Russian Lesson: Level Up! (I Dare Myself)

I said "Level up!" in Phil Lester's style by the way.

I'm a medical student who also learns languages -or- I'm a language learner who major in medicine. I thought, "Why don't I combine them: language and medicine?" so I dared myself to read a medical journal written in foreign language. This time I read a Russian medical journal.

Talking about medical journal, I admit that I'm not usually interested in it. I only read medical journal when I have to make a journal summary or when I need some information for group discussion. Let's see if I can be interested in medical journal later.

First I open Google Translate and type "Russian medical journal" then translate it into Russian. I search for the translation then I found Russian Medical Journal. I then click "Текущий номер" (current issue) and I read this paragraph:

08 июля 2014 г, № 15

Гастроэнтерология

Основной темой номера "Гастроэнтерология" являются нарушения микрофлоры желудочно-кишечного тракта. Особое внимание уделяется синдрому избыточного бактериального роста у взрослых и у детей, теории пишеварительно-транспортного конвейера и т.д. Среди других вопросов, рассмотренных в номере: функциональная диспепсия, принципы лечения диареи, возможности использования урсодезоксихолевой кислоты в клинической практике (реферат по материалам зарубежных исследований) и многое другое. Отдельно выделены смежные вопросы гастроэнтерологии: диабетический гастропарез и психические аспекты возникновения эзофагоспазма.

Now let's try to understand. I used the help of Google Translate to understand so if you know a better translation please comment.

At the top of the paragraph there is 08 июля 2014 г, № 15. I guess 08 июля 2014 means July, 8th 2014 but I don't know what г means. Reading the title: Гастроэнтерология, I could just know that it means gastroenterology, the subject I have to retake right after the next semester (duh). 

The first sentence means, "The main theme in this gastroenterology edition is abnormality of digestive microflora." Important words: основной (the main), тема (theme; in the paragraph it's written as темой), нарушения (Google translates it as violation but I guess in the paragraph context it means abnormality), микрофлоры (microflora), желудочно-кишечного тракта (gastrointestinal tract).

What I get from the second sentence is that there is particular attention to syndrome of excessive bacterial growth in adult and children. I don't get the meaning of, "теории пишеварительно-транспортного конвейера и т.д." The word пишеварительно is corrected by Google Translate as пищеварительно and it means digestive. Транспортного means transport and конвейера means conveyor while т.д. is etc. Important words: синдрому (syndrome), избыточного (excess), бактериального (bacteria), рост (growth; in the paragraph it's written as роста), взрослых (adult), детей (children).

From the third sentence I know other issues considered are functional dyspepsia, principles of diarrhea treatment, and the use of ursodeoxycholic acid in clinical practice (essay based on foreign studies). Important words: функциональная диспепсия (functional dyspepsia), принципы (principles), лечения (treatment), диареи (diarrhea), использования (use), урсодезоксихолевой кислоты (ursodeoxycholic acid), клинической практике (clinical practice), реферат (abstract, essay), зарубежных (foreign), исследований (research).

I get from fourth sentence that there are issues presented separately (I think it's not a proper translation) related to gastroenterology: diabetic gastroparesis and psychological aspect of esophageal spasm occurence. Important words: смежные (related), диабетический гастропарез (diabetic gastroparesis), психические (mental), возникновения (occurence), эзофагоспазма (esophageal spasm).

Overall, the paragraph is a content summary of the journal, which, in July, focus on gastroenterology. The main theme is abnormality of digestive microflora with particular attention to syndrome of excessive bacterial growth. Other issues considered, which are based on foreign studies, are functional dyspepsia, diarrhea treatment, and use of ursodeoxycholic acid. The journal also presented diabetic gastroparesis and psychological aspect of esophageal spasm occurence.

Learning Foreign Words

I don't have one strict method of learning language. I try a lot of methods from reading a text in foreign language, watching a video in the language, or trying to speak and write in the language I learn. However, when it comes to vocabulary, I don't remember the time when I study vocabulary. I learn vocabulary unconsciously. I don't try to make a word list or flash card. I just read and listen a lot to the language I learn.
Recently I found an article in lingholic about how to remember words when learning a language. I thought, "Why don't I give it a try?" In that article there are four methods of remembering words. I haven't tried the first and second method yet. I tried the third method (Luca Lampariello's method) and it worked well since it's almost similar to how I learn language. I read a Russian article and tried to translate it. Few days later, I will have to read the translation and translate it back to Russian. The fourth method (the GoBillyKorean method) is also good but I didn't learn 50 words a day. I only did 15 words yesterday and 15 words today.

P.S. I like the words on the top of lingholic page, "Language learning is a journey, not a destination."

Metode Ilmiah dalam Curious George

"Metode ilmiah adalah tentang berpikir kreatif, mengambil risiko, dan bersedia untuk gagal," kata para profesor di serial Curious George episode "The Fully Automatic Monkey Fun Hat".

Why You Should (or Shouldn't) Watch Ryan Higa's Positive Video Before OSCE (or Exam, or Anything)

Before my previous OSCE, I prepared by practicing quite a lot and watched YouTube. I watched Ryan Higa's video "How to Stay Positive". In the beginning of that video he said that he always imagined the worst scenario before doing something to mentally prepare himself in case he failed. I thought that was a cool idea so I did that. Before OSCE, I imagined the worst scenario possible like, "What if I forget to wash my hand? What if I forget to wear gloves? What if I get nervous and forget to ask the important questions?" I happened to not forget the important questions but I forget to ask some additional questions. The result: I passed with two A's and two B's.
I don't suggest to think about the worst scenario if it makes you extremely nervous. However, I admit that the video works for me. I become less nervous by imagining the worst scenario because well, if the bad things happen I won't be shocked.
You can also watch the entire video to see a different kind of positivity and if you think he spoke too fast (which he often does), you can read this transcript. Believe me, I was surprised to find lybio. I mean, really? YouTube transcript? I've read some film transcripts in the internet but I just found one site providing YouTube transcript.

"Jleb" Harry Potter Moments

First of all, some Indonesians use the word "jleb" to imitate the sound of stab. You know, when a knife or any sharp object stabs something (right now I feel bad while imagining the stab). The word "jleb" is also used to describe such deep feeling like having your chest stabbed. We can get "jleb" feeling while reading a sad part in a novel, watching a romantic scene of a film, or hearing someone insulting us.
Today I stumble upon a Harry Potter meme in Google and when I open it, it led me to a Pinterest page full of Harry Potter memes. Some are fun but a lot of them are heart-touching (fine, I have found an English word for "jleb": heart-touching). For me, the most "jleb" part in Harry Potter series is Snape's love for Lily. Unfortunately, I couldn't find an interesting-for-me meme about this. However, I found some other "jleb" memes about other "jleb" parts.

I like this meme, especially that Molly Weasley part, "Molly Weasley taught us that we can always rely on our mother." The Draco part is quite nice, too. "Draco Malfoy taught us that everyone makes mistakes. He taught us that everyone has feelings."

Another "jleb" moment in Harry Poter series is Fred's death. Really, we didn't expect such thing happens to the Weasley twin. This meme describes it well.

I don't need to say much about this. 

Another good thing written in Harry Potter is about motherly love. Even the seemingly arrogant mother like Narcissa Malfoy will do anything to make sure that her son is safe. And her act saved Harry, too.

Finally, this one tells us not to generalise everything.

German Again

I had learned German when I was in 10th grade and yesterday I found Learn German Easily site then I learned German again. I tried lesson 1-10 and I will learn the next lessons later. Lessons in the site are easy and simple. Really, we won't find any complicated grammatical lesson because the site creator himself doesn't like to teach grammar.
Anyway, the word "Himmel" sounds nice to my ears.

Blank Big Note Book

Yesterday my mother gave me a big note book (B5 size) which I haven't figured yet what I will use it for. I have a note book for taking lecture note, a small one I use for journal, and a not-so-small-but-not-big-either one for language lessons (I rarely use this one since I mostly read, listen, and talk while learning language; now I understand why my foreign language writing is not so developed).

Everything Wrong with This Blog (and the Owner)

If you like to watch film and browse YouTube, you may be interested in CinemaSins channel. In that channel, there is "Everything Wrong With" series. I'm now trying to make a list of everything wrong with my blog.

1. The blog owner is an Indonesian but she mostly writes in English.
2. Although she mostly writes in English, the tags and categories are written in Indonesian.
3. By the time this post is written, the "about" page is still empty.
4. The owner doesn't show her picture.
5. She doesn't mention her clear identity either.
6. The owner takes less than one hour to write a blog post but she takes days to write a statement of motivation.
7. The owner watches YouTube videos more often than she reads blog posts by other bloggers.
8. This blog has sister site (is there such thing?) in WordPress.
9. Contents of those two sites are the same.
10. There are a lot of links to other websites included in posts of this blog.
11. However, the owner sometimes just reads the articles at a glance.
12. The owner learns Russian but she hasn't written a post completely in Russian.
13. Point no.12 also works for other languages she learns.
14. She wants many people to visit her blog but she only tells her blog address to three campus friends.

Sins: 14

Sentence: keeping blogging.

P.S. I sentence myself so I sentence something nice.

Finding a Proper Motto

Currently, I'm filling a CV (I will tell later what this CV is for) and it was fine until I saw that the CV required a life motto. I'm quite practical and I don't need a certain motto to live my life. Perhaps I follow a motto unconsciously but really, I don't really pay attention to the words. However, there are some words said by either fictional or real people that will be nice to be life motto. Here I try to make the list.

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger" 

-Friedrich Nietzsche-

When I was a teenager, I had some big problem and these words from Nietzsche helped me stay strong. Now I'm not a teenager anymore and I sometimes feel that I'm not so strong as I was. Perhaps I should remember this saying again.

"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." 

-Albus Dumbledore-

I fail a lot in medical school but I choose to continue studying medicine. Does that count?

"You are human with one life and it is up to you to make it the best life you can." 

-Dan Howell-

I sometimes think I watch YouTube too much that I quote on a YouTuber. Those are nice words anyway.

"I don't have superpowers, there's no magic spell. But I remain faithful for things to go well." 

-Alex Day-

That's a part of "I've Got What It Takes" lyrics by Alex Day. The song is like an affirmation for me.

"To have another language is to possess a second soul." 

-Charlemagne-

I like learning language and those words make me feel like Voldemort with some horcruxes. Whoa, I possess other souls in the form of languages.

"There are no accidents." 

-Master Oogway-

I just love this quote. No much comments about it.

"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times." 

-Bruce Lee-

This quote is about determination and persistence: two things that -I admit- I sometimes lack of.

Conan, After a Long Time

Recently, I withdrew from facebook (I still do, though). At first I thought I would be bored since I usually spent a lot of time in facebook but I now find out that such withdrawal is a good thing. I should just find another interesting activity and luckily, there was Detective Conan.
My cousin borrowed some Detective Conan comics from her friend and we read it. It's been a long time that I haven't read Conan and when I read it again, I felt the excitement. Reading detective story always makes me curious and thrilled. I just can't stop reading before finding out the culprit and how the case actually happens. Beside that, in Detective Conan, there are a lot of unique facts and I could study without feeling studying.
P. S. If you have read Sherlock Holmes, you'll know that some aspects in Conan are inspired by Sherlock Holmes, like Shinichi knows a person's condition at the first time they met and how he notices details others will miss. Well, Shinichi Kudo is a Sherlockian.

Ultracrepidarian, Go Away!

I'm a book lover (I don't love all books but I'm still a book lover anyway) and once I type "book lover" in Google search then I found an article of "10 Words Every Book Lover Should Know".
One word in that article is ultracrepidarian. It's a word which refers to someone who gives an opinion on things s/he knows nothing about. I laughed at that word since I didn't expect there was specific word for such person. Beside that, I'm often annoyed by ultracrepidarian. Well, people are free to express their opinion but sometimes they do it too much and, excuse me, annoyingly (I wanted to use another word but I thought it would be rude so I said annoyingly). I saw many examples of ultracrepidarian before presidential election in 2014 (this election potentially caused mental illness, huh). Everytime I watch TV or log in to social media, there were many people who talked about politics without understanding the issue. I thought the ultracrepidarians would stop after the election but no. After the election, there are various quick count or exit poll results and now many people are talking about it without enough understanding in statistics. I need to stay away from social media I guess.
By the way, I mentioned mental illness in this post. Here I found types of mental illness from WebMD.

Studying Some Statistics

As I mentioned before, in Indonesia there are various quick count results. In social media, people waste their time in argument about which result is right. I've ever said that I can't stand conflict so I decided to study statistics instead.
I studied statistics when I was at school so I still remember some basic measures like mean, median, and modus. I knew the use of mean and modus but I didn't really understand why we should consider median. I then found a basic statistics web site. In that site, we can study not only how to measure but also when to do it and why.
I also found another website called STATS. If you click STATS Simplified in that site, you will find explanation of some terms that you may hear or read in statistical report.
Good luck in study statistics! Ya'atik el 'afi.

How You Should Handle Defeat

Actually I've wanted to post this for quite a while but I procrastinated.
I watched the football match between Germany and Brazil at a glance (I never watch football match completely) and Germany won. It's a huge victory for Germany since they scored 7 goal while Brazil only scored one goal.
Despite the defeat, I saw Brazilians do two things that made me amazed. First, after the match, I saw David Luiz and another Brazilian player (Luiz Gustavo if I'm not mistaken) pray. Yes, they did pray calmly (as I saw), after such defeat. It feels like a reminder for me since I never feel calm after a failure or defeat. Even if I pray after defeat, I won't pray calmly. I mean, my mind will keep on remembering the defeat so that I can't focus on my prayer. Second, on Facebook, a friend of mine shared a picture of Brazilian man handed a trophy replica to German fan and congratulated her. You can see the picture and story here and a video about that man here (thanks to reddit.com). Do you remember the last time you respected and congratulated your rival or opponent after being defeated?

Another Conflict in Another Place

Now when I log in to my facebook, I see a lot of people share photos or article of Israel attack to Palestine. I won't say much because, as a nice friend told me, "It's better if you study the history before talking about such matter." I just wish that the attack would be over soon. Seriously, I don't have the heart to see picture of children being wounded.

Quick Count Joke

Presidential election is over. We still have to wait for the result.

However...

Note: I don't study statistics a lot so if I make mistake in this post or you want to add some information, please write in the comment section.

Usually after election we can see quick count result in television. By seeing quick count we get the "rough result" of who wins the election without having to wait for the official result for a long time.

Before this election, quick count was fine. Quick count result was always close to the official result and all television channels showed the nearly same result. However this time, for some reason I don't understand, the result is various. What a joke! They all use statistical method, don't they? Some people abuse science, I think.

"RESPECT THE SCIENCE!" said Kowalski.

 

 

It's July 8th and I'm Worried

Tomorrow (July, 9th 2014), Indonesia will hold presidential election. I can say it's the scariest presidential election ever in Indonesia. There are only two candidates and people seem to split into two allies. I have no problem with people supporting their candidates but believe me, this year it's too much. They not only support one candidate but also "attack" the other one. If you are not into conflict and you have television or social media, you will see war you can't stand.
Talking about television... Hmm, I sadly say that it's now difficult to find neutral television channel. Some owners of television channels are into politics and you can guess what happens. Yes, the news is constantly about supporting one candidate and "silently attack" the other one.
In social media, the condition worsens. People express their opinion freely, even too freely and there was one time when I was afraid of logging in to my Facebook account because everytime I see my Facebook home, there are people talking about the candidates. Well, right now I'm writing about presidential election in my blog so I understand if you feel bad reading this post.
Finally, I hope Indonesia remains peaceful no matter who the new president is.

Overview of Overview of Endocrine System

I didn't know what to write. Actually I wanted to make summary of endocrine system but when I opened my book, suddenly my mood went away. You may wonder why I wanted to summarize endocrine system. Well, endocrinology was the last written exam I didn't fail. It's clear enough, isn't it?
However, I still read my book but not so thoroughly. By the way, the book I use is Human Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine Marieb and Katja Hoehn. In the beginning of each chapter in this book, we can read an overview. In this post, I'm going to write overview of overview of endocrine system.

• Endocrine system release hormones. Hormones influence metabolic activity.
• Hormone is chemical messenger sent to extracellular fluid.
• There are two kinds of gland: exocrine and endocrine
• Exocrine gland has duct and it secretes stuff outside, example: sebaceous gland.
• Endocrine gland is ductless and there are a lot of vessels on it. The secretion is carried by blood.
• "Pure" endocrine glands include pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, and pineal glands.
• Hypothalamus has both endocrine and neural functions.
• Pancreas, gonads, and placenta perform endocrine and other functions.

Membeli "Hujan Bulan Juni" di Bulan Juli

Setelah selesai ujian, OSCE, dan remidi, kemarin aku ke toko buku membeli antologi puisi "Hujan Bulan Juni" karya Sapardi Djoko Damono. Akhirnya kesampaian juga beli "Hujan Bulan Juni". Buku yang kubeli edisi hardcover tahun 2013 dengan 102 puisi yang diurutkan berdasarkan waktu penulisannya, mulai puisi "Tangan Waktu" (1959) sampai "Terbangnya Burung" (1994). Di dalam buku ada pembatas buku berbentuk daun kering yang di sebaliknya ada puisi "Narcissus". Mungkin di pembatas buku lainnya ada puisi yang berbeda, aku tidak tahu.
Berikut ini beberapa puisi dari buku "Hujan Bulan Juni" yang ditulis persis dengan penulisan di buku.

TANGAN WAKTU

selalu terulur ia lewat jendela
yang panjang dan menakutkan
selagi engkau bekerja, atau mimpi pun
tanpa berkata suatu apa

bila saja kautanya: mau apa
berarti terlalu jauh kau sudah terbawa
sebelum sungguh menjadi sadar
bahwa sudah terlanjur terlantar

belum pernah ia minta izin
memutar jarum-jarum jam tua
yang segera tergesa-gesa saja berdetak
tanpa menoleh walau kauseru

selalu terulur ia lewat jendela
yang makin keras dalam pengalaman
mengarah padamu tambah tak tahu
memegang leher bajumu

(1959)

NARCISSUS

seperti juga aku: namamu siapa, bukan?
pandangmu hening di permukaan telaga dan rindumu dalam
tetapi jangan saja kita bercinta
jangan saja aku mencapaimu dan kau padaku menjelma

atau tunggu sampai angin melepaskan selembar daun
dan jatuh di telaga: pandangmu berpendar, bukan?
cemaskah aku kalau nanti air hening kembali?
cemaskah aku kalau gugur daun demi daun lagi?

(1971)

SEPASANG SEPATU TUA

sepasang sepatu tua tergeletak di sudut sebuah gudang, berdebu
yang kiri terkenang akan aspal meleleh, yang kanan teringat jalan
        berlumpur sehabis hujan -- keduanya telah jatuh cinta
        kepada sepasang telapak kaki itu
yang kiri menerka mungkin besok mereka dibawa ke tempat
        sampah dibakar bersama seberkas surat cinta, yang kanan
        mengira mungkin besok mereka diangkut truk sampah itu
        dibuang dan dibiarkan membusuk bersama makanan sisa
sepasang sepatu tua saling membisikkan sesuatu yang hanya bisa
        mereka pahami berdua

(1973)

TERBANGNYA BURUNG

terbangnya burung
hanya bisa dijelaskan
dengan bahasa batu
bahkan cericitnya
yang rajin memanggil fajar
yang suka menyapa hujan
yang melukis sayap kupu-kupu
yang menaruh embun di daun
yang menggoda kelopak bunga
yang paham gelagat cuaca
hanya bisa disadur
ke dalam bahasa batu
yang tak berkosa kata
dan tak bernahu
lebih luas dari fajar
lebih dalam dari langit
lebih pasti dari makna
sudah usai sebelum dimulai
dan sepenuhnya abadi
tanpa diucapkan sama sekali

(1994)

Suddenly It's Noisy

Note: if you don't particularly like anything related to ENT clinic then read other posts.
I've ever written in one post that my mother accused me of having hearing problem. I denied that and thought I only had concentration problem. I just found out that my mother was right.
Last Tuesday I got water in my left ear. I couldn't get it out of my ear and it was painful. The pain wasn't so disturbing so I ignored it (such a careless medical student). However, on Thursday I got annoying headache. After coming home from campus, I took a nap. Usually, headache goes away after nap but that time it didn't. I told my mother and we visited an ENT specialist.
The ENT specialist we visited was a senior one. I last visited him when I was in 5th grade and he didn't change much. Yes, I had a little hearing problem when I was an elementary student. However after that I didn't have hearing problem anymore so I didn't go to ENT clinic but clean my ear using cotton swab instead. Back to the story, the doctor told me that my ceruminous gland is different. According to the doctor, which I also read in Human Anatomy and Physiology by Elaine Marieb and Katja Hoehn, "In many people, the ear is naturally cleansed as the cerumen dries and then falls out of the external acoustic meatus. In other people (including me), cerumen builds up and becomes compacted." The water trapped in my ear worsened the condition. He also said that cleaning ears using cotton swab would only push the cerumen inside and it would build up more. I then realised that I had made a huge mistake by using cotton swab. I should visited ENT clinic every three months to remove the cerumen.
The doctor then removed my cerumen and suddenly the world sounded noisy. I've had hearing problem which I ignored for a long time and then I'm healed. Everything sounds loud now which is sometimes quite disturbing but I'm happy because it's not only louder but also clearer.

Pathology Student

Being a medical student, one thing that I consider difficult is pathology, both clinical pathology and histopathology. Luckily, I have just found a website called Pathology Student. I discover the site when I wanted to revise conjugated and unconjugated bilirubinemia. That article use scientific language and medical term but somehow, it’s still easy to understand.

I then decided to subsribe to path bite. It’s a mail contained a little information related to pathology that we will get from Monday to Friday. I think doing a little of something regularly is better than doing much at only one time, especially when it comes to studying pathology.

Marie Antoinette Wore Louis Vuitton

When I was in high school, I went to science class. It means that in my 11th and 12th grade I studied chemistry, physics, and biology. I didn't study geography, economics, and sociology. I still studied history anyway but not so much as students from social class did.
Since I didn't study a lot of history, it means that I didn't get interesting history lesson like French revolution, World War, etc. One day, my cousin was going to take university entrance test and she told me some history lessons. She said that by telling stories, she could study at the same time. "One of the causes of French revolution was economic difficulty. The people was in economic crisis while Marie Antoinette, the king's wife, spent the money to buy Louis Vuitton and Prada," she told me. I laughed hard at that story, "Haha, there were no Louis Vuitton and Prada when French revolution happened." "My tutor told us that way so we could remember easily," she said.
By the way, this is an article of French Revolution from Encyclopedia Britannica. Also try to take some quizzes from that site. You'll get a ton of interesting information.