The Calm before the Storm

Its been really quiet here on campus lately. The droves of students that use to infest the walkways within the bush have all disappeared mysteriously. They just vanished into thin air. Edwards Hall (where I live) has become indecently quiet and tensions are running so high you can cut through the air with a knife. Jock and nerd alike can only be found in their rooms behind unnaturally-closed doors poring over books. The beats of R&B, shrieks of laughter and drunken ramblings have all ceased. Last minute revision study groups have mushroomed over night and conveniently populated libraries have now been replaced by (quite literally) throngs of students. Talk about migration and demographic shifts!!
Exam period has drawn close. In about 2 days time, some 24 000 students will sit for nerve-racking sessions some coming out of the dreaded halls bawling their eyes out and others smiling smugly, still others will have an apathetically indifferent look plastered on their faces. Tempers flare and friendships blossom in this period. You can really see the very face of humans....
Me? I don't think I'm prepared but then again, I never have thought I was prepared for any exam....
I sit for 3, rather tedious, papers comencing on the 15th the first of which being the all-encompasing Medical Science. Seniors have said, anything can come out- that includes anything out of the syllabus. The common dilemma is whether to study or not because even covering every inch of the 'learning target' list does not guarantee a pass (which by the way is set at 75% this year...raised from 70% last year! My reaction?: ARE THEY SO UTTERLY OUT OF THEIR MINDS???????)
This, for the most part, is the reason why I have not updated this blog....
So, I will not update this blog at least until the 21st of June which is when this storm ceases.

The long-awaited update

Finally, some time to type. For all you people who have been waiting for an update and have been e-mailing me again and again, I'm so sorry. I have been bogged down with so much work that sometimes I miss dinner cause I lose track of time. Again, my apologies for not updating.
So, what have I been busy with? Looking at women's breasts (no, not porn, just learning how to diagnose breat cancer and learning up the anatomy of the breast), understanding how to do a de-compaction (basically for people who have constipation and do not respond to laxatives, we um.....stick our fingers up their you-know-what and try to dig it out...*sigh*.....*starts singing: Nobody knows the trouble I've seen*).... things like that.
Exams are dreadfully close (well, actually in about 3 1/2 weeks- which, in medicine, is dreadfully close) and so most people have been cramming stuffs into their heads and totally forsaken any form of social life. Sadly, I have become quite a hermit too. Nevertheless, I watched 2 movies today (Count of Monte Cristo and 50 1st dates, yeah yeah I know I'm way way behind) and now have to deal with a guilty conscience of not having read up on the central nervous system and parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves....*sigh*. Will, not be going out into town this weekend I'm afraid.
It is so weird to sit down in autumn and go out trying to remember to put on a jacket (cause sometimes I don't, hey, it gets hot here too!) because temperatures in Australia fluctuate like I've never seen elsewhere. It is like 22 C in the day and 6 C at night (sometimes)... just not used to it....yet....
For those of you who would like to know what happened when I returned to Malaysia last April (yes, I know it has been a while since I updated my blog), contact Yi Khai, who has made this splendid video (many thanks, YK) and all that good jazz, and ask him to pass it to you.
Alrighty, I've got to get some work done *looks at bed covered with books in dismay* *sighs* and so, off I go to my work.

ps. does anyone know how I can upload photos onto this blog? It is horrendously annoying not to be able to....

Sickness, Clocks and a Mobile Phone

"I firmly believe in oranges", "I firmly believe in oranges", "I firmly believe in oranges"....that's my mantra every time I go to the dining hall. I eat 2 oranges religiously with every meal and if that is not enough, I also consume either an apple or a banana... The fact is, the flu has been going around in Edwards Hall and one by one, people have fallen sick (usually a cough and a cold or so). I actually take good care of myself while I'm here (for all you cynics, IT'S TRUE!!) I eat well, I sleep enough, I even attend every lecture!! So, how did I managed to put myself in bed for 2 days? Your guess is a good as anyones.
Yesterday was the worst though, muscle aches, pounding head (imagine your brain being ripped to shreads), runny nose, that perpetually icky feeling you get at the back of your throat when water goes in your nose and internal shivers. I could not move, could not even turn my head without feeling some sort of agony. To add to that, my corridor has individuals who make incessant blasting noises that despite being warned four or five times refuse to desist! So all the above effects are effectively multiplied 2 987 214 892.4526- fold. *sigh*. Well they did finally cease when the SRA (Senior Residential Assistant) told them to and thereafter I had a good nights rest.
Spring forward, fall back...an American friend used this method to remember how to set the clocks. It is the 27th of March, it's autumn and yesterday all our clocks were set back an hour. A very peculiar thing suddenly having 25 hours on the 26th of March (dreams do come true!!!). It seems that every year, one or two students come into lectures/tutes late owing to this confusion of setting and resetting clocks.
I finally have a mobile number...everyone get your pens.... its 04 2272 0905 (for those of you that are not in Australia, that's +614 2272 0905). It has suddenly dawned on me how reliant I am on my mobile. Everytime I urgently need something or just want to SMS someone I take out my mobile only to realise I have NO LINE!!!! arrgh, the agony!
Alrighty, I really want to get something to eat, so I'm going to go off and see what the icky kitchen-witches are brewing in their couldron....

Dining and Music, the Teds' Culture

Edwards College (aka Teds) has an amazing dining hall and an equally amazing set of people to dine with. It is about a 32 second walk from my room and once in (if you are early- about 5:30pm) you grab a tray and take part in this rather noisy procession towards the kitchen where food is flatly dished out onto a plate after you have said "718" (every room comes with a no. and that's how they can tell if you have had dinner or not). Sometimes the selection is good: warm pizza, spaghetti bolognaise or Fish and Chips. The curry, is a notable exception as it is not a local dish but it is made fairly well (eventhough my experience with curry is not particularly wide). Sometimes it is horrendeous: largely watery lasagne, schnitzel with crusts that could crack your teeth or plain old tasteless fish.

After looking at the choice for the day (usually 3 choices) for about 10 seconds, you have the ardous task of trying to choose between bad, horrible and abhorrent, and then you agonisingly say "the beef please" only to realise you should have had the chicken....*sigh*-Truly, we are the product of our choices.

Having taken your tray out into the dining hall, you have to spot people that you are comfortable dining with in a matter of 5 seconds (I dish out the rice more slowly sometimes just to give me a good glance and locate friends), get some water and then set your tray down.
Fortunately, all is not lost. *irritating salesperson's voice* Teds is particularly well equipt to give you a splendid, all round, dining experience! It has a podium and a rather good sound system- which, needless to say, is overused. Every meal comes with some music (sometimes too loudly played) be it Metallica, Riverdance or Chariots of Fire (seriously...lol). Plain old Aussie pop is sneaked in between the large internationally renown giants of song and often an amusing sight pops up- people might sing along to the music (often with a half masticated chicken/cow twirling inside their mouths) or do a little jig in their seats. Some might even get up and start dancing (like at breakfast today....)

It is a good conversation point and sometimes (only sometimes), good entertainment. Sort of brings back memories of 2,3 Cengal where the proud supporters of My Fair Lady and Sound of Music would herald their songs and fill the classroom with music (amidst demands of them to desist). Ah..... gone are the good old days! *laments*

Well, off I go to my work with the remnants of Coldplay in my head.....

Of Green, Orange and Grey

White, green, green, orange, white, green, orange, green.....
No, it's not a weird striped animal, these were the colours of peoples outlook. Green hair, T-shirts.... and just about any article to display affiliation with that tinge had suddenly popped up out of nowhere. It was simply amazing, one day the world is in technicolour, the next day BAM!! and the world turns green. Orange was another popular colour, but not half as well known as the many facets of green.
So, why the colours?? It was St Patrick's Day yesterday- a celebration to commemorate the supposed Christianizing of Ireland by St Patrick (who was kidnapped by Vikings, I hear). But it was Irish everything! From the potatoes, to the music played in the hall (they might have had riverdance on or something very Irish, very jolly-think LOTR's Shire Pub scene) Green, white and orange are the colours of the Irish national flag and although it is a severe colour clash on clothing, nobody bothered!!
Anyone who had the slightest drop of Irish blood claimed affiliation (so, my grandmother's somebody-up-there was an Irish,.....oh yeah, proud of it baby!!). The dining hall was decorated with green and white creeping paper and some guys actually went up the podium to dance to the Irish music.
The real fun came at night though. The Bar on the Hill, in their tradition of celebrating St Patrick's day had green beer and green Shamrock (the beer was incredibly horrid, but the Shamrock was actually quite pleasant, so claim my friends!) Green caps, green shirts, green faces, green hair and the most integral of Irish tradition- plenty of GUINNESS STOUT!! (although it is black)
We danced (rather bad dance) and laughed and amazingly enough, I had my 2nd, 3rd and 4th pool game!! (taught by an expert in pool, Ben!) . Ah... Ben is this Ukrainian guy who was born in Australia but his parents are from L'vov. He's really nice and plays pool wonderfully. The best part? He is an excellent teacher and will never put you down eventhough it is pretty obvious that you play like crap....no, worse than crap.
Anyway, yesterday ended (as it started) by Andrew, Eve and I, trudging home in the rain...and wind....and really spooky lights. There were still people there when we left partying away like there would be no tomorrow.....

Today? Today everything went back to its original technicolour form...except, the day has been mundane and grey and really really gloomy. I went to PBL's open problem this morning and, after sleeping at about 2am, was really groggy. A sense of melancholy also envelops you cause the weather is so dull and forlorn. It never really rained even right up to this morning, it just drizzles and drizzles and keeps on going until you get really sick of it. Not heavy enough to become a shower but not light enough to forgo an umbrella. The bush has become so quiet too....gone are the summer calls of birds and other creepy animals. It's quite depressing, quite, quite depressing really....

Learning an odd language

I have decided, that in order to survive in Australia, I have to learn this odd (but rather hilarious) language....its not too hard and has a grammatical structure almost identical to English. The sounds are hell to pronounce and the vocabulary is extensive, and as with all new languages, once tends to learn heaps of vocabulary first...This quirky sounding language is none other than Australian (or Australian English)!!.....hehe
You will almost instantly notice that Australians have a lingo of their own and that is peculiar to their country alone. Take for example the word 'grog' which means alcohol (aka alchy, piss, frizz, frosty, goom, hooch, hops, Jimmy Woodser, jungle-juice, middy, slops, snort, sheep dip...and believe it or not: mountain dew!!....these are just a few) I suspect they come from some characteristics of being inebriated (grog = groggy??).
Then there are just the words that don't mean the same thing. So 'chuck' means to vomit (aka chunder, hurl, herk, long distance call on the big white telephone (don't you just love that one), my all time favourite: to drive the porcelain bus, make a pavement pizza, throw a seven, technicolour laugh/yawn/yodel, yodel, bark at the lawn....etc etc etc)
But things like 'to chuck a sickie' means not to go to class, and a rather crude one: 'I'd rather have my tits nailed to the ceiling' means to be adamant against something.
Weird responses throws all internationals off...like

I: Do you mind if I sit here?
A Yeah (implies, yeah, I do mind!)
I: Okay *rather sheepishly and paces away slowly while wondering what he has done wrong*
A: No, no, no, you can sit here if you wish....
or
I: Oh, I'm sorry
A: Yurrite (actually you're alright)
or
passing when walking
I: Hello
A: How do you do?
I: I'm fine, I had cla.... (voice trails off cause the Australian has already walked off without waiting for a response)

And then there is just the sheer horror of how Australians pronounce things....mate becomes mite, day becomes die, and way becomes why....my favourite one was when this tutor Ben, said "Now if the patient has pine on the upper arm" leaving all of us wondering why any patient has a pine sticking out of his upper arm and it took us about 20 seconds to figure out that he meant pain....lol
They speak sacreligiously fast and drop all the ends of the sentences (if they stop at all because they have no idea what a full stop in speech is...hahaha), either that or make everything sound like a question....
A typical product of this mess??
Heya, howjoodoo? I had class to die and it was not a good thing cause I went with some pom and sepo mites lost noite and got completely sloshed cause I had too much goom and a lot of the sepos were calling me a guzzler so Any why I chucked a sickie to die cause I drove the porcelain bus reelly light last noite and felt really out to die.
All within 8 seconds....lol
So, the new phrase for today is....
to hang a bog = to be really well hung....yeap...ats roite....

Surfing with your body

I've always wondered how they did it. Huge 6 feet boards and even larger 13 feet waves and it looks SO EASY!! I had a nice leisurely paced day yesterday and decided I would hop on down to the beach for a swim in between my 5pm and 6om classes (Newcastle beach is about 2.1158 minutes walk from James Fletcher Hospital which was where my 3-5 tute was at). Aaron (a guy from my tute group) said he could teach me to body surf- Surfing using your body without a board.
I thought it a rather splendid idea*TV advertisement voice*- no more crashing waves over you: just surf on them!! So we headed out about 40-50 yards from the beach and the further in you go the larger the waves are. At the actual beachfront, they are about 3 feet high, 10 yds in and you are looking at 5 feet high waves, another 20 yds and that becomes 10 feet high (way over your head by now) another 10 yds in and they are about 15 feet....simply amazing.
So, after the oral teaching on "how to body-surf a wave", we did the practical. And I found myself (almost instantly) overwhelmed with waves. Massive, gigantic things that literally sweep you off your feet and turn you about- now I know how clothes feel in a tumble-dryer!! Salty, cold (very cold!!) water goes in your ears, eyes, nose, mouth....(repeat process 200 times)
I must say, out of all those trials, I did manage to surf 2 waves (applause please :) ) Once I got out of the water though, I was extremely exhausted cause it takes energy just to be on your feet (as opposed to being swept away by the 5-10 feet waves and tumble-washed....hehe) and so the following lecture just washed over me, nothing really went in.....lol
So, that's my tale of body surfing....or rather, non-body surfing.....

The rather dreadful weekend

The usual response to a week that has just passed by any civil, working (or studying) human being is "Thank God, the week's over!!". A cruel twist of fate and my exclaimation this week (and the following ones for the next 12 weeks) is "Great! I have a pile of work to do". The matter of the fact is my open tutorial is on Friday (an open tutorial is when the working problem is given to you) and then Saturday and Sunday are study days because on Monday I have full-on lectures from 8am- 6pm; Tuesdays, a public health tute (which is absolutely 100% dull) and Wednesdays at 8:30am is my close tutorial (where we are to bring back what we have learnt from Friday's working problem and discuss).

This weekend however, I shoved the work aside and went to P-A-R-T-Y!! It was Hanna's birthday and so we went to about 5 clubs (not an unusual effort to get somebody drunk), which, needless to say, was very fulfilling until I reached home at about 2am and looked at the pile of books sitting on my bed. So, facing the consequences of a wild (albeit fruitless in terms of studying) night out, I declared today "study day" and am cooped in my room with nerdy glasses on my face trying to absorb something about digestion and nutition. *sigh*
The worst part of it all is that today is "Swimming carnival day" and so everyone who is anyone is at the pool having the time of their lives with lots of grog and cocktails, lying in the sun (either on the grass or at the poolside) enjoying themselves. It is completely, utterly, superiorly UNFAIR!!

I must say though, there are comforts in life to these circumstances. Lunch today was a rather delightful quiche. I haven't had that in a while and after skipping dinner yesterday (I swear I'm not on a diet, I forgot!) it tasted all-the-better. *grins guiltily* Okay, okay, so 4 may indicate a slight inclination to gluttony but I did have a very valid excuse...right??
Dinner today will be served at an ungodly 7pm (it's usually 5:30pm) so until then I will just have to bury my nose in the books with Coca Cola (which come in gigantic 2 litre bottles over here and are sinfully cheap) and some Tim Tams...