Am I pampered?

Am I the "pampered" American? Noone has used that word or come at in a disrespectful manner or anything but there have been a couple of occasions where people say something like "Man, you couldn't like where I'm from." Whether it's people I've met from Africa, smaller Asian towns, the Middle East, or anywhere else, we will be talking and they will discuss some condition that I would be disgruntled with that is completely normal to them. It started month ago when one gentleman was so shocked that America has standard central air conditioning in houses that he seemed to think we were wasteful. When people ask me about things I haven't adjusted to here in Malaysia and one of my answers is cold showers, as my bathroom at the apartment doesn't have the water heating unit required to get hot water in this country. This is usually followed by a look of shock as if hot water should be treated as a delicacy. When I walk into a bathroom, I don't like to see the floor serving as a big puddle, which is very common here. Part of it is drainage, part of it is that many use the hose in the stall instead of toilet paper (which gets everything wet). Call me stuck up, but it just doesn't strike me as the most sanitary. Not feeling it. Furthermore, I'm having trouble considering it normal if I come home to ants all over my living room or roaches all over my kitchen, even when it's clean. Once again, just doesn't give me that 'sanitary' feeling. If my electricity or phone bill has been paid, I expect it to stay on. I'm not a fan of random rolling black outs or dead phone times. Is that so much to ask? I expect quality dairy products, very hard to find here. I expect quality fruit juice for cheap. I know products which have to shipped from America will be more expensive, but it gets ridiculous. Why is a carton of Florida's Own juice (a middle of the road juice company) which costs $1 in Atlanta cost RM 25 (or $8.35 or so) here. Be reminded, I get paid in Malay ringgits, so RM 25 hits the pocket like $25 in the US. I'm coming to find that the American lifestyle of technology and convenience is seen as "the dream" for a reason. It's not promised. I appreciate it more now. I miss WalMart, Best Buy, Waffle House, IHOP, American sports bars, Marshall's, TJ Maxx, and many more American establishments more than I could have imagined I would. LOL. Selamat malam, let me walk to the gym and get a decently warm shower.

An Unsure Step Out of My Comfort Zone

Date: 8/11/10 11:45 pm or so

The epic 19 total hours of flight time are over, but things don't start out well. It started when I landed and my ride was not waiting at the International Arrivals door with a card bearing my name as I had been told. This forces me, with about 130 lbs worth of luggage, to run around asking and looking for him as well as making expensive phone calls to my contact with the company, who isn’t picking up the phone. After 30 mins of this, I’m contemplating getting a taxi and it dawns on me, 'I have no idea where I’m going.' Luckily I cooled down and waited, my ride showed up and took me somewhere different than I’d been originally told, so the decision works out. Although the city is beautiful and the condo is nice for this area of the world, I can tell I’m out of my comfort zone. My complex is made of about 10 high rise buildings, each about 25 stories high, with a dark, people filled courtyard in the middle, I can’t help getting images of “The Carter” from “New Jack City” out of my head even though this complex is clearly nicer than projects. Once I made I into my pleasantly furnished condo, problems immediately arise. Three of my biggest needs for comfort are immediately problematic: phone (namely texting), the Internet and electronics. My phone is no good here unless I’m willing to pay over $2 a minute to call back home and my loophole to text from Malaysia is no good without wireless internet; which leads into the next problem. Then I pull out my laptop, ready to announce my arrival so that those concerned back home don’t worry too much more. There are several wireless networks within range; none of them unlocked though. I figure out my converter (a great buy) and plug up my surge protector so that I can plug things up. Immediately as I switch it on, POOF, a flash of light, a small gust of smoke, and the plug is blown. I try to the other plug in my room (just the converter, sitting the surge protector out) and it doesn’t even work. So I’m immediately forced to using the one available plug in the living room. And I’m forced to only charge one thing at a time; much different from my electronically compatible world back home. I turn on the tv that is missing vital buttons (namely Channel Up) and find 7 channels; two are duplicates of another channel, one in English. Another failed effort, which keeps me disconnected from the world. I take a deep breath and decide I need to go get some food and think things through. I return to the sound of loud dripping, the air conditioning unit in my electrical plug-less room is dripping profusely right in the bathroom’s doorway; forcing me to get a tray from the refrigerator to catch the drippage. So after surveying the needs of the place, I realize we’re missing such necessities as toilet paper, sheets, towels, and trashcans in addition to food and help with my Internet, phone, and electrical needs. So here I lay in the living room, beside my phone (now only a contact book and alarm clock) as it charges in the one working plug, watching the one channel in English available and for the first time I think I may have bitten off more than I can chew. One of my biggest attributes is my fairly silent but unshakable confidence; which is wavering for the first time in a long time as I think about the one year in front of me. As my coworkers haven’t arrived yet, I’m the only person there and I’m not connected by either phone or Internet, so there is no one to discuss it with. But then my inner Orr (passed down from Master Sgt Bernard and Lt. Col. Duane, my grandfather and father) takes over and I tell myself “Suck it up, you’ll figure out a way and prevail. Get the 5 hours of sleep available to you and hope you can make it through the jet lag and sleep deprivation and make a good impression at work tomorrow morning.” Goodbye night one in Malaysia…