Joined the gym

I had some big plans for this weekend, most of which I managed to fulfill. This was the first weekend in a while where I wasn't going anywhere, have anyone visiting me, or forced to work overtime. I did go back to the office for a little bit but only for a couple of hours.

I usually mop around the house during weekend mornings until I get sick of my room. Google+ was acting up and it got frustrating to keep trying to reconnect. I tried to post on my Facebook that I wanted to hang out with people on Google+ and FB wouldn't let me post that message. I didn't think much about it because it gave me an error that said to come back later. So I came back later and posted another status that did not include the Google+ part (accidentally) and it went through. Hm......

I paid rent early this month since the 15th falls on an early part of the week. The last two times I was a bit late but they don't seem to mind. I basically walked around my neighborhood and did a few errands during the early part of the afternoon. Then I ventured to sign up for the gym again.

There are only a couple of big gyms in HK, one of them being California Fitness. There are a lot of smaller gyms but they feature only one location and are very, very small. Everyone I've asked so far about gyms have joined California Fitness so I went there as well. Last time I tried to join, their deal didn't seem very good and they wouldn't let me have a one week free trial. But after talking to another friend, who seemed to have gotten a much better deal, I went to another branch and haggled again. It seems like haggling involves knowing what to say (as opposed to just being persistent). Last time, I said the name of a friend who was referring me but her membership is only for one club location so that's what they tried to sell me. This time, I went in and said that a friend of mine is paying for access to all the clubs and that I wanted the same. I told them that I have friends who liked to use different gyms so I would be going to different gyms during different times of the week. The guy didn't even try to bring up the one club only deals. At some point, I agreed to a deal for access to 3 gyms and then he came back saying that since I have a HSBC Visa Platinum card, they can give me access to all the gyms at the same price. I always walk away from these things feeling like I've been cheated or missed out on some deal. Whatever, let's just hope I use the facilities enough for this money to not to go waste.

They tried to sell me on all sorts of things once I paid for the actual membership. Apparently you can rent a shoe locker and get different plans to train with a personal trainer. I was like no thanks and left without even trying out that gym. I was actually feeling pretty hungry since I hadn't really had lunch and it was getting close to 5pm.

I got some bread and went back to the office to do a few things, including watching a video on some geotech software. I would have stayed to read the papers that were referenced in the video but the office was really hot. And I had a headache. The rest of my team was there as well. Sometimes they're a distraction though.

I went to the gym in Mong Kok and did some running and some ab exercises. It took me a while to find a shop that sold locks and I managed to get one where the instructions are all in Korean. Anyway, it's red so it's easy to identify. The gym provides towels and has showers with soap, shampoo, and conditioner. This is very nice since it means I don't have to head home right after working out. They even have hair dryers. I might think about bringing my own shampoo and conditioner though since I have a preferred brand. I swear, the showers stalls are larger than my bathroom. I went to a nearby mall and got rendang with rice from a Singaporean place. The food wasn't very good. My jaw was getting tired from chewing on the beef.

I decided to go check out the branch of the gym that has a swimming pool on Sunday. It took FOREVER to get there. Forever in HK means over an hour. It didn't take too long on the MTR but you had to walk a long ways through a couple of malls to get to the shuttle station. The mall that this gym is located in is not right next to an MTR station. And the line for the shuttle bus was really, really long. Lots of families going to the mall. I found out later that this mall has several with play areas for kids. I would have just walked but it was super hot outside. So it was better to wait in line. Good thing I downloaded a book on my Kobo and had something to entertain myself with. I'm currently reading: The Invisible Bridge



It's about a Hungarian-Jewish guy who is studying architecture in France right at the start of WWII. I just started and it's a pretty interesting book so far. The main character is from a small town and it's the first time out of the country for him.

Anyway, I had planned to go swimming and then go watch Harry Potter. I really should have gone to see the movie first. I ended up getting to the theater a little bit too late. The pool was also a disappointment. It was super small and very crowded. They had two lanes set up for slow swimmers. There didn't seem to be rules for the rest of it and there were just too many people. I tried to follow someone so that I wouldn't be running into oncoming swimmers. But people were swimming too slowly for me to follow. Anyway, poor timing on my part. Next time I'll go earlier.

I walked around that mall a bit and got really tired. I came back and napped in my bed before going to buy groceries at a nearby mall. The lady at the checkout was really slow. Must be her first day or something. I find that I really like the supermarket at my workplace. It has a lot more international brands and choices in general. So there goes another weekend. Time to get ready for another week!

Friends, site visit... another week

Every week here seems like a big battle. There's just so much to do and not enough time and energy. This week started off pretty well. The project that we've been working on like crazy finally went through on Monday. Hopefully the rest of it will go through smoothly as well. Our supervisor came back from vacation and we talked about all our projects over lunch. It took quite a while to go through all the projects and he started to realize in earnest that we don't have enough people. I think the rest of us realized this a long time ago but now it's getting to the point where we're not making deadlines and falling behind on everything.

Wednesday was the big day of the week. It was the last day for one of the guys on our team. I guess this happens a lot and is a part of one's career. People come and go all the time. But it's still very tragic, especially when the person is an essential part of the team and is one of your mentors. We miss him already...

That night I left work "early" to meet up with two friends for dinner. One of them is a classmate from Stanford who did her undergrad at HKU. She came back to visit and was meeting up with a friend of hers from HKU who happens to also work at Arup and is in the same group as me (but is now stationed at a site office). So the three of us had dinner and chatted about my long working hours among other things. After dinner, we went for dessert. It took us a while to find the street with all the dessert shops though. Had to go halfway into a dark alley before turning around and starting over. It was a very fun evening. I felt like I even slept better that night and woke up with a pleasant dream. Lately, I've been waking up very tired and wanting to sleep in more. I think it's due to the lack of exercise.

I'm going to try to join a gym again this weekend. Really need to exercise. Definitely getting fat.

Friday morning, I went to on a site visit to a project that I've been working on. The guy who left had been working on the project so the new project engineer hadn't been to the site either. The resident engineer at the site is also leaving to go to another site. So we basically had two handovers for the geotech part of this project in one week. The new resident engineer for this project is from England. He's here on an Early Development Assignment (basically a two year assignment). It might be a bit difficult for him because he'll be the only representative from our company at the site and he doesn't speak Cantonese. I'm sure it'll all work out though. He's survived four months here so far. This will be a new experience though. Wish him all the best. Maybe this will give me an excuse to go visit him once in a while. Although I have to say, I won't be that much more help since I can only pretend to speak Canto...

It's really nice to be able to see the stuff that I've been working on. The walls look a lot bigger in reality than they do on paper. The site is an abandoned prison. There are a lot of buildings and alleyways. I would totally get lost. It's located in a very busy area of HK Island. I wouldn't mind going back to check out "site activities" once in a while. So many opportunities to see things in action here!

Other random news: I have two more friends coming to visit in the next few weeks! Lots of people coming through since it's summer. Our group got a summer intern. He's only here for another two weeks though. I feel like we snatched him from another group. But he's only working for the month of August. Such a quick internship. I can't imagine. That's like settling in and then leaving right after. I just started a ShareBuilder account and waiting for money to be transferred in. I guess I'll spend some time this weekend investigating into stocks worthy of my investment.

Parents visited again

Last week was a very long week. I don't know how many hours I worked but I will be booking all of it to my timesheet tomorrow (Monday). For the first part of the week, one of the guys was on site and our supervisor is on vacation. So we were missing a lot of help.

I feel like I'm getting fat just sitting around all day. I think I really need to join a gym and find time to go. I've been trying to eat less for dinner since I tend to get back late. On Monday I made a big pot of carrot soup with an entire bag of carrots. Used up an onion, some garlic, and pureed the carrots. It's very good. But I didn't get a chance to eat it on Tuesday because I had to stay really late. I made a little bit of pasta to go with it and it's actually very filling. I'm not very fond of the idea of eating dinner at work. Would really rather watch anime while eating dinner.

My parents came on Friday afternoon and the sim card I gave them ran out of money. So instead of refilling it, they just sat around waiting for me to call. But you can't call into a phone number that has no money. Anyway, a friend of my dad called me and I figured that they ran out of money on the phone. So I left work and they were indeed sitting around in my apartment.

I have to say, we didn't eat very good food the entire time they were here. I don't think I planned very well. We could have eaten at much better places. Oh wells, next time. For example, for brunch on Saturday, I totally forgot about the famous dim sum place nearby. Although the line would have been super long since we got up at 10am and didn't managed to get out the door until 11am.

Saturday was a long day. After brunch, we went to my office and I showed them where I work. My mom helped me ask about the DBS credit card that is doing a promotion at the mall where I work. But I didn't think their deal was very good so the search for another card continues. They didn't even have applications in English when there are so many foreigners working in the office next door. Seriously.

The next destination was the cable cars on Lantau Island. I found out online that you can buy tickets at MTR stations. So we bought our tickets at the customer service at Kowloon Tong. The guy didn't seem like he's ever ridden on the cable cars before. They only had the crystal cabins and round trip tickets. That's what we wanted so we got four tickets. I also got three more Octopus cards because they are much more convenient than buying single tickets. It's a very good thing we bought tickets in advance because the line was super, super long. I think if we didn't we would have given up when we saw the line. It was also super hot so that line would not have been fun.

I've already been on the cable cars and wanted to just head to the beach. But my dad seemed like he really wanted to go. I was worried that my mom would be really scared but it turned out that Victor was the scaredy cat. He was frozen the entire ride. Turns out my mom wasn't really afraid of heights. She was more concerned about the safety of the cable car. This one is a completely enclosed cabin so that wasn't a concern at all.

We got bubble tea, hiked up to the Buddha, and got dou fu hua. Took the cable car back to Tung Chung and then got on the bus to go to Mui Wo, which is on the other side of Lantau Island. My mom was very excited when she saw the beach. But she didn't bring a swimsuit so she ended up wearing mine while I had to get another one. They didn't have her size for one piece swimsuits and she didn't want to wear a two piece. Victor didn't want to go in the water so my dad wore his trunks. The water was very green, not clear at all. But it was very warm so we swam around for a bit.

We ate dinner at the Mui Wo pier. The place advertised homemade curry and seafood, neither of which was very good. Even the lemon tea was lacking. We took the ferry back to Central and walked around to find the HSBC building. My parents said that they had never been on HK Island so we checked that one off the list as well. We were all very tired by the time we got back.

We got up at 5am on Sunday morning and took a taxi to the airport. I went with them because it would cost the same on the taxi. We got there too early and were the first ones in line for check-in. We ate breakfast and I saw them off. I poked around the stores for a bit before going to the bus station. The bus that takes me back to my neighborhood mysteriously moved locations. So I was waiting for another bus that would take me back to Kowloon when I saw a coworker. He was with his whole family and they had just sent his sister back to college in the US. What a coincidence! They were also looking for the same bus. They ended up taking another bus. I probably should have taken the same bus as them just so that I wouldn't be by myself on the bus. I ended up finding the right bus and pretty much slept the entire way back. I woke up just in time to get off at my stop.

I napped after getting back and then went to the office to help out. The entire team was there working. Crazy. I was thinking that if there wasn't much going on, I would go watch a movie. Of course, this wasn't the case. The office was really hot due to the lack of air conditioning. We even had four fans on. My weeks have been rollercoasting in terms of working overtime. Last week was a long week. So maybe that means this week will be better? Hm...

Parents in China

I can't believe that my whole family of four managed to fit into my tiny apartment of ~120 sq. ft, along with lots of luggage. It was definitely a challenge. They called me before getting on a taxi and I left the office about 15 minutes after their call. I managed to get back to my apartment right when they got off the taxi. It was perfect timing. Actually, I was hoping to get there a bit before so I can clean up some more. Oh wells.

We went out to dinner with one of my dad's friends. The little place had pretty good food. I swear it was just like the place I went with my coworkers that one time were working really late. Even one of the waiters looked familiar. Maybe it's run by the same people? Anyway, Victor and I left a bit earlier and walked around the shops near my place. Most of the stores were closed by that time though. We got a milk tea and some candy.

Showering took a long time, like I predicted. They're not used to the small bathroom so it took a while for them to figure out what to do. It was actually pretty good once we arranged everything for sleeping. Both my bed and the sofa bed are pretty spacious.

In the morning, we took a taxi to the mall next to my workplace. My parents were worried that we wouldn't have time so we should get to where I work first and eat later. I didn't see any difference in eating first and then going. Anyway, my dad wanted to go to the dim sum place but it wasn't opened yet. Actually there weren't very many places opened and I was about to settle for DeliFrance when we saw that a couple of the places in the food court was opened. So we had a pretty cheap breakfast. Only HK$90 for all of us (~$12 USD). The food wasn't very good though, I have to say.

I gave my passport to a secretary at work to help me apply for a Mainland visa. Good thing my parents were still around because I got them to help me fill out parts of the form. I have to say, between filling out forms, submitting my timesheet, answering calls from family, I didn't do a whole lot in the morning. My parents came back to the mall at around noon to eat at the dim sum place. They left after eating lunch. I'll see them again next weekend when I go to China. I forgot to get them to write down my grandparents' address for me. Oopse. Oh wells, my HK phone card should still work in the Mainland.

I really hope next weekend is not a busy one at work. Our supervisor will be out on vacation. Another guy on the team is going to Singapore on a secret mission... Wishing him the best of luck. I'm definitely going to China for the entire weekend. So hopefully we can all just have a relaxing weekend.

Balancing act

After writing about eating healthy, I thought I should confess that I ate McDonald's twice in four days. This is due to the project that talked about in one of my previous posts. We basically worked non-stop Monday and Tuesday to get it all done. We were there way too late, had to take taxis back. I basically got back, showered, and went to sleep. Today (Wednesday), was the first time that I got to eat the pasta that I made on Sunday again.

My parents are coming next week! I don't know how we're all going to fit into my little place. I guess we'll have to make it work. They're only here for one night so I hope it will be okay. I'll have to do some cleaning and organizing to make room. I might have to work this weekend too though...

Going on a site visit on Saturday with one of the professional societies. The guys from work are going too, of course. I see them way too much. I really hope that if (when) we hire someone, that person is a good fit. Very important to have a team that works well together. Otherwise, we would just all be miserable. My coworkers were saying that someone's first two weeks at a new job (especially for new grads) is very unstable. They might quit very suddenly because they don't like the job. It seems very fast to me but I guess it fits with the culture here of doing things and making decisions at an extremely fast pace. It's also most likely due to the fact that most grads join a training scheme and then they are stuck with a company for a couple of years. My own application for this training scheme has STILL not been sorted out yet, unfortunately. Some things are still very slow.

Long weekend -> Long week

The start of this week was pretty chill for me. Right now the project that I have been babysitting doesn't have too much going on. The guy I'm working with is also very nonchalant about it. So I did a bunch of calculations that we will share with the structural team next week. But then it got busy.

I started helping one of the other guys on the team with his project. All the civil engineering works here have to be approved by various government authorities. His particular project is with the Housing Department and it's the first time that they are adopting this particular type of foundation system. He went before the review board and came back with a ton of revisions to do. Apparently, it's pretty common for the engineers in the government to ask questions and point out deficiencies in your calculations. It's just that this time, the deficiencies turn out to be pretty big. We started looking at their comments and it turned out the source of it is actually the structural calculations, which were performed by their own engineers. We think that some graduate engineer did the calculations and it didn't get checked. Everything that could possibly be wrong with it, is basically wrong. This has tremendous effects on our geotechnical calculations. The guy who's in charge of this project on our team passed some work off to me and was swamped by calls all of Thursday and Friday. His phone was literally off the hook. He would alternate between picking up his office phone and his own phone. It rang so much that it was ridiculous.

Anyway, it was pretty apparent that we had to help him out on the weekend. So we all came in today (Saturday) and worked on fixing the project. Needless to say, I'm learning a ton. There's actually a lot of discussions in our group. We're very open to speculating, asking questions, clarifying ideas, etc. I'm starting to be able to keep up and contribute. Everyone on the team thinks pretty fast and has good suggestions. So sometimes it's hard to even keep up with all the hypotheses and quick changes to test out these hypotheses.

The deadline for the re-submission of this thing is Tuesday. So... might have to go in tomorrow (Sunday) and will definitely be staying late on Monday. I'll remember to bring some good snacks with me. I'll try to spend some time cutting up some fruit and making fruit juices.

Also, here's an interesting article about China vs. US and an even more insightful response to it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303544604576430162195057084.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
http://chinageeks.org/2011/07/the-dangers-of-a-quick-visit/

Long weekend: Macau, hiking, etc.

Last long weekend until September! We had Friday (July 1st) off. The rest of the work week was pretty chill after our submission on Monday. We all stopped working by 6:30pm on Thursday and left by 7pm. I pushed the guys out the door. No need to stay if we're not doing much.

Some people from work were heading to Macau on Friday so I joined them. There were four of us total and we met up near the ferry terminal at 9:45am. By the time we got tickets and boarded the boat, it was 10:45 so we got there at noon. The boat ride was really bumpy. I got sick but luckily didn't eat very much for breakfast. I felt better after standing in the long line for customs. That line was ridiculous. I think we were there for an hour and a half.

We randomly got on a bus and got off at a touristy destination. It took us a while to find food because we wanted Portuguese instead of Chinese food. We headed away from the main touristy area but gave up and settled for a cafe near the main plaza. We walked around the historical district because none of us were interested in the casinos. I would like to go walk around in them just for the sake of seeing them. Maybe next time. We wanted to get back on the last boat possible but all the tickets were sold out. So we ended up leaving on the 8:30pm boat, which meant we were heading to the ferry terminal by 7pm.

I decided to go hiking on Saturday. I left the apartment at around noon and went to the office to fill out my reimbursement forms. I tried to do them at home but it was too difficult without a nice table, stapler, copier, etc. So I spent a bit of them there sorting everything out. By the time I got to Wan Chai, where I was hoping to find a hiking trail up the mountains, I was starving. I went to KFC again because it was the first thing I saw and I didn't want to be looking around for other food. I really like KFC here. They let you sit around and there's usually a bathroom available.

I couldn't find any website with a clear description of how to get to the trails from downtown. So I headed up a long flight of stairs that I saw while walking south. I think it would have been smarter to take a bus up and then walk down. But I found a trail eventually, behind some expensive looking serviced apartments.

It was good to get away from the city for a while. I didn't really stop to picnic anywhere even though I bought some snacks with me. I was afraid of getting bitten. I took the bus back down to the MTR station. I passed by the Wan Chai market on the way and peeked inside. It's so nice! Air conditioned and very clean, like the ones in Singapore.

I was pretty tired when I got back. Went to buy a few things and cooked dinner. I did some rearranging of my kitchen area and finally got hooks for the bar on the wall. Finally feeling comfortable using the kitchen area. All my appliances have a designated place now.

Thinking of going to the beach today to relax. Not sure if I'm going to make it though. I went running this morning and is exhausted from sweating too much. I even got up at 6:30am and it was still super hot. Not sure what to do about this. Maybe I should join a gym....

Got a raise today

Too measly of a raise to be celebrating but I am updating my spreadsheet. Apparently, this "annual review" happens really fast. My boss met with everyone individually and gave them a letter telling them whether or not they got a raise. I think it took about 5 minutes per person. Definitely less than 5 minutes for me since mine is set. All graduate engineers get the same rate and same raise for the first two years.

We finished a submission today for a schematic design for a project. We wanted to submit everything by noon but we kept changing things and updating. We were really busy from 5-7pm implementing a bunch of changes. Good thing I (still) like what I'm doing. Otherwise, I would not last very long. We were all in the office on Saturday putting the bulk of the report together. We worked 8 hours and went out for dinner. I was so tired at the end of dinner.

Sunday was more relaxing. I think I still need to catch up on sleep though. I skyped with X and Y first and then called my parents. I don't think my mom is very fond of the video chat with skype. She thinks it's too low quality and not clear. But I did get to see Snowball! haha. Anyway, I went furniture shopping with a friend from work afterwards. We had lunch at a Japanese place. I had a rice bowl that had veggies and some raw fish pieces. It was like a sushi bowl, very good. We looked around at the furniture place but didn't end up getting anything significant. I still wanted to go to Ikea but I was tired.

I went grocery shopping around my neighborhood and went to the local markets for the first time. Things are sooo cheap. I got more than enough veggies for the week after spending $20 (HKD). For this price, I don't think I could have gotten even one little bag of veggies at a supermarket. I also got some cooked chicken. This will last me through the week. I wanted to get some fruits but couldn't find rambutan. One of the girls who is working in a site office brought some lai chee for us to share. Unfortunately, I forgot to get some before leaving... Oopse. I was too eager to leave after we submitted our stuff.

Friends and shopping

Quick update about what I've been up to since coming back to HK. Yes, my days have been mostly filled by work. I regularly work 11 to 12 hours now. I think I've mostly gotten used to it. I still wish I can eat earlier in order to digest by the time I want to go to sleep. 

I was really busy last weekend because a friend of mine from undergrad was here. He was doing research at the City University next to my workplace. So we went out for lunch everyday that we were both in HK. He left on Monday so we had to take advantage of the weekend. I visited his hotel on Friday hoping to help him make use of the pool and jacuzzi. It's an outdoor pool that supposedly has a view of the bay. It looked really nice and I was looking forward to it. But we went to eat dinner first because I was hungry. And then it turned out that the pool closed at 10pm instead of 11pm like we had thought. Oh wells, maybe next time... 

I dragged him to Ikea with me on Saturday where we met up with a friend from work. I had a really good time shopping. It's so much better when you have people to ask and discuss things. And... of course, I had someone to help me carry things back! My friend from work just happened to have a couple of friends from Australia visiting that night so we decided to meet up again for dinner. We went to visit her apartment, near Mong Kok. It's much bigger than mine. More than twice the size (and twice the rent!). 

And then the five of us basically ended up hanging out together the entire weekend. We made it to a pretty nice place for dinner Saturday night. Then we stood in line at a really famous dim sum place in Mong Kok but then found out that the wait would be 2 hours even though we got there before the place opened. So ridiculous! The lady gave us a card to a branch in Sham Shui Po, near where I live. So we took a taxi there. The wait was much shorter and the food was pretty good. I would probably take other visitors there. I think there are cheaper dim sum places though but I guess sometimes it's good to play it safe. My friend is really into reviews so I guess that satisfied him.

We then spend most of the rest of the day shopping. We went into a shopping mall to cool down and then the girls (there were 3 of us) started shopping. The couple from Australia really wanted to shop. I actually had a lot of fun. We went to 2 malls and we came across a MUJI. I actually saw this store in NYC before but it's so much better here. They have clothes, household items, and some food. I'm going to start filling out that furniture reimbursement form and see if I afford anything from there.

We met up again for dinner, which was a bit rushed because the Australians had to run off to the airport. We were an interesting group. We were actually all Chinese but only I can speak Cantonese. There was one person who is from China but lived in Australia for a long time. So she can read the menus but couldn't really get much done using Mandarin. The other three knew a little bit of Cantonese. We made it work between all of us. 

Doing a lot of different stuff at work all of a sudden. Really feel like I'm learning a lot. I spent the first month running finite element models and was getting comfortable with it. Now, all of a sudden, I'm designing piles. I feel like I'm over my head again. It's fine though because everyone is very willing to help out and teach me stuff. 

There's been a typhoon warning up this week. It was at level 3 (the highest is 8) on Wednesday but now it's back to 1 again. It's not too bad because the actual typhoon is missing HK altogether. I hope I don't ever get stuck in the downpour...

Back in HK

I am never flying United again if I had the choice. The check-in line was long and confusing. As the line moved I realized that we were moving towards self check-in machines. Most people didn't know this and was waiting for a the two people who were working to check them in. After I used one of the machines, no one came to put the tag on my bag for the longest time. I waved to some people and they just ignored me. So I kept waving and was about to start jumping up and down when someone finally came. I think the people behind the counter are supposed to just tag bags instead of checking people in.

The boarding was really confusing because there were just too many airlines blaring their instructions. I don't know if it's the accent of the people doing the announcements or the quality of the speakers but I could not understand what they were saying at all. They said the instructions in English, Cantonese, and maybe even Mandarin. I couldn't make out the words at all. It was the same when I got on the plane. I think on the plane, it was the speakers fault though. I had to put on my headphones and listen through there.

I never managed to catch the beginning of any of their movies. I watched half an episode of House. The food was mediocre at best. All the bread products smelled like they were baked properly. I have a rule of saying away from the "Chinese" selection, which usually involves half cooked rice. They didn't even serve any rice. I finished the 2nd book in the Twilight series and started on the 3rd. I had to stop every once in a while to nap or just rest.

I decided to take a bus back. The E21 goes pretty close to where I live. I had a huge headache that started about 6 hours before we landed. I didn't feel nauseous though, until I got on the bus. I took a Tylenol before I got on the bus and I think that helped. The bus itself circled around the airport area for a while before getting on the highway. The sharp turns on the roundabouts made me really nauseous and dizzy. I slept until we got to the Kowloon side. Otherwise, I would have thrown up. I had a bag ready but luckily didn't have to use it. I gave it to an elderly lady who was throwing up right when we were getting to my stop. I don't think I would recommend this way of transportation. It also took forever. 

First "vacation"

Flying back to the US tomorrow!! Actually I find this very strange. I've just settled in here. Actually, seeing that my microwave is still sitting on the floor, I still have a few things to do before I can live comfortably. The concept of taking a few days off and flying back feels strange. This is also my first time taking vacation from work! Never had vacation days before.

I went to Mong Kok after work today and yesterday to get some gifts. Much more efficient and effective today. I amazed myself. Maybe it's a good thing I have limited cash these days. I used up most of my last month's paycheck to buy furniture and haven't submitted the reimbursement form yet. I still have a few more things I need to buy. But I should have another month's worth of pay in my bank account after I get back from the US! haha.

Our floor is doing a big renovation and seat rearrangement. I packed up my stuff today, which wasn't very much. I'm very glad that I was able to get rid of things that wasn't mine. Looking forward to having more space for my own stuff in the new space. Hopefully the new space will have good feng-shui. Emphasis on the "feng" part because the current space is under a vent and therefore very cold. Some of the guys on my team started packing stuff too. The movers are coming Friday at 5:30pm so they need to get their stuff packed. I kind of wish I could be there on Friday to see everyone frantically packing and then LEAVING the office at 5:30pm! haha.

The guys asked if I had packed already and all the usual questions. They have no requests for stuff from the US. I mean, you can get pretty much everything you want in HK. I might bring back some snacks for us to share at the office. Anyway, one of the guys asked something like, "how have you found your past two months here?" I was like, "uh, I think I've only been here for a little over a month." And then they started trying to remember when I started. One guy actually got it right. The other two was like, "we came back from vacation and there was a girl sitting in this space!" At some point during this conversation, one of the guys commented that it felt like I've been here forever and it doesn't feel like I've just started. I think I'm a pretty self confident person but I still welcome comments like these. There's always that small doubt that I don't really fit in with the rest of the group.

Anyway, I'll save the reflections for when I'm sitting back at home. Going to sleep now and then heading off to the airport in the morning. I think I'm going to take the Airport Express there. I think there are cheaper ways but the buses don't seem that much cheaper. And I'm going to bring back two large suitcases so I don't want to be wandering around looking for these buses. I'll be more adventurous and take a bus from the airport once I get back to HK.

Long weekend!

Spending some really long hours at work these days. I get really tired after a certain hour. I was editing some PowerPoint slides last night and it was getting so confusing because I had just started working on a project, it was getting late, and everything looked the same. Didn't even managed to proofread correctly the first time.

I've been trying to get some calculations out forever and was working on solely on them for the last couple of weeks. But on Thursday, it got really busy. The bosses suddenly realized that the guy working on this new project that we got is leaving for vacation that night and we needed to do a lot of calculations by the next day. So they pulled me to run some analyses and help out with other things. We were all working really hard on this project all of Friday so that we can get something to our boss who is leaving for a week long business trip regarding this project on Monday.  But I don't think we managed to get anything to him when he came back in the afternoon. So.... going in on the weekend to finish off stuff.

Coincidentally, our office space is being renovated. We're getting some new meeting rooms and people started tearing down walls at around 6pm. It got really loud and dusty. This promptly drove most people from the office. The guys next to me ran into a crisis though and they were trying to figure things out for a while.

Despite the intensity of our work, my coworkers are very funny. I think I should document the conversations.
(the conversation below happened in Canto)
Me: The logs don't show anything.
AL: What? What do you mean they don't show anything?
Me: There's nothing for this layer.
AL: ..... you know, if you can't say it in Chinese, you can use English. We can understand!
(another guy looks over and starts laughing too.)

This weekend is a long weekend. We get Monday off for the dragon boat festival. First weekend that I'm not doing something major like apartment shopping, moving, or getting furniture. I'm so excited. Still have to go into to the office but it will be more chill. I can sleep in! Also, a friend from MIT is coming for 2 weeks starting Sunday night. Too bad his time here overlaps with my trip back home.

In other news, I finally got my HSBC credit card today. Very happy about this. They called to ask me to submit another copy of my salary slip because the one that I submitted was a bad copy. First of all, I went into the branch and one of the staff made the copy for me. I really don't know why they wanted my salary slip because my salary goes to their bank! So I told the girl on the other end that I didn't have time for this nonsense. I told her that it's not my problem that their staff made a bad copy and that they can just look it up themselves if they wanted "my bank's monthly statement." I swear the customer representatives at that HSBC branch are either super condescending (before they find out I have an American passport) or lose all interest in helping me (after they see my American passport). I seriously don't know what's wrong with this place. Someone called from the bank to ask me to do a 5 minute survey about the bank and I really wanted to take half an hour to vent some anger and tell them how bad their customer service is. But I was still at work rushing to get something out. Next time, next time.

Furniture!!!

My furniture came! So happy to finally feel like I'm living in an apartment and not just squatting somewhere. I feel very productive today, watching other people work. haha. I went to the bank in the morning to submit more stuff that they wanted. I wonder if it's just HSBC that's being so annoying or if this is normal for banks in HK. I hope not. Customer service guy was, again, not helpful or friendly at all.

I found a Swifter-like mop at the grocery store in Festival Walk (the mall that my office is in). Then I went to IKEA in hopes of ordering a table. But I got a call from the guys delivering my closet so I rushed back. I only managed to buy two glasses and a mirror. I'm glad I didn't buy more pieces of furniture though because it doesn't look like I could fit that desk that I was looking at.

Two guys delivered my huge closet and beside table. The one I saw at the store was smaller but I decided to go for the bigger one. I thought about where to put the closet for a long time. The space next to my bed is not big enough for a closet. Just a tiny bit too small for a regular closet. I looked hard for a closet that is not so deep but couldn't find one. At some point, I realized I could stick it in the living room so I decided that I didn't have to worry about space. There's not much space between the closet and the ceiling. The guys had a hard time putting in the top piece. I put most of my stuff on my bed (frame) so that they could work.

Bedside table below. Comes with the mirror and a chair. It matches the closet. There's a whole set actually.

I think my furniture all arrived in a very good order. Since I had the closet, I was able to put away all my clothes. This essentially cleaned out the suitcases I was living out of and I put two of them in the drawers underneath my bed. Then my sofa, fridge, and microwave arrived within an hour of each other. Somehow one of the guys got into the building right when I stepped out to get some lunch. I was only going next door so I was able to get back quickly. There's a small dim sum place next to me and they sell take out in front.

My mattress arrived late afternoon. By that time, I had organized most things and cleared everything off my bed frame. My bed just fits very snugly into its space. I feel like everything in this apartment fits just right. The place I ordered the mattress from lets you resize the mattresses for free. I had mine resized one inch shorter. I mean, I'm not sure they actually did the resizing but everything fits.

I got these quilt covers from IKEA. Aren't they cute?! They were out of stock on the quilt that I wanted though so I have to use my sleeping bag again...

After this I took a shower and went to buy some food. I needed to put something in my fridge! I haven't set up the microwave yet because I don't have anywhere to put it at the moment. If I get a washer and dryer, they would take up a lot of space. Right now, there's space on both sides of the fridge.

I waited until my dining table came to have dinner. I'm so excited to have a table! This thing has wheels and can move up and down. So it can be both a coffee table and a dining table. It can also fold out if I have guests over for dinner.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like my room has enough room for it to fold out. If I actually have guests, I might need to move the sofa so that people can sit. I don't have any chairs yet. I should get some folding ones. Not sure where I would put them though.

Looking forward to a good night's sleep tonight. Need to do some more shopping tomorrow and then go into the office. I just realized that Friday was the 27th, that means I've been working for a month. Granted, there were a lot of public holidays in that month. And coincidentally, our whole team stayed at the office really late. I was there until midnight. There were still three other people there working hard to get something out. Can you imagine if you can't stand the people in your team and have to spend so much time with them??

Stove, kettle, fork, oh my

Went back to the same store as yesterday and got a kettle and an induction stove. This is all so that I can make some noodles for dinner. Okay, I didn't need the stove for noodles but I didn't want to be shopping around anymore. No patience to shop around when you're tired after another long day at work. I can't wait for my mattress to arrive so that I can have a good night's sleep.

I felt like I made a lot of progress at work today. Had some long meetings where we figured out solutions to problems that we've been encountering. Feeling somewhat accomplished. Might have to go in on the weekend to get something out by Monday. I'll try to avoid it though because I need to unpack and probably go buy more stuff for the apartment.

I got a big thing of Clorox wipes today and wiped down the walls and cabinets. Very good purchase. Not sure why I didn't think of it earlier. I also want a Swifter mop. I've seen an imitation one at a store but I'm not sure if it will work very well. Need to look harder for this one.

Sorry for the boring updates. Not much happening on the weekdays other than work.

Working late

Woah, I left work at 9:30pm today. This is a new record. Both of the guys I work with today were out. My immediate supervisor is out sick. The guy who is also working on the same project was out for the morning at a conference. I felt bad for him actually because as soon as he got back, he got hit with a ton of phone calls, emails, and had to help me out. 

I was doing pretty well this morning until my boss calls me over. I'm not working on anything for him so I was surprised, wasn't even sure if he had actually called my name. It's weird now you can hear your own name from far away or even if you're not expecting it. Anyway, I got grilled about the stuff I sent out last night. I knew it was a bad idea to reply-all. I guess he had been curious as to what I sent out, which is a good sign, I suppose. Anyway, he had some good points. So... now the consensus is that we'll talk to the structural people in order to proceed. 

Actually, in the afternoon, a couple of people from the structural team came down and wanted our help with something else. We took one look at their numbers and decided that there was no way we could come up with the kind of numbers that they want. But I guess we have to our due diligence anyway. Most of the structural people on this project are English-only people. It felt weird for me to speak to my coworkers in English. The structural team is getting two more people to work on this project in June. I don't think we're getting any more though... I feel like I'm getting  more and more involved into this project, which is great. It doesn't feel like I'm only doing one bit of modeling. 

Big seat rearrangement coming in a couple of weeks. It's going to happen the weekend that I am away. It's only the geotech team actually and some sub-groups aren't moving at all. My team is just getting pushed down a little bit and some of the sub-teams are getting their own space. The "bays" are arranged so that there are three desks on one side and three desks on the other side (facing the other way). I have a desk in the middle and one of the desks next to me is marked "new grad." I don't know if this means we're getting a new grad or if it's just a temporary desk that will be used for people who are coming back from site. It'll be interesting to have another new grad. Or at least a summer intern. They wouldn't be working on my project though since none of the other people on my team has someone supporting them. 

Anyway, really excited for my furniture delivery on Saturday. And having my first visitor at this new apartment on Monday! She's actually a former coworker. I'll have an excuse to get out of work early! Very excited.

Meeting more people!

I've had this faster internet for a couple of days now but haven't had a chance to use it to watch any anime! Yesterday, I got back pretty late, ate some food very quickly, spent some time on curtains, showered, and that was about it. Today, I went out to dinner with a coworker who wanted to introduce me to another person who is on the team but is working on a construction site right now. We went to a pretty nice place and chatted for a long time. I had a pretty good time.

I'm pretty impressed that my boss has been able to put together this team that seems to all work really well with each other. One of the other guys on the team actually joined the company not too long ago. If he hadn't been in the same new employee orientation as me, I wouldn't have known. He seems to fit in with the rest of the group really well and other people ask him for his expertise a lot as well. It's probably due to his personality as well since he's a pretty outgoing person.

Went out to lunch with a bunch of expats again today. It would be really good to get to know them better. A couple of them has said that they don't usually eat lunch or hang out with their group because they feel like they're imposing. If they join the other HK people for lunch, then the HK people would have to speak English. I really don't think my Canto is that great but I guess I'm lucky in that I can still hold a conversation and can understand most things. And maybe there's a slight difference in that I'm a permanent staff while most of them are on a short or long term assignment? Who knows? I'm slightly concerned that at this point, that my Canto is not good enough (and suitable) for construction site work. I'm definitely getting better though so we'll see. Apparently they do send English-only people out there so I should be okay....

I feel like I accomplished a lot at work today. I think I finally get to take a break from the model that I've been working on forever. I finally came up with some outputs for the structural team that we've been supporting. I'm sure I'll come back to this model later on so I should really clean up my files. But I pushed out something today to the rest of the team so I feel accomplished.

I also got my HK ID today! The place said that it opens at 9am so I went at 8:45am expecting to wait for it to open. But when I got there, they were working in full swing. There were already people waiting. I got to work a little bit late because of this. I also took the MTR because of this. I'm going to try to either walk or find the bus tomorrow.

Massive furniture buying, tropical downpour, and moving

It seems like every time I have to move, it's either super hot or raining. I'm not sure which one I prefer... The huge tropical thunderstorm started shortly after I woke up. The rain was so massive that I could barely see the towers under construction outside my window. I should really take a picture of those towers before they are finished. I look for them every time I'm unsure of which way to go. Very handy.

It's been a really long and exhausting weekend. Let me start with Saturday. I decided to leave early for the seminar on Saturday because my coworkers made it sound like it would be really difficult to find. They gave me really detailed instructions. "Make sure you get off at Exit A. If you get out at the wrong turnstile, it's game over! When you get on the train, get on at the last car so that you won't get out at the wrong exit. Look for the red buildings. Try to take the pedestrian overpass. Once you find the buildings, go in, turn right and walk all the way to the end." Of course, I didn't manage to get on the last car so I was worried. But once I got out, everything was well labeled. I didn't even have to remember which way to turn because all the buildings were clearly labeled with letters. 

As soon as I showed up, one of the guys organizing the thing (he sits near me at work), grabs me to help write a name tag. There was a misprint and he wanted someone who had good handwriting. The talks were much more interesting than the ones on Friday. I wouldn't have minded staying the entire day. But the other guys wanted to go back to the office after lunch. I needed to go buy furniture so used that as my excuse to not go back to the office on a Saturday.

I went to DSC, a place that sells their own furniture (i.e. they don't sell other brands) and bought a mattress, closet, bedside table, kitchen table, and a sofa. It all happened really fast. I went back to look at a closet that I really liked but the price was a bit high. So I walked around and found another one that was very similar for a much lower price. It was lower price because they are no longer making that style so they're trying to get rid of it. I got a matching bedside table because there's not much else that could fit inside my bedroom. I'm going to put the closet outside the sliding doors of my bedroom because there's no room next to the bed. The closet has sliding doors as well to save space. 

As I was looking for the closet, I walked past this guy asking about a sofa. The sofa is a two seat one, very compact but it folds out to a bed that can supposedly fit two people. I was really worried that if I got a sofa bed, I wouldn't be able to fold it out in my living room space. But this one should be fine. I'm not sure if it's very comfortable as a bed so I might get a thin foam mattress for it if someone comes to stay for a long time. 

I also had my eye on a kitchen table that is adjustable in height and can double in size. When you have it lowered, it can serve as a coffee table. In case I have guests, I can raise it and it folds out to a table that can comfortably fit four people. It also has wheels. The table was actually the reason why I went back to DSC as opposed to trying to get everything from IKEA. All these purchases happened really fast because I already knew what I wanted. One of the employees followed me around and took down my order. They'll all be delivered next Saturday.

So after spending a lot of money, I went downstairs to DSC's appliances store to look at fridges, stoves, rice cookers, and such. I really like one of their small fridges that still had two doors (i.e. it has a freezer on top). But it turns out that they're out of it and there's 70 people on the waiting list. I would have to wait until the end of June to get it. Can I go that long without a fridge?? I've also been thinking about getting a small washer and dryer. They have these that have 3kg capacity so it's pretty compact. It would be really convenient to have my own washer and dryer. It takes too much planning to bring my clothes somewhere. I will have to think about this purchase some more.

I didn't end up buying anything at the appliances store, mostly because they had huge discrepancies between their prices for things that looked pretty much the same to me. I think I'm going to get my appliances somewhere else. I think I'm going to get one of those "old fashion" looking rice cookers because I can get one with a steamer layer. That would be very handy to have. It started to pour when I wanted to walk back so I tried to wait it out. At some point, I gave up. 

I was exhausted and went back for dinner and a nap. After this, I dragged myself out to IKEA where I spent 2-3 hours picking out other necessities such as curtains, towels, sheets, plates, utensils, etc. It's very hard work! I really liked one of the tables I saw there but I think I have to place a special order for it. I was too tired at the end to investigate. I think I'm going to be making a lot of trips to IKEA in the next couple of weeks. I was trying to decide between this really nice looking table that fits perfectly in my kitchen space and a more modular stainless steel shelf. The table is really nice but it's way more expensive so I think I'm going to go with the shelf. 

I was really tired after dragging a ton of stuff back to my new place from IKEA. I had planned to pack a bit that night but went to sleep instead. I got up pretty early Sunday morning. It took a while to wash clothes and pack everything. I debated for a long time about whether or not to take all three suitcases in one taxi. I was worried about getting everything up to my new apartment. I decided to only take two suitcases the first time and it turned out to be pretty easy so I could have done it all in one trip. Oh wells. Taxis are pretty cheap here. 

I ate lunch and walked around to ask about internet plans. But upon not finding anything else suitable for my apartment, I decided to go back to One2Free. I went back and napped first because I was super exhausted and sweaty from the morning. One2Free made me put down a big deposit because I didn't have any bills or anything else showing that I lived in the new building. I'm going to change my bank stuff to the new address so that I can get that deposit back. Right now, all my mail is going to the company. The company's mail person delivers mail to my desk so it's really nice. 

Anyway, it's all done so now I have pretty good internet at the new place. It's good enough for YouTube and Skype. Finally able to Skype with people! I'm sleeping one more night at the YWCA and then checking out of here in the morning. I technically have one more night at the YWCA but it's too much of a hassle to figure out what I have where. And there's a lot of stuff I need to do at the new place to get it habitable. I haven't even put up the curtains yet. I will be blogging from the apartment tomorrow!

Seminars and adventures

Another week at work! It's been almost a month since I started working. This week has been pretty hectic and crazy. I've been getting back pretty late every night so I haven't had the energy to do very much. I've pretty much been working on the same model all week, trying to make it work. It hasn't so far and I'm kind of worried.

We had a meeting on Monday and Thursday for the project where I met more people who are working on the project. On Thursday, I met a girl who is on the structural team, working on the same project. She's Chinese and is from Perth, Australia. I thought that was interesting so I emailed her to see if she wanted to meet up for lunch sometime. She invited me to a hot pot dinner on Friday with a bunch of other young expats, all working at Arup. I haven't really met any other expats because my whole team consists of local people. Not that I've met very many people outside of my own group, actually.

Let me recount my adventurous Friday, starting from the beginning. My entire group decided to register for the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers, Geotechnics Section's Annual Seminar. The four of us (the junior staff), met up at the MTR station and found the shuttle that takes us to the conference center. I really doubt I would have found this shuttle without them. They did not tell me that we can dress causally to the seminar. It was weird because some people were in suites while others were in t-shirts. Anyway, the entire day was about landslide prevention methods, which is not what our group does. The first part covered the history of landslides in HK and that was interesting for me because I didn't know about these major events. I don't think it was so interesting for my coworkers though. I managed to find a series of "photos" in the conference proceedings that were obviously photoshoped and they got a kick out of that.

We had lunch at a pretty nice buffet restaurant. There were so many people that they had to book two buffet places. There was Chinese and Japanese food. I thought the sushi wasn't very fresh though. Anyway, we all stuffed ourselves. Sometimes, I think my Chinese is really not up to par because I seem to miss out on some key conversations. Good thing my coworkers don't mind me just tagging along with them. At some point over lunch, they decided that we should skip out on the first half of the afternoon section and just come back after the afternoon coffee break. I'm not sure I should be divulging the rest of the details here so publicly but I suppose we can write it off a cultural experience for me. We did a couple of very Hong Kongese things in that period of time.

Anyway, we had first dips on the coffee break snacks and drinks when we came back. After eating more food, we found good seats that were towards the back and near the aisle so that we could leave right after the last session. To get training hours, we have to get our certificates stamped. My coworkers were extremely fast in whipping out the certificates, getting them stamped, and went down the escalator. By the time I looked up, they were already gone. I looked around for them and after a couple of minutes, I realized that they must have gone down the escalator. They were all waiting for me at the end of the hallway though. Couldn't believe how quick they were.

I had planned to go sort out my internet situation after this but then decided that I didn't have enough time between getting back, dropping stuff off, and making it to the hot pot thing on time. So I went to Citibank HK, the only place that is opened until 7pm, to try to get a credit card. But they wanted proof of 3 months worth of salary and at least 2 months worth of paying rent. So that was a failure. I proceeded to go to the hot pot dinner, which for some reason, was all the way out on HK Island. Needless to say, it was way more expensive than a similar place in Mong Kok. I was expecting the waiters to speak good English at this price but no such luck. Good thing we had a native HK person in our group (he studied and worked in Scotland and England for many years) or else we would have had to rely on my Chinese and bargaining skills! That would have been extremely sad.

We had way too much food but it was really nice to get to know more people at the office. A lot of them are from the geo group as well so I'll see them around the office. They all seem to be working in groups were there are more than one expat. I guess my group is special in that we all speak Canto. I wonder how it works in other groups. Would the non-Canto speakers feel left out? Must be weird.

Another seminar tomorrow. After that, I'm going to go buy furniture and figure out internet. My coworkers said that the plans I found were expensive and that I should find cheaper ones if my building supports them. They said that the ones I found should be last resort if the other ones don't operate in my building. I'm so glad that they tell me these things because the other expats seem to be paying a premium for everything. The prices for rent that they're talking about seem really excessive.

Saturday at Work

Got my first paycheck on Friday! I checked the balance of my bank account and was surprised to find money in there. I guess this is my first paycheck from a "real" job. 

I spent pretty much the entire day today (Saturday) at work. I really didn't mean to stay so long. I went in pretty early in the morning only because I didn't have internet in my room. I didn't have anything else to do so I went in to the office, checked email and started on fixing my model. I had planned to leave around noon or at least early afternoon. But the longer I stayed, more and more of my coworkers showed up. At one point, 5 out of the 6 desks in our bay was filled. It was definitely more relaxed than a normal day at work. There was a lot more chatting and such but everyone was definitely working. 

I've been running into a lot of problems with the model that I've been building. This is mostly due to my lack of understanding of the program. It's a very complicated program and I don't think I can be blamed for not knowing what to do. The excavation that I'm modelling is actually pretty complicated as well. It's not just your typical hole in the ground. haha. Anyway, I feel like I always have pretty fruitful and meaningful discussions with my coworkers. They are very willing to help and discuss issues. They readily admit that they might not know the best answer to the problem and we take it from there. I feel like I can contribute to the discussions and get a lot out of them. 

I wasn't completely satisfied with my progress today but I summarized my results for our meeting on Monday. On my way back, I realized a possible solution to a weird answer that I was getting out of the program. I'm not sure I have the energy to go back into the office tomorrow. I want to go running in the morning and then look around at furniture stores. But at this rate, I think my work journal will fill up very fast! 

I think my Cantonese has improved a lot as well. I think I hesitate less and can speak slightly faster. I've been picking up vocab from other people. Actually I think the biggest hurdle is getting used to using Canto at work. Never before have I associated Chinese with work. Whenever I look at drawings at work, I would say the numbers to myself in English even though I can handle numbers in Canto just fine. And then I realized that I associate English with the workplace. English means business to me. I think I have a long way to go before being fully comfortable in using Chinese at work but I'm definitely getting there. I think I use a lot more English words than my coworkers do but I haven't spoken an entire sentence in English to them yet. And they certainly don't switch to speaking in English with me. So I think I'm on the right track. 

Hot and humid!

Tuesday was a holiday here. It's so weird to get a day off in the middle of the week. I seem to always end up going outside on the weekends (and holidays) when it is really hot outside. I think it's because I tend to chat with friends back in the US in the mornings. And then when they go to sleep, I get around to getting outside. And by then, it's around noon and sweltering hot.

That's how I managed to walk around during the hottest part of the day, trying to get money out of the ATM so that I can pay the rest of the deposit for my apartment and get the keys. I found out that I have a daily limit on how much I can take out on my Stanford account (about $3K HKD), which seemed a bit low to me. I went to a nearby mall and managed to get on their free wifi with my old computer that I was carrying around with me. I had planned to check my apartment to see if I can get any free wifi. I found the location of the nearest China Construction Bank and headed there because supposedly Bank of America won't charge me for using CCB's ATMs. But for some reason, it didn't work. So after more wandering around, I decided to find a salon to get my hair straightened. I found a street with several of them and walked into one.

The whole process took about 4 hours. I think I used up a tub of chemicals. They put three different chemicals on my hair and rinsed in between. There was careful blow drying and then flat ironing for an hour. I was getting tired just watching them do the work. It was about $40, which is really cheap compared to the US. The guy cutting my hair at the end didn't do a very good job though. The front part is a bit long and makes my face look long. Anyway, I'll probably get it fixed in a little bit, when I know what I want.

People are always confused what I did to my hair though. I always have to explain that I have naturally curly hair. My coworkers were like, did you get a haircut? Anyway, this is so much better. The humidity was making my hair very fizzy.

I made a lot of progress with my model at work today. I think I've finally got all the technical issues ironed out. There's a lot to learn in terms of learning to use the program. I really appreciate how helpful my coworkers are. They don't just answer my questions and leave it at that. They pose questions as well and we discuss. They understand that I lack experience and help me along. Anyway, really hope to get more involved in the project and not just make models in isolation. I've been keeping up with the work journal and I think it's really good to write things down as they happen.

A friend of mine posted a link to a very long but very interesting article about Asian Americans (mostly for guys): http://nymag.com/news/features/asian-americans-2011-5/ The article points out that there are not a lot of Asians in executive management. And I guess that's what I really want to achieve in life. I don't just want to be a staff engineer forever. I want to be in the upper management. Whether or not coming to Asia to start my career will help with this, I can't say. But at least here, I don't have to face the stereotype of being both Asian and female. I have some observations of how things work differently here than in the US. But I think it's too early to say for sure.

Anyway, I will have enough money tomorrow to get the keys. Can't wait to get the keys.