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!
Sunday, 22 May 2011
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
AMAZING weekend!!
Well we got back yesterday from Tioman Island... hands down the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life!
Before I tell you all about the weekend, I'll sum of the weeks not so interesting events! Work is going well, but people are so unreliable and time means nothing... so Kashika and I have had very little to do for the last week. We're waiting for the woman who runs the golf tournament to come in and talk to us, and for Roger (my boss) to get the venue for the golf course finally booked so we can start contacting the previous cash and in kind donors for re-donation... so basically my work has been Facebook and watching shows on my computer all week. I'm hoping that will change this week, but who knows!
So Friday FINALLY came, and Fridays are the best because Muslims are supposed to pray at lunch time which means the rest of us get 2 hours to go shopping! This could turn out to be a very bad thing for my wallet, but for now it's fun. Since changing jobs, I don't need to wear formal business wear anymore, so it's nice to have some time to buy some more casual, but appropriate dresses and clothes for work! Kashika, Rebecca and I went shopping with a few people from work, and our 2 hours of shopping soon turned into 3... which worked our great for me because it shortened the work day by a little! When it was FINALLY 6:30 and time to go home we took the LRT home... it takes about an hour... and got ready to party! We all got dressed up and went to this bar called beach club which was really fun! We pre-drank around the pool with everyone then went to the bar at around midnight and got home around 4am!
On Saturday we all had a recovery day... lay by the pool in the morning, when for lunch, but got caught in a torrential downpour on our way to the restaurant and Sefel stole my umbrella which is why i look like I had a shower in my clothes in some of the pictures! After lunch, Breann and I went to the Batu Caves, it's a religious are just on the edge of KL and is so beautiful! We saw our first monkeys here and climbed 272 stairs to the top of the caves in the mountain.. it was beautiful and an adventure! On our way down the stairs torrential downpour number 2 started and after finally drying off from the first one, Breann and I were both soaked again! Since the trains don't run in the rain we decided to get Henna done on our feet which was fun, but that got ruined when we had to walk barefoot through puddles back to the LRT station with a broken umbrella! After we got back from the caves, Stef, Breann and I went to the mall for a delicious sushi dinner and to wander around a bit, then home to bed for our early morning wake up on Sunday!
So after finally getting around to packing at about 1am, no one was very happy when their alarms went off at 5 to head to the airport! Everyone was so overtired everything seemed funny, and after a 1 hour flight, I was in the most beautiful place in the world! Crystal clear turquoise water, 33 degrees, beautiful beaches, with palm trees and lush jungle everywhere! We all changed... went to the duty free shop... we got 40's of vodka for $18 canadian, we were set for a great day at the beach! We hung out for a bit, then had a buffet and snorkelling amazing fish, and some people saw sharks and turtles, but I didn't see either! boo. After that we all went back to the beach and lounged for a bit before going for dinner and ready for a night of partying! Sitting outside at night here is amazing because there are no bugs, it's still so warm and it's just the best atmosphere. So we all hung out and had some beers until about 2am and then went to bed. Monday morning we booked a waterfall tour and went to the beach just in time for a torrential downpour to start! We had to sit that out, and then had about half an hour of sun before we had to leave for our tour!
The tour was beautiful, but an experience to say the least.. 7 girls all crammed into the back of a pick up trick being driven STRAIGHT up hill FAST... our mothers would have had a heart attack if they could have seen it! But it was so nice to be in the fresh air in the jungle! The waterfall was pretty, but a lot smaller than I thought it would be! I went swimming with Jill and it was really nice! After the waterfall we went to a turtle sanctuary and pet a blind turtle named Jo and swam on the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!
So we got back to the hotel about 4 hours later and swam in the pool with everyone and told stories of our days, then had a delicious bbq buffet dinner and showered for our nightly hang out on the beach! Stayed up until about 2 and then had to be up for 7am breakfast on tuesday morning to head back to "real life" in KL!
Flight home was pretty good, everyone was either still drunk, or way too tired, so I think it was the quietest we've been since we got here! When we got back to our rooms Stef Breann and I went down to the pool for a few hours and then headed in for a little nap! When we woke up we went to the mall for $12 pedicures and then home to wake the boys up for family dinner in Chinatown! We had a long weekend because it was Buddha's birthday, so we decided it would be fitting to go to Chinatown, and wonder through the markets! So we had family dinner which was delicious! And then spent about 3 hours walking through the markets! Got some sunglasses, perfume, a bracelet and a bellybutton ring because mine fell out in the ocean!
Home to bed and then back to reality this morning with work again! GREAT weekend, I don't know how the rest could possibly live up to this one, but we'll do our best! Tonight we're booking our trip to Singapore in 2 weeks, so i'm pretty excited for that!!
I miss you all, am having the time of my life, and hope this post wasn't too long for you to read! lots and lots and lots of love!!
So Friday FINALLY came, and Fridays are the best because Muslims are supposed to pray at lunch time which means the rest of us get 2 hours to go shopping! This could turn out to be a very bad thing for my wallet, but for now it's fun. Since changing jobs, I don't need to wear formal business wear anymore, so it's nice to have some time to buy some more casual, but appropriate dresses and clothes for work! Kashika, Rebecca and I went shopping with a few people from work, and our 2 hours of shopping soon turned into 3... which worked our great for me because it shortened the work day by a little! When it was FINALLY 6:30 and time to go home we took the LRT home... it takes about an hour... and got ready to party! We all got dressed up and went to this bar called beach club which was really fun! We pre-drank around the pool with everyone then went to the bar at around midnight and got home around 4am!
On Saturday we all had a recovery day... lay by the pool in the morning, when for lunch, but got caught in a torrential downpour on our way to the restaurant and Sefel stole my umbrella which is why i look like I had a shower in my clothes in some of the pictures! After lunch, Breann and I went to the Batu Caves, it's a religious are just on the edge of KL and is so beautiful! We saw our first monkeys here and climbed 272 stairs to the top of the caves in the mountain.. it was beautiful and an adventure! On our way down the stairs torrential downpour number 2 started and after finally drying off from the first one, Breann and I were both soaked again! Since the trains don't run in the rain we decided to get Henna done on our feet which was fun, but that got ruined when we had to walk barefoot through puddles back to the LRT station with a broken umbrella! After we got back from the caves, Stef, Breann and I went to the mall for a delicious sushi dinner and to wander around a bit, then home to bed for our early morning wake up on Sunday!
So after finally getting around to packing at about 1am, no one was very happy when their alarms went off at 5 to head to the airport! Everyone was so overtired everything seemed funny, and after a 1 hour flight, I was in the most beautiful place in the world! Crystal clear turquoise water, 33 degrees, beautiful beaches, with palm trees and lush jungle everywhere! We all changed... went to the duty free shop... we got 40's of vodka for $18 canadian, we were set for a great day at the beach! We hung out for a bit, then had a buffet and snorkelling amazing fish, and some people saw sharks and turtles, but I didn't see either! boo. After that we all went back to the beach and lounged for a bit before going for dinner and ready for a night of partying! Sitting outside at night here is amazing because there are no bugs, it's still so warm and it's just the best atmosphere. So we all hung out and had some beers until about 2am and then went to bed. Monday morning we booked a waterfall tour and went to the beach just in time for a torrential downpour to start! We had to sit that out, and then had about half an hour of sun before we had to leave for our tour!
The tour was beautiful, but an experience to say the least.. 7 girls all crammed into the back of a pick up trick being driven STRAIGHT up hill FAST... our mothers would have had a heart attack if they could have seen it! But it was so nice to be in the fresh air in the jungle! The waterfall was pretty, but a lot smaller than I thought it would be! I went swimming with Jill and it was really nice! After the waterfall we went to a turtle sanctuary and pet a blind turtle named Jo and swam on the most beautiful beach I have ever seen!
So we got back to the hotel about 4 hours later and swam in the pool with everyone and told stories of our days, then had a delicious bbq buffet dinner and showered for our nightly hang out on the beach! Stayed up until about 2 and then had to be up for 7am breakfast on tuesday morning to head back to "real life" in KL!
Flight home was pretty good, everyone was either still drunk, or way too tired, so I think it was the quietest we've been since we got here! When we got back to our rooms Stef Breann and I went down to the pool for a few hours and then headed in for a little nap! When we woke up we went to the mall for $12 pedicures and then home to wake the boys up for family dinner in Chinatown! We had a long weekend because it was Buddha's birthday, so we decided it would be fitting to go to Chinatown, and wonder through the markets! So we had family dinner which was delicious! And then spent about 3 hours walking through the markets! Got some sunglasses, perfume, a bracelet and a bellybutton ring because mine fell out in the ocean!
Home to bed and then back to reality this morning with work again! GREAT weekend, I don't know how the rest could possibly live up to this one, but we'll do our best! Tonight we're booking our trip to Singapore in 2 weeks, so i'm pretty excited for that!!
I miss you all, am having the time of my life, and hope this post wasn't too long for you to read! lots and lots and lots of love!!
Tuesday, 10 May 2011
First Day of Work...
Where do I even start.... work was the most boring thing I have ever done. You could hardly call it a job, and not worthwhile at all.
All the people at work were really nice, and Verane and I found the office okay after a slight detour around the block the wrong direction. There are two other boys around our age from Indonesia who work there too, and they are really nice, but don't seem too keen on their jobs either. We were all sitting silently in this tiny room and by tiny I mean like a right angle triangle where I could touch everyone who was in there without moving... and the bathrooms, don't even get me started!
For lunch they took us to a western restaurant and asked us a bunch of questions about Canada and what we like to eat and how we're liking Malaysia. The people here are so nice, I haven't met a single person who's not really friendly.
We do get stared at though, according to Bernard, we're exotic, so no matter what we wear people will want to interact with us, especially girls, and especially blonds...
I'm going to talk to Andrea tonight about making my job a little more worthwhile, so we'll see how that goes.
Don't have any big plans tonight, just hang out with the roomies and go for pizza and beer.
All the people at work were really nice, and Verane and I found the office okay after a slight detour around the block the wrong direction. There are two other boys around our age from Indonesia who work there too, and they are really nice, but don't seem too keen on their jobs either. We were all sitting silently in this tiny room and by tiny I mean like a right angle triangle where I could touch everyone who was in there without moving... and the bathrooms, don't even get me started!
For lunch they took us to a western restaurant and asked us a bunch of questions about Canada and what we like to eat and how we're liking Malaysia. The people here are so nice, I haven't met a single person who's not really friendly.
We do get stared at though, according to Bernard, we're exotic, so no matter what we wear people will want to interact with us, especially girls, and especially blonds...
I'm going to talk to Andrea tonight about making my job a little more worthwhile, so we'll see how that goes.
Don't have any big plans tonight, just hang out with the roomies and go for pizza and beer.
First Weekend!
The first weekend was amazing! So hot (we got here in a heat wave) and haven't seen a drop of rain, which is apparently very uncommon. It gets so hot it usually rains (and by rains I mean pours!) at least every 3 days.
After we got settled into our rooms and decided who was staying where we went down to the pool to hang out with everyone. Everybody seems really nice and friendly, and we have a great time together!
On Friday night everyone was so tired and jet lagged that we all went to bed pretty early. We got up early on Saturday to go to the mall and get some groceries and other necessities. Then we headed to the pool with a few beers to hang out for about 4 hours before we went on a tour with Bernard who owns the building. He's really nice and showed us good places to get our money changed and paid for all 18 of us to eat at a really good Indian restaurant... delish! After the tour and dinner we all got ready to go to the night market and out for our first bar adventure! It was fun to hang out with everyone and experience night life in Malaysia... the bars never close here so it wasn't busy until about one in the morning and we all came home around 3... all around good day!
On Sunday Stef, Breann and I went to the aquarium and walked through the gardens outside the Petronas Towers before coming back to meet Andrea and the group for dinner. Dinner wasn't very delicious and was really expensive... so won't be going there again! After dinner everyone went to get ready for work and get to bed so we could be great little employees!
First weekend was amazing, not too culture shocked or jet lagged. Just anxious to explore and see new things! I love this place!!
After we got settled into our rooms and decided who was staying where we went down to the pool to hang out with everyone. Everybody seems really nice and friendly, and we have a great time together!
On Friday night everyone was so tired and jet lagged that we all went to bed pretty early. We got up early on Saturday to go to the mall and get some groceries and other necessities. Then we headed to the pool with a few beers to hang out for about 4 hours before we went on a tour with Bernard who owns the building. He's really nice and showed us good places to get our money changed and paid for all 18 of us to eat at a really good Indian restaurant... delish! After the tour and dinner we all got ready to go to the night market and out for our first bar adventure! It was fun to hang out with everyone and experience night life in Malaysia... the bars never close here so it wasn't busy until about one in the morning and we all came home around 3... all around good day!
On Sunday Stef, Breann and I went to the aquarium and walked through the gardens outside the Petronas Towers before coming back to meet Andrea and the group for dinner. Dinner wasn't very delicious and was really expensive... so won't be going there again! After dinner everyone went to get ready for work and get to bed so we could be great little employees!
First weekend was amazing, not too culture shocked or jet lagged. Just anxious to explore and see new things! I love this place!!
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