Oct 9 - 24
1) As I walked past the sea of people on my way to the food court in Gurney Plaza, it suddenly dawned on me - we are gradually recovering from the effects of the pandemic. Once empty walkways and corridors are now filled with people going about their business, and empty food stalls have returned to near full capacity, with dine-in being allowed for fully vaccinated individuals. Week by week, I am amazed by how much progress has been made. Case in point, today we recorded just 5,666 infections - nearly half the number of daily infections we had at the beginning of the month. Over 94% of the adult population has been vaccinated, and there is an ongoing vaccination programme for schoolchildren, targeting at least 80% full vaccinations before school reopens in 2022. I think that is a commendable effort.
2) In the past two weeks, my group has had clinical teaching in the various surgical departments in Penang General Hospital. We had teachings in cardiothoracic surgery, neurosurgery, urology, and general surgery, covering a wide range of cases ranging from simple to really, really complex. Anyway, it has been a productive four weeks of surgery / orthopaedics. The next rotation (for me) is medicine, followed by public health to wrap up the semester.
3) The past two weeks have also been unbearably hot. Even with a stand fan on at full blast in my face, I was still sweating profusely. The hot weather also made me really sleepy, especially in the afternoon, and after a heavy lunch. Thankfully, the past couple of days have been much more bearable, mostly due to the frequent raining. I still remember when I was studying in Ireland, deep in the middle of winter, complaining about how cold and dark everything was (as I often do in my blog updates). I made a promise that when I returned home, I would not complain about the weather - no matter how hot it was. Well, turns out I just complain a lot about everything.
4) Before I start complaining about other things, perhaps it's best to end this blog update here. There's nothing really exciting going on in my life right now, but maybe no news is good news? Thanks very much for tuning in, take care, and stay safe. Cheers!
Gurney Food Hall - the side entrance from the lifts
The "Canteen"
"Bak kut teh" or pork bone tea - today's lunch objective :)
The interior decor reminds me of when I did my research in China
"Bak kut teh", accompanied with a heaping bowl of rice and "you tiao" or fried dough sticks
Yes it's the one and only Sim!
It was a lovely day outside today - just after the rain
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