Travels

When I was young, traveling was never in my list of dreams but now, it is =)

I used to dream to have everyone as my friends.
Now I want to visit everywhere to meet everyone to make them my friends.

Well, baby steps to start off with.

I have been to
April 2011
- Scotland (and started to call home) (A + F.)

July 2012
- London (F)

Dec 2012
- Italy (F)

June 2013
- Germany (F.)

September 2013
- Serbia (A)

October 2013
- Prague (Czech Republic) (F.)
- Vienna (Austria) (F.)
- Bratislava (Slovakia) (F.)

March 2014
- Belgium (A)

May 2014
- Ireland (A)

June 2014 (soon)
- England (F.)
- Amsterdam (F.)
- Paris (F.)

(A- alone, F- friends, F.- family)

I have been to Paris and Amsterdam ample of times but it was for flight transit. This coming June, I will properly soak in the atmosphere and enjoy the cities.

I still want to visit many more.
Portugal, Norway, Spain, Copenhagen, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Croatia, Turkey and Greece are my top choices.

If I were to be back at Asia, I want to visit Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korean and Singapore (transit at the airport for few hours but not seen the city).

Time and money is all I need.

1-3-1-4

In Chinese, 1-3-14 is a good day because it means forever. In Scotland, 1-3-14 was the Scottish victory of Battle of Bannockburn for Scottish Independence =)

It's also the day I was outwardly grumpy *insert self loathing, disgusted and negative words of myself*

Hello New Year =)

Hello everyone, how are you doing?

It's 2014!!! Wow, 2013 did really just passed by so fast.

2 hours before 12am, my friend and I were in town waiting for the fireworks and we were reflecting about 2013.

So what happened in...

January- I went to Wick and met amazing friends.

February- I was still in Wick and enjoying every minute of the company, except on CNY where I was all alone in my spacious room, starring at the horse and wishing for a bowl of Wan Tan Mee.

March- Special eventful month where I got a confirmation for my job, was in the finals of the surgical competition and I had a poster presentation in a conference.

April- I was in Inverness, enjoying Naruto 18 hours a day for I think 2-3 weeks while pretending to be busy with my electives =P

May- Back to Aberdeen for preparation before finals.

June- The last exam as a student and knowing that I passed my exam a week later. Had a great time at Germany with the girls in my family.

July- Poster presentation just a day before Graduation, graduated and had one of the retiring surgeon/ tutor looking for me and congratulating me. Totally enjoyed the company of my family too.

August- Started work 2 weeks later than everyone as I was given 2 weeks leave. Did my own ward round alone  and managed to keep everyone alive for 2.5 weeks as my senior/ registrar was away. Highlight of my 1st few weeks on the job --> getting thanks from patients and in front of the consultants too =)

September- Nothing much besides my work and hijacking my housemate's plan to celebrate my birthday. Instead of celebrating my birthday, I made it into a birthday celebration for my friend who's birthday was 5 days before mine =P Oh ya, I had the best birthday present ever too!!

October- Came back from Serbia conference which I had shit time thanks to the JAT airway for delaying my luggage, forcing me to do the least thing I enjoy in the world- shopping for clothes. Mom flew over and we went to Prague and Vienna, all expenses on me. There went my 1st month pay =)

November- Don't think anything special happened?

December- Changed department, survived my first receiving, impressed the surgical consultant who was known to be kinda full of himself and got the opportunity to assist in 2 surgeries!! Oh and I had my road trip around UK canceled due to some unforeseen circumstances. But at least I had a great time on Christmas day (despite being alone in the ward again) and on New Year's Eve too.

So 2013 has been quite eventful for me, unlike others who had breakups, new relationships, new babies etc, mine is kinda boring but hey, at least something happened right? Oh ya, forgot to mention that I had missed quite a few weddings, 3 or 4 I think.

Hopefully 2014 will be better =)

Happy New Year!!

Unfortunate week

Woke up on a Sunday morning, filled in my details for my Tuesday flight. Suddenly, my mind went into 'RED ALERT' mode and I could feel my blood with adrenaline rushing through my vessels.

I need a Visa to get into Belgrade, Serbia.

WHAT?!! Googled on application process and the website stated that we need to apply 3 weeks prior to traveling and it'll take 3-5 working days to process.

Panic...

Anyway, took a night bus down to London to the Serbia embassy (thank goodness I didn't have travel sickness attack), lost my specs nose piece in the toilet while I was changing, stood outside the embassy for 15 minutes like some beggar, plead them to get my visa done on the same day, told to get health insurance to have the visa approved and processed, ran around London like some headless chicken to get the insurance, got it, told that visa will be done by 3pm, bought 4pm train ticket to get back up home and 5 minutes after getting the ticket at 12.30pm, got called that visa was done. Wheee BUT train ticket at 1.30pm cost 20pounds less than the 4.30pm train T.T

Reached home at 9pm feeling so loved because my friend drove out to fetch me home (even though I already started walking home) and packed me dinner!

Slept at 1.30am, woke up at 3.30am for 4am taxi. The taxi driver recognised me because
1. I am oriental
2. I am chatty
3. He picked me and mom up when we went to Germany in June
LOL.
Flew to Serbia with no problems at 6am, transited at Paris for 4 hours where a funny American guy chat with me and trying to impress me with stories (good entertainment I would say) then reached Belgrade, Serbia at 3.30pm WITHOUT LUGGAGE!!!

Submitted a report to the lost and found desk, taxi to hotel and got cheated 180 Serbian Dinar (RSD). He told me 1800RSD but when I paid 2000RSD, he gave me back 20RSD. Only realised what happened when I was in my hotel. Feeling sorry for myself x100. Asked where to get clothes and toiletries for the conference and was directed to the largest mall. Shopping ain't my thing so it took me forever to actually buy anything. Got back to hotel at 8ish pm.

BTW, Serbians are not the friendliest people. But then again, maybe because they can't speak English and hence try to avoid me? Another story for the guys, I could feel their eyes burning into me everything I walked home from the conference. Wolf whistling, laughing after passing by me like some kiddos etc but still, it was nice when I smiled and talked to some of them (with limited English and lots of awkward laughters). I tried to buy some food and to find out what meat was used, we started communicating in animal sounds. Epic traveling experience LOL.

Conference was Ok, well, not really in the best mood to engage but it was educational and I did learn things. I was called a baby by the surgeons there because I am a freshly 2 month old graduate while they are all experienced and skilled.

Anyway, to cut story short, got my luggage the day before I left, went around exploring Serbia only to encounter words like this.

How do I go about reading this? I nearly got lost but eventually recognised the places that I passed through.

Flew back on Friday with no hiccups until I reached the UK border at the airport. Due to the wording on the visa, I was detained for almost an hour, sitting at the side like some illegal immigrant. On the bright side, I was all alone and when I was asked to sit at 'that corner', I was all alone. But still, I was dead tired and exhausted. On the bright side, my luggage was arrived safely.

Finally got home by 9ish 10pm and thanks to the taxi driver, my mood was better. I seriously love chatting with them =)

Unpacked, repacked for Edinburgh trip next day (today in 3 hours time heading down), bathed and cleared the kitchen a bit (Blame my partial OCD), washed clothes (to wash all the bad luck away LOL), searched for claim forms etc till 1ish 2am only to be woken up by my mom at 6.30am.

Now, I have tonnes of things to do and submit etc...

Hopefully my Edinburgh trip won't be as tiring as this past week.

Home is now just a house

Since I started working, I have stop looking forward to coming home. I used to enjoy staying at home and would call this house, my home. But recently, that is the last thing that comes to my mind when I enter the house.

Opened the front door, the house is in darkness. My housemate(s) are in their rooms with their doors shut.

Put my stuff down and entered the kitchen, piles of dirty dishes in the sink, stove/ hob is dirty with some left over food lying around and very oily looking. The cloth that we usually used to wipe/ clean dirty table top is wet and slimy. Cloths that we do not usually use are wet and dirty looking. Wet washed dishes/ pots all over the place and some on the wooden shelve. Opened the fridge, everything is filled with food. The little place I have is occupied by other people's food. And people ask me why I don't eat much, because every time I want to buy something, I'll be thinking if there's space in the fridge or freezer. Totally put me off from having my late dinner.

Got into the bathroom, floor is wet, the mat on the floor is wet, the window is closed with the blinds down and the whole bathroom is dark, wet and damp. Mould alert!! Toilet paper has finished but no one (or the last person who used it) did not bother to replace it. No one cares.

Getting home feeling tired is one thing. Having the feeling that I need to clean up after people who has been home hours before me is another thing. It really annoys me and really doesn't make my day end any better. I received enough crap in work, I don't want to receive more crap when I'm in my comfort of my house. It really irks me and I really feel like shouting at them but what can I do but just bottle it up and hope that one day it doesn't explode.

My 2nd housemate who is currently out of block left his gf in our place, occupying the living room. I am trying not to blame her but things have changed since she's around. I never had to face such crap last year or early this year. Maybe I am feeling all angry and annoyed because of stress from work but in all honesty, my work is not that stressful. Maybe I just don't like change and having her around is a change.

The kitchen is in a mess, the bathroom is in a mess. If I were her, I would have the courtesy to ask how does things work around in the house and not just barge in and start doing things your own way. Gosh, I really don't like her. I haven't really had a conversation with her since she started living here 2-3 weeks ago. Firstly, I can't act all nice and interested in knowing her at all, secondly she speaks with an accent when she conversed in English. It drives me up the wall hence the avoidance. Even the sound of her voice just makes me want to leave the room. I know I am being mean and judgmental which is so unlike me but I just can't help it with her. I'm sure she's a nice girl but at the moment, I don't give a shit.

Gosh, why can't things be like last time when we had so much fun at home, talking and laughing and not keeping to ourselves in our rooms. I miss my first year staying here when my 1st housemate was working and every time, knowing that she'll come home to rant, I'll keep my door open and welcomed her home, listened to her rant and do crazy funny things with her. Or when my 2 new housemates moved in. We do keep to ourselves but we still do laugh and joke and tease each other. I miss those days.

Now, to wait for her to leave in another weeks time then hopefully things will be back to normal and I can call this house home again.

Last Friday which was my birthday was another sad story of my life. In 2012, I was locked out of my room after coming home from hosp after a long day. I was all alone, sitting in the common kitchen playing with my phone, feeling sorry for myself. It ended with me being in my room with tonnes of self-pity. This year is no different at all. Came home after a crappy day at work, housemates all in rooms and me, alone in my room feeling sorry that it's my birthday. I really hate my birthday because it's a time when I feel very lonely and sad that I even exist. I'm pathetic I know.

Not advertising my birthday but getting wishes from people who sincerely remembered and cared to wish me did help a bit but seeing the number dwindling down just put everything in perspective. Maybe I can't be alone after all, maybe I do need someone in my life but a week after my birthday, thinking rationally again, I think that's one of the last thing I want now. What if this person disappoints me as well? I don't need more of that shit and now, I am content with being alone again.

Let's hope that next year, no one reminds me that it's my birthday and it'll be another normal day =)
Better still if I don't exist by then XD