MoVeD...

Yes, I have finally moved... to the new house in dural... the house is quite similar to the old one but abit bigger... and it was sooo tiring on sat, sun and mon... my arms were aching like crazy... we still had to go to the old house on mon to clean it... and now we have started to paint the rooms upstairs, the wardrobes... and the place downstairs is still a mess... dunno when we will be able to unpack everything... there are also plans to paint the walls downstairs... and i have not been able to access the internet till today... well my room is smaller than the one i had before, and the walls are purple... and i have to share a toilet with prisy and michelle now unlike before...

on tuesday... prisy and me went to attend my certificate ceremony in the main campus... and it would have been great if it had not been pouring and cold... i was so nervous not bcos i am going up on stage to receive the certificate but bcos i am wearing heels and i have to get up and down the stairs... the incident when i nearly tripped and fell when i was in sec 4 was still vivid in my mind... but luckily, everything went alright and after the ceremony, we went to eat my fav spicy beef...

have also been trying to work on my portfolio which is due tomorrow... and i have been waiting day after day for my evaluation form to be mailed... and when yesterday the postman came and left, and i still dun have the evaluation, i decided to call my supervisor... and guess what, he has not posted it to me despite me telling him on friday that he has to post it to me by this friday... i was so pissed... so annoying... and i also got my semester 2 timetable... and it looked bad... like i start at 9am from mon-wed, end late on wed and i have an elective which ends at 8pm on mondays... all the signs are telling me that i really need a car... so everything depends on me passing my test next thurs... i really need all the good luck i can get...

and i am now on holidays till next month... but nothing really exciting has happened yet cos i am still stuck in the house...

COLd & miSERabLe...

It has been raining the whole week again... which was definitely not good cos we had to go to the new house and start cleaning and patching up all the holes... cos the previous owners used so many nails on the walls... it was like holes everywhere, and they were like huge nails... we had to lay plastic on the carpet, wash the walls, pull out the nails, and they also stuck some glow-in-the-dark star stickers on the ceiling which was so freaking difficult to peel off... on the first day there, stayed till like 1130pm and by the time we got home, i was so exhausted, and my legs were aching from all the squatting and standing... and i was so sleepy the next day at clinicals... it was not a good time for me... and it did not help that it was raining in the mornings too... and i hate to catch the trains when it's raining cos the trains get delayed and it's wet everywhere...

other than that, i have two more days left for clinicals... which is good cos i will have a month of holiday... booked my driving test for the 5th july... hopefully i will pass the test... nothing much except we have to go to the new place to clean and paint every night this week... but i got to 'take leave' for today and tomorrow night... still cannot believe i am moving house both over here and back home... it's really hard work

LOnG wEEkeNd...

it was raining the whole weekend, from friday all the way till sunday... but guess what, on monday when we were planning to go to the city... the sun came out again and was shining so brightly, not a single cloud in the sky... it was a really beautiful day...

went to macquarie shopping centre first in the morning cos michelle wanted to see something there, then prisy and I drove to the city... we had trouble finding cheap parking cos it was a public holiday and they charged more for parking... in the end, we decided to park near chinatown and it cost $15... then we walked to world square, i bought the sweet bread from the bakery, continued our journey to dymocks along george street to collect michelle's book... then we walked around pitt street till michelle came and met up with us... walked back down to chinatown cos michelle and prisy wanted to eat at market city and i wanted to eat my fav spicy beef... so we had to split up cos it was at sussex centre... and i went into the dvd shop there and i actually found the dvd for the jap series, my teacher is a gangster... both parts 1 and 2... but it was so expensive... $50 for both series... really tempted to buy, but did not get it in the end... i will wait till the price drops or something...

ate my spicy beef finally... and i should not have eaten that bread cos it made me so full after eating the beef and i could not finish the rice... anyway, walked back down to meet up with them at market city... walked ard there for abit cos they were still eating... then the three of us made our way back up to town hall again where big echo was... yessss... karaoke time... the only time when andrea feels alive... haha... wendy came to join us for karaoke too... sang till ard 930pm and then we drove home...

and it's back to reality again... clinicals for another two more weeks... and then we are moving... and then i am taking my driving test... wish me luck for my presentation tomorrow!

NoN-stOP RAin...

Week 5 of clinical... went out to lunch on thurs with some of the OT as a farewell lunch for the three students who were leaving... the food was not bad except that it was raining... and it has been raining almost nonstop since thurs... i have never seen this much rain since i came here... and the rain has been causing places to flood and ships are stranded... pple died... alamak...
and it was raining when i got friday off and went driving... cannot even see anything and after i came back, i was locked out cos auntie and uncle went out and i forgot my key... so there i stood outside, shivering while waiting for them...

and then on friday night, prisy, michelle and i went out to dinner at pancakes on the rocks with toufic and diana's sister, who came for holidays from singapore... i could not finish my pancakes cos i was so full and choc-ed out... it would have been a nice night out if it had not been raining... and we had to walk to and from the place back to the car... and my stupid umbrella got quite badly damaged by the strong wind... it flipped the other way twice... and everyone's so cold and wet... i was freezing cos i wore sandals and my feet were soaked... and when we got home, prisy suggested that we should stay up abit more cos it was rare that the three of us are home at the same time... so we stayed up till 33o am playing "Da Lao Er"... how sad... and needless to say... the next day at work... i was yawning all the way and my head was pounding...

and what happened yesterday was... cos i went for driving, and when i got mr akbarian to drop me off at work, the carpark at work was not opened and i thought i dun have to work cos the whole place looked dark... so i thought must be power failure... but when we drove past the supermarket... all the shops were closed except woolies... it was still bright and pple were inside doing their groceries... i was like sian man... i was excited there for a minute thinking i did not have to work... it was power failure and the surrounding houses and streets were affected but woolies got their own power generator... and mon is a public holiday and we are planning to go to the city, so hopefully it will not be raining so heavily...

A YEaR fOR moViNg...

this year is definitely a year of moving for me... we are moving both over here and back in singapore... over here, we are moving this month, to a further suburb called dural... it's going to be really inconvenient to go anywhere in future, cos there is no nearby train station... and back in singapore, we are also moving at the end of the year, to somewhere near kovan mrt station... and i am really upset about the fact that i will not be able to be there to look at the place i called home for the last 15 years for the last time... and it will not be as convenient as the place we are living in now either...

3 more weeks to go before clinicals end... now i am having a headache bcos i still have not thought of a topic for my presentation... and i want to do it asap cos we will be moving and i will not have any time to prepare... but i just dunno what to present on... i dun want it to be boring either... any suggestions anyone??

WiNtER is FiNaLLy Here...

placement last week was really sucky cos matt was off sick for the whole week and i had to follow the other OTs... and towards the end of the week, i was ready to give up OT, bcos nobody told me that i had to write so much stuff just for one initial interview... and whenever i write once, they checked it over and i had to rewrite it... i was so freaking sick of writing by the end of last week, it was so not funny...

other than placement, nothing much happening... work was as usual... a long weekend is coming up next week and i have already taken a day off from placement on the friday, so i will have an extended weekend... and i am really itching to go karaoke... but nobody can go with me... everybody's at placement and prisy's working weekends and i also usually work weekends... but i really want to go karaoke and eat my spicy beef...

driving is also going well... learning some techniques to make sure that my reverse parking is consistent... and i am going to take the driving test hopefully in the first week of july... really hoping that i will pass the test and then i can start looking around for a car... that's why i am trying to work as much as i can now...

and this month, so many pple's birthday... but unable to celebrate with them on the actual days... Huimin, Piyo, Zhenzhen, Mel, Karen and pong... Happy Birthday!!!!

FReeZiNg... Brr...

second week of clinicals... well mostly initials again, and if it's a straight forward initial, matt usually get me to do it on my own... which was good cos i dun get so nervous anymore... a few home visits... and got to observe in on splint making... definitely not easy, cos you have to hold the pen perpendicularly to the paper and i have trouble doing that... have to present on the topic of motor neurone disease next week... so have to start preparing for it...

driving... almost have 40 hours already... but still quite unsafe driving cos i almost hit another car last tuesday when i was trying to change lanes and i did not see the other car in my blind spot... both mr akbarian and I got a bad scare... reverse parking and three point turns still not good yet... especially doing reverse parking on top of a hill...

been watching the japanese series called gokusen... both I and II... very funny, but the plots were very similar, and the students in part II are much cuter than in part I... pong asked me to watch the show a few times already... but i haven't got the time till now... and i got hooked... but also quite lame in certain parts like when the teacher always appear when they are fighting and there's this heroic music playing in the background... highly recommended... although it's a pretty old show like the first part came out in 2002 and the second one came out in 2005... and there's this really cute guy in the show... called hayami mokomichi... haha...

NoT thAT cOLD yET...

last weekend was one of the most tiring weekends ever... worked ten hours on both days and my feet were killing me... and bcos it's mother's day too, there were so few people in the shop and it was sooo boring... the only highlight of my day was the fact that i saw isabel!!! i was so surprised to see her... apparently she heard my voice and i was actually cleaning the registers and i heard someone call me... i turned around and there she was... was really glad to see her actually... cos we did not get to say goodbye properly on our last day at northcott... and too bad i could not talk to her longer cos there were customers waiting and she also had to leave already... yeah that was probably the most exciting thing that happened last weekend... called home and wished mummy happy mother's day... informed them that i am thinking of getting a car and they were like dun get a second hand car... blah blah blah...

then on wed... received a letter from uni saying that i got a scholarship of $5000... yay... gave myself a good pat on the back for working hard last year and although i really hated the group work that we did last year... they actually came back with good marks, which probably helped... and i have to attend this ceremony to receive my certificate next month... it will be held in the main campus in the castle... it would be nice if it was actually my graduation... isn't it...

we're really moving next month... so auntie and uncle are starting to pack all their stuff... looking at some furnitures cos apparently the house that we are moving into has two living rooms... the headache that i am having is after i move, i dunno how i am going to go and come back from uni... transport's really going to be a problem...

WiNtEr's CoMiNg...

Auntie and Uncle came back from singapore on sunday... called home and found out that pong is working friday, saturday and sunday and she started school at nyp two weeks ago, so I am quite worried she might not be able to cope... but she said she can still cope at the moment, so we'll see how... if things get too stressful, she would be better off not working... cos I know I get quite stressed sometimes working and studying... and also kept encouraging her to go swimming in the pool at nyp... it's so big and nice and clean... dun waste the opportunity to use the pool since it's there anyways...

this week is the first week of clinical placement 3B... at westmead hospital for 7 weeks... and luckily it is quite near to the station, like it's within walking distance... and i have been assigned to a male supervisor in the neurology/neurosurgery ward... it is quite boring actually, cos for the past few days, all i have been doing is initial interviews and writing the progress notes... and i have only been to one home visit so far... it's pretty challenging, but i wish there's more that i could learn... do different stuff... maybe more interesting stuff will come up in the coming weeks hopefully... but the thing about working in a hospital setting is that i dunno abt other wards, but at our ward, some of the patients have cameras cos they are in danger of getting a seizure... what happened was if the alarm sounds, that means that the patient is having a seizure, and you will see the nurses and doctors sprinting into the room... the first time it happened, i was like what the hell is going on... but after realising what it meant, it was quite an eye-opener...

other than going to clinicals every day from monday to friday, i have no life at all... cos by the time i arrive home, i am so tired already... and i sleep really early every day now... becoming like an old woman... oh and btw, we are moving house next month... to a new suburb called dural... very very inconvenient cos there is no train station nearby...

oh and btw, Happy Birthday Huimin!!!

IN frOnT oF mY LapTop All dAy...

been watching this japanese series called my boss my hero this past two days... the show is very funny but at the same time, quite sad and meaningful too... and it's kind of different from the typical lovey-dovey series... it's a story abt this gangster whose father is the leader of the triad but he is quite bad in his studies before and all he is good at is fighting, drinking and all the 'bad' stuff... so his father told him that if he wants to be the next leader of the triad, he has to go back to school... and so the show is abt his school life and how after attending the high school, he realised that there are alot of things that he can learn... very touching sometimes also... anyway, i would give it a 7.5, highly recommended show... haha...

the whole of last week has been spent on watching series, and there was this japanese series called Ichi Rittoru no Namida (1 litre of tears)... and the show is about this 15 year old girl who found out that she has this incurable illness called spinocerebellar degeneration... this disease is fatal, first affecting her legs, so she can't walk, then her hands, so she can't write, and then she can't talk and swallow and it's like she's just lying on the bed waiting to die... and the show is abt her battle with the illness and how she did not give up... the show was sooo sad... i think i really cried so much that it is really worth 1 litres of tears... and it was based on a true story... although the show is really sad, i still highly recommend it to everyone... a very meaningful show...

and the last week of my break before i start on another block of placement was spent watching hongkong serials... went back to uni on friday for the placement briefing... same old boring stuff... we were supposed to celebrate angela's belated birthday but did not in the end, cos we did not manage to get a cake for her... so we postponed to after the placement and then we'll celebrate angela, mel and karen's birthday altogether...

Amelia's birthday dinner at eastwood...

PiCtUrEs FroM EasTer RoAdtrip...

At kangaroo valley... look at all the cows...

kangaroo valley... so pretty...

Isn't the scenery beautiful??!! Taken when we were doing the bridge walk...

How huge is the cliff??!!

Taken at a chinese temple at Wollongong...

RaiNiNg heAviLy...

monday was the last day of placement at northcott... went out for lunch with the two teams, MFS and PSOS... had thai food... the food was only okay not that great... and they were really nice to treat us too... after that, we did our final evaluation and tidied up the stuff and I was off... said goodbye to everyone and wished them luck in their future... and hopefully we might be able to work together next time... now I have two weeks break before starting the next placement at westmead hospital...

last saturday, i finally got my new woolies uniform, after being in white for so long, it felt weird being in green... and the uniform was quite uncomfortable actually... still working during the weekends, nothing much happening at work...

driving... i have officially clocked 30 hours of driving now... drove to the airport and back today... very long journey and it was raining quite heavily along the way too... on the way back, i was feeling quite sleepy already... but if things go well, i should be able to get my red Ps by july... and i am trying to save money to buy a small car now...

PP3A iS oVeR!!!

at last, tomorrow is the last day of my 6 week placement at northcott... both happy and sad... happy bcos well, this placement has ended and i must say that i have worked really hard during these past few weeks and deserved the marks that i got during the placement... sad bcos this has got to be one of the better placements so far, cos pple there were all really nice and i felt like i was a part of their team... now that the placement for PP3A is over, i will be on a two week break before going on the next placement at westmead hospital... hopefully it will also be a good placement although i am quite worried cos it is a hospital placement which meant that i will really have my own patients... quite anxious to know which area i will be working in though...

anyway, nothing much happened this past week, just met up with amelia, karen, yochi and anna on thurday at eastwood for dinner at this korean-chinese restaurant... the food was okay, not that great and it was just nice seeing them again and talking about what is going on in their lives... sometimes i feel so out of touch with uni and like i dun feel like a uni student anymore... the two week break will be a good time for me to just relax and then prepare for the next placement... went over to amelia's house on friday... bought pizza and we watched ocean's eleven... and she lent me quite a few chinese series to watch during the break... haha...

SEcOnD laST weEk...

easter monday... was actually planning to just stay at home and catch up on the placement stuff... but got pulled into going to swim at lane cove and then walking after... and then watching fun with dick and jane later at night... it was funny but like all usual jim carrey shows, it's those funny but stupid kind of shows...

and then it's back to placement again... second last week of placement... found out that i have like 9 extra hours accumulated and i have to use them somehow... but it's been so busy everyday and tuesday and wednesday, we had to go to wheelchair trials and when we got back to the office, it was so late already... which i really hate cos it's so dark outside and i really can't miss the last bus otherwise i will really be in deep shit... thank god so far, that has not happened yet and hopefully never will... and i found out two days ago where my next placement will be... it's at westmead hospital... the good thing is it is quite close to the train station... but the bad thing is i am the only one going there...and i actually wrote on the preference form that i would like to do a mental health placement... oh well... hopefully it will be a good placement and the pple there are nice...

went to the movies yesterday with prisy, uncle and auntie at hornsby... watched sunshine... like i thought it was a science fiction show cos it appeared like that on the trailer... but towards the end of the show, the movie became quite scary bcos if an unexpected presence on the crew's ship and this crazy person started going around killing the crews... btw, michelle yeoh's in the movie... just thought it's worth mentioning... but i would not recommend watching it... cos the storyline's not great and it's got the creepy-looking guy cilian murphy in it...

EAstER roAdTriP...

was working on saturday and man, the store was quite busy, when i started my shift, all the checkouts were used so I was asked to do returns instead... and after that, I was asked to mop the express area... it's not that I am complaining or pampered... the mop that I had to use was so crap and I have never used that kind of mop bucket before, it was like you had to step on it with one foot and use your other foot to push the lever down and slowly squeeze the water out of the mop... and my stupid supervisor was like... aiyoh, singaporean kids are all like that... and I was like hey, aren't you singaporean too??!! anyway, I did not even get to use the registers much that day... was mostly doing the tickets actually... and towards the end of the day... the seafood section was selling all their stuff at half price so I quickly called auntie and michelle to come grab some before all are gone...

yesterday, we went on a roadtrip... started out at 8:40am... drove for almost 3 hours to this lookout point called Bulli Lookout where we could see the coastal line and the city of Wollongong below... it was really pretty... then we drove into the city of Wollongong to visit this rare Chinese temple called Nan Tien Temple... it was just weird for me to see a chinese temple here and there alot of tourists there when we arrived... apparently the temple is very commercialised but it was huge... did not spend much time there but prisy met her friend wenndy there... what a coincidence... then we continued our journey to the Grand Pacific Highway... which apparently is after Wollongong and there is like a bridge walk which you can do along the coastal line of the ocean... we only did like half of the walk actually... there were also quite alot of people doing the walk... and it's absolutely amazing... to see the ocean and there was like a huge cliff on the opposite, and the weather was great, and you could see people hand-gliding and doing parasailing at the beach area... we wanted to walk the whole way but it was getting quite late and we are still planning to go further... we then continued our journey to this country town called Berry... and the shops were open... and it's bustling with activity, unlike in sydney, where it's like dead quiet cos it's easter sunday... prisy and I bought ice cream... yummy... and once we got back into the car, it started to rain... i thought the weather was really kind to us yesterday, like it only rained when we were in the car, but when were out strolling along the shops, the weather was so nice... continued along on our journey to Kangaroo Valley... the scenery was just beautiful... mountains, farms, cows, acres of green everywhere... really amazing... then we stopped at the town area, where we spent awhile looking at the shops selling all the handicrafts, jewellery, nice stuff... then it was time to head home... went to eastwood to eat dinner and when we finally arrived home, it was like 9pm... all in all, the roadtrip took us 12 hours to and fro... pretty amazing...

A LoNg-NeeDeD brEaK...

it's the long easter weekend... well, i would say that it is a long and much needed break for me... went to castle towers to do some shopping with prisy but i did not get anything, and then came home to watch children of men... i thought the show was quite good... but they should have elaborated on the ending a little more... actually prisy and i have watched it the other day, but i was so tired that i only watched half of the show and prisy finished it the other day... we also watched monster house on wednesday night... although it was a cartoon, it was pretty scary... but it was also quite funny, especially the main character's friend...

then on easter friday, went bowling at fox studios with prisy michelle, steve and toufic... the special thing abt this bowling venue was that it was kind of like cosmic bowling... glow in the dark, so it was quite exciting... and we had lebanese bread for lunch... so basically it's like a pizza bread base thing and they have either herb, cheese or meat on it... the herb and cheese ones were nice, did not really the meat one... then after bowling, we went to this chocolate shop to eat, but i did not get anything cos the stuff there were quite expensive... then after we came home for awhile then went to myat's house for their cousins' night... she cooked some burmese noodle dish... and we were actually late cos michelle wanted to bake a pudding at the last minute... played last chance and i laughed so much that my facial muscles were actually aching and i literally had tears in my eyes... myat was really funny, she cracks me up sometimes... played till quite late and we were making alot of noise... was really tired by the time the last round was played...

FiNALLy auTuMnS hERe...

last week has been so hectic... and i have accumulated almost 5 hours of extra time during placement... so that means that i can actually go home early this week if i can... which i will try to make use of... it's going okay at the moment, just that i have reports to write and the skills for wheelies thing to think about and there is just so much to prepare and organise for the day... and i have a good news, well for myself really... i succeeded in doing a partial wheelie... yay!! it was definitely not easy, and i think i will never be brave enough to do a full wheelie... it is way too scary... i just have to do enough of a wheelie to get myself over a kerb...

and saturday was a really good day for me... cos i took a day off work and prisy and me went out into the city... when we got to the train station, we realised that the trains were not operating and we had to drive all the way into the city... and we parked at Nao's house... went to my favourite sussex centre to eat my favourite spicy beef rice which i have been craving since... yummy... and after we walked to big echo for karaoke... and then after, edlyn came to join us and we all want for dessert at passionflower... we actually skipped dinner and went straight for dessert... haha... and wendy and her mum and sister also came to join us for dessert... i had the super duper brownie and it was delicious... oh man... like saturday was one of the best days ever... got to eat and do my favourite stuff... and the weather was good also... sunny but also windy... but i did not buy anything though... now that I think back, i have not been doing any shopping or watch any movies for ages...

but then sunday had to come and i am once again back at work... working a ten hour shift again... nothing really exciting happened... except that woolies will be closed on easter friday and sunday, so that means that i will get two days off... but apparently i am working on easter monday... but also bcos of easter break... i will have to do an extra day of clinicals... oh well... i quite like the place that I am doing my placement so it's okay...

DeAd ExHauStEd...

I am so tired... more so physically cos my feet are killing me... today was the first time in the history of working in woolies that i worked for 10 hours... and it was definitely not fun... not when it was so quiet cos it was raining outside and daylight saving ended today... time passes so slowly when i am working but so fast when it comes to everything else... i need a break!!! i know i just went for karaoke that day but i really need a whole day to just recharge myself, not thinking or doing anything, just doing stuff that i like... when will that day come i wonder... and my stupid supervisor's put me down for ten hour shifts for the next few weeks... i think i will go talk to her if i really cannot do it anymore... and i have clinicals from mondays-fridays... and i have this big project and individual presentation coming up... and the stupid webct postings that we have to do every week... where got time to do so much stuff??!! am really looking forward to the easter break... hopefully i will have some time to relax and recharge... maybe one of the best ways would be just to put my head down and just cry it all out and get all the stuff out of my system...

went to observe on this seating assessment and the client had really severe scoliosis... and he was so thin, he weighed like 26kg, so light that his mum could manually lift him from his wheelchair onto the bed... it was quite confronting for me, cos i have never seen anything like that before... but it was also kind of sad to see him like that... he was so young... and he only has his mum to take care of him... he could not even speak...

went to this swimming carnival held by the northcott society... i was designated to be the third place ribbon writer... and the job is really boring... i just have to sit there and wait for the results to come and i just write the names down onto the ribbon for the kids... it was actually held on two fridays, last friday and today... and today ended earlier than expected bcos apparently one of the kids shitted in the pool...

went on three home visits this week... one's at chatswood, one's at south coogee which was like an hour's drive away and the other is at cromer, which was also an hour's drive away... i dun mind going on home visits but sometimes the journey's so long that i really felt like sleeping... and after every visit, i have to write up the reports...

and yesterday, i went back to uni to meet up with the honours supervisor (finally!!) and to return this library book... and i met amelia and karen... and we were like starving so we said we should go eat at ceci at strathfield... and guess what, we ended up going to the city for karaoke... and i actually ate KFC... i hate KFC, but i was so hungry and it was quite late already by the time we got there... we sang till like 11pm... after karaoke, i felt so guilty, bcos it's a thursday night and i still have clinicals the next day... but anyway, i have not been to karaoke for so long since i came back... could not resist the temptation... it was also nice to be able to catch up with amelia and karen...