Another stay-home day

This morning saw ambulance along the road outside my room window..someone from opp row of house was brought to hospital..

Anyway today was another stay-home day. Planned to finish my assignment so that I can send it off to Dr Steve for some comments before final submission on Fri.

Shaggy hair today

Scenery from my toilet day (or is it called ceiling) window

Indian treat from L's friend, T (who owns an Indian restaurant). YUMS! Is potatoes with green peas and mince meat

Almost done with assignment..now is the painful bit of cutting down words =( But progressing well. Hopefully I can finish tomorrow then head out for grocery shopping tmr pm. I'm planning to bake some time this week too so need to get ingredients. Too bad when L said she was going Tesco and if I wanted anything, I wasn't ready with my shopping list...so shall go myself tomorrow. Might head to Bearwood instead or Barnes Hill (where I found tt there's a nearer ASDA).

Watching Hairy Bikers programme on television now...today's is baking and they are in Austria! Can't wait to go travelling after course ends..hah

SUNday

This morning went into Uni cos wanted to try out the Lutheran service at the Chaplaincy. Traffic was much lighter on Sundays and I took only 20min to get to Uni from my hse! Once again, very small congregation..only had 16 people today! Most from Tanzania (who are students)...everyone was very welcoming especially Rev John Evenson, also Uni's Lutheran Chaplain. Order of service was the same as back home but without organ or piano...not sure if it's just cos today but I don't see any organ or keyboard or in fact, any musical instrument ard! So in that instance it felt different from BLC. Joined them for refreshments after which was pastries, yummy scones and drinks. Found out from a member (Richard who is originally from NZ and wife is Indian) that this is the largest Lutheran congregation in B'ham! He said he and his wife attends the Selly Oak Methodist Church (which he says has the largest Methodist congregation here) on Sundays that St Marks do not have services..I did mention that I attended the one near my place and it was v cosy. Anyway, St Francis Hall building which we were at is where the Multi-faith Chaplaincy is so there was a group of Romanians having BBQ..

Uni clock tower again..love the clouds!

What the locals call beautiful day! Sunny but cool winds

Having gone to two congregations now, I start to wonder if all the pretty church buildings I see along the way were all sparsely filled on Sundays? Where have the people of God gone to? I doubt it's because of the many churches around that people attend different churches. Or maybe the population of B'ham is small..actually I haven't checked what is the population size before. Ok, just checked..

Birmingham (ⁱ/ˈbɜrmɪŋəm/, locally /ˈbɜrmɪŋɡəm/) is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London with 1,074,300 residents (2011 census), an increase of 96,000 over the previous decade.^[2]

Ok, so maybe it really is a small city. But also, I think people are not going to church much these days - rather do other things on the weekend. I always thought the Christian population in western countries is much higher than in SG so expected to see crowded churches..or at least filled..like those I went in Adelaide. Today Rev John was just saying about giving to the poor and disadvantaged..when we get more well-off, we seem to forget that.

Oh yes, Richard was giving homemade apple sauce to the new students after asking if we cook..haha! He said their fridge is full of apples from their apple tree!!! I'm sooo blessed. I was telling him I just had pork and it would've gone well with apple sauce!

Homemade apple sauce in a 450g tub!

After church went to Bearwood and yes, I got my calculator I reserved online within 5 mins!! The concept is v cool I find..I just had to make payment and wait for my turn to collect my item. SG should consider such shops!

My calculator

Went to Aldi which was also along Bearwood and bought iceberg lettuce (45 pence), broccoli (55 pence), a loaf of bread and a bag of conference pears (99 pence). Wanted to buy apples, rice and oil (yes, I haven't bought oil yet) but too heavy. Things seemed cheaper there but had difficulties finding UHT milk and canned coconut milk (to cook my Panang curry). Shall come back again some time next week. One thing that is unique of Aldi is cashiers sit, not stand..and you are expected to self-pack cos they just scan the items and collect payment!

After I reached home, continued to work on my assignment. Was getting sleepy with the stats and journals..so in between played some hp games. Then made dinner. Wanted more space in the freezer so thought I should just cook the ready-cooked lasagne...then added some veges to go with it.

my "salad" with apple sauce

dinner for today! Kept half of it cos couldn't finish

this evening was quite funny..i became L n T messenger. It started when L called me on my mobile to open door for T..then we exchanged no.s else he couldve called me directly..then i asked hw to spell his name n realised i got it wrong! Shld be C..hah! N learnr tt he is a Muslim but dun pray..nt long after he came home n i was watching tv downstairs while having my dinner, i went bk my rm. Then he called out to me saying i can feel free to watch tv downstairs. He must hv thot i came up my rm cos he came home. But is cos the show ended n i wanted to shower. Then not long ltr L called my mobile again..this time to ask C to ans her call..haha

I'm left with last section of my assignment - shall continue tomorrow. While I was at it just now, got msg from A. saying he managed to find the ebook that I wanted (Dr Steve had recommended at the start of our course and I thought of buying liao)!! Was so happy..hehe..saved me $ and luggage space (later on when I go home..hehe!) He's very tech savvy!! So lihai to look for ebooks and will share info/resources. So I guess it's a blessing to be in the same programme with him so can help one another. For those who may be thinking about something else, no, we're just classmates.

闭门修炼

While typing this, I'm very tired though it's only 6.30pm here. I spent practically the whole day on my assignment but it's not particularly well-written nor hugely referenced. I have no idea why Dr Steve says the report can be done within 2 evenings...probably if you have prior Occ Health knowledge. I'm still about half way only. Honestly, I'm not sure how much info is needed for each part though marks are allocated..I guess I will only know by the word count (limit is 1500).

In the morning did a helpful yet silly thing..I combined some of my washing with L's cos she had some in the machine and I wanted to use it. End up dark colour ran on the whites..I freaked out. Sigh...apologised and she said it was ok. Later she again told me she got them to crystal white. Why she put them in the machine was cos she used that as her laundry basket..and she'll usually sort white and coloured clothes. Well, I guess from now on, if her clothes are in the machine, I will just take hers out and do my washing and put back hers. So paiseh lah! Well, at least now I know.

Called home today including to my paternal grandmother..had to still use Viber cos I realised I can't call from my mobile unless I bought boosters (which costs £10 for 60min of intl calls within 30 days). Tried to chat with my relatives who have their almost-weekly gathering at the airport but they couldn't hear me clearly..guess cos it was very noisy in their background. Anyway, I shall just buy a booster for internet some time next week (£2.50 for 5 days) to use up my remaining £3+ credit. I managed to get my PAC code and I just submitted my transfer my no. to giffgaff to be transferred on 18th Oct.

Thought this was a strange sight..grey skies with sunlight

Tomorrow going into Uni cos there's a Lutheran Church linked to the Uni Chaplaincy...supposed to have service on 1st and 3rd Sun every month. Can't get v updated info on website. If there's no service then I guess I'll just go and get my calculator. Have reserved one at Argos and I just need to collect it from Bearwood by Mon. This Argos shop is quite cool..the shopfront only has stacks and stacks of catalogue and some counters. I saw the website and saw some stuff quite cheap then wanted to see the actual thing at the shop and when I went in, I walked a bit then came out cos it didn't look like a shop! The concept is v different from our usual shops.

Oh yes, I don't think I mentioned that how glad I am that I'm not staying in a hostel. A. was telling us that he didn't sleep on Thu night cos the hostel's fire alarm went off three times!! And when a fire alarm goes off, everyone is expected to evacuate outdoors! Imagine doing that at 3am, 5am and 6+am!!! Oh my..how lucky I am! I didn't think about it when I was deciding on my accommodation. Anyway the smoke alarm went off that's why there were fire alarms...once was cos someone cooked..another was someone tried to smoke. DUH rite?? How blessed I am to be in a cosy home =)

Finally Friday!!!

Packed ham and cheese sandwich again for lunch and also had peanut butter sandwich and yoghurt for breakfast - used up my loaf of bread!

I took the bus to High St then walked to uni this morning..it was still drizzling a bit but the winds were strong so no point opening umbrella. I took 17mins to walk so I reached Uni at 8.40am. Then Dr Steve came in class and asked if we stayed from yesterday. I wondered why..then after that realised that classes only start at 9.30am! I assumed it starts at 9am today..hahaha! But good la..at least early, not late. Then on further look of the timetable, realised that today's lectures quite short. Just sharing some of the pics along the route I take during the walk.

This is the Queen Elizabeth Hospital that is opp the Uni

The path leading to the hospital and above it is the linkbridge to the old QE Building

Nice enough, the program administrator, Anna, bought some mini doughnuts and choc chip cookies for the class. I couldn't quite hear what she said when she brought them in before class..haha!

Oh ya, I probably didn't mention that I was beginning to dislike someone in cls..or rather I don't like her character and it was clearly displayed during our small group discussion. She seems to be the show off kind yet act shy..kept pushing others in the group to do the presenting. I mean...if you don't want to do, you don't have to say you don't want to do cos you don't want to stress over it and present the next day. Come on, the way you put it...then also every few mins asked who's the one to present during Thu's grp discussion. Actually I was pissed off when during our first grp discussion on Tue, since I brought my laptop in, she said "you do the slides" conveniently. I mean, of course I'll do it since I have the laptop..but I felt she could've put it in a nicer way. Then I sent out to everyone after we are done. The next day, she said she got the slides then said if she was the one doing it, she'll include some examples of upper limb disorders n stuff and I replied her saying that I discussed with another clsmate who agreed to present that he'll say them, no need to write down. DUH...then cos this clsmate had presented in another ppt on Wed, Dr Steve says not for them to present again. So that's why on Thu this group member was sooo uptight abt who to present. I was ok to present but I wasn't familiar with UK legislations and stuff which was needed in the presentation. Btw, she's not a local but seems to know a lot abt UK stuff (maybe have some background here).

Was introduced to Reference Manager software which helps in referencing..but too bad it's only accessible on uni comps..my laptop does not have and I heard from A. have to buy it..he uses Endnote, also another referencing software. To think we did it manually in NYP and UniSA days! But of course, after these Reference software outputs the references, we still got to check cos may have some error in the way they reference.

After tt stayed back a while to discuss about our worksite visit and assignment with A. and N. (Dr from Indo) which was pretty useful even for me cos we were in diff groups so what they saw was slightly different..and we figured out the processes at the foundry together.

Wanted to show the grey cloudy skies and sunlight I saw after class..but didn't seem to appear well.

Undecided what to cook, I headed to Iceland (supermart along High St) to have a look. Then I realised that they sell frozen meat (maybe other stores do too but I didn't notice). So bought a 500g (4 slices) pack of pork shoulder steak for £2 (it is cheaper than the chilled ones) and decided to roast. The pork chops came in 900g pack which is by no way going to get into the packed freezer.

My dinner..of course, not all! Half and kept other half for tomorrow

Managed to catch the pretty skyline of the evening sun

This weekend will do my assignment. Dr Steve has offered to be sent a completed draft by Tue if need him to give general comments (which I guess I will) but of course, this is only cos this is our first assignment. Following week's module (Epidemiology, Stats & Research Methods) timetable is out..Oh my..stats and calculations again! And I realised this time I didn't bring my calculator with me. Saw that my hp has scientific calculator function but I'm not sure if we can use or need during exam (yes, there's an exam for this module)..if not will get one when I'm next out shopping. I've some stuff to buy on my mental list already...just wanna finish assignment then can go and shop but definitely going grocery shopping on Mon when it's less crowded.

Oh ya, I opened the dark chocolate with hazelnuts yesterday. It was VERY yummy! Hehe..

foggy and rainy day

This morning only took about 40min to travel to Uni from my hse so reached Uni at 8.30am (classes start at 9am). Was rather foggy this morning. Rainy yesterday and today too. Oh yes, tried the coffee powder I bought this morning..now that's good ang moh coffee!

foggy morning...can't see clock tower

Had quite an overwhelming day in Uni today. Didn't quite understand about exposure limits an how to read the table and I was being asked in class..how unfortunate! I'm still struggling to understand these Occ Health terms and I kinda regret not knowing more before I came over (I didn't quite have the time or luxury to make friends with our friendly Occ Health Drs and staff)...so even when I'm asked abt SG practice, I can't share too. Oh well, maybe time to establish contacts.

Had pie again for lunch..this morning had baked it in the oven instead so it was less hard by the afternoon. We were briefed about referencing and then brought to the Medical Sch library where the majority of our references are held (if not online). Decided to try walking home today since the rain had stopped and it was pretty cooling, not cold. Managed to find my way and it took me really just 20mins!! I might consider walking to Uni in the mornings too in this case..also to warm my body up a bit.

Metchey Park Rd where I've to walk through

After I washed my container, don't know what made me throw something in the kitchen bin and I saw a leaflet with giffgaff (telco that I'm switching to) on it and pulled it out and saw tt it was my long awaited SIM card!! Prob L thought that it was junk mail and it did look like cos it was not in a proper envelope and my address and name looked kinda part of the ad..hahaha! Just topped up £10 of airtime credit cos I doubt I will use data or call people that often in a month. Will probably use them when I need to. Now I've got to use up my credit on T-mobile (which I am on now) then call them to get a PAC number and then I can transfer my number over. I was even considering if I should leave the no. so can use when my friends or family come and visit. But then again, I also have another entirely new T-mobile SIM card. Shall decide over the weekend.

L and T came home together today..Then L said that I've a present..for a moment I thought someone had sent a parcel but I was wondering why it wasn't sent in the morning. Turns out that it's a present from T..so funny!! See below..hello kitty notebook and matching pen. I thanked him and said it's toooo cute for me! Then L laughed too and said imagine you using it in Uni when it's supposed to be serious! Haha! Then he asked me what kind of magazines I like reading so said baking related or recipe kind of magazines..then I said it's ok..then he said something like they don't cost him a cent. I said I don't mind back issues too then he said no, he gets the latest. Asked him what he worked as but I couldn't quite catch his accent..only heard is some french company..haha..then while talking, L took out a book on cupcakes and passed to me. But in there was a basic recipe of cupcakes then others were recipes for decorating the cupcakes..not my kind so returned to her..hehe..then T teased L of her 2nd attempt of brownie again..

(left) gift from T; (right) baking book L lent me to read

Took the opportunity to ask what kind of cakes T likes (L self-confessed that she's not really a cake lover nor baker) and he said any kind except without icing. Then L mentioned she'll bake pineapple upside down cake and I said I've baked tt before..haha..told them I'll bake some time..L replied anytime! See how things go next week. If I manage to finish and submit my assignment early, might bake during the week since no formal classes next week. Not sure what to bake yet. Will look for inspiration then..and prob also get my baking supplies.

Finally tomorrow is the last day of teaching week for this module. Saw email that personal tutor (who is the programme lead) will be meeting us at lunch tmr as a group. Meeting A. to discuss about the assignment after class tomorrow too since class end early.

I miss my family and friends...and local food...esp breakfast and HOT lunches...but I'm very thankful for the love I'm getting through L & T and also via whatsapp with my loved ones back home. Dad didn't manage to get kidney stones removed in the end so will await for scan next week to see what's the Dr's plan.

I will need to get more winter wear too. Prob will go shopping next weekend after I submit my assignment.

to the foundry

Today was the worksite visit to a foundry!

Gave myself more than an hr to travel to uni today cos I didn't want to miss the bus to the foundry! End up taking about an 1h!! I really am considering walking halfway. Before I left the house, I was wondering why Poppy's stomach area and butt was making so much noise..it was as if he's grunting loudly! Then she began licking (I was behind her) then I saw puke on the carpet. Quickly informed L abt it. Hope she's ok.

It was an eyeopener for me who hasn't gone to any factories apart from the paper recycling one and those food producing factories..hahaa! As they say, pictures speak a thousand words..so here they are.

What they produce

Another example of what they produce

Heating steel

Grinding the steel

Painting for export

Forging the steel at heat furnace of 1400°C (See movie)

Transporting to another equipment

Hammer

Leaving it to cool

We spent about an hour on the visit and some time briefing and debriefing. After that, Dr Steve (programme lead) told the driver to drive through Handsworth so we could see the Africa and Middle Eastern community. And there I saw Soho road..and many Sikh temples around! Dr Hubert (deputy programme lead) commented it's like Little India in SG! Hahha!

During the visit, half the time I was just taking down notes (whatever I could make out of it) and photos. A. asked if we could discussed cos I think he didn't understand most of the process due to English and their slang and acronyms. Had my steak pie for lunch but it was hard and quite cold :(

Well, thankfully, after lunch, we had to do up a group presentation and from the discussion (though still as firing but clearer this time cos different group), I managed to have a better idea. Feel more assured now..and surprisingly, the group felt that musculoskeletal disorders was the main hazard identified in the worksite! Cos I was already planning to do that even before the visit...imagine me writing about noise hazard, how many decibels and stuff!! Totally not my area!

Dropped by High street stores cos my coffee stock was running low. Today saw L making coffee for T in the morning and realised I can just buy instant coffee granules instead of 3-in-1 sachets! So I ended up with this strong coffee. Hope it works! Also got myself Tetrapack of 1L juice.

Dinner tonight is dhal that L's friend brought over. Seems that he brought over yesterday and L whatsapped to tell me only at night so by then had my dinner..and this morning I packed lunch so told her I'll have it for dinner. U see, L's friend opens an Indian restaurant in Moseley (L used to be a partner too but not anymore)..it IS VERY yummy!! Finally something spicy here!

Dhal!!!

Thankful for A. to pass us soft copies of some Occ Health books..I was actually considering of buying 2 of them which everyone else seemed to be familiar with...we shall see how things go. Glad that we can share our resources freely too else I'll struggle with all these Occ Health stuff.

Oh ya, we just got our list of personal tutors...guess what! My personal tutor is the programme lead himself! haha..

Tmr's second last day of the teaching week. I'm sooo looking forward to Fri and the weekend and next week, actually..After tt will be a 2-week teaching week followed by exam and assignment :(

Chatted with L after dinner when she came home. Realised that she has been having students since 1980!! They stay a range of weeks to years!! I'm guessing her daughter should be about my age (didn't dare ask more) but she did share that she had students for company as well as to make her daughter know that not everyone is like her so well-off.

Starting on my assignment...

2nd day of Uni

2nd day of Uni.
Woke up cos of a silly bad dream early this morning..managed to sleep back a little. Gave myself 45 min for the bus rides to Uni...almost thought I'll be late due to slow traffic at High Street...thanks to the single lane per direction roads we have here. But I was just on time. 2nd lecturer said about walking to Harborne takes about 20min...I really should try out one of the evenings!! That'll bring me to High Street where the other bus I take has higher frequency.

Today's lectures were on Occupational History! Oh my goodness...I actually wondered why this was in there...cos there won't be any assessment on it (PHEW!!). How practical am I right? But I guess it helps us fit the whole picture better. One lecturer in particular was pretty *ahem* boring..hehe..ate sweets to keep me awake.

Had sandwich again for lunch. At the end of the afternoon session, we had group discussion. Oh my..luckily I decided to bring my laptop in (though it was quite heavy). We were supposed to do a grp presentation on Thu morning. So anyway, naturally I became the one doing up the slides since I've the laptop but I didn't mind cos throughout the group discussion, I was a bit lost!! The way they give their ideas..oh myyyy...so scattered that I didn't quite know what they wanted to put in the slide. But I assure u, they can really talk their way!! That's prob why asians tend to lose out in such situations. At least we managed to finish it and sent off to the members. Then met A. and Nur (Dr from Indo) still in class (realised all had left except us!!) and they were saying like A. was lost, good listener and by the time he wanted to express his views, the others chucked in..oops! So I wasn't the only one who felt like that. Anyway, still quite unfamiliar with the substance names. Tomorrow will be the worksite visit and grp presentation on the visit. The assignment due next Fri will be based on the worksite visit report. Hopefully I can catch the content better la.

Waited ages for the stupid bus to High St again but I didn't dare to try walking cos I don't have data plan on my mobile and didn't wanna get lost! Cooked the pork rib noodles for dinner and tmr's dinner (I wonder why it's called pork ribs noodles cos I can't find any seasoning powder though ingredients stated is pork powder. Anyway, had enough of sandwiches for lunch two days in a row. Prob will pack steak pie tomorrow. Quite looking forward to the worksite visit to a (apparently very dirty) foundary (factory that produces metal castings). Doubt I'll ever go to one in SG..so great opportunity!