broke.

So. I lost all my savings to books. And I blame my friend Jel. We went to Booksale twice in two days per her request, and I've fallen prey to book bargains yet again. I bought a total of 10 books. Granted, they were cheap, the cheapest being only 20 pesos. Who could resist that price? And I wouldn't trade my Kindle for anything else, but I do miss the feel of turning pages from time to time.

time flies so fast..

..even when you're not having fun.

I can't believe it's already June. It seems like yesterdays when I first started as a nurse trainee, and now my 6 months is up. I have three more days of duty left. Granted, I still have at least four days of make up duties due to my absences, especially when I went to Beijing, but hey. What's four days compared to a lifetime's worth of memories of Beijing, right?

I have duty tomorrow, but I'm still up editing the output of our case presentation. I also finished making the diagram for our pathophysiology. Gawd. Encoding it is even more toxic than making it. Nothing's changed since my college days, I still prefer working on the patho than on the history, labs, or NCPs. And for some reason, like in college, I'm still stuck with a group who tends to choose long diagnoses.

Our current case is Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding from Ruptured Esophageal Varices Secondary to Liver Cirrhosis with Portal Hypertension.

Sounds complicated, right? But it's pretty straightforward, actually. I love learning about diseases. It's so much fun, and cool. Although there's nobody else to talk about it other than fellow nurses, and doctors.

I can sense a headache coming, and hopefully a good night's sleep, albeit a short one, will cure it. I hope God will bless us with a non-toxic duty tomorrow. Plus, a less toxic duty means I can catch up on my reading. And yes, I read novels during duty. That's how much of a bookworm I am.

funsucker.

Bitch.

Gawd, I love being with friends.

Bitch is like a term of endearment. Bitch is the new red.

seeing beijing

So this is a really late post. But as they say, better late than never.

Being on duty 5 days a week is taking a toll on me. That's why I was so excited to be going on vacation. Little did I know, that there won't be any time for relaxation once we stepped foot on Beijing.

In a span of four days, we walked from the Forbidden City to Tour Tian’anmen Square; we climbed a part of the Great Wall of China; we visited the Summer Palace, the Temple of Heaven; we went to see Ming's Tomb; we took pictures at the Olympic Complex; we went on the Hutong Tour and got to ride rickshaws; we visited the Jade Museum and the Silk Factory; we drank different kinds of tea at the Tea House; we watched the Acrobatic Show; went bargain hunting at the Xiu Shui Bargain Market; went window shopping at Wangfujing Street.

Sounds busy, right? We kept on walking, and every night, my legs would be screaming for mercy. But all in all, it was a great vacation, and Beijing is definitely a place I'd like to see again.

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What I Love Most About Beijing

1. It's a city rich in culture and history. They really preserved artifacts, relics and buildings from their past.
2. It's a very clean city.
3. The wild roses. You should see them in full bloom. Awesome.
4. Great food. We ate like emperors.
5. Pandas! So cute and "luggable" (according to my nephew, that's a mash-up of lovable and huggable).

What I Hate Most About Beijing

1. Their squatting toilets. Come on. Who would enjoy peeing on the floor?
2. The care squat about nudity. The reason doors have locks is so you could lock them. But a lot of them don't even bother to lock or fully close the doors while in the bathroom. And a Chinese woman wiping her ass is not something I'd care to see again.
3. They give you small plates in the restaurants. This is frustrating for a Filipino, and extremely vexing for me. I am a rice eater, and proud of it. So when given a plate that would hold only a small amount of food, it really annoyed me.
4. Rude locals. I mean, really. I could not count the number of times they would bump into me, and never look back and say sorry.
5. Locals can't speak English. I'm not judging, I mean, I am Chinese, but I'm a Filipino through and through so I can't speak decent Mandarin. What I'm trying to point out is that their country is a haven for tourists from all over the world. Learning basic English couldn't hurt.

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Days Inn Joiest Hotel. Where we stayed.


The world famous Great Wall of China.


Chairman Mao.

Inside the Forbidden City.

Imagine preserving places like this.