un cafè

Made a visit to Ikea for the last time this year since we still needed to find some stuff for the nursery room. I was targeting this one particular baby changing table for ages but Ikea kinda reluctant to restock it for some reasons (I think because it's too cheap for a good furniture like that). Early this week, I checked online and there were 4 more left in Ikea Cheras. So, we went to Ikea Cheras yesterday but they said the changing table actually out of stock for so long. I was not the first person who asked for that changing table, they said. Well, you should restock them, Ikea. Anyway, we found an alternative which actually cost us less. We found a white chest of 3-drawers that can be used as a changing table as well as baby clothes storage. So, yeay! 

And of course no matter how hard you try to stick to your shopping list, you will end up buying something that was not in your Ikea shopping list. Damn it, Ikea. Why you so practical? Well, it happens to us every time we go to Ikea. When I said us, I mean my husband. He always has something to buy for the garden la, his DIY stuff la,  for his bathroom la (we used different bathroom since I want it to be a dry bathroom and he does not like the idea of having a dry toilet.) This time we passed through outdoor and garden section and he suddenly disappeared.   Then I saw him looking at an outdoor table or garden table or whatever they call it.  

"Sayang you go first. I want to take a bigger trolley. I want to buy this table for our garden."

It was not in our list. I gave him a very specific list and budget. By the way, when he said garden, it means just some grasses and a couple of trees which I'm very pretty sure their leaves should be green not yellowish like that. -.-' 

So, he bought it anyway and now it is inside of our house and becomes our cafe corner. We call it hipsturrr-tepi-tangga cafe, sistur!

Mi Casa and Mama

2015 are all about finishing medical school and having my own little ohana at our own casa. My husband loves to call me 'madam of the house'. I hate that at first but being a 'madam of the house' I get to decorate my living room, design my own kitchen and decide what to cook for dinner. What not to love (well...my husband probably doesn't love this as much as I do since he has to pay for everything heh). Luckily, both of us kinda have similar taste when it comes to interior design. We love minimalist , clean white- Ikea style. To be honest, white is effortlessly pretty for me as I'm terrible at colour-matching my furnitures. Plus, off white makes any small space look spacious, bright and elegant. My mom warned me before that white furniture can ruin my mood very easily as I hate stains. Yes, I do, sadly. There was one time I could not sleep because I noticed a small stain on my white dining chair and my husband reminded me that there will be more stains as we are gonna have a kid soon. Not helping at all -.-'

My friend came to visit me and asked me to give the code name of my couch, the dining table and everything because she wanted to make her living room like mine until I told her how many times I have to wash my cushion cover and clean my dining table and not to mention, my white kitchen cabinet. The struggle is real, woman! She then decided to go for more earthy colour. But, seriously, I rather clean my house than living in gloomy, dark house and everything is not colour-matched. For people who does not afford a professional interior designer and expensive furniture like me, white is the best choice. As for today, after cleaning what need to be cleaned, I light up my candle, sitting on my couch while listening to classic music and read a book. I got my 'white' dose. Don't mind what people say about having white furnitures because it calms me down.

Anyway, my mom was discharged from hospital 2 days ago. Alhamdulillah. We talked on the phone for two hours this morning. She told her experience being warded for one week. My mom was diagnosed with recurrent UTI after 3 days of having high grade fever. She thought it was nothing because she believed it was just 'demam urat'. -.-'. I asked her so many times to go to any clinics as she had a history of UTI before with the same presentation. After 3 days, she was brought straight to A&E and got admitted straight away because she needed IV antibiotics. She was in the ward for 5 days to finish the antibiotics dose and interestingly, she made a lot of friends including doctors, medical student and even radiologist! Over-friendly this one. She said she got all of her doctors' phone numbers and I asked why, and she said it's a secret. My mommy got so many agendas. She also said she is now friends with the radiologist. I asked why she wants to be friend with a radiologist and her answer was, 'manalah tahu nanti nak scan ke MRI bila-bila senang.' I mean... we don't do CT scan and MRI for nothing especially in government hospital. HAHAHA.. as long as she is happy. But really, my mom can make friends wherever she goes. It makes me wonder if it is something in our genes because I'm pretty sure I missed the genes.

Everglow

when I'm cold, cold..

oh when I'm cold cold...

there is a light that you give me when i'm in shadow

there's a feeling you give me, everglow...

p/s: My mom is warded in the hospital right now.. I would really appreciate if you, good souls, spare a moment or two to pray for her speedy recovery. Thank you...

House Officer

My friend asked me to update about the process to apply for House Officer position here in Malaysia especially for those who graduated from Ireland and UK ( the process is different if you graduate from medical school in Malaysia or India or Indonesia or Mesir etc). To be honest, it is easier for you to know what documents and where to go earlier just to avoid confusion later on ( based on my personal experience).


1. MMC

As soon as you graduate, you need to start thinking what documents do you need because it is easier to apply all of that when you are still in Ireland especially when you need to apply for nombor pendaftaran sementara from MMC ( Malaysian Medical Council and it is different from KKM). So the boring part about applying this is to prepare all documents and all the copies need to be certified. One important thing about Irish University graduands, make sure you name on your degree certificate is similar with the one on you IC. For example in my case, my uni did not write 'binti' before my dad's name or in my friend's case they spelt her name wrong or they put your dad's name as your first name. So, you need to get 'Surat Akuan Sumpah' to prove that you are in fact the person as stated in that cert. Get it, get it? I know...it is such a hassle. I did mine at Istana Kehakiman Putrajaya and  it costs RM 5 for that letter. To avoid this, just ask your uni to spell your full name correctly with binti/bin/ anak perempuan/ anak lelaki as stated on your IC. So, the documents are :

• Provisional Registration form and Fitness to Practise declaration form which can be download from MMC website.

• 2 passport sized photos
• 1 certified copy of Basic Medical Degree
• 1 certified copy of academic transcript encompassing the results of whole training period ( some universities do no provide this unless you ask them to. So, make sure you ask for this BEFORE you board the plane to come back for good)
• 1 certified copy of IC
• 1 certified copy of birth certificate
• 1 certified copy of SPM certificate
• RM20 processing fee by money/postal order payable to “The Registrar Medical Practitioner”
• Surat Akuan Sumpah (if you need one)

MMC is a bit fussy when it comes to completeness of all the documents. Just make sure you prepare all the documents correctly and certified by the right person so that you don't need to go their office more than once. For those who live outside KL or Selangor, you can just post all the documents to their office but make sure you call them in case they do not receive any of your documents. If they found your documents are not complete, you will not be getting your nombor pendaftaran sementara and you can't proceed the next step to get the job! By the way, it takes 5 working days for them to give you the MMC number and the cert. I know..right? This gives you another reason why you should make sure you get the documents right before going all the way to their office, ok?  You either can collect the cert at their office or you can ask them to post it to you if you live outside KL/Selangor and again, remind them to do so!

2. SPA

You need to fill in SPA8i online form on SPA website. You can either after do it before or after or while waiting for you MMC no. I did before I applied for MMC no and I forgot to update my MMC no on this online form until one of the SPA officers called me to update it. So, just make sure you update your MMC no once you get it. Easy peasy this one.

3. KKM

You need to fill a form from KKM which I honestly do not remember the name of the form. Sorry for my pregnancy brain. You can download it from KKM website or some of my friends said you can just go to KKM office in Putrajaya and fill the form there but remember to bring all the documents that they ask you to. Yes, doctors, another set of documents. I actually just emailed them. If you choose to email them, you need to scan all the documents and the form as well ( as it needs your passport photo on it)  and send them in PDF format. The documents needed are :

• 1 certified copy of IC
• 1 certified copy of SPM certificate
• 1 certified copy of degree certificate
• 1 certified copy of temporary registration certificate (the one you apply from MMC)
• 1 certified copy of marriage certificate if you are married ( high five!)
• 1 certified copy of resignation letter for those who had previously resigned from KKM

4. SPA again

Once you get your MMC number and fill in the SPA8i form, you have to call SPA to in a way, book your interview date. Anddddddd to be honest, the queue is super duper long and they conduct the interview every 2-3 months now. So, the faster you get everything sorted, the faster you get the interview by that I mean less than 6 months (at least). Yup that is the current situation now. I know some people who already graduated since February but until now still waiting for the call. My interviewers actually quite surprised when I said I graduated in June because apparently it usually takes longer than 6 months. 

5. SPA interview

So yeah the interview after months of waiting. They will email you all the details about your interview ie venue, time and documents that you need to bring ( yes another set of documents, my friends).  Additional to your documents, you also need to bring a resume with an ID photo. One thing about the resume, make sure it is concise and not too long. One page is enough and only include the most recent one related to medicine. No need to mention you were AJK kebersihan kelas masa darjah 5. Seriously some people do that -.-'. Common sense, people. Don't forget to bring the original copies of all the documents. I even brought my scroll because of my certificate's size is too big. Seriously, I felt people were judging me when they saw me walked into the waiting room with my red, big scroll. I had no choice.

My personal experience with the interview, both of my interviewers love my resume because it is neat. I'm honestly not sure what they are talking about but thanks to my husband who did last minute editing on my resume. Some people said, the resume is not that important because their interviewers just look at it once and no further question. Well, it was different with mine, they, in fact, asked me if I have extra copies of my resume since there are two of them. Thankfully, I brought 3 copies. Both of them asked about the research that I listed in the resume. We talked about it for 5 minutes. They also asked about relief mission that I joined. Before they proceeded to ask me medical questions, one of them actually said, I love your resume and he just looked at my resume without asking any questions until the session ended. I guess, try to prepare a good and neat-looking resume and don't take it too easy about it. Who knows, you will get my interviewers. Regarding the medical questions, one of the interviewers asked me about dengue. She gave me a clinical scenario in A&E. A 34 year old lady came to A&E  with 3 day history of high grade fever. She asked me how to manage this patient. For every step of management, I just include the reason why ( habit daripada medical school). Then she said, I want to ask you the differential diagnosis but you kinda answered it. So, she jumped to pathogenesis of dengue fever and management of shock. And that was it. It was only 15 minutes including the introduction and question from my resume. Alhamdulillah it went well ( I guess?). 

Some of the questions that my friends got :

• name of our health minister
• name of DG
• Vape issue
• bukti ilmu perubatan in Quran or something like that ( the interviewers did ask him to recite certain surah too!)
• Budget 2016
• Wawasan 2020
• 7R's regarding prescribing
• Dengue
• Typoid
• MI
• Neonatal jaundice
• Management of asthma
• Diabetes
• Antenatal care in Ireland vs Malaysia 
• Management of pre-eclampsia
• Management of gestational diabetes
• Breech pregnancy
• Acute abdominal pain

These are topics that my friends got. It all depends on your interviewers anyway. Most important thing is just be prepared because you want to show them that you are a safe doctor.

That's it. I hope you find it useful and if anyone wants to add on something just leave your comments. Sharing is caring. Good luck applying for those who just started to apply and happy waiting for the placement for those who already done with the interview including yours truly. -.-'

Joyeux anniversaire et enceinte

So yeah I just turned twenty-five. I mean 4 days ago. Turning twenty-five is a pretty big thing for me since I kinda have a list of things that I should achieve by 25, not 20 or 24 but 25. My mom says being 25 is about being a good person. Dah suku abad. It is time to get really serious with your life, you should know what you want and you don't want. 

It seems like only yesterday when I blew candles on my 20th birthday cake in Dublin which was also my first snowy birthday. Now, I'm 25 and very pregnant! Alhamdulillah, I think I managed to achieve most of my life missions that I should unlock by I'm twenty-five. I could not be happier than now. You know how people say another year older, another year wiser? I totally get it now. Now that I'm 25, I finally realise so many things like how to choose friends wisely and just keep in mind that it is not possible to keep them all and that is totally fine. I also realise how my parents are actually much much cooler than they were when I was 17. I can't be more closer to my mom than now, to be honest. Another important thing that I clearly understand by heart now is, Allah's plan is definitely the best plan for you. I'm a 'planner person'. I plan everything, from A to Z. I have all the list what I should achieve today, tomorrow or even by I'm 30. I  used to get really upset and frustrated if someone or something ruins my plan but I learn along the way that nothing is more superior than God's plan. If you think your life now is not what you imagine it should be, fret not my friends, something super great is waiting for you. Trust me on this.

Anyway, put the serious talk aside, my sweet husband set a treasure hunt for me for my 25th birthday. I did not expect it at all since he seems pretty hopeless when it comes to lovey dovey things.

So, early this year, I told him I want something that  I can match with my favourite handbag. When I said that, I meant a handbag should be matched with a pair of shoes. It was only one time thing and as I thought men do not notice small things (because their brains are engineered to see big and obvious things only),  I assumed he already forgot about that and I did not expect him to remember pun. Surprisingly, he stored that information somewhere in his manly brain and perceived that a  handbag needs a watch and in order to match them, they should come from the same brand. Men's brains can be that complicated, you guys! HAHAHA! You should see his face when I told him it could be just a pair of shoes to match with the handbag. Oh well, you cannot take it back. I guess I will not be getting any birthday presents from him for the next 5 years. heh. 

I somehow love how my man thinks.

He has been extra sweet this year, maybe because I'm carrying his baby. Other than a treasure hunt, he also planned a candlelight dinner after asking me where he should bring me for that. -.-' 

So, he chose to bring me to Floral Kafe in Ampang. It is a quite romantic and pretty place to eat dinner with your loved one. The food is surprisingly good. Their signature menus are traditional Johor food. If you are up for western food, for me this is not the place.

Many people come here to celebrate their partner's bithday, hence, all the balloons.

I'm 25 and very pregnant.

The next day, we went to shop for our baby. I never knew I can be so happy in a Mothercare store. They got end-year sale and I went a bit crazy. My husband keeps reminding me that baby grows very fast and we don't need too many newborn cloths. Now, everything is ready. We only need to get a few more things done and the baby can come out. heee.

Pray for my uneventful pregnancy and labour.

Light writing 7 - Vienna, the musical city.

So I finished my interview last week and Alhamdulillah it went well. They asked me about dengue from its pathogenesis to shock management (including the dose of fluid at different stages). KKM takes dengue fever very seriously (it kills thousands of people in Malaysia each year). I shall write in another post about the process to apply for HO position in Malaysia especially for those who are studying in Ireland or Uk. Better to know all the process earlier to avoid headache later on. Plus, sharing is caring, no?

Anyway, where were we? Yeah after Prague, we went to Vienna by train. The journey took 3 hours from Prague to Vienna. That was my second time in Vienna. I went there alone in 2013 during my spring break. So, I did not expect much. We arrived at Vienna main station around 12 pm and we took another train to our hotel. 

After checking in, the first place we went was Die Wiener Deewan restaurant. It is an halal restaurant and what really interesting about this place is, you can eat as much as you want and pay as much as you want too! For those who watch 99 Cahaya di Langit Eropah ( it is an Indonesian movie), you should know this restaurant. My friend, Raja, who is studying in Prague told me to go to eat here. The food is good as they served lamb briyani ( my fav briyani) and like I said the price is totally up to you but come on they do this for charity so don't be so cheapskate, ok? We went there twice. haha! In case, you are planning to go to Vienna and want to eat halal Pakistani food ( and love cheap lamb briyani), the nearest metro station is U2 Schottentor.  No need to find McD and eat their oily fish burger and fries.

muka high sebab kenyang

After that, we went to Maria-Theresian-Platz. It is basically a public square that has two museums, facing each other. Since I had been to both of the museums when I visited Vienna for the first time and my husband is not really a museum freak like me ( call me nerd but I loooove museums), so we decided to just chill out, taking pictures at the square.

This is the The Rathaus or Vienna City Hall. I think it is the most beautiful building in Vienna with Neo-Gothic style. Can you appreciate that? We did not go in but I heard its interior design is  very pretty.

This is Hofburg Palace. You can actually just walk from Maria-Theresian-Platz to here. I mean you just have to cross the road. It used to be royal winter residence and now it becomes museums.

One does not simply go to Vienna without enjoying at least one Austrian classic orchestra concert. I love classic musics. It all started when I stop listening to my mp3. I used to listen to all sort of songs almost all the times like when I cook, study, mandi, jogging, walking, on the bus. One day, I realised whenever I tried to concentrate doing serious stuff, my mind keeps playing the songs and even worse during solat as well. I feel so guilty and my housemate suggested me to listen to piano or classics orchestra instead of listen to anything with lyrics. Since then, I did not touch my mp3 and deleted all the songs in my iPhone. Alhamdulillah I can focus when I really need to focus and bila solat pun dah tak tengiang-ngiang lagu Coldplay. Itu yang penting. heh. Anyway, my husband decided to buy us tickets to an orchestra concert because he started to notice my growing interest into orchestra-ish music (his words). 

I cannot just stare at this random pakcik without taking his picture.heh.

Before the concert, we decided to go to a quite famous cafe here. Very classy and pretty cafe called Griensteidl Cafe which was opened since 1847. Due to its location and history many artists and musicians used to come here to enjoy their coffee. 

Oh see that couple? They were discussing about metaphysics theory and the existence of God. Meanwhile we were sitting there just look around and had a conversation like 'oh this tea is quite good. How's your coffee, honey? You need more sugar? Hmm.. the scones look good too, no?' Felt so 'smart'. -.-'

The 2-hour concert was amazing and worth every single euro. Since the concert, my husband seems to love orchestra too! After that, we went back to our hotel. It was already 10 pm. The Vienna city at night is quite pretty. At first, we planned to just walk to our hotel because we were still moved by the orchestra music and the atmosphere was pretty romantic you know, with pretty lights, classic musics and surrounded with beautiful buildings but suddenly the love-is-in-the-air moment was ruined by heavy rain. Then, being squeezed between tall and huge Austrians in metro seemed like the best idea to go back to our hotel.

The next day, we went to Schonbrunn Palace. Just like many other palace in Europe you are not allowed to take pictures. The ticket to go in is pretty expensive for me. We bought the ticket to visit half of the palace only. If you are willing to pay more then, you can visit the whole palace and their maze which I heard they are pretty cool too.

Then, we went to Salzburg by train. The most comfortable and cheapest train throughout our Europe trip . It only costs 15 euro, free wifi on the train and no need to pay extra to reserve the seat and very bery comfortable. We just bought the tickets at the counter. Easy peasy.

of The Script and Dublin

I was listening to The Script's Science and Faith album and suddenly burst into tears. Crazy pregnancy hormone plus The Script reminds me of Dublin. My second home. Then, suddenly the wet, gloomy and cold weather of Dublin hit me. Okay, nope, thanks.  I bet it's already winter there. But oh oh the pretty Christmas tree on the Grafton street and the colourful Christmas light all over Dublin City. Dublin is sooooo pretty during Christmas albeit it's hormonal weather (not so much different from my mood right now).

Anyway, try to listen to this song while you are pregnant and not crying...heh.

Oh yeah 80 days to go if she wants to stay for the longest time.