28 July 2006

Years on, as I progress from job to job and organization to organization (in the way normal people do, not the way job-hoppers do), I would have a “first day on the job” at each place. But there is only one first day of my career – today. Perhaps one day, I would be so exhausted from my job and that I would no longer remember my sense of achievement and excitement at graduating after 4 years of study… and for that day, I will document my first day at work to remind me…

Greatest change was status; I’ve out-grown my student status and am now a full-fledged therapist. Even the welcome I received was so different, I’m taken by surprise. I step into the OT department of the hospital 10mins early and I catch my colleagues-to-be in the midst of their morning routines: tidying files, changing into their uniform, making coffee. They walk pass, they look at me, they stop, and they smile and say “You must be Mae. Pleased to meet you and welcome.” 4years as a student, 8 placements altogether, the only therapists that know my name BEFORE I arrive are the ones that had been assigned to supervise me.

First 2 hours, I sit through a ward meeting. First day of the job in a ward meeting is good because you get to meet the whole team. First day of the job in a ward meeting is bad because they discuss each and every patient in detail – and every single bit of these information such as medical condition, social situation and goal, fly over the top of my head. A physiotherapy student sits next to his supervisor and offers his opinion of the patients he has seen. I sit silent throughout. I catch him glancing my way a few times. I think he’s wondering why on earth I am so unlucky to start my placement on a Friday.

I still wore my student uniform today – the trousers are the same for students and therapists alike, only that the top has the name of the university – because my uniform wasn’t ready yet. When the phone on the ward rang and I answered it with “Hello, ward xx, OT speaking”, the student physiotherapist raised his eyebrow and shot a glance my way. I can almost see the thought bubble forming above his head “What nerve!”.

Next, I’m brought on a “tour” and introduced to the staff on the ward. The expression on the face of the physio student when he hears that I’m a bonafide therapist in a student’s disguise is priceless. *evil laugh* (ok, he's a nice person, I was just having a bit of fun on my first day at work.) Anyway, the welcome is warm and I feel like I belong in the friendly gang that call themselves the “multidisciplinary team”.

I no longer have to sign off as “OT student” – a cumbersome thing to write when one is signing 15 sets of documentation a day. Instead, I simply sign off as “OT”. Several times during the day, I catch myself almost going up to the senior therapist I work with to ask her to “countersign” my documentation - almost. I am given my own desk (woohoo~!), my own appointment diary, I have keys to my own locker and I even have my own “annual leave” card (I am entitled to 8 days annual leave for the 3 months that I work).

I feel very grown up.

A nurse is cornered by a patient’s unhappy son. He has just been informed that his mother will have a home visit done by the occupational therapist on Wednesday and if she is assessed to be safe at home, she may be discharged on Friday. He opines loudly that such an arrangement is not satisfactory. He wants the home visit to be done on Monday, for a reason that I cannot disclose here. The nurse fails to placate him and eventually says “You’ll have to speak to the OT because she will be the one doing the home visit. It depends if she can do it on Monday”.

I bet you can guess what she says next. But it catches me completely by surprise. People say you have to be thrown into the deep end of the pool to learn. But nobody ever talks about the ones who sink underwater… and never surface. Others talk about hitting the ground running. Again, nobody mentions falling flat on your face. I guess either way, the person is dead or has a serious facial injury and is unable to say much about their unsuccessful learning experience.

“Mae? Perhaps you would like to talk to this gentleman about the home visit planned for his mother?” the nurse says. With this statement, my safety blanket in the form of my “student uniform” has been ripped apart and I suddenly wonder why I was so eager to shed my student status. I am instantly reminded of previous patients I’ve seen who act up a day or two before their discharge date so that they have to be “kept for observation” for a longer time. These patients are suddenly “depressed and suicidal” again, elderly patients suddenly insist that they fell on the way to the toilet and are therefore not safe to go home. I can understand the panic they feel now, of being “let loose” into a world where nothing is certain or within their control; It’s safer being in hospital. It’s safer being a student.

“This gentleman” gives me a steely stare. “This gentleman” is 60 odd years old and “this gentleman” would like to discuss his 90-year old mother with me.

Suddenly, I don’t feel grown up at all.

I smile while I try to think of the most pleasant way to say “What do you expect me to say about a lady whom I’ve never clapped eyes upon and whose existence I only know about because I heard her name for the first time in my life in a meeting an hour ago?”

2seconds is about the longest you can smile for at an angry man. After that, you better have a way to make him less angry, or to escape.

“I’m sorry but I’m not familiar with your mother’s case. If you would wait 5mins, I’d get you mother’s therapist to speak with you?”

Perhaps what I said was not 100% ethical. The first sentence is true. The second is not technically correct because as of today, I *ahem* was his mother’s therapist. But somehow, I didn’t think “I’d get your mother’s ex-therapist to speak with you” sounded quite the same. Regardless, it is still more ethical than giving my “professional opinion” on a patient I know nothing about (ok, fine, I know the patient’s name and age, but that’s not very helpful is it?)

The first day was indeed exciting, strange – as I tried to adjust to the change in autonomy - but also humbling… as I am constantly reminded that the end of the student phase in no way means the end of education…

Winter Gardens: Part II

Victorian Corridor

Ooooh, look at those colours!

Lovely hanging baskets...

Temperate House

Elli at the nicest bit of the Temperate House.

Temperate House features plants from Aussie & NZ,

not that colourful but still very well maintained and impressive.

Floral Courtyard

The only part of the gardens that was slightly disappointing...

Yeah, there were flowers...

but they were just not as attractive and well-maintained?


Fern House

Who knew that ferns could be so pretty?

(The ppl at the Winter Gardens obviously...)

And spotted in the pond...

... a not-so-small and not-so-real frog,

that rises to greet its visitors every so often.

Winter Gardens: Part I

So named the "Winter Gardens"

but it's open all year round.

Aberdeen City Emblem

Displaying plants from all over the world,

different parts of the building simulate the environment

of various climates,

mainly tropical, arid and temperate,

thus allowing these plants to co-exist in a single building.

Talking about climates bring back memories of "O" levels Geography.

"Using the 2 graphs provided, answer the following questions:

How is the rainfall distribution different between the two places?

Compare the climates in the two places." Etc...

It's a plant lover's heaven,

filled to the ceiling with plants.

I don't know the names of most of the plants,

so I'm not even going to try to name them.

The only ones I can provide names for are

mostly tropical plants

- no prizes for guessing why -

Tropical House

This plant made me miss home!

Not that I have Bougainvilleas at home...

but they are so plentiful everywhere else.

Private estates, window boxes, overhead bridges...

Pink Hibiscus

Orange Hibiscus

Lilies

Ferns; Birds of Paradise in lower left corner

? Name but so pretty!

Arid House

Tea Time!

Japanese Gardens

Duthie Park

We're right in the middle of summer

and I never thought I'd actually say this but...

Aberdeen is HOT!

The lazy-sun-that's-been-on-welfare-the-past-9-months is actually at work!

It's actually possible to get sunburnt.

And definitely possible to get a heatstroke...

as I found out the other day when I went out for half an hour

to the shop (to buy a stamp) and back.

BBC's weather centre said it was 26 degrees that day,

but I am adament it was definitely NOT 26 degrees -

Not lest it would be unambiguously embarrassing for an indigenous tropical individual to get a heatstroke at 26 degrees.

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That said,

summer is really lovely for picnics,

long strolls (provided it's really 26 degrees),

and hanging out in parks.

Elli and I spent quite a bit of time in Duthie Park the week before

and again last week...

Flip open travel guides on Scotland and most will

highlight Aberdeen's Duthie Park as a tourist attraction.

At first sight it is very ordinary...

But tucked away in the park,

beside a seemingly out-of-place modern building,

is a rose hill...

...that is gloriously beautiful.

An ascending spiral of roses of assorted colours...

The beauty of roses that poets write about

can be found in these roses.

Not quite the same as the roses from the florist.

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Next post:

The amazing "seemingly out-of-place modern building"

in Duthie Park.
(The horticultural version of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" sans Johnny Depp)

That is definitely a must-see in Aberdeen.

Quotes & Life

I was reading through a list of 100+ quotes

(one of those random things I do after midnight)

and my brain has 3 typical responses.

How meaningful/true/beautiful

Rubbish

I have no idea what this is about.

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Decided to share some quotes that I find meaningful.

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It is prosperity that gives us friends, adversity that proves them.

- Proverb -

The ideal friendship is to feel as one while remaining two.

- Anne Sophie Swetchine -

(The ideal marriage too, perhaps?)

It is neither wealth nor splendor; but tranquillity and occupation which give happiness.

- Thomas Jefferson -

The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty.

- Abraham Lincoln -

(What do you think this quote is about? I'm very interested to hear your opinion!)

When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things -- not the great occasions -- that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.

- Bob Hope -

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And my favourite 3 quotes from the list...

All work and no play makes one the wealthiest man in the cemetery.

- Unknown -

Character is another thing that is formed in youth and reformed in marriage.

- Unknown -

If you don't do it with excellence, don't do it at all! Because if it's not excellent, it won't be profitable or fun, and if you're not in business for fun or profit, what the hell are you doing there?

- Robert Townsend -

Loch Lomond

This post-student pre-employment period has finally been put to good use.

Went on a day trip with Elli recently to see Loch Lomond,

the largest expense of fresh water in Britain,

(wait wait, before you ask me why I travelled so far just to see a reservoir!)

incredibly rich in history,

and where the magnificent landscape has fired the imagination

of writers and artists for centuries.

Apparently, it is claimed that Loch Lomond is the world's most famous Loch.

(I'm a bit skeptical because I thought Loch Ness, the Loch with THE Monster, is more famous)

Regardless, here are some photos

- which incidentally does not do justice to the beauty of the Loch -

Shame about the weather.

It was a very very very cloudy day

hence we couldn't see the top of the mountain, Ben Lomond.

Still, the serenity of the loch is overwhelming.

Time loses meaning here.

I felt I could possibly sit there forever

and watch the world swans and ducks go by...

A little less serene part of the Loch with the kids

having some summer fun...

Such a beautiful place, don't you think?

I'm terribly dissatisfied with how gloomy my photos turned out.

And yes, I do blame the weather.

But that doesn't mean you shouldn't see Loch Lomond at its best.

For super beautiful (postcard-worthy) pictures

that are professionally taken,

here's the link again - Loch Lomond.net

3 Reasons Why I Have Not Been Blogging...

1. My internet connection has been wonky (and still is, actually) at night, which causes me an incredible amount of frustration since I only start getting creative enough to blog after 10pm.
   
   
2. I was bedridden with Salmonella after eating a Cadbury chocolate. Cadbury recalled 7 of their products (Dairy Milk Turkish, Dairy Milk Caramel, Dairy Milk Mint, Dairy Milk 8 chunk, Dairy Milk 1 kilogram, Dairy Milk Button Easter Egg and Freddo bars) AFTER I ate a Freddo Bar.
   
   
   

   That's us with our Freddo bars!
   
   

3. I have been extremely busy - it's unbelieveable how busy an unemployed, childless person can be. There are dishes to be washed, picnics to attend, laundry to be done, books to read, beddings to be washed (king sized bed nice to sleep in, king sized beddings not so nice to remove, wash and replace), belongings to be packed and shipped, toilet and bath to be cleaned, people to chat to, art galleries to visit (some of Leonardo Da Vinci's drawings are up in the Aberdeen Art Gallery to commemorate the Queen's 80th birthday), floor to be vacuumed, tea and coffee to be consumed, e-mails to reply, films to watch...

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Some/all of the above reasons are true/false.

The hard part is to decide which is which.

The easy route is to simply ignore all of the above

and believe that I will start blogging again regularly.

Even If You Are Not Interested...

...in missiles, nuclear weapons, communists or North Korea,

I'd still recommend this article

"Rogue's missile menace"

that appeared in The Australian.

Because it's witty, entertaining, educational and insulting

all at the same time.

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Excerpts:

"It [North Korea] is a rogue nation, pursuing nuclear weapons, enslaving and starving its people, constantly lying about its intentions and actions, forging US dollars in large amounts, smuggling drugs on state-owned ships and constantly destabilising northeast Asia."

"It is wrong to characterise its reclusive, eccentric and downright weird-looking leader, Kim Jong-il, with his Mao suits, elevator shoes and Elvis-style bouffant hair, as crazy."

"Kim and his fellow leaders rarely leave home. They do not have a sure grasp of how the world works. Their acquaintance with reality is not altogether intimate. They view the world entirely through the prism of their own paranoia. "

"Like many diseased political cultures, North Korea thrives on a climate of crisis. It likes to negotiate in crisis with a gun simultaneously to its own head and to that of its interlocutors. "

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Brilliantly written.

I Will Be Home...

In October.

HAPPY FATHERS' DAY!

I know most people celebrated Fathers' Day last Saturday, 18 June.

But I don't operate on a commercialised calendar.

I use a slightly different version.

I operate on the "those-that-matter" calendar,

which means that Fathers' Day (and Mothers' Day etc etc)

is whenever they (those-that-matter) decide it is.

And they have decided that it is today.

To be celebrated with a dinner.

So, HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

With Love,

Mae

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THE CONTRACT

1.The Golden Rule: Dad is always right (even when wrong, dad is still right)

2.Dad must be obeyed at once or sooner

3.Daughters are there to serve and obey their father, without question or hesitation

4.If a household task is outstanding or required to be done, daughters should do these without further delay or comment.

5.Household tasks – washing-up, cleaning, cooking, using the washing machine or tumble dryer are not sole domain of the father but the prime tasks of the daughter (see rule 4 above)

6.Daughters while at home are deemed to be ‘In training’ and as such must use every opportunity to further their skill base with such skills as cleaning (especially their own room), washing-up, cooking, shopping and the use of household tools such as vacuum cleaner, washing machine, tumble dryer or even using a duster.

7.The above rules may be amended or added to at any time without notice and they remain in force for the life of both Father and Daughters.

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Thanks to Elli

who kindly let me reproduce the above contract given to her by her Dad.

Elli and her Dad live apart.