I have a few shocks:
Cold Shock
Non-Kosher Shock
Running Shock
General Shock
Cold Shock:
It's cold in Philadelphia. My poor skin.
Non-Kosher Shock:
I went to a grocery store today, and I realized that the last time I went shopping in the USA I kept kosher. Now I can buy anything I want. Cheese is half the price (that's the only thing I bought that wasn't hechshered). It might not actually change my behavior, but it was an interesting feeling. Also, I ran into Zomick's challah. I love that stuff, and I had forgotten that it existed.
Running Shock:
Last night I agreed to go for a run with Adile this morning. At INSEAD I ran everyday - for a half hour. I haven't run in about three weeks. We started, and Adile let me know that we were running 6 miles. No way. Well, I ended up running about 4 or 5. My knees hurt. I feel it in my hip. I'm getting old.
General Shock:
Since I came to the US I haven't really stopped - until two hours ago tonight. I had constant (wonderful) friends in Michigan, and then arrived in Philly last night, went out right away with some INSEAD folk, got up, went running, went shopping, went to pick up a rental car, showered and ate cereal (yeah!) as fast as I could, drove to Ellen's wedding, had a great time, drove back, walked back to my dorm, and I feel like I'm going to crash!!
...until I saw that I have TONS of readings for tomorrow morning, and the downloading will take over an hour! I believe I will have to go to sleep and hope the download completes so I can check them out in the morning. Oh yeah, I have to go to school.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
I have the best friends
I have the best friends in the world. I feel so lucky. I got home on Wednesday night, and Shana and Joseph (turning one in a few weeks) came to visit from Toronto until today (Saturday). Jill had driven in from Chicago, so I got to see her on Thursday morning, Thursday night, Friday night and today for a few minutes and a hug. Seth, Emily and Ariel (also turning one soon) drove to Ann Arbor from Cleveland to see us. I got to see Daniel and Annie for a quick brunch at Zola.
Quite a treat for a few days in Michigan.
Quite a treat for a few days in Michigan.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Initial Thoughts of America - on my way to Wharton
I am about to embark upon an exchange program at Wharton at UPenn. I will be a foreign exchange student in the US. I (along with 34 of my INSEAD colleagues) am joining the Wharton second years for one quarter - their last. I'm living in the International House. I'm so exotic, I know.
I decided to do this for a bunch of reasons, though it was a very difficult decision, since there are huge negatives.
The negatives:
The positives:
The good news is that some of my favorite people I have met at INSEAD will be with me at Wharton (Adonai - who promised to guest blog about having the name "Adonai", Adile - my first real friend at INSEAD, Bala, and some others).
So, I am now on my way to Philly, via Michigan, where Shana (and Joseph her almost-one-year-old) is coming to see me, and Jill is coming to see me, and we all get to spend time with my mom who is stuck at home with her foot up. Before Michigan, though, I was in Japan, and now I sit in DC. After 24 hours of traveling I hope to freeze my arse off while I wait for my dad at DTW in my fleece, because my coat shell is MOLDY and needs to be washed before I wear it. (eew)
Some initial thoughts of being in the US...
I decided to do this for a bunch of reasons, though it was a very difficult decision, since there are huge negatives.
The negatives:
- Matt (and the Kitty!) are in Singapore - along with all of the good food
- I miss out on a period at INSEAD - including a class on international development that I really wanted to take
- I miss out on recruitment season at INSEAD in Singapore (though who knows how many companies are coming to campus this year!)
- I chose Wharton over Fontainebleau where INSEAD's other campus is - I didn't think it was financially fair of me to be away (and pay double rent, plane tickets, etc.) for two periods - which means I don't get to go to Fonty at all
- My friend in Singapore, Gal, is due to have her baby today, and I won't be there at all for her and Ohad for the first two months of the baby's life. Though this wasn't a major factor in my decision, since business school has to come before all of this stuff this year, I got very sad last night when I saw her and thought about the fact that she has no family here, and I wish I could be more helpful - and I can't wait to meet the babes!
The positives:
- I have the opportunity to study at the #1 business school in the world
- I have the opportunity to experience an American MBA, which I think must be very different than my SUPER international one
- I have the opportunity to meet students from another business school (if they talk to lowly INSEADers like me)
- I get Wharton on my resume, which is not small, since no one in my world seems to know INSEAD, even though it's the #5 business school in the world according to the Financial Times (and very high on all other international rankings)
- I get to be in the states for nearly two months (which I wish wasn't a reason, but it is)
The good news is that some of my favorite people I have met at INSEAD will be with me at Wharton (Adonai - who promised to guest blog about having the name "Adonai", Adile - my first real friend at INSEAD, Bala, and some others).
So, I am now on my way to Philly, via Michigan, where Shana (and Joseph her almost-one-year-old) is coming to see me, and Jill is coming to see me, and we all get to spend time with my mom who is stuck at home with her foot up. Before Michigan, though, I was in Japan, and now I sit in DC. After 24 hours of traveling I hope to freeze my arse off while I wait for my dad at DTW in my fleece, because my coat shell is MOLDY and needs to be washed before I wear it. (eew)
Some initial thoughts of being in the US...
- People are FAT. I know this is so cliche of coming back to America, but it's really true, and it's really noticeable compared to Asia!
- You don't have to think about if it's okay to flush the toilet with toilet paper (even though I did).
- People are harsh and cold (at least the flight attendants are).
- People walk way better in this country. They don't zig zag as much (except my dad - he does), and they seem to just walk faster. I have only been here for an hour, but I haven't been frustrated yet, and in the customs line, no one tried to push ahead of me when I didn't immediately move up right behind the person in front of me. Also - the people behind you let you get off the plane, which does not happen in Asia. You have to PUSH your way into the aisle if you want to get off in front of the last person in the last row.
- There are good bagels here. I haven't had one yet, but I can't wait to.
- People talk LOUDLY on their mobiles! In Singapore (Asia?) people are on the phone a lot, but they're quieter. I have been sitting here for about 40 minutes, and I can tell you the industry that all of the people around me work in. SHUT UP! I DON'T CARE!!
- Also - the US looks generally run down. Asia doesn't look like that (other than maybe some of the random cities...Medan?). Mostly everything - like airports - are new, or it's just super rugged, dirt road, but that's not run down, it's just poor.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Observations of the 'pPines
The Philippines seemed different than the other SE Asian countries we have been to (I have been to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam).
EVERYONE seems to play basketball. The guys (boys and men) wear jerseys as t-shirts - just like my cousin Eric. They play basketball on dirt courts with nets that are shabbily built out of boards, or they just play in the street with no hoop.
They are the fastest sms-ers ever. Apparently you can get unlimited texting for about 50 cents per day. They text all over the place all the time.
The language, tagalog, sometimes sounds like Spanish and sometimes like Bahasa (Malaysia, Indonesia). Numbers and days of the week are the same as in Spanish.
They use so much garlic. They must be very healthy and not make out. Ever.
The traveling infrastructure seems to be getting more sophisticated recently. Everywhere said that the number of people traveling through has grown dramatically in the past few months. It seems that it has been oppositely affected by the recession - they all said tourism has gone up.
It is really cheap to fly places, and it is really expensive to get to other places. It was 2200 pesos ($40) to fly from Manilla to a local city, and it was the same amount to take a boat for eight hours, or a taxi for one hour.
Philippines is not cheap traveling in SE Asia. You can certainly get by cheaper than what we paid, but this was by far our most expensive traveling yet. I do prefer a nice plate of fried rice in Indonesia for one dollar. ($7 crabs seemed to break the bank).
Since we got back, Matt has worked very hard, and I have played. I went to Moody's to see some of my old co-workers and get some ideas from my old boss. I got my eyebrows threaded, I bought some gifts, I ate satay, I met my friend Rachel from INSEAD who lives down the street.
Maybe I should start to think about packing, since I'm leaving for six weeks, and I honestly believe I have very little here in Singapore that will help me in Philadelphia. For example, the only pair of closed toed shoes I have in my possession here are sneakers. I have one sweater, and it has been sitting in a closed box for two years.
EVERYONE seems to play basketball. The guys (boys and men) wear jerseys as t-shirts - just like my cousin Eric. They play basketball on dirt courts with nets that are shabbily built out of boards, or they just play in the street with no hoop.
They are the fastest sms-ers ever. Apparently you can get unlimited texting for about 50 cents per day. They text all over the place all the time.
The language, tagalog, sometimes sounds like Spanish and sometimes like Bahasa (Malaysia, Indonesia). Numbers and days of the week are the same as in Spanish.
They use so much garlic. They must be very healthy and not make out. Ever.
The traveling infrastructure seems to be getting more sophisticated recently. Everywhere said that the number of people traveling through has grown dramatically in the past few months. It seems that it has been oppositely affected by the recession - they all said tourism has gone up.
It is really cheap to fly places, and it is really expensive to get to other places. It was 2200 pesos ($40) to fly from Manilla to a local city, and it was the same amount to take a boat for eight hours, or a taxi for one hour.
Philippines is not cheap traveling in SE Asia. You can certainly get by cheaper than what we paid, but this was by far our most expensive traveling yet. I do prefer a nice plate of fried rice in Indonesia for one dollar. ($7 crabs seemed to break the bank).
Since we got back, Matt has worked very hard, and I have played. I went to Moody's to see some of my old co-workers and get some ideas from my old boss. I got my eyebrows threaded, I bought some gifts, I ate satay, I met my friend Rachel from INSEAD who lives down the street.
Maybe I should start to think about packing, since I'm leaving for six weeks, and I honestly believe I have very little here in Singapore that will help me in Philadelphia. For example, the only pair of closed toed shoes I have in my possession here are sneakers. I have one sweater, and it has been sitting in a closed box for two years.
Friday, March 6, 2009
El NIdo
We have arrived at our third stop on our trip, and it's stupendous.
Since my last posting, we dove a day with Adonai (Raphael was sick and apparently Daniella doesn't dive), and we were able to dive the Baraccuda Lake again plus two great wrecks. One one dive we saw a whole bunch of fun stuff...but nothing too new. We enjoyed the day, though. Part of why we enjoyed it was because our dive instructor was super hot. Even I enjoyed watching her.
One fun part of the day was when we were 28 meters down, and we had only been down for 20 or so minutes, and I checked out Adonai's air, and he had 30 bar left. I was sucking through air (remember - wreck diving? I really get nervous and don't like it), and Matt had something like 100 or 120 (you start with 200, and 50 is when you come up, and when you're 28 meters down you still have to do a few safety stops on the way up...). I was freaking, but he was calm. As usual. He buddied air. That means he sucked air from the hot dive instructor. I don't think he minded.
The day after we headed on the Jessabel to El Nido. We had heard it would be a terrible ride - anywhere from 8 to 15 hours. Huge waves. Splashing getting us wet. Horrible. "I would never take the boat to El Nido." We even waited a full day to take the bigger boat (the 50 person rather than the 20 person). We got there in less than seven hours, and it was the easisest thing ever. Only a three year old barfing in the middle and no other challenges at all. Okay, when we were docking the arm of the boat crashed into the dock, and it broke, but I didn't care, because we were already there. I'm just glad we weren't taking it the next day...
Rose found us at the port - the last ones getting our bags off the ferry...hobbling along, taking pictures, slower than everyone else, "is one of you named Matt?" YES! We made our way to the Golden Monkey Cottages where there are nine monkeys (and a few cottages). It's been great. It's a walk through fields, animals, kids, and BEAUTIFUL beaches and views to get to the cottages, which are right on the beach. Adonai made friends with the monkeys (as he has with EVERY animal whom we have met - and he speaks to them ALL in Spanish, clearly).
The last two days we have spend with Bitong, our boat man, and his grandson (we think), Saldy, out on the water. We have visited tons of lagoons, beaches, snorkel sites, and this is honestly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. White sand beaches, BLUE BLUE and sometimes even green water, with dramatic limestone cliffs. Krabi doesn't compare. Honestly. It's sooo beautiful. I am extremely tan, which is bad for my skin cancer changes, but it's kind of hard to avoid out here.
Tomorrow morning we say bye to Adonai (and the monkeys), as he heads back to Spain to later see me in Philly, and we're heading down to Puerto Princessa and then to Manilla the next day only to fly back to Singapore...
Since my last posting, we dove a day with Adonai (Raphael was sick and apparently Daniella doesn't dive), and we were able to dive the Baraccuda Lake again plus two great wrecks. One one dive we saw a whole bunch of fun stuff...but nothing too new. We enjoyed the day, though. Part of why we enjoyed it was because our dive instructor was super hot. Even I enjoyed watching her.
One fun part of the day was when we were 28 meters down, and we had only been down for 20 or so minutes, and I checked out Adonai's air, and he had 30 bar left. I was sucking through air (remember - wreck diving? I really get nervous and don't like it), and Matt had something like 100 or 120 (you start with 200, and 50 is when you come up, and when you're 28 meters down you still have to do a few safety stops on the way up...). I was freaking, but he was calm. As usual. He buddied air. That means he sucked air from the hot dive instructor. I don't think he minded.
The day after we headed on the Jessabel to El Nido. We had heard it would be a terrible ride - anywhere from 8 to 15 hours. Huge waves. Splashing getting us wet. Horrible. "I would never take the boat to El Nido." We even waited a full day to take the bigger boat (the 50 person rather than the 20 person). We got there in less than seven hours, and it was the easisest thing ever. Only a three year old barfing in the middle and no other challenges at all. Okay, when we were docking the arm of the boat crashed into the dock, and it broke, but I didn't care, because we were already there. I'm just glad we weren't taking it the next day...
Rose found us at the port - the last ones getting our bags off the ferry...hobbling along, taking pictures, slower than everyone else, "is one of you named Matt?" YES! We made our way to the Golden Monkey Cottages where there are nine monkeys (and a few cottages). It's been great. It's a walk through fields, animals, kids, and BEAUTIFUL beaches and views to get to the cottages, which are right on the beach. Adonai made friends with the monkeys (as he has with EVERY animal whom we have met - and he speaks to them ALL in Spanish, clearly).
The last two days we have spend with Bitong, our boat man, and his grandson (we think), Saldy, out on the water. We have visited tons of lagoons, beaches, snorkel sites, and this is honestly the most beautiful place I have ever seen. White sand beaches, BLUE BLUE and sometimes even green water, with dramatic limestone cliffs. Krabi doesn't compare. Honestly. It's sooo beautiful. I am extremely tan, which is bad for my skin cancer changes, but it's kind of hard to avoid out here.
Tomorrow morning we say bye to Adonai (and the monkeys), as he heads back to Spain to later see me in Philly, and we're heading down to Puerto Princessa and then to Manilla the next day only to fly back to Singapore...
Monday, March 2, 2009
Coron
Since we last spoke, we have basically been underwater. The first day we went on three wreck dives. There are about 9 or 10 Japanese ships here that were bombed in the 40s, and they're super cool. The first dive on Irako wasn't anything special, but the second two were pretty neat. I have to say that PADI (who certified me) said NEVER go inside a shipwreck. They told us all the reasons it's a bad idea...but we went inside, and it was fricken awesome. It was one of those things that you know you'll regret if you don't do it, but you are scared a lot when you're doing it. There were no small spaces, and the walls of the boat are super thick. The rooms were HUGE. We saw the huge boilers, a bulldozer, some other crazy stuff.
That night we chilled at the hotel, and the next day (yesterday), we went for a super dive in Baracuda Lake. This had a thermocline from 28-38 degrees cel. The cold was fresh water, and the warm was salt water. The bottom was like a fat, jiggly ass. It was just neat. We saw catfish and cleanerfish. The only catch was that it was a bit of a climb up and climb down with our gear on our back. It was hard, but worth it.
Last night we went to town for dinner, and we climbed up the mountain in town to this cross to watch the sun set. Was pretty view of all of the islands. Then a super dinner of three crabs with coconut milk and ginger. I ate three crabs. They were yummy.
Today we joined our new friends Isabelle and Francisco (our second set of Portuguese friends here) on an island hopping tour. We went to a bunch of islands and lagoons. There was one that is quite a hike up and down and you arrive at a gorgeous blue lake in the middle of limestone cliffs. We swam for a while. The second lagoon was one that you have to swim through a tunnel of rocks to get to - maybe two meters underground, and then you pop your head up, and you're in another lagoon. Amazing. We went to a private beach with white sand and blue blue blue water. Great day in all.
We met up with Raphael, Daniella, and Adonai later today, and we all just got back from a great dinner in town (also with our Portuguese friends).
I swear I will post pictures.
That night we chilled at the hotel, and the next day (yesterday), we went for a super dive in Baracuda Lake. This had a thermocline from 28-38 degrees cel. The cold was fresh water, and the warm was salt water. The bottom was like a fat, jiggly ass. It was just neat. We saw catfish and cleanerfish. The only catch was that it was a bit of a climb up and climb down with our gear on our back. It was hard, but worth it.
Last night we went to town for dinner, and we climbed up the mountain in town to this cross to watch the sun set. Was pretty view of all of the islands. Then a super dinner of three crabs with coconut milk and ginger. I ate three crabs. They were yummy.
Today we joined our new friends Isabelle and Francisco (our second set of Portuguese friends here) on an island hopping tour. We went to a bunch of islands and lagoons. There was one that is quite a hike up and down and you arrive at a gorgeous blue lake in the middle of limestone cliffs. We swam for a while. The second lagoon was one that you have to swim through a tunnel of rocks to get to - maybe two meters underground, and then you pop your head up, and you're in another lagoon. Amazing. We went to a private beach with white sand and blue blue blue water. Great day in all.
We met up with Raphael, Daniella, and Adonai later today, and we all just got back from a great dinner in town (also with our Portuguese friends).
I swear I will post pictures.
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