Donald Trump's World - Altantic City.

Any of you watched "The Bounty Hunter" starring Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler? The only familiar thing I remembered in that show was the place Gerard Butler gambled at the casino and won money, and eventually lost everything again. That place was called, Taj Mahal. And it was in Altantic City.


And the very next weekend after watching the show, the 6 of us, plus tour guide Aaron brought us to Altantic city (AC for short).

My knowledge of the history of AC isn't very broad. But I do know Donal Trump plays a part in this little city. Something like, he bought over this dying down and turned into a success. Well, to the normal American's, AC is the place to go for a relaxation. It's like a paradise for both men and women. There are 3 casino's in there and A LOT and by A LOT I really meant A LOT LOT LOT of factory outlets selling crazy cheap items. 


I guess Trump was smart enough to save this town by sucking money dry out of the tourist. Both in the casinos and in the factory outlets.

You can click and enlarge to see what outlets are there. The only shop I wanted to enter but can't was Coach, because there was a SUPER long queue outside. Sigh...


So AC is actually in New Jersey, which also means, it's just right next to the sea. But its such a pity because the wind was blowing so so so strong, and sand was flying everywhere, and I frigging wore a skirt, so no beach playing for me. It was also quite chilly towards the night thanks to the crazy wind. 


But beaches make photographer's very happy. In fact, all photographers can feel happy by almost anything.

Kim Loon, one of the photographers. 

Photographer no 2 and me. (Baby)

Wah Zven so artistic sial duwan look at camera and take wan so poser. "It's all about the angle" Rarr.

We actually took a GreyHound bus to AC after our lunch at Chinatown. The most-rushy lunch ever. We basically gobbled our food down for fear of missing the bus. And then, an hour later, we arrive at the holiday paradise. So, the bus to AC was 20 bucks, but there is a 20 bucks voucher to play at the slot machines. Kinda like them providing free bus for you to go and gamble. I only got 6 bucks back from the slot machines. No luck. But I guess I can consider it as my bus ride being subsidized 6 bucks. Haha. 

And so, I did what I am good at doing, or rather most girls are good at doing. SHOPPING!!!! But we arrived AC late, so we had limited time to shop. So sad. (But I guess its good in a sense that I won't spend so much). Bought about a pair of Adidas sport shoes (PINK!!!! but wrong size haihz, nvm still can wear), 2 pairs of Nike's for only 6 bucks each (sial right), 2 polo's a few dresses, a Kenneth Cole New York coat for dirt price, and errrr. . . . I can't remember d.

At night AC is a different town altogether. The lights bright up and make everything look so casino-ish.

I damn pro managed to capture the names of 3 buldings in one picture. Hahaha. AC makes me wanna visit Las Vegas. 

Okay so after a long tiring day of shopping and pulling slot machines and gambling (for some), we queue-ed at the bus terminal for our ride home.

Kim not in the picture cos he is the camera man! Okay that's it about AC. Gotta cook dinner now. Bb

Dance again?

sh! Hasn't it been like ages since I last update??? Don't worry, this bloggie ain't gonna die soon. I promise you. I just got so busy since pseudo-rotation started and haven't had the time to do anything! Plus all the laundry, cooking n all. Super busy.

So, I skyped with  my parents yesterday and had the most bizzare birthday celebration ever. They bought me a Pandan cake to LOOK at. We basically just sang happy birthday over the webcam. I think  it so so so sweet! But more of that later. 

My sis eventually bugged me for the youtube link to our dance video. Then only I remembered, OWH I haven't posted the dance video on my blog yet. Ahyarhhhhhh lazy me. 

This dance, is very special to me. Very very special. It marks the very end of my dance career. At least in IMU larh. Dance and I came a long way to being friends. I remember meeting dance during high school, together with the PBSM gang.

And another special part of this dance, is that its the first dance I have with my sister. I mean, we both can dance, but due to the age gap, we are always in different schools or institutions or different countries we never get to perform together. I sorta dragged her into this last dance of mine and taught her all the step in ONE WEEK. She's amazing, one week learn everything dah. Rarr!

The performance, is actually for a Go Green Campaign. 

a

The crew.

Man I miss dancing. Sorry this is so outdated. Haha. I know larhhhhhh...

Life begins.

Spring spring spring spring oh spring. Why is it that the weather in spring is not as ideal as I thought it would be. But the flowers are definitely a sight to see. 


My ideal spring : Genting-ish weather, just cold enough not to sweat walking around the streets, but warm enough not to need a jacket. 


Spring in reality : 3 days of rain followed by cold chilly air, and another 3 days of hot sun making you sweat. And the cycle repeats. 


But the flowers definitely make my day.


My heater arrived today through the mail. So did my HSBC credit card. And my-oh-my. I have so many cards. What's with American system of having so many bank accounts as a "set". One to keep money, one to spend money, and one "for-in-case" money.


Okay. I am ranting in sentences which don't go with one another. 


I realise why so many of my friends stop blogging the moment they settled overseas. Heck even I find blogging a chore sometimes. I suddenly have so many extra things to do as compared to before. Laundry, ironing, tidying room, vacuum floor, buy groceries, unpack n pack groceries, washing dishes, cooking. If I do find extra time I rather read a book or play Happy Farm, or skype with family rather than blog. 

This is Sir William Penn. Founder of Pennsylvania, and also Philadelphia. And this is taken at UPenn. UPenn's campus is so much more campus-ey as compared to TJU. 

St Mary's Church

And of course, just because we're medical student, we want to have a look at America's no.1 Pediatric hospital and arguably the world's no.1 as well.

CHOP " Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania

Oh wanna see the public buses? I now is can know how to take public buses.

Yay. 3 claps to myself. (syiok sendiri max).


Alright. One fine day, the 6 of us decided to take a stroll down the beautiful lane known as "Old City". Rarr. Old City is kinda like Edinburgh, but only 50% less old buildings and 50% less nice scenery. The brochure in the "Philadelphia Guide" sure makes it look so beautiful. But after walking so so so so so many blocks just to get there I was kinda more like "cheh, lidet only?"

 View from Penn's Landing

But this area make an interesting Jogging + Cycling trail. But I'm not a jogging + cycling person. 

But this alone makes me happy.

I love river, waterfalls, sea, everything to do with water. Except rain when I am outside. 

Abrupt stop. I know, but this is all I have to write. Got a lot more other pics. But will post them another time. Tata!

Inspiration from within

I don't know how many of you out there are House MD fans. But I sure is one. And its super awesome now I get to watch it on TV on par with all the americans (and always in a dilemma to watch House or Gossip Girl cause the air the same time but on two diffferent channels urghhhh).


Anyone ever wondered how the director/producer of House MD gets their cases? And whether or not those cases are real real cases or just make believe once?


Being in America and all, I had a chance to meet the inspiration behind House MD. Lisa Sanders - "Doctor behind House".

She choose to describe herself to be like Dr. House, except much nicer. The one thing I generally salute about her, and in fact, all the people who are like her, is that she has a career, a very much succesful one (she is an Emmy-Award winning TV Producer), and because she realise that she wanted her life to be much more meaningful than just making medical shows, she leave everything behind, and embark on the difficult journey of pursuing medicine. And everyone know medicine is the toughest course to study in America. 


One of the things she said during her talk at TJU was "70-90% of the time, an accurate diagnosis is formed base on the patient's history". She even pointed out that, if you realise, in House MD, most of the time Dr House diagnosed his patient correctly, after getting a part of their story out of them. Which is why she emphasize so much on "listening to patients". In fact, most of the time, doctors are so busy with their tight schedule and money making (the more patients you see the more money you make) that they limit their time with each individual patient and miss out things the patients wants to tell. 

Dr Lisa Sander's book - Every Patient Tells a Story

"Do not treat the disease, treat the patient with the disease", our orientation lecturer, Dr Majdan frequently remind us. Maybe now as medical student we're still all new to everything, and we still treat our patients as though they are relatives, but few years down the road, when we all become successful doctors, can we still face a crying mother, or a depressed child the same way as we treat them now? 


Dr Lisa Sanders talk was very motivating and inspiring. Haha it even made Ven and Joshua think twice about entering surgery. Because the whole basis of doctor-patient relationship is compromised in surgery (because the physicians are the once to see the patients when they're awake, and the surgeons see them when they're in the OT). 


Dr Sanders even provided us with some insight into the casting of House MD. She writes a column in the New York Times titled "diagnosis" to show readers some insight into the medical world from a doctor and a patient's point of view. One day, she receive a call from a producer, wanting to make a TV show about a doctor who is rude, arrogant, annoying and abuses drug. "Oh my, this wouldn't last long, better take it when the money's rolling" was her first thoughts about the TV show, and it went on to be a major hit on television. 


A few things about House MD which might amuse you. Ever notice how in House MD there are no nurses, lab technicians, radiographers, and the doctors just do everything? And instead of saying "well, you might have leukemia" the doctors just say "I'm sure you have leukemia" and ends up getting it wrong in the end.


Dr Sanders also shared that the storyline behind House MD was actually an inspiration of Sherlok Holmes, whereby the disease is the mystery and Dr House is the eccentric cranky detective of course. 

VS

We can all see the similarities here right. Haha. Did you know that the actors actually receive medical training before? Dr Sanders actually said there was a hard time training the actors to execute a convincing seizure. "Don't believe the show, it is generally not possible to bleed out of your ears and eyes at the same time". Rarr.


95% of the cases on House MD is based on a real patients case. "Of course, with some exaggeration" she added. "Its impossible to get bacteria vaginosis in your mouth, listen to the name". I can't really remember which episode has bacteria vaginosis in a person's mouth. Haha


I eventually bought her book. Its a very interesting read, I've only gone through one chapter and the cases are very complicated, but it also shows that a lot of diagnosis are made, because one step of the case is being missed, or disregarded. 


Do look out for her name when the credit rolls at the end of House MD.

Kill 3 birds in 1 stone

Pardon all the Korean words. But those were from a menu of a authentic Korean restaurant in Solaris, Mont Kiara. Name of the place is Bon-Ga. Its so authentic the menu is in Korean with very minimal english translation. This happened about 3 weeks ago. One of my final few meets with my BFF JessJess before I left for the States. 


That's the 1st bird dead. Trying out a new Korean place one fine night. And what more an authentic place where the entire place is buzzing with Korean people laughing at the top of their lungs. Makes me feel out of place to be there as a Chinese (Non-Korean).


The 2nd bird dead being, meeting up with my BFF Jessica.

 *loves* max

Even the floor place has got no lubang to put your legs. So means we've got to sit at the table real korean style. Fold the legs up and get leg cramps

Since I am a non beef eater, there is nothing much on the menu that suits me. So our food ordering process was pretty much simplified, despite all the korean words. We ordered Pork Ribs and Chicken BBQ.

Pork Ribs

As usual, just like at any Korean restaurants, there is a huge display of Kimchi's and other various delights at the side.

This time round, something was done differently. We were served mint leaves instead of the usual lettuce leaves to wrap our meat in. Something I've never tried before. But it is a refreshing taste. The mint taste is so so so so strong.

Really a must try. But I doubt all Korean restaurants have mint leaves. Only this one. Haha

The 3rd bird killed, is having dessert's at Schokolart. A place I wanted to try eversince I see those FB pictures of YewKeong. Now I have the perfect chance!

We ordered the classic fondue. Initially wanted dark chocolate dips. I am a crazy dark chocolate person. But Jess wants milk choc. And I love choc all the same anyhow. Not many ppl go for dark choc cos of the bitter taste. Haha. So milk choc it is then. Woot!

Yummy max. 

Eating fondue with Jess is the best thing EVER. Heard of the Olive Law in HIMYM?? (go google if you haven't). We have a strawberry law. She hates strawberries, I love strawberries. Win Win Situation.!!!!

I love the ambience. See the nice lights at the background. Hehe. there you go. The 3 dead birds. I know what a sadistic way of presenting this post. Haha. 

I miss JessJess a lot when I am in the States. But promise me you'll get a BB and we sms all day long k!!! Promise!

Day tour of Philly

Being new to this place and all, we definitely spend days walking around, and touring the city. And being new, also means we have no idea how to tour the city. Big laugh HAHAHA. Thankfully we have lovely seniors to bring us around. Yippee.


So TJU is pretty much smacked in the middle of the city. And everywhere is walkable. Literally walkable. Depending on how hardworking you are. Buses are available too for the lazy people. Haha. The best part is, that Chinatown is only 4 blocks away, and there is everything there. From little ikan bilis to dried shrimps, there is even old town white coffee sold and milo as well. And INDOMEE!! (just bought an entire box of indomee).


So lets show you the square in front of Martin's once more.

I love the square. My sister ask me why is it called a square when in actual fact its a circle. Lolz I don't know!!


Alright. So whats there to see in Philly? Plenty! In my opinion, the attractions here are not as ancient as China's or city-like like NY. But still, there are loads to see. This city is rich in history and art. 


One famous landmark is the city hall. I love the city hall. It's the only building that stands out among the modern looking ones. It has a ancient feel. And it marks zero on the compass. Meaning, every building and block in Philadelphia goes in relative to City Hall. For example, my dorm is 201 South 11 street. Meaning it is 2.01 blocks south of CityHall on the 11th Street. And inside the city hall there is a huge compass on the ground, whereby when you stand right in the middle, you can see all four directions of the road (north south east and west). I love such creative landscape structure. Awesome city planning! 

Magnificent City Hall

North angle.

Well, its spring after all in Philly, and everyone's loving the sun. So much love they actually emerge from their houses and lie all over on the grass. It's sun tanning time (and all the Msian hide in the shade), and everyone is exposing themselves to the sun. Or just sitting at the park doing nothing but soaking sunlight. At RittenHouse Square is where everyone was on a fine Spring day.

Okay la, I pun ada stand in the sun sikit. See? I siao wan, sun so hot also I still wearing long sleeve!

That's cause the wind is still chilly. Whenever the wind blows its not like "whoosh" you know its like "WHOOOOSHHH-OMG-UMBRELLA-FLYING-WHOOSH". Crazy wan. Everytime make my hair tangle like crap everytime I get home. 

While we were at RittenHouse Square, we heard super a lot of sirens and helicopter sounds up down left right. Staying near the hospital and all, I was pretty much immune to the sirens and helicopters. Was being totally oblivious of what happening until I noticed the sky turning black. I thought it was going to rain with the black clouds and all. 

Which was when I realise there was a crowd gathering at one corner of the park. And my oh my, the black clouds are not clouds, they were smoke emerging from a building. Turns out there was a fire going on. Happening sial!

Philly also has its own L-O-V-E park. Neh, the L-O-V-E park you always see on TV?? The one where the L-O is on top and the V-E is at the bottom and its red in colour and the O is tilted one side. Haha

Let me show ya..

Lotsa love love love love love..

And then we were walking and walking and walking and walking. And we passed by a church I think. And I froze. It was beautiful. And then I yelled, "baby take pictureeeee"

Kaching!

See my happy face.

Oh its not a church. It's a plaza. Sorry see wronly.

Owh, before I forget, we went to Reading's Terminal Market too! Market so famous it has its own website. For a market! *clicks*. And its awesome wei! The sell everything, and best of all, got Jefferson discount wan, me likey!

Fresh Fresh Fruits!

Now I go Reading's to get my vegetables and fruits cos they are cheap and fresh. And the strawberries here are OMGSOBIG too!!! Love it love it love love love it. 

Actually got more about the city of Philly, just that pictures are all not in hand yet, so I will just blog about it separately.

Nah give you a CBD picture of Philly. Till next time!

Got America flag summore!

I ♥ NY

Where I live in the United States, is actually just a bus ride from New York City itself (NYC). In fact, for the past few months whenever people ask me which part of United States I am going to, they go "hmmmm. . . . . ok . .. " when I say Philadelphia, but when I say its 2 hours away from NewYork, they go "OWH!!". In fact, one of my dean's here mentioned that people always tour NewYork-Washington-Boston. Noone comes to Philadelphia. Haha.

To me, NYC is city only seen in television, hence to me, this trip to New York is seriously like living in television. You see big buildings, and the famous Brooklyn bridge, and you gasp in awh with your mind thinking "this is in Gossip Girl", or this is so "How I Met Your Mother". Gosh honestly, even the buildings looks "SpiderMan"-ish. (floats into a trance).


So, to go to New York from Philadelphia is pretty simple. Just take one bus from Chinatown, and it'll bring you to NYC's Chinatown. Cost about 20usd, which is the cheapest route there already. Being overly enthusiastic and all, we caught the very first bus departing which was the 6.30am bus. Crazy early right! We woke up at 5am and all. Eessh. Turned out we were overly early as well. We reached NY at about 8.30am where nothing is open. Except maybe a few breakfast places. So we just walked around and take nice scenic pictures. 

I really love Spring. Best season of the year I reckon. There are flowers everywhere. And I do mean EVERYWHERE. It's so beautiful, and I love flowers, even my room has got flower stickers all over. Gosh, spring is the best. Though the weather is kinda hot for spring nowadays. I hope spring stays forever. I want flowers all year round. Weee!! 

While walking around, we came across this bar with a funny name. Haha. Only medical students and Doctors will probably get the joke. So embrace yourselves. 

Roar! To clarify, Ebstein Barr is actually a name of a virus that causes Lymphoma. 


Right. When the time was not so early anymore, about 10am Ven's uncle picked us up from our wandering and brought us sight seeing. 

Sight Seeing!!!!! ( NY houses, like in TV ya!?!?!?)

Actually our sole purpose to NY was to visit Ven's uncle who was visiting NY for conference. So we didn't really have much time in our hands to actually explore the area. But we were brought to the No. 1 Steak house in America to have our lunch. And well, here's where the irony starts.

Peter Luger has been voted the No.1 Steak house in America for 26 years in a row. And to even dine in Peter Luger, one must make prior appointment. No walk ins entertained. Haha. 

So here is what happened. Everyone knows I'm a Buddhist. So my no-beef policy applies very strictly. I ordered. . . . 

LAMB. The irony man. But everyone else ordered steak. And it was good, according to them at least.

Actually, I don't eat beef, so I don't think I will be able to savour the actual goodness even if I were to try it. But that's just me being sour grape mentally. Haha. My lamb was pretty good too. If you wanna know how awesome and scrumptious the beef is, ask ZhiVen, I bet he can tell you in excruciating detail how each bite melts in your mouth. Haha. Well, its not cheap. about 35USD per person. And if you go for the good quality meat, it can cost up to 50USD per person. Lolz

Right. Back to sight seeing after the delicious lunch. Well, coincidentally, there was a bomb scare at NY's time's square, so despite wanting to go there, it was a big no-no. Gotta make another trip to NY soon. Damn! But we did go to walstreet, and some park nearby. And that's where you can take a ferry across the river, or sea, or I dunno if its a river or a sea, to see the Statue of Liberty. Well, due to time constrain, I didn't. Hence I only got a mini-tweeny picture of the lovely lady.

Well, next time again I guess. 

But we did have fun taking pictures at the park. Since it was getting warmer, much to the Caucasian's pleasure, everyone was taking advantage of the sun. Its a pretty common scene to see girls in bikini sun bathing at the park, in the middle of the city. Lolz. Even in Philadelphia. But Asian girls like me, we wear long sleeve white shirts (to repel sunlight in fear of getting darker), and errr... sunbath in the shade?

Roar! I rolled my sleeved up!

And then we came across this monument. Or a statue, or a block of something. Well apparently this round thingi used to be part of the world trade center before 911. And this is what's left of the round thingi. They shifted it to this park (sorry I really forgot the park's name) to remember this tragic day. Hence it looks like scrap now, due to the burning, and the chaos it was in during 911. 

Well, more funny things lying around.

After all the sight seeing, we were treated to a lovely Korean Fine Dining Vegetarian meal. Man, so yummy, and so much to eat, we end up dabao-ing all the food back to my dorm, and my fridge is filled to the brim.

Yeapz. After that was the tiring ride back to Philadelphia. Will definitely visit it someday. I'll bring you to MeiMei then we can have sisterly I ♥ NY shirts together. =)

Lets end it all wit a huge ass picture.

I present to you, New York's empire state building.

ps : Most of the pictures are courtesy of my baby!