It's Day 2 of the Lunar New Year 2014-2015: Year of the Horse. I'm in Melbourne, sitting in my study after a long day of grocery shopping and hosting friends for steamboat at our new house. We moved just before Christmas into a place we can finally call our own, and where there is actually enough space to fit two of us comfortably.
Chinese New Year Day 1 this year fell on a Friday. Unlike in Singapore, or in many of the Asian countries, it is not a public holiday in Australia. So while many of our family and friends are in Singapore sweltering in the heat in their new outfits, rushing from family home to family home, doing their rounds, paying their respects to the elders, we in Melbourne are attempting to put our usual focus on our employed work in the air-conditioned rooms, to no avail. For me, this is probably the most challenging part about being an expat overseas - not being with family during the festive seasons, reminiscing past years when I was home, and feeling the solitude and stillness during such times immensely.
I guess I still have lots to be thankful for - someone to spend the rest of my life with, albeit with all our differences; a comfortable abode that I can call home; and friends in the same situation as us whom we can celebrate with. And what comforts me is the thought that my family is missing me as much as I am missing them during such times. Being away from home, you do lose touch and intimacy with friends, regardless of how close they once were, and that is one of my unfortunate regrets. I guess I could have pulled away once, took on a different direction to my life, but yet, knowing the position I am in now, though imperfect, I cannot see that I would have made any different decisions.
Tennis season began with a bang with the conclusion of Australian Open 2014 - the first Grand Slam of this year. As was tattooed on the arm of the Men's Champion Stanislas Wawrinka, the quote by Samuel Beckett the playwright of 'Waiting for Godot', resonates within me in my daily struggles:
"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Fail again. Fail better."
Happy Chinese New Year.
5.moon.sky
8:26 pm
Wild rosellas, cockatoos and galahs fly by and cry out their morning cries, while D the cockatoo can only listen and cry out in response day and night, with no hope of release or freedom to join them in their flight. Such is the plight of a well-kept bird.
5.moon.sky
5:02 pm
The year 2010 saw me in my 3rd (and penultimate) year of my vet science course, with holidays filled up with Extramural placements that was compulsory for course completion. These Extramurals were 2-week or more blocks at different clinics which could choose from a list provided by the faculty. 2010 thus saw me at South Paws Specialty Centre in April, Burke Rd Vet Clinic in July, and Terang & Mortlake Vet Clinic and Mount Pleasant Clinic (Sunset Way) in Sg in Dec. This year, 2011, began with a 3-week placement in Healesville Sanctuary, one of the more well-known wildlife conservation centres in Victoria.
This week, to be more specific. I had decided to stay nearer the clinic for my 3-week placement, so I arranged with one of the vet nurses who lives 10mins from the Sanctuary for accommodation. So 2 days ago, my friend and I took a 1.5hr-drive from the city into Healesville. Unlike most other rural areas, Healesville is right at the edge of what is considered metropolitan Victoria, and so is a lot more densely populated than most farming areas, but still with more breathing space than metropolitan areas. There are also many more trees in this area, compared to grazing paddocks for sheep and cows. This is because Healesville is situated right next to Toolangi Black Range State Forest, which is actually a hill/little mountain, and so has a lot more rainfall than most areas. Thus, surrounding properties include vineyards and fruit farms, and many more houses than the typical farmland.
One of these houses is occupied by one of the vet nurses and, for now, me. Trees shelter the front porch and the driveway, which lead to the little wood cottage of two rooms, a living room, a dining room and an adjoining kitchen. A back door from the kitchen opens to the wooden back porch and the backyard, which faces a small strip of grassy land and a small hill of eucalyptic forest. The glass walls of the dining and living room allow for a small study facing the green foliage surrounding the front porch and appreciation of the lushness of nature in my own home. Her home. Two cats dominate the common areas - one a ginger domestic short hair, the other a Devon Rex. A large bird cage sits next to the kitchen, and contains a large Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo, who squawks once in the morning and once in the evening. At all other times, he's silent or practices his vocabulary. He is generally kept outside on Sunday-Thursday nights, and inside the house on Friday and Saturday nights ("because the neighbours deserve a sleep-in"). 'Hello Honey' or 'Hi Puppy' emanates from the backyard (and I've learnt not to be alarmed at such noises coming from the backyard in the dark, especially while showering). You wonder what his previous owners were thinking.
Every morning (two and counting) on the drive to work, we'll see the woodlands in its glory, with clouds hanging low above the town at the foot of the mountains in the background, with wild cockatoos and rosellas flying by squawking, and with ibises hanging out on grassy patches. It's been a rainy summer, the trees are refreshed and the temperature is just right. The sun, unfortunately, rises earlier and sets later, and I haven't been out to catch the sunrise or the sunset. I will, I hope.
5.moon.sky
3:09 pm
On Friday I had my worst bout of gastroenteritis ever. I went out for dinner with some friends and we drove for an hour to get to that place. After dinner, we got into the car and started driving back. 5 mins into the journey, I started feeling burpy and sick, and felt like I couldn't keep my food down. I told my friends that I needed to puke, and when we stopped at a red light in front of Vic Mkt, I opened the door and threw up. The light turned green and we moved off to a parking lot slightly further up, to get me some rest and breathing space. Usually after puking you begin to feel much better, and I did, so I thought that was it.
But no, we had to stop along the freeway and I threw up every 5-10mins of the ride home. I was honestly confounded (besides feeling really sick). Dinner went in too recently to have caused that much trouble, so what could it have been?
I reached home, puked some more, and tried to go to bed. Usually I'd be so tired I fall asleep and the vomiting stops, but this time I could not get to sleep at all, and I continued puking, to the point that all my dinner was already out and the gastric acid juices were starting to be heaved out. In other words, my stomach had gone into a unstoppable heaving pattern that made me vomit regardless if there was stuff in my stomach to be vomited out. That alarmed me, because I was getting really sick from all that vomiting and I did not know when it would stop.
Soon, I heard a rumbling in my abdomen and I rushed to the toilet, only to hear a loud gushing sound which was my watery diarrhoea. OMG, Giardia! And while my diarrhoea was still going on, I started puking too. Great, now it's coming out both ends. The bug must have gotten to my small intestines by now. And then I started shaking, shivering, and my body was in high discomfort. I can't quite put the word to it, but my whole body wasn't in pain, nor aching, it was just... uncomfortable, till the point that I started to moan. I've never done that no matter how bad it gets.
I couldn't take it anymore and I called for my two housemates to come in to the toilet. I badly needed someone to be there. Of course, they were alarmed and suggested we drive 10mins down to the nearest hospital. I was still diarrhoea-ing and not feeling up for a drive at all, so I refused and got them to call the hospital for advice instead, which gave me time to clear up my diarrhoea. When my puking and diarrhoea stopped, I rushed to my bed for a lie down. And then it was all right for a while, until I adjusted my pillow because it was too high. The nausea came back and I had to puke. That was the last straw for all of us, and we marched off to the hospital with my dustbin, my blanket, my valuables and my water bottle.
I fell asleep in the car (finally!) but when I got to the hospital and had to get up, the nausea made me puke again. Damn it, it's my bile acids and pancreatic juices this time - the vomitus was yellow-brown in colour, it tasted alkaline (like soap) and it didn't have that caustic taste that gastric juices had. Anw, we got to the reception, got my history taken down, and went off to the counter next door to record my billing details. And boy were they slack for an Emergency department! I was sitting in a chair, doubled over cause I badly needed to lie down, and the receptionist was sitting at the window, chatting and laughing to her friends, and keeping me from the waiting room where I could lie down! I badly wanted to shout at her then. No wonder Victorians complain about their health system.
Fell asleep in the waiting room, then got called in to the doctor's. He was a nice chap, and so was the nurse who came in to give me my medication. It was a 20g needle up the vein at my right elbow, and boy did it hurt. I'll have more empathy for my patients in the future, especially those with thin veins because I happen to have thin veins too. Yes he couldn't get the vein at my elbow, so he moved down to the cephalic vein on my left wrist. I happily pointed out that it's much more prominent than the one at my elbow and so he tried that. And I regretted it immediately because omg it hurt so much more. I usually watch nurses inject into my arm but this time I could not bear to watch.
Next was a catheter and a three way valve, into which went a drip of 0.9% sodium chloride. Oh yeah, I would be dehydrated from all that vomiting. And the nurse said we had to wait one hour for the bag of fluids to finish dripping. He gave me a drug called Maxon to stop the vomiting as well, and as he was injecting into my 3-way valve, I saw a huge air bubble in the syringe, but he was still going and going and going. Stop, don't give me an air bubble embolism! Thankfully he had enough skill to give me all my drug but not the air bubble. I'm thankful I trusted him and didn't say anything about it.
And so we slept/sat there for an hour just to wait for me to finish 'drinking' one bag of fluids, after which I was much better and we went home. And I'll never find out what the aetiological agent was cause I'll never be able to culture it. Though I do think it came from licking that piece of ham that went bad. I threw that away of course.
5.moon.sky
7:58 am
Rafael Nadal has a Facebook page, where he posts his own pictures, and where his fans post their pictures of him (some of themselves). Someone posted a picture of him with Shakira in her new MV, with the usual loads of comments. He actually replied!
Click here to see the picture and comments
5.moon.sky
5:50 pm
One man's meat is another man's poison. The disaster at Haiti had unexpectedly brought the lucky ones at Melbourne a sweet treat. Roger Federer spontaneously held an exhibition match the day before the start of the Australian Open 2010 to raise funds for the Haitian people, with big players like Novac Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams invited.
Ticketing booths opened at 9am that day, but already at 8.30am, the queue snaked all around Federation Square. Mitch and I got there then, and I started queuing while he made his way to Rod Laver Arena where the bulk of the ticketing booths were. As expected, the queue at Rod Laver went much faster than the ones of Fed Square. We got tickets for $10 each (it could have gone for $20 and the queue would still be as long), and made our way back to the city square for breakfast. Having had nothing to do so early in the morning, we decided to make our way back to Rod Laver to shop around in the souvenir shop. Luckily we did! A second queue started right in front of the gates as there was no assigned seating, and people wanted the best seats in the house. Thus we spent the whole morning queuing and waiting for the gates to opened at 1pm.
We finally got in, ran right through the Arena and plomped ourselves on the front row seats right behind the players bench. It was awesome being so close to the players and the court, though on second thought I wished we were right over the exit of the dressing room, where players tend to stop and autograph stuff for you. Live memories would have to do without the back-up of material souvenirs.
After much ado, it finally started! Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Sam Stosur and Lleyton Hewitt for the Red Team, while Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters for the Blue Team. They took turns to play, and Mitch called out for Djokovic. He turned round to look at us, and threw us his towel! Alas, the Indian boy next to us was much faster, and he got it in the end. Nevertheless, we had a good time cause the match was so funny, especially the blue team. They were more vocal and were doing more stupid things than the Red Team, and so were more entertaining.
Overall, it was a beneficial event for Haiti and for Melbourne. And I fell in love with Nadal this tennis season. Will upload pics soon.
5.moon.sky
7:44 am
Melbourne Summer Cycle is an annual event that raises funds to support people with Multiple Sclerosis. It's a cycling event with a route of 40km, and I'm taking part in it this year!
So help me raise funds by donating to me! If you don't have a credit card, you can always transfer the money to me and I'll donate it on your behalf. As you can see, I'm still far from my target. So please help! Thanks!
5.moon.sky
5:24 pm
They think this Brolga died due to trauma, could be from getting caught in a fence or attacked by other male Brolgas. From this dissection I learnt that some birds have winding tracheas that looked like trumpets (to allow them to do a trumpet call during mating), and that male birds generally have 2 testicles in their body, compared to one ovary in a female bird.
That oversized labcoat does not belong to me. They have a few spare ones around so I just grabbed it and used it. Padraig Duignan is one of my Pathology lecturers, and he does a fair bit of wildlife pathology, particularly in marine animals. I almost look apologetic in my smile.
5.moon.sky
1:24 pm
I always find it hard to pick up the pieces from where I last left it. With my blog posts, it's particularly because I blog so infrequently that so much has past and it's too much of a mouthful to tell everything in one shot. So pardon me, it's gonna be random bits with no chronological order.
With reference to my last post, I passed my exams, so on I am to the next stage of my career: vet sci 3rd year. For the past 2 years it's been mainly theoretical work, but this year and the next will see me in the uni clinic doing rotations, while the hols will have me arranging my own Extra-Mural Work in out-of-uni clinics. Extra Mural Work consists of 12 weeks of 'internship' to be completed during the holidays. The idea is to get us to experience clinical work in different types of clinics, ranging from companion animal practice to mixed animal practice (large and small animals), from wildlife to equine clinics. The reason why I'm not back in SG this December hols is to complete 4 weeks of EMW, in a research lab. True, a research lab is not a clinic, but the idea is to get us to find out what we want to do after we graduate. Research is a likely option. Not all vet students graduate to become practicing clinicians. Some go into research, others work as nutritionists in pet food companies, while others continue their studies to become specialists in optometry, dermatology etc. Unlike medical students, veterinary students graduate as full-fledged animal anaesthetists, optometrists, dermatologists etc etc. Like medical students, we have to specialize and do more courses to be recognized in those fields.
Back to my research stint. Melbourne Uni Veterinary Department has many research labs, and I'm working in a parasitology lab called Gasser Laboratory. Dr Robin Gasser, the person heading this lab, is my second year second sem parasitology lecturer. He has kindly agreed to be my supervisor for this EMW, which means that at the end of my stint, he has to grade me on my performance, and the results sent back to Melb Uni as part of my marks. I wonder how many other professional fields out there get graded during Internships.
I started work last Mon, and Dr Ian Beveridge, my second year first sem parasitology lecturer, helped find materials for me to start a project with. While doing so, I stumbled across a few parasites (nematodes) that ended with beveridgea. Apparently, these names were named after him by others who made the discovery on that worm. I suddenly begin to fully realise how distinguished my lecturers are in their field, and I'm glad to have that honour working under them.
My project is to use molecular techniques (DNA extraction, PCR, DNA sequencing) to find genetic differences between one population of worm (nematode) in one host subspecies in a particular location and another population of nematode in another host subspecies in a different geographical location. These two nematode populations look really alike under the microscope, and has been classified as one species, but due to slight morphological differences, my lecturer suspects that they are in fact genetically different and are separate species. I'm not about to bore you here any further, so I'll just say that it supplies evidence for evolutionary theories and will aid in diagnosis of diseases if and when they arise. I think many people will find it really boring and irrevelant, but I find evolution interesting. We never learn anything about evolution in our course, so to be involved so intimately with this other aspect of science is exciting for me.
I also just realised that this is my first time working in an office. I've been given a desk to work at while I'm not in the lab, to do my research and use the internet. The working culture in Australia and in an office is new to me too, and takes a bit getting used to. It is good exposure, and the coffee machine here gives really good coffee.
The lab and the Melb Uni vet clinic and campus for 3rd and 4th years is located in a suburb called Hoppers Crossing, which is 50mins train ride from the city. To reduce commuting time, my coursemates and I have moved out of the city into a nearby suburb called Point Cook. PC is a newly developed estate, located on the side of the highway. The only ways out of it to the nearest train station is by car, by bus or by bicycle. I cycle 6-7km to school and back everyday. It's tiring but it's good training for MSC 2010. Melbourne Summer Cycles is an annual cycling event that helps raise funds for Multiple Sclerosis patients. It's a 40km ride around the city and I'm taking part in it this year. Hopefully I'll survive the whole ride, if not I'll just be swept up by the straggler car. That'll be embarrassing.
And my darn internet at home is not up yet. So I do all my surfing during office hours and feel bad about it. Should stop blogging now and go back to reading my research papers.
5.moon.sky
7:06 am
Well, isn't it a rare thing to find me blogging here in the middle of sem. To be fair, it's during the mid-sem break and I got bored with my extremely hard Bacto assignment.
Since my last blog post, I went on the Great Ocean Road and bought a bicycle. Great Ocean Road was great, lots of sea and rain and rocks. We went 'chasing' whales after hearing that they appeared along the coast of the Great Ocean Road, and found them in our last stop, Warrnambool. They were frolicking about 200m out from the beach, about 500m away from us. The view wasn't that clear, as they were a considerable distance away, but to be in the vicinity of such magnificent creatures flipping their fins in the sun was just awe-inspiring. Besides the whales, we visited all the rocks such as the famous 12 Apostles. I believe it's no longer 12, especially since one fell just a few days ago, and I'm glad I went to see it before more fell. Having said that though, more will form courtesy of wind and rain.
I bought a bike! It's the kind that you peddle on and not the one that you vroom-vroom around. Bought a flat bar road bike, which is designed for the road (duh). It's lighter than mountain bikes and faster too, though not as sturdy and the tyres are not as hardy. Interestingly, though I've gone cycling in Singapore, I never fully enjoyed riding. That's probably cause in Singapore, I've only cycled in the parks and never went for a bike ride. Somehow I was never invited to, and never wanted to join, night cycling activities and stuff like that. Guess I could never extrapolate the experience of cycling in parks to cycling on the road. I just didn't see the joy in it. In Melbourne, instead of walking for half an hour to the city, I can get there in 15mins on a bike. It's quite a joy to be zooming almost everywhere, and to know that you're reasonably competent in it. Instead of an extra-ordinary activity that you have to plan for, it's almost like a car: we go night riding to the city in the middle of the night impromptu just because we felt like having supper. And if I can help it, I wouldn't ride anyone else's bike unless I didn't have a choice.
Ok, enough rambling/updating. Back to Bacteriology Assignment 2: Trial Examination Question.
5.moon.sky
7:53 pm
The first semester of my second year in Vet school has finally (hopefully) concluded with the end of exams, which consisted of a whooping 9 papers. NINE. I had seven subjects, out of which two had practical papers on top of theory. It was madness, and if I pass all my papers (results are out next friday), I will be extremely proud of myself just to have survived. Through the sem, I had an average 32 contact hours per week, with lessons starting from 9 and ending at 5, with an hour break for lunch. It does sound incredulous, especially for uni curriculum in this day and age. You must think I'm mad but I actually enjoyed myself quite thoroughly. And I do not say this just because it's all over; I enjoyed myself throughout the sem amidst all that frenzy.
Firstly, the course subjects were now less broad and we were finally studying things that was more interesting. We started to learn about parasites, viruses, diseases, drugs, other than how body systems work, animal management, and general anatomy. Interest is a huge motivation for learning, and I never regretted staying on for lectures despite upcoming tests, projects and exams.
Secondly, the large amount of contact hours actually made it much easier. We were forced to pay attention for 7 hours in the day, and at least 5 hours at night after school. Such a rigorous routine made it easier to be disciplined, and it made my time very fruitful. If I was in another course with less contact hours, and more free time to manage on my own, I would probably have wasted or at least under-untilised all that time. So even though I'll spend at least 2 more years in school than most of my peers, I reckon I gained a whole lot more than most would in these 5 years. Plus, I do like routines.
Thirdly, having a small group of 120 people in my course each year means that we do get closer to more coursemates than other courses would, and that translates into more support for each other. The kind of atmosphere and interaction during lessons and between students and lecturers, as well as our strict routine, is almost like having secondary school days with triple the amount of classmates, double the amount of contact hours, but about half the rapport we have with each other. Let's face it: you're never gonna get as good friends as you do in secondary school. Despite that, competition if any is friendly, people are mostly unselfish in sharing knowledge, and support from each other and especially the lecturers will probably be the best you can get compared to other uni courses. And for that, and knowing that 100 plus people are serious about their work and also struggling as much as you are, makes things a lot easier to bear.
Having said that, no amount of support, interest or routine can take away the anguish of 1 month of prep and exams, and make it bearable. By my last papers, I was so drained I barely made it through studying. I slept an average of 8 hours a night during that whole period, but by my last paper I was getting whoozy. So imagine the exhilaration we got when we finished! We had a pizza-and-booze party in our school courtyard, after which I went out for ktv till late. It felt so free....
I had a good weekend of going out with friends, coursemates, until Monday. Went for dinner, and baam! Suddenly I was down with flu. Which felt strange, since I hardly got flu in Melb. I came down with a fever, which lasted a whole day, followed by cough and headache. Had as much porridge as my stomach could bear, took some panadols, and slept as much as my head would allow. Things seem to be better by Wednesday. I was still confined to the house but I could get up, read a book, watch some movies, and basically was quite sane. Thursday, however, saw me confined to bed again, with a slight fever, and a sleepless night. Today's Friday, and I managed to catch up on sleep, took plenty of water, and feel a bit better. All the other bouts of flu that I get usually start with a sorethroat, and those that don't start with fever. Those that start with fever usually do not last as long as this.
Boy am I glad that exams are over before this flu started! Then again, I was really taking care of myself during exams, plus I was house/library-confined, so catching the flu was less likely. After exams saw me out and about late at night, and letting my guard down against the virus, which was why it struck later than sooner.
I haven't been to the doctors, cause they usually give antibiotics which is of no use during a flu. And I was pretty sure I'd be all right on my own, considering I don't have any underlying medical conditions. Though if I had gone, I would have taken a blood test and quarantined at home with my housemate for 7 days.
Pigs may fly, I might be a swine.
5.moon.sky
8:00 pm
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5.moon.sky
4:35 pm
I'm sitting in my faculty library, in an attempt to read notes on Drugs Affecting Cardiac Contractility, while waiting for 2 more hours to pass before my next lesson. It's one of those days when I get a half a day off lessons, only to spend 3 hours out of that 4-hour break in the library studying. Such is the life of a vet student. One of the clinicians from Werribee came to Parkville to give a lunchtime lecture (yes, even our lunch hours are not spared) on careers of vet students after graduation. More specifically, she introduced us to a system of internship-residency, which is basically post-grad studies of some sort. You do a 2-year internship at a specialist clinic, while doing masters, and go on to do a residency for 4 years to finish as a specialist. That's a hell lot more of studying plus research.
Honestly, if I had no committments and no worries about money, I would seriously considering going for it. It offers a great opportunity to increase your skills in the area of interest, as well as participation in discovering new technologies and techniques in the area of medicine and science. How cool is that! Even though it's a hell load of work (she described off-hours shifts for a year in a row), it's quite a high life. Of course it's highly competitive, and my grades, personality and contacts may not get me through to the internship.
That being said, money is an issue. Going for the internship will not be much of a problem, but the residency and masters on top of the lack of income is probably too much to take. Maybe I should just spend 2 years in the internship. If I wanted to diversify after that, 2 years isn't exactly so long such that my knowledge in other areas will slack off that much. We'll see. There's 3 more years of undergrad to go.
Other than school, life in Melbourne is pretty good. There's always so much to do, like going for footy matches, road trips during hols etc. Tomorrow marks the first game of this year's footy season, and it's between Carlton and Richmond. The two upcoming teams with plenty of potential, and a clash between Carlton's Chris Judd and Richmond's Ben Cousins, both former star players of Premiership champion West Coast. I support Carlton and I'm going to the game! Tickets are just sold out and it'll be a whooping 90,000 crowd. And tomorrow's a half day! Practical class starts at 9 and ends at 1! Woohoo!
5.moon.sky
9:16 am
After mingling around with horses for a while, you begin to discover each of their own unique personalities - their likes and dislikes. Like my horse Hunter is quite quiet, and generally lets you do what you have to do in his stable, except the grooming part. He hates his sensitive areas to be touched. I've watched him ride, and so far hasn't given much problems yet. Rather easy to manage. He loves being scratched under his jaw, is always chewing and licking the back of his mouth, and loves his nostrils to be cleaned. And like any other horse, loves feeding time.
Some horses love their feed a bit more than the average. Stoneman is a horse which will eat anything, including ice. All that is usually required during feeding is to hook the feed bucket on the wall. For Stoneman, what was usually the job of one experienced person became that of three vet students. When we come round with the feed, Stoneman will turn his rear end towards us and start to paw at the ground. Pawing is usually an invitation to enter the stall, but showing his rear end brings the danger of being kicked. And when the horse is so excited, you never know what he might do. Once his front faces us and the gate, we push in, with two students holding the weight of Stoneman's head in the bucket and the last hooking the bucket on the wall. Nothing usually happens to us, except for the occasional head-butt when the horse gets impatient with us.
Feeding is usually an hour after mucking-out (stable cleaning). During that break we would usually just sit in the canteen and wait. Though yesterday, we decided to watch the trainee riders practising at the tracks.
These trainees are under a STAR (Singapore Training Academy for Racing) programme, where trainees are recruited and paid to attend a course. In this course, they learn to ride, control and race horses. Upon completion, they are qualified track riders. Track riders are recruited by trainers, who are in charge of an owner's team of race horses. The track riders exercise and train the horses according to the trainer's regime, while the jockeys ride the horses in races.
The trainee riders take care and ride a stable of horses which no longer race. Hunter and Stoneman belong to this group of horses which act as accompanying or police horses in races, during which they act to calm the racehorses with their presence and to 'catch' a racehorse if it happens to bolt off. These horses are relatively placid, easy to ride and generally have good temperaments; thus, they are also used as training horses. We vet students were assigned to the mildest of this group - Hunter, Siong Ho and Gligger, and work side by side the trainees every morning and afternoon.
So yesterday, we were watching them ride Stoneman and Hunter, and the instructor asked if we rode before. I told him I rode leisurely a couple of times in Melbourne, and he decided to let me ride! When they were done with that day's lesson, I put on the helmet, vest, gloves, and riding boots, and attempted to mount Stoneman. I did not succeed, being stiff with age and work, I simply could not swing around enough to sit on top of the horse. So they had to bring a chair for me, and I could put a foot in the stirrup and swing across. And I rode, badly. I could not hold on to the reins (I had forgotten how to hold them properly). Basically my horse was riding me instead, and the stint was too short for me to familiarise and correct myself. I got off, already starting to stiffen up even more, and feeling embarrased that I still cannot ride properly even though I could boast of having ridden a few times. Still, it was good fun, though too short.
5.moon.sky
6:45 pm
I finally understand the idiom 'straight from the horse's mouth'. This idiom is used to describe hearing an actual account or news directly from the person involved, when the news is said to be unreliable. For example, A is getting married. Are you sure about it? I heard the news 'straight from the horse's mouth' - from A herself.
As part of my course, I have to clock a total of 6 weeks of attachment on a farm and 2 weeks at an animal shelter. My attachment requires me to learn about the farm or shelter as an organisation in terms of its requirements and operating procedures, what they produce, and the animal husbandry involved. I'm not attached to the veterinary side of it. So during this holiday, I go to the Singapore Turf Club (yes it's some sort of a 'farm'/business) every morning at 7 and finish at 5pm for two weeks.
I clean the stables (mucking-out) and groom the horse. Horses have a 'flighty' temperament. You never know exactly what they are thinking, esp. what they think about you and what you're doing to them. My horse hates being groomed. It's perfectly fine with me cleaning its stall, shifting around the stable, having its hooves picked, but once you take a brush and appear in front of it, it will react. It shows its dislike by rearing its head, jerking at the ropes, grinding its teeth and showing that its ready to bite. If you hold its head steady by the ropes you risk getting bitten. If you do not get bitten and start brushing it, it sometimes run forward a little so it gets the space to kick you. What I have been shown, and what I do in such a situation, is to voice my objections when it objects. Head goes up - eh! Tries to bite - no! It's not a very refined way of controlling a horse, but sometimes you have to show them who's boss. And after all my objections at its objections, my horse lets me brush it. Intermittently, it still threatens to bite. As such, I keep a wary eye on it, stand in safe locations in front of the horse, and pray nothing happens to me while I clean it.
Too many people have too many methods in dealing with horses, and not all of them are the best to the welfare of the horse. This is because horses are dangerous creatures though useful, and extremely hard to decipher. Due to a lack of understanding, different methods in handling them develop. If only we could learn from the horse's mouth what sort of personalities they are.
5.moon.sky
7:04 pm
I've finally gotten down to uploading the pics of my house, and they are here.
School work has been keeping me on my toes, along with other committments, which explains the lack of time and patience to sit down and recount my activities to blog. I would like to record in detail all the happenings, for future reference and reflection, but I'm unfortunately unable to.
Went for Easter camp during the Easter one week break, and it was most fulfilling.
Just went to Werribbee this week, a suburb that's 1h train ride from the city (think woodlands to bugis), for my animal handling practical lessons. Despite the journey, they were the most fun. We learnt how to restrain cows, how to herd them, how to hold their heads and stick our hands in to examine their mouths, how to identify the different breeds of horses, how to record their markings, how to groom and pick up their legs etc. I always feel I learn a lot more from practicals rather than lectures, but without the lects I wouldn't know what to do in a prac either. I suppose they go hand in hand. I'll be going to werribbee 4 more times this sem, and am looking forward to it.
My driving test is on 26 June, with the Hazard perception test this coming wed. The HPT is a computer-stimulated programme to test on your safety. It'll ask you to click when you think it's safe to turn right on the screen etc. I hope I don't fail that.
My exams will only start on the second week of June, and will end before the month.
For the Spring break starting from july (in practice it starts after my exams end), I'll be going off to a farm for the first two weeks for my farm attachment, which is a requirement of my course. I have to complete 6 weeks of farm work and 2 weeks of animal shelter work in two years. Will try to finish it asap so I don't have to worry too much about it. If anyone has any contacts for farm or animal shelter work, let me know!
For the remaining two weeks of my break, I'll be going to Sydney for World Youth Day! Can't wait to see aggy and clare and css. =D
5.moon.sky
12:34 pm
I arrived back in Melb on 25 Feb. It's been more than a year since I've first came here. How things have changed! Not particularly my environment: Melbourne is still the same old as I left it. This place has made me grow, in many ways unexpected. I'm not saying Singapore did not, but that I found different dimensions in which I could grow in. My sentiment about this place have differed as well. When I first came, I hated the terrain, even though I could see things I ought to love. So I knew that it would only be a matter of time that I will love this place, and now I am slowly gearing towards that direction.
My new place is on Murphy St, across the road from VRI, the vet campus. I'll take 5 mins to walk to school, which means that I will more likely be late. Anw, it's a house with 3 bedrooms, a living room, one kitchen and one shared toilet. I'm taking the master bedroom, which is at the corner of the house, so technically I get all the cold at night since I'm not buffered by many rooms. My house is facing a primary school too, so in the day I get the sounds of kids screaming during playtime. I still like this place though, not just for its convenience. I like its serenity, despite feeling that it gets too quiet at night and too noisy in the day. This house has a peaceful feel to it. Perhaps it's the fact that it remains cool even in summer. Perhaps it's the fact that it has a small backyard and a garage, two rose bushes in front, and a small cobbled driveway along the side of the house beyond the fencing. Perhaps it's the fact that the noise in the day are joyful sounds. Perhaps it's the fact that the neighbour next to my house has an apricot tree. An apricot tree! I'm so gonna grab a basket and squat below it one day, just to catch them when they fall.
One day, I'll grab some pics instead.
Summer is ending, so is the break. Autumn is falling, and so are my grades. Oh I'm starting school on mon.
Murphy St. No Murphy's Laws I hope. future pics are here.
5.moon.sky
10:37 pm
Last day of work: Wed.
Last day in Singapore before my next summer break: today.
First day of the flip side of my double life: tomorrow.
Do ask me for the original pics if you want them.
5.moon.sky
5:00 pm
Yesterday our first customer was Jenny Chua's ex-husband, and he brought in his own bottle of wine, in our Raffles Thos SB shop paper bag. When he left and the table was cleared, I tried some of the wine leftovers from the bottle. Nice wine. I really liked it. It's a pinot noir from australia, from yarra valley in melbourne. Shall try to find it in melb. =P
5.moon.sky
11:50 am