A1 vs. A2

While Mumbai has fallen apart and Bangkok is also a disaster...INSEAD P2s were at the beach today.

Today was the A1 vs. A2 Olympics (A1 and A2 are our sections). A2 (my section), lost in nearly everything...except four things.

Let me first state that I had nothing to do with any of the wins. I did contribute to a sore volleyball loss, though.

A2 won in:

• Sand castle building (which I believe was actually done by partners, not students)
• Some French game that starts with a "B" that seems like Bocce ball, but the balls are silver (and it's French and not Italian). They claim it's an olympic sport, but I have never heard of it
• Dodge ball (which is obviously the most important "F*%$ you" sport, which is crucial for business school students)
• Baywatch. We had to go save A1 "victims." I think there was mouth to mouth involved

Though four seems like a lot, A1 won in basketball, some water gun thing, arm wrestling, volleyball, soccer (football?), swimming, and probably a few more that I'm missing. They were just better than us. What can we say?

The day was fun, though. It was one of the few non-partying opportunities to connect with other students since I started. It was on Sentosa - which you might remember from when we first moved here. This time, though, I really appreciated it. Yes - you could see the ships, and yes it seems like the water must catch on fire if you get too close with a match, but it was really pretty, and it made for a really relaxing, fun, day.

Mumbai

There isn't really much I can add to what is being written about Mumbai. It's just totally crazy to me that something like this is happening...and that it's still happening after more than a day.

I have never been to Mumbai, but in the last few years I have developed quite a few relationships with the city, and all I can say is that I'm hoping and praying (in a Melanie sort of way) that things end soon and the damage is minimized. It seems like avoiding major damage is already far beyond an option.

My boss at Moody's stays at the Taj Mahal hotel, and I organized an event there a few months ago.
My co-worker from Moody's, Nidhi is from there.
My roommate, Zimra from Pardes is also from Mumbai. Her family is extremely involved in the Jewish community.
My former co-worker/friend Erin was working with the JDC for the last year in Mumbai. I'm sure she is well aware of the Chabad building and all of the people who live inside it.
I recently read Shantaram which made me fall in love even more with the city.

Basically - I'm thinking about these people in my life who are directly affected. It is constantly on my mind (instead of Finance, Strategy and Accounting, unfortunately).

All of this in the context of American Thanksgiving (which we did nothing to celebrate).
And the INSEAD Cabaret, which was last night and had a really fun atmosphere.
And preparing for finals.

Two INSEAD Traditions

This past week (so far) has been filled with random things at school.

This included (but is not limited to):
The INSEAD Dash
National Week Bidding

Friday, as is tradition in Singapore, the students all dressed up in costume and ran from one of the apartments where lots of people live - to school. There were huge birds, Aladdins, many "women" (I am still trying to figure out what to make of the fact that about 20% of the men dressed up as women), prisoners, Scottish warriors, Peter Pans, hula dancers, Mexicans, and I was an ipod, of course. People were in outrageous costumes, and it must have been quite a scene to see all of these people running to school.

I don't know if I have ever written about this on my blog, but it's sort of hot in Singapore (right...), so it was actually a hard thing to do - especially for those who were in huge costumes with big heads (like the Chuck ECheese Mouse). I have pictures, and I will post.

Part of me thinks it's silly, since basically everyone just went to a costume shop and paid $50-$100 to rent a random costume, but when you put the whole picture together, it's hilarious. Sitting in class afterwards was also really funny.

The second tradition was last night - the National Week Bidding. At INSEAD, we have six weeks per half year (Sept-Dec/Jan-June) that are designated National Weeks. Countries, or groups of people from similar countries get together and plan a week of activities that show us about life in their country. Last week was Desi week, and they had Desi music playing, dinner one night, dancing classes one afternoon and it all came to an end at the Kamasutra party. They each do different things, but they're all really fun and have lots of energy.

Last night was the bidding for the first half of 2009. Groups of people got together and put together movies and bids for their countries and what they would do. Other than more exploitation of women's bodies (it's seriously widespread here), it was just hilarious.

I enjoyed seeing my classmates dressed up like nuts (Toreador, in togas, in Chinese dress, flags on their backs), and the movies were great. We'll have to wait to see who won, but I have to say that the Iberians and the Italians had a strong showing. The same thing was happening in Fontainebleau, so we'll have to see what happens in the final voting. There was an American week bid, but it was totally done by the folks in Fonty, and I didn't get involved at all.

In other news - the babies are starting to flow again.
Congratulations to Greg and Cristine who had a baby on Friday - named Sam. He looks super cute from the two photos I have seen. I regret that this has lost me a reader, though, as Cristine was fairly committed, and now she might have other priorities.

Christian and Lee Fong are having their baby on Monday...
Liba and Ethan are having their (SECOND!) baby a week from Tuesday...
CRAZINESS!!!

Lunch

Successful:
GREAT roti prata.
Two kinds of otah - mackerel and chili crab (!)
Peanut pancake
Lime juice
Diet coke

Unsuccessful:
Buying the baby clothes that I went to the market to get
Buying watermelon
Buying hairbands
Eating healthy

I met Matt and Peter at the wet market this afternoon. I was super stressed this afternoon - realizing I have finals in 2.5 weeks - but Matt said the clothes guy was there in full force. This guy has Esprit, Gap, Eddie Bauer, Osh Kosh, Carters...all of these American brands that are produced somewhere in SE Asia, and then some make it to our wet market. The adult clothes are usually $5 per piece, and the babies' clothes are 3 for $10. Whoa. It's the real deal, also! I got a load of clothes for Christian and Lee Fong, who are having a baby in a week, and I went back today to get clothes for Lauren and Mo who are having a baby in a month, but by the time we finished lunch, he was gone.

The good news is that I had a really yummy lunch. I don't think it gets more unhealthy.

We have had a good weekend - Friday night dinner at Deeksha and Rajeev's, Saturday I tried to value options all day (that was really hard). Last night our friends organized a wine tasting thing for young people in the Jewish community. It was nice. Today was studying (by the pool, which was nice - I need my vitamin D) and a few games of Settlers. I won a lot today. Surprise wins - I conned people into trading with me so that I could win. Twice. SUCKERS!!!

Really? Ballsy?

I think you have to click on it to enlarge it to see...

Because People Will Pay

I have always been really cost conscious. Some people call this "cheap," but I'll just say that I have always paid close attention to prices.

From a young age, I always asked my dad why things were priced so high? He always said, "because people will pay."

I don't need this 50,000 euro degree!!! That's what we're learning about in school. In our Strategy class, we learned about how for an item there is a cost, and then (hopefully) above that is the price, and then above that is the willingness to pay. Apparently there is not a direct relationship between willingness to pay and price, but it's definitely closely related, and my dad taught me this when I was really young. Way to go, dad! The only difference is that it seems that "they" could actually charge higher, if they're actually charging what people will pay. But then we go into supply meeting demand and micro economics, and that was last period, so I won't go there.

In other classes...Operations, for example, we have been learning about how processes work inside a factory. We have learned about bottlenecks and capacity and pooling (so you have multiple people working on the same project rather than spreading one person's time out among many things). And today, we took a field trip to the Tiger Brewery. We got to see the bottleneck (which is apparently the filler, because it can only move SO fast), and we saw all of the processes and how it all works. Then we had free flow beer for a while. Pretty cool.

It's Coming...Beware

Obviously we have been hearing about the Financial Crisis that has been taking over the world. I still listen to NPR daily, and my husband works at JPMorgan. But...so far it has felt that it wasn't yet in Asia. I felt that the states are probably falling apart, and all of these homeowners are totally in a mess, but we're fine. They're still hiring in Singapore. Rent is still going up (remember - we pay what we paid in MANHATTAN, and we live in the suburbs here!). Ex-pats are moving in left and right, and all seemed to be normal.

But it doesn't feel that way anymore. Whenever we talk to our friends, everyone is worried about his job. People are making "Plan B"s all over the place. All of the banks have announced that they're cutting globally - there was a Wall Street Journal article that mentioned nearly every bank I know, including JPMorgan, and it said they're all cutting 10%-15% across the board (JPMorgan is cutting 15%).

Since we moved here we have heard about wait lists at ex-pat schools, and the American School has traditionally had a waiting list of over 400 students. Apparently that is gone.

People are saying their kids' friends are not showing up in school, because their parents lost their jobs.

I hadn't yet known anyone whom this affected, though, so even though I was hearing more about it lately, it really didn't feel that bad...until last night.

I heard from a friend that her husband lost a job (in the finance world), and they have three kids here - two enrolled in school. He had no warning. Just called into a meeting and escorted out of the office. I think this is the first of many that we're going to hear about, and it's really scary.

Considering the fact that I'm in one of the most expensive MBA programs in the world, and I have already come to the conclusion that I will be EXTREMELY lucky to find a job after I graduate, I definitely rely on Matt's income, and that's very scary right now.

Plus I read about what's happening with the cars in Detroit. Not only is my future worth at risk (the value of my parents' house and what not), it seems like it's going to be a total disaster. The "future worth" thing was a joke - don't worry, mom. Anyways, if one of those companies go down, it's gonna take a lot of the economy with it.

Scary stuff...

Dropping

Tomorrow will be my last program with the Jewish families in Singapore for a while. Pam and I started this program last year - where we have one program per month for progressive Jewish families in Singapore. We have had about 40-50 people at each session, and we have had eight (I think) so far. We have only focused on Jewish holidays up until now. I have absolutely loved doing them. I have loved getting to know the families, and I love the discussion that comes up and the community that is developing.

Unfortunately I am a bit over my head in commitments (which is no surprise if you know me), and I had to give this up until July. School (six classes) plus INDEVOR plus Matt and the Kitty are very demanding, and I have felt a bit lately like I haven't been succeeding at anything, because I have been spread too thin. So...I have dropped off the Steering Committee for the Jewish community until I graduate, and I have handed over the educating to Ilana (a newly arrived Jew from Chicago). They even asked me to read torah in December, and I said no (though I did it today, and I really miss it...AND it's my bat mitzva parsha...I must say NO!).

I feel sad about it, though, because it has been so rewarding, and I love it all! I'll be back after graduation...

I'm learning.

INDEVOR

INDEVOR is the club for social impact at INSEAD. It was established by crunchies in 1993, and it has survived (with more and less activity) since. While learning about finance, econ, and accounting by day, it provides students an outlet to talk/learn about ethics, social value, non-profit initiatives by night.

On the Singapore campus we have about 50 people who are on the list and are interested in the issues, and we have about 20 or 25 people who are at least somewhat active.

I was selected as president for the Singapore campus. I have two co-president counterparts in Fontainebleau.

We have had three events so far - an Indian man who works on energy and sustainable projects - for the UN, for the Indian government and many other places. He talked to us about measuring the value of the ecosystem (for example the honeybee does millions of dollars worth of work for us! Who knew!!?).

We had a careers workshop for people interested in careers in social impact (non-profit, foundation, CSR, etc.). It was done by INSEAD Career Services and really useful.

Wednesday night we had two speakers - one who is American and started a non-profit in Singapore educating maids about financial issues. This includes money management and how to save and execute a small entrepreneurial project when they get back to their home countries. The other is Singaporean and one of the biggest entrepreneurs to come out of this country. She has a retail chain (mostly for clothes for youth), and she actually donates a lot of her profits to social causes. Some are causes that are championed by others, and some she creates. She was really crucial in Singapore's winning the Youth Olympics bid for 2010.

The most interesting thing about the event for me was the difference in the two models - one is a sustainable business that is donating the profits, and the other is a non-profit that is figuring out ways to be more sustainable (through selling programs to institutions like banks, or corporate partnership). It was great to sit in the audience and hear people talk about this issue that I think about a lot. I have to say that most of the things I'm learning about in school are not that way - even if I have thought about them (marketing, strategy...), they're not my passion.

INDEVOR has introduced me to great people at INSEAD - all people who are interested in creating some amount of social value. We are working together to bring social impact issues to the school - through speakers, educational programs, discussions and curriculum, and we're also working together on projects that have social value.

One of the projects is spearheaded by my friend, Adonai, who was previously working in W. Africa with the UN. We are working on a project involving carbon credit trading and improved access to technology. When we move forward I can elaborate - we're just at the beginning.

Another student suggested a "brainstorming" program that we can do with local NGOs - that four international business school students can brainstorm with them for 2-4 hours on some of the issues/challenges that they're currently facing. It will provide new insights and hopefully help to guide them in a helpful direction. Since we have a whole bunch of real-life consultants (McKinsey, Bain, BCG, the works), they would basically get counseling/consulting for free.

Basically the club has given me a place for my passions, and I have loved being involved so far.

The only drawback is that it takes about 2-3 hours on an average day!! Who has time???

Women at INSEAD

Lately there have been many pictures of nearly naked women / sexual women on the big screen at INSEAD. When a group did a little power point (b school is all about power points) about Japan day, there were a lot of breasts, some ass and much of it was bare. When a group did a little power point about our section 1 vs. section 2 olympics, there was a lot of bare ass. Mostly when they showed the beach volleyball players. There were even sexual ads in marketing class.

Okay - we're in a school that is 70% male, and it usually feels like a testosterone playground - money, power, maleness. I'm used to totally PC NGOs and social work friends. I think it's just more shocking than anything else.

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I do feel like it's putting women's bodies on display in a way that makes me uncomfortable, and it's all part of the mystification of the female body - the perfect female body, but for some reason it's not bothering me as much as I thought it would. Part of that is because I know the intentions are not malicious in any way...but still. I feel mixed. Oh - and also, it seems like much more is accepted in Europe than the US - there was literally a commercial that included implied falacio (sp?).

In other news, Matt and I attended the Monsoon Ball on Saturday night, which is INSEAD's big formal bash in Singapore. We got all fancy, hopped on a bus with the dean (by chance), and we mostly had a good time...again, though, I was reminded that we're not 25 anymore, as it literally took me two full days to recover.

Tonight my club also had a super presentation. I think I will save that for a separate post.

Grades

We got our P1 grades on Friday. It kind of feels like they were random.

I literally lost sleep over accounting. I was sure I miserably failed the exam, and I was dreading taking it again in a few months. I got my second highest grade in accounting.

I went to graduate school in social work. People skills is definitely my forte (much more than finance, accounting, econ and statistics). I got a VERY LOW grade in "Leading People and Groups." This one grade brought down my GPA .5 points.

The good news is that Matt and I have more in common now, because I got an extremely high grade in economics. Who knew?

See - I kind of think they're random.

Where were you when Obama was elected?

It really depends on where you live in the world. For East Coasters, probably they were at home, or maybe at a party if they're young. West Coasters were probably with friends and family. People in Europe and Israel were up all through the night. In Asia, we got to wake up in the morning as the stations started reporting. We are now 13 hours ahead of NY.

This morning I was up at 6:15, out the door by 6:45, at school by 7:45 (did a small bit of work for my club which I will talk about in another posting), and sat to watch the first polls report until class at 10:15. Let me tell you that figuring out how to value puts and calls (two year puts and calls - not just one year) was difficult. My brain was freaking out about the fact that Obama was ahead.

Immediately after class, we found out that Obama had 207 votes. The dean of INSEAD spoke to us at noon, and at 12:02 I got a text from Matt that said that McCain conceded and it was over. I felt blood rushing through my body, and I couldn't stop smiling - HARD. I hoped the dean didn't look at me too much, because I was smiling so inappropriately to his speech (the world is in turmoil...INSEAD could be doing better in the ranks...and I'm freaking out smiling).

Immediately after I had a meeting about a carbon finance project I'm working on with some other club members, but Obama was going to speak. I quickly plugged in my computer, logged into my parents' television in Michigan, and Tahira and I watched Obama's amazing speech. We both cried at parts, and we were just so excited. At some point, our friend Adonai came in, and he and I were on the floor, crouched to be able to see the whole thing.

Clearly my favorite part was when he mentioned the "people beyond the borders, huddling around radios listening to his speech." Okay, computers, but still! It was totally like that. We were so connected, and yet we're so far away.

Obviously Obama has to actually achieve things before this is "the best thing to happen to America," but I do NOT play down the racial aspect. I know the libs are sick of hearing about it, and people think the race thing is totally overplayed, but I believe it is the biggest deal about this election. I absolutely cannot believe that a black man will be our president. I am only 30 years old, and I never thought this would happen in my life time. I really feel proud.

I feel excited, because I have faith in Obama, and part of my faith is due to the way he ran his campaign. I feel that he showed America that he can absolutely maximize the use of the resources he has, and he does it in the most thoughtful way. He is going to be scrutinized more than most, but I believe because he is so conscious of what he says and does (and he has a wonderful intellect), he will succeed.

I also believe that he will not cause the change that we are seeing in America. It is not because of Obama that people are interested in volunteering more and interested in social justice. People are looking at CSR and sustainability. These were all things that were growing before Obama came to the forefront. He came at a perfect time, and he will take our country that is ready to accept more responsibility and ownership to a better place.

12 years ago was my first voting election. I voted for Clinton at Markley, where I lived.

Eight years ago I voted absentee. I was living in Israel and woke up to find out the results of the election. I was headed that day with the other girls from Detroit, on Otzma, to Migdal HaEmek, where we were going to live starting in three weeks. The taxi driver (whom I later "dated") told me that the election wasn't determined because of Florida. I did not understand.

Four years ago I voted absentee. I went over to Liba and Ethan's in the middle of the night. I sat on a cot in their living room and watched CNN with a bunch of Rabbis to be and Jewish scholars at Pardes. I felt a horrible pit in my stomach. I was literally to the point of tears and did not understand why our country, after living the previous four years, could re-elect this man. I was furious, and I felt sick. I remember it took a while to call Ohio, and it just dragged out the process longer. It was miserable, and I vowed to not really live in the US.

Finally - today, I really feel proud. I feel like we now at least have the opportunity to move in a good direction, and I am really excited to see how it all plays out.

One Morning King Melanie Awoke in Her Bed...

There were FROGS here!
FROGS there!

I was just on the phone with Fran, my mother-in-law, and the Kitty came in with something big in her mouth. She immediately ran to the kitchen (which is improvement from running to our dirty laundry pile or the spare bedroom). The thing was big, brown, and it had something hanging from it. We didn't know what it was, but we thought mouse.

Oh -also - it was making a HORRIBLE noise. Like it was dying or something (which it was).

She put it down, and it went running behind a chair. We still didn't catch a glimpse, but it was quick, squeaked, and it still had that thing hanging, so we thought "mouse" again.

She caught it, and when Matt tried to throw the baby out with the bathwater - I mean throw the Kitty out with the thing in her mouth - she dropped it, and it wend behind the cabinet. She tried to get it out, but she failed, so finally, after we got the broom, dustpan and had the Kitty nearby for backup - Matt figured out it was a frog, and he coerced it out the front door.

Also - I hung up on my mother in law.

Conflicts - Spa/Murders/Pudding

Friday night our friend Lisa organized a murder mystery night. We all came in (unrelated) costume, we were assigned characters, and there was a murder that we had to solve throughout the night. I have to say that I am very happy with the fact that we have nine friends who are willing to play funny games on Halloween night. And we're adults. It was extremely fun.

I got murdered. I came back to life. I drank a lot.

Saturday I had an opportunity to use a gift certificate at a spa. When I stayed with my friend, Pam's kids, she got me a gift certificate that is expiring. It was for two hours of amazing treatments at a fancy shmancy spa in Singapore. I made this appointment weeks ago, and I was so looking forward to it. If I did not use it on Saturday, I would not have had the opportunity to use it before it expired.

The spa had three parts: some crazy bath, a scrub and a massage. The bath was shaped like a person, and there were jets that came out from all places they were stronger and weaker at times. They sometimes had cold water, sometimes it was warm. It was nuts, and it was so relaxing. After the bath (in paper panties, which I had to ask four times before I understood the words "paper panties"), I had a full body scrub. It made me crave the Turkish bath that I have craved a few times since I started sweating in Singapore. Then there was an hour Balinese massage. It was awesome. I loved it all. I have never done anything like this in my life. Matt and I have had a few cheap Thai massages, but I have never been in a spa and done something like this. What a treat.

The reason I didn't enjoy either of those as much as I should was that I felt EXTREMELY guilty during both. Remember - If I didn't arrive at the murder mystery on time, I would not have died, and there would be no mystery to solve. If I did not use the gift certificate, hundreds of dollars of spa wonderfulness would be wasted. I didn't like those alternatives, so I chose to do them.

I chose that against the option to work with my group on a marketing assignment to analyze the pudding with topping market in Europe in 1999. When I left on Friday night I had already spent more than eight hours on it. I thought we were on our way to being done, but it turned out that they talked to the prof after we left, and they found out we were focusing on the wrong thing/s, so they re-did it all. They stayed there until late on Fri and then went back for hours on Saturday. I really felt horrible, and I worry that this will change the great dynamics of my group. Clearly I will pull my weight in other projects, and I haven't really ducked out on things before, but it's not a great feeling. I am just way more flexible on weekdays, when I try not to make any plans. Weekends are hard since I live so far from school, and I have a whole life in Singapore previous to INSEAD.

Rough decisions...

The good thing is that my group will benefit from a more relaxed Melanie on Monday (and hopefully Tuesday, Wednesday, etc.). It really did make me chill for a while.