Late Post: MT Week

May 19 to 25 was declared as the MT Week for 2013.  Maybe many of you are wondering, what MT stands for.  MT stands for Medical Transcriptionist, a profession that is noble yet often overlooked by many.

To begin with, a Medical Transcriptionist is a medical language specialist that puts into paper dictated reports by physicians regarding patient care.  This is the simplest way to say a medical transcriptionist's job description.

Photo credits to MTC

Medical Transcription involves medical terminology, typing, listening and a lot of common sense.  It is just so frustrating when people say that an MT's job is easy as we sit in front of the computer eight hours a day and just type.

Typing does not mean typing anything that comes out from the doctor's mouth.  This means that before typing the report, the transcriptionists are already thinking if what the doctor said made sense and edit or flag it right away if it did not.  Just imagine the big difference if the doctor said that, "the patient had a CABG" (pronounced as cabbage), which means coronary artery bypass graft and the medical report will show "cabbage" instead.  It sounds funny I guess but when it comes to patient care, it is not.  Medical reports should be as accurate as possible, as it would mean the life of a patient.  In addition, there are a lot of doctors whose first language is not English, and of course part of an MT's job is to correct the doctor's grammar.  I, myself, do not have perfect English as it is also my second language, but I can say that I speak and write better English than others who are also non-native speakers.

Me goofing around

I am a physical therapist by profession.  However, as the opportunity for physical therapists in the Philippines was very scarce, I ended up being a Medical Transcriptionist and has been enjoying working as one for the last 14 years.  Although I will soon bid my adieu to myself as a Medical Transcriptionist and will finally work as a Physical Therapist (I will tell you more about it on my future posts), I am and forever will be thankful for this profession that provided me shelter, food on my table, my own ride, knowledge that I have gained, and of course the opportunity to work with wonderful people of different nationalities who I now call friends.

To the silent workers of hospitals out there, hats off to you.

APi CAE Gourmet's Lil' Chef Summer Cooking Camps

If it's 40C outside, then definitely summer is officially on!  Along with summer comes the school break.  To keep the little ones busy, I have enrolled them in a cooking class at APi CAE Gourmet.  My little ones are so into cooking so I wanted them to experience how it felt like to be a chef even for one time.

Aside from being an excellent Italian restaurant, APi CAE Gourmet offers cooking courses along throughout the year for the kids.  This time, they have their summer cooking camp that caters to different age groups.

I have not availed of the whole summer course.  Instead I only enrolled my kids in their Funny Face Pizza class because of my schedule.  The kids were so excited to wear their aprons and toque for the first time!

The class was conducted by Denisa.  She was an excellent teacher to the kids and very patient.

They held the class inside APi CAE's kitchen, which made the kids even more thrilled!  They made one pizza each.  They used a ready made dough which they flattened out and then decorated with different toppings to make a funny face.

Kneading the dough

Decorating

Xanti's pizza

Mcxene's pizza

They also made one calzone each.  This time, the kneading of the dough was a little bit more difficult, so Denisa helped them.  Calzone is almost the same as pizza except it has a "filling" rather than a "topping."

Very attentive!

Adding the filling

Folding

The kiddos calzone

So after almost 30 minutes of hardwork, this is what the kids got:

Happy Mama at the back

Of course, we got to eat what my little angels prepared.  They also gave the kids juice packs to go.  They did not just enjoy making a pizza, but they also enjoyed eating the fruits of their labor.

For those interested, please visit their website to learn more about them.

APi CAE Gourmet
Khalidiya Tower Block A
(02) 666-8909

Book & Bean

With the advent of  e-book readers, Ipads, tablets, etc., are there still people out there who would like to flip pages of a book and read a story the "old school" way?  If there still are then this might be the place for you.

Book & Bean is a cafe and a second-hand bookshop located beside ACE Hardware in Yas Island.  Now who would have thought that a bookshop exists in ACE Hardware?

Book and Bean Cafe

Book & Bean offers a wide selection of best sellers, both hard and paperback alike.  From Sanda Brown to JK Rowling, name it - they have it.  

My nephew looking for a good read.

Once done reading your book, you can also return the book and they will buy it from you for half of the original that you bought it.  Good deal, huh?  What's more they also offer a Loyalty Card.  For any combination of 9 books and/or coffees, you can claim a complimentary coffee of ANY size.  The only setback is its location.  But whenever I am in Yas Island, I'll make sure to pass by at Book & Bean, find a good book and enjoy a cuppa.  

Saudi Cuisine VIP

One of the things that I am missing a lot from Saudi Arabia is their grilled chicken and bukari rice especially the salsa sauce with gerger.  Having lived in Saudi Arabia for almost three years, this has been a part of my weekly, if not daily, meal!  Since the UAE is also an Arab country, I am quite surprised to find out that there are only a few restaurants that serve chicken bukari or maybe I am not adventurous enough to look for it on this part of the world.

Luckily, last year new restaurants opened up along the street of where I live; Saudi Cuisine was one of those.  It was just one cartwheel away from my flat, but it took me months forever before I was finally able to eat there.

I am sorry for the picture quality.  I will change this once I get a better picture of the resto.

The interior of the restaurant is interesting.  It was designed to make you feel like you are really in one of the Arabic majilis and also so that customers can also experience how simple the Arab life WAS.  There was no table at all.  Everybody has to sit on the floor.  No exceptions to the rule - full stop!

The resto's interior.

The not-so traditional Arabic lamp.

My mom feeling like an Arabic princess. <3

Enjoying our Majilis experience.

 What I noticed was with the original Saudi dining experience, you get to eat in one big plastic sheet.  No plates, no cutleries, no nothing.  But here - they have modified it a bit and provided us with cutleries and plates, as shown obviously on the picture.

The lovely Fatoush salad, which is the best that I have ever tasted!

We had the chicken bukari on the left side and fried sherri on the right side.

We were also given complimentary lentil soup, which was too thick for me. 

One order of chicken bukhari is good for two to three persons, depending on how hungry you are!  And wait - they have the salsa sauce that I have been looking for the longest time.

The overall dining experience was fantastic.  Will I go back there again?  It's a big YES!  The bill was only  AED 115 and we left the place with a very happy tummy.

Saudi Cuisine VIP
3rd Street Opposite Corniche Towers Block C
(02) 665-5355

E-Vision is Moving

Due to the recent changes in technology (do I sound techy enuf?), E-vision is now moving to eLifeTV.  Last  week I received an SMS from Etisalat informing me to migrate my current E-vision subscription to eLifeTV before 30 June 2013 or else I will pay for the "reconnection" charges if I chose to be stubborn and not migrate my subscription.  At first, I was very hesitant to comply as there has been an issue like this before asking subscribers of Al Shamil (internet services) to upgrade to eLife telling customers that Al Shamil will be faced out soon.  However, as of the time I was writing (and even maybe while you are reading) this blog, Al Shamil still exists!  So I checked E-vision's website and this is what I saw:

Then I was convinced that they were really serious about upgrading.

I was given three options:

1. Send SMS "TV" to 1201 and wait for a customer service representative to call you back.
2. Dial 101.
3. Go to the nearest Etisalat service center.

Of course being a girl scout that I am and wanting everything to be done perfectly, I dialed 101 and asked for the migration.

Are you currently an eLife Double Play subscriber?  Then read this....

You have the option of upgrading your current Double Play subscription to Triple Play.  One of the differences is that with Triple Play, you have to pay an extra AED 20 for the HD decoder that also has the capacity to record TV programs.  With Triple Play, one Basic package is included in your subscription.  

If you are NOT an eLife Double Play subscriber, then...

You can have eLife one play, which means the TV only option.  You can either have the regular decoder for AED 20 a month or the special decoder that has the capacity to record for AED 30 a month.  Then you can choose from the different packages that eLifeTV offers.  Please note that the Basic package is not included in One Play.

For both Triple Play and One Play, you can choose from either the Basic, OSN, e-Pehla, e-Firstnet, and ART. They also have their A La Carte and eLife Mini Packs.

I got mine upgraded from Double Play to Triple Play with OSN Pinoy package (which includes the TFC package) and then added My GMA as an A La Carte.  I was only paying AED 400 before for both the Double Play and E-Vision.  Now, I will be paying AED 507 a month.  It's AED 107 difference, but it's fine because I can have both TFC and GMA plus ABC5 shows.  It's just like I am back home. 

By the way, I was informed by the Etisalat CSR that I have dealt with that the 20 minutes of free international calls provided to eLife customers will be stopped soon.  This is not yet confirmed, and I am hoping that this will not push through.

How to Obtain a Tourist Visa in the UAE

I have spent the last three weeks with my mother and nephew, who I brought under a tourist visa from the Philippines to the UAE.  I am eligible to apply for a visit visa, but I do not want to go through the hassles of going to the Immigration Department and be on the mercy of the officer that will approve your application and give a security deposit of AED 5,000 (you do the math) per person, which I can later refund once they are out of the country.  Therefore, I decided to bring them as tourists given the fact that they will only stay for almost three weeks.  The only advantage of a visit visa over a tourist visa is that visit visas are extendable for another 60 days.  Should you decide that their stay here is not enough then getting a visa extension is not a problem compared to a tourist visa, which cannot be extended.

Below is a basic comparison between a tourist and a visit visa:

	Tourist visa	Visit visa
Requirements	Salary certificate Passport copy of sponsor and tourist	Salary certificate Passport copy of sponsor and tourist Health insurance Tenancy contract
Cost	AED 600 to AED 800 (first 30 days). This could cost less when on promo; check daily deal sites for this.	AED 500
Refundable deposit	None	AED 5000
Extension	No	Yes
Where to apply	Travel agency	Immigration Department
Visa delivery	Included	Pay AED 25

The following are the steps in order to obtain a tourist visa:

1. Look for a trusted travel agency that is licensed to process the visa.
2. Submit the required documents as above (salary certificate, passport copies).  Bear in mind that some agency may also require a security check that will be returned once the tourists have left the country.
3. Pay the necessary fee.
4. Wait for the visa to be delivered either to you or your family in the Philippines.

When traveling to the UAE, do not forget to get your Affidavit of Support from the Philippine Embassy or Consulate and send this along with the tourist visa to your loved ones.  The Immigration Officers back home are looking for this and it is important that your family has this on hand.  I am a little bit obsessive-compulsive so I also sent them copies of my passport and salary certificate.  You'll never know what they may ask so it is better to be ready than sorry.