Powerless, Literally

About a month ago, we received a notice at our door saying that several bills were past due including maintenance fee, water bill, and others. The notice says if the balance owed hasn’t been paid by November 30th, they would turn our water off. So the next day after I work I take this notice into headquarters to let them know. One of the ladies in accounts tells me to consult another lady who works there because she is our contact with the renting agent. The condo is actually owned/lived in by a family who has gone somewhere and rented it out to my company. This process and the attached bills are handled by some combination of the owner, my company, and an agent that my company hired. I’m not exactly sure how it is supposed to work. I don’t know if the owner is supposed to pay the bills and my companies pays him back a fixed rate or if the company is supposed to pay him a rate and handle all bills, etc. All I know is that they told me upon arrival that they would “take care of my housing” so I expect it to get handled. I talk to the lady they refer me to who is like “Ok, I’ll talk to the agent.” When I follow up, she hasn’t spoken to the agent at all because she has been busy with work. This is a higher priority to me than them, so even though I’m disappointed by this, I understand how that can happen. She gives me the number and I talk to the agent myself. The agent is saying that in their terms there is some stuff that the agent has to handle, but not others and that the company is responsible for most of what they say is owed. So we speak back to the accounts department at HQ, now I’m pushing the issue because that deadline is almost upon us. They say “fine, but we need an official statement to write the check.” In the back of my mind, “so you couldn’t have told me that before instead of trying to bounce this to the agent” but whatever I have to do what is necessary to avoid them cancelling our water. So I go to the mailbox (full of bills and notices and such despite the agent telling us that she checks it weekly for these things), I go to the management office, go everywhere I know to go and gather up everything I can. At the management office, the lady tells me “Don’t worry, your water won’t be cut off right at the end of the month, you will have more time to settle before they actually take such action.” This eases my mind a little; I still want it handled though. The next day or so, I hear that handling this has now been delegated to our new human resources lady, who’s already garnered a reputation as a bit of a shrewd despite only starting a few weeks ago. Once again, my mind starts working “why are they trying to bounce this thing around so much?” But I assure myself it’s cool because one thing uptight people are usually good for is handling things in a timely manner. The 30th comes and goes, water is still on, no more notices. I’m relaxed, I don’t inquire anymore about the issue and go on with my life. On a day where I was fairly annoyed at work, which also happened to be one of the hotter days we had in a while (there are no seasons here, so despite being December I could easily be working in 85-90 degree weather), I return home to the apartment anxious to engage in my usual routine: I walk in the house, walk into my room, switch on the air conditioning and lay at the spot in the bed it points to for a few minutes before going about my evening. I unlock our gate, unlock the front door, in stride towards my room I hit the light switch; nothing. I try another light switch, nothing still. I look on the ground and see what must be a “cut off” notice; I’m not entirely sure because it’s in Malay. The notice we received mentioned maintenance fees, water bill, and some other jargin, but it didn’t mention electricity at all. My Filipino housemate opts to stay in the apartment but I can’t sit stewing in a dark room. After a somewhat stressful day, I want to shed the day’s troubles and relax, not sweat off pounds of water weight as if I’m a boxer trying to make my division size limit. The entire time I’ve been in Malaysia, despite working 6 days a week at a job which can be very stressful at times, despite my frustrating lack of independence as far as transportation goes, despite missing family and friends and a traditional holiday season, one thing I always have had complete confidence in is that my company has been taking good care of me; paying me good, exposing me to some things, taking care of my housing and transportation. For the first time, that confidence was shaken a little bit.

Tom, Tom, Tom - A Cautionary Tale

The weird British roommate stories continue, soon you’re gonna think I’m making them up. This man is simply a story in contradiction. Early after arriving here, he criticized cameras as girly and smart phones as risky (along with complaining every time me or our safety officer Seelan used wifi on our phones), then he ended up buying an iPhone and taking pictures of everything. Be reminded, he bough this iPhone for RM 3000 (about $1000 US) after complaining that he didn’t have enough money to buy more shirts for work. Since we’ve been here he’s boycotted (either short-term or permanently) foods such as bread, rice, noodles, and chicken because he claimed they don’t agree with his stomach. But he will eat weird foods, including octopus, stingray, fermented beans, durian (these are just some of the ones I’ve physically seen), with no hesitation at all. But none of that tops his contradictions when it comes to alcohol. First of all, the first time we ever went out drinking here in Malaysia, he was talking big junk about drinking ability “Oh, Americans can’t drink, the British have to show you how it’s done,” etc. Then the first two times we went for beer, he tried to outdrink me and failed miserably and then felt terrible the next day while I felt fine; and I don’t even really drink beer back home. So he decided afterwards that he would go with us to the bar but he wouldn’t drink, he would watch us drink while sipping ice water. This happened several times. Then once we went out to a club with some Chinese ladies we work with and had bottles of Hennessy (see blog entry “The Bite”). When we first got there and the bartender put Coke in my Hennessy, he sounded off “I thought men were supposed to drink it on the rocks” despite me not requesting Coke. So the rest of the night I drank it straight. By the end of the night, he was drinking ice water again. But his latest fiasco…SMH. We were without power at our apartment for a day and a half because someone at our headquarters was slack paying our bill. Rather than sit in a hot house, I ended up going to some friends’ place and chilling with them. He chose to go to a bar, by himself. Going out drinking already seems like a move of desperation or alcoholism, but whatever I don’t think much of it. When I get back, I go straight to sleep and I don’t see him in the mornings because we now work on different projects. That afternoon, he can hardly eat because his stomach has been weakened. I inquire why. I find out that he apparently drank an entire bottle of wine in the span of about an hour and followed that up with tequila shots…by himself on a weekday. He doesn’t remember how he got home or much of the night, all he remembers is waking up in his bed in a puddle of his own vomit. Absolutely terrible. Most people I know, myself included, are social drinkers; they go out drinking with other people to have some fun, you know about where your limits are but sometimes people go a little overboard if you’re having a lot of fun. Or if you do go by yourself and drink a lot, it’s probably because he was entertaining some chick he met and was trying to enable a good time with her or something of that nature. The concept of drinking is usually to have fun in the company of others. For this reason, most people don’t really go out to a bar to drink by themselves. I mean I understand if someone goes out alone and has a beer or two while he watched a game on their TV. But to down a whole bottle of wine in a short span and follow it up with tequila shots, which result in you swimming in a pool of your own regurgitation, is not cool by any means. It seems even more odd when this is the same guys who has sat at a table full of coworkers and cute bar girls while we were playing a drinking game with dice and chose to drink ice water instead of participate. He didn’t even have to drive that night. I simply don’t understand. I’m not sure I ever will. Wish me luck, I will be traveling with him to Singapore for Christmas. I’m not sure what to expect. Selamat malam…

Two Odd Club Nights

A couple weekends ago, I went out both Friday and Saturday night with two entirely different crowds of people. And each night ended up having quite a story, to which I've given both names to accompany the stories:

Night One: The Bite
My Brit roommate and I were invited to a club right in the middle of downtown KL by some of the young Chinese ladies who work in the HQ of the company I work for. It ended up being 3-4 guys and about 8-9 women, good odds in my book. The way ppl avoid paying cover charges for clubs here is to buy a certain amount of alcohol to get a certain number of people in; so we committed to buying two bottles of Hennessy. So I'm there having a good time, mingling with cute little Chinese women. Two dance in the cages above the bar, good for scenery. LOL. Everybody is enjoying themselves. Then one chick hits that point where she is just way too drunk. As the biggest person there, I have to be the one to carry her to the car. I was hoping to kind of walk her to the car, but she stumbles and falls in the three step walk to where I'm standing. So I reach down, grab her by the underarms and start picking her up. As I'm picking her up and her head is passing my chest area, she bites me on the collarbone. I mean, locks on like a pitbull on the ankle of someone robbing their owner's house. She was locked on for a good 10-12 seconds or so. Long enough for me (be reminded, I'm dark skinned) to have teeth marks on my collar bone for about 3-4 days after. I had to throw her over my shoulder and then toss her into the guy's car. I certainly hope she didn't throw up all over his back seat...

Night 2: Rent-A-Cops on Patrol
The following night, still with bite marks on my collarbone, I head out to a spot called HQ with some Kenyan and Tanzanian ladies I know. The promotion they have for Ladies Night is that all women get in free and get long island iced teas from the bar free all night. Meanwhile, I have to pay a cover charge and buy my drinks. So after a drink or two, I decide I don't wanna spend anymore money. So the ladies decide that they'll help me out and just hand me some of the free drinks they keep getting. I'm down, at this point I'm dancing a little bit but mostly chilling and socializing with the ladies. Two of them have slight crushes on me at the same time, but how that manifests itself is a story for another day. At one point as I'm finishing one of the ladies' drinks and the security guard walks up to me and pulls that "Ay man, the free drinks are just for the women." In my mind, "Go sit down rent-a-cop." But of course, I stay polite "She said she wasn't going to finish her drink and asked me too, that's all." So he leaves but assigns one of his lackies to stand near us and watch if I take anymore drinks. I'm guessing the guy was supposed to do it secretly, but I was onto the schmuck the instead he stopped halfway up the stairs and kept peeking at me. So i don't drink anything for a while. I know the guy is watching to see if I will drink, plus the fact that I see him peeking at me sometimes is creeping me out anyway. I guess the chicks didn't spot him, because one of them pours her drink into a cup between me and one of the women. Even without me touching it, the schmuck from the stairs runs down grabs the cup and signals for me to get out of the club. First of all, he isn't wearing anything identifying himself as an employee in the first place. Secondly, I came to your club, paid a cover charge, paid for a few drinks, and brought five women with me. Don't get me wrong, I realize I was technically breaking the spirit of the rules u've laid out but You should pray for more guys like me to come there. I'm helping the guy-to-girl ratio which attracts other guys (who have to spend money) to come to your club. Beyond all that, u give a girl a free drink and then snatch it off the table in front of her. Not a good look as we say. So the chick goes and rips someone a new one and gets her drink back. By this time, my mood is somewhat ruined. The rent-a-cop and his lackey put a damper on an otherwise good night.

Becoming Closer to God in Malaysia

This breaks the sequential order that I was gonna establish with the Hong Kong events and pics, but I feel it's important. Plus, this is my blog, get over it. LOL...

Yeah, this entry's title is strange and almost oxymoronic. I know. But it’s true. Before coming here, I had no idea what to expect going to a Muslim country. I try not to give in to believing stereotypes of Muslims too much; such as the religion being so objectifying and abusive of women or being a training ground for terrorism. However, to stay considerate I did leave all Christian/religious paraphernalia behind. I wanted to avoid any possibility of things being taken or having problems entering through customs or immigration. However, a few weeks after arriving I met students who attend a Christian church near where I work. I started out attending out of convenience because the service was immediately after work and nearby my job. Also, there was an added element of guilt. After all, I had been slack on my church going during my 5 years of college primarily because Sunday morning was usually spent either resting on the way back from a track meet or recovering from partying and socializing Saturday night. So I started going and found that Saturday night service was a fairly small service of mostly African students and was focused mainly on simple and applicable lessons from the Bible; the pastor was even Malay, the biggest surprise. From there, as I met more people through the church, I was introduced to an Indian who lived and studied in America who hosts Bible study every Wednesday evening. Bible study provided an even more intimate environment, usually about 10 people or so, and it very interactive and revolved around lessons usually made by college-aged members of the bible study class. I never doubted that Christianity would always be part of my life. But somehow, being here has provided me with a new sense of purpose towards it. I had gained a procrastinating attitude instead of truly taking action towards this goal. But being here around these African and Indian Christians, has made me look at things a little differently. They are much more spiritual and aware of the presence of God in their everyday lives that I would have guessed. They truly do use the Bible as a source of strength and encouragement through their troubling times. So although I’m not a huge fan of what organized religion can become such as the business mentality, competitive spirituality, and overwhelming theatrics that can take place. However, these are flaws with man, not flaws of God. Therefore, whether done in a mega church, normal church, small church, or at home alone with a Bible and a friend, I want to work on my spirituality. I have seen what faith can do for people and even though I admit I sometimes question the events of the Bible or warped applications that men have applied, I want the positive affects that faith can have; the strength to overcome tough times, the gratitude for things often overlooked, and the overall optimism that relieves stresses in life. Now, I doubt I’ll ever be a “holy roller” as my brother would say. But I feel I can do better and am trying to stop standing still and believe that I want to. In my spare time, of which I have a lot, I try to read from my Bible Reader iPod touch app instead of dosing off or listening to songs I’ve heard 500 times. Baby steps, but steps nonetheless. I’m blessed, as far as talents, abilities, family, achievement, and more. I want to fulfill my full potential.

Hong Kong Getaway: Part 1, The Culture

I had the glorious opportunity to escape work for 4 days and take a vacation to Hong Kong recently. I needed a change from 60+ hour work weeks plus who doesn't wanna see Hong Kong? I met up with a college friend of mine who is teaching in South Korea and wanted to see Hong Kong too. It was a marvelous trip. I'll be talking things I took away from the trip in a few different pieces, don't want to overload the pictures or the information. Gotta keep it organized. LOL. This first segment speaks to their culture.

One thing I usually marvel at when going abroad is the seamless integration between culture and society. I'm used to the US where ppl are from everywhere, so culture is kind of what u make it to be personally. There aren't universal rituals and traditions built into the culture. It's different in a country like China, which is thousands of yrs old and has a population mostly made of the same race and religion. We saw the Giant Buddha at Ngong Ping. This Buddha statue is about 40-50 feet tall and built in top of a mountain far up in the mountains only accessible by either a 45 minute cable car ride or (if u're dedicated and slightly insane) a walk that has to take the better part of the day. It's also surrounded by praying ladies making offering to Buddha. It's amazing to me that a country's people take such pride in their religion that they would build and regularly travel so far to see such a sight and often to pray. I'm not Buddhist, but I had to go see it. It's a testament to their character. On a similar note, we visited several different temples all over the Hong Kong area. Many are very old but still very impressive and magnificent inside. The golden statues, artwork, models, decorations, and incense are a very soothing environment. They also have spiral incense which would be very nice burning in my living room when I get my own place. LOL. Also at Ngong Ping, we saw a walkway lined with The Twelve Generals, which serve as a symbol of protection in their culture. They are also pictured. Once again, no suitable American equivalent. Can u imagine the fire storm which would start in America, a land of so many religions, if one religion wanted to build such a statue and complex. It would become and competition of which religion could do it the biggest.
Also pictured below are the infinite statues, basically tall wooden totems in the shape of a giant infinity sign, once again very high up in the mountains. Each totem has it's own distinctive carvings in Chinese. I wish I could enlighten you with the knowledge of what each was saying, but I have no idea. Sorry.
Moving on, I also included pictures from the district of markets. There is a Flower Market, a Jade Market, and most interestingly a Bird Market. They have full markets - meaning like a block or two of storefronts or big rooms full of stands - selling their specialty. I'm not into flowers, but the store pictured below with the deep green plants and the glass waterfall at the store front was very calming. It amazes me at the bird market to see ppl just chilling with their birds at their sides in cages. It was just as natural as I'd sit my brief case on the ground beside me when I sit. Any kind of bird (normal birds anyway, no condors or anything obviously) or bird-related item is available for u. And it was packed, ppl give em love there. The Jade Market is the one that got me excited, unfortunately my card didn't work overseas so I had to monitor my cash and couldn't splurge when I got there, but it's a great place to get nice and distinctive gifts. Jewelry, statues, paperweights, etc., if it's made of jade or a distinctive stone, it was there for u.
Last but not least, pictured directly below, was our trip to the Wishing Tree. The Wishing Tree is rehabbing at the moment. Apparently it was falling or something, because it's being supported by stands as pictured, but nonetheless, people come and visit the wish lady to write their wishes in Chinese on the parchment pictured and hang them on the stands near the tree. We followed suit. Once again, although I am from a different religion entirely, I see the value in faith. Not saying the US doesn't have faith, that's not true at all, but I can tell a difference in a homogeneous society where u can build faith from thousands of years ago into your everyday life. To be continued with another aspect of my trip...

An Interesting Convo To Have...

The construction industry in general is one that is dominated by men. There tend to be some women in the headquarters but I work at the construction site office. The management can feature women if they're not scared to work outside in an environment filled with large machinery, safety hazards, and confrontation in the name of compliance and protocol. As far as general workers, the everyday physical demands of the job seem to dissuade women as candidates; especially when all this lifting, moving, hacking, bar bending, carpentry, masonry and everything happens in a place like Malaysia which is summer all year long. Combined with that trend, here in Malaysia, the general workers live in temporary housing on the job site itself. The carpenters have built themselves a village of housing structures and a bathroom facility. This bathroom has become fairly offensive as far as the odors and there is only one tub to wash in. So the guys usually go in their briefs and wash from the tub water. Out of the 30 or more general workers on the site, only two of them are women. As with most of my workers, they don't speak more than about 4 popular words of English so we can't communicate beyond me gesturing and using my tone to suggest what tasks I want them to do at work. But if I could communicate with them, there are several questions I would ask them. How do u feel about working in such a physical profession surrounded by organized chaos? What is it like sharing such a primitive living environment and bathing in an unhygienic bathroom facility with all men? Do u ever deal with sexism in such an environment? What is it like working an unconventional job for women in a Muslim country? Furthermore, and most importantly, how did u end up doing this? I think I'm missing out on an interesting convo...

The Job: What I Actually Do

Here is the answer to the ever-popular question "So what do you actually do?" which I get every time after I surprise people by saying that I'm not an African studying here in Malaysia. Also, the actual words in the title of my position contradicts with my degree and the nature of what I actually do day-to-day. I am Project Engineer for a construction company called Bumimetro Construction. I am working on a high rise condo project called One Kiara; pictured above. The project is in a very high end area of KL called Mont Kiara. Each individual unit has it's own elevator and elevator lobby, the units range from 2000 - 7000 square feet and most cost over 1 million ringgits(RM). As for me, I am vital to ensuring the quality and compliance with the drawings as well as the optimal management of time and money. So on a daily basis, I'm conducting inspections of important members to ensure quality and specifications before they're cast in concrete (which they use for everything here), testing building materials to ensure their strength and quality, calculating and reporting material quantities to reduce unnecessary wastage, helping coordinate my workers (mostly Indonesian and Bangladeshi) as quality control for the work that they are preforming, and lately writing stinging letters to our client or consultants in response to their often irrational or excessive requests or questioning. Also, my project manager has been involving and simultaneously educating me about how the logistics and large-scale coordination aspect is thought out and planned. I can proudly say that I do think my major has done a lot to help prepare me. Being around coworkers who have strictly engineering background, which don't go into the construction process or financial sides, I have knowledge of reading drawings, contract stipulation, human resource management, construction techniques, reasoning and terminology. I also benefit from the fact that I have a strong work ethic and am a fast learner. For the past few weeks, I have been the only engineer on-site for our project. Most of the others on our management team - a surveyor, a clerk, a safety manager, a quality control & assurance person - have no involvement in the actual construction processes ongoing. Those others who are involved - our project manager and site supervisor - call most of the shots but don't handle any of the day-to-day operations paperwork or quality control aspect. That leaves me at this moment feeling like somewhat of a 'One Man Island' on a 150,000,000 ringgit project; on top of the 6 day, 60+ hour work week, it's a bit of a grind. The silver lining is that I'm fairly good at what I do and get respect from my coworkers for my work ethic and acumen. My boss now wants me to stay for an extra year until the completion of the project. I don't know about all that...