Trip to Amish and State Fair

Am in Ambulatory Clinic rotation this month, which means I have all my weekends free! I had taken my weekends for granted until I started working here in the US, where the concept of weekends is non-existent. Every day is a working day with a day-off every 6-7 days.

Went to an Amish farm auction. I had heard about the Amish community prior but never knew much about them. A bit of Googling informed me that the Amish community do not permit electricity or telephones in their home, with the aim to keep modern world from intruding into their home lifes. They still live and work much as their forefathers did!

Some of the items on auction - a wagon anyone?

Amish-grown vegetables for sale

After the Amish farm, we went to the Minnesota State Fair, which has been reported to be the largest state fair in the whole US of A. This year, a grand total of 1,790497 people attended, according to their website.

Too many Minnesotans

During the state fair, people come to be entertained, to exhibit their best livestock, to show off their abilities in a variety of fields including singing and dancing (think Miss Minnesota Fair!) and most importantly, to enjoy the many different types of food (some weird and wonderful!) - mostly on a stick!

Deep fried alligator on a stick

Cheesecakes on a stick

And the people's favorite - cheese curds!

Trip to Chicago

Am back from a short 3 days trip to Chicago. And I had a great time!

Chicago skyline

I had purchased a Go Chicago card, which gave me free access to most (if, not all!) of the attractions in Chicago. I went to the Shedd Aquarium, Museum of Science and Industry, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum, the Hancock Observatory, the Sears Tower and many more. Not only was the card value for money, it was good value for time too, as it allows you to bypass the queue for tickets. Especially important for some attractions which had a very, very long queue!

Sue at the Field Museum

Attractions at Navy Pier

Went sailing on Tall Ship Windy at Navy Pier

Lonely lighthouse

Looks like two ordinary buildings

On closer inspection, it's a car park. According to the tour guide, only valet parking is allowed to prevent people from reversing into the river directly below. And yes, it has happened before!

106 cast iron figures created by Magdalena Abakanowicz

View from the Sears Towers Skydeck

Standing on the Ledge, at the Sears Towers Skydeck, from the 103rd floor, separated by an inch of glass, with unobstructed views straight down

View from the Hancock Observatory

Chicago was indeed fun! And I am coming back again in 2 weeks time to attend U2 in concert!

Eye exam

Went for my eye exam today. Didn't really need one but to get glasses made here, you need a prescription from an ophthalmologist, thus the eye exam.

The ophthalmologist commented that I had a unilateral swollen optic disc, but she wasn't sure. She reassured me that it is probably the way that it was tilted but she couldn't be sure, and is recommending that I see a neuro-ophthalmologist to have this checked out.

Hmmm...

A swollen optic disc usually means an increase in intra-cranial pressure, such as a tumour!!!! Okay, don't scare myself silly. I am sure I would know if I had a tumour growing in my brain. I don't have any other symptoms such as seizure, headaches, focal weakness etc.

I am sure this is nothing to worry about.....

Exhausted

I am plain exhausted.

Am currently rotating in Coronary Care Unit this month, which has been a steep learning curve for me. Half of the time, I have no idea how to manage my patients, and am just bumbling along as I go.

I know I should sit down and study about my patients, but I am just too tired.

I am so looking forward to my short weekend trip to Chicago at the end of this month!

Passed!

I passed my US driving test! As exhilarated as I am at passing, I can't help but feel that it is really easy to pass in the US. Seriously, if I had taken the same test in the UK, I would have fail, honestly.

It started out with parallel parking, which is my worse nightmare. Despite endless practice with my friend's car, I was still having difficulty with it. And it showed during the test. I ended up parallel-parking my car 2 feet from the curb. Yikes! I thought I had failed already. When I saw that, I asked the examiner whether I could have a re-do to which she obviously said no and asked me to carry on. I was disheartened then but decided not to dwell on it and continue to use the oportunity as a practice test despite thinking that I had fail the test. So, the examiner took me on a short drive through housing estates. I made sure to make a complete stop at every red 'Stop' sign and kept within the speed limit. It was a short 5 minute drive and it was back to the driving center. And she told me I passed. I almost wanted to cry for joy as I had expected to fail. So happy!

So now I have 3 different driving licenses; Malaysia, UK and USA.

Now, time to get a car!

Starting my first rotation

After a long 2 weeks of non-stop orientation, I will be starting my first day on the job tomorrow. Yes, we start rotations on a Saturday. The last Saturday of every month is the day of change-over. And I am starting out on Cardiology. Am a bit worried as I have never done Cardiology as a rotation before in the UK, but it should be a good learning experience. How hard can it be, right? It's either chest pain or shortness of breath. It's either heart attacks or heart failures. Will see how it goes.

In terms of settling in, I haven't been able to properly unpacked yet. The main reason is because the current tenant of the house we are renting only moved out today. I was staying in the basement of the house until now. I didn't really mind it much as I was glad for the company of the current tenants as his wife was an excellent cook and they had 2 very lovely and adorable children who kept us entertained throughout. Furthermore, they are leaving most of their household furnitures, electrical appliances and kitchen utensils to us for a small fee. In the US, majority of houses are unfurnished, unlike the UK. Thus, this helped us tremendously as we did not need to buy anything. I did buy myself a new twin-size bed, though. Namely because I have no use for a queen-size bed.

Also used the time during the orientation period to sort out house-keeping stuff such as opening a bank account, obtaining a social security number and taking the US driving test. I had to take the theory test first and fortunately, I passed with a score of 33/39. Phew! One more mistake and I would have failed. Granted, I didn't even study for it. Just walked in and took the test. Now have to take the practical part but shall postponed it first until I feel confident driving on the other side of the road.

All in all, things look okay for the moment. There is a strong community of Malaysian-Singaporean people here and we often meet-up for cook-outs. And I must say, they are excellent, excellent cooks. My craving for chinese food is easily satisfied during these outings. Yummy!

A new beginning

It's in the early hours of the morning and I am still busy packing. Once again, I am overweight! And for the life of me, I cannot understand why.

I only had 30kg weight limit when I packed for the UK. Now for the US, I have a 46kg weight limit for check-in baggage and an 18kg weight limit for hand carry. And I still am overweight! Argh! This is really frustrating!

It's a long, long flight that I will be taking to arrive at my destination, which involves 4 flights and 5 airports with a total journey time of 30 hours. I will surely miss the non-stop direct flight from KUL-LON that I have been taking for the past 8 years. Luckily, I have a friend who will be starting the same training as me and we will be taking the flight together. As we will be sharing a house together, the time during the long journey will be spent getting to know one another better.

Somehow, the realization that I will be starting my postgraduate medical training in a new country with a completely different medical system, hasn't hit me yet. I think I am taking it as a holiday still. Maybe I am in denial. Maybe I am scared. I don't know.

All I know is that this is something new. Something unknown. An unchartered territory. It will be a struggle, it will be a challenge but it's something different. Am I making the right decision? Was it wise to pack up and leave my training post in a London hospital for an equally excellent, maybe better or worse, training post, in a small town somewhere in the Midwest of USA?

Only time will tell.

However it turns out, no regrets.

Wish me luck!