ai ling's first skiing trip! memory of la plagne.

at first i was kinda reluctant to go for it, it was so damn expensive n i was officially bankrupt due to some sponsor-related financial issues. n all the tickets, clothing, insurance were robbing my tiny savings; but now, it's all worth it!

FIRST DAY of skiing. scary. the skis were so heavy. n the damn big shoes were so so so so bulky with pounds of weight. they just didnt seem to be meant for walking. even walking up a small slope was almost impossible. next, the skis, the slippery skis. u just would wonder how would anyone possible like to ski? n u couldn't stop amaze those pro skier while they were speeding down the hills. jealous.

after a lot of bangs and falls, finally could at least ski down the beginner slope. n the instructor allocated us to different groups at the end of the session. ok, of cos, we all belonged to the beginner group. or should i say beginner of the beginner group. zzz. we were seriously pathetic.

SECOND DAY, a new instructor, the charming Charles!!!!! a bit less pathetic and improving, but i started my day banging into another instructor, a cute one tho kakaka. n he picked me up gently, hahaha and all these people said tat was part of the plan. zzz.

then, banged again. into james. our skis were crossed all over. n again, "part of the plan!' they shouted. n while i was busy settling the entanglement, there were some part-time cameraman taking pics of the funny scene when they were supposed to help with the mess. zzz.

THIRD DAY, a much steeper slope. we were all shaking heads to Charles. i mean, no way we could do it. it was just a bit too much for a third day skier. ok, fine, i ended up banging into beetee's ass. right there. i swear i could see stars. so so dizzy. and when i picked myself up together n struggled to the end point, Ang was speeding down relaxingly the second round. argh! tak tahan i wanna do it too. second time, banged into the fence. pathetic. what an ugly fall. without realizing how many attempts i had, finally got the hang of it!!! so so happy except for i banged into a snowboarder. heyy, it was a beginner slope n he was speeding like wind. whose fault?

we were skiing so well we had time even to apply sunblock. haha, never put looks aside. even Charles was shaking head.

end of the day, yiyian and i were so so happy. we might not b the best, but we did not give up! we made it!

FOURTH DAY, la plagne center. steeper n longer this time. the feeling of being able to control your skis was so great. it was like u finally conquered them. n i even started to like the bulky shoes. they made me speed.

i guess this trip i was fated to have some head injury. some substantial ones--i got banged with the ski chair. well i just slipped when i was supposed to get off the chair n the thing turned n just knocked my head. i really had never felt more dizzy before. for a long moment everything was so dark n i couldnt even open my eyes. ok, u gave me two big swellings n tats definitely no way i was going home without taking u down, u dare chair. so i went on to ski again n got up the ski chair again n again till i really knew how to handle it. fuh, even getting off the chair required skills.

anyway, we all conquered the place. a day of achievement!

FIFTH DAY. a day with expectations. for gregory, our charming Charles's tutor, appeared. i guess he must have thought that we were great enough to be under his training by then, which was definitely not true. n so a day of disaster began. we were brought to a really high end. the ski chair seemed to bring us to far far away. it just never stopped. just as u thought u were going to reach, the ski chair went on moving over another n another hills. the altitude must b great, for i could even feel the helicopter gliding so near. gosh, we are we going actually????

ok, finally reached. the view was wow. at the top of everything!

battle started. ahead was all the steep slopes. really steep ones. i just couldnt bring myself to believe we were going to ski all the way back to where the ski chair brought us from. fear. but what else. u just need to ski.

not a good beginning. haih.

the second slope was the funny part. james fell. noreen fell. helen fell. pei fell. menaka fell. i fell, of cos. one by one, we all fell. n i was stuck in the snow. though Ang tried to come to the rescue, i spent like ages just trying to get to my feet. finally, haih, wadever, i just slided down with my ass down the hill like wad pei was doing in front of me. huhuhu. PATHETIC.

i missed Charles. Gregory was a bit inhumane. never came to help. he would rather stand n wait for u when u were struggling to get u

p. argh, Gregory please don come tomorrow n please return Charles to us!!!!!!

with a lot of bangs and falls n bruises production. we finally reached. like i said, a day of disaster.

SIXTH DAY. hi Charles! Gregory must have been so frustrated with us he wouldnt come again. at least charming Charles was back!

high end again. this time i made it a point to not speed at all, to brake all the way. i was planning not

to invest any energy at all in getting up after falling down. i was like a snail till the point noreen was mumbling all the way behing me, "ai ling go faster! ai ling y are u so slow? ai ling go far far away from me!!!" grrrrrrrrr, i was fuming but my skiing capability didnt allow me to throw any temper. but kinda thanks to noreen, i was heated up n just sped all the way. n surprisingly, i reached safely down

the hill, without fallin at all!!! hooray!

i kept following pei. she was good. never really fell. n believe me, it was important to ski behind someone who didnt fall. for if she did, u felt u needed to. and out of a sudden, tat place was not that scary anyway. n i was actually having fun! So I kinda decided I would only ski behind my lucky start pei.

The survisors!

i love skiing!

ok at least it was a happy ending to my skiing trip. at least i could ski down the hills where i initially fell all the way. achievement!

we did it!

since it was the last day. i wouldnt miss the chance to have a picture with Mr Charming. and then everyone rushed to take their turns. he turned into a big star. Commotion.--------------------------->

SEVENTH DAY. i returned the skis n shoes. so sad. now i kinda liked them i had to say goodbye. they gave us bruises and all. but they made me speed. every morning we practically woke up with fear, wondering where we were going to ski that day. every morning we kept fighting to stop ourselves from giving up. and now it was the last day, i missed the

fear and the feeling of uncertainty. huhu.

so we had fun, laughters, sense of satisfaction. And also, collections of bruises.

i miss ucpa. i miss la plagne. i miss charles. i miss the snow

i miss the skis and the shoes. i miss the falls and bangs.

i initially was complaining about buying the skiing outfits, but now i am keeping them. i wanna ski again, if possible.

a trip full of memory. one of the best

trips ever.

my nightmare of polysulphide - impregum.

first of all, if u r not a dental student or dentistry-related in any way, this may b boring n i advise u to leave immediately. n for my fellow dentists, it may b educational, or at least to prepare u better in pros.

i m just so not ready for the dental school to start. this is my third day, n i m already feeling so exhausted.

Pros today. my clinical partner, ayish booked in 2 patients. Brian was the implant patient wanting dentures. so the tutor, Mr harper asked us to use impregum for the lower impression. it looked cool to have a new material after all this while of alginate and admix and compo. but the handling was a mess. at then end of the day it wasnt cool at all. it was just a mess.

so, ayish was doing the examination and all, when she started to feel unwell. she looked blue. so it was maybe a good idea for her to go home to have a rest; but on the other hand, i had to take over the two patients that i had no clear clue what i should do with. anyway, i had to do it.

first, the impregum impression went a little doggy. no anatomy contour at all i guess, if there was any, recorded except for the two implant holes. n the impregum was so so so sticky. it ran all over everywhere. n i removed the impression without noticing it unset, n when i did, the next moment the patient was spitting out like crazy, complaining that the material tasted horribly awful. well the Mr Harper said it was an expensive material but the mercaptan or something gave it an unpleasant odour. i kinda pitied Brian, but i had to get the impressions done.

then the dispensary ran out of impregum. so i was asked to do the upper impression with alginate when the nurse tried to find me some irritating impregum. since i was left all alone in despair, i had to steal peilian from abdullah to b my nurse. thank god peilian didnt book in a patient, if not i would have been killed by the alginate and polysulphide, being buried in tones of unusable impressions.

so after a few attempts, we got the upper impression ok. n the time was like 15minutes before the next patient came in. so i was fighting with time. the nurse finally gave me the impregum before a woman came n nicked it. well she promised to bring it back which she never did. i wasnt being stingy but the nurse said that was the little impregum she could find in the clinic. so be that woman a fifth year student or a tutor, me n peilian were quite frustrated with her.

then another nice nurse came to rescue with some impregum n even showed me how to deal with it. still, the impressions were nothing more than doggy. n i kinda decided there was something wrong in the research on dental material as this thing couldnt b for implant impression or any simple impressions. it was so sticky n Brian was so covered with impregum. Miss Pett decided we couldnt proceed with the stub handle (which i had no idea why would the lab designed it instead if the straight handles) interfering the lip. we even thought of ripping off the handle. Mr harper had another go, and it wasnt any better. it looked like everybody was playing with Brian's mouth till he said "please, everybody have a go!". another try and another try, we changed so many tips and syringes for the impregum and still couldnt get it right.

in the middle of the mess, i was still worried if the next patient had arrived. but i think god still loves me, for the patient canceled her appointment!!!! so now we could spend time concentrating on how to sort the mess out. Brian was still spitting out, apparently theres no adaptation to the awful smell yet.

i was exhausted, n poor Brian must be too. i was hoping we could really get a perfect impression so that our patient could go home with something at least. and the next moment, Mr harper said the special tray was fractured. oh god! n guess what, the next appointment for Brian is, exactly, impregum impression again =(

so i had to send him back with, i guess, fatigue and disappointments.

it was almost 12.20pm, and the nurse was chasing peilian to return stuff to dispensary n to clean up. haih, chill please la.

so, my third day was about impregum n impregum.

but it wasnt so bad cos peilian was there helping. thank u situapui!