Clocks go back

I really am not good at updating. Think it was ages ago that I last posted an update.

Clocks have gone back yesterday. So now we are at GMT instead of BST. That means it’s 8 hours behind home. It’s getting darker earlier as well. I think it was already dark at 430 and by the time i finish work and walked home at 530, it seemed like it was the middle of the night.

I’m doing my medicines information rotation now and went for a regional study day at Sutton Coldfield about medicines information as well. It was quite boring as I already knew most of the things from uni and from my 2 weeks in MI. There was this pharmacist there talking about critical appraisal and she said that she didn’t care how a drug worked, as long as it worked! I thought that was totally inappropriate and that as a pharmacist, we should care even more about the mechanism of the drug. Or else, it’s just a waste of my 4 years in uni!

However, i think MI is fun. Doing lots of research and answering queries. Have to answer the phone as well which is quite hard for me to do as the caller sometimes babbles on and I have to jot down what he/she is saying. I don’t write fast enough!

I really can’t think of anything interesting to write. Think my life’s a bit of a bore right now. To work for most of the day, come back and stone, walk around during weekends, be cheeky to colleagues….

Thinking of colleagues, there’s 3 new Spanish pharmacists working at my hospital and they are very friendly and fun people. A bit hard to understand them sometimes but so far there’s not a big communication gap. Hope they get the house near my place so I’ve got people to visit.

I’m at the point where I’m thinking of staying on in the same hospital and continue with a diploma. I shall tell my tutor that this week. Hopefully I won’t forget.

Oh ya, went to the Herefordshire Food Festival last weekend. It costed 5 pounds just to get in. It wasn’t anything interesting – most of which you could see when they have their market days. There was a lot of cider, liqueur, sausages, fresh vegetables, meat. It’s a lot different to how food festivals are like back home where you really get lots of different types of food. Well, one thing good about the food festival was that you get to try lots of things – mostly cider and liqueur. Bought some sausages which tasted really good.

I’ve got some photos from the festival but I’m being lazy and the camera is far away from me. So I will post some photos when I feel like it on Facebook.

ooOoo…. I remember something. Went to the pub for lunch with my friend and there was this old guy who kept trying to chat me up and also trying to catch my friend’s eye. Weird!!!! I have a feeling I attract weird people… :(

From this post, you can infer that I am a lazy and boring person. Which is quite true.. haha

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas all! Let us all celebrate the day that Christ was born with joy!

For fun, here's a site to track Santa Claus.

Lincoln Christmas Market

We made a trip to the largest Christmas market in Europe, which incidentally is only situated less than an hour away from here. And we managed to get the train tickets cheap as well. As there was a promotion on one of the train booking websites, we only paid 1.15 pounds for our return trip to Lincoln.

Lincoln is a pretty place, and its annual Christmas Market brings in a lot of tourist. It was so packed and there were a lot of stalls as well. I didn't actually count how many stalls there are but apparently there are over 300 stalls there.

I was going to put photos up, but looking through the photos that I've taken, they don't seem to be very nice and I didn't manage to capture the atmosphere there. So, what I'll do is that I'll post up a photo of me, which I rarely do. Here's me with my red jacket and sling bag. Apparently people recognise me from away by those two.

We had to climb up Steep Hill (yea, that's what the road was called) to get to the market, and yes, it was very steep indeed. It was good exercise to climb up that hill though.

Here's a photo that shows (not really) the crowd that was there. It wasn't that crowded when we got there which was around 1030am but it got crowded as it got later. Behind you can see the cathedral which is apparently one of the must-sees in Lincoln.

 

We did go in and see the cathedral. But unfortunately, due to our reluctance to part with our money, we did not explore the whole cathedral, even though I had really wanted to before. So, I just took a photo from the entrance. Didn't get to see pretty stained glass....

Well, it was a good experience to get into the Christmas mood and rub shoulders with everyone else. I, for one, do not really like crowds so I don't think I'll be making another trip next year to the market. I prefer slow and less crowded places. Another thing that makes it a good day was that the weather was beautiful, albeit very cold. My hands were frozen after I left my gloves off to take photos. But, no complaints - as long as it's not raining or very windy.

Nottingham is pretty as well...

Bonfire Night

We braved the heavy winds and rain, and managed to drag ourselves to the Forest Recreation Grounds to join in the Bonfire Night celebrations. Ok, I'm exaggerating. The wind wasn't that heavy and it was only really heavy mist.

Anyway, we went for dinner first before going off to marvel at the "great" fireworks. Again, with every dinner outing, I always forget to take photos of the good food that we had. So, you just have to take my word that Zizzi is an Italian restaurant that is worth going to. The food isn't as highly priced as others and the food is quite good (I really need to find more synonyms for good). The restaurant atmosphere is very conducive for a romantic dinner or a quiet meal between friends.

Off to the recreation grounds. Firstly, I was grateful to my memory that I managed to remember how to get there by bus and which stand to take it from (was kind of worried that I might have lead the group to wait in the cold for the wrong bus). We got there early and caught the end of the Children's fireworks and waited for the bonfire to be lit.

Some little kid was jumping in front of my camera while I was taking photos of the fairgrounds so I took a photo of him. His mum kept having to drag him away and apologising to me.

The bonfire was then lit and we were mesmerised by the fire (ok, maybe not all of us, others seemed to be more interested in taking photos). There is something about the fire that just captures your attention (no, I'm not a pyromaniac, thank you very much).

We stood there until our legs were rubber just to wait for the fireworks to begin. It was just ok. There wasn't a very good choreography of the fireworks leading to fireworks being lit simultaneously on both the left and right side so you did not really know which one to see. It got really smoky in the end and that spoilt the effect of the fireworks, as we only saw gray.

It was fun spending time with friends and this year being the last year to be surrounded by friends, we need to find fun things to do together (not only expensive dinners).

I realise that I need to complete one blog post without doing something else in the mean time or my train of thought gets sidetracked and I always have to cut short what I was writing as I forget what I wanted to write. hehe..

11th Rainforest World Music Festival

I finally attended the RWMF, although I only went for one day last night, just to get a feel of what happens during the RWMF. Managed to get in free as my aunt has contacts.

One thing I would have to say is that I do not have any photos from this event. My camera died on me and couldn't be started so no photos. I was so planning to make this into a photo post but guess not.

Went down to Damai Puri (the hotel that we stayed in for a night) in the afternoon and the Sarawak Cultural Village where the RWMF is being held is only a few minutes walk from the resort. We kinda forgot about the workshops that are held in the afternoon which is a shame as the workshops seemed interesting from their descriptions. We only went for the night where the music, booze and nearly naked people were having fun.

One thing you have to have in a rainforest is rain. We had lots of it. It was pouring! It wasn't much fun for me being drenched in the rain listening to some melancholic music (which was what was being played earlier in the concert). Good thing I had an umbrella and we bought ponchos as well. The mood began to pick up as more upbeat music were being played and the skies started to show mercy. There were a variety of instruments being player - bagpipe, violins, flutes, traditional instruments, and also a weird instrument being played by one member of the trio from England (no idea what the instrument is called).

We were there for nearly the whole night. We were there at around 8pm and stayed until the night ended at 12. Standing! My backing was aching by the time we started walking back. There was also this woman standing behind me who kept poking me with her umbrella. I move one step forward and she follows, poking me again with her umbrella. Annoying!

Well, it was what's expected from a live concert. Loud music, people screaming and dancing, and lots of muddy people. Fun...

Still, I would say, it's not my kind of thing. Maybe if it didn't rain...

Chinese New Year!

Chinese New Year is just around the corner... but I'm not just around the corner from my family. I'm really really far away from them and this will be the first time I'm not celebrating CNY back at home. This year, will be celebrated with friends, but somehow there's no CNY mood here as we do not have any holidays for CNY. Instead, we're still being bonbarded with classes and labs.

On the eve of CNY, is also Ash Wednesday (To find out what Ash Wednesday means click here). What a coincidence that the Lent season (info here) starts at around the same time that CNY starts. Now, what should I abstain from this Lent season? Can't abstain from meat as it is cheaper than fish.. think think think...

So.. CNY... steamboat dinner tomorrow, which might cost each of us 5 pounds (a bit expensive rite?) then... nothing else... Puisan going London, Eilyn going Manchester.. and i'm home alone.. I need to get out more often... but going out means spending money.. and spending money is not a good thing to do here as i'll be spending 7 times more what i would be spending back at home.. I need a job..

Anyway.. Happy Chinese New Year all! 新年快乐，万事如意，新年进步，事业成功！红包拿来！

Last but not least

Today marks the last day of the year, and also the last post for the year. And i have no idea what to write. Would just like to wish everyone a happy new year! 新年进步，万事如意。

Let's sing Auld Lang Syne together!!

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and never brought to mind ?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and days of auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!

And surely I’ll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for days of auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,

and picked the daisies fine ;

But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,

since the days of auld lang syne.

CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,

from morning sun till dine;

But seas between us broad have roared

since the days of auld lang syne.

CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !

And give us a hand o’ thine !

And we’ll take a right good-will draught,

for days of auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Robert Burns - Auld Lang Syne (taken from wikipedia)

Happy New Year!

And thus this concludes the one post a day thingee i have been doing throughout the whole month.. :D .. won;t update so frequently anymore (i think) . yanleng just told me i haven't done a post a day.. haha... so sorry for misleading..

Christmas Party away from Home!

I successfully made turkey! ahhaha... following are photos of my christmas party.. thank you all for coming and hope you all had fun! Merry christmas!







I'm glad to be able to share christmas with great friends like you!

Winter Solstice

Today's the Shortest Day of the year and also the winter solstice. Today is also the day we eat 汤圆 or glutinous rice balls. It's a festival that Chinese celebrate, getting together with the family and having a reunion dinner. Another festival that I am celebrating away from family. But, we are still having 汤圆 and having a gathering of friends. Will post up photos when i have them.

Guess after the shortest day, the days will be getting longer now.. just what i need.

spam spam puisan was here!!!