At the airport

I am waiting inside the departure gate to board the plane, and guess what, there are free internet terminals again, so that I can satisfy this need to blog, or write. However, I am now typing against time as each internet session is limited to 15 minutes and the timer is counting down even as I type. Makes one stressed out, it does, and leaves me with just enough time to blog about an incident that occurred as I was checking in this morning.

Having arrived at the airport in record time as there was no traffic at all, save a few lone taxis, I proceeded to check in my luggage. Just for the record, th large suitcase that my brother helped lug to the foyer weighs 22.4 kg. The Lady at the counter looked at me narrowly and decided that she would not make a fuss about it: "Never mind", she said, "It is only a little over the limit".

Later she told me that I would have to proceed to another counter for some arrangements about my transit flight. She stepped on the conveyor belt (that was moving) and motioned for me to follow her. I climbed past the counter with my arms full of my carry on luggage and I stepped on the conveyor belt, balancing precariously and proceeded to 'follow' her. "No, no!" she exclaimed in alarm, "I meant for you to follow me on the outside, to the next counter. So sorry, I was not very clear with my instructions..." Giggling a little, I stepped gingerly off the conveyor belt, toward two other airport officials who were waiting anxiously at the side, and moved toward safer ground.

Flu vaccine, or lack thereof

I am posting this from the Wellness Centre in NUH, while waiting for my flu vaccination. Apparently this vaccine takes about 2 weeks to take effect, so I should have had it earlier, except that I forgot all about it, until my mother reminded me in an email yesterday night. Anyway, the student Health and Wellness Centre on campus is out of the vaccine at the moment and so they directed me to the hospital for the jab.

It is a lovely lounge that I am waiting it, with a tv and newspapers to keep patients occupied and an computer station in the corner with a sign 'Internet, for your enjoyment'. How immensely thoughtful of the people who designed such facilities, all paid for with taxpayer money too, of which I am not one, yet. There is even a glass bowl with apples and a drinks station, complete with hot water and several types of flavoured tea.

The nurse has just come in and tells me that they do not have any stock of flu vaccine at the moment as well. Apparently there is a shortage in Sg at the moment. So I might go back to the campus centre to get Tamiflu tablets from the GP there, if there is any in stock.

I didn't know that I had an iron deficiency. Still have, in fact.

I went with the best intentions to a blood donation drive recently and but was rejected at the screening station which tested the iron content in my hemoglobin. The lady dropped a drop of my blood into a clear blue solution and watched contemplatively as my blood seemed in no hurry to make it's way to the bottom of the beaker. 'You have too little iron in your blood', she said after another test on a more sophisticated equipment, '0.5 below the acceptable limit for blood donation.' And that was that.

So I got to sit aside and wait for my brother and Tiang to donate blood, making myself useful by snapping photos of them with camera phones while waiting for 450ml of blood to finish flowing into the respective blood bags and bringing them drinks and snacks after they were done.

After that my brother and Tiang proudly sported green bandages with a pattern of dinosaurs on it as if they were an acknowledgement of their civic-mindedness. They tossed around bright orange stress balls made in the shape of mandarin oranges and discussed how many lives they had saved.

My brother gleefully reviewed the photographs that had been taken of him and Tiang: Ken on the reclining chair making the victory sign, Ken relaxing on the reclining chair with a smug smile on his face, Ken single-handedly reading a book balanced on his knees, a closer shot of the equipment attached to his arm, the nurse who attended to him, and a comical one of Tiang on the opposite chair drinking orange juice with a straw and gazing wide-eyed into the camera. In all the two donors were well pleased with themselves for having done their bit for society.

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I didn't know that China enjoys almost 3 weeks of holidays come Chinese New Year every year.

Why, even in Malaysia the Chinese consider themselves blessed to have 1 week and Chinese minorities in other countries are lucky if this major Chinese holiday is officially recognised at all, although awareness is improving, so I have heard.

It sure presents some problems when you are an international student trying to call your exchange university to confirm your pickup from the airport which was due to take place in just 2 days time. Even the liaison officer in my home university was positively unhelpful in providing alternative solutions. I decided to change my plane ticket, and delaying the flight by a week, which is why I am still in Sg and still posting on Blogger.

In China, I will not be able to read Blogger blogs, and I will suspend posting on this blog for that duration, posting instead on another blog that I have created. So stay tuned for *hopefully* interesting and witty posts and lovely photos which will hopefully be taken.

Trip to Penang

I'm back at home already, having spent less than two days in Penang, because my father wanted to come back early. The greatest pity was that I was sick the first day I was in Penang -- again, and not even properly sick, but just nauseated from the car journey. My grandmother (on the paternal side -- A'maa) and aunt (Gugu) tsked over this invalid and everyone discussed various methods for avoiding car sickness during the entire time I was at that aunt's place. I ended up not eating anything yesterday afternoon and night and felt altogether too sorry for myself.

Just before we came back again, 6-yi prescribed an anti-nausea pill, to be taken before the journey. Mindful of poor Tiang's experience in the unskilled hands of my brother Ken-the-quack-doctor, I politely declined, saying that I did not want to feel nauseated and yet not be able to throw up. This was exactly Tiang's experience when he went holidaying together with my brother and some other friends. My brother prescribed anti-nausea medication for Tiang when he felt sick on the bus that was going up some mountainous road, but it did not help the nauseaous feeling; instead when he tried to induce vomitting to relieve the nausea later, he found that nothing could come out. The others related the incident to me with much gusto, including a description of the sympathetic bus driver who muttered 'Kesian... kesian... (poor boy)' on the side.

However, 6-yi's explanation put a rest to all my doubts and proved once and for all that Ken really is a lousy doctor, if not a lousy anything else. For the sake of enlightening the poor ignorant lads, I should explain here that

1. Anti-nausea medicine is to be taken before the journey and not only when the nauseated feeling strikes

2. One should always read the prescription on the package and take note of the details of administering the medication.

3. Failing which, one should at all times, guard against accepting medication prescribed by well meaning, but nonetheless quack physicians, notably any going by the name of Ken.

I took one anti-nausea pill and felt fine on the journey back. Perhaps this was also due to my not having eaten an oily and spicy breakfast before the journey and my not having slept across the back-car- seat during this journey, but you'll never know.

As for the folks in Penang, 3-yi will want to know that the kids are as frisky and boisterous as usual, and that interesting gossip (very interesting gossip, *wink*) was exchanged amongst mom and the aunts as usual, and that Popo was as pleased to see us as usual. Mom tells me that Popo has her routine punctual to the dot, so that she only goes to toilet when the maid is not so busy. Popo can't move around so much and it rather saddens me to see her joints so swollen. Even when we are taking photographs with Popo and she fusses about whether her hair sticks out, it is one of us who smoothes it down for her because she can't reach her hand up so high.

5-yi's new daughter is starting to walk now and still unsteady on her legs. This is the first time I am introduced to her, but she seems to take very well to Da Biao Jie (of course, who wouldn't), but then she takes quite well to all strangers, good-tempered baby that she is.