MindValley on a Wednesday
It's Wednesday! Mid-week! How did the week fly by?!
Guess time does swim by when you are having fun and have a lot to do. :)
Now, I don't mean this blog to be one where I only talk about the good stuff, because then I lose my credibility as a writer (or blogger - does this term officially exist in the Oxford Dictionary?).
As per request of my friends who are peppered all over the world, I am going to elaborate more on what my traineeship has been like so far.
Now, let's go back a few extra steps so I can get you to understand why I wanted to work in this internet firm despite being "un-techie". It all started when i was reading blogs of some AIESEC MI alums (yeah, i stalk people online ;P ) when i chanced upon this blog by Vishen celebrating MindValley's Birthday. Inspired by the story and certain that I wanted to work with people who "dared to dream and do" if I have a choice, I emailed them.
Fast forward to 6 months later, here I am sitting in their office and creating web pages. I wish I could link it here but that would skew the tests we are running. Everyone is open and helpful, the leadership is receptive to feedback and everyone is actively engaged! I have to give special mention to Anita, Manuel and Kahilee for being super cool people.
I wish I could tell my mom and dad what a ball of a time I am having here in Malaysia, and to quit worrying for me. But parents will be parents, though i think I shocked them out of their system by disappearing to India for 3 months last summer without much news.
Malaysia is fascinating, and it's quite shocking how condescending some of my own country men (Singaporeans) are towards Malaysia. I can' t quite understand why and how it came about but it's probably because of the stupid things we hear on the media, politics (there's no love between Lee Kuan Yew and Mahatiar), and the raging war about the sale of water. Maybe Singaporeans are puffing their chests because the truth is that we are really the ones dependent on Malaysia for this basic human need. It's all power play. My hypothesis.
Anyway, save the energy and channel that into helping the world...there's so much more to do than to be bickering like kids fighting over the gameboy set.
Back to the point, a friend Bonnie wrote me the other day saying this of MindValley:
And the place where you are...and work...and usually hang out....and your salary...its the bomb! Consider yourself the luxury trainees...i always tell mind valley trainees that! The company surely sets a high benchmark in terms of comparisons with other TNs.
You know what? He's right.
More later....
Oops! I have the wrong link!
This should work now...
http://laiywong.blinklife.com:)
Blogging about daily life
Check out my daily posts at
www.laiywong.blinklife.com to get a glimpse into my life at MindValley.
First night in Malaysia
Don't you just love the first few nights in a new country? It's the one time you are hyper sensitive and notice the little things that are different, maybe ask questions when people are a little more forgiving because you are new to the country.
I still recall the first few nights I spent in places like India, China, the States, Europe with fondness....it helps that one is jet-lagged too so you just lie in bed and "listen to your surroundings tell their story".
The good...
So Malaysia....i have been getting up at 4am automatically no matter how late I sleep. Lucky for me, I have my laptop next to me and can blog my thoughts (it was harder in india but I got around it by writing). In India, I remember the heat, the rat that was on the window sill of my room, the wild dogs barking, the donkeys braying, the wild pigs. Here in Malaysia, the nights are cool...and yes, I still hear dogs barking but they are probably guard dogs. I did hear some wierd sounds, like pigs or something snorting (then again I could be imagining things because I live in Bangsar and I don't think there are villages here).
I heard some guy's Nokia phone go off repeatedly at 5am. I know because I have the same Nokia ring tone. (He has good taste! lol!)
I saw the moon, it's a full moon...really bright and watched it move across the sky. Then realized it was our planet that was spinning, not the moon. It's 6:20am here, I have to "get up" in another 1.5 hours for work...
So first time in Malaysia after 10 years....the landscape has changed alot! Besides the famous Petronas towers....there's definitely more concrete in the city. Thank god I brought my bonsai kit, I need greenery and will probably buy plants for my room. Maybe this would be a good time to start my bonsai hobby...
Food is cheap here....i ordered pizza for dinner yesterday (i know that's lame because the local food is so good but it was 11pm when i got hungry). pizzas are cheap in the states and huge! In Asia, I guess Western food is expensive.....it only hit me later that I had blown 40 Ringget on pizza (local meals cost 5 Ringget at most)! The portions are definitely smaller....though they have this cool dessert "Banana Kaya Pizza" which was yummilicious!
The people I have met so far -- Dani, Mike, Khailee, Anita are awesome, and have made every effort to make sure I am comfortable in Malaysia.
What feels wierd?
Tipping is not the norm in Malaysia, and it's wierd because it also feels like there is an expectation that one should be served by others in restaurants here. The pizza delivery boy walked away without getting tip money, people don't seem to smile or say "hi, how are you" (i don't think they care how my day was though)...we wait for the waiter to pull tables and chairs together when it probably would have been faster and easier to just do it ourselves. (Then again, there usually is some table numbering system so we needed to wait for someone else to do it.) I smiled at the cashier in this indian restaurant the day before, and he actually seemed happy. I hope he doesn't think I am hitting on him, but I was thinking if a smile could make someone's day....why don't people smile more in Asia? Im going to start a "Let's smile" campaign in KL, so that people won't just walk around being so inward focused.
back at home
"I am back in Singapore now, and it looks exactly like I left it 4 years ago."
wait...I wrote that in a letter to a friend when i was at the airport last night waiting for my parents and brother to land at the Changi International Airport. It was 1 am and i must have been hallucinating because the moment we drove into the city...i realized how much Singapore had changed physically. There seems to be perpetual construction going on in my country...everyday, some new bulding is going up, some dirt is being dug out to make way for the Mass Rapid Transit Line. how can a country that is so small find so many ways to re-invent itself physically but not mentally?
It's surreal that I leave for Malaysia in another 18 hours. I feel like I haven't had time to properly reflect on the past 2 months of my life, and yet i can't stop because there are so many exciting things happening right now. :)
One thing i did notice is that in the past, whenever I came back to Singapore for visits, it was like my life in Singapore would kick back into action and the one in America would stop. And I always felt frustrated because I felt like I was living 2 lives. 2 different persons in 2 worlds which never seemed to intersect. People in Singapore do not ask me about what i do in the states, and vice versa...my life in Singapore doesn't matter when I am in Michigan. So if feels strange to be back this time and feel like I have finally connected these 2 sides. My family came to MI and saw my life in America....while my life from America is merging into the life i had here.
Back to packing...
5:19pm HongKong
I've finally arrived in Kowloon...dead tired and thirsty because i slept most of my flight from Chicago to Hongkong (missed my meals).
It was exactly a year back when i came to HongKong on a school-sponsored trip for 2 weeks. The skies are as polluted as I remember. It's like a thick white blanket (sometimes yellow) that has covered the skyline...not that there's much to see from the airport since we are surrounded by mountains.
The last 24 hours were a mixture of excitement, dread, nervousness....a little bit of sadness when i bade my family farewell (i wonder when i'll see my sisters again); but also a strange sense of determination towards the coming year.
I've already started forming a mental checklist of the things I want to accomplish in the next 12 months, the things I want to do, the people i have to stay in touch with and the personal goals i have to fulfill. It's the same as always, i don't want to walk away from the coming year with regrets.
I keep asking myself "if tomorrow were the last day on earth, what would I want to have done so that i can have no regrets in life?"
Okay...time to go get water from Watsons.
p/s: drats, i can't get onto GMAIL! :(
2.27am in Cleveland, Ohio
I am in OHIO....never thought I would be sleeping in the state of Ohio for as long as I am a Wolverine.
It's 2.27am and I am struggling to write a itsy bitsy part of a research manuscript which I don't think my Professor will really use. And the worst part of this is that i am technically on a family holiday, I have just graduated, and I have to get up in another 4 hours to drive to Ann Arbor and then Chicago in a rental vehicle. (Budget better give me a nice sports car to drive)
I am of course spacing out mentally and physically which explains why I am blogging and not writing the manuscript. :( So among many other random musings, I thought I should update the world on what has been going on in my life since April 26th 2006.
April 26th 2006: Professor assigns me research task. I get half of it done and know that I am doomed for the next 2 weeks
April 27th: My family arrives in town for graduation festivities. Photos have been posted online via facebook.com; I fear I am getting sick with the weather change.
April 28th: Org Studies Grad Ceremony. Loved it, lived it, breathing it. Best 2 years of my life were spent as an Org Studies student at the University of MI.
April 29th: BIG HOUSE GRADUATION. I have officially lost my voice. Bummer. Sisters help me clean up my house for move-out. I miss MOBY.
April 30th: I say goodbye to dear friends and a special someone. That makes me really sad, and I have to wear my sunglasses to hide the puffy eyes. Well....family road trip begins to Toronto!
May 1st: In Toronto, nerve-wrecking drive into Canada which involves a very confused map reader (my eldest sister) and a GPS system that doesn't work very well. My dad is totally reliant on the stupid GPS which tells us to get into Canada via Point Edward near Port Huron. I insist in my breathy voice we should go via Detroit/Windsor. I prevail!
May 2nd: Head to China town (actually we do that for the rest of the trip -- eating Asian cusine as my parents hate Western food) and walk around Queens Road. Everyone is more relaxed now.
May 3rd: Niagara Falls. Beautiful.... The wierd thing is that I was at all these places when i first came to the states 4 years ago; so visiting these locations, dining at the same restaurants makes me feel like I am really closing this chapter of my life.
May 4th: Drive to NYC. A long and really stressful drive. I continue to toil in my sickness...and have succeeded in spreading it to my brother and eldest sister. They both lose their voice.
May 5th: Paramount Hotel off Broadway Street is divine! I wish i wasn't sick and could go to Paramount Bar. Take family to Wall Street and visit the Statue of Liberty. Keep thinking of special someone all day. Meet up with Po.
May 6th: We have a family picnic at Central park. I nearly get attacked by a duck which is hungry for my lunch. I know it would be sick to feed it though because I am having duck rice (chinese food). Sit at the lake and laugh at the boaters. One fellow has no sense of direction and is stuck under the bridge....he manages to push himself away from the wall of the bridge then rows forward back into the wall. I watch him do this for 5 times and laugh at his silliness. Make faces at the dogs in the park. I wonder why there aren't many cats in NYC.
May 7th: SHOPPING IN 34th STREET! I meet up with Farid and my cousin Joan. :)
May 8th: Drive to Cleveland...dad actually lets me take the wheel though he wouldn't let me go beyond 80mph on the highway. I feel restricted. Arrive at Cleveland and hang out by Lake Erie. Watch the sunset and wish the special someone was here to see it too.
May 9th: Head to Ann Arbor to pick up my crap and car to drive to Chicago. Desperately trying to finish research assignment.
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