it's christmas: time to get ready for examinations!
TRANSCRIPT
It’s Christmas: time to get ready for examinations!
Nivritti G Patil
‘What are your plans for the Christmas holiday?
Sleeping and shopping?’
‘Studying and sweating, sir!’
‘Studying and sweating in winter! Why?’
‘You should know, sir. We have a CCT (clinical
competency test) and an OSCE (objective structured
clinical examination) right after Christmas.’
Fortunately, our timetable has now been changed
to allow at least 10 days’ peace by holding exami-
nations before Christmas. This also gives departments
just enough time to muster a sufficient number of
examiners.
The climate here in Hong Kong is cool and pleasant
during the Christmas break, in contrast to the heat of
the Australian festive season described by David
Prideaux in last year’s Christmas issue of this journal.1
Everyone in Hong Kong looks forward to the Christmas
holidays, when, as at Chinese New Year, we celebrate
the occasion with parties, shopping, spectacular neon
light displays in the streets, shops and supermarkets,
and, of course, by travelling abroad. Since the handover
of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the adoption of the
‘one country, two systems’ slogan has brought a new
meaning to foreign travel. Large numbers of Hongkong-
ers now cross the Lo Wu border to do their Christmas
shopping in Shenzen, while mainland visitors travel in
the opposite direction to shop in Hong Kong.
Christmas parties in various departments, hospitals
and medical faculties begin during the first week of
December and extend into the first week of January to
avoid overlapping. This practice also manages to link
Christmas and New Year into one long festival, in the
spirit of the ‘buy one, get one free’ tradition. I attended
a function last year where Christmas and New Year
festivities were combined with the Chinese New Year
celebration in February – a practical solution to cope
with the Asian financial crisis.
Christmas in Hong Kong may not have a religious
flavour, but the common perception that money is the
Hongkonger’s only religion is simply not true. We do
not talk about religions or beliefs or make a public
issue or exhibition of our faiths. However, everybody
is free to maintain their own beliefs and to practise
accordingly. People do attend Christmas Mass in
large numbers and pray for prosperity. They invite
others to participate in their celebrations and, as we do
at Chinese New Year, everyone wishes each other,
‘Kung Hei Fat Choi’, which translates as ‘Wishing you
prosperity’.
The huge hike in telecommunications resulting from
the popularity of mobile phones reaches its zenith
during Christmas and Chinese New Year. Calling
friends globally, locally, even across the street, and
sending them fancy E-mail cards have become a regular
custom. Like everybody else, I spend my Christmas
telephoning family and friends in the UK, Papua New
Guinea, Australia, the USA, India and New Zealand.
I’m no longer as efficient at writing Christmas ⁄ New
Year cards as I used to be, and depend entirely on the
telephone and on-line communications. Video phones
will be the next thing, I presume.
Besides supporting the telecommunications industry,
making regular contributions to hospital parties and
exchanging gifts with friends and colleagues is an
important annual undertaking. I rarely drink alcohol,
and consequently tend to accumulate a large collection
of Christmas ‘spiritous liquor’, which I simply redis-
tribute to others. One Christmas I received a note from
my senior resident, gently pointing out that I had just
returned to him an expensive bottle of wine he’d given
me two years previously! Since then, I’ve made a habit
of sticking the names of the donors on the bottoms of
bottles to avoid future embarrassment.
One particular Christmas day, I decided to take my
hard-working, on-call residents to a restaurant next
door to the hospital for a Christmas lunch. However,
this plan was sabotaged by impending calls and I had
no choice but to entertain them in the hospital canteen.
We asked the chef to make us something quick and
innovative, but ‘Christmassy’. We were treated to a
sumptuous and tasty lunch of For Gai Chou Fan (turkey
fried rice), which I can truly recommend as a cheap,
fast and delicious Christmas lunch alternative! Do give
this festive fare a try some time; it’s brilliant!
Faculty of Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Correspondence: Dr Nivritti G Patil, Assoc Prof in Surgery and
Assistant Dean (Education & Students Affairs), Faculty of
Medicine, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong. Tel.: 00 852
2855 4992 ⁄ 4111; Fax: 00 852 2818 1186; E-mail:
Christmas stocking
� Blackwell Science Ltd MEDICAL EDUCATION 2002;36:1165–1166 1165
I usually prepare, over Christmas, a list of important
resolutions for the coming year. In practice, these are
mostly repeats and reminders of those of previous years.
As an expression of solidarity with our North American
colleagues, I attended the ‘Universitas)21 Deans of
Medicine’ meeting in Vancouver last year, a week after
September 11, as a delegate from the University of
Hong Kong Medical Faculty. This was followed by the
annual meeting of the American Association of Medical
Colleges (AAMC) in Washington in November. The
Christmas cards I received from many of my new
friends in North America, while a sombre reminder of
the horrendous events of September 11, fostered a
sense of global togetherness that transcended conti-
nents and religions. I was truly touched.
Hong Kong is a city of lights, a city of glass, a city of
shopoholics, a city of spirits and a city where you can
enjoy your Christmas as you please and to your heart’s
content. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New
Year!
Reference
1 Prideaux D. Christmas where the gum trees grow. Med Educ
2001;35:1172.
It’s Christmas: time to get ready for examinations! • N G Patil1166
� Blackwell Science Ltd MEDICAL EDUCATION 2002;36:1165–1166