May Allah forgive us and accept all our deeds and answers, ameen

(1) Stepped into the Toxic Building for our 70 marks Surgery exam and waiting at the attendance table was none other but Dr. Mohamed Rafeeq our very gigih vascular surgeon. I was surprised and automatically greeted him with a salam that he replied plus his polite smile. I take that he remembered he had Malaysian students in his class.

(2) I was with the last group to be examined. Went inside and was ushered by the doctor to the end of the row. As I got near my seat, I recognised the invigilator at my end was none other but Dr. Ayman who taught us General Surgery class every Sunday. I automatically went "Assalamualaikum Dr. Ayman how are you!" like old friends hahaha. He smiled in recognition and we exchanged pleasantries.

He had been coughing ever since the first day of our class, you know. And we once recognise a cigarette packet-like impression in his back pocket, so we spot diagnosed him as having chronic bronchitis. And during the entire exam, we could hear him coughing every once in a while.

Yup, definitely chronic bronchitis. Haha.

(3) I recognised the head invigilator as Dr. Hisham Mustafa who gave us Stomach and Duodenum lectures. I really liked his lectures and the notes I got was easier to follow than the textbook.

He once came and gave us a Swelling lecture but stopped about 15 minutes later because Dr. Salah Shaheen came and apparently there was an overlap in the schedule. He automatically gave in to the older professor with his respectful cheery smile.

Speaking of Dr. Salah, he gave us the most lecture this year and covered for many professors. God bless him with health, strength and ease. One of the professors he covered for was Dr. Nadem who was supposed to give us Esophagus. Dr. Salah started his lecture by saying he was covering for Dr. Nadem who was actually the pioneer in esophageal surgery in Kasr el Ainy.

Legends!! So people, please do attend the lectures. You can't beat their level of experience.

(4) FINISHED ALL MBBCh EXAM! Allahumma please forgive all of our sins and accept all our deeds and answers, and please grant us the best marks. Let us graduate together, ameen.

I was actually looking forward to participating in Egyptians slamming clay beakers to the ground, but I didn't see anyone doing that. Maybe it was actually done on the graduation day instead?

P/s: It was on the 24th because another group of Egyptians finished their exam then. I missed.

Despite all that, let's not forget our final year colleagues arrested by the junta. Allahumma strengthen them and help them. Please let us remain steadfast in the right path, ameen.

(5) We met the new dean today but he was so different from Dr. Hussein... I didn't see him smile at us nor greet any of us. He didn't even speak to us. He just came and posed for pictures and only interacted with his entourage and the official faculty photographer.

Maybe I missed those moments or maybe I didn't. Maybe he realised Dr. Hussein is forever the dean in our heart and didn't bother to change our mind.

(6) After the exam, I thought of the whole week off I have before we start our clinical attachment on the 26th. It was only late evening that I realised the 26th is three days away.

I had a lot procrastinated in the name of exam and things to look forward after the exam, namely:
(a) jaulah Farouq
(b) daurah BFG
(c) complete family's travel itinerary
(d) yearbook
(e) every single details for work registration
(f) books to buy
(g) items to pack
(h) jaulah tidur setiap RI Kaherah at least
(i) go to Tanta

(j) clinical attachment
(k) batch dinner
(l) family coming
(m) graduation day

My deadline is 2nd March. But for now, today, I want to do nothing. It's not "do nothing" in a relaxed sense of an incoming holiday, it's more of a looming feeling.

(7) I uploaded a picture of us IQs in our graduation robe after the session with the dean and people commented their congratulations underneath it. It made me feel.. anxious. I'm telling you we finished our exams awaiting our results. Why are people congratulating me when the results aren't in yet! Huhu..

Yeah, I know. That's not the good mindset to have. We will graduate together, ameen.

(8) And then Bawarouq posted on my wall calling me Dr. Hana and it caught me by surprise. I was so excited and terharu this legendary brother came by and even more so that he called me Dr. Hana. You don't see Bawarouq do this every year, mark my word. I actually went to Mad's wall to see if perhaps Bawarouq was congratulating all his close juniors but there wasn't any post from him on Mad's wall. And then I stopped at that because that's so bratty attention-seeking of me, hahaha.

So I came back to my senses and to the reality of Bawarouq addressing me with that title. It spoke of his confidence in my result which until just now was barely existent in me. It was uplifting.

I can't wait to work and survive as elegantly as he, Bayep, Kak Bid and Kak Elli did.

(9) Tiza invited us over for dinner but we already ordered Nawab. Nawab was late so we promised ourselves we will eat only a tiny bit, went up and I rang the bell once yelling "It's Hana!!" like a brat. Haha.

Tiza opened the door and I skipped inside. I went straight for the food and you know what, IT WAS NASI AYAM!!!

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I HAD NASI AYAM? IT WAS SO LONG AGO I DONT EVEN REMEMBER!

I quickly grabbed a plate and helped myself bwahahaha. MashaAllah it was so good I wanted to cry. And we would have wiped the whole rice pot clean if it wasn't for the thought of the Nawab we ordered. Hahaha. Damn it was so good, so so good.

We had to go back down quickly while we could still hold back from having seconds, so I brought my and Farah's plate to the kitchen and mindlessly washed her dishes. She quickly playfully taunted me. And then she changed the topic.

"Bila majlis kau?"

Obviously she meant my wedding. "Majlis graduasi 25 haribulan." I replied smoothly. She laughed and so I added as seriously as one could while doing dishes. "Aku takde calon la Farah."

"Ala calon boleh dicari~"

"HARITU KAU YANG SURUH AKU CARI CALON DULU BARU PIKIR PASAL KAWEN! APE MASALAH KAU!" Bwahahahahahaha.

(10) Just before Isya our Nawab arrived. Tasnim had prawn briyani while the rest of us had garlic butter naan with chicken butter masala and also a side dish of onion bhaji!

This is my third experience with Nawab, never fails me. I like the bhaji since I first tasted it and went around promoting the bawang goreng to everyone in the house.

(11) I told the girls about this one guy who saved up at least $10k throughout these years. What followed was a discussion why girls can never save up $1k per year and take a leaf out of this guy's who apparently spent 5 genih per day on food (price before the revolution).

"Prawn briyani per meal is already 60 genih!"

"Half a kilo of strawberry is 3.50 genih! And that's not even enough!"

"We have to buy shower foam, shampoos every month. And don't forget the conditioner!"

I was laughing at all their points thinking girls sure spend a lot. But the winner was:

"Guys don't have to buy pads every month!"
"Yeah, and the daily pantiliners!"

I collapsed in laughter.