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 ......

Clarke Quay - Prostitutes, Xmas Shop and Aussie jokes

good morning ... kind of,


well, a few hours ago, i was too tired to go SERIOUSLY out - and too awake to go to bed. so, i decided to walk around clarke quay, a riverside destination, where a lot of nightlife happens .... bars, pubs, clubs. in fact, being there by myself was nothing special but somehow, i picked up some stories which were weird and funny.

first of all, it takes around 15-20 minutes to walk down there. and, on that way, there comes a point where a bunch of prostitutes are around (which is in fact illegal here, but these girls are not THAT easy to recognize ... at least not at first sight). however, one of these chicks started talking to me. where i would come from, she asked. and what i would do here. her third question then was: "do you like massage?". aha. massage. well. i answered that i would be on the way to my girlfriend (girlfriend??? alright, i was lying, but she was too, hehe .... "massage" .... SURE THING!).

however, when i came with that "girlfriend fact", she suddenly was very embarrassed, holding her hands in front of her face, and affected by my words, said "oooouuuuh, you have girlfriend. i didn't know. sorry, sorry. have a good night". well ...... i mean .... SERIOUSLY??? a "prostitute" that is apologizing for her "offer"? jes.. ....!

by the way, i met her again on my way back home. she was looking at me. i looked at her. massage? NOPE. but i felt kind of embarrassed, too. what "might have happened" with my "girlfriend", hehe.

second weird thing happened when i finally arrived at the kind of party place. i checked out an arabic bar, when suddenly ... on the other side of the alley ... i recognized that shop ... and that was weird. for all germans of you, it was called "der erzgebirge laden" ... and it had what you would expect from that name: traditional german xmas decoration stuff: carved santa clauses, xmas pyramids, and all that stuff - in the middle of singapore, close to the equator, in the party district. what the f***!

and finally, when having a rest from walking around, i picked up jokes from some australian dudes that were sitting right next to me. and here are the ones i remember. by the way ... i already apologize. and for those of you who are rather critical and serious, just stop reading here. for all the others ...:

"why wouldn't you like to be an egg? well, you get only laid once. it takes 5 minutes to become hard. and the only thing that is sitting on your face is your mum."

"what do men do after they had sex? ... 80% are driving home."

"what do airplanes and women have in common? ... both have a cock-pit."

"what is the difference between 'like' and 'love'? ... if you like, you spit. if you love, you swallow!"

and here comes my favourite one. it's for all of you who had a bad, bad day, and think, life can't be worse. well, it can if you imagine the following (and girls, PLEASE try!!):

"you have a siamese brother. he is gay. you are NOT. your brother has a date for tonight, where apparently someone will score. he is the "female" type. he won't score. he will get laid .... .... ....
...
....
.....
you only have ONE ASS!"

have a good one & cheers!

F1 video .... nothing to see, but an idea how it was - simply by listening!

hej,


at the end, youtube was faster than expected ... here is the video link. don't expect too much .... better watch another one :D! just takes a little while to be processed ...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl8feJ7GI1Y


cheers!

One week Singapore - F1, new job, nice people ... and still hot!

hej there,


one week is already over since i came here - and it was a very interesting, funny, exciting, stunning, great one. but before i write more, i'd like to give you the link to the first pictures. you can either click on the slideshow or this link:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mistertausend

the second thing is a funny story that happened monday after work. i was about to go shopping since i realized that one pair of business shoes are definitely not enough. well, buying new ones was not as easy as expected - size 45 is apparently one only few people have down here. the shoes you get in this size usually look - well - let's say NOT what i have in mind. but then, finally ....

i saw this pair of shoes, nice ones, brown, lovely. went into the shop. two shop men came to assist me. i showed them the brown shoe and asked for size 45. "i check, i check", one said, but somehow seemed to be confident about having them. i took a seat, and waited .... waited .... waited. finally, he came back. with a shoe box and a big smile. "seems he found one ...", i thought. well. he opened the box. and took out the black version of this shoe.

"i don't want the black ones, i'd like the brown ones", i told him. "i'm sorry. don't have them. i can check with other shop. you try?". well. i did. checking if they would fit and hoping they would be available somewhere else in this huge city with its thousands of shops.

let's say, i tried to put them on. i did. 30 seconds of one big fight. no victory. somehow, it was impossible - they were simply too small. i looked it them again. then looked at the shop man, disbelieving. "are you sure that this is size 45?", i asked. "oooooooh, is a 43", he said. "i don't have 45". "yeah, but i need 45. how am i supposed to fit into a 43?" - and by the way, why do you bring the 43 in black instead of brown??

"i can check with other shop", he said. "alright", i said, looking at him, hopefully. "i can check", he said, again. "well, would you .... check, please?". "i can check".

he didn't. instead, he was looking at me, holding his hands behind his back, smiling, kind of. no checking. just that "don't make me lose my face" - smile.

i left the place. "thank you siiiiir. come agaiiiiiin." yeah, probably not .... or just for an experiment: maybe, one day, with really cold feet, on a good day, being drunk, very drunk, i MIGHT fit into a 43!

by the way, i later got two wonderful pair of shoes for good money - and was glad to have that previous shopping experience!

beside that adventure, i had nice days here so far. the good news are: i'm less sweating than expected. the bad news is: i still do HELL of a lot, but so do the non-asian people around which keeps me being confident.

and there was the formula1 race, of course. i recorded some videos. however, no matter what i would have uploaded, the result would have been the same: very fast cars, almost invisible ... and a heavy noise - too heavy for my the audio recorder of my camera. anyways. the only thing i can tell is: when you are really close to the track and these "bolides" of a car pass you only a few meters away, your whole body is shaking, your skin is shivering, and your innermost is set out to an enormous pression. it truly was amazing, even it became quite boring after a few rounds just watching the cars for a fraction of a second - the best was this tremendous , noisy sound.

and then, monday, work has started. daimler south east asia. external affairs and communications - a sort of public relations. and it's very nice so far. my boss is a nice dude (and went golfing for charity today - it's ALL for the good business). and lena, predecessor, did her very best to introduce me in all relevant aspects of work. nothing burnt down or collapsed today on my first day being alone in the office - apparently, she did a good job though! the next days will be smooth so i have my time to get involved in all kinds of the job - and have a little time to enjoy the view from the 29th floor, all over singapore.

was is also sweet is, that i met nice people at work. with some of them, i just had dinner after work today. we went to one of the biggest food stalls (or as they call it here hawker stalls), having different kinds of food - from fish to chicken and pork, with different kinds of vegetables, rice, souces ... yummy! imagine a big square with all sorts of snack bars and eateries around. you can choose from the whole asian food range. and of course, for little prices. the whole thing is open-air, and packed with people eating, even after 10pm (which is, in fact, very common for the whole city as malls are also just CROWDED - and so is the subway).

it was lovely - 4 germans, and 4 singaporeans (chinese). we had a lot to laugh and were stunned about each story regarding each cultural difference - or just a funny, stupid story someone was telling. very nice, indeed!

and so was tuesday night (it was a public holiday on wednesday, since the muslims were celebrating the end of ramadan) when we had the farewell party for lena. even the reason to party was quite sad, the people i met very nice and so, it was a very cosy and somehow familiar atmosphere. which is somehow true for the whole singapore experience so far.

it does not feel like home, of course. but it also does not feel unfamiliar, strange, and unfamiliar at all. true, it IS different than home. but then again .... it is very often quite european - just with different looking people and different food. which is again NOT true because there are many things that are stunning, crazy, incredible, very new, different. and of course it is very hard to judge and describe my whole picture after only a week. it just feels so normal to be here. there simply existed no acclimation time - it was the place from the first minute without any uncomfortable moments, no doubts, no questions. everything is pretty straight forward, pretty clear. nothing seems to be new, and there is nothing that has to be really learnt in a new way - while at the same time, the while thing is completely new. i'm not sure if you understand what i mean because you have to experience that. but something like this might happened to many of you when moving to a new place, no matter where this was. (by the way, i hope this "honeymoon time iwll last for ... well ... for a long time!!)

right ... a lot of text again. at least you have the pics. the video upload at youtube seems to take for forever so i post the link later then.

for the moment, it's time for bed ... and the information that in 3 weeks, i will fly to manila, philippines. i have no real idea what i really do and why i booked the flight, but it was cheap and we have another holiday and thus, a longer weekend. sounded like an option, even though everybody today said "wow, that's brave". i rather shouldn't tell my parents, i guess ... (and how good they can't read english!!!).


cheers for that!

formula 1 in singapore

the day of formula 1 - history ... the first night race ever. i have to admit that i am not quite a big fan of that sport. but being here you can really feel the excitement - and it's hard to resist. i would bet that most singaporeans were not big racing fans before, too. however, this great event is just another chance to do some shopping. but more about that later.

in a few hours, i will be at the race track watching this spectacular event. and i hope my ears will survive it. the noise is just incredible and swarming through the whole city. here, in my room, about 1.5km away from the track, all windows closed, and with my crappy air conditioning on, the cars were still louder and audible.

singaporeans are apparently very proud that this event takes place. and they prepared it for years. the area around the start - finish line for example, was ocean before. the organization officers simply decided to create more land by filling up huge masses of material. this alone shows what is possible in this small but highly potential state. crazy ....

and, as mentioned, the race gives all the potential for firms to do some business. there are promotions everywhere ... win this with xxx, buy xxx and "race up your life", get your ferrari shirt and benefit from a free trial of xxx - and, obviously, singaporeans LOVE that! as they love to shop and consume, generally. i have been on orchard road on friday, the number one shopping mile here in sp. and what i saw was truly amazing. not that the shops itself were so breathtaking - but the amount of choices are stunning. it is said that you would need three days to walk through all of these huge malls. well, maybe, if you consider that you have at least 15 malls that stretch over 5 floors, with a kind of labyrinth of corridors, filed with shops that offer EVERYTHING. some of them are specialized in a specific product or product group. at suntec city, for example, there is one section in this huge complex that offers all kinds of stuff for little kids - 40+ stores full of clothes and toys and clothes and toys and ....

and beside that you find more and more stores for the rich ... and wanna-be rich. the question just always is: HOW DOES THAT ALL WORK? where do the people get all that money from to become part of this consumption circle? or do they just do window shopping? how, then, do all these over dimensional malls survive? whatever it is, one thing is for sure: these malls are always packed with people, no matter if you go there at noon or - even worse - after 6 or 7 in the evening. and since most of them are at least open until 10pm, there is muuuuch time to spend all your money - by the way, prices are not considerably cheaper than back home, at least in these huge and modern malls.

yesterday, i firstly had a "hangover" - breakfast with my flatmates. not that i was drunk the night before - but they were (how surprising when you are invited to an "free champagne" - party where your company pays for everything). so, we went to mc donalds, had a BIG ball of ice cream and a freshly made juice (for about 1.50€ ... amazing).

later, i walked around the arab quarter which is just a stone's throw away. the (malay) muslims are celebrating the hari raya light-up right now. the festival aims to bring people from different ethnic groups together to have a better understanding of the (malay) muslim culture. different shows with traditional dances were held, and of course the streets were full of food stalls offering all sorts of typical food - shouldn't have had that big mac - stuff before, DAMN! however, it was beautiful and very enjoyable!

later the day, i walked to little india - only a 15min walk from my place. and this was a truly great experience. it is definitely not at all as real india is - too organized, to laid-back, to clean. however, compared to singaporean standards, it's light-years away from how i experienced the city so far. it's a little, lovely chaos, hundreds of shops selling all kinds of things - some vulnerable and important, some others ... less crucial. people were very friendly, open for a chat, smiling. and i had to try a lot of different kinds of snacks, just for the experience. the hindus are celebrating their "deepavali" right now - the festival of light, fireworks and sweets with the main day end of october - the streets therefore were full of chain of lights ... and all this added to magnificent moments. after all, i had spend 4 hours in the area, happy about the experience.

well, that's it for the moment. have to get prepared for the big race. weather doesn't look too good but that just makes it more interesting. tomorrow then is my first day at work. but till then, i will catch some great food for little money. and more pictures will follow later that week on my picasa- page ...

singapore - a lifetime experience

singapore ... a mix of asian cultures, spotted in a clean and organized environment, and only a stone's throw away from the equator. asias's biggest hub, world's 2nd largest port, a financial centre ... and my new home for the next 5 month.

and since there is a huge tropical thunder storm with heavy rain outside (well, locals and those who know better might say it's just a common phenomena), which stopped me from sleeping two hours ago (especially if you sleep in the 26th floor having the city at my feet), and an internet connection that suddenly works (apparently), i decided to open this blog so that all of you get the news from my singapore experience.

for the next 5 month, i'll be doing my internship at daimler southeast asia - the headquater for the whole region. and since it fits so perfectly to my studies, i got my job in the marketing department - or the "external affairs and communication" department, to be precise. organizing elaborating corporate events that charge the brand with emotion ... and i guess a lot of other stuff that interns usually do, will be part of my daily work. however, whatever it might be - in a place like this, it is not the MOST important point in the end, i guess.

i don't wanna bore you with any details about the flight ... but by the way, i had three red wine, chicken and pasta pesto (pesto pasta?), something that was supposed to be fish, two sandwiches, a chocolate bar, a muffin, another cheese cake, one more wine ... wine ... and stuff on my entertainment system like ... english premier league, two episodes of friends, one movie that i forgot (also because i've watched only 1/10th of it), more comedy stuff ... comedy ... and did i mention that i had wine? red wine, actually - from chile ... lovely - even though it was refrigerated.

evyerything worked fine. the saudis (well, these guys in qatar) did not make any trouble. same here in singapore when i was entering the country. everything worked smoothly even though i had two packages of chewing gum with me. they didn't even check that ... guys, there is a great dealing potential!! (chewing gum is regarded as a oral hygiene product and therefore only available in pharmacies ... for high prices, i guess). beside a huge bunch of toyota taxi available, i was the lucky one to get a mercedes (OF COURSE!!) - and when telling the driver that i was from germany and start work for daimler, he started a 5 minute monologue about the enjoying advantages of this car - it goes without saying that i agreed to ALL points.

and finally, i made it to the appartment complex, got the key, entered my room, faced this view from the 26th floor - and already lost about 1,46 litres ... going outside is always like hitting a wall - having 30 degrees and 90% humidity outside is everything but fun!

luckily, i have air conditioning. unfortunately, it is noisy ... tremendously noisy. however, there is this view ... good one!

the appartment as such is nothing special, but nice. i live together with two guys, both called alex - and both from germany. i met one this morning (remember, the rain ... got up, went down for a coffee, came back - and he met him) - nice dude. he's working at sap, while the other one is a medicine student and supposed to be nice, too.

even though this place costs a fortune, i think i'll stay here at least a few days and check later what is available on the market. because the good thing is that it is very central and not far from work. well ... shouldn't be the issue at the moment.

rather, i have to use my spare time to discover the city - which is, in fact, a hard hard thing. walking around in this heat, in the middle of the day feels like a contest. and now i know why they start the singapore marathon at 5 in the morning. BOY OH BOY! it's impossible (for me) to stay outside for longer than one hour - whenever i can, i try to catch a airconditioned building (or at least the shade), knowing that the next cold is just a few days away. how do people manage to live under such conditions? all these locals do not sweat at all - while me ... well ... try to imagine it!!



beside that there is a lot to discover and experience in this fascinating place. it's all that great food, WOW! it's shopping malls that won't end. a central business district with impressive architecture. chinatown, little india and the arab quater. singapore sling and tiger beer. all these things will keep me busy for the next days .... rubbish ... MONTH! but read more next time ... for now, it's time for another day in singapore .... man, it's weird to say that!!!