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Houston & Singapur

October - November 2017
A 13-day adventure by Hi Ke Read more
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  • TravelerHouston & Singapur

    In hurricane land

    October 22, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 17 °C

    Der erste Tag verlief ruhig. Bin um 5:30 aufgewacht, so kann es eigentlich bleiben (als Morgenmuffel kommt mir die 6 h Zeitverschiebung gen Westen sehr gelegen!). Allerdings könnte ich auch einfach nur länger geschlafen haben wegen der anstrengenden Anreise, und der Jetlag schlägt ja gerne mal erst am zweiten Tag zu. Jedenfalls bin ich recht wach und pünktlich zum Frühstück gegangen, das sich als einzige Enttäuschung erwies. Sehr viel Plastik und sehr wenig Auswahl. Schade. Dafür war draußen ordentlich was los. Ein für meine Begriffe heftiges Gewitter, Windböen, Blitz und Donner und sehr viel Regen. Woanders hätte ich das Sturm oder Unwetter genannt, aber diese Gegend kennt bekanntermaßen schlimmeres. Gegen Mittag war der Spuk vorbei, die Sonne kam raus, und gegen 2 war alles wieder trocken. Bin in einer kleinen Stadt etwa eine Autostunde von Houston entfernt. Wobei ich Mühe habe, die Stadt als solches zu erkennen. Sehe eher einen Highway, gesäumt von Einkaufs- und Wohnsituationen. Und Parkplätze, so weit das Auge reicht. Bin einfach mal losgelaufen, zur nächstgelegenen Mall. Das ist hier wohl nicht üblich. Keine Gehwege, keine für Fußgänger geeigneten Stellen zum Wechseln der Straßenseite. I’m an alien in Texas ;) Erwähnte Mall war dann recht nett. Dominiert wurde sie von einem imposanten Laden namens Outdoor World. Fand ich erst lustig, im Kontrast zu dem Autowahnsinn draußen. Der store widmet sich offenbar eher dem Tarnen und Töten (von Tieren). Da passte es wieder. Ansonsten das Übliche - Klamotten, Schuhe, Essen. Alles recht günstig. Vielleicht gehe ich nochmal hin. Ab 4 setzte die Müdigkeit ein. Der foodcourt in der Mall war mir zu laut, bin stattdessen zum ‚Red Lobster’ gelaufen, wieder eine outdoor Aktivität, die sich möglicherweise am Rande der Legalität befindet. Aber es hat sich gelohnt, lecker lecker lobster aus Maine! Ganz bestimmt gehe ich da nochmal hin. Der Tag klingt aus mit etwas Arbeit- Mails und letzte Vorbereitungen für das Training, das morgen startet. Nebenher läuft NFL in der Glotze. Herrlich.Read more

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  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 1

    day 1 of training

    October 23, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 15 °C

    woke up at 2am and again at 4am. at 4:30 i gave in and got up. not too bad for day 2 in another time zone. so i had time for a slow morning with breakfast, some news reading, some emails. when i got to the office i was hit by a serious episode of stage fright. entirely normal, still i manage to be to suprised and think- gosh, where is this coming from now. got over it by using a lately acquired technique of standing in super hero pose and summoning some extra energy from the universe. kidding. or not? anyway, colleagues started coming in and everything fell into place. it’s an amazing crowd, people from us, brazil, japan, all extremely friendly and engaged. the first day went by soo fast, we had fun and great results. everything worked as expected and i enjoyed it lot. even went for a joint dinner with some of them, despite my exhaustion and the urge to not speak another word for the rest of the day. it turned out to be pure fun, and i had quite an amount of words left in me! can’t believe i met these people just this morning. herrlich.Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 3

    day 2 and texmex

    October 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 7 °C

    We already know each other well and training becomes even more effective. We are deep diving into the application and have lively discussions about things that are nice and also things which are annoying. The US colleagues have been involved in testing before, so they know their way around pretty well. Still, we find gaps and issues that need more attention. That’s great also for me as it gives me in return a good feeling for the future use of the tool. Users take ownership and form a network across countries. That’s fantastic. In the evening our hosts took us out to a texmex restaurant. Yummy! A colorful place, margaritas, an adventurous sauce tasting, beef fajitas. I was in heaven 😋 After, the ladies went shopping but I returned to the hotel to get some rest. Had a little energy left in me for my newest uke project - space oddity. So glad I brought it with me on the trip. Heeeeere am I floatinginmy tin caan.. Herrlich.Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 3

    Go, Astros! (day 3 of training)

    October 25, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    OMG- I have to start at the end. I had the best lobster in the world as I know it! Soooo good! The Houston Astros are playing the Dodgers on the screen and this is exactly what I needed- local sports, delicious food, no more talking. I’m coming full circle! Been having conversations with Major Tom a lot lately. And the team of the day is called Astronauts, their mascot Orbit. Everything makes sense now! Calls for celebration. ‘Old fashioned’ it is!
    Before, another exciting day of training. I’m out of words, it’s simply getting even better every day. There is one colleague who travelled in from Japan, 14 hours difference in time. Today, on day 3, she was suffering the most. She is handling this amazingly. Still, I’m getting nervous about what will hit me next week when traveling to Singapore. That’s why I sneaked out of any group activities today after work, had some heart warming time calling home, did laundry and ended up on my own at the lobster place. It’s 9pm now. Nachti allerseits. I hope the astros win. But it doesn’t look good. Hertha lost, too. Schade.    Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 4

    Last day of training & halloween

    October 26, 2017 in the United States ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    Been terribly tired on day 4 of the training. Still, everything went nicely and we managed to finish an hour early. That was highly welcomed because the office was celebrating a pre-halloween party. There was a beautifully decorated buffet (well, beautiful might not be the most appropriate description) and some colleagues came in costumes. Pretty impressive! Spent the rest of the afternoon and evening working on the next training in Singapore. At least day one of that training is fully prepared now. Wanted to be completely done with preparing all exercises before I leave Houston but I’m simply too tired. Between prep times I met some coworkers for dinner. Also a former coworker from Houston office came whom I never met before in person. It was great meeting him at last. All these people are amazing- to work with and also to have fun after work. It’s really worth going on these kind of trips, no matter how hard it gets.Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 5

    Travel time

    October 27, 2017 in the United States ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    Leaving Houston in a bit. Off to Singapore. Unfortunately the plane is fully booked and I can’t get an upgrade. So it’s gonna be a 23:30 hours flight time in economy. Wow. I must admit I’m nervous. Never been that long in a plane. We will stop once in Manchester, for fueling. Suppose we leave the aircraft then for a few minutes. Also my itinerary shows +2 on the arrival time. Never span 2 days on a plane, either.
    The ride to the airport was interesting. I used lyft which is a kinda uber, because apparently nobody uses regular cabs anymore. It costs about half the price of a taxi. I was driven by a young couple, she was a very courageous driver, taking every opportunity to change lanes (lane*s*, as in *multiple*!) to gain a few seconds. Wow. But she had it under control (even when the guy next to her started to give her driving lessons, slightly condescending). He had a real purpose, too, being the navigator by reading out google maps instructions. And he picked the music. So we all soon moved parts of our body (fingers-driver girl, toes-me, head & shoulders-navi boy) to R&B ‘classics’ like Usher and Genuwine. Herrlich!
    The airport itself is ok-ish. But I didn’t need much except an Astros Tshirt (check) and a new neck pillow (actually, for lower back support, also check). Now I’m sitting in a seafood bar at the Houston airport, eating oysters once more (and these are wayyy better than the ones I had in the first day!), being halfway through my second margarita and think of the dear people I met this week. Miss them.    Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 7

    Singapore

    October 29, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Just a quick hello after a long long journey. Everything went fine, it was less terrible than expected. Roughly 8 hours till Manchester, 1 hour stop, then 12 hours to Singapore. I managed to sleep about 2 hours per leg. The hotel is very nice, the city is hot and noisy. I arrived at 7am local time and successfully kept myself awake all day. Now it’s 7:30pm and I can go to bed, yeay.
    The city is so packed and loud and a huge contrast to Katy where everything was so widely spread. I feel totally overwhelmed, but that might be due to the lack of sleep. Usually I enjoy this heat and busy city feeling and especially the food! So far I haven’t been able to eat much. That will change for sure ;)    Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 8

    monday

    October 30, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    ...And we are entering round two of training, this time in Singapore, with colleagues from China, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia and of course Singapore. It’s a great crowd, some of them I have met before when I traveled to Shanghai and Singapore, some I only know from mails or skype calls. The group is huge, but we are 4 trainers in total and together we will manage. The venue is in the pool area of the hotel, very convenient. Everything went fine on the first day, but it is quite different from the Houston group. I can’t connect with everyone immediately as the group is too large for that. So I need to let go a bit ;) We finished a bit late, I tried to catch up with my mails afterwards, and then wanted to go out for dinner. But it was raining heavily, so I went to one of the hotel’s restaurants. Yummy chinese dishes - shrimp and some veggies. Almost fell asleep over the food ☺️ still struggling with jet lag.Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 9

    Zombie mode

    October 31, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Is this how a zombie feels? I’m conscious but my body and brain are kind of lagging behind. I sleep ok but don’t really feel rested in the morning. I have trouble finding words and also find it hard to get words out. Guess my german accent is even worse than usual ;) Still, day two of training was really good, we went at a slow pace, took our time to talk things through. After, I pampered myself with another massage. Well, I don’t remember all of it because I passed out, again ☺️ Tried out another ramen place for dinner. I think noodle soup is a perfect remedy for jet lag. One of the colleagues called it hangover instead of jet lag. Pretty sure ramen works for both 👻Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 10

    Cooking frenzy

    November 1, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    On day 3 we covered some subjects I don’t really like, as the tool lacks in functionality and usability in some aspects. I hate selling stuff I don’t believe in. That’s why I quit my job as consultant 4 years ago. Realized once more that I don’t have to sell shit anymore. The perks of being a customer 😁 I can keep it real. The big reward of the day - nay, trip! came in the evening. We went for a joint evening event and cooked our own dinner. Great place, professional and cosy at the same time. I mean, hello, it’s called Coriander Leaf, can it get any better? It did, because we had terrific results! The food we cooked in 3 teams and 90 minutes was both yummy and beautiful. Wow!Read more

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