working long hours on presentation for clients with the pain in my mouth (have some kind of infection and just started antibiotics)
Alina wrote today that after a month in tropics Moscow looks "dead" - grey and sad. That made me sad..
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
halal bananas and reflexology ants
Catched a cold from air conditioning. Not that bad but unpleasant. My medicines are fried bananas - I adore them :)
There’s a massage salon in the hotel. I went there three times (only), for a body massage once, which I didn’t like too much, but reflexology feet massage is very good. Its quite painful sometimes, but I feel very very good after. They also do shoulder massage after reflexology. The ladies who work there are all Chinese. Its cute to see how they discuss my appearance, thinking I don’t understand that it is about me. Long legs and light hair seems to be especially entertaining :)
Today after massage pretty administrator asked me how old I am and if I’m married. I was wondering why those two questions are the first ones, but was too shy to ask. She also was curious from which country am I and was surprised with the reply, as she didn’t know such country :) Then she said Im beautiful, and I said that I just look different.
I like people here. They are open and kind. Even when they stare at me, I don’t mind, as they do that as children who see snow for the first time in their lives.
Bought more food yesterday and going to make bread with cheese in a microwave oven. Didn’t use it since I’m here (usually eat outside or my favorite Dorset cereals with yoghurt). Looking at the oven now, which says Halal food only and wondering if Emmental is Halal or not :-o)
There’s a massage salon in the hotel. I went there three times (only), for a body massage once, which I didn’t like too much, but reflexology feet massage is very good. Its quite painful sometimes, but I feel very very good after. They also do shoulder massage after reflexology. The ladies who work there are all Chinese. Its cute to see how they discuss my appearance, thinking I don’t understand that it is about me. Long legs and light hair seems to be especially entertaining :)
Today after massage pretty administrator asked me how old I am and if I’m married. I was wondering why those two questions are the first ones, but was too shy to ask. She also was curious from which country am I and was surprised with the reply, as she didn’t know such country :) Then she said Im beautiful, and I said that I just look different.
I like people here. They are open and kind. Even when they stare at me, I don’t mind, as they do that as children who see snow for the first time in their lives.
Bought more food yesterday and going to make bread with cheese in a microwave oven. Didn’t use it since I’m here (usually eat outside or my favorite Dorset cereals with yoghurt). Looking at the oven now, which says Halal food only and wondering if Emmental is Halal or not :-o)
UPD: the oven is broken and now my room is full of disgusting smoke. Don’t want to open the window as its dark and getting denger fever or malaria because of a sandwich would be more than stupid. Do you call it “Double bind?” ;)
Kitchen ants are freaked out and ask for permanent residence in the bedroom which is less smoky. I told them “You should apply for visa and wait on the customs till the sunrise”. We are good friends, but I want them to understand that it’s impolite to eat more than one package of my favorite Pocky chocolate sticks..
Picture 1 me Halal (in capitain keling mosk, by Andrea)
Kitchen ants are freaked out and ask for permanent residence in the bedroom which is less smoky. I told them “You should apply for visa and wait on the customs till the sunrise”. We are good friends, but I want them to understand that it’s impolite to eat more than one package of my favorite Pocky chocolate sticks..
Picture 1 me Halal (in capitain keling mosk, by Andrea)
Picture 2: malay food on fake banana leaves
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Kindergarden project - second week
we continue to work on the project
this week we conducted in-depth interviews with principals in two k-garden chains and involved local students in the survey. this morning we run training for them on data collection and analysis. I remember how i was on the other side of the process around 5-6 years ago, when I was taking part in surveys as a student in Moscow and the Netherlands.
most students who are interested to participate are girls of 18-20 y.o., very enthusiastic and eager to learn. they were listening, asking questions, and doing their best to understand who what and how. was very nice to see their passion to get more knowledge, which they can then use for studies and possibly work, as it will be good to include this experience into resumes.
in the afternoon we had an interview in malay/chinese kindergarden Q'Dees with the principal, a malay woman. Jeri was translating from Malay, and not the first time since Im here, I noticed some cute words in the language. Cute because many words are soft and consist of two same words, like "mala mala" :)
we also met a very funny & serious dog outside of the College :))
this week we conducted in-depth interviews with principals in two k-garden chains and involved local students in the survey. this morning we run training for them on data collection and analysis. I remember how i was on the other side of the process around 5-6 years ago, when I was taking part in surveys as a student in Moscow and the Netherlands.
most students who are interested to participate are girls of 18-20 y.o., very enthusiastic and eager to learn. they were listening, asking questions, and doing their best to understand who what and how. was very nice to see their passion to get more knowledge, which they can then use for studies and possibly work, as it will be good to include this experience into resumes.
in the afternoon we had an interview in malay/chinese kindergarden Q'Dees with the principal, a malay woman. Jeri was translating from Malay, and not the first time since Im here, I noticed some cute words in the language. Cute because many words are soft and consist of two same words, like "mala mala" :)
we also met a very funny & serious dog outside of the College :))
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
a CSC day in Penang
Morning:
Waking up thinking “1/ Where I am? 2/ I should have more sleep tonight”
Yoga practice on my nice blue warm mat
Struggling with internet
Quick email check/blogging
AM:
Meetings/Interviews
Working on the project with Yolanda and Jeri in USM
Lunch:
Indian/Chinese/Malay
PM:
Meetings/Interviews
Working on the project with Yolanda and Jeri in USM or hotel
Eve:
Catching up with urgent Russian projects/work
Dinner with the whole team: discussing all projects/knowledge sharing/plans for the next days/life experiences/travel etc
Outing in case of some special events (like Parade)
Night:
Waking up thinking “1/ Where I am? 2/ I should have more sleep tonight”
Yoga practice on my nice blue warm mat
Struggling with internet
Quick email check/blogging
AM:
Meetings/Interviews
Working on the project with Yolanda and Jeri in USM
Lunch:
Indian/Chinese/Malay
PM:
Meetings/Interviews
Working on the project with Yolanda and Jeri in USM or hotel
Eve:
Catching up with urgent Russian projects/work
Dinner with the whole team: discussing all projects/knowledge sharing/plans for the next days/life experiences/travel etc
Outing in case of some special events (like Parade)
Night:
Struggling with internet
Skype/blogging
Skype/blogging
Sleep
Monday, October 26, 2009
Sunstroke and Chinese Parade
Today is the end of 9 days Chinese fast and one of the main Chinese Buddhist religious days. Nine days ago people invited the Gods to come down to earth and today they were saying good bye to the Gods for one year. We went to a parade in Georgetown with the team. It was amazing! Picture will show you what we’ve seen (to follow). As for the feelings, in different moments of those several hours I was all - surprised, delighted, scared, amazed, shocked and all other “wow” words :) Hope I still can sleep tonight. It was also great not to be lost in this incredible chaos – all 8 people were together. We are definitely a good team! :)
Yesterday night I had a sunstroke and felt really bad in the evening and today am. Although it’s not very sunny, it’s very hot and humid, tropical climate is giving us hard times.
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday in Penang
We had a GREAT day yesterday - Kek Lok Si (Penang's largest buddhist temple), Chinese veggie lunch, tropical forest, Batu Fringi (beach on Indian Ocean), and cocktails after
im almost ready to move here!
im almost ready to move here!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
travel and first impressions
My fourth day in Malaysia. So many things happened already that it seems impossible that we are here only 3,5 days. So many experiences, impressions, meetings, completely different and new things in any possible way. One word that can describe it is simply “wow” :)
Ok, I’ll start from the beginning. Thursday, Oct 15 was tough. Mainly because of the pressure from not getting on time before travel with work and packing, etc. But when I got to the airport things began to improve. A friend of mine, who works in DMD, made all the procedures quick and easy and we ended up in an Indian (!) restaurant discussing South Asia – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. I got to Dubai after 5 h flight, at 6am and was very tired because of no sleep. My body usually says “no!” to night flights and that one was not an exception. Plus, we had a stressful moment during landing – the plane was going down with air flows so fast and scary for half a minute that I started to say “good bye, life” calmly and someone started to scream. But then it was fine and we landed safely.
I got to Dubai very very tired. After 2 hours in Mahabarat (spelling?) – “quite lounge” – it felt a little better. Though there was a sign “no sleeping” in the lounge, I got my flight equipment, like air pillow and special glasses, sat in the chair and had a nap. Live started to improve again. Dubai is impressive. I didn’t go out of the airport, but from what I heard from friends, saw on the plane film, from the windows and inside the airport, I had a very mixed impression. From one side it is very comfortable, new, modern, rich, luxury etc etc. But from another – it seems very artificial and not really friendly, so despite all the material comfort, it felt quite uncomfortable there. I was trying to find a word to describe the place and a friend found a good one – Disneyland for Adults. And the second part actually adds all the negative part of the story :) It also just came to my mind that it looks like a mirage in the desert. You can see it especially when you take off and see those impressive skyscrapers in the middle of the huge hot yellow eternal sand. What was really impressive in Dubai airport is the mixture of all possible cultures, languages, faces. Even more than in NYC. It felt like there are people from everywhere there. It’s just a huge hub between Europe and Asia.
After having a 5h break I had a longer flight from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur (KL), which felt completely different from the first one. I’m sure I was the only Russian on the huge plane and one of the very few Europeans. It was a big sunny plane, friendly and relaxed staff, easy people, smiling faces, and I was lucky to have 3 seats for myself. 7 hours of flight where much easier than 5h from Moscow to Dubai. I went through the list of films and ended up watching a very special one – the animated movie of my childhood, which I loved and saw not less than 20 times but long-long ago. That was The Little Mermaid. On the plane I watched it for after 16 years and first time in English. Was exciting how well I remembered all the small details :) A little bit of sleep after, reading, another movie and I’m in KL!
Was also quite exciting to see the flight information when the plane crossed India and flew further. India is special for me and I always wanted to go there and it always seemed so far away. And now I just crossed it! It changed something in me, like dreams became more real now and l experienced this “everything is possible” feeling! :)
First thing which I noticed right away when we landed was very high humidity. We landed and immediately the windows were wet from the air. The first adjectives when I came out of the plane where: clean, modern, quite, humid, warm, colorful and cozy. It reminded me of Japan a little. The airport is big and it took a while to get to the exit and collect the luggage. Then I was met by a hotel taxi and the driver told me a little about the country on the way. As Malaysia, as well as some other South Asian countries, was British colony till 1950s, there are many signs of it still left. For example, roads are left sided, measurement is in inches, etc. The fact that almost everyone speaks English is also heritage of that times. Later I saw this mixture also in architecture and remembered about the first soap opera shown in Russia in 1980s – “Slave Izaura”. Amazing fusion of British and local culture and also incredible to see English style in this climate, its something very special.
to be continued..
Ok, I’ll start from the beginning. Thursday, Oct 15 was tough. Mainly because of the pressure from not getting on time before travel with work and packing, etc. But when I got to the airport things began to improve. A friend of mine, who works in DMD, made all the procedures quick and easy and we ended up in an Indian (!) restaurant discussing South Asia – Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia. I got to Dubai after 5 h flight, at 6am and was very tired because of no sleep. My body usually says “no!” to night flights and that one was not an exception. Plus, we had a stressful moment during landing – the plane was going down with air flows so fast and scary for half a minute that I started to say “good bye, life” calmly and someone started to scream. But then it was fine and we landed safely.
I got to Dubai very very tired. After 2 hours in Mahabarat (spelling?) – “quite lounge” – it felt a little better. Though there was a sign “no sleeping” in the lounge, I got my flight equipment, like air pillow and special glasses, sat in the chair and had a nap. Live started to improve again. Dubai is impressive. I didn’t go out of the airport, but from what I heard from friends, saw on the plane film, from the windows and inside the airport, I had a very mixed impression. From one side it is very comfortable, new, modern, rich, luxury etc etc. But from another – it seems very artificial and not really friendly, so despite all the material comfort, it felt quite uncomfortable there. I was trying to find a word to describe the place and a friend found a good one – Disneyland for Adults. And the second part actually adds all the negative part of the story :) It also just came to my mind that it looks like a mirage in the desert. You can see it especially when you take off and see those impressive skyscrapers in the middle of the huge hot yellow eternal sand. What was really impressive in Dubai airport is the mixture of all possible cultures, languages, faces. Even more than in NYC. It felt like there are people from everywhere there. It’s just a huge hub between Europe and Asia.
After having a 5h break I had a longer flight from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur (KL), which felt completely different from the first one. I’m sure I was the only Russian on the huge plane and one of the very few Europeans. It was a big sunny plane, friendly and relaxed staff, easy people, smiling faces, and I was lucky to have 3 seats for myself. 7 hours of flight where much easier than 5h from Moscow to Dubai. I went through the list of films and ended up watching a very special one – the animated movie of my childhood, which I loved and saw not less than 20 times but long-long ago. That was The Little Mermaid. On the plane I watched it for after 16 years and first time in English. Was exciting how well I remembered all the small details :) A little bit of sleep after, reading, another movie and I’m in KL!
Was also quite exciting to see the flight information when the plane crossed India and flew further. India is special for me and I always wanted to go there and it always seemed so far away. And now I just crossed it! It changed something in me, like dreams became more real now and l experienced this “everything is possible” feeling! :)
First thing which I noticed right away when we landed was very high humidity. We landed and immediately the windows were wet from the air. The first adjectives when I came out of the plane where: clean, modern, quite, humid, warm, colorful and cozy. It reminded me of Japan a little. The airport is big and it took a while to get to the exit and collect the luggage. Then I was met by a hotel taxi and the driver told me a little about the country on the way. As Malaysia, as well as some other South Asian countries, was British colony till 1950s, there are many signs of it still left. For example, roads are left sided, measurement is in inches, etc. The fact that almost everyone speaks English is also heritage of that times. Later I saw this mixture also in architecture and remembered about the first soap opera shown in Russia in 1980s – “Slave Izaura”. Amazing fusion of British and local culture and also incredible to see English style in this climate, its something very special.
to be continued..
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