Really thank God for His grace.. kinda amazing when I think that I could pass anatomy. Almost failed with that terrible professor.

First year of medicine completed. Feels really amazing, because God has been with me all these while. Through troubled times and joyful times, His strength and comfort was all I needed. My sustainer, my water of life, my shield..

Going back soon. Hmm haven’t started packing my bags though.

Today I woke up early and dragged myself around the house to start the mammoth task of cleaning it. Vacuum, mop, sweep, wipe, wash.. First the kitchen, then the toilet, then the bathroom, then my room, then the hallway.. I think my house is quite habitable now. Especially pleased with the entrance area. It used to be a netherworld of shoes and stockings and boxes. I bought shoe racks and arranged everything properly. Hope it stays that way.

Then cooked lunch and had some friends over. Ate, talked, hung out.

Now that I think of it, really wondered how I could manage to do all that in 1 morning. Really tired now though.

Hmm.. few more days left in Prague. What to do, what to do..

Closing with this song.. Really nice.

“So hold me Jesus, ’cause I’m shakin’ like a leaf
You have been King of my Glory
Won’t you be my Prince of Peace”

Stumbled across this song when I was blog-surfing. Should be revising now but somehow my thoughts drifted off.

Thought about Kuching, and how I miss Malaysian food. Kolo mee, Sarawak laksa, teh C peng..

How I would  go to the kopitiam every morning with my mum and have breakfast while reading newspaper (sound so apek, I know).

All the more reason to study harder now, eh? I do not relish the idea of not being able to pass the exams. By God’s grace, I pray I can. Really, seriously praying that I can pass and go home. 1 year of being abroad definitely makes the heart grow fonder of home.

Ah, home.

Still, I am shaking like a leaf, figuratively. Less than 10 days to my first major exam, and I am still struggling to finish my revision. Just have to try my best. I really wanna shine for His glory and not let Him, my family and my friends down.

Just have to try.

Go, Ian.

We are having a long (long as in 4 days) holiday to relax. Feels nice to take the mind off studying for a while.

Yesterday was Dean’s Day, there was not supposed to be any lessons going on but our kind evil sexist pervert doctor held a 2-hour-mind-numbing-lesson-which-forced-me-outta-bed-when-I-should-be-sleeping consultation for us. It was nice of him to be teaching when he could be doing nothing, but I guess he feels it is important to finish the syllabus in time.

Last night there was a Good Friday service in my church. I was chosen by Pastor Gareth to read a short passage from Mark. I read the wrong part when I went up the podium though. The deafening silence when I realized I was reading another person’s part was really.. enlightening. I was like o.O okay sorry lo..

Today there is supposed to be some kind of service at another church too. It will last until midnight.. hmm, wonder what it will be like.

Then tomorrow is Easter Sunday! The day when we celebrate Christ’s resurrection will also be a really special day in my life when I get baptised. Not sure what I am supposed to feel now.

Wasted whole day doing nothing. Aih.. sien..

We are having dissection course for the summer semester. It has been 3 days since it started, and there is only 1 word to describe it: exhausting. Maybe it is only me, but I feel that the dissection this time is much less interesting compared to the one last time. Maybe I like muscles more. Dunno. Somehow internal organs are just.. well, boring. Or maybe because this time there are fewer demonstrators to teach us. The dissection rooms are packed like a macabre cadaver market during the winter dissection course. Now it seems less cheerful..

I hope I get Sedmera again for the exam on 31st. Seriously, he is the best lecturer and the one I like the most so far – with his impeccable English and humorous antics.

I really should be revising the internal organs and head right now. Laziness wins as always. Oh speaking of which, I found out that medical students can come up with really horny and dirty mnemonics to remember things, for example:

Oh oh oh, to touch and feel, virgin girls’ vagina and hymen..

Okay now all those are for remembering cranial nerves instead of -

Olfactory, ophthalmic, occulomotor, trochlea, trigeminal… You get what I mean.

There is even a whole website dedicated to medical mnemonics lol. Some of them are really dirty like

Some anatomists like f*cking, others prefer S&M (this is for branches of external carotid artery)

The amazing thing is that I think these mnemonics are kinda universal. I vaguely remember my brother telling me the one about cranial nerves but I just brushed it off because never in my life before this would I even think that I could be memorising them in the future. And here I am, memorising courses of arteries, nerves, muscles, plexus yada yada.

I learned a lot though. Never thought that human body is so, well, compact. There is no free space in the body! As time goes on, myths about human body are busted – like when people like to think that the heart is somewhat on the left, but truth is it is actually quite centred in the midline.

And I never knew that lungs could be so spongy – I used to think that they are thin fragile balloons o.O

Oh do not even get me started on the head. The most complex part of the body – period. No wonder human are such complicated, idiotic creatures – we have too many stuff jumbled up in a tiny cavity thingamajig with all sorts of blood vessels and nerves coming in and out of that horrifying labyrinthine thingie. Gah.

Ah well, have to learn them anyway.

Really tired now, so I am going to take a nap before going back to all those organs again. Ish.

The feeling of being conscious of everything around you leaves a very confusing state of mind. It feels as if drugs are coursing through my bloodstream and everything seems to be clearer.

Sometimes I wonder whether this is a blessing. I realized that since coming to Prague, I am able to remember a lot more things, things I could not imagine I could commit to memory. Sometimes things I see are seared into my mind, so I could not forget them. This state of consciousness takes its toll on me, though. Headaches, nausea and fatigue. I can concentrate and remember a lot of things in a short period of time, at the price of taking my brain to hell and back. At the end of it I can feel nothing except the intense pain and throbbing in my head.

And after sleeping it out, I could retrieve the memory especially if under pressure, for example, an exam or test. Which is a good thing, I guess. That kind of super-conscious feeling, of awakeness and razor sharp focus sometimes drains the life out of me. Bad thing is, I could not keep everything in for long. After 1 month, the memory is wiped off cleanly and I would have to start all over again.

Yet I thank God for this blessing He has bestowed on me. I count my blessings, and thank Him for everything He has done.