old friends...

i had this weekend off and i gotta say i love my days off. work makes the week go by pretty quickly... can't believe it's already monday tomorrow! i had the most boring shift of my life thus far on friday night. it was so calm it was... weird. i had finished everything i was supposed to do by like 10pm and all i had left was hourly checks... those are the times when i am so thankful for my lovely lovely wonderful iPhone. it saves me from boredom.... until i abuse it until it runs out of battery HAHA =(

on saturday, i met up with michelle and tina :D! their cousin took us out to eat korean food and then we watched fireworks! so every summer, Vancouver hosts the HSBC Celebration of Lights which is basically an international fireworks competition over the English Bay. this year's participating countries include Canada, South Africa, UK and China. so saturday was South Africa and it was pretty amazing. in justin's words, "South Africa just kicked Canada's ass." hahahaha. dinner was soo good, i haven't had DUKBOKI in hellllllla days. soooo yummy yummy yummy. then we had Qoola for dessert (frozen yogurt place) and it was actually REALLY good! it tastes like a medium between pinkberry and red mango.... like tart but kinda creamy... i think i need to eat it plain to judge it more accurately but i think it will definitely satisfy my random pinkberry cravings when i'm here. it rained the whole night and we had NO umbrella so we basically got soaked while watching the fireworks but it was so worth it. i just posted some pics on my facebook so i'll post a video here:

i'm so glad i went. i'm excited for next saturday's show (since i can't go to wedneday's because of work booo) but saturday is the finale so its supposed to be extra good. i will cross my fingers for nice weather...

today i met up with ian ~ a super old friend from good old hong kong beacon hill times! it was kind of funny how he thought i grew up with him all the way from primary school but really... i was only there in 5th grade LOL. anyways, i think i have found a new shopping buddy. this guy wears gucci shoes, gucci wallet, D&G jeans, LV belt..... and doesn't shop anywhere cheaper than AX! LOL <3 he is a self-proclaimed and unashamed brand whore. i love it. we had dinner and drinks at Cactus Club and it was a good time catching up on our lives post-5th grade! on the way home i realized how lucky i am to have friends all around the world. i used to hate the fact that we moved so much whether it was from country to country or from this house to another house. but from living in Toronto, HK, California and now Vancouver... i've met people from all those places and kept friendships that have lasted 12+ years!! and friends kind enough to take the initiative to CONTACT me after 12+ years without even knowing whether or not i even remember them or even knowing what kind of person i am today. anyways, i now appreciate moving around during my childhood and making cool friends! and each and every one of you are one of those people so :)

current quote:
"Turns out it's not where you are but who you're with that really matters."

改變自己

one more night shift on neuro/surg and next is oncology! i had two pretty good shifts since my preceptor was interesting and my patients were... interesting as well. my preceptor was this...huge british man who definitely had a british accent and it took me 15 minutes to start understanding what he was saying. i got used to him saying "pomp" = "pump", "me" = "my" and i counted that he said "bloody" 34 times during the 2 days i was with him. well i still have one more shift with him tonight so i guess my count's not over. he walks so fast and sweats........ and smells. ew. i try to make sure there's some distance between us haha. but he's been teaching me a lot and makes the shift interesting. as for patients.... i learned how to communicate with whiny, sensitive, bossy, attitude-y, drama queen teenage girls and i consoled a little 7 y.o. crying girl with a cherry popsicle. i had a pretty cute baby who had a hip dislocation so she came up to the unit after her hip surgery. the poor girl was in a hip spica cast which totally restricted any movement of her lower body and her legs were like in this spread position.... poor baby. i would constantly cry if i was her! anyways... one more 3R shift to go.

i made pierogies for lunch today and as i ate them with sour cream (LOW FAT) i realized it was quite plain so i looked up sauces and i'm going to try to make it next time! or i'm so going to add onions, garlic, mushrooms and peppers to it. mmm.. OH YEAH i've also discovered kimchi salad and i like it.

sigh. well it's kinda hard for me to blog because i can't pretend like everything's okay when it's not. all i can say is i'm learning to stay positive and keep my head up and move forward. when life gives you lemons, make an arnold palmer right? hahaha sigh.


i think i'm going to post a current thing after every post. today's will be.....lyrics!

current lyrics:
我們都接受
一定是彼此不夠成熟 在愛情裡分不了輕重
誠實得過了頭 不能退後也無法向前走
愛是一個自私的念頭 把寂寞消除的理由
剩下的那些感動 能記得多久

該這麼說。。

你不在　當我最需要愛　你卻不在
無盡等待像獨白的難捱
你不在　高興還是悲哀　你都不在
我受了傷再偷偷好起來　但你不在　不在




難過。 我要加油。

1 more day off!

these 5 day offs are quite long. i feel pretty relaxed. i'd almost rather have some work because at least then i get paid. but i guess my 4 days in row will be tiring and stuff so i'll be happy when that's over. my landlord's probably don't even think i go to work since they see me around so much. LOL -_____-

ugh i did not wake up for lululemon yoga this morning because i got such bad sleep last night i just couldn't get myself out of bed at 9am. i suck haha. i could've done some laundry too... but i didn't. instead i went to the beach and read Shopaholic. so funny. once again, it is really sad that i can identify with some of her thoughts. and i made my first ASIAN meal - i'm kind of proud of myself. well ok... i didn't really MAKE anything. i more like boiled some 水餃s, added spinach and an egg and some kimchi on the side. yeah..... but it made me happy! i took a pic and sent it to my mom so she won't worry about what i'm eating all the time haha. sigh. growing up sucks. i want to live at home so i eat free food and not pay rent. i clearly have a lot to learn about managing money... which is why i bought THIS BOOK:
hahaha yeah i haven't started reading it but i will soon! well hopefully it will give some good tips and if there is anything that especially intrigues me i will post it here for all you girlies to read. :)

i had really good day yesterday though - i went to Taste of the City with melissa and vince (my new richmond friends YAY!!) and it was really fun. a bunch of Vancouver restaurants set up a little booth and organize a small menu and you can order small plates/samples of their dishes. and they're pretty big so you can share between like 2 people and just try lots of food. afterwards we went halfway up a mountain (i forgot what it's called) where we could see the WHOLE city of Vancouver basically and it was sooooooooo pretty. you all probably saw the pics in my facebook album so i'll just post one of my favorite pics.

the most PERFECT cloud! and afterwards i had a very spicy but delicious taiwanese dinner at Estea before going home. so satisfying.

i like this city a lot... though i probably won't like it as much when it starts raining a lot, but i think for sure it will be better than dealing with snow and -20 weather and ice and stuff...>_< i am generally happy here although of course i do miss all my friends and family in california and toronto. but thank God for texting and skype or else i would die. but i wish i could put all my friends on a plane and have them here with me. then i would have people to do stuff with. i think that's my main thing... i have sooo much i want to do/see but i need people to do them with. like who is going to do all the fobby things with me?! who?! sighh. haha ><

today when kylie and i were driving home from the beach and i was searching for radio stations for her. suddenly 21 guns came on the radio and i stopped searching and let the song play. then kylie started to talk about something excitedly but all i could hear was the song. and i thought about you. it was like one of those moments that you see in movies where someone is talking to you, trying to tell you something really exciting but it's totally blocked out and sounds like gibberish because you are only thinking about one person. it was one of those moments when i realized once again...this is so hard. sigh. imy.

shaking in my boots.

so a lot of people have been receiving their CRNE results lately......as of yesterday and i'm so freaking nervous waiting for that letter. i check the mail everyday and think excessively about whether the letter is gonna be fat or skinny. it makes me sooo nervous omg. i don't even want to think about it. maybe i'll just face the reality when the letter actually comes instead of stressing about it while it's on its way........ X____________X

well i had my first night shift on wednesday and it was a good shift! nights can go either way... everyone can be sleeping and it can be very peaceful OR everything can go wrong and it could be crazy. thankfully it was one of those more peaceful nights where i was able to look up some policies and procedures and do lots of stuff for my patients as well. they were SOO cute, i love little toddlers. <3 but honestly in pediatrics, the parents are there like 80% of the time and it's great that they participate in the care but sometimes i wish they weren't around so often because i just want to hold their baby LOL. i'm not crazy, they're just SO CUTE! but one significantly cool thing from night shift is that.... THERE WAS A PATIENT FROM CUPERTINO!!! i was like O_O haha so apparently this kid got really sick while camping in santa cruz and they didn't think much of it. then the following week, they came to Vancouver for a family trip and he started getting worse... poor kid. when i looked at the file and saw Cupertino, CA i was like AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! haha and of course they were asian. :P

chelsea and i had dinner at banana leaf the other day and IT WAS SO DELICIOUS. we got a 7 course prix fixe menu and it was SO yummy. especially the fried banana and ice cream dessert because the bananas were HUGE and i haven't eaten that in FOREVER! i love that this restaurant is pretty close to me so it's super convenient! afterwards we walked to Granville Island to hunt down the cute lunchbox store but we couldn't find it. but there's an indoors farmer's market and i bought some yummy blueberries! the weather was gorgeous that day so we got such good exercise walking everywhere.

today is my 2nd out of my 5 days off and the weather is GORGEOUS. yesterday kylie and i went to Kits because i wanted to check out the bikram yoga studio and we ended up shopping on W. 4th and eating the CHEAPEST SUSHI OF MY LIFE. i got 24 pieces (3 rolls, 8 pieces of each) and a miso soup for $6!!!!!!!! i was so amazed. the sushi was good too! nothing extremely special but what do you expect, it's freaking $6. i'm really excited because if i do join bikram yoga, i'm gonna get food from here all the time because it's literally right nextdoor :] and the place is super cute...it's called Broadway Sushi and it's a little cute family-owned sushi restaurant. the parents make the food and the little daughters work the cash - SO. CUTE. and then after sushi, kylie took me to buy watermelon (because i refuse to WALK HOME with a watermelon from safeway....way too freakin heavy) and it is delicious. yup, i just pretty much wrote a whole paragraph about food. i'm such a fatty.

well, today me and kylie are gonna try to hike it up to Grouse Mountain - one of the biggest most popular mountains in Van. this was kylie's idea because she has "never been to a mountain before". HAHAHA so we'll see how this goes. i'm scared. i'm gonna go read Shopaholic while i wait for her.

oh yeah! i got my first paycheck today =) it's nothing special or big though... it only covered 3 days of orientation -_- but still yay money! i'm excited for when the bigger checks start rolling in... HAHA $$ cha chingggg!

here is me at the Aritizia base on Robson St <33333333333




yeah, i think Vancouver is going to turn me into an EXTREME aritzia/lululemon slave.... hahaha :P






i miss you all <3

Survived my first two shifts!

so i had my first two official day shifts on friday and saturday and i can say that they went well. i was pretty tired during the shift... it's re-adjusting to waking up at 6am and being awake and active for 12 hours.... -______- i am so exhausted after my shifts that i just want to shower and go to SLEEP. clearly during the days when i have straight shifts in a row, i will not have a life.

it's a bit sad working at a children's hospital because you see all these poor kids with health conditions, problems and diseases and you just feel bad that they're going through so much pain at such a young age. after working with the adult and geriatric population for awhile, you kind of become insensitized and assume the fact that a lot of their health problems were brought upon themselves from lifestyle choices or what not. but when you work in pediatrics, you realize how many health issues are actually just congenital or even related to social determinants of health that aren't of choice by the children and families... i love seeing the little month-old babies and holding them! SOOOO CUTE. and then you have the 15 year olds with attitudes and just want you to leave them alone. just from the two days of working, it's very clear that there is a lot for me to learn.... not only clinical skills but also therapeutic communication and lots of basic principles of child and family centered care. >______< i should probably buy a pediatric textbook.

after work on saturday, kylie & i went out for dinner and some WINDOW shopping on Robson. the weather was SOOOOOOO FREAKING NICE, it was too bad that we were stuck at work all day :( but we made a deal to go out after work even if we were really tired. so we ate at Guu (japanese tapas restaurant) which was pretty yummylicious. i really liked the kimchi fried rice, jellyfish & shark fin salad and grilled pork belly. i can't wait to go back to try more stuff hehe.

well this week should be pretty sweet. i have workshops monday and tuesday and my first night shift on wednesday! then i have 5 days off - lots of time to catch up on reading, run errands, learn to actually cook SOMETHING other than instant noodles and explore! hopefully the weather will be on my side and i'll be able to do some outdoorsy things.

i picked up my lululemon pants today and i LOOOOOOOOVE them. i swear, it is an unwritten law to be required to own and wear lululemon if you are a resident of Van. after i picked them up, i went to Blenz Coffee (i like their strawberry tea latte!) to do some research, use wifi and people watch. i live pretty close to South Granville and i explored some of the shops around there. lots of cute shops and yummy looking restaurants. excited to try some of them in the future.


downloaded 范范 and 阿妹's new albums today~ hopefully i will enjoy them... but my song of the moment is still 紅豆－ 方大同

xo

new rainboots!

can't wait til they come! i hope they look cute. haha :) ok, a real update later.

xo

it's official!... or is it?

hello! :]

One significant thing that happened during orientation today: we received our photo id! i feel all professional now. hahaha, it's like getting handed your diploma... it's official! it even says REGISTERED NURSE! ...yeah... let's not celebrate that until we find out for sure. -_- but heres a pic of it! it was printed kind of...un-centered but i'll get over it i think. i'm a perfectionist about these type of things... if it were up to me, i would reprint one until it was perfectly centered >__<

i was so sleepy during orientation all day. i was just looking forward to crawling back into my bed. but as i was walking home from the hospital, i was thinking about the weather and i realized something. it's July and i'm used to it being SUPER HOT and i realized that if i was walking the same distance at home in California right now... i would probably be sweating and so uncomfortable. but today, it was mild, some barely light rain and in the 70's and i wasn't cold and wasn't hot... and it was actually really comfortable walking home in this weather. so i'm starting to appreciate the weather here and like it for what it is. i swear, everywhere i go, i slowly realize how blessed California is with its amazing weather but in some small ways i start to appreciate the different weather i experience in other places.

tomorrow's my day off and i'm working friday and saturday. i'm going to dim sum (YESSSSSSSSSSS!) tomorrow morning with Uncle Dennis and Uncle William (two of my dad's bffs) and hopefully it won't be too awkward. i'll probably go to Ikea with Jen to pick up some things... and i'll have to do some reading and prepare for my first shift. dear god, i hope i can fall asleep the night before...

so i've been hanging out with Chelsea and Jen (both girls I graduated with from college) and we've been having some fun when we have time to get together. hehe i can tell we're going to have many more adventures to come.  i'm glad i have these girls here ... we have a special Mac bond because we know exactly what each other went through the past 4 years to get to where we are now... so we can be each other supports here :) here we are at kitsilano beach trying to spell MAC haha. also please note my latest summer dress that i LOOOOOOOOVE. yes, love. it was the last one, EVER from the warehouse. <3 

well that's it for today! 1 more day......

Orientation so far

well, today was my 2nd day of orientation! today was a lot more interesting than yesterday as it was more nursing related and specific to the staff working only at the Children's and Women's hospital. yesterday was literally an orientation to PHSA (the motherboard agency) and it was pretty boring... nothing interactive at all haha. but today i met a lot more people and generally everyone is super nice. only a few are from Vancouver and the rest of us are all from different places! lots from Ontario, one from Australia, New Zealand, London (UK) and other places but generally it's pretty diverse. age and experience range as well... i would say that 35% are new grads like me! i met this girl who was a competitive swimmer and we were talking about the possibility of doing masters swimming? hahaha ugh i'm so completely out of shape that my body probably doesn't even remember what muscle is. but it's nice to know i have someone to go swimming with. anyways it's been pretty cool meeting everyone and it's amazing to see how people from all across the world with different backgrounds and experience all come together for one thing: to be a specialized pediatric nurse at BC Children's. 

the nursing resource team (NRT) that i'm working on, consists of 17 of us. hopefully we get to work with each other often and become good friends... i'm getting trained on three units including: renal/metabolic and endocrine, cardiac and neuro surg. i'm excited to get a variety of experience and then hopefully pick a specialized path and work regularly on a unit.... but yeah we'll see how this goes. everything's new so ahhhhhhhh! i think i'm more freaking out about my first shift which is this FRIDAY. i forget what 12 hour shifts are like........ >.<

it rained like all day today. i really need those rainboots and a cute rain jacket. i don't have anything waterproof in my wardrobe... other than this one tna vest. how is that even possible? i think it's time to hit the lululemon OUTLET (thats right beeeeeeeezies, OUTLET!!!). ok not until i make some monies. haha. dude i was walking home and i watched these two guys get SOAKED by this huge SUV that drove by SUPER fast SUPER close to the curb.....omg they were soaked from head to toe. i kind of laughed inside but felt so bad for them. but i know for sure one day that's definitely going to happen to me........-___-

well, what can i say... there is the good and the bad. hopefully i can focus on all the positive things and forget about the things that hurt me and make me sad. thank you to my friends who read my blog and comment/ email me... i love you and miss you guys sooo much.

pic!

ahh i was going to write about my first orientation day but i'm too tired now and honestly, it wasn't anything too exciting. picture isntead :)

this is Kitsilano Beach. see the city and mountains in the distance? love it :)

So I'm here!

well i've been in Vancouver for a couple days so far and so far i'm liking it. the weather's been super nice but it's going to start getting kinda cloudy/rainy into the 70's starting today. hopefully it doesn't rain too much because i don't have any cute rainboots yet haha :P

Vancouver is a beautiful city... i love how you can see the downtown city buildings with the mountains in the background. i went to Kitsilano beach yesterday and it was so cute! the beaches here are so different... well i think there are several different types of beaches. ones right along the ocean coast, some along the bay and some other bodies of water that feed from the ocean. Kitsilano beach has a swimming area sectioned out as well as a HUGE outdoor swimming pool that is filled with salt water and it's right by the ocean so you can go lap swimming and like...still be at the beach! i like that Vancouver has the city life for those looking for the busy things and exciting-ness but offers such beautiful nature to enjoy outdoor activities and sporty things. 

we went to Robson St yesterday too- SHOPPPPPPING! went to the first Aritzia store hehe. let's just call yesterday a success as i located the Aritzia base, Tiffany & Co, Louis Vuitton and found Japadog! i'm also happy to report that the mall super close to me (Oakridge Mall... kind of ironic because there's the Westfield Oakridge Mall close to my house at home in Norcal hehe) has Lululemon and Aritzia!! Super EASY ACCESS. :]

hmm... what else. oh where i'm living. so i'm renting a room in a house in Shaughnessy (gorrrrrgeous) temporarily until i pretty much find out my exam results, how much i like my job, how stable my job is and how long i think i'll be staying in Vancouver. my room is a good size, it came furnished with a full size bed, desk, closet, drawers etc. and a tv (with cable!). haha ok the tv with cable is probably the only thing i would call an *upgrade* from my life at home. i also have a small patio and one wall is all glass windows so it lets in all the sun during the day/afternoon and fresh air. i plan to sit there during the day to read/study/eat and stuff. it's good extra storage space and a good little area. oh, i'm sitting here now as i type this haha. the only thing i don't really like is the bathroom. i have to share with the other tenants (2 guys, 1 girl) and from what i see, the guys are dirty and the girl is clean. but there's this nasty smell...ugh. i'm going to buy air fresheners. i think it's because the house is kinda old... well, other than that i don't really have a problem. i think this will just take a lot of getting used to. hopefully i can move out soon. but then again, i am saving a lot of money living here so... i guess i'll just have to see.

adjusting has been rough. orientation starts tomorrow and hopefully i'll meet some more new grads like me and not feel so lonely. i lost support that i used to have and i think that makes a huge difference for me. i'm adjusting to my new beginning, new job, new city, new people and ... other changes. one thing continues to hit me the hardest and it's always in the back of my mind no matter how hard i try not to think about it. i thought i would be able to handle it okay... i thought i prepared myself and i was ready... obviously i am not. i know it'll take some time  but it's so painful crying everyday. i don't want to but sometimes it's like i can't help it. i want to not think about it and not let it bother me but it does. and i don't know what to do. i think i should listen to Better in Time on repeat.

it'll all get better in time.