yay. m back in christchurch!! although i have fallen in love with the idea of working in smaller hospitals in rural areas, i miss being here. sleeping in, last minute movie plans, shopping trips, eat-outs, gatherings, boardgames - thats what my weekends have been about (apart from the sad weekends when i am stranded in hospital doing admissions). there shall be more of the eat-outs activities and just plain eating real substantial food in general - as i havent been doing much of that of late. typical lunch for the past two weeks have been one muffin and fruit salads, and typical dinner (if i really bother to) has either been a selection of maggi goreng or a toast with nutella spread. been doing a lot of chocolates snacking over there that i have grown parannoid if i am harboring dental caries =S



(this is easily the chocolatiest muffin ive ever tasted... yummyy!!)




walked to its town centre last week (which is about half an hour hilly walk from the hospital) - and much to my pleasant surprise, there IS a street of shops. really fun browsing - which only took me half a day (because there wasnt much shops to browse at and some shops actually closed on weekends *gasp*) admittedly, there really werent much to do over there, other than sitting down on the pavement basking in the sunshine - and the street was dotted with people doing just that. sunny afternoon during winter, the weather cant be much more better than that! that almost makes up for the long cold nights (below zero degrees) and cold frosty mornings.



i had a lot of fun working over there. small hospital, staffs are actually ... friendlier and somewhat, more approachable. the absence of house surgeon and registrar in the department (paediatrics) has also ensued my position in the frontline in children medical management as well as being in direct communication with the consultant. i feel like i have learnt so much in the space of two weeks, standing on my own, relying on my own quick judgement... although i had one scary experience one day with a five-day old baby girl who turned up because of poor feeding. the baby looked so blissfully sleeping, that i nearly had a heart attack as i touched her tiny cold hands, arms.. and body. she was floppy, difficult to arouse and dead-cold - all sinister signs that sent shivers up and down my spine. her rectal temperature was a mere 30 degrees celcius. =,( she could have turned up dead!! new zealand winter months can be so cruel.

So Keep warm people! put on bundles of clothings and puff up like marshmallows.