Fitting Right Back In

I can just sort of walk back into my life on the Upper West Side...two years later.

Many store fronts are for rent, many of my good friends have left (Liba, Becca...), my husband is in Singapore, and other things have changed, but mostly it's the same. I absolutely love New York City, and I absolutely love my and Matt's life that we had when we were here.

Since I arrived on Thursday night, I have run around like crazy -

• breakfast with Ellen (who just got married, mazal tov!)
• lunch with Leslie (who is due in two months, b'sha'ah tova!)
• interview for internship (which was super exciting, and I would love it!)
• dinner with Whitney and James (who just had a baby, mazal tov!)
• breakfast with Erin (who is graduating rabbinical school and just got engaged, mazal tov!)
• walked in Central Park for hours with Liz and Michael (who haven't lost their jobs, yeah!)
• ran into Jimmy whom I took to Temagami in 1997 (kind of feel weird that I looked the same enough for him to recognize me...)
• hung with Jeremy and Terese (who are going to have a baby this week, b'sha'a tova!)
• dined with Flyer and Ari (whom it was great to catch up with!)
• met Diana, Eli and a bunch of INSEAD folk at a bar (which had good beer, good atmosphere, and obnoxious service)
• will have breakfast with Ruthie, and hopefully see Jon and David.

Could it get any better?
I have basically walked all over this city (or at least the UWS and Central Park), and I just love it here. I love the feeling in the city, I love the accessibility of everything. I love the people (my friends and the general "people") here. I love the food. I love the energy. I just love it. I know that when I'm in Singapore I'm fine there, and I like the life we have created, but being back in the city makes me want to move back here. Immediately. Not gonna happen that soon...

Beets

I have finally had to start doing some work at school this week, which is good. I was getting worried.

This week included meeting up with two great people from my past life as well as three beets. I'll get to the people first.

I got to see Sarah who was an active student at GW when I worked at Hillel. She is simply superb, and she's putting all of her political activism into a law degree, and I know she's going to do great things. She took me to a place called Monk's which has a really neat atmosphere and Bell's beer! She also told me for a new loan forgiveness initiative where they forgive your law school debt if you work for public interest places for ten years. I don't really trust initiatives right now, since the whole world and all of the rules within it seem to be changing, but if that works, that's awesome.

I also got to see Julie, who is one of my parents' friends' daughter. We definitely saw each other from time to time in our childhood, but I don't think we have seen each other in years. It was excellent to sit down and talk. So interesting when you grow older and more able to connect with certain people- for no particular reason. She took me to Good Dog, where there were cute pictures of dogs on the wall, and great beer.

Finally - the beets. I crave roasted root vegetables all the time. It might be because we don't have an oven, but whenever I go to the grocery store and need to find something for dinner, all I want is roasted squash, sweet potatoes or beets. Two weeks ago there were no beets, so I was sad and had roasted orange vegetables. Last week, the beets appeared, and I immediately went home and roasted them.

First, I forgot about the mess of the beet. There is purple all over the kitchen. My hands were purple. I just felt purple. I even got a purple splatter on my white macbook keyboard. What a mess.

Then, I forgot about the aftermath of the beets. I would think it would be gone by now, because I had the beets on Tuesday, and it's Friday, but my excrement (in all forms) is still red. It sort of freaks me out.

The Convenience of Convenient

My friend, Tali (happy birthday, Tali!!) told me to live on campus. She said that INSEAD would be hard to navigate from Bedok. Tali was right. I stayed in Bedok, and it's been hard. My commute in the morning is 1 hour and 10 minutes, and though I get a lot done on the train, I have to leave at 6:45 in order to for sure make my first class. If I miss all three modes of transportation, it could take 1 hour and 45 minutes...It sucks. I don't like the commute. When I go home at night. I'm home. I don't go out for dinner with INSEAD folks, and I don't go to the bars with them too often. When I do go out, I often feel bad, because it means I won't see Matt at all that day (Matt are you reading my blog while I'm gone?).

Philadelphia is a new world. My dorm is a block from campus. I could leave ten minutes before class and be on time. I can go for a group meeting at any time, go home and change, and then I can go out for dinner. I can do anything I want. I'm a 15 minute bus ride from Center City rather than a 1 hour bus ride or 40 minute MRT ride from downtown Singapore, and I am loving it.

Convenience really is convenient!

(Not so) Starbucks Experience

I wish I didn't, but I like Starbucks. I like that they're pretty much the same around the world (minus some green teas, some other random flavors and the look of the people who work there). I like that I can study there for as many hours as I want, as long as I spend $3 on a latte or something like that. Since I have been in school, I have spent many a-Sunday at the Starbucks by our house in Siglap.

I just had a not so pleasant (not so) Starbucks experience.

The Penn Bookstore advertises Starbucks on their window. My mom gave me $40 in Starbucks gift cards. I haven't had coffee yet today, and the pots in my suite grossed me out too much to boil water for tea. What a match. I went in.

First I had to walk nearly a city block just to get to the escalator, then I had to circle all the way back to the cafe (that had Starbuck's logo, etc). I thought I would get a really special treat - vanilla latte (skim milk, sugar free vanilla flavor, and only half the regular amount of vanilla). I gave her my gift card to pay, and she said, "this is Barnes and Noble." They don't take the card. I'm WAY WAY WAY too cheap to pay for this coffee for myself. I would actually never have gone in there. Of course I didn't want to say that, so I said, "well it sure looks like a Starbucks, but okay." Then I realized she charged me $3.30, and I was confused. I kept looking at the receipt and the prices on the wall, which were $3.10 for a small one, $3.65 for a medium sized vanilla latte. There was nothing for $3.30. I asked - out of curiousity, "where does this number come from" - a little line we learned in our negotiation class. They said that the prices have changed, but the numbers haven't come in yet for the signboard. Hm. Unethical? YES!!! That's not the price they're charging...AND the drink is way to sweet and it isn't even hot. What an unpleasant experience.

Washington DC

I just came back from a super eventful weekend in Washington, DC (where I wish I had more time to see more people I love there, so I super apologize if you're reading this, you live in DC, and I didn't see you this past weekend).

Some highlights:

• I saw four babies that belong to friends all in one day.
• I got seriously shit on by one - I heard it, felt it, smelled it, and it even went through his pants (but miraculously didn't get on my ONLY sweater and jeans that I had brought!) - Julie and Aaron can take credit for that.
• I saw my wonderfully strong and amazing friend Elissa.
  
• I saw what Elissa (another Elissa) has done to Dan and Matt's old apartment. It looks super liveable and really cute!
• I ate Greek food and Ethiopian food which I don't get too often in the 'Pore.
• I spent two nights in an apartment with a wonderful Freya, a superb Aaron, two cats (Elvis and Murphy) and a really good dog, Ella. It was a little like a zoo, but only when the cats were on the refrigerator.

All in all, it was a wonderful wonderful soul cleansing weekend with people I love.

MAZAL TOV to Gal and Ohad!! They had a baby girl this past weekend!

Cold Calling

Cold calling is brutal. In my horribly cold calling class yesterday I was trying to figure out what is so horrible about cold calling. Who cares if someone asks you something you're supposed to know, and you don't know it? Does it matter?

I figured out that there are three main things that a professor can get out of cold calling students.
1) They can see who did the reading (sort of...to be discussed later).
2) They can stimulate class discussion.
3) They can horribly embarrass students and make them feel horrible.

I'm pretty sure there is space for all three of these at different points in life, however I am NOT a fan of cold calling for reason #3. Not a fan at all.

I have had 17 professors at INSEAD, and none of them cold called for this reason. They all gave the option to say "pass" or ask one of your classmates to respond in your stead. I'm sure that this impacted our participation grade, but who really cares (non-grade disclosure...).

In my class yesterday, first of all, there is a guy who sits in the front row, and he has a list of students, and when they say something insightful, they get a certain number of points, and if they waste air time, they get minus points. He says that if they convert oxygen to carbon dioxide, they get one point - for being present, basically. So, you have this horribly mean (but I don't think he's really MEAN, he just plans the mean game) professor cold calling people, with this guy sitting in front marking down his review of what you say. I know this is Wharton and all, and it's supposed to be high pressure, high level business environment, but I don't really see a reason for this. One poor girl got called on, and she "um"ed and "ah"ed until she was so red she had to just stop.

I have never been cold called (except once in finance, I think, but it didn't feel so bad, since I guess I knew everyone in the class, and INSEAD is just a warmer place), and I was trying to figure out how I would react. I think I would freak out and not be able to talk. This is why I think that it's not necessarily such a good way to tell if people did the reading. It's possible that you did the reading, but you just freak out when you get cold called.

So...since I had done the readings yesterday, I decided to just raise my hand and respond to his questions even if they weren't stellar responses (which the guy taking notes for sure noted), but at least I wouldn't be cold called and get negative points and get a super red face and never want to walk into the classroom anymore.

I didn't need to exercise yesterday, though, because I got my cardio just sitting in there. My pulse was racing for most of the class. (It's a good thing, too, because my shins still haven't recovered since running on Sunday! I'm hoping I can start to exercise again on Monday. I got really messed up by that run!).

Wharton

Yesterday was our first day of classes. Wharton is WAY different than INSEAD, and it's a lot for my system to comprehend.

Wharton has 1600 GRADUATE students plus a whole bunch of undergraduate students. There are literally thousands of students walking around campus, and they don't all know each other.

INSEAD has about 900 students at a time, but in Singapore we have about 300, and you really know 150 of them. Like you actually know all their names other than a few.


Wharton is on a campus in a CITY. There is a lot going on on campus, and there is a lot going on in the city.

INSEAD (in Singapore) is in a building, which they call a campus, in a city with not too much going on that interests me.


Wharton is a building, and there is an ABP in it, but no cafeteria or place for quick coffee.

INSEAD is also a building, but there is a (bad) cafeteria and cafe, which is great to grab something between classes, as well as meeting people. I have to admit, though, that I haven't yet had a tour of Wharton, so there might be something I'm missing (though I think it would only be an area to meet, because I'm pretty sure there is no actual cafe).


At Wharton you have to buy your coursepacks. It should be about $150 (US!!!) for me, plus books, which I haven't yet looked into.

At INSEAD, coursepacks are included in your tuition (and tuition is lower overall, though our program is only one year...). Even if they added another $2000 to tuition, but then included coursepacks, I think it would be nicer. I don't like paying for everything one at a time. It's a psychological thing. I know.

Though there are a lot of differences, the classes seem to be conducted in a similar manner so far. Each of my classes has bashed HBS, which happens at INSEAD as well, and there is some case, some theory, and a lot of class discussion, which is also familiar. I do have two profs who are adjunct - actually work in the field and don't have phds, which I don't think we have at INSEAD. I appreciate that.


In the past day, I have felt like a freshman again. I haven't felt this way since 1996, which I started Michigan (I went to Michigan for grad school, and INSEAD is all in one building - and your first 11 classes are all in the same CLASSROOM, so by the time you get out of that classroom, you know your way around the building). I also felt that way when I started Lahser in 1992. It's a HUGE campus, and there are tons of buildings and tons of people, and I don't know how things work. Where do you get lunch? Where can you fill up your water bottle? What do you mean you have to pay for your coursepacks in cash only? Where is the bathroom?

In addition to the lost, freshman feeling, I'm also basically living in a dorm. I have a bathroom that I share, and I have a little, tiny room with a bed, a desk and a place for some clothes. It's too hot or too cold, and it really reminds me of Markley (minus the Shana part). I'm 31, but I'm 18 this week. Hopefully next week I'll be at least 25.

Shock

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.

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.

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:

• 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.

Pictures from Philippines

Here's the link to 60 of the 400 best. :)

A few are below.

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.

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...

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.