[oh what chivalry]

Beneath all the "oppression" towards women here, I guess chivalry does exist amongst some men in this country (one of the plus points my hubby was trying to win me over with about coming here). I was pleasantly surprised that after shopping alone today (bought hubby ready-to-eat mixes to make while I'm gone), the guy who packed my stuff into bags (they have one cashier and one packer) put everything into my trolley and wheeled it out of the supermarket for me. After that, he even stood in the hot sun trying to flag down a taxi for me while he asked me to stand in the shade. Grateful I was because venturing out in the blistering heat under two layers of clothes is an easy recipe for dehydration. Not to mention I was wearing my face cover that made me feel suffocated lol. (I wear it on occassion to either just annoy Mr F [he doesn't get the amusement I get in wearing it, then lifting it up while in the car to stick my tongue out at him lol] or when I go to the "little India" here to avoid despos from staring at me or when I'm venturing out alone...the more u look like one of them, the less stares u're likely to get. Not that they disappear completely, gah.) So anyway, after hailing the cab, he even put my things in for me into the boot. How nice right? I was like wow, I could've handled it on my own cos it was so few things, but it was so nice of him to help. I've also experienced instances where guys have let me get ahead in queue or let me pass in front. I guess these fellas can't be condemmed totally. Heh.

[the world should have more people like you]

I was recently lamenting on how the doctors in my department were easily impressed by the work I've done, and because of that I wasn't feeling motivated because I wanted to be pushed further, and not complimented for the easy work that I do. Seriously, if anyone is impressed by my statistics, they are naive. Not only because they get awed by the tests that I can "come up with", but also because they are such newbies to research, giving them a few p-values for simple associations makes them happy. This career move certainly wasn't one where I could "excel further". But I guess I've excelled at using Stata the whole day without getting a headache everytime. Heh.

Nevertheless, yesterday during our usual Saturday meetings (about the only day of the week I definitely have to go into office), Dr W was chairing the meeting. I remember when I first came into the department he was the one who said "Oh Dr A told me they saw what you wrote and it was like magic that you were able to write about a new topic so soon and so well". **Grinz**. So during the meeting where each of us RAs give our updates, I mentioned the status of the three manuscripts I was working on. He replied with a "Are you a hepatologist?" so I was like errr... Then he added "..because the NAFLD paper, the HCC, the steatosis paper...wow..perfectly written, till there isn't much to correct. In a year's time you can be a full time hepatologist!" Lol. I heard a couple of MashaAllah's around the table (it literally means "Whatever God wills", often used when there is surprise in someone's achievements or good deeds). If I had a mirror I could swear I was blushing so while looking down at my notes I said thank you. Hehe.

Today after talking to my big boss, he commented again about how he was impressed I could catch on with the liver field so soon and write "brilliant" papers so quickly (seems they were worried initially about whether I could grasp it soon). He even said whatever paper I write from scratch I can be an author in...yay! (On another note, it seems that God sends me these little messages just when I need them. Only last week I was telling hubby how I feel thick skin to write my own name on the paper or ask if I could include my name...and voila, Dr A brought it up today.) Well, bottomline is, I guess it's always fantastic to have bosses who appreciate the work you do and give a compliment even when it's not due lol. For that reason, I really love my working environment. Now I'm having second thoughts about changing jobs (I still miss the lab!)...guess we'll see what happens... For now I shall revel in the fact that I've had pretty nice bosses in my short working life so far =)

5 days to go till I see Changi Airport again. Wee!

P.S. I'm not blowing my own horn, just stating how lucky I am to have positive people around me here :)