It's all Western!

Tonight was Rangeview Intermediate School's (my old intermediate school!) Music Evening, with the theme being Western music. Glenna, one of the girls I teach violin to at church attends the school and is in the orchestra. She was really keen on me coming, so it was lucky I sat my exam and returned to Auckland just in time for it!

When I got home from work I got a surprise when my neighbour's mum rang me, asking if I was going and if I'd like a ride there! One of the boys she looks after attends the school and she was taking him there. Apparently he told her that I was going! Glenna must've told him!

Anyway we got there about half an hour early, and the hall was already full! The girl's family (her dad is also our youth group leader and youth pastor at our church!) were all there too!

They forgot to bring their camera, and I couldn't find our camera, so I had to rely on my phone camera which wasn't the best in low light!

The music evening was pretty good, and brought back memories of when I used to be at the school!

There were quite a few performances, with the choir singing, recorder, guitar and keyboard ensembles performing, and of course the orchestra performing.

The head boy and head girl were the MC's of the evening, and were dressed in cowboy/girl costumes, and they came complete with the whole Western accent!

The head boy also turned out to be quite a musician, playing a couple solos and duets on the trumpet!

After the show, I went back to the music room to visit Miss Rai, my old music teacher at Rangeview Intermediate. Fortunately she still remembers me! She still has the newspaper articles and photos of me up on the wall!

I was really proud of Glenna tonight and I'm keen to see her and her brother perform more often! They're going to be great musicians!

The Big Exam

Today was probably the most important day of my short-lived pharmacy career so far - my pharmacy registration exam! I woke up in my really nice double bed to the sound of heavy rain outside, WHHYYYYYY!

First things first though. I had to get up, have my shower, then go downstairs and find out if I had to check out of my hotel room. Uh oh..check out time was 10am, in half an hour!

I quickly went back up, packed all my things and left my room. Byebye Room 6! Now I was homeless! The only place I could think of was McDonald's across the road.

I dragged my carry-bag across the road to McDonald's and ordered the Big Kiwi Breakfast, then sat down and slowly ate it while I did my last minute exam preparation.

I think I was there for at least two hours! By then I felt like I had probably outstayed my welcome, so I decided to make my way to the hotel where the exam was to be held.

There were interns doing last minute studying in the foyer already! It was not too long till we were all called to come into this room where we would be debriefed on what to expect in the exam.

I don't think I'm allowed to say much about the exam, except that I had to do six roleplays and one interview at the end. I'm pretty sure I screwed up at the beginning, but as I went along, I started to feel a lot better and more confident. By the end of it I just wanted to keep talking in my interview!

After the exam though all those thoughts started entering my mind, like what if I did this wrong, or what if that was wrong? It was torture!

I dragged all my possessions to the shopping centre nearby where I feasted on Burger King. My pharmacy friend contacted me and I met up with him and told him about the exam. 

After our little catch-up, I headed to the bus and made my way back to Wellington Airport.

By then, it was dark and almost all the shops at the airport were closed. There wasn't much to do there except go on my laptop and try use up all the data on my data stick. 

Finally it was time to board the flight! Once again I had a window seat. I didn't have to worry about studying this time, so instead I just listened to music. I didn't make the same mistake of choosing the chocolate bar. ACTUALLY, they ran out of chocolate bars! I went with the BBQ chips instead. I tried tea this time, but before I even had a chance to drink it, the pilot told us to prepare for landing! Apparently we were 15 minutes early! That's very uncommon!

Despite arriving in Auckland early though, I still had to wait for my parents to pick me up at the airport. Once again everything was closed at Auckland Domestic Airport. I was almost by myself except for the security guards wandering around. 

Eventually my parents came to pick me up.

Tomorrow will be another day at work! At least I'll be able to enjoy my nights without having to worry about study! I'll find out if I pass in three weeks' time...

(http://youtu.be/kJgFmbumrrU)

Locked in my Room

It's exam eve. Tomorrow is the big day and I've been spending most of the day in my hotel room doing last minute study..well most of the time anyway!

I had to arrive at the airport this morning to catch my flight at 8.30am. I did all my packing last night so it was all last minute stuff. I'm only gone for less than two days, so I managed to fit everything into a teeny carry-on bag!

My flight departed ten minutes late, but that was OK. I got a window seat next to a couple. It didn't actually seem too long, but then again I was trying to read my pharmacy stuff while on the flight!

Guess who I saw on my flight though? Labour leader David Shearer and Labour MP David Parker! I only saw them from a distance though.

When they announced that they were ready to hand out snacks, they gave us the option of a Whittakers Chocolate bar, BBQ chips, or an ANZAC biscuit...yeah not such a great selection! I thought the chocolate bar would be one of those longer ones, but it turned out to only be one of those really small ones! At least the coffee kept me going!

I was surprised at how good the weather was when we landed at Wellington though! The weather report said it was going to be raining heavily with thunderstorms! I had dressed accordingly with my thick jacket!

I grabbed my bag and jumped on the airport bus. The trip to Lower Hutt was almost an hour long. When I got off, this other girl got off at the same time and was asking the driver for directions to somewhere. Afterwards she turned to me and asked if I was an intern pharmacist as well, and that's when I realised she was also coming to Lower Hutt to sit her exam! She had booked a room at the hotel we would be sitting our exam at, while the hotel I would be staying at was just down the road.

My hotel room was located above a bar. After finally finding someone who could help me, I was shown to my room and I have to say it wasn't too bad! I got my own table (good for studying!), double bed, TV, shower, toilet and hand basin! The only problem was that water would leak from the pipe below the hand basin. Fortunately this somehow stopped later on in the night!

I spent the next few hours trying to study. I admit I started to doze off closer towards the evening. That's when I realised it was time to go across the road to Westfield Queensgate to buy myself an ENERGY drink!

Luckily for me everything was literally across the road from my hotel - Queensgate on one side, McDonald's on the other, and the exam location just down the road!

I had a quick wander around the shopping mall so I wouldn't feel too guilty for wasting precious cramming time. I carefully selected my drug of choice - Demon (forgive me Lord)! I bought some McDonald's and headed back to my hotel room for more study.

Lun Shen, my pharmacy friend contacted me, asking if I'd like to hang out with him and another one of our pharmacy friends who lives down in Wellington now for dinner. We went to this Thai restaurant and I had some curry chicken on rice as we talked about the exciting changes going on in the pharmacy sector.

It was getting late and so we parted ways. I went back to my hotel room to do some study, and that is where I am now! I probably get some sleep soon too. Even though my exam is at midday tomorrow, I probably should wake up early enough to do some last minute studying.

I also don't know if I'm meant to check out of this hotel room sometime in the morning too...

The Beginning of the End?

It's been a while since I last posted, but in a couple days' time will be a very important exam for me, so I thought I better get back into it! I'll fill in all the gaps up till now a little later on.

The important exam I'm referring to is my pharmacist registration exam, to determine if I become a proper pharmacist. It's taken five and a half years to get to this point, with a few hiccups along the way. Even now I still don't feel 100% ready! Then again, I never really feel confident going into an exam. What makes makes me a little anxious is not exactly knowing what I'll be going into, and ending up looking like a fool!

In the lead-up, my preceptor and the other pharmacist at my work have been helping me, doing role-plays with me and giving me tips which has boosted my confidence a little bit, but it always seems as though there's a whole lot more I haven't covered that I'm afraid they'll test me on!

The exam, or 'Assessment Centre' as the Pharmaceutical Society calls it, consists of five role-plays and an interview. There will be actors/actresses posing as customers/patients that I have to interact with in front of a couple of examiners. I'll have to maintain my composure really well!

Anyway, I fly down to Wellington at 9.30am in the morning, then catch the bus to Lower Hutt where I'll probably be spending all of Monday in my hotel room doing last minute studying before the big exam at midday on Tuesday. I'll then fly back home that evening, ready for work the next day! Talk about a tight schedule!

Oh well I better get some sleep. I will try keep this updated from down in Lower Hutt, wish me the best of luck!

Happy 50th, Pastor!

It is the pastor's 50th birthday this coming Wednesday, so his wife and daughter put together a bit of a surprise birthday for him after church today. 

He was obviously kept out of the loop, or at didn't show that he was aware of it! 

I was teaching the kids recorder, getting them ready to play the Happy Birthday song, when I got a call that everyone was waiting for us!

We went into the new classroom and people had already started singing! They let the kids play Happy Birthday for the pastor afterwards though, so that was nice!

One of the ladies from church had baked two cakes for the pastor so there was plenty to go around!

BRB

It's been a long time since I've updated this blog! I have to admit that with my exam coming up I've neglected it a bit, but I will update it fully very soon!