The Controversial Dinner

Mga kababayan silipin nga natin kung ano itong pinag iinitang mga kinain daw ni Kamahal-mahalang Pangulong Gloria sa Le Cirque New York at ang kanyang mga kampon. Since may ambag naman tayo (as a taxpayer )
dapat lang sigurong makita natin kahit sa picture man lang ang mga pagkaing nararapat daw para sa ating mga
honorable public servants. Take note mga kaibigan, US DOLLARS yan.....


These are just a few pics of what they ate..

Golden Osetra Caviar . Sa Tagalog, kumpol-kumpol na itlog ng isda. Rare daw ito. Malansa at lasang bagoong, sabi ng iba. Kulay itim lang to pero
ang lasa siguro nito ay kagaya din ng itlog ng galunggong, di kaya? Php13,720/order

California Osetra Caviar . Kumpol-kumpol na itlog ng isda na mula naman sa California . Hmmph..mukha namang buto ng papaya yan eh! Mas mura kesa sa Golden Osetra Caviar. P4,900/order

Le Cirque Salad . Pinaghalo-halong mga gulay tulad ng lettuce (wag kayong jologs, hindi [let-us] ang pronunciation nyan, kundi [let-is] , okay?)
…sige na nga litsugas nalang… ano pa ba yan? er…sibuyas, balat ng sibuyas, sitaw, mayana, langka, dahon ng gumamela, etc… P1,078/order lang yan

Le Cirque Lobster Salad . Merong lobster meat, pipino, avocado, kamatis, okra saka dahon ng sibuyas. P2,842/ isang plato niyan

Le Cirque Tuna . Syempre merong tuna dyan (na posibleng galing sa GenSan), orange, sesame seeds, wasabe ata yung green paste sa ilalim,
anim na pirasong halamang ligaw (dami dito samin nyang dahon na yan!) saka ilang patak na orange sauce. P1,029/order naba yang apat na hiwang yan?

Le Cirque Soft Shell Crab Tempura . Ngayon ko lang nalaman na meron palang crab na soft ang shell nya…ahihihihi…So ang ingredients dyan ay crab
saka harina tapos may kamote at ang paborito ni Popeye na spinach P1,078 /platter

Le Cirque Spring Pea Soup . Mga pataning pinaikot at pinalamutak sa blender para maging soup. A.k.a. Etchas ng baby P1,176 isang bowl?

Le Cirque Wild Burgundy Escargot. Pronounced as [es-kahr-goh] . Tandaan nyo yan para hindi kayo magmukhang enggot pag kumain kayo sa Le Cirque in the future, okay? Ang escargot ay kuhol. Madami niyan sa palayan kapag tag-ulan. Hmmmmmmmmm…sarap ng ginataang escargot! Kasama ng escargot dyan ay 2 munchkin donuts, makapuno, itlog ng isda saka ferns. Ito daw ang nagustuhan ni Senator Lapid dahil favorite nya ang kuhol. P1,421/order grabeng mahal naman ng kuhol na yan!

Le Cirque Torchon of Foie Gras . Ang foie gras ay atay ng bibe or gansa. Ang pagbigkas nito ay [fwah-grah] . Ang torchon naman ay isang paraan ng pagluto ng foei gras na kung saan ibinabalot ito sa isang tuwalya at niluluto sa mainit na likido tulad ng alak o tubig. P1,715/order lang naman yan

Paupiette of Black Cod . Ito’y manipis na piraso ng isda (black cod) na nirolyong parang shawarma at merong mga gulay sa gitna.
Paupiette is pronounced as [poh-pyet] . P2,401.00 / order (pun-yeta!!! !!)

Le Cirque Halibut Poached in Cocunut Milk. Halibut is pronounced as [hal-uh-buht] . Ito ay isang uri ng isda. Ang price P1,960 /order

Dover Sole . Isa rin itong uri ng isda at ito rin ang pinakamahal sa main course na inorder ng ating mga public servant P3,675/order wow na wow. Ano kaya ang lasa nyan, noh?

Le Cirque Saddle of Lamb . Ano ba ang saddle sa Tagalog. Hmmmmmmm…part daw ng backbone and loins. Eh ano yung loins sa Tagalog? Tadyang o pigi? Ay basta tupa lang yan! May kasama pa atang snickers bar sa tabi. P2,548/order naman yan (anak ng tupa naman....)

Krug Champagne . Sa sobrang sarap ng Krug, umorder sina Gloria ng labing-isang bote nito. Kulang-kulang Php 249,000 lang naman iyang 11 bottles na yan. Ilang ginbulag kaya ang mabibili sa Php 249,000.00? Teka, downpayment na yan para sa isang bahay ah! Tsk…tsk…tsk…
Sorry wala yung pix ng ibang entrees.

(Grabe ano?? Tsk tsk..regardless of who paid for that lavish dinner, I still think it's not right for them to splurge on good food abroad while a lot of people back at home are starving. )

Sleepless

It's almost 2 am and I'm still not sleepy yet. Insomnia strikes again..or at least that's what I think. It's either the insomnia or the fact that I took a 2 hour afternoon nap that's making me very much alive at 2 am. I usually don't take naps partly because I have no time for it. But I remembered taking a nap every afternoon when I was a kid. My mother always instructed our nanny to make us take a nap every afternoon. She said it will help us grow taller. Nah! I'm still shorter than everybody else. My younger cousins are wayy taller than me. So I guess the usual afternoon naps didn't work out for my height.

Anyway, I spent practically the whole day in finishing mg paperworks. So far, I've finished my critical paper in philosophy about Hinduism's view of the human person (yeah, pretty boring!). I did a pretty lame job yesterday so I decided to repeat the whole thing. I'm trying to improve this term because last term, I didn't exert a lot of effort on my minor subjects. And so far, I think I'm doing good. The only thing that pissed me off is that my professor told us to limit our paper to 2-3pages. 2-3pages??? What sensible critical paper in philosophy can you make out of 2-3 pages. 5 pages would've been more reasonable! I mean, my introduction already took up half a page! And I pretty much enjoyed making it so I had to exclude some of my "wonderful" ideas just so I can stick to the 3-page limit. But anyway, I already finished the damn thing. I just need to print it out tomorrow morning.


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god! I'm still not sleepy? What's the matter with me?? ugh.

Facabook fever

alright!!!...my facebook is back! Well, kinda. I used to have an old account pero mejo napabayaan ko na..so I made a new one..ngaun lang. Hahaha..

26

Oh, btw...another thing that I look forward to:

I'll be turning 18! Yay! Mark your calendars, because on september 26, 2009, I will finally become a lady. Hmm..sounds a bit cheesy..but hey, it's the truth. I'm pretty much excited about it, although I'm also nervous about it. I'm about to leave my childhood behind (as in literally). Hindi na ako minor, that means I can be held fully responsible for my acts. But I hope it will also give me more freedom (I'm not getting a lot of that from my mom lately).

26 days to go before the 26th

-pat

She's coming HOME!

Finally, I'm going to see Bianca again! The kid wearing fuchsia pink--that's her. She's coming home. It's been so long since we've since her. She moved to Canada with her mom and younger brother. That picture was taken three years ago--the night before she left..it was her last night with her (we were still very young in that picture btw). Anyway, my mom announced that they'll be coming home for Christmas this year. Yay! I can't wait to see my cousin. She's all grown up now, and i'm really excited to see her.

hmm..that's all. Haha. I just want to share my happiness.
Finally, something to look forward to this holiday season

Of failing grades and hospital duties

Antagal ko nang hindi naguupdate ng blog. Anyway..I was busy as a bee these past few weeks. Kakatapos lang ng midterms pero bumulaga agad ang finals. I had one hell of a week! Our midterm grades were released, so far ok naman. Okay as in pwede na considering that i was expecting one failing grade in one particular subject: CoHealth. That is one hell of a subject for me. I hate it. As in I seriously, seriously hate every part of it. To say that Cohealth is difficult is probably an understatement. Well, hindi lang naman ako nahihirapan, lahat naman ata kami. Actually konti lang ang pumasa dun. And I'm just lucky enough to be one of the passers. Pero actually, lahat naman ng major subjects ko mahirap, specially if it's a nursing subject. Ang pinagkaiba lang e ung ibang nursing subjects, mahirap din but at least I can still manage to understand the lessons. Pwede ko xang pagpuyatan kc at least at the end of it, maiintindihan ko. But Cohealth isn't like that. Kahit pagpuyatan ko pa sya, in the end hindi ko pa rin maiintindihan. I feel stupid. Ewan ko, but i just don't get it! Everytime we are in the lecture room, I always get lost in the middle of everything! I jot down notes that I don't even understand. I bought a freakin' book even though it's not required just so I can at least understand that freakin' subject. I tried to read it but it still doesn't help me in any way. The worst thing is that I have to deal with this particular subject for the next 2 years of my college life! Good luck to me.

Anyway, I'm still thankful that I got more than what I hoped for. Maybe there was some kind of miraculous divine intercession that took place while I was taking my cohealth exams. Or at least I'd like to think of it that way.

Change topic. So this week, my next hospital duty is LMMC (Lipa Medix Medical Center). Honestly, I hate having duties at that hospital. For one thing, my shift starts at 6 am (earlier compared to other hospitals) so we have to be there before 6:45am. When you arrive at 6: 46, sorry but you're already late so that means you have to have two "make-up duties." And when you arrive at 6:01, you are already considered absent, don't even dare to enter the hospital premises because you're sure to receive a 5minute scolding from your clinical instructor. The people there are mean and cranky, well at least I think most of them are. And the patients are always complaining about every little detail. That's the difference between private and public hospital patients. Patients at the private hospitals complain a lot. Probably because they expect to get more quality services because they pay a lot of money. Well, my mother is like that too. But what I hate about them is that they always blame it on the nurse. For example, I had this patient who blamed me because her episiotomy hurts a lot (*An episiotomy is the surgical incision done by doctors on the perineal area during the 3rd stage of labor to prevent the massive tearing or damage to the vaginal walls during vaginal delivery). She's blaming me for the pain in her vajayjay!!! I just don't get it. I didn't even stitch up the damn thing! She just gave birth to a 7pound baby for god's sake. Of course it's gonna hurt. It's supposed to hurt. And it's nobody's fault. She gave me a hard time explaining that to her. I had a lot of traumatizing experiences in that hospital. One such example was the day I assisted in cleaning the incision site of one of the post-CS patient. The doctor was mean to me, and she scowled at every little detail about me including the loose thread on my white uniform and the stray hair sticking out behind my ear. She seems to have microscopic eyes and xray vision. The worst part is that she humiliated me in front of the patient and her family. She didn't even give me a goddamned break considering that I'm only a level 2 BSN student and I'm practically a newcomer in the medical world. She reprimanded me for the very little details and she didn't even recognize that I assisted her well while she was cleaning the patient's incision. She even used my mayo scissors and my crile forceps! I hope she knew that! That was the single, most humiliating day in my life as a nursing student. My stomach still flips whenever I recall that incident. It's a good thing I didn't cry. That would be even more humiliating. Usually, I feel like crying whenever I feel extremely humiliated. God, I hate that doctor. Oh, and btw, that doctor (she's a resident OB-GYN) is the mother of my former classmate in highschool. Her son gave me flowers on valentine's day when we were in Level 7. She has a really nice son so it's kind of hard to imagine that they're realted. I wanted to tell her that but I think that's just stupid and irrelevant and it's gonna make her hate me even more. Lol! The good thing is that she's too preoccupied torturing nurses she didn't even had the time to tell anything to my CI. Hah! Buti na lang di nya ako sinumbong sa CI ko, that would have made things worse. That's the only consolation I get. Honestly, I think she's not a good doctor. Sure, she finished her degree with flying colors. She even took fellowships. But I think that even though how smart you are or how many degrees you've finished or how many titles are attached to your name, they're all worthless if you're not a good person. And I think every doctor should know that. I don't hate her because she's mean to me (well, just a little bit). I hate her because she's an arrogant person. The other nurses told me that she's always like that to the nurses and interns (and to whoever she considers as inferior to her). I think I have better bedside manners that her (seriously!), which is just pathetic because I used to look up to her. So to all the future doctors out there, please remember that professional success does not compensate for a bad attitude.

Well, the good thing is that I won't have to deal with her this week at the hospital. I'm assigned to the pediatric ward. Bye-bye, OB ward! I'm sure as hell that I'm gonna miss all those vajayjays. I did pedia once before on san jose district hospital. It was as tough as OB because almost every kid cries at the sight of a person wearing white. I blame their parents. Lagi na lang nilang ginagawang panakot ang mga nurse sa mga anak nila. Children always connote nurses to needles and injections.

..ooops, gotta go. I still haven't written anything on my critical paper on PhilMan. I gotta finish that tonight so that I won't have to deal with it during my duty week.

so that's it for now. Sorry for the crappy update.

Paalam, Tita Cory (quickie post)

MAY WE ALL NEVER FORGET



Corazon Cojuanco-Aquino
January 25, 1933 – August 1, 2009

And she's done it again...

54 minutes.
126 applauds.
More than 6 billion audience.

And so, she's done it again. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has given her "last" (and longest) state of the nation address today at the Batasang Pambansa. And as usual, I watched the whole event on TV just like I always do. Well, I'm not really into politics or anything. I'm not even pro-administration or anti-administration. I just enjoy watching Madame President whenever she gives out her speeches about the country's "development" and what her administration has done to improve our struggling nation. Dunno, ever since I watched her SONA for the first time, I always wanted to finish it. Some people at my age find it boring, I find it..well..entertaining for the most part. I can't help but laugh on some of the things that she says. I don't wanna comment on them anymore, but if you watched her on TV, I think you might actually understand what I mean.

But anyway, even though how much the people hate her, I still find her amazing. Not in a sense that she's a good leader or anything, but because of her unique personality that I find very amazing. Despite of everything, she still has the courage to stand up and look strong in front of her people. Yes, she may be in to a lot of controversies lately, but the president still stays strong and brave to face her people with both love and authority. I may not like her when it comes to governing, but I do admire her personality.

"Governance, however, is not about looking back and getting even
But it is looking forward and giving more to the people
who has given us the hardest and greatest gift of all,
to care for a country.."
-PGMA

(I just hope this really is her LAST state of the nation address! )

Hospital duty: Day 2

My second day in the area was a mixture of excitement and disappointment. I still had the same patient that I had yesterday. Apparently, the woman's husband doesn't have the money yet so they still can't leave the hospital although both the mother and her baby are cleared for discharge. Because I had the same patient as yesterday, it means that I have less jobs to do..and it sucks!! All my other groupmates in the ward are busy doing their physical assessment while I just stand there watching them getting busy. It's not fair, I wanna be busy too. Plus, their cases are better than mine. My case is just the typical postmaternity mother who had a normal spontaneous delivery. She's fine, her baby is fine and their only problem is that they still can't pay their hospital bills. The others got the chance to be assigned to new patients with cooler cases like CS, preterm labor or Dilation&Curettage. One of my classmate regulated the IV fluids and had to check her patient's vital signs EVERY 15 MINUTES. One of us was given the chance to take out a urinary catheter (I wanna do that too!). As for me, I just waited for what seems like eternity! I waited for my patient to be discharged, I waited for a new patient, a new case, a new assignment.

I hate my 2nd day of duty!

Hospital Duty: Day 1

Lipa City District Hospital. 7am-3pm. Dra. Anita Urbi RN, MAN, PhD

I woke up at 4:30 am this morning because I don't wanna be late on my first hospital duty at the Lipa District Hospital. I left home at 5:40 am and arrived at lipa at exactly 6:00am. I still had to wait for the others so that we could all go to LCDH at the same time to meet our Clinical Instructor. We arrived there 30 minutes earlier than the call time which was 6:45. I was early..or so I thought. Many students were already there together with their clinical instructors. I thought we were gonna be the first ones to arrive. Then we realized that we have different times. The hospital time was 30 minutes in advance, meaning, we were not early. We were almost late!!!! What the..??? What kind of place sets its clock 30 minutes in advance??? 5 minutes is okay but 30 minutes is "OA"

The good thing is that we weren't considered as late..plus, it wasn't our fault that we don't know the official hospital time. I just looked at the brighter side of it. The earlier we start, the earlier we finish.

Anyway, I forgot to mention the hospital part. The hospital doesn't look like a hospital at all! It was more like a construction site. I haven't seen the whole vicinity yet (we never had the time to get familiarized with the place) but I'm guessing that 60% of the hospital is under construction. There were hollow blocks and sacks of cement everywhere! Trucks carrying wood and gravel were parked outside the hospital. What a mess!!It was so unruly, not to mention the distracting sounds of the machineries. Not ideal for patients who are trying to recover. But that wasn't the worst part yet..inside the hospital is a different kind of mess. There were so many patients and the hospital can't accomodate them anymore. A lot of patients were already in the hallways! A typical scenario of a public hospital. There wasn't enough space to walk on to. There was poor ventilation so there was a mixed smell of sweat and urine that dominated the place. They didn't have enough hospital facilities so some of the patients in the hallways even had to bring their own beds and improvise their IV poles!! I know it's not polite to react but I really can't help myself! It's my first time so I was really shocked..not that I'm not aware of the condition in public hospitals, it's just that it was my first time to actually see one. What I don't understand is that most of the people working there, specially the nurses, don't seem to care. My partner said that maybe they are just used to that kind of situation..like it's normal to have a lot of patients staying in the hallway.

We didn't do much on our first day. We just attended the very boring orientation until 11 then we we're given a chance to have some nurse-patient interaction in the OB ward. We were only asked to do a physical assessment and initial examination on the patients but I still felt very nervous. We were brought to the ward and instead of assigning a patient to each of us, we were asked to pick our own. I picked the one in Bed F. Her name is Marissa Guab and she just gave birth to a baby boy (who was really cute, btw). She was really nice (thank God!) although the woman with her was kinda annoying. I think she was the girl's mother-in-law or something.

I kinda messed up with the arrangement of my Phys. exam and assessment and the notes I wrote weren't organized enough. But that's okay..the others had worse notes. hehe.. I interviewed the mother and I found out that she was admitted 3 days ago. She just had a normal spontaneous delivery so it means that she should only be confined for 24 hours. She said that she was supposed to be discharged yesterday but because they can't pay their bills yet, they still can't go home even if they wanted to. The longer they stay, the bigger they'll end up paying. She seemed so stressed and problematic but what can I do?? Kahit gaano kadaming beses ko syang kunan ng vital signs, wala akong magagawa sa problema nya..di ba? I wish I could help her get discharged but I felt helpless. I'm just new at this, and it's only my first day in the area. Until now, i still can't get that out of my mind. I felt this odd sympathy for that woman. And I can do nothing except to pray to God to help her get discharged.

This day has been very tiring to me even though I only handled one patient in the OB ward (well, it was actually two patients including the baby). I think I can handle the job, what I can't handle are my feelings. I become too attached to the patients. But that's just me. My mom said that I'll get used to it. I hope so coz it's really difficult if you keep on feeling sorry for all the patients there.

Okay..that's it for now. I still have to do homework.

Wish me luck for tomorrow!