Air cons suck big time!

the first info of the day is: my telephone receiver smells of hand lotion, which my antecessor always used. having longer phone calls leads to the fact that this fragrance does not leave my nose for at least a few minutes. everything i smell afterwards then reminds me exactly of that lotion. it confused me for a while. but apparently, today is the right one to figure out stuff like this - i was on a free-flow party yesterday ... and the heat is definitely not helpful in recovering from such nights.

you found that part interesting? well ... are you alright? or just facing the same problem?

by the way, phone calls. good topic. i would extend it to general language problems i'm facing here. not that this is my fault, no no no. i would blame the others (which is generally always a great thing if it's the others' fault). just an example ...

we all know about the financial crisis (and we all know one who REALLY knows a lot about it - or have you not read my email?). anyways, so do the bankers here (well, at least they should know what the hell they did wrong). i met one of these bankers yesterday. an indian dude, standing next to me in the elevator. suddenly, he started the conversation. i'd like to reflect what he was saying. but i simply can't.

i heard noises coming out of his mouth. some of them sounded like "british bank", "merrill lynch", "barclays". the rest was sounding in a way like "cnwehfuiowehyfubc yiweg weuif7wey79fywe ce8f89wefweyh wejf8wefue890w"!

and telling that story, he was always smiling, sometimes laughing, even really loudly. and i laughed with him, of course. i like that. laughing, i mean. making fun of his colleagues. making fun of him. isn't it good that these banking dudes are still happy, though they are miserable and fucked up the world? isn't it just a minor and very unimportant fact that daimler felt over 9%, again? i mean .... as long as the share price itself is still positive ... it's all good, isn't it?

so why do we worry, if we could do it like the indian bank dude, and grin like a cat that just swallowed a mouse (which is indeed a very nice metaphor for all recent happenings .... merrill lynch is the mouse, and the bank of america symbolizes the cat that swallowed. have to check whether we have a bank of america office in our building - maybe the indian works for THEM!).

well, who cares. all that matters right now is looking forward to the weekend. a trip is waiting. together with 13 other people, we travel to one of malaysia's beautiful islands, called tioman. i don't need to mention that they have great beaches there. and cheap drinks. not to forget the yummy food. holiday from my holiday here in singapore - lovely!

it's, by the way, still great to be here. i don't know if you realized that when you read all these words, hehe. because it is. and last night brought one of these moments you have when something special happens. a moment where you stand in a bar, holding a belgium beer (well, it could be any beer in the world .... beside harboe), look around, and suddenly think "JESUS CHRIST, i'm standing in a bar, having a belgium beer (it COULD BE ANY, even harboe is okay), and look around .... and beside that, i do all these things in singapore. 12.000km away from the place called home. and i work here. for the best car maker in the world (tell these brokers that a certain someone said we are undervalued!!!). fantastic thing ... this thing i am doing here!".

coming back to that language problem ... i'm always afraid when the telephone rings. of course i am not, but ... let's say i'm always full of expectations. every phone call can bring me into an awkward situation. people calling for the boss, for example. they ask for his name. at least i think they do that. because they seem to mix his first and family name.

moreover, it's the sound of that (mainly) chinese accent, which always confuses me. they are able to combine four words into one, then entering into a two second break (a kind of one-noise aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah), and add the next four-into-one words. if this would be music, it might would have potential for a number one hit. unfortunately, it is supposed to be business english.

the worst that can happen is wanting to leave a message for someone. these calls sometimes take four to five minutes, for a simple three line message. the trick, meanwhile, is to give them my email address, but than i have to spell my name - and they do not get it. they ask again. i do not get it. i ask again.

"sorry, beg your pardon? you wanna speak to ..... whom? your name was ....? can you spell that, please? x v h j j k e r u e 3 z? that's your name? no? shall i repeat? x v h j j k e r u e 3 ... what? no? can i buy a 's'? you mean there is no 3? aaah ... T?! ok, i got it! thanks for calling!"

something like this happens all the time. daily life - ordering food, for example. i always hope i gave all information about the type of meat, the size of my beer, the fact i need a folk (still, JES..). and what do they do? they ask me if i want "lice". i usually have that then ... rice, i mean. that's how bavarians must feel when they talk to people from the 'chemnitz area'. or a brit from oxford, meeting an aussie from alice springs.

but, whatever happens, it's great and it's fun. although confusing, annoying, tiring, and exhausting sometimes. but it's part of that experience that i wanted. and i will learn to understand their form of speaking the english language. that's why i leave you now. have to find that indian bank dude again - i'm curious what he actually was saying about barclays and the brits ......