising.

I woke up feeling actually a bit anxious actually. Pretty much wondering how much have the both of us changed over the course of 7 years. Took my time to get myself ready - the free breakfast will be until 10AM but Naz said that he’d be there by 9AM. And it was around 8AM when I was finally ready. So I had one hour to check out the breakfast served by the hotel, and upon arriving I was like wow. What a nice little restaurant they had. Very first classy. Heheh. Shared the elevator down with an elderly Australian couple who were so friendly in striking up conversation with me all the way down the eight floors and towards the restaurant. The breakfasts served there were pretty much intercontinental, with the usual toasts plus some scrambled eggs, tomatoes, sausages and bacons, some porridge and miso soup as well as some yogurts and fruits. I helped myself with pretty much everything except the meat stuff and snapping some pics around with my Xperia which gave me the cover as if I was checking out my SMS instead of taking pics.

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Prelude: I’m not in Surgery, but in Orthopedics instead! The world of X-Rays, fractures and amputations, wound debridements and sutures and plate insertions and whatsnot, and I do hope that my time is not wasted on Mat Rempits. But then again, they make good subjects experience-wise…hi hi hi. Anyhow I’m still finding my groove around here, hence the lack of updates.

Anyway, where were we? Ah yes, Melbourne. My brief sweet escape from housemanship life, made possible mostly by unique chances that came my way, and I seized them in a heartbeat. Of course, with limited budget I couldn’t exactly travel in style. Thus I chose the cheapest flight available, by AirAsia. It wasn’t the most comfortable flight I have ever been, but then again I can’t compare it to Thai Airways or Emirates or Qatar or Gulf Air or MAS…or even Aeroflot or British Airways…but it is the cheapest, and it did get me to Melbourne safe and sound, so I’m not complaining. My mind was set on enjoying myself to the fullest in this foreign land, despite not doing my homework at all prior to this trip. I just got myself a Melbourne guide book, exchanged few SMSes with Naz (pretty much letting him plan my holiday since he has been in this country for years), and adopted the “just wing it” kind of thinking upon setting my foot on Australian soil. After all, the main language here is English so it couldn’t be that hard to get around.

Was warned by Naz that the immigration might wanted to send 1001 questions my way, seeing that I am a lone traveler and a guy and thus fell under the ‘a bit suspicious’ kind of person to enter their land. I think my friend there probably was waiting anxiously as well for the immigration guys to call him up should I failed to answer their interrogative kind of questions. And yeah…I did get such privilege as never had to line up for long when a security guard saw me and told me to skip the line and go with him. Then there were the questions and luggage checks…all which I passed without difficulty. Though there were questions thrown my way that were not in my soalan bocor list. Haha. Bantai je la. Based on past experience, I reckoned that if you stressed that you’re going to spend money in their country instead of earning money, they’re pretty much going to let you off. After all, I got my hotel vouchers and all part of me pretty much screamed ‘TOURIST ALERT’. Even managed to ‘kindly tell them’ to help me re-pack my luggage because they’re the ones making a mess out of it. Haha. Well, they did ask whether I needed help repacking my luggage. Dah sepah tolonglah kemas ok.

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For a long, long time - ever since one of my best friends went there to pursue medicine (and now is a doctor there) - I have thought of going to Melbourne, Australia, but I never really got the time or money to do so. When I was in Russia, Australia was like so far south it would be mighty expensive to go there during the winter holidays. And during summer holidays in Malaysia, the thought never really came to me then as those were the times when I’d be reunited with my family after 10 long months in Russia.

Enter 2009. Already having my own job and earning my own money. But the prospect of actually going for a holiday was pretty much unthinkable since I’m a freshly graduated houseman officer. Mana ada masa, kan? However, I guess God hears my wish and by a sequence of events that happened which was not actually favorable for me resume-wise (but invaluable to me career and experience-wise) got me the extra amount of money I needed as well as enabling me to take one whole week off from work due to the fact that I still have about 6 days off in Paeds that I hadn’t used by the time I was finishing my Paeds posting. Everything then fell into places, amazingly, by the time I nearly turned 26.

Checked the money I had in bank - check!

Got my end of posting holiday approved- check! (Either the other housemen finished their postings before I did, or going to finish it after I did. Anyhow, I was the only one finishing my posting this time around so nobody was there to vie with me for the holiday)

Then came the task to actually look for flight ticket, accomodation and visa. It would be an arduous task indeed to actually start browsing around since I only had about one week left if I were to start my holiday by the time my birthday arrived. I was a bit frantic and full of uncertainty. Texted my friend in Australia, but he actually lived somewhere a bit far from Melbourne and was going to work around those time. Uh oh, I thought. This didn’t look good.

However, things began to look up when I felt a strange pull to go all the way to Subang Parade from Selayang. It was already past Maghrib and it was also a Sunday, I doubted that I’d be able to find a travel agent that still opened around that time. Yet, lo and behold, there was a small booth set up by a travel agent company right in front of McDonalds and just by chance I stopped by the booth to just have a looksee. One of the agents noticed me and began promoting. I coyly said that I’d join as a member if they could help me with my dilemma. And the rest is history..throughout my final week in Paeds I was busy juggling with work and also phonecalls from the agent which I took during my free time. The agent actually came all the way to the hospital to deal with me. It was quite a leap of faith for me, to pay the agent by cash inside of her car instead of the office (since busy me had no time to go all the way to KL). I got my ticket, accommodation and visa ready merely three days before my flight! Thanks to Sila Tour and Travel for their awesome service.

Then Naz (my old friend in Australia) texted me, saying that he managed to get a couple of days off. More good news! Yaay. My next step was to grab a guide book from MPH regarding Melbourne and began studying the attraction spots and all…nearly forgetting that I’d be celebrating my birthday. I just couldn’t believe it was happening as it happened just too fast! When planning for London trip in 2007, I did almost two months of research, practically memorizing the routes, trains, streets, travel packages and whatnot. Borderline obsessive disorder, probably, but I was going to travel alone then, as I would be this time around. My only assurance now was that at least I won’t be alone all the time when I arrived in Melbourne.

Everything went by smoothly and it was surely surreal to finally able to step on the land of the Down Under. And I received more good news when Naz texted me saying that he managed to get 3 days off instead of two, by pulling some strings/favors from his colleagues. Great! That meant I only had to spend my first and last days by myself. Stories about that later but here are a few teaser pictures.

The City of Melbourne. This is the Federation Square with various of Melbourne’s skyscrapers in the background.

Finally got the chance to touch and even feed the kangaroos! What’s a trip to Australia without meeting the kangaroos up close and personal?

And not to forget, the Koalas too. Lazybums that seem to only eat and sleep the whole time, haha.

The scenic coastlines when we drove along the Great Ocean Road. Here’s the place where the famous 12 Apostles stood…though there aren’t actually twelve of them now.

But of course, all the trips, all the attractions Australia has, nothing really beats finally meeting one of my best friends from matriculation after seven long years. Meet Dr. Naz. Throughout the seven years we actually didn’t manage to keep in touch regularly..sometimes up till one year of no news from each other. And occasionally when we did, they were usually short and brief. However, when we finally met up it was as if we’ve never really parted for that long - we just simply picked up from where we’ve left off and updated ourselves to each other’s progresses throughout the years. I also had the honor of finally meeting his fiancee, also a Dr there (turns out I went to the same primary school as her, as well as her coming from the same matriculation as us. What a small world). They’re gonna get married, InsyaAllah, this end of the year. (thus proving my so-called premonition-prediction dream that I had once when still in matric, kononnye lah kan, that he would be the one between the three of us that would get married first).

Day by day recollections of this trip coming up, insyaallah. I’m gonna start my Surgery posting soon and that means one week of tagging till late at night! So no promises, but I’ll do what I can.

On the 10th of April, a few minutes before 8AM…

I was doing my own rounds in the ward, reviewing my patients and updating myself with their latest progress as well as their vital signs, when suddenly I got a phone call. Didn’t recognize the number but since the rounds with the specialist hadn’t started yet, I took the call. I was so surprised upon hearing that the caller was a delivery boy, with a cake, already in front of my room in the doctors’ quarters. Of course, I can’t just go back to my room to take the cake and I have no choice but to ask the delivery boy to come up to the ward where I’m working at. Hopefully I can just take the cake, see who it’s from and retreat quietly to the pantry without causing any commotion. Ah hah, fat chance.

My MO came and we began doing rounds before the specialist came to the cubicle where I was in charge. Suddenly a couple of staff nurses excitedly came to the cubicle: “Dr Adzrul, Dr Adzrul, ada kek utk doctor!” “Hari ni b-day doctor ke?” “Dari ARAB SAUDI laa doctor, family doctor ke?” Turned out, my family sent a box of birthday cupcakes for me and it came a day earlier. And thus, kantoilah, EVERYONE in the ward knew about my 26th birthday. But it was so nice to have my patients’ parents, fellow HOs, staff nurses, even the MOs, specialist and consultant there giving me their well wishes.

Some more, it was also my last day in the ward! I just couldn’t shake off the warm feeling I got after hearing my consultant’s remarks about me. My specialist also was very nice; she told me not to remember her for her scoldings…of course not lah. When I first joined the Paeds department I was this blurrr HO who didn’t know a lot of stuffs. Now, well I still don’t know all the stuffs but at least I think I can function in the ward and know what I’m supposed to do. Basic stuffs lah. Konon-kononnye kan…hehehe. But seriously, I didn’t expect wonderful remarks from them considering that I did struggle to grasp things around me. A specialist knowingly once pulled me aside and told me not to get discouraged if I find myself a bit blurred with what’s going on around me, and told me that the solution to “blurr people like US” (yeah, she mentioned US, not just towads me) is just to be more hardworking and never give up. Took the advice seriously.

My birthday cupcakes were a hit! Specialist, MOs, HOs, nurses, and patients managed to get their hands on it. I took only one of it and the rest were spread amongst the others. Thanks to my folks for the thought, it was really, really sweet (referring to the thought as well as the cupcakes hihi)

And guess what, on my last day I also happened to be on oncall! My last oncall in Paeds. Well actually I wasn’t slotted to be oncall on my b-day but a fellow HO really needed to switch calls with me and I was the only one able to do it without disrupting the whole oncall roster because I’m finishing Paeds. Well, what the heck I thought. I didn’t regret it at all. It wasn’t a too busy of an on-call night…after clerking out the new cases and all, us two HOs on call and our MO on call managed to retreat to the pantry and enjoyed the late night Domino Pizzas I had delivered to the ward..since none of us managed to get out of the ward due to the admissions and the works that needed to be done in the ward. And our MO shared some very nice stories of her experience and some tips for my second posting: Surgery!

I never realized that the exact time of my birthday had passed because on that very time (1.44AM) I was busy clerking a patient. I looked at the watch and it was already 2AM. Well, I thought, “happy birthday to me, and all, but I’m too tired now…” Berkat birthday kot, the rest of the night there was no admissions and I managed to sleep well all the way till 6.30AM. It was an uneventful night. While waiting for the specialist on-call to start the weekend rounds us HOs and the MO on call that day even managed to preheat the leftover pizzas and had an enjoyable breakfast! We did rounds with our tummies full.

Thank you, everyone in Paeds department for all the stuffs you have taught me with superb patience! Kudos to everyone. I had a blast working in Paeds. Now I have a whole week free and already I have plans, a rather last minute, impromptu one. Not gonna say much about it just yet, but I’ll give ya some tips.

It involves something relating to the “Down Under”. Cheers!

Time flew so fast that I did not realize that I haven’t been updating this blog for so long! Now life is busy and all but I figure before people start thinking that I’m dead or anything I better update this blog haha. Anyway if you are wondering about what’s up with me and all…well life is good (but hectic) and lots of hurdles that I have went through and somehow those hurdles turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I have something I am currently planning on doing, something a bit impromptu, but it’ll be great if all goes as planned. Hmm..enough about that. This entry is actually a personality test that I took and since the answers behind the choices that I made in the questionaires turned out to be rather true, so I decided to paste it here.

Your view on yourself:

You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.

The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:

You like serious, smart and determined people. You don’t judge a book by its cover, so good-looking people aren’t necessarily your style. This makes you an attractive person in many people’s eyes.

Your readiness to commit to a relationship:

You prefer to get to know a person very well before deciding whether you will commit to the relationship.

The seriousness of your love:

Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.

Your views on education

Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.

The right job for you:

You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don’t focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.

How do you view success:

You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.

What are you most afraid of:

You are concerned about your image and the way others see you. This means that you try very hard to be accepted by other people. It’s time for you to believe in who you are, not what you wear.

Who is your true self:

You are mature, reasonable, honest and give good advice. People ask for your comments on all sorts of different issues. Sometimes you might find yourself in a dilemma when trapped with a problem, which your heart rather than your head needs to solve.

This weekend really took me back to a 6-year memory lane, what with the return of the second half of the September 2002 batch of KSMU back to Malaysia. Six years ago, all of us pretty much took the ‘leap of faith’ and signed up for a 6-year medical study in Russia. Half of us - those who had passed matriculation, STPM or A-Levels, myself included - registered as first year students, while the other half who had just passed SPM went into the 6-month premedical course. Some of us went with our parents, a gesture offered by our agent to let the parents see for themselves the place where they had decided to send their children to study. Six years ago, Russia was a pretty much an unknown and mysterious place for Malaysians. I’d have thought that most of our parents would have gotten some not-so-encouraging comments from their peers of their decisions to send us there, but since we all wanted to study Medicine and didn’t get a place in Malaysia, and Russia had just opened their doors for us to come…

Picture perfect moment captured by yours truly. Back in Russia, I was also sometimes known by my groupmates for my habit to capture them on digital-films. At times the results were hilarious, at times they were passable that my life was not threatened if I didn’t delete them, and some times, gems like this one was captured! They all wanted this picture Bluetoothed to their phone, or put and tagged in Facebook. Hehe.

Anyhow, fairly recently I was told that there would be a convocation ceremony held at Holiday Villa Subang for the winter batch of 2009’s graduates. Pipi and I decided to wing it and we went there together despite having not registered our names as attendees and all. We simply got in for free! Hee hee. Thanks to the one-semester junior friends of ours lah for making us part of their family for this very wonderful day. I didn’t really think of going, but it beats staying home, and I was glad that I came for this event for I got to meet up with friends I have left back when I returned to Malaysia last July, and friends who are now doctors who I never really realized that I have sorely missed. Blame that to our busy lives as housemen! But seeing them again today pretty much transported us back to where we have left off more than half a year ago. Again we were fooling around so much like the students we were, instead of young doctors that we really are right now. Even the parents who were there commented as such - a small but happy reunion for long-time friends. Although not all of us were able to make it, but those that did simply agreed on one thing - having met each other today all the turmoils and hardships of working lives simply evaporated out of our very being. At least for the time being.

Murni’s mom, one that would dish out so many valuable advices whenever we met. Last summer during our convocation ceremony, my parents weren’t able to make it. I ended up becoming Murni’s and Anna’s families’ foster son, which entitled me to home-cooked meals almost everyday when they were there in Kursk. Hehehe.

Dr Ching Hua. I still remembered her torturing me during my 23rd birthday - when a couple of my groupmates sponsored a facial session for me. Though the sponsored facial was not my first time having it, it was the most lengkap facial session which meant…. well let’s just say I never thought a facial could be so excruciating! Hehe joking ya Ching! Anyway congrats!

Dr Im. Before I came to Russia six years ago, I knew that there was going to be a “Siti Fatimah Nur” going to Kursk as well. See, it turned out that we went to the same optometrist for our glasses. Which meant that our glasses were siblings. I searched for this Siti Fatimah Nur from the moment we transitted in Uzbekistan. And we turned out the same as our glasses as well throughout the years - siblings. Congrats Im.

A friend’s father, upon meeting me, instantly told me he still remembered me 6 years ago as a skinny boy who was awkwardly struggling his way inside the kitchen, attempting to cook something. And now, uncle…that skinny boy can cook decent meals (with helps of Malaysian perencah, of course!) and whip out some Italians as well - spaghetti bolognese and pizzas being my two favorite dishes that I’d whip out every so often. Which explained why that skinny boy is no longer skinny as well. Ha ha. But now, working life has pretty much wiped out what little culinary skills I have. I missed cooking my own dinner; not only I don’t have the time to do so, I also don’t have a kitchen to do so! Huhu.

As for me, I never realized how much I missed student’s life until I looked back at my years of studying there. Pipi and I pretty much went through the highlights of our lives there as I was driving us back home. Six years ago, we never thought that we’d be able to be at the place where we are right now. It seemed impossible and unreachable back then. And yet here we are right now.