2013: the year in review

the past few years have each brought a transition or two. 2009 had the mister graduating, us braving a mortgage and me going to stockholm on exchange, 2010 saw me graduate and the mister get called to the bar. in 2011, the mister popped the question, i got called to the bar then promptly uprooted to the UK, in that order! 2012 was the mister's turn to up sticks to london and we married over midsummer before moving into our first home together. so when i wrote the last update, i was feeling all grown up having recently acquired a spouse and a house! 

then last week, one of the doctors on the ward asked me what i'd like to be when i grow up. and while a BIG part of me was thrilled to have been mistaken for an undergrad (yay for azn genes!), another part was a little indignant. i wanted to flash my wedding band in his face and go "hey! i'm probably older than you!" and that's when i realised being married counts for nothing, and as a graduate medic, i'm right back to the bottom of that proverbial ladder. ouchie. it's also sobering that my fellow pupil has been a senior associate for a year. had i stayed on, i'd be about three years away from junior partnership. which really put things into perspective. 

2013 has been good to us, and it's great to be done with big life transitions. barring any accidents, there shouldn't be too many transitions for a while. this year, like those before, we've prioritised travel and adventure, with a focus on local travel.

we saw in the new year on primrose hill, sandwiched between rastafarians and schoolgirls past their curfew, i was back in singers for a couple of days before returning to sit exams while horribly jetlagged. never again! after my exams, the mister took me to the lakes for a mid-week break, and the following weekend we went to bergen. we were lucky to squeeze a couple of days out and spend chinese new year in singers with family, although giving hong bao for the first time stung :( 

in march, i went on a little cooking spree and we caught sigur ros in concert! we finally got round to going on our honeymoon, having not had time last year. to placate me, we did mini-moon in phuket after our singapore celebration, but i'd been insistent on a proper faraway holiday. almost as if to spite me (marriage off to a wonderful start!), the mister planned a trip to the galapagos. to which i whinged a little too publicly about being outwitted once again as it involved sleeping in tents, hiking and kayaking, neither of which i particularly enjoy. but the beauty of no expectations is that i ended up having a wonderful wonderful time in spite of myself, and we met a really lovely bunch of people. well done, mister. good effort encouraging my personal development! while we were in the galapagos, my darling rottie fathered the most adorable litter of eight and i was swooning over them from thousands of miles away. driven by abject fear and desperation, i hunkered down for exams in may before making the most of my last three month summer. having already enjoyed six such long breaks (four as an undergrad and two in medical school) it was high time i (wo)manned up. 

my darling sister visited us in london and we went to brighton then paris, we celebrated our first wedding anniversary early with dear friends (based down under and stateside) then met the mister's folks in barca to celebrate some more. they stayed on with us in london after, and the rest of summer passed in a blur of meeting up with the huge confluence of friends who were passing through the city. we'd endless picnics in the park, ate outdoors at every opportunity and our tiny flat turned into a revolving door b&b. but it wasn't all social, and there were some quiet stretches where i'd wander out with a book and the mister would meet me wherever i ended up when he was done with work. we drove to wales, and to dover, and made our way across the channel in the amazing channel tunnel to spend the mister's birthday in bruges. in august we had some bonus time in singers when the mister's work brought him home, and then roadtripped norway before i started clinicals in september.

clinicals have been a steep learning curve, but it was a huge relief to find out that i really enjoy dealing with patients and thankfully they seem not to mind me too much! phew :) when we'd some time, we continued exploring the UK, with a double date at the much-hyped fat duck with friends. we also thought to explore the north with visits on different weekends to northumberland and the scottish border. we finally got round to checking out bath, having only passed through during summer 2012 en route to the cotswolds. rounding up the year with more traveling, we had the good fortune to be hosted by the most gracious friends in lucerne before christmas, and spent christmas week in a ski lodge on a deal so irresistable i was certain it was an internet scam... that kind of brings us all the way to where we are now. 

looking forward to more of the same, in the best possible way, in 2014. we're relishing this time 'just us' because at the back of our minds, we hope it won't always be the case. slowly starting to warm to the idea of children, but the mister was one step ahead of me, as always. he splurged on a first anniversary present that has effectively rendered us unable to afford a child for a few years yet. why, thanks... ironically, he's the better of the two with children! we were walking to brunch on saturday when a horde of little girls dressed in red came up to him and trilled ever so sweetly (according to him), "we're the red team!". apparently i recoiled in horror and looked around frantically for their adult to get them away from us while the mister was cool / nurturing / encouraging. i look at the few people i know of who are young / accidental  parents and think their situation is unenviable. interrupted careers, no time to get used to enjoy just being a wife before being a mother, no uninterrupted sleep, can't travel anywhere without screaming spawn? aiyoh so poor thing. then again, when everyone else is 40 and undergoing IVF, said young parents will have the last laugh. 

i think so much of our life goals are shaped by what our parents had accomplished by the same age. mine married in their early twenties and only had me in their early thirties, which seems like a reasonable guideline :) by the time he'd reached the big 3-0, the mister's father was already a papa of two and had just been posted to new york where the mister spent his early childhood. so the life goal benchmark is slightly accelerated on that side of the family. yet i maintain that there's a season for everything, just like how 2013-2014 is the time to focus on growth and becoming better at the things we do. 

thank you very much for reading, and for stopping by now and again. it means a lot to me every time i see i've more than two readers (the mister and my grandmother) on blogger stats. wishing you and yours happy holidays, and even more love and light in your life come 2014.

so close

why thanks, icelandair.  thank you for flying us and wedding party to iceland :)

so it's that dreaded last push where my mind's gone on holiday while my body desperately tries to focus because i've still got exams tomorrow. 

but talking about exams is uncool, because, seriously, who wants to know if i'm meant to be revising right now. 

so on to happier things! or funnier things, really. like how for this morning's exam, the university hired a bus (bless them!) to take us to the far flung hospital for our clinical exams. while i thank God i'm based in the heart of town, to make things fair we get shuffled up for exams and i ended up at a base unit a fair distance away. so the bus was a good idea. until the bus driver got lost. and what should've taken 40min (ok it's not that far, i'm just being dramatic...) took a whopping two hours. granted, when the driver asked us when we first boarded if anyone knew where the hospital was, we thought he was joking. then he asked if anyone had a sat nav. and i thought he was still joking. until we hit the vicinity and he stops the bus in the middle of the road and runs out to ask random passers by for directions. hoo boy. so after a grand tour of the south, and the hospital, because when we finaly arrived, he dropped us at the wrong part and it was a real trek to the actual exam, we rock up about an hour late. the beauty of being on school arranged transport? the exam had to wait for us, whoop whoop!

thank goodness tomorrow's exam is within walking distance. and then it's hellooo christmas break! because we're a little cray, i'm home at six with a christmas jumper party at eight. the mister's been a star tidying up and doing the groceries but he's on alcohol duty and we've divvied up the kitchen kit. the oven's mine, the hob's his and we'll see whether it boils down to a battle of wits. he's also very kindly offered to take on my recipes and i'm holding my breath to see how it turns out. 

wish him (and us!) luck.

in other news i'm really bummed our resident shutterbug has refused to oblige! something about not wanting to abandon his +1. bah. here's hoping we've trigger-happy friends who aren't too tipsy and can take non-blur photos :( 

christmas tree 2013

we were incredibly excited to have our first tree last year, even though it was too small to fit my christmas present under. but after a year of impaling unsuspecting tootsies on pine needles, we decided to go green this christmas. well, that and sheer sloth. much as i'd like to make a tradition of putting up our christmas tree with carols playing and cookies baking every december 1st, this sentimentality gave way to pragmatism. maybe when we eventually have a family, and offspring who want to decorate a tree, i'll relent. but for now, this nifty arrangement works quite well. saw it online and realised it was easily replicated with string lights and some tape. oh no, i'm slowing morphing into a pinterest wife. ew.

sunday history lessons

sunday is synonymous with dimsum. gone are the days when people had a sunday roast. oh no, all the cool kids regardless of ethnicity do dimsum now. i feel vaguely violated, like half of london and its mother has taken my thing and called it theirs. maybe i'm just sore because it's next to impossible to get a good reso on sunday unless you're incredibly organised (i'm not). but never fear, our secret weapon is using someone who speaks cantonese to make the booking for us. it's a bit like how i learnt basic french and japanese to converse with waiters in hope of getting some extra carrot. doesn't always work but my inner el cheapo is easily pleased by free food :)

blue skies and golden leaves aside, it was a lovely autumn day and the mister wanted to kick leaves and play catch in the park. somebody get that man a dog already!

carols by candlelight

 

there's something about christmas and carols that lure even my most hardened, antichrist friends to church. many of them were brought up church-going but lapsed as time passed. i think it's sad when life turns people away from church because what i've been through myself, the good and the bad, has made me realise that God is the only hope and explanation. what i particularly enjoyed about this carols by candlelight service was how it was a good mix of choir, readings and carols. there was a short talk that (to me) drew some ridiculous contrasts between Christ's birth and prince george's. i mean, not to be hating the royal baby, but, seriously?!! but they redeemed themselves by serving mulled apple juice and roasted chestnuts in a big marquee at the end :) and the thousand candles that illuminated the old stone church was quite a sight to behold.

lumberjack life

my weakness for pop ups is no secret and the mister recently sniffed out one in hackney! the clever people behind it managed to transform the rooftop into a slice of the pacific north west (lumberjack clothing optional!) and we were greeted with roasted marshmellows and hot toddies at the door. it was one of those cheeky ticketed events so we paid in full before. i guess the thing about pop-ups with their makeshift kitchens is not to expect anything too fancy. nor too much choice! we had simple, hearty fare off paper plates (sigh) but done well. we'd chicken wings, ribs, sloppy joes and cheeseburgers, rounded up by pancakes or waffles for dessert. the massive meat servings added up and we so stuffed by the time dessert rolled round that i swapped mine for more hot cider :)

to give ourselves some digestion downtime, we cosied up under the thick blankets and hung around after for live campfire songs.

lazy saturdays

we're fast forming a little group of london transplants and there's no better way to catch up than over brunch. it's a group so academic (with phD candidates, university lecturer, masters student and continental lawyer) that the mister and i are put to shame. but the beauty of having friends way brainier than you is that i learn so much just being with them. from discussing the statutes that governs karang guni (rag and bone) men in singers, to contrasting it with the lucrative lifestyle of 'scrappers' in the UK. i mean the last time i delve into hansards and relevant parliamentary intentions was in freshman year of lawsch!

after a heavy brunch at the modern pantry, we somehow managed to transition straight to coffee and more food (???) at workshop coffee. clerkenwell is a neighbourhood i have sentimental attachment to and don't seem to tire of. long before we moved to london, i was in stockholm on exchange and visited london for the first time. my host brought me to clerkenwell but misread the modern pantry opening time and we ended up at workshop (formerly st. ali!) instead. over four years later, i'm the old-timer, taking friends who'd just relocated to clerkenwell. it was some time coming but i finally got a taste of MP, and still ended up at workshop. funny how things work out. 

we started at 11, had brunch till 1ish, coffee till 3ish then decided it was a respectable time to start drinking. so the mister and i made our way to a cute bar in the area (snooty service so they don't get a mention!) and had a few before going home to put up our christmas tree :)

bath

we meant to explore the christmas markets first thing in the morning, but only made it to the town centre in the afternoon. and got further distracted by the tasting room. i mean, good wines by the glass and hearty tapas? why not :) we washed it all down with a legit affogato before strolling by the avon river in a vain attempt to undo the cheese, alcohol and sugar coma. there was also a rugby game on and being too cheap to buy tickets, we caught what we can from across the bridge.

as the sun was setting, we made our way to the thermal bathes to catch the sunset from the rooftop pool. it was modern and reminiscent of the blue lagoon in iceland, sans silica pool bottoms to rub on our faces. we soaked to our hearts content in the indoor pool, outdoor pool and rotated around the four scented steam rooms. it was a two hour slot and in between we got hungry again (sigh) and stopped for drinks and nibbles in the restaurant. it was a novel feeling to be in our wet bathers and robe, casually sitting in the middle of what looked like a rather fancy restaurant.

and two hours later, we emerged refreshed and only a little like dried prunes, to see the market by night. oh, and eat some more.

soft spot for stone cottages

despite my increasingly minimalist leanings, i've a soft spot for stone cottages. there's something about their solid sturdiness, and the absolute block to mobile signal, that draws me to them. i've been in a few stone cottages since discovering my new-found appreciation of stone cottages big and small. there was the stone bunkhouse C taught me to bathe out of a teapot in, and another near glastonbury that we visited last summer. it's going to make me sound like such a wuss but after a 48h scheduled on the assessment*suite, the mister was a real sweetheart to surprise me with a mini break. now i've warned him that if we were to travel every time i did a long shift, this medical career might be more expensive than initially anticipated. but the timing worked out and i'm not about to say no to a treat like that. having read many good things about the christmas market in bath, the mister booked us into the sweetest stone cottage meant for four. where our two imaginary friends were going to come from was besides me, but we'd plenty of space and managed breakfast at the dining table. idyllic as breakfast in bed sounds, crumbs under the sheets are not ideal. so this arrangment let us have our croissant and eat it.

thanksgiving

i'm always quick to qualify / go on the defensive that i'm not the biggest fan of uhmurika. thanksgiving, a typically uhmurikan holiday, isn't one i'm in the habit of celebrating. my cantankerous soul doesn't quite buy into the whole holiday business, because if we celebrate love / gratitude / christ all whole year round then why celebrate it all the more on valentines' / thanksgiving / christmas? but before you think i must've had a deprived childhood (far from, i hope!) i've somewhat accidentally celebrated thanksgiving the past couple of years. 

in first year, i attended a thanksgiving memorial service for the families of the deceased who'd donated their bodies to science. last year, a dear ithaca-based friend was in london and hosted an amazing thanksgiving shindig from her brother's flat and this year, the mister invited my three dearest friends to dinner in a hydroponics garden under the railway arches. when the mister was back home performing best man duties last weekend, T had taken me walking, and C organised dinner with some friends we'd been meaning to catch up with. and S, poor long-suffering S, has been such a godsend and one-person support network when i first relocated to the +44. from my china town induction, to last minute "omg i don't know how to do a neuro exam and my OSCE is in an hour...", to dragging me out of the flat with the promise of fried rice and bubble tea when i was certain i'd failed my exams and later celebrating when uh it turned out i was being a drama queen. bottom line: incredibly grateful for good friends who are practically family when we're so far from home. for people who have seen the good, the bad and the very ugly parts of me and hung around despite it. 

being grateful is a spirit i try to live every day in, and this year, i'm taking things slow and counting my blessings. i know i go on and on like a broken record some times, but i'm truly thankful for patients with hearts of gold, who let hapless medics like me attempt to take their bloods. every night i tell the mister how i've met so many gracious people who despite their personal discomfort muster a smile and say i'm welcome to take their bloods. and when i fail, still smile and encourage me to try again because, "you've got to learn, pet, don't stop now!" in a way it's made me more determined to get it right the first time, and increasingly i am, but it's such a chicken and egg situation, isn't it? i don't want to practice on patients until i get really good. but how do i get really good without practising on patients? there was one absolutely lovely irish man who sensed that i was nervous and started singing irish folk songs to put me at ease. must've worked, because i got blood (all 15ml of it for many many tests!) on the first go. and i'm grateful for good teachers, busy doctors who take time to explain things despite having an unending list of jobs. it's at all levels too - from the junior doctor stopping whatever they were doing to supervise me putting in a cannula, to the consultant who pauses in the middle of a hectic ward round to teach me how to interpret ABGs.  i feel like such a liability some times but keep reminding myself it's all part of the process and to pay it forward when the chance arises. in a nutshell, i'm very conscious that i'm blessed to have a second bite of the university cherry with the mister's full support. to be where i want to be, doing what i want to do, is an amazing feeling and one i wake up thankful for every morning.