We had a short week this week, since there was a holiday on Tuesday here, and we didn't get back to work until Wednesday! Every morning Kashika, Rebecca and I leave our apartment at 7:30, take the commuter train (which is the worst thing that ever happened to me) to work which takes about 45 minutes and then go get breakfast at a Kopitam (cafe) that's near our office. I always get a Kopi Ais (Iced Coffee) and Eggs on Toast (don't ask me how to say that in Malay because I couldn't tell you! It costs about 8 Ringget, so just under $3. We get to work and socialize for about an hour and a half with our co-workers who are hilarious and such nice people. They always want to help us with the language and take us for lunch and tell us where we should go and what we should do. LOVE them!
After a "hard" morning of work, which usually involves a lot of facebooking and some research about what to do on the weekend it's time for lunch... lunch here is from 1-2 which is weird, but works for them I guess! We usually either go back to the Kopitam or go out with our coworkers. After lunch, the afternoon progresses quite similarly to the morning, with a few more conversations with co workers and maybe a few hours of work!
The day ends at 6, with usually a ride home from Rostam (one of the men we work with, who is apparently in love with me!) or we get a teksi (taxi) to the LRT because we all hate the commuter train. For those of you who wonder why we hate the commuter train and think it can't be that bad... let me tell you why its the worst thing ever! Between Thursday night and Friday morning, I spent 5 hours on the commuter train, or a platform waiting for the commuter train. Again with the time meaning nothing here, apparently that also means trains don't have to come at all haha. On friday morning our train broke down so we had to take a teksi to work. boo.
Work is looking up, I've always loved the office and people, they're quite the group! But so far haven't had much work to do. When Roger (my boss) finally came into work on Thursday I asked him for more work and he put me in charge of finding a course for 144 people to play at for a shotgun. Seems easy enough, until you start trying to talk to Malay people in English... I got hung up on twice, and apparently "I need the quote by the end of the day" means I will hopefully have the quote by Monday in time for the board meeting I have to present at! The board meeting part I'm excited for! Hopefully it will give me a good idea of what being on a board will be like, so when I get on one in Calgary I'll know what to expect!
For the most part my work day starts at 7:30 and ends at 7:30 when I get home... after that depending on whether theres a thunderstorm going on or not, we'll turn right around and find a place for dinner, and pick a part of the city to walk around. Usually Little India or China Town, the markets are fun and always busy with people, so thats fun!
Thunderstorms here are amazing! Loudest thunder I have ever heard, and the lightening is beautiful. The skies literally open up and dump water down hard for about an hour. The rivers overflow their banks (but they're used to that here, so they're built cement walls to allow for flooding) and I swear every time the storm is right overtop of us because the thunder and lightening occur simultaneously. Rain essentially shuts the city down for 2 hours or so. People on the streets will find shelter to stand under until the rain passes, and if you're driving when the rain starts you have a long drive ahead of you. Traffic jams are insane when it rains. People drive more cautiously thank god! And it's like a sudden snowstorm in calgary the way traffic just slows instantly.
I think that pretty much sums up what life is like here. We live for the weekends, dread work, and wish we could explore this amazing city all day long! It's amazing, I wish you could all be here with me to experience it!
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