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Houston & Singapur

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

    Back in Oslo

    November 4, 2017 in Norway ⋅ ⛅ 3 °C

    The travel back was easy. 12 hours in the plane went by like nothing. At Changi airport I passed a sports bar showing a recap of the 7th Astros game. Couldn’t miss that ;) Slept 5 of the 12 hours in the plane from Singapore to Copenhagen. Not too bad! Came finally home at 9am, and did the usual arrival routine of laundry and grocery shopping. At 3pm I passed out on the couch and now it’s 2am on Sunday and I am wide awake. Around me, this part of the world is sleeping. All the news are read. Time for me and my ukulele. I had to postpone the Pixies (there is this one chord my fingers simply can’t master - yet), so I’m playing an easy one - John Denver’s Leaving on a jet planeRead more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 12

    Out in Singapore

    November 3, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Yeay, one day off! My plane is leaving in the evening, so I have plenty spare time. I must admit, I feel some weight coming off my shoulders. Spent the inevitable waking hours between 2 and 4am with a boring audio book, determined to hold on to the night. It worked, next time I woke was at 9am, rested and ready for the day! Firstly, a long slow breakfast. Then off to the Botanic Gardens of Singapore. Lots of walking, mainly so that I can allow myself to eat even more in this capital of food! But also to just be in the garden, especially the orchid garden. It’s gorgeous. There is a part with special ‘vip’ orchids, cultivated hybrids which are named after famous visitors. They call it ‘orchid diplomacy’. The whole garden is beautiful and peaceful and has enough shadow so that you can spend the middle of the day without being roasted. I love being in this climate, and I love the spicy food. Wish I could stay longer. But also I wish being at home. Especially today, because it’s my dad‘s 75th birthday and I can’t be with him and my family. We talked on the phone at least.
    After walking to and through and back from the Botanic Gardens and being totally soaked (or is this coming from the spices???) I had a last shower and a last foot rub. Then checkout from this terrific place. I hope I can come back soon.    Read more

  • TravelerHouston & Singapur
    Day 11

    the astros won the world series

    November 2, 2017 in Singapore ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    is that the news of the day??? Well, it is as I’m writing this. I’ve been following this final since Houston. Even used some morning delirium hours between 2 and 4 (when I couldn’t sleep but also didn’t wanna get up) to watch baseball for dummies videos on youtube to learn about this weird sport. Now I know the basics and wear my new Astros t-shirt and feel once more close to all the Houstonians I met last week.
    Training is finished! Yeay and boohoo. It’s been intense 4 days. And sad to say goodbye to my coworkers. Especially my cotrainers. So smart and knowledgeable and engaged! I miss them already.
    Went out to explore the city a little in the evening. After dark it’s quite nice outside. Still hot and humid, but possible to walk longer distances. So I did and ended up in the newton hawker center, an outside foodcourt with lots of local specialties. Had to go through my favorites ☺️ and also through some tiger beers ☺️. Tomorrow I have a day off, my flight is in the evening. So I will start a new uke project now, a Pixies song that’s been in my ears all week - where is my mind? 🤖    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

  • 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 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 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 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 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 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

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