Indecisiveness

Bread Story, La Boheme, Lavender, Bread Talk, Delifrance - these were the bakery I checked out while deciding what to get for breakfast tomorrow. I never realise how indecisive I can be till today. I mean, just look at the number of bakery I went into!

All these questions were going through my mind

1. Deciding on the bakery - Which one offers the best pricing? Which one serves the freshest bread?

2. Egg tarts - Will it taste as good as the ones served at chinese restaurants? What if it's not tasty?

3. French loaf - I really like french loaf but no one else in the family does. Will I be able to finish it within 3 days? Are there any butter at home?

4. Brownies - Look good but I am sure it tastes better if I purchase it from a restaurant.

5. Curry puffs - Tempting but meat doesn't taste so good the next day.

6. Pain au chocolat - I should get it but it's 9.99 for 3. Sounds expensive. I can probably finish two but RM6 for a breakfast? Too pricey.

I ended up not buying anything.

How not to be a biased supervisor

"All bosses have some form of biasedness"

Ever since I take on a supervisory role, I have developed a fear of being biased. I have witnessed how favouritism has led to discontentment and sow mistrusts among people. The result could be animosity and backstabbing, laced with intense jealousy.

How do I avoid falling into this trap?

A simple solution will be to treat all staff equally. But, what is the meaning of equal treatment? Give the same amount of work? Or perhaps fair amount of praises?

There are no two similar staff. One can be more outgoing than the other. Another can work more efficiently. Yet another can handle quantitative analysis better than qualitative analysis. Everyone has different characteristics, bringing with them differing strengths and weaknesses.

I believe then that the answer lies in recognising and appreciating their differences. At the same time, I need to weigh this with the need of the organisation which is to deliver results. I know what to do, yet I know not if my action sends the right message.

My thoughts:

1. Urgent work should be passed to the staff with the speed to meet the deadline

2. Analytical work with heavy writing requirement should be passed to the staff who can write well

Unfortunately, this is still not a fair treatment as staff will view it as a form of favouritism for delegating "important" works to the same people.

I am still at the early stage of being a supervisor. There is still a lot to be learnt. Up to this point, I have no answer for my question.

Buka 24 jam

I finally gave in. Instead of getting better, I am now having blockage at my nose AND throat. Went to see the company doctor only to find the clinic closed! Upon inquiry, clinic has been closed for quite awhile. What am I to do now?

atishoo!

A difference between having runny nose every morning and having it throughout the day is the amount of tissue used.

I am currently on my way to finishing up a whole box of tissue in one day. Mom has been bugging me to see the doctor since yesterday. However, I believe that I will recover by tomorrow. Otherwise, I will have to give in. After all, my two-year old cousin sister who was infected by me yesterday had recovered after a trip to the doctor. Mom has not failed to constantly remind me of this throughout the day.

I have nothing against the doctor. I just can't decide if it should be chinese sinseh or modern doctor. I hate decisions.

Empire State of Mind

“People have a drive and enthusiasm for life that I haven’t found elsewhere”.

“Most people in New York are not New Yorkers. They decided to come here. That is part of what makes the city so interesting”.

Michela Bondardo

The first time I saw it, I knew I had arrived. At first, I could only make out the silhouette of buildings, with the occasional light against the night sky. The scene was not unlike the postcards you see. The bus disappeared into the tunnel and emerged onto the ground of the city itself. I was truly in the city. It was a feeling of exhilaration mixed with fear. The road was alive with cars even though it was late in the night. Even more exciting was seeing yellow cabs everywhere, appearing in all types and sizes. I never dreamed that one day I would be getting into one. At the same time, I realised I was alone in a strange city. A city I only knew by name.

I knew where I had to go but did not know where I was heading to. The moment I got into a cab, I was mesmerised by the tv ad at the backseat. This and everything else made up the life of the city. I was almost sorry when the ride came to its end.

As I alighted from the cab, I found myself at a crossroad – Lexington Square and 53^rd Street. I felt alone again. Assuring myself that it’s a safe city, I searched for my destination using only the apartment number I was given. I knew not if I were to head east or west. I just knew I couldn’t give up. I walked past a stall selling kebabs. I went past several pedestrians. Soon, to my dismay, I reached the end. Where was 250? Contemplating between going into a pub (249) and an apartment to ask for direction, I chose the latter. I made the right choice for I had arrived.

Manhattan was all about skyscrapers. To find myself staying in one was a truly marvellous experience. I was on the 26^th floor. The apartment was almost transparent with its glass wall. I could see the Chrysler Building not far from where I stood. I could see the busy street below, decorated with tiny yellow cabs. My room had a huge window, overlooking other buildings. Imagine my excitement when I found that I need not draw the blind when I go to sleep. It was a strange experience as if I was camping. Only I wasn’t in a wood but a concrete jungle. It was a moment of serenity.

Refugee style business class

2 October 2010, 10.33pm

Eating shin bowl noodle soup for dinner in the LAX International Airport Lounge. Feeling like a refugee. Food is really scarce here with selections limited to instant noodles, sandwiches, chips, sad-looking fruits and mini cans of juices. They don't even serve fresh juices!

And the deco? Toilet tiles adorn the wall at the food area. Dull blue carpets with matching chairs. The arrangement of the seats appeared scattered even though it's not. The cleaners did not do a good job in keeping the place decent. If not for the internet, I would prefer to sit in the open area. Let's just hope the lounge doesn't start stinking.

Going public in LA

2 October 2010

"I have live here for 30 years and I have never taken the public transport!"

Today is my last day in LA. A lot had happened since I first arrived a week ago. While I look forward to going home, I am also sad to leave this country which is full of friendly people and great places and food.

One of the most impressive thing I have done in LA was taking the public transport. I was told that everybody drives. Otherwise, you can't get anywhere. I have proven that it's possible to take public transport everywhere.

Going back in time....

28 September

I had the greatest time of my life on this day. My friend got me a visitor pass to enter the Warner Bros studio. I was allowed to roam around by myself as long as I don't get into the way of the filming crew. I met two great people today, Christine and Tatum. I went into the jungle where True Blood was filmed. The place looked awfully small. I walked on the streets of New York and other European cities. I saw the filming of the Pretty Little Liar.

At one point, one of the crew from the show approached me and WP. We thought we were in the way (i.e. appearing in the camera). But he only asked for our camera. As soon as he had my camera in his hand, he made a dash giving both me and WP a fright. Luckily, he was only pulling our legs. He offered to take a photo for us.

The people are really friendly. I got a bit lost as I tried to make my way back to the Bridge Cafe. To be fair, all the roads I wanted to use was blocked due to ongoing filming. Luckily another nice crew showed me the way and told me the cordon was only meant to frighten people away. I will not be penalised for walking past the filming as long as I am not within the camera angle.

29 September

It's time for the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame. I took the metro for the first time since I arrived in LA. Similar to the German system, the metro here is based on trust whereby no one will check my ticket. Cost me $6 for a daily pass, enabling me to take both metro rail and bus till 3am the next day.

The Kodak Theater was full of tourists. It was not easy to get a clear shot. It's hard to imagine that the way leading up to the theater is lined up by shops. According to WP, during the award days, these shops have to close and the stalls will need to be removed. I wonder if the shopkeepers are paid any compensation for their loss of business.

I saw the stars on the floor with the names of various celebrities. I saw the famous hand and footprint. A thought came. Having your name printed on the floor is indeed cool. But what's not cool is having people stepping on you whole day and perhaps a runaway dog might even poo-poo on your name!

After awhile, I got bored. The day was getting hotter. I decided to head to the Getty Museum. I walked all the way to Vine and Sunset to board a bus. I was told it was ten blocks down and 2 blocks to the right. Unfortunately, LA is no NY. The blocks are much longer and hence, took me ages to get to there. Nevertheless, I made it.

I boarded the Metro Local Line 2 (Sunset-PCH) heading west and stopped at Hilgard Av/Westholme Av which is close to UCLA. The bus passed by Beverly Hill (fancy, big houses) and Bel Air. From there, I took the Metro Rapid 761 (Pacoima) heading North, which took me straight to the Getty Centre. The whole journey took about an hour (inclusive of waiting time).

Getty is a very interesting museum, housing European paintings, drawings, sculpture, illuminated manuscripts, decorative arts, European and American photographs. Admission is free. I was lucky enough to arrive at a the hour where the free Baroque and Rococo tour was about to begin. For the first time in my numerous visit to art museums, I learnt about art appreciation. I hanged around the museum till closing time, before heading to Westwood to meet WP for dinner.

30 September

This was the day I shortchanged everybody!

It began with a lazy morning. I set out at about 10.30am to take a bus to downtown LA. I walked around Chinatown and stopped by a foo chow restaurant where rush hour was shot. Although the price was reasonable ($4.70 for rice and a dish), the food was just not great. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. Also, the service was poor. I left without giving tips because I thought no tips required.

My next stop was the Walt Disney Hall. WP recommended the dash bus route B which cost only $0.25. It goes in a loop, stopping at major attractions such as MOCA, Financial District and several others. I had fun sitting in the bus on a warm day, passing by important buildings in the downtown area. Later, I learnt that the cost for riding on a dash has been increased to $0.35 (my second blunder for the day).

The trip ended abruptly when I realised that I needed to make a move to USC if I want to attend the lecture on public health policy. I left behind the Warhol tote bag I was considering to purchase, got onto the dash, stopped at Union and took a cab to USC. The driver charged me $10 and that was all I paid. On hindsight, I should have given him tips cause that's the right thing to do. Good thing he didn't shout any abusive words to me.

After the lecture, I joined WP and her friends for happy hour.

1 October

When going public went wrong...

We were late. WP was supposed to drop me off at the Union Station but we left home late. So I ended up waiting for the free shuttle to Union Station. 1 1/2 hours later and after 3 rejections from the driver, I set out to leave the campus on foot. I had vague recollection of the road taken by the cab driver two days ago. I went on San Pablo St and reached the main st. From there, I discovered that I could take bus 76 to downtown LA. The bus driver was kind enough to alert me when the bus reached the closest stop the Little Tokyo. That was where I was heading.

Little Tokyo is really little, unlike Chinatown. But I must say that the service is way better. I wanted to have sushi for lunch but the price was too much. I decided to try some ramen instead. The advertisement on the Daikokuya Restaurant was too tempting for me to resist. As I stepped in, I was surprised to see the restaurant buzzing with activity. It was almost full and they were opened only about 45 minutes ago! As I was alone, I was quickly ushered to my seat. There was no regret. The Daikoku ramen was the best I have ever tasted. The soup was thick with flavour.

I left Little Tokyo after lunch to get to the Moca store. I was still contemplating to get the Warhol bag. But in the end, I decided against it. I took the dash (this time paying the right price) and then the metro to get to Los Feliz. There is no shuttle to take me up to the Griffith Observatory and so, I decided to walk up. It was a long and lonely hike. Took me 45 minutes. By the time I reached the top, I was exhausted. The first thing I noted in the observatory was the pendulum, which was swinging because the earth is moving and not due to any other forces. I saw exhibits on the moon, galaxy, different planets, telescope etc. I watched a show - Centred in the Universe - in the Samuel Oschin Planetarium. A lady did a live narration while taking us around the universe.

WP was to pick me up from the hill as I couldn't walk anymore. We went to an Argentinian restaurant, Lala's, for dinner.

An amazing 6 weeks

25 September, 1.51pm, Dulles

I am an idiot. Probably the biggest in the world. Just a couple of minutes ago, I realised that I have lost my passport cover. Which means I have lost my boarding pass on the way from Malaysia. How am I gonna explain to admin? And how am I gonna tell my supervisor that I am such a muddle-headed person? Gosh, things don’t look good for me now. I mean my supervisor was aware that I lost my toiletries when I went to NYC. And now this? Need to search for new job.

As I contemplated texting the admin manager while she was sleeping peacefully back home, I saw some messages sent 6 weeks ago when I first travelled to US. I was in Taipei, texting Vikki. I was in LA, texting WP and CKP. One to accompany me to dinner. One to know that I have arrived on the American soil. I might be a big idiot but I am also a very lucky gal to have so many good friends around the world. I was getting luckier till the passport incident.

In LA, WP took me out for dinner. I still recalled my excitement. It was a beautiful evening. And I didn’t get lost as I asked for directions to get to Terminal 7. WP came in her nice, new Toyota (almost paid off after 3 years of instalment) and drove around town, in search of a nice place for dinner. We settled on soup kitchen, a favourite of Jamie Oliver if I remembered correctly. We talked and talked and talked. Till it was time for me to board my connecting flight to DC.

Upon my arrival at DC, CKP and TC drove me to get a phone number and then lunch and shopping at Leesburg (Two weeks later, I went there again with a group of participants and thought the place looked familiar and the name never ring a bell). TSG met us for dinner that evening. We were at Ray’s hell burger, popularised by Obama. I don’t think I like American food very much.

Monday came and gone. It took the participants awhile to warm up to each other. I went to trader joe’s for the first time. I only made a second visit later and never did step foot there again. I just can’t remember the way. It was Friday when Dorji took us out to a popular pub in Adams Morgan. We spent most of our time waiting for people. I realised this is a popular past time throughout the whole course. Waiting. We stayed till about midnight. I didn’t order anything. Neither did Adrianna which was a blessing since two against one (Dorji) is better than one against one.

During the first weekend, IMF took us on a city tour and then, Potomac Mills for shopping. On Sunday, I went to the Natural History museum by myself. I have yet to find good and reliable friends. In the second weekend, I went to Leesburg (as mentioned in previous para). Car rental was a pain. The following day, we went hiking in Shenandoah. The ride was long. Two hours. Phillip had to pull out at the last minute due to stomach problems. Kate had the same problem and Alejandra decided to keep her company. And then, Esref pulled out due to the car rental issues. Left 8. Just nice for a huge SUV. But I still felt bad.

The day before I left for NYC, I met N&N for dinner. They were one of the sweetest couple I have ever met. We dined at Meskerem, an Ethiopian restaurant at Adams Morgan. To complete the night, since I don’t drink, they wanted to take me to dessert. But first, we made a stop at their home. It was a beautiful place. We were so comfortable that we ended up staying in and NR made iced chocolate for me. I wasn’t in the mood to eat anymore but to show my appreciation, I finished the whole glass. It was a huge glass. It was half an hour after 10 when they drove me back.

The next day, I was already in NYC. The first sight of Manhattan nearly took my breath away. The city was so alive. I arrived rather late but IQ was still up. I nearly got lost as he had given me a half-complete address. 53^rd St. I remembered Narissa told me it’s in Lexington Ave. So, the cab driver dropped me at the junction. I later found out that it’s about two blocks away from the actual location. He showed me around his simple yet modern apartment. I got a room with attached bathroom. Being a considerate host, he took me out to a nearby mamak for dinner. Unfortunately, I had tuna sandwich in the bus and hence, not hungry. In the end, I agreed to some fried calamari.

The next two days were a lot of fun for me. On the first day, I walked half of Manhattan. I got lost before I found my way to Bowling Green. Again half-complete information from my wonderful host. I went to 3 metro stations and no maps could be found. How I miss London at that point. At the pier, I decided against boarding the ferry to see the statue of liberty due to the long queue. I walked around and went up to Wall Street and the former WTC. I stopped by mcd for lunch (as I refused to pay tip) before heading out to the Brooklyn Bridge. I crossed the river and back again. The day was bright and sunny, resulting in me getting a little tanned. I crossed Chinatown to end up at Union Square to watch the liveliness of the Saturday market. A few more blocks and I was in front of the Empire State Building. And an even few more steps and I was walking past Central Park. It was already time for me to go to Hanum’s place. I was getting worn out anyway.

Hanum was a great host. And her apartment was cosy. I dined with her family, enjoying my first real home-cooked meal in US. In this situation, I always feel bad about my eating habit. We chatted like old friends. When someone asked later, how close I am to Hanum, I laughed. I knew Hanum 3 years ago from a 3-day course. We parted ways soon after. She, to follow her husband to NY and I to further my study in UK. To say that we are close is definitely an overstatement. Yet, I felt close to her at her home.

Sunday was a more free and easy day. I finally saw the Times Square, walked around Central Park, visited the MET and went up Empire State Building. It would have been a fulfilling day if not for the large crowd of tourists at Empire. I really hated the line. 90 minutes to go up. I made the right decision in not going on the ferry ride to the statue. At the end of the day, all I wanted to do was enjoy NYC like a resident, not a tourist. And I did just that.

My bus leaves at 6pm on Monday. I decided to walk around Central Park again. But I also wanted to visit the NYRO. IQ promised to take me there. But since it was Labour Day, he took me out to Macy to shop first. He was pretty convinced there will be big discounts. I hardly shared the excitement given his previous records. Sure enough, there was sale but not as good as the one I went to in UK. I didn’t manage to get anything as everything was too big. I discovered quickly that there’s no size zero in Macy. Quite a big letdown. My host, on the other hand, got lucky and bought two suits. We walked round the city a bit before stopping by the office. That was to be my last stop in NYC and then, it was good-bye. It never occurred to me at that point that I will be visiting NYC again in two weeks’ time.

The price to pay for visiting NYC was a long night of preparing for my presentation. I promised the team that I would do the first round. As I much preferred to do the charts by myself, I didn’t accept the assistance extended by my teammates. But it was worth my time as the result was almost satisfying. Almost because I felt there’s still room for improvement and I was not totally satisfied. Andre and I made a great team. In fact, we were the most entertaining presenters. Of course, Peter played a part when he suddenly turned on his microphone which stopped me on my track for a moment as I realised the echo from my voice. And Nisreen caught it on camera.

Thursday was football day! I thought I will play just for fun but those guys in my class really meant business. They were discussing the strategy once Marc invited us to the friendly match. There was no way I can play and not being blamed for being the reason for the loss of the team. Most of the class were present at the mall. Some to play, some to watch and some to video tape like me. It was a pretty intense match with plenty of pushing and some yelling. The match ended with the participants wining by a point. The score was 4 – 3.

After the match, I joined some of the guys for dinner at Mei Hwa, next to the hotel. Peter and Claudio were very happy. Especially Peter. Esref missed the whole game as he was lost. This happened even after he bought a GPS and was testing it out on that evening. He made me laugh a lot throughout the whole course. The company was good even though the food was so-so.

Eid came. We celebrated by going to a Moroccan restaurant. There was belly-dancing and an 8 or 9 course meal. Food was good and we shared the food, using our hands to eat. Arie had the most fun, taking photos of the belly dancer. He was teased endlessly after that.

Weekend came again. It was Baltimore Week! Sat was museum day for Wendy, Arie and I. It’s always advisable to take Arie out as he is the guy with the SLR. He takes pretty good picture. We took some silly photos and had a good time laughing.

In Baltimore, we walked around the aquarium and watched a dolphin show. It was a bit of a disappointment as there wasn’t much tricks from the dolphins. And the show was only about half an hour. Lunch was good. Nisreen and Levan ate shrimps for the first time. My table was full of mad people, playing with food and the hammer. We had the jokers – Arie, Andre and Richard. And we had the fun-loving girls, Wendy, Nisreen, Inna, Mada and I. At one point, Esref was jealous by the amount of fun we were having at our table that he came over to bug us.

Weekdays came. We were getting lethargic. Nooman couldn’t understand our restlessness. We spent most of our time joking and chatting. Work was slow. Edwin and Esref had made up. No more war, only peace.

On the Friday before my trip to NYC, Trina finally took us to the US Treasury Department. Security was very tight as we had to give our details to be cleared 72 hours earlier. Unfortunately, they could not clear Arie. He passed me his huge SLR and told me to take plenty of photos. That became my obligation and also a source of teasing from Trina. According to her, I was behaving like a typical Asian tourist. Syikes! We walked past the secretary’s room. His PA was in. I was thrilled but never got the chance to see him in person.

My final weekend in DC. I tried to organise a trip to the Niagara Falls but only Arie, Edwin and Rakesh were interested. I couldn’t get any of the girls to join me. Because of this, I made a last minute plan to visit NYC. I thought I could meet up with Kate, Alejandra, Tom and Levan but their plans differed from mine. I was lucky that my host agreed to accommodate me at such a short notice.

Once again, I boarded the bus on Friday evening. This time, I was with Wendy. The journey was more than 4 hours due to some unusual traffic but we were not bored at all with each other’s company. I learnt a lot about Wendy on this day and I shall treasure every moment of it. At IQ’s place, I got the same room I have grown to love.

As I had done most of my sightseeing the previous round, I settled on free and easy this time. I made plans to meet a friend for lunch. The morning was spent at New York Public Library and Bryant Park (I love this place). Lunch was at Hard Rock Café on Times Square as recommended by IQ. In order to get there, my friends and I had to take the metro. It was pretty funny as we were following the GPS on his phone to locate a metro. GPS said a metro is nearby but we couldn’t see any. So we walked further down. But we were moving further away! As we turned back to the original junction, we discovered that the metro was just across the street. We concluded that the authorities in NYC do not encourage metro usage as the signs are often hidden.

In the evening, I spent my time reading in Bryant Park while waiting for the free performance by Brooklyn Philharmonic to start. It was a beautiful evening with the moon shining brightly upon us. Little did I know that I will make a new friend and have dinner with her.

Sunday was short as my bus was to leave at 5pm. I spent the whole day indoor, chatting with my friends. I had leftovers from Hard Rock Café which lasted me both lunch and dinner. I really should stop ordering so much food. And my NY dream ended that night.

It was finally the last week in DC. I began to feel the sadness weighing upon me. I knew I was going to miss the company of all these people I met. Not a day passed without feeling the burden of separation which could be forever for some of us.

On the final Monday in DC, a few of us got together for masak-masak. My friends made great food. We had so much food that we chatted till 11pm. Wednesday was the day before our final presentation. I spent the night working on the slides for the presenters. To celebrate the finale, my workshop group went to dinner together with our counsellor. We found this nice Peruvian restaurant not so far from the hotel. Friday was spent on a Moroccan dinner and ended at a beer place, Brickskeller.

Those two final nights, I learnt new things about my friends. Levan made his longest speech for the first time in 6 weeks. He taught us the toasting custom in Georgia. It’s really tough to have dinner in Georgia given the custom. Every sip requires a toast. Nikolay surprised me with his ability to joke. I thought he is all about formulas and maths. And there he was on that final evening, entertaining us with his jokes.

After the drinking session (I didn’t take any beer even though Dorji tried his very best. Luck was just not on his side), I went over to Nisreen’s room to bid farewell to Wendy and her. By the time I got back to my room, it was almost 2.30am. I woke up at 6.30am to do my laundry and to see Wendy and Andre off for the final time. It was a tearful farewell.

At about 10.30am, Peter came to my room to download some photos. Luckily he was there as Tom called 15 minutes later telling me the shuttle has arrived. I was in a panicky state as I thought it was 11am. Peter helped me with my luggage. I was even luckier when I got to the lobby to find Peter with Claudio and Arie. I seriously needed help with luggage. We bade each other farewell and I left on the shuttle. Tom and I parted at the airport, promising to keep in touch.

Sometimes, I wonder. How many of us really do keep in touch? Only time will tell.

Behind the scenes

Someone told me,"You either love NY or LA." It's pretty obvious that I enjoy NYC tremendously. So, how will I feel about LA?

My first full day in LA was spent in Universal Studio. The weather was crazily hot. I mean 101 Fahrenheit? That's like heat wave. But there were no other days.

We arrived at the studio around noon. I could feel the heat burning my skin as we left the car. We passed the City Walk before arriving at the entrance. There was a red carpet rolled out in front of us. As we tried to locate our entrance (WP bought an annual pass), two guys were sweeping the floor. Suddenly, one of them started dancing. We then realised they were entertainers! It was a pretty cool trick.

Our first stop inside the studio was the special effects stage. We needed shelter from the sun and the show was about to start. The host appeared, asking for volunteers. WP volunteered to be the leading lady and got us the VIP seats, facing the stage! It was a lot of fun as the hosts showed us studio tricks. Nothing is ever what it appears to be. A Tokyo subway scene from Hero was completely fake. In one scene, WP had her arm cut by the host. I thought there will be camera tricks but when he cut into her arm, blood began to ooze out. The knife did look as if it was cutting into her flesh. The scene caused a kid to cry. I had to close my eyes while holding my camera to record it. Pretty scary. The trick was in the knife which hold a pocket of red juice attached to the handle.

As the day was hot, we bought ourselves ice-cream from the Ben & Jerry stall. I tried churros for the first time. Pretty good I must say although very unhealthy at the same time. That was to be my brunch. Next, we went on the hour long studio tour. We got a glimpse of the sound studios where productions are made. We drove past sets from Friends, Jaws, War of the Worlds, Desperate Housewives, Psycho, Bones and a host of other movies / dramas. The tram ride itself comprised of 3D experience. We experienced an awesome fight between the King Kong and a dinosaur as the two monsters threw each other around us. We saw water parted in front of us to let our tram passed. We went through an earthquake scene from Bones. It was the exact same scene. It's hard to tell which is my favourite. I must say driving past Wisteria Lane was totally awesome. The only downside was me getting toasted by the sun.

I am not much of a ride person but WP persuaded me to go on the Jurassic Park ride. It was supposed to be non-scary. The ride would have been uneventful if not for the dramatic plunge straight down an 84-foot vertical drop waterfall. At that point, both of us lost our hats. The camera caught the moment, our hands on our heads as we attempted to save our long gone hats. Luckily, we were seated in the middle and so, our hats ended on the passengers behind. Hehe. WP was soaked from head to toe. I was spared from the splashes as I got the middle seat. We agreed that that will be our last water ride.

I was not keen on the Mummy ride. Hence, we moved on to the Simpsons Ride, which is a virtual roller coaster. The line was long but the ride was totally worth it. That was one of the most enjoyable ride without any physical pain involved. Once I closed my eyes, the effect was not so bad. One of the more interesting part about the ride is whenever the characters from Simpsons use anything involving water, we get sprinkles of water upon us. That was neat. The ride ended too soon and we had to leave. We spotted Homer sweeping the floor outside Kwik-e Mart. We asked for a photo with him. When my turn came, he played a trick on me and closed my face with his hands. That was funny. We managed to take another proper one.

Shrek was the next "ride" on our list. It's a 4D adventure. The seats not only moved but you also feel the effect from wind blowing, water sprinkling and spiders falling on you. Interesting but not as much as the Simpsons ride.

We stopped for drinks and admired the halloween deco. There was only one last attraction, the Waterworld before the studio closes at 6pm. No firework for me due to the early closure.

We didn't realise they have moved the closing hour earlier as fall has arrived. Waterworld was fun as there were real actors performing some death-defying stunts complete with plenty of explosions and gunshots. We had great seats and not too far from the soak zone. Those on the soak zone were completely drenched before and during the show.

We ended the night with dinner at Tea Station, a popular Taiwanese restaurant.

Strangers I met (DC & NYC)

Being the cheapskate Malaysian, I had to lunch at the golden club lounge. I took a seat with nice big sofas. An elderly gentleman joined me at my table. I figured he didn’t notice my bags and hence, decided to sit there since there were many empty seats available. He was rather friendly and we started talking. I did not get his name but I know he is a rep from US to Murphy Malaysia in the East coast. He told me interesting stories about his work. I figured he is probably quite highly ranked. He come from Louisiana, which is a long way from where he is working now. Luckily, he gets to go home for a month every 2 months. So, the job is not too bad except that you can’t take leave during those two months. Because of him, I didn’t finish reading the Cleo magazine but it doesn’t matter. The conversation was more interesting.

The second stranger I met must be this Malaysian boy who stood behind me while we were waiting for security check at the LAX. My Malaysian passport started the whole conversation. I can’t recall much of the conversation now since it’s 6 weeks ago. We didn’t manage to complete our conversation as we had to go through the security check. By then, we were both going on different ways.

The third stranger I spoke to is this chinese girl who just completed her phd in the US. We were in front of the famous bull in NYC when we first chatted with each other. We were both alone and looking for someone to help us with photos. It’s a pity that I didn’t get her contact. Will be nice to know more friends in the US.

Now, who is the fourth one? Should I mention about the girl from Taiwan who took my photos at the MET? But we hardly spoke. We were just asking about simple stuffs in mandarin. Really good training for my mandarin.

The fifth stranger is actually more significant. Nisreen, Wendy and I were at the Pentagon City metro station when a man stopped by Nisreen asking when is eid. He introduced himself as Sami and started asking about us. He found us interesting and decided to give his train a miss to hop onto the same train with us. We exchanged email and phone number. Probably a day later, I received an email from him, telling me about the free Jazz performance at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. I was excited with the prospect of free performance. I admit that anything free attracts me tremendously. It’s a chinese thing…maybe. Anyway, Sami also went to the performance and dropped by to say hi. That was the last time I met him.

Finally, the sixth stranger who has became my FB friend, Nadeen. I was alone in NYC again. It was sat and BoA organised a free performance (what else?) by the Brooklyn Philharmonic at Bryant Park. A lady took the seat next to me on the bench. I hardly looked up as I tried to enjoy the songs amid filtering the noise pollution from the city dwellers around me. Towards the end of the performance, I asked Nadeen to help me with a picture and then, we started chatting. I can’t remember how it started but soon, we enjoyed each other’s company so much that we ended up dining together. She took me to 46^th st, to a Spanish restaurant near her apartment, The Belmont. We had a wonderful time. I even ordered a glass of sangria. Unfortunately, I couldn’t finish it.

End of Part I (written in Dulles)

9.24am (LA time)

I never thought I will meet more strangers on my way to LA.

At the aerotrain to Gate D, a middle-aged man approached me and asked "So, IMF keeps all the money in that bag?" He was referring to the IMF bag I was carrying with me. He was kidding of course. I found out that he works for the State Department. We didn't manage to continue our conversation as the train arrived at the gate. Would have been interesting to chat further.

While waiting for my flight, I was busy typing on my netbook (I was bored). A man sat beside me. I looked up and he smiled. We started chatting. He introduced himself as Aaron, a magician. I was very interested to know more as I have never met a magician in my life! He played some magic using cards. I was totally impressed. There were no camera tricks. The cards just changed in front of my eyes. He also did the usual magic (he insisted there's no trick, only magic) where he took a card from behind my ear. I felt pretty lucky to see a real life magic show. We had to part inside the plane as I was flying on United First. But he gave me his website to check out.

Waking up in LA

9am (LA time)

It's morning in LA! Weather is just perfect in the morning. But I can't say the same about the afternoon. Expected 101 fahrenheit later and I will be in the Universal Studio! That will be crazy.

My plane was delayed from Dulles to LAX. Touched down at about 7pm. WP drove me to dinner at the cinema area (must remember to ask her the name of the place) as we planned to catch a movie called A Night to Remember. But when we saw Wall Street on the board, we decided to switch plan. As the movie only stars at 10.30pm, we walked out after dinner. Went into Borders (how many Borders have I gone in since I arrived???) and Amoeba Music Store (really hippy place).

Got back to the cinema at about 10 minutes before the show. Ticket cost $16. Shocking. Seats were wide with plenty of leg room. There were no commercial, only previews. Screen was big. A cinema worker came out to give a short speech (apparently it's normal) and the show started. I was zoning out throughout the whole movie. With the different time zone, my body was having trouble adjusting. And of course, I didn't manage to sleep on the plane as I didn't like the seats.

We got back to WP's place at about 1am and only went to sleep at about 2pm. By then, it was already 5am in DC. I had been up for almost a day.

Celebration dinner

It's finally over. We had our last workshop today. Esref and Edwin did a good presentation. We won't need to work together anymore. That was kinda sad since I love the team now. It's such an irony as I had been very frustrated with them in the beginning.

For the past two weeks, all we did in workshop was to joke and chat. I am pretty sure Nooman is getting frustrated with our don't-care-attitude. Other teams have been commenting how noisy our room is with constant yelling (that's mainly Edwin, Esref and sometimes Rakesh), laughter (Nisreen and Andre) and other kind of loud noises (e.g. when we knocked on the wall to tell the other side to keep quiet as we are trying to work....yea right).

We came to a point where we were treating the whole exercise as a fun project. With Esref and Edwin as presenters, we came out with ideas to play the theme song of Pinky and the brain but in the end, chickened out as the other counselors seemed pretty stern. Esref suggested buying the Yes, We Can t-shirt and wore on it on the day of the presentation. Unfortunately Edwin thought it was a waste of money. I wanted to replace our team name to woosh woosh but Edwin was against it too. That's how much crazy stuffs we had been planning to do.

As a celebration of the finale, we went out to dinner together as a group with Nooman. It was at a nice Peruvian restaurant at I Street. We had a lot of fun especially when Levan started educating us on the toasting tradition of Georgian. How many times can a person toast anyway? Plenty according to Georgian. The guys were having Sangria. I have sworn off Sangria after the NYC incident.

Celebrating a big round yellow moon

I figure today will be a good day to write. Somehow, the big, round moon is creating a sort of nostalgia in me, provoking a strong emotion of homesickness and at the same time, wanting to be alone.

My six weeks here is almost over. So much has happened. As someone will put it, too much. But of course at that time, he was referring to the price he paid for his HTC phone.

I don't even know how or where to begin. Perhaps I should just talk about the people I met.

First up, there's Nisreen. I can't remember when we became close. Perhaps it was after the metro incident. We were waiting for our train back to Foggy-bottom when a man approached her, asking when is Eid. Soon he became interested in the multi-nationality of the three of us and started asking more questions. I gave him my number and email. No harm done since it's a temp no. I shan't repeat the mistake I made 2 years ago. To cut a long story short, Sami became our favourite conversation. That marked the beginning of our friendship. Of course, there were times when I became an unbearable person. Like when I was being overly obsessed with doing the charts my way instead of letting others help. Nisreen surely did not approve of that.

And then there was Wendy, the lady with an influential background in her home country. She truly surprised me with her friendliness and down-to-earth nature. I will never forget the day she made me cry on the bus to New York. So much has gone through in her life and she had held on strong. Compared to her, my life is as mundane as a car manual. She will also be remembered as the one who has the naughtiest imagination. It didn't surprised me one bit that she got the room with a bathroom with red light.

Who's next? Maybe it should be Andre, the guy who was always late in class. We hardly spoke much. Merely casual hellos and goodbyes and how are you. But I do know him as a great person. Extremely outgoing. Love peace more than anything. Always the guy to break the tension in the workshop. Without him, there will be bloodshed. I guess we truly became friend after he offered to share the presentation with me. We made a great team. We were entertaining as well as informative (that's what I would like to think). Thanks, Andre for the macaroni and cheese and introducing me to woosh woosh.

I think I must mention Tom at this point. He is after all my permanent lunch partner when everyone else has their own plans. From the very beginning, Tom is a quiet and technical (OMG, he loves to write formulas on board) guy. He is also one of the most gentlemanly guy in the class. He held the door for the ladies, he let the ladies walk first, and other little gestures that make me appreciate having him in my team. Like an older brother I have never had.

Perhaps it's time to talk about Esref, one of my favourite person in the class. In the beginning, I dread having him and Edwin in the same group. They fought all the time. They fought in class and in workshop. One in Turkish accent, the other in thick, Indian accent. They really gave me headache all the time that I zoned out. But now, they had become the greatest asset in the workshop. Seems that I can't talk about Esref without Edwin. While there were some major tensions in the beginning, they made peace in the middle of the workshop. Esref with his jokes really lightened up the discussions, earning them the nickname "Pinky and the brain". As the whole team forced them to present the program scenario, they strategised by shooting questions to other team before they can shoot back. I must say that's a pretty good strategy.

Then, there's Arie the photographer. Can't believe he made me carry his SLR into the US Treasury Dept, resulting in me being marked as a typical Asian tourist. Although I must say I truly appreciate him and his camera. Most of the good photos I have originated from him. Six weeks into the course, Arie is officially 10 months pregnant. I am glad I have good self-control when it comes to food. But not so good when it comes to stuffs like great books, famous people and movie scenes.

Other people worth a short mentioning:

Dorji, one of the first few person I made friend with. He took me to Trader Joe's, Adams Morgan (pub) and my favourite uncommon cafe (which happened to become Tom's fav too).

Dear, sweet Rosa who loves shopping and will be marrying her fiancee next year. I only remember going out to the pub and shopping with her. She is the prettiest girl from Cape Verde I have ever met.

Claudio, the friendly Brazilian. I like the way he calls my name. There's a certain pitch to it. Must be the accent. But man, he can be quite stubborn. I mean, if the chinese dude said we can't have the outside table, then we can just sit inside. I don't understand why he is so particular. Oh well.

Adrianna, the pixie size girl with long, straight hair. Really long hair. We talked but we never went out together. Such a pity. I do know she shops a lot. I just don't do it as much.

Peter who sits next to me must the the tallest guy in the class. He loves sport and taking photos. Of himself not other people. I heard how he almost got into a fight with some locals over basketball. Wished I had seen at least one game but I never have the time.

Driving, hiking, driving

Shenandoah National Park. That's where we headed to on a fine Sunday morning. Roshan was kind enough to prepare some food for everyone. She bought a whole lot of stuffs. While we were on time, some of our friends were late. Manduul and Ennie were the last to come. That marked an unpleasant start to our hiking trip. There were more to come.

When we got to the car park, we found that our rented car was blocked. We had to wake the owner up to remove his car. By then, tension was running high especially when a member found that we had to return the cars rented yesterday for the shopping trip. Our agreement was to rent for two days. But, one of the driver refused to rent for two days and so we had to settle for one.

On the way to the airport, we ran into problem with the GPS. The second car was unhappy and soon, took another route while we took another one. I felt really bad. By the time, we arrived at Reagen, mood was running low. One member opted out, enabling us to rent an 8-person seater.

The drive was an hour long to get to the foot of the mountain. To get to our hiking destination was another hour. Weather was good. Not too warm. We stopped for lunch before starting on our hike. The trail took us less than 2 hours to complete a round.

With additional time to spare, we drove to Luray Caverns to continue our adventure. Unfortunately, upon arrival, two members refused to enter. With the majority keen to go in despite the high ticket price ($23), we left the two members at a cafe nearby, promising to be out within an hour. I was glad that a few of us went in as the trip down the cavern was amazing. Definitely an eye-opening experience.

By then, we were all too tired to do anything else but sit quietly in the car. The drive back was almost 2 hours.

I learnt a really important lesson from this trip. While it's tough to organise something for a group of people, it's even tougher to organise it for a group of people from different continents. People who barely knew each other and hence, less tolerance towards disagreements.

Achievements for the day

1. Bought an umbrella cost $6 (with help and some push factor - it was raining)

2. Managed to stay awake for the second half of the afternoon

3. Mingled around during tea break. Spoke to new people. Beginning to memorise names instead of countries

4. Walked to white house and took photos though not very nice. At least didn't go straight back to hotel (feeling not so anti-social)

5. Bought haagen daaz which was on sale ($2.99 - almost half price)

6. Bought detergent but only plan to do laundry tomorrow coz today too lazy and still have sufficient clothes

7. Cooked real food instead of instant noodles. But pasta sauce from traders' joe not that great

8. Still awake at 9.30pm

Still need to

1. Memorise directions. Seriously need to get lost alone in the city

2. Talk to even more people

3. Reorganise my stuffs. Room in semi-mess now

4. Do laundry

Where everything is

Two years ago, when sis received an offer to move to Dubai, my family was concerned. After all, none of us knew much about the country at that time. It was not easy to imagine the kind of life sis will be leading.

On 24 December 2009, we finally experienced her life for the past two years. Our flight was delayed during takeoff and when we arrived, due to congestion, we had to wait 10 minutes before allowing to leave the plane. The attempt to exit the airport took almost an hour. We were very much behind schedule. Trip to Madinat was off :(

We hailed a cab to the hotel. Trip was less than 30 minutes. Cab driver was very friendly. He started acting like a tour guide, introducing the various attractions in Dubai. However, that came with a price. When I handed him AED100, he returned only AED30. The meter read about AED67.50.

Dinner was at the Mall of the Emirates, which house 800 shops. We had chinese food at chop chop. From the restaurant, we could see the indoor ski. It was truly amazing. What was not amazing was the price of food. I couldn't help scanning the menu for dishes below AED20. Not very successful. Sis warned never to look at prices or we will never be able to order anything.

25 December

Our day began with breakfast at Coffee Bean. Cost? AED16-18 per person, based on our order of the set menu available. The plan of the day was a tour of the Lost Chamber and finally Christmas dinner at Saffron, Atlantis Hotel. We drove into Palm Jumeirah amid a nice sunny weather. Pity we couldn't see the palm shape of the island.

After a tour of the hotel, we purchased the AED100 per person ticket into the Lost Chamber. Not only did we saw many kinds of underwater life, we were also allowed to touch the starfish (felt hard but sis had fun picking them up and "dumping" them back) and sea cucumber (slimy!). One of the workers informed us that the feeding time is at 10am, 2pm and 4pm. We just had to wait about half an hour for the 2pm feeding! This info was not published anywhere as the management wanted to prevent over-crowding at those periods.

We spent the next few hours waiting for 6pm, thanks to sis' brilliant scheduling. The buffet dinner in Saffron was most lavish - lobsters, prawns, scallops, sushi, tuna, dim sums, and all kind of desserts. We stuffed ourselves within an hour and a half and decided to leave. The waiter, whom we strike up a conversation with, offered "buy 4 free 1" to us. So in the end, the bill only came up to a little more than AED700.

Our last stop was at the Madinat. Unfortunately, the stage for Christmas was already dismantled. There was nothing much left to see.

26 December

Mom decided to save and cooked instant noodles for breakfast. The day was spent travelling on metro. One may ask what's so interesting bout metro stations. Well, aside from the fact that sis was involved in the project, the designs of the stations were really something to marvel about.

There are a total of 4 themes - water, fire, air and earth. Under the water theme, the selected stations were decorated in blue tiles and bluish lighting, creating an underwater feeling. Fire theme is red in colour with ceiling light shaped like the sun. Green becomes the main colour for air and flying carpet-shaped lamp decorated the ceiling. Earth is brown in colour. We stopped in several stations just to look at the decorations.

At about 5pm, we left for the Global Village, an annual funfair. Stalls from various countries were set up, selling handicrafts and food - Yemen, Jordan, UAE, KSA, Europe, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Sweden, Sri Lanka etc. We spent more than 3 hours there. Mom ended buying some decorative items from a Kenya stall.

27 December

The day began with finding a parking lot at Deira. Took us more than half an hour to get one. Our morning was to be spent shopping in Bur Dubai, a traditional district. But first, we need to cross the creek via an abra. Abra is a traditional small boats costing AED1 per trip. It's much cheaper than the modern water bus (AED2 +) and more exciting.

The shopping did not take long as there was only one or two rows of shops. It felt like visiting Masjid Jamek area in KL. We bought souvenirs made in Pakistan, India, USA and of course, UAE (not easy to find though). An important thing a tourist must do is haggle over the price. Sis was very good at it.

Next, we decided to have steamboat at Xiao Wei Yang, the restaurant which told us they have no change when my sis first went in to get some coins for parking. We were curious to know if they will eventually magically produce some change for their customers. Food was OK. Nothing fantastic. Dealing with the waitress was a pain as she could only speak minimal english and not a single word in mandarin. Wonder where she's from. Billing time came and wow! They have coins!

Having taken the abra, we decided to try the water bus and tour the creek. Based on the brochure, the whole hour trip will cost AED4. Pretty good bargain. Unfortunately, we were at the wrong side of the creek and had to cross back to Bur Dubai for the station. Having caught the water bus, we settled down comfortably and began to doze off.

At Baniyas, we were told to leave the water bus! We had caught the wrong water bus. We gave up and decided to leave for the next stop, Mercato. Mercato was another interesting shopping mall, built based on the Italian concept. The interior design wowed us. While sis and I did a short tour of the whole mall (it's not very big), mom and dad found a stall selling some very nice nuts.

Having left the mall, we went in search of the closest spot to view the Burj Al Arab. It took us awhile as we kept finding even nearer spots. After a few shots of the 7-star hotel, we left before the sky turned dark. Couldn't wait for the lights on the building to be turned on as we had to catch the dancing fountain at the Dubai Mall.

Dubai Mall is reportedly the world's largest shopping mall, housing 1,800 shops. The tagline is "Where everything is". Unfortunately, the show had to be cancelled due to technical errors. So, we left. Sis drove us to her apartment in Marina Bay to search for food. We dined at Da Shi Dai, a restaurant located on The Walk.

28 December

We spent the morning driving around sis' previous rented villa and apartment. Then we lunched at a restaurant in the Battuta Mall. Did some last minute shopping for souvenirs at Geant.

Flight was at 7.30pm. We took a cab and this time, it's only AED62. Well, that's the end of my Dubai trip. Wish it was longer.

Likes:

1. Winter in Dubai is surprisingly pleasant.

2. No parking fees in any of the shopping malls we have visited!

3. No traffic jam!

4. The many, many variety of shops. No wonder sis can't buy anything in Malaysia.

Dislikes:

1. The lengthy walk in the airport. Too big.

2. Rude cab drivers.

3. Pricey food and services.

4. Nothing is really within walking distance. Hardly see backpackers despite the pleasant weather.