One week down...seven to go (Plus my week in Phnom Penh)

Hi everyone!!

I thought it was about time I updated everyone on what I've been doing this week!! I'm so glad to have made it through my first week!! It has definitely been a bit of a roller-coaster. Monday started off on a bit of a difficult note. Firstly, due to the heat, I decided to walk to the hospital in my thongs and t-shirt, with my good pants on, and change my top and shoes when I arrived. However, on arrival at the clinical school, I realized that I had left my shoes, which didn't fit into my bag, in the apartment. I therefore had to go through the entire day in my clinical clothes with thongs!! Luckily I didn't have my proper ID for hospital here yet, so I couldn't go to the wards anyway, but it wasn't the greatest first impression. The doctor here who is acting as my mentor was like, "We have a very strict dress code here!" I had to assure her that it is the same in Australia, and that I had accidentally left my shoes at home. So embarrassing!! I also got quite overwhelmed by all of the work that I have to do here, as the university expects me to do the same work as the IMU (Malaysian) students, in addition to what I have to do for UQ. Having looked at it more closely, a lot of things are doubled up, so it's not as much work as I first thought, but I was very overwhelmed by it all on Monday morning. The day did improve though, as it turned out that my mentor, who is the head of O&G for the university, is a christian lady, and she has been very supportive this week. She also invited me to the med school christian fellowship, which I went to on Tuesday night after classes. It's hard to explain how much of a blessing it is to hang out with brothers and sisters in Christ over here...it was a huge blessing. We had dinner at one of the Christian doctor's houses and I met and Aussie couple who have been here for three months. He's a doctor, but he's also done a bible college degree and his masters, and is teaching at the seminary here. It was a pretty cool night. It made up for a strange tuesday morning. Dr Sheila (my mentor), took me to the doctor's handover meeting so that I could meet all of the doctors working in obstetrics. When I started introducing myself, the head of O&G for the hospital started ranting about how the university could be better spending its money...etc. etc. It was quite strange.

Wednesday I went out for my first lot of malaysian food for lunch, which was great. The rest of the day was ok...a bit of a mess with centrelink that I had to sort out from here, which was a bit of a pain, but it's all sorted now. Most of the time I've either been on the wards, clerking patients (I'm grabbing any patient that speaks english and taking their history and examining them, hehe), or in tutorial sessions. I went to the antenatal clinic on wednesday, which was good too. One of my patients had a cesarean section yesterday morning, and she's doing well now.

Today is a public holiday, and most of the students went home to KL last night. It seems that most of them stay here during the week, but go home on the weekends. Only those who live further away from Seremban stay over the weekend. One of the other students who did stay back and I went in to the hospital today anyway. We have to be on call once a week, and as I was unable to do an evening this week, I decided to go in today. It should count as a weekend on call. We went to the labour ward and watched 2 deliveries, which was great. I went to check on my other patients and unfortunately, one who I thought would deliver today went into labour over night and then had to have an emergency cesarean. I was disappointed to have missed it, but thankfully both the mother and the baby are fine.

I went out for lunch with my friend to a Malaysian Indian restaurant, which was a lot of fun, and am now doing some boring study (and obviously writing this blog) before heading to her house to hang out tonight!! On Monday I will be joining the gynaecology students. Over here, they do a 5wk obstetrics term in their 4th year (equivalent to my 3rd year), and then do 4 weeks of gynaecology in their 5th yr (my 4th yr). Their terms therefore don't match up with ours. The students in 5th year have been on holidays this week, and I will be joining some of them for their gynaecology term on Monday. That way, i will at least get to cover that term from start to finish. Unfortunately that means that my obstetrics will be quite disjointed. I joined the obstetrics students this week for their week 2 of obstetrics, and have spent most of the week trying to catch up on the knowledge they learned last week. When I finish gynaecology, I'll be joining the next group of obstetrics students and just doing their first 3 weeks, before doing my exams and heading to Cambodia!! I'm hoping that I'll still manage to cover everything I need to know though.

So, that's me up to date!! I don't know if it sounds all that interesting to most of you...but I am here for study, hehe!!

God bless!!

Aimee's animal I spy

1. Strange, rather large lizard at the park (It was over 1metre long)
2. Many, many quails
3. Stupid pigeons around my apartment block
4. Blackbirds
5. A cute, tiny little black-brown squirrel!!
6. A little kitten...he looked like a stray, poor thing
7. Turtles in the lake
8. Some guys were fishing in the lake and caught what looked like large catfish with bread on their lines!! Thought I might pop down their later with some bread myself....just kidding

Today was a beautiful day; very sunny!! I decided to go for a jog, and then realised I should've had a lot more water before I left as all of my internal body water poured out at once!! (Well, not quite, but that's what it felt like!!) Can't run my ten kms in this heat and humidity, hehe.

Had a bit more of a look around town. It's very interesting. They keep everything fairly clean; there's no rubbish lying around, etc (in contrast to where I stayed in Cambodia). However, they let a lot of the buildings get really run down. I haven't yet found the markets to buy food yet. They must be somewhere, I'm sure! I'm going to ask some of the Malaysian students tomorrow.

So I start at the hospital tomorrow!! Hoping it'll be good. Looking forward to getting into it and being busy each day, but hoping the doctors are nice. Not sure yet if I start on obstetrics or gynaecology!! Hopefully should have some more interesting news for everyone in the next few days!!

:)

A better afternoon

Well, after a terrible time trying to organise internet that would work in my apartment, i went for a walk and found this really nice park. It runs alongside a man-made lake and I think it'll be good for jogging around. I'll have to go in the morning or late afternoon as it's very hot and humid here...not unlike a Queensland summer, although possibly even stickier!!

I also managed to log onto a trial internet account for 24hrs. It's not great...it keeps cutting out and it's not letting me upload photos to the blog page, but it's better than nothing and at least I don't feel quite so far away from everyone! Funny how only 3 yrs ago when I went to Cambodia I was lucky to get online at an internet cafe once a week, and now I can't cope without it!! In 2001 when I went on my 3month trip around the world, I only got online once or twice the entire trip!! How our world has changed!! I did have company on both of those trips when I arrived at my destinations, however, whereas this time I am truly on my own.

So I'm grateful for small mercies, such as a nice park to walk in and some contact with friends and family. Praise God! Tomorrow should be a nice, relaxing day before jumping into the medicine on Monday. Hopefully I get some pre-reading done tomorrow, hehe!!

;p

Day 2 in malaysia

Hi everyone!!

I wasn't sure whether to bog today, because it's been a tough couple of days, but I guess I should let you know a little of what's been happening. I made my way from the airport to Seremban by bus and train, and didn't get in until about 7pm. I was eventually taken to my apartment, which reminds me a lot of the apartment I had in Cambodia!! I'll try to upload pictures when I can. Cold showers again, yay! At least it's about 33degrees celsius here and very humid, so I can put up with cold showers. I pretty much just had a shower and went to bed, I was physically and emotionally spent. Struggling a bit with the realisation that I'm on my own for 8 weeks. Really praying I can make it through. Tried to go shopping this morning, which was an experience. Very hard to find what you're looking for here!! Hopefully once I start at the hospital I'll make some Malaysian friends who can tell me where to find what I need!! I think it might be cheaper to buy food off the side of the road than make it myself, but I'll have to find out where to go.

I'm currently trying to sort out internet, but having a few issues. Worst comes to worst I'll be sitting in McDonalds every day using their wireless!!

Definitely feeling a bit lonely and stressed at the moment, but hoping things will improve soon!!

Love you all!!

The eve of my departure

Hi everyone!!

Well, I thought I'd start a blog while I'm away so that everyone can hear what I'm doing and how it's going. This way, even those who don't use facebook can know what I'm up to!!

So, for those who don't know, I'm heading to Seremban, Malaysia (about 80 km south of Kuala Lumpur), to undertake my obstetrics and gynaecology rotation. My rotation is 8wks long and I will be doing it at the International Medical University in Seremban, alongside Malaysian medical students. I have chosen to do my rotation in Malaysia, with the hopes of experiencing medicine in a less developed country than my own, and having the opportunity to do a lot more than I can in Australia. I'm also hoping for some opportunities to get out to the more rural areas of Malaysia, but I am not sure whether I will have those opportunities. I'm staying in an apartment rented by the uni and am paying the university for this. At the end of my rotation I am traveling to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, for 6 days. Some of you may know that I've been to Cambodia before, in my first year of medicine. I have not been to Phnom Penh, however, and am looking forward to the opportunity to experience the capital city and learn more about what the people of Cambodia were forced to endure under the Khmer Rouge. I was hoping for company, hehe, but am sure it will be a wonderful experience regardless!!

So, my thoughts the night before I leave?? I'm both excited and nervous at the same time. Excited to be traveling to Malaysia, and looking forward to all of the amazing experiences that I will have. However, I'm also nervous about how I will be received at the hospital in Malaysia, and what the Doctors over there will be like. I'm also nervous about being apart from nic for so long. This is definitely going to be a tough time for both of us, and we are just praying that it won't impact negatively on my ability to enjoy this experience!!

Basically, I'm both excited and freaking out!! I will try to update this blog as often as I can. I'm not sure what my internet situation is going to be like, but I will definitely keep everyone informed!! Please pray for safe travels and that nic and I will survive!! :)

So...the adventure begins!!


P.S. Could those of you who know people who might be interested in my trip, but don't have internet (e.g. Oma, Nana), please print these and pass them on to them??

Thanks guys!! Dios te bendiga!