Finally I am here...

14.1.14 - shall be a memorable day for me; no matter what happens in my career path. Finally..after 7 years & 8 months, I really sat for an examination! It was truly an exhilarating feeling mixed with some regrets (which is of course is of no use) to have sat for an exam to further advance my career. An exam which I first thought of sitting in 2010. Due to "distractions", failure to plan, failure to prioritize and failure to look at future; I delayed & almost lost direction in career & life.

Allah is Great...Allah guided & re-routed me to the right path and I am happy to at least have found some direction & to have kick-started my journey to propel my career.

At this point of life, I learned an important lesson; Allah is always with us..be close to Allah. No humans can be as close as Allah is. Humans may disappoint us & never bother about us...but Allah is always there for us. Never lose hope.

As what mentioned in the holy qur'an :

I (Allah) said : Ask forgiveness from your Lord; Verily, He is Oft-Forgiving. 'He will send rain to you in abundance;'And give you increase in wealth and children, and bestow on you gardens and bestow on you rivers.' "

- Surah Nuh verse 10-12-

Allah will give us the guidance. If we get distracted from the path & face difficulties...get back to Allah...Allah is ever-willing to forgive and guide us back to correct path. But we humans are just too arrogant & ignorant.

Just to cap; I sat for Part 1 MRCP (this is THE EXAM I was mentioning earlier) in Singapore (my first time entry to this city). Took a direct flight from Penang. Arrived at around 5pm. They have an excellent MRT/ERL system which practically connects you to every corner of Singapore. I took this MRT from the airport, down to Terminal 3 (if I remember correctly). There on I took another MRT & disembarked at Al-Junied station..somewhere in Geylang

There starts my headache.... I wandered around the area for almost 2 hours, before finding my "unnnamed" hotel, with the help of a waitress in a bar-cum-restaurant just opposite this so-called hotel. The direction they gave when I booked online was correct; but the signboard was not there. It is basically a budget hotel on 2nd & 3rd floor of a grocery shop. From outside, it looks suspicious (like one of those hotels where you can stay 2-3 hours to get "the job" done.

But inside was quite decent (in terms of that there were no unsightly scenes).

I booked a room for my own & they gave me a small room with 2 double-deckers inside; but with reassurance of that no one will be staying with me. Was really damn tired (I guess I would have walked at least about 2km to locate this place).

I started the next day quite early, at 5am. Went for Subuh in a masjid named Khadijah Mosque (approx. 800m walk from my hotel) *I noticed that azan was not heard there (I suppose not allowed in this secular city)* I admire muslims living in this city as a minority group; yet upholding Islamic values. In fact I saw a banner whereby one of the mosques I went, were promoting a kind of "weekly charity work at old-folks home"; something which I have never come across in Malaysia (or perhaps I might be unaware of any such programmes)

Well, by 8am I was out of the hotel & went straight to the MRT station. My b/fast being gardenia breads which I had tapau from our airport. MRT took me about 40minutes to reach Kent Ridge station (at NUS). However, the exam is somewhere on the other part of NUS; thus had to take a shuttle bus (provided by NUS) to reach there. Was a bit confusing & tiring to finally reach the exam place at about 10 (there is still a good 2 hours for the exams to start; which finally started after an hour delay) Just wandered around; met 2 housemen of mine (back in Kulim & HSJ). There were quite a number of ppl from other places besides Malaysia & Singapore. But I guess I am the oldest of them all...hahahaha...

Finally they called to enter the hall at 12 and after a long queue of verification (they want to see passport with photo & signature attached on it)

Exam started soon after we settled down. 100 questions of ONE BEST ANSWERED in 3 hours... That was a really looong 3 hours. Dizzy with the questions; my brain became hypoxic, requiring me to go toilet to reventilate. A gap of 45minutes were given (during which I quickly had my Zohor & Asar Jama' in a basement room - courtesy of an Indian gentleman working as labourer in NUS) ; before we were in again for Paper 2 (another 100 questions ~ which was tougher!!!)

When we left the hall, it was already dark. Went back to MRT station by taking a shuttle bus from Prince George Park's Residence. Disembarked at Bugis station. Wandered around the place looking for the place to get a bus ticket to LCCT. Finally found the place and the bus was scheduled to be at 12MN.

I meantime, went to a nearby Masjid & just opposite there was a "Malayali" shop, where I had a nice chicken briyani (which cost me SD 6 only - reasonable) & teh halia (SD 1.50)

Boarded the bus at 12MN & reached LCCT at around 5.30 (transit at Pudu).

Was home sweet home by 10.30am (delay being the wait for a bus from Penang Airport to Jelutong - as usual unreliable Penang public transport)

Alhamdulillah 3 weeks later the reult was out & I passed. Felt happy; "looking forward" for following exams which are in line for me (I shall write on my experiences with the following exams soon). 

Appreaciate my colleagues' contribution (in Ward 5c) for covering me when I was away with study leave & exam.

*This story was written in March 2014 (approx. 2 months after the event)* but I only "found time" to post today...hi3