When the sun shines, lets us bloom.

The beauty of the earth.

Taken at Twizel.

Tulips.

Taken at Wellington Botanical Garden.

A week in kampung.

For my third year, I had to do a rural placement for a week. I know its just for a week but i had a wonderful experience there and there are so many things that I want to share. Just too many things that i want to tell others but i couldnt write in my report. So i decided to put them here :)

I chose two places in north island, but too bad I did not get both of my choices but being allocated to somewhere in Christchurch instead. However, I've been to Christchurch many times and its not so far away from Dunedin so I decided to randomly choose somewhere else which was still havent fill up. So yes, Oakura it was. It is a village located not far away from New Plymouth in north island. I took a direct flight from Dunedin to New Plymouth that cost me about $400 one way. And i booked a shuttle from New Plymouth to Oakura and i had to pay about $130 both ways. I had no choice because there was no other public transport to Oakura during the weekends.  And guess what, the driver used to be an NZ army and worked in Malaya in 1960s. He still knows few words. Alhamdulillah he welcomed me warmly :) 

Along the journey to the village, we had a talk. He mentioned few malay words and i was impressed as he still remembers many words such as cantik, bukit, senyum and few others. He told me that he loves malay kids and the armies always brought bunny candies from NZ to give to the kids. '' Malay kids love to laugh'' he said :) :) 

I stayed in a beach holiday park, in a small cabin just right 100meter in front of the Tasman sea. It was $65 per night but i managed to get like $130 for the whole stay. Awesome isnt it? However, the toilet and kitchen are all outside at the front while my cabin is the last cabin at the end of the park. There's no lights at night and it is very scary to be there alone as no one else in other cabins. The sounds of the waves, the rain and the wind made me awake almost every hour for the first night. 

After checking in, I went to have a walk around the village the find the pharmacy. After about 30 minutes walk, i found the pharmacy, a grocery shop, a fish and chips, a cafe, a bar and schools. hmm not much things here. well, kata kampung kan. But its a very quiet and peaceful place.  Seeing all the farmers, farms, beach, kids riding bikes to school and the green land remind me of my home. Similar but not exactly because nothing can be much more exciting than my own home :) Walking alone among the strangers as a strange person in a strange place wasnt that bad. There were a few (just a few) who looked at me like i'm a weird alien wearing scarf on the head that fell from a weird planet. But most of the villagers were very nice, smiling and hi-ing at me.

After buying some groceries from the kedai runcit, there was a pakcik suddenly sapa me ' selamat malam ' and i was like *smiling* . He knew that I'm malay because he was an army too in Malaya. Entah2 kawan pakcik driver tadi :p We had wee chat and i felt so welcomed by everyone there! 

The first few mornings were raining and i had to walk in the rain to the pharmacy. I took about 25 minutes to reach the pharmacy for the first day but for the second day i used the other road which was just along the beach and it took only 20 minutes! The view was awesome! Walking along the beach every morning while the sunshine was shinning right onto my face was great! 

In the pharmacy, there were three staffs, a pharmacist, which is my preceptor. He's an Otago graduate. A technician who works part time only.  A shop manager which is sooooo nice. Everyone calls her Nanny coz actually she's a retiree. She's the one that talk to me the whole day in the pharmacy, taught me a lot of things.She drove me around the village after work for few times to a few nice places in Oakura before she went to Australia to visit her grandchildren. 

The first day wasnt that bad. My preceptor was so busy because he's opening a new pharmacy in down the Taranaki region. So he didnt spend much time with me. Despite of his business and craziness, he still taught me lots of things, tell me stories about his experiences, and about the village as well. He said, working in a community pharmacy especially in rural area is different from hospital or pharmacies in town. In rural, they get to know everyone. I realized that, the staffs greeted the customers and patients by their names. They had time to talk to each other, not only about the medicines and health issues but also social things. They were so friendly to each other. The patients and customers were mostly old people and farmers, really2 reminds me of my kampung. 

I had chances to do many things such as dispensing, consulting patients, learning about OTCs and etc. Consulting real patients was the hardest things because at school i only consult 'fake' patients but it was fun! They were very helpful as they knew that i'm a student. My preceptor also said that, working in a community, pharmacist act as a knowledge giver, a drug saler, a dispenser, and everything. Not only dispenses drugs but also gives knowledge about drugs to the villagers. He tells the patients what are the drugs for, what they do, the effects and other things about drugs in a language that patients can understand. He said, working in community, we deal with people, talk to them so communication is very important. Unlike hospital, you dont really deal with people. 

In New Zealand, a BPharm graduate has to do internship for a year to be a certified pharmacist. For us, we have to go back to M'sia to do that. He said, internship is very hard here. An intern pharmacist is nothing, but internship is the time to learn everything. To gain experience. To be a certified pharmacist is not easy. He told me that knowledge alone is not enough. Practice and experience are very useful. Accuracy is very very important as we're dealing with people's life. Drugs can cure but they are nasty. A small little changes can kill people. 

These pictures were taken around the village when Nanny drove me around after work.

In the pharmacy, everyday there will be a few patients under methadone programme. They have to come to pharmacy everyday to take methadone. There was a makcik, quite old but still addicted to drugs. She came in the evening after worked which she supposed to come in the morning. So she was shivering asking for methadone. I almost burst into tears looking at the old drug addicts who are very addicted and do not try to reduce the dosage of methadone to reduce the addiction.  I think they really want to take the drugs for their whole life. 

Talking about drug addict, there was a drunk drug addict who just broke up with his girlfriend and got kicked out from the bar came to the pharmacy asking for drugs. At first, i didnt know what was going on until Nanny grabbed me and said ' Siti let us go outside to see the mountain' I was like, eh mountain? tiba tiba kan. The drug addict asked my preceptor to make a bomb because he wanted to bomb the bar. He said' you're a chemist so you should know how to make a bomb!' We left the preceptor to deal with him while we called the police. To make the condition worst, the police came 30 minutes after because there's no police station there. It was such a scary experience but luckily there was nothing serious happened and he got caught.

After the incidence, Nanny and I went jalan jalan again, she said  this kind of things rarely happened here but well things happen when you dont have your beliefs. Without strong beliefs we'll not have a happy life and tend to do things that are out of our mind.True. She said again ' You have your beliefs, your family, your studies and your career soon Siti so live to the fullest ' Thanks Nanny :') 

After work, I always walked along the beach and watch the sunsets. Splendid and beautiful. The light is very calm and can touch everyone's heart who see it. I know it was quite boring walking and picnicking alone and had to self time the camera to take my own pictures but i had a really really nice time there. God's creations are indescribable. You see it and it remains there in your heart and memory. 

Alhamdulillah, i had a very good time in Oakura. I learnt lots of things. Not only about drugs, but also about people, about life, about things that i cannot experience in my own home. Hope to see you again Oakura. InsyaAllah. 

Life is a siries of natural and spontaneous changes. Dont resist them-that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally in whatever way they like. (Lao Tzu)

Bye :)

Eid 2012

Salam and helloooooo :) 

I know Syawal has finished and its Zul-Qaadah now. I was busy with my placement after raya and busy playing around during the Spring break so I didnt have time to update this dusty blog *sapu2*.  

After the Eid announcement at the mosque all the sisters gathered at the Hunter Centre for takbir raya and time to ask forgiveness with everyone. Alhamdulillah, I didnt cry much during the takbir compared to the first time i celebrated raya here which was 3 years ago. Well, big girl dont cry much isnt it? :)

I baked some cakes after the takbir raya. I made baby cakes, boiled fruit cake, apple bakewell and my father's favourite, pineapple upside down cake. My flatmates cooked rendang, nasi himpit and laksa! yummm. Who said raya at perantauan cant eat all the raya foooooods? We had everything! :D

So the first day of raya, I went to my friends' house. It was fun celebrating raya with the kids, watching TV3 live from Malaysia and we also had non-muslims as well. There were also few pakciks from Oamaru came down here to celebrate with us. It was like celebrating raya at kampung back in Malaysia. Everyone was there under one roof :) 

Raya in Dunedin is not complete without taking pictures at the Clock Tower. This is compulsory :p So we went there to photographs few photos. I didnt go to many houses that day, so i went back and stayed at home and finished my homework because i had to go to school the day after which was the second day of raya. So yeah didnt celebrate much :( 

However, on Friday, 24th August which was the fifth day of raya, we had the annual event, Raya Otago. yay! I could celebrate raya with everyone before flying to north island the day after for my rural placement. And again, my placement was during the spring break so everyone did their open house during the week which i couldnt join :( but at least i could join the big celeration! ;)

After helping the committees cleaning the hall, we went to St Clair beach and took some photos again! Alang-alang dah pakai cantik-cantik kan :p Luckily the weather was beautiful. It was a little bit cold but who cares its raya! 

I know the pictures below are quite vain but hehehe once in a while :p :p :p

Okay I wont post any vain pictures like these anymore. Promised *pinky promised* hahaha *maluuuu*

Okay bye! ;)