Germany: A photo journal

Travel date : June 2 years ago (2005)
Travel sequence : Can't remember due to short term memory loss

Ooops, sorry, that was my room (I'm NOT messy, I was moving out!)
Well, the journey started here.

BERLIN
Berliner Dome, a white and gold church.
What did I say about churches and European countries

Ah, the Berlin.. er... gate? But it's important, I promise!!!

Short hair.. due to some anal hairdresser in Ming's Salon in Megah that cut my hair too short, forcing me to go to Essex in SS2 again to restyle it into a bob cut. That was in Dec. 6 months down the road and my hair barely sweeps my shoulder. I should sue for manslaughter.
But, anyway, the tower behind..

And the tower on the inside: you know what they say about Malaysians being patriotic and all that crap. So be it.

The Marvelous Berlin Wall (or so people believe)

I promise you, the wall outside the Potterow tunnel near my Uni is part of the Berlin wall. And so are some walls in certain parts of KL. Heck, even your house can be made into the Berlin wall. All you need is some spray paint. On top of that, you can sell bits of the wall for as souvenirs and roll in a neat amount of money. Just for spray painted rubble.

Olympic Stadium
Woohoo!

Dachau
Dachau Concentration Camp... where the Nazis tortured the Jews

What it is like behind bars,

and how you'll lie as your body is placed on the stretchers to be cremated.

On a lighter note, all together now... AWWwwwwwwwwww

Rothenburg
A small village that is oh-so-perfect. Like the village in Hot Fuzz (coming soon to Malaysia). So sweet, so perfect..

Famous German Christmas Decorations.. Nutcrackers and what not.

Munich
Neuschwanstein Castle
The castle Disney based their cartoons on. And it is Such a fairytale. I wish I was born a princess and lived in this castle. Not only is in on the hills,
It has it's own watch castle that is just at the foot of the hill (actually for the parents of the King or something like that) alright, alright, my history sux k...still, Neuschwanstein Castle is absolutely...
It's a dream.
100% guranteed taken from my now stolen Konica Minolta camera. Anyone who goes to Germany/Munich, PLEASE PLEASE visit this place.

The castle authorities should start paying me tourism fees

All in all, we went to Hamburg(boring), Berlin, Nuremburg, Rothenburg, Munich(double boring) and finally to Frankfurt. Along the way we meet a few strange characters:

Mr. Man
Mr Lion
Mr. Bear

all found in Germany. Since it is very unfair to my fellow Edinburghans, I will introduce ...

Mr. Cow

*picture comes when i return to edinburgh with my trusty laptop*

Germany:

Worth visiting? Oh yeah, just for Neuschwanstein.

Universiti Hospital

So I accompanied my grandmom to UH yesterday for her heart clinic. My grandmother suffers from a heart condition called 'Unstable Angina' that is insufficient blood supply to her heart, causing central chest pain and is associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. She recently had a pacemaker inserted to correct another heart condition she has - atrial fibrillation.

I was just told by my aunt to accompany her for her check up and being the filial granddaughter I rose to the challenge of waking up at 6.30 am to be there at 7. For the clinic in UH runs by a number system, that is the earlier you get the number, the faster you see the doctor. I was not told of anything but just handed a plastic bag with bits of paper in it by my aunt to bring along.

Upon arrival, I looked about, searching for a signboard to direct me to the cardiology clinic. As expected - nothing to point me the correct way. So hand in hand with my grandma, we walked towards the general direction of where she thought it was at and arrived at a place called 'Makmal Kardiology Diagnostik ECG' aka ECG Diagnostic Cardiology Lab. This is the clinic??? Why? How? It's an ECG lab! But, yeah, I suppose the government thought that it was too expensive to erect a signboard saying 'Cardio Clinic' or expects the general population to understand that a lab is a clinic.

Once inside, I went up to the enquiry desk to hand in the appointment card (that I found after tipping out all the contents in the plastic bag while the woman at the counter tells me to stand aside as she is very busy).

'Ini pacemaker clinic la - kat sana!'
'Eh, not a cardio doctor's appointment?'
'Bukan! Packemaker aje!'

Er, ok.. so i go over to 'kat sana' and hand in the appointment card. I hung around the counter as people bombarded questions at the lone woman at the counter(I'm inclined to say nurse but she was not in a uniform and had this pissy look about her face) with questions etc... and she turns to me irritated:
'Duduk, boleh duduk kah?'

Bitchy toot.

At this time, my grandma says she wants to talk to the doctor and started asking me about her blood test. Me being already pretty confused about her inconclusive packemaker or cardio doctor's appointment began to feel a slight twinge of irritation as she insists that she has to take a blood test to check herINR.(a measure of how safe a drug is in the body when taken for long term) Now, what's the association of INRs with pacemakers? (wasn't aware there was one, but then again, I am still unqualified). Jeez. And what clinic is she supposed to be at? My aunt double confirms that she has to see the doctor but the enquiry woman says packemaker clinic.
So, I head back to the enquiry counter and the woman says as I approach: 'What happen to you?!'
'Er, she needs a cardio doctor's appointment together with her pacemaker check'
'This pacemaker check will have a doctor there!'
'Ok, does she need a blood test?'
'No! No nit!'

So I return to my seat only to be questioned about this 'blood test' again by my poor grandma who is getting pretty agitated that she is not getting one. So I head over to the bitch at the packemaker clinic counter and her answer is:

'Tak tau la. Not sure.' Shrugs and turns away.

What kind of idiot sits at a clinic counter and gives an answer like that?

I return to my seat and decide - that the people here are really useless. Might as well find things out myself. So I go through all the bits of paper in the plastic bag and read all about my grandma's history and heart problem. So, she is on warfarin for her atrial fib and hence needs her INR checked but her INR was checked like last week! I call my aunt for the umpteenth time but she is also woolly about this whole INR blood and cardio/pacemaker clinic business.

#^&*.

Whatever. In the end, we did get to see our doctor though it was hardly a clinic; I had to stand the whole time as the doctor talked to me while I translate with my broken mandarin to my grandma. Just across the room, another woman has her pacemaker checked at the same time by the technician.

What happened to patient confidentiality? Privacy?

At 11.30 am I was itching to get out of the hospital (but before that I had to obviuosly lose my way while trying to get to the pharmacy) and heaved a sigh of relieve as I saw my brother's car approaching.

What with brainless gits who sit at the clinic counters, rude nurses, a lame number system - can't they have a nice little log book with patients booked in at different times - I think the whole system is going to the dogs. Thank God the doctors are nice and professional enough, though the consultation room environment is hardly what I call suitable for a country that plans to hit the developed status in 13 years.

And wait, UH is supposed to be semi private. I can't imagine what KL's General Hospital will be like.

Urgh.

Guest Writer : Nigel

Hello. Rachel decided to pop into my blog and leave a mark. So I decided to do the same and return the favour.

So yes, here I am.

Rachel has just ended her entry after I gave her substantial time to blog so it's my turn now while she keeps me entertained with her stories; if she has any.

My blog here to view her entry.

If you have read her entry, which I have not at this point of time, I assumed she has probably mentioned that the both of us are at Starbucks geeking out with wireless Internet. I wanted to retest my laptop wireless capabilities and see whether it is functioning well anyway. Apparently it is and the connection here is fast. :) Damansara Utama Starbucks is nice. I like.

Starbucks is a geek place. Everyone here practically comes online at Starbucks and I was quite amazed to see the number of Crumpler bags going through the door. I thought Crumplers were a rare-breed. I was wrong. It looks like it is entering the Malaysian lifestyles like the new EastPak or Outdoor or Jansport, whatever. Good thing is, no one has my model but someone has a bag the exact same colours as mine.

I'm hungry.

The cheesecakes look tempting.

I actually have nothing insightful to offer you people in this entry because I am blogging in an area where I can get no focus with my thoughts.

Opposite me there is a couple getting intimate, the sound of spoons, forks, knives and who knows what other stuff falling into the basin and easy listening music over the speakers. It is quite difficult to focus on something specific to write.

I am a certified geek. Because I said only novelists sit in Starbucks and write novels. Now I'm the one sitting down here writing an entry which is sort of a super degraded version of a novel. Great.

Rachel is also a geek. She has been tampering with my mobile phone and hers for the past ten minutes.

I better run. It's getting too silent at the table.

And now she's cam-whoring alone. HAHAHAHAHAHA. I'd better save her from narcissistic oblivion. I'm doing all of you, her friends, a big favour and saving you guys the trouble when Rachel exclaims after a picture is taken, "THIS SHOT NOT NICE, I WANT ANOTHER ANGLE! TAKE AGAIN!".

Bye bye.