In 2021, I have 4 weeks of summer break between 2 August 2021 and 28 August 2021, after the end of my Teaching Fellowship at Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed). Here, I am going to write about the summer break.
My summer break is shorter this year compared to the previous year. This is also the last long break in my life.
On 1 August 2021, I moved out of EcoNest, the condominium I rented and lived in throughout my Teaching Fellowship at NUMed. My parents came to EcoNest to pick me up and bring me back to Subang Jaya. Malaysia had been under the Full Movement Control Order (MCO) since 1 June 2021 due to the worsening Covid-19 situation. Under the Full MCO, interstate travel wasn't allowed unless with special permit from the police. My parents managed to get the permit. That was my first time meeting my parents after so many months.
At that time, I had made the decision to do my House Officer training at Kluang hospital. Kluang hospital is one of the hospitals recognised by the UK General Medical Council (GMC) for the purpose of gaining GMC Full Registration under NUMed's ARCP programme, and it has a relatively less stressful work environment compared to other hospitals. It was very difficult get a permanent Medical Officer post in Malaysia due to the limited places and high competition, while contract Medical Officers were ineligible to do specialty training in Malaysia. That made GMC Full Registration really important, as it would give me the option of doing specialty training in UK in case I failed to get a permanent Medical Officer post after completing House Officer training. I planned to have my grandparents stay with me in Kluang during my House Officer training so that I could look after them.
On that day, I told my parents for the first time about my plan regarding House Officer training and explained my rationale for that. However, my parents weren't supportive of my decision, as their felt that the long distance of Kluang from Kulim would make it logistically difficult to get my grandparents moved to Kluang; they also kept downplaying the seriousness of the situation regarding permanent Medical Officer posts and specialty training in Malaysia and the importance of getting GMC Full Registration. My parents then changed the topic. They criticised me for failing to clean my unit at EcoNest before moving out, which meant that the owner would likely charge a cleaning fee.
I replied to my parents that it wasn't worth my efforts to clean the EcoNest unit and I had agreed to pay the cleaning fee to the owner, so there's no need to talk about that any further, instead we should focus on the plan to get my grandparents moved to Kluang. However, my parents continued to criticise me for not cleaning the EcoNest unit while dismissing my plans to do House Officer training in Kluang. It was infuriating that instead of focussing on my future plans which was obviously the most important matter, my parents fixated on the cleaning fee which was so inconsequential. Furious, I told my parents loudly and firmly that my decision was final and I would go ahead with it regardless of whether they approve it or not, and I shut down the conversation about the cleaning fee. Reluctantly, my parents backed down.
Later in the afternoon, we arrived our house in Subang Jaya. I hadn't been home for 210 days since 3 January 2021. I couldn't go home during the Chinese New Year in February 2021 due to the MCO. That was even longer than the previous year, where I was away from home for 198 days from 27 January 2020 to 12 August 2020, also because of the MCO. On that evening, I had Lim Fried Chicken for dinner. It's my most favourite fried chicken in Subang Jaya and it had been several years since I last had it.
On 2 August 2021, NUMed disabled my staff email and IT account, following the end of my Teaching Fellowship. Despite my earlier request for an extension, it wasn't granted. On 3 August 2021, I had chicken varuval for lunch. On that evening, I had my favourite British fish and chips from Cor Blimey for dinner. I really liked it for its authentic British style. Due to the Full MCO, I couldn't dine in at any restaurants, nor I could travel anywhere 10km further away from my house in Subang Jaya. I had to order every meal through take away or delivery. Being quite bored at home, I spent my free time watching the 2020 Summer Olympics and playing the game Plants vs Zombies on my iPad.
I had chosen to defer the start of my House Officer training for 6 months during the previous intake in March 2021, as I wanted to complete my Teaching Fellowship at NUMed first. Therefore, I had expected that my House Officer training intake would be in September 2021. However on 4 August 2021, I was unexpectedly told that the House Officer training intake had been brought forward and I had to do the hospital selection for my House Officer training on the next day. I had missed the email as it got marked as spam, but thankfully my friend alerted me to that. I wasn't ready to start House Officer training so soon, but as I had already deferred once, I didn't have the option to defer once more.
At 12 noon on 5 August 2021, I did the hospital selection for House Officer training through the e-Housemen website. I firmly decided to choose Kluang hospital. I previously thought of doing the hospital selection at an internet cafe with high-speed internet connection to maximise my chances of choosing my preferred hospital, but that wasn't possible at that time as internet cafes were closed due to the MCO. I had no choice but to do it at home, hoping that the WiFi connection would be fast and stable enough. Due to a large number of users, the e-Housemen website lagged for a few moments. I nearly got a panic attack when I saw that Kluang hospital only had 5 vacancies. Thankfully, I managed to choose Kluang hospital successfully. Right after that, I applied for Provisional Registration with the UK GMC, which is required for NUMed's ARCP programme that leads to GMC Full Registration. On that afternoon, I ordered stuffed chicken breast with bacon from Uncle Don's for lunch. In the evening, I had mala noodles for dinner.
On 6 August 2021, I was granted my GMC Provisional Registration. On that afternoon, I bought chicken maryland from Victoria Station in USJ Taipan for my lunch. The last time I had Victoria Station was when I was still a little kid more than 20 years ago, at the outlet in Butterworth. After lunch, my father drove me to Petaling Jaya for a look, without getting down the car. On 7 August 2021, I had apam balik for my afternoon snack. On that evening, I ordered my dinner from Tangkak Beef Noodle. It's a preview of my upcoming life in Kluang, as Tangkak Beef Noodle has a famous outlet in Kluang. The 2020 Summer Olympics concluded on 8 August 2021. Malaysia obtained 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal, which was quite a good result.
On 9 August 2021, both of my mentees under NUMed's Come Together (CT) programme successfully got the NUMed Teaching Fellow post for the upcoming academic year. I was so glad to know that. In the following days, I looked on the internet for rental houses in Kluang. I managed to get in touch with a rental agent. She recommended a house to me, but it looked rather old and underwhelming and was located quite far away from Kluang hospital, so I wasn't keen to rent it. The agent then recommended another house for me. This house looks really nice from the outside and is partially furnished. It's located in Bandar Seri Impian near Kluang hospital and the rental price is quite reasonable. I was interested to rent it, but I wanted to have a look at the interior of the house before making a decision.
On 11 August 2021, my mother brought me to Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 13 to get a Medical Officer to certify the documents required for my House Officer training. However, there was no Medical Officers at Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 13 at that time and I was told to go to Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 14 instead. I managed to get my documents certified by a Medical Officer at Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 14. The building of Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 14 was quite new and it looked much better compared to Klinik Kesihatan Puchong Batu 13. With my documents certified, I proceeded to apply for Provisional Registration with the Malaysian Medical Council (MMC). Later that day, the rental agent gave me a virtual tour of the house in Bandar Seri Impian, Kluang through video calling. The interior of the house looks really nice, and I decided to rent it. I paid the rental deposit on that day. On that evening, I had Pao Xiang Bak Kut Teh for dinner.
On 12 August 2021, my mother brought me to Pejabat Hasil to remit the Hasil stamps for my House Officer job contract. In the afternoon, I had pizzas for lunch. On that evening, I bought pandan chicken from Absolute Thai in Main Place Mall for dinner. I also bought a chocolate cheese cake from Berry's Cake House for desserts. On 13 August 2021, I was granted my MMC Provisional Registration. On 15 August 2021, I had nasi lemak for lunch. Around that time, I ordered a mattress, washing machine and water heater for the house in Bandar Seri Impian, Kluang, and the rental agent helped me arrange the installation. I chose to forgo getting an air conditioner for the time being. I had wanted to go back to Kulim to visit my grandparents for a few days. Unfortunately, I couldn't get an interstate travel permit to travel to Kulim.
On 16 August 2021, my CT programme mentees began their Teaching Fellowship at NUMed. On that afternoon, I went to Uncle Don's again and bought Melaka Portuguese Asam Pedas Fish for lunch. I then had a blackforest cake from Berry's for desserts. On 17 August 2021, I once again ordered my favourite British fish and chips from Cor Blimey for my dinner. I had pork noodles for lunch on 18 August 2021. On 19 August 2021, my parents brought me to the Subang Jaya police station to get an interstate travel permit to go to Kluang. My parents had wanted to follow me to Kluang, but they weren't granted the permit. Only I was granted the permit as I would be travelling there to begin my House Officer training. On that evening, I and my parents ordered a mini steamboat from Mr Fish for dinner. On 20 August 2021, I had tomyam chicken from Thai Moment in USJ Taipan for dinner.
On 21 August 2021, I drove from Subang Jaya to Kluang myself. My parents followed me into the highway in their car, then they made a U-turn at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) before crossing the Selangor-Negeri Sembilan border. My parents would be bringing my grandparents to live with me in Kluang later once interstate travel is allowed. The traffic on the highway was very smooth with only a few cars. I encountered a police checkpoint, but I could get through it since I had the interstate travel permit. I arrived Kluang in the afternoon and went straight to my rental house at Bendar Seri Impian. The last time I was in Kluang was 18 months ago in March 2020, just before the start of the first MCO. The rental agent met me at the house and handed me the keys, then I moved into the house. On that evening, I ordered my dinner from Xiang La La Mala Hotpot in Kluang. Xiang La La Mala Hotpot has outlets in Johor Bahru and it had been my favourite during my MBBS course and Teaching Fellowship at NUMed. I was so glad that it has an outlet in Kluang which meant that I could keep having it from now on.
At night, I attempted to sleep in the master bedroom upstairs, but I found it too warm without an air conditioner. It also felt a little scary to sleep alone upstairs in such a big house. I decided to go downstairs and sleep on the L-shaped sofa instead. I found it more comfortable that way. On the following day 22 August 2021, I briefly explored the area around Bandar Seri Impian and visited the 99 Speed Mart at that area. The whole place just felt so weird and isolated. As I had been living in Johor Bahru for the past 7 years and Johor Bahru is much more developed than Kluang, I found it difficult to adapt to the huge change in environment. I became reluctant to explore Kluang further and I just went home. I ordered McDonald's for lunch. In the evening, I ordered chicken chop and cheese cake from Cheese U for my dinner.
On 23 August 2021, it was the start of the Program Transfomasi Minda (PTM). Due to the MCO, the PTM was held entirely online. My rental house didn't have WiFi connection so I had to use my phone's mobile data. The mobile network reception at that area wasn't quite strong and the internet kept getting disconnected. Luckily, I was then able to get a satisfactory internet connection in the master bedroom upstairs. On that evening, a contractor came to my rental house to install the ceiling lamps. On 24 August 2021, I had roast pork for dinner. On 25 August 2021, I ordered British fish and chips from Restoran Hadipex near my house. It tasted quite good, but despite its name, it was nowhere close to the authentic British style of Cor Blimey. On that evening, I had bak kut teh for dinner. The PTM ended on that day.
On 26 August 2021, I went to Dewan Jubli Intan Sultan Ibrahim in Kluang town to do my Covid RT-PCR test. I didn't know the directions in Kluang town at all and I had to rely heavily on Google Maps. Due to my strong gag reflex, the Covid test was really uncomfortable for me. After that, I had chicken briyani for lunch. I had been trying to order chicken briyani from several shops in the past few days, but all of them were sold out for some reasons. I was glad that I could finally have it on that day. On 27 August 2021, I ordered chicken rice for dinner. The results of my Covid RT-PCR test came out on that day and it was negative.
On 28 August 2021, my friend who started his House Officer training at Kluang hospital 3 weeks before me came to my rental house to visit me. He lived just a few streets away in Bandar Seri Impian. He had recommended me the Xiang Xia Lou Restaurant in Taman Kluang Indah, a nice area located not far from Bandar Seri Impian. Before he came to visit me, I bought lunch for both of us from that restaurant. I and my friend had a good talk, and he gave me some tips in preparation for starting House Officer training. Noting that I still hadn't made my hospital stamp, he reminded me to get my stamp made as soon as possible and showed me his stamp as a guide.
On 29 August 2021, I began working as a House Officer at Kluang hospital. The first week would be induction and orientation, while my 1st posting of House Officer training would begin on the following week. That marked the end of my 2021 summer break.
https://www.daniellimjj.com/2020/10/my-2020-summer-break.html
https://www.daniellimjj.com/2024/03/my-2024-chinese-new-year.html
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