SHIKIMIKIE

1. You might be confused as to what this picture is all about. If you would look closely, there's a colorful something something up above the tree. That's actually a parrot. What happened was it escaped from its owner and then the owner said that he would give a 5000 pesos grant to the person that would catch and bring back the parrot to the owner. Can I just say that the parrot was really mean because a guy actually attempted to climb that tree but when he was about to grab the parrot, it flew and transferred to a far away tree and yeah.

1. I wouldn't forget this because this is like taken during our first day in our second internship. I am with my good friend which I was with during the first internship as well. What happened is that our first post (hematology) is kind of being renovated that very time so our head staff is busy directing his people on where to place things so he explained that he can't orient us that day and we actually had to stay outside while the rest of our co-interns were being oriented on their respective posts so we  just took pictures of ourselves and yeah these are the outcome.

2. This is a friend's photo that I grabbed moments before our retreat and we  (thesis leader and I) weren't actually supposed to be in the frame but that happened. Basically, this very day, we were supposed to present the first part of our thesis but then again, I think 4/5 of our members are actually going out for retreat so the leader and I had to come up with good vibes scenarios and that we just said that the remaining member would be able to present it properly and that we wouldn't have to worry and just believe. We look kind of problematic but you know, been there done that.

1. I believe I got these Kisses from my mom together with some other stuff on my 20th Birthday. My likey chocolates! But not as much as Blueberry Cheesecake! Okay never mind. LOL. Can I just share that in Japan, or even in Korea and probably some other places, it's the ladies' job to make chocolates to the guy they like but in the Philippines, it's kind of the reverse so it's somehow interesting. I remember my Hidemi told me a story about her making a guy mini chocolates but didn't give it because when she asked another friend to taste it, the friend told her that it looks like poop. LOL. On another note, I guess I'm just very lucky that I always get something on Valentine's Day. Of course! It's my birthday. Back to the Kisses though, as much as like almonds, I think I enjoyed the Cookies 'n' Creme more. 

Exactly one year ago, most of my batch mates started their internship program. Not for my group. Lucky for us that it was our off during the first day of our first internship so yeah. But it sucked since I wasn't oriented properly so I got a DTR love note the next day but anyways. It's all part of the past na. I didn't realize this until our second internship but interns, demand to be oriented! Or ASK.

Since my internship started one year ago already, I thought I'd share pictures from my first internship. And some love notes. 

Anyways, I hope the new interns would make the most out of their internship because the next thing they know, its all over and there's no more turning back which sucks by the way. FROM MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.

Okay so I hope an intern would be able to read this but I'm switching the persona now so whatever. INTERNS! After some time, you're gonna hate going to the hospital for duties but hey, you're gonna miss it so I can't emphasize this enough. MAKE THE MOST OUT OF IT. It's not gonna last forever.

You're probably gonna loathe some of the staffs and even some of your co-interns but at the end of the day, they're just gonna be part of your whole internship experience. And you're gonna miss them! I actually don't remember hating someone so much during my internship. Well, there are few of them but nah. I'm all good now.

You're gonna hate being asked to do this and that and ward these lab results and that and extract blood from this patient and that and get this person's HGT and that and centrifuge this blood/urine/body fluids and that and identify this bacteria and that and type this and that but at the end of the day, it's quite fulfilling. The way I would like to describe it is that before internship, you're a director and it's like you have this picture and idea of a movie that you would like to direct. Come internship, it's all happening. So make your movie good!  

For me, first internship is still the best! :) GOOD LUCK NEW INTERNS!

They say that if you can speak the English language, you're cool, intelligent, probably well educated, or maybe rich, or whatever. That's what they say. At least in the Philippines. NOT MY OPINION. I mean, it's kind of common now and I don't know what these people think. Anyways. I really appreciate the language because if I can't speak and understand English, well, we wouldn't be talking like this right now wouldn't we? And I probably wouldn't be able to watch HOUSE which is my favorite T.V. series by the way. I am not saying that I am the BEST ENGLISH speaker or writer or whatever (not even close) because you know, I don't know if you noticed but I can't really keep my tenses consistent so leave it alone. 

I actually didn't want to do this at first but dad made me do it. Here's why. While my sister and I were watching Big Mommas: Like Father Like Son and then dad asked us if we can understand everything they're saying in the film and we said YES. He didn't believe us but anyways, I don't know what's wrong with him or something because you know, we're learning it from school so why wouldn't we understand it fully? Is it impossible for us to learn? My theory is that my dad doesn't want to admit we're better than him at some point. LOL. Dad actually took an English class at age 50, I guess. In Japan.

Why is English IMPORTANT, really? I am always proud that in Japan, you have to do the adjustments. I mean, don't expect all the JAPANESE people to speak English for you. You have to speak Japanese to be able to speak to them. But that's not my point. I don't even know why I mentioned that but since that's kind of on my mind, let it be. Back to my point now, I don't think mastering the English language is necessary. As long as you can express yourself and stuff, good to go. I can't help but share you this. Well, a little bit later. I don't even know if this is legit but a friend of mine who's studying Medicine showed this to me and some of our other friends.

This is not to say that Filipinos can't speak proper English of course. One thing about PGH is that it's like United Nations and coincidentally, it actually can be found in U.N. Avenue. I don't know what I think about this. I have experienced talking to foreign doctors who are practicing in the Philippines but I haven't encountered a doctor like this. So far. Now can we just take a loot at number 6 all together, please? UNFORGIVABLE! Whoever wrote that probably deserves a one way ticket to AZKABAN. I mean, seriously? That's a mortal sin right there. The rest are okay. I mean, laughable but somehow understandable. The moist and dry thingy confused me as heck as well but whatever. There are times when we don't really have to be sooo proper with our English and all that but there are times when English should be properly executed. Say, MEDICAL RECORDS. That's all I have to say actually. Ciao!

I don't know what's up with this girl trying to sit in a different place and leaving us behind. Seriously, B? Seriously? 

So we took a photo without her. Hahaha

Actually since we went there kind of early, they've just turned on the AC so my sister decided to position herself near the AC unit for her own good. Meanwhile, since it's actually quite bearable, my  other sister and I stayed on the couch.

I got their Blueberry Cheesecake and my sisters got Mango Cheesecake and yeah. Actually, I actually ordered Strawberry but whatever. I order Blueberry almost every time when I was still a Medical Technology Intern so I just thought I'd try the Strawberry. But anyways.

Now, I actually don't know if they really used to look like this because in the laboratory, I really have no time to look at its appearance before sipping it or whatever but yeah. It looks quite unappetizing but it\s actually good. Also, the thingy inside looks more like a Greenberry rather than Blueberry. 

Then we asked our other sister to join us because the condition inside is getting better and even though she hesitated at first, she really can't do anything when I ordered her with my "follow my order or else" kind of tone. Haha just kidding. I love my sisters.

Good vibes! :)

My friend and I was taking pictures of people who were apparently taking pictures of us too. I don't own this photo but I'm glad this exists. You know, I know a person that takes a lot of pictures like, non-stop and he mentioned once that it's kind of not nice to take pictures of people who are prepared to have their picture taken all the time because what would they do? SMILE? Yup! But only for the camera. It's nice to take pictures of moments like this too. CANDID. And now the not so candid photo: LOL.

Even though it's already night time already, and raining at some point, we still wandered and just talk about everything under the sun. Or what? Haha

We were actually told to go back to our rooms at 10 because they will be closing the lights already and because it was raining really really hard, the power source in the city was out originally and that they were running everything with their power generator. And we were like, okay, we still got time. Somehow. 

Then the next day, even though it rained a little bit harder, we can't be stopped. People just can't discourage us, you know! Because I remember someone warned us that we can't pass thru this area because it's dang muddy and all that. But VOILA! That's all! :)

LOL

I don't actually cry easily. Except when Sirius Black died. OMG my feelings! Anyways, I just want to share these crying experiences during our internship program because I want to let these things go now and I don't want to go on with my life with a heavy heart or something like that. I should have entitled this WHY I CRIED but that's just...I don't know. 

This is the first time I cried. During my first internship, it was my first time in a certain laboratory post so even though I learned the theoretical stuff at school, I really don't know if I can touch anything there and do whatever I want to do, or what. I was with a post mate that time and we weren't oriented on what to do so we just stayed there. The staff there usually comes at around 9 and our duty starts at 7 so we were just sitting there and all that. Talking and stuff. When the laboratory receptionist brought a specimen, naturally, we didn't know whether we could do that because we weren't oriented. So I asked. I asked a staff and he told us that it's not on his line of expertise and that we should just wait for our staff to come. Okay. When the staff came, she was hysterical already. Like, we didn't do this, and that, where's this blood, where's that blood, etc, etc. And my postmate and I were like looking at each other because we were surprised by her reaction. Well, of course. I just thought that's inappropriate because I would definitely understand if she acted that way on our second day. Or even hours before we were oriented. But that's like our first day. I didn't cry like, cry. I was just teary eyed because I got scolded on things that are out of my control. Like, really woman? But that afternoon she called us and said sorry and admitted that it was her fault and all that. Of course it is your fault. Like, we didn't know already. But it was way before pa so wala na yun. 

The second time was during my second internship. It was supposed to be my off day because I would be having my 24 hour shift 2 days after that day but since I was absent because of thesis, I had to make-up for that absence and because I have no choice, I sacrificed that off day and went to the hospital for my make-up duty. I was with my night duty groupmate that time and she came earlier than I did so she did warn me about that (what's gonna happen next). So cautiously, I logged in my time and greeted the staff there. And boom! The staff was calm but for some reason, I was kind of emotional because I did thesis and slept late and all that and then what? I would hear all those stuff? Basically, she just told me that I should have informed her that I would have a make-up duty on her post because she don't accept a lot of make-uppers which in our case, there's two of us. The staff also told me that I should have had my make-up the day before that incident because her interns were absent and I told her that it wouldn't be possible because I was in Clinical Chemistry having my make-up duty as well. Well, the two of us already scheduled our make-up duty 2 MONTHS BEFORE that incident and she would tell us that we should have informed her? I was thinking I should just go home and all that but then the head staff on that post told us that we could just go to a sub-branch of that post and do our make-up duty there. Phew. The head staff said that she tried to look for us two to inform us that we should inform the staff that we would make-up that day but I guess it was our uni day so whatever. She said it was her fault and so yeah. Oh well. 

But it's all over now. There's no other way than to move forward and learn from mistakes that we have made in the past. I am happy that I'm done with internship but it's kind of nice to look back things and to reflect. At least I know better now. 

Here it is! This is like, a preview on what happened awhile ago. I did block off the day but I wasn't sure whether or not to go until this morning. I was actually waiting for my friend's decision because I said that if she go, I go. I don't know but for some reason, I speak The Script at random moments. Anyways. She didn't go but I did.

With a friend and the friend I was talking about. The plan (evil) was actually to take sooooo many pictures to annoy and envy this friend of ours who weren't able to come because she said not to take too much pictures. Hahaha 

We saw the effort of the organizers and all that so we helped with the stuff we will be using for the games. 

Them doing the ever classic Calamansi Relay. By the way let me just say that I have a love and hate relationship with this iPhone camera feature called HDR. I don't know what it is but basically it kind of lightens the picture so basing from what's actually happening when it's on, it's probably that. 

And food! And Madame President on the other side. 

I know not all people want to see food photos. I actually sometimes don't want to see people taking pictures of it as well but let's just have it our own way and be happy :) What's that again? Haha

A picture with a friend who we left behind there. I actually planned to take pictures with everyone but some of them left ahead so I wasn't able to but yeah. I'll probably show you guys more photos if I see them up somewhere. Haha

This is a late post but whatever. Since I can still remember it, it's going here. :)) I was supposed to be off this day but I had to make-up for an absence so yeah. I, together with two more interns were actually the blood extractor in the main laboratory so we were like going up and down (repeat 10 times). We were so tired and we didn't even get to prepare for the picture taking and then we were like, we should just be together and people would identify that we are the extractors because we all look haggard. 

I don't know how this works but I can barely recognize some people because you know, the thing is darn tiny. We're like AKB48 for a second. If you don't know what that is, that's actually a Japanese girl group with like, 88 members. 

Also this. I'm gonna miss Internship. Actually, I kind of miss it already. People say that we only get to appreciate something when it's done. I attest to that. Somehow.

I present to you my group mates! I'm gonna miss them because you know, I was with this group during night duties and all that stuff so yeah.

We're actually not complete in this picture but I would not miss the other two any less.  

Yup. My Birthday happens on a Valentine's Day. So I was never lonely haha. Or why should I? Anyways, I just want to tell you some of the happenings yesterday. 

Google greeted me! Yay! I was so surprised because I was actually supposed to look at the two ferris wheel thingy and this showed up! Google is like the awesomest when it comes to this things.

Awesome friends are awesome! Thank you friends for this. I appreciate it. They surprised me with a cake from the Department of Health which we always eat at and I actually don't have an idea that they already bought one but they were sceptical because they thought I saw the cake but I swear I didn't. Sometimes I don't pay attention much. 

Today is page 2 of my 365 pages book.

I survived. And I am happy. You probably know that I am talking about yesterday here. And I am extremely happy that I was able to rest after that long day I had. Because if I weren't, I'm probably dead tired, still sleeping, and wouldn't be able to go on duty today.

Well to be honest, I was thinking of not going to work yesterday. But at the same time, I was thinking of my post mate's condition. Like, I really thought of her whilst contemplating if I should go to work. Because we were talking about not absenting because there are lots of our co-interns from other school who will. So if I would absent, she would be left alone in Clinical Microscopy I and II. Because she have to take over of my work, yeah? And I don't want that. Provided that it's actually New Year and there are massive people in the ER.

So I went to work. When I came there, she told us that she's stuck in the traffic. Meaning, I have to take over her work. Ha! It wasn't a good night. SOOO TOXIC. Follow ups here and there, processing many urine samples, releasing blood bags, and all that! But it was quite an experience.

Oh well. That's life. And someone actually told me that I really shouldn't have went to work because I am not paid and all that and he made his point but for some reason, even though I'm dead tired, I didn't actually regret yesterday. I guess it's all about the experience.

I'm quite disappointed, right. But it isn't her point either. If I were in her position, I probably wouldn't go to work as well. Because of the hospital policy and all that stuff. But I'm still quite disappointed that I came to work for her sake and she didn't even think of mine. But we're friends.

This is when we actually shoot our group presentation for like the seminar intermission thingy. My co-intern was like fixing my hair and all that.

Looking at it, I don't know about you but I am feeling like I'm ready to sing A Whole New World any moment. Hahaha feeling like a princess! Minsan minsan lang naman 'to kaya okay lang haha.

One thing I want to share with you (even though I share a lot of things) is sometimes, you have to praise yourself. Like, for a job well done. On how you look, and stuff. It's always nice to give yourself a little feedback. Yeah? Yeah. Haha palusot lang.

So we had our hospital Christmas Party last Friday and part of the program was like, a performance from each laboratory section. Our theme was DANCE DANCE DANCE so I guess it wouldn't be hard to guess what we did. Because one criteria for winning is actually relevance to the theme. Whatever. LOL.

Kim and I haha. We actually performed first so I really ate as fast I could just so you know. I don't know.

Food was actually great. Like, we had LECHON, some pork, chicken, and rice. Too bad I wasn't able to eat deserts. Like, every group actually brought something for desert and I believe ours brought cupcakes but after our performance, we actually extracted blood from patients upstairs already so whatever.

Thanks to a friend who actually took the pictures above. Like, he's not from our hospital but visited us anyways. And if you can recognize that guy on the first picture, yup! My previous post mate from my first internship. Not from my hospital now as well. Hahaha

Our group in action. Like, aren't we cute? Yup! We are. Hahaha just kidding.

This is my post mates. Like, I'm so proud of us really. We really did a good job.

We actually didn't win first place but it's really good to know that people enjoyed our performance and even the winning group was actually shocked that we didn't win. Right before our performance, we actually said that even if we loose, we should still be happy because we had fun dancing and practicing and all that. So yeah.