22 days maybe

If my flight ticket gets confirmed, I have exactly 22 days left in Singapore which makes this my shortest stay here - that of a month exactly. I have yet to do all the things I need to do - so many things to think about now that results were finally out yesterday and Alhamdulillah, I am very pleased with my final grade. 4th year was definitely the most gruelling experience of medicine, not that I am complaining; I think students in other universities locally and in Australia have it harder.

I had a look at some of the exam papers from other universities, courtesy of Mus, and frankly we have it so different at Monash. I'm not too sure if its a good or bad thing but only time will tell.

Anyway FINAL YEAR is almost here, heralding a year of soul-searching, organising priorities, choosing career paths and more people getting married. I've missed to date, many births including my very own nephew Fahim who is absolutely gorgeous, the unexpected passing of a cousin, weddings and many graduations.

While I was waiting for my flight back to Singapore 10 days ago, I started writing this on a piece of tissue:

Twenty planes have taken off and landed in front of me. The sun is shining in my eyes and idle chatter surrounds me - excited girls off to their first trip abroad and familiar accents of home already marking my journey back to the land of where family await. There is no other place like home - and that will always hold true. For there - are people who knew me then.

How did I come to this place between two worlds? Surely it was not my intention nor design. I am filled with many thoughts. I know what awaits me is necessary for my pursuit of inner peace. No one can comprehend the many strings that pull at me but only You. I embrace it fully and I can only pray and hope that these strings won't tear me. Amin.

In the meantime, in the 22 days left that I am here:

1) See doctor for dry chronic cough of 3 months. This will mark my second time going to a polyclinic. Differentials anyone? At the moment I'm going for asthma, reflux, post-nasal drip, pertussis or some weird viral infection.

2) SNEC appointment - I hope the consultant won't berate me for continuing to wear contact lens despite his advice. Maybe I should ask him about laser surgery, since I spend about $800 each year just on contact lens and medications.

3)Dental appointment- as per usual since dental care here is so cheap and efficient.

4) ELECTIVES - to decide whether to stick to current NUH Paediatrics or to switch to NUH Psychiatry or IMH. My elective will coincide with Ramadan next year. After 4 years of not being home for Eidulfitri, I think it's time to spend some time at home even though I would love to do my elective elsewhere. I've chosen to do child psychiatry as a specialty rotation which is just before my elective rotation - 12 weeks of psychiatry might drive me crazy and this makes me hesitant to switch my elective specialty. But the idea of a 1000 bed psychiatric hospital is fascinating but more importantly, I was hoping to get an inside look at the psychiatric system here for reasons that are quite obvious though secretly I actually enjoy pscyhiatry. I wonder if the fact that my results for my GP/Psyschiatry exams that were so much better than my Obstetrics/Gynaecology/Paediatrics exams is a sign that I should attempt to do 12 weeks of psychiatry.

5) BOOKS - I usually visit 2 bookshops everytime I come home - Darul Arqam and Yun Nan and I have yet to do this. Aaarrgh if only I had a driver to drive me around.

6) Catch up with friends. Now that I'm back from Port Dickson with 150 mosquito bites all over my body including my face, need to meet up quick before I go!

7) SHOPPING - of course for shoes, tops and a new watch.

8) FOOD -ok so my parents have recently bought two warongs at Bedok Corner but I really want to eat Halal fast food (just because I can) - that includes KFC, a McD cheeseburger and Burger King's Mushroom Swiss.

Speaking of cheap food, we bought 11 teh tareks the other day in Port Dickson and it cost us only RM 6.90!!!!!! For all those who are teh tarek freaks like me - that's equivalent to S$3.20 and AUD$2.80! The cost of one teh tarek in Melbourne is equivalent to 11 teh tareks in Malaysia!

9) Write to Lee Foundation for final grant. To date this foundation has given AUD $14 000 for my fees and I'm hoping to get my last $5000 grant from this very generous organisation.

That should occupy me while I'm here.