Wow, what a memorable first week. The week was spent entirely on the competition entry, which would not be so bad, if we had not kept changing the design throughout the week. As I mentioned before, after my eventful first night at the office, I was hoping to break that cycle and get a decent nights sleep for the rest of the week. However, it quickly dawned on me that this was not going to happen. On Tuesday, I was informed that I would be going to the city of Ipoh, north of KL to checkup on a shopping centre that I helped design three years ago. The meeting was on Friday, after the competition submission. I was very glad to do this, because I had not seen the finished building.
On Thursday, with the deadline looming over us, we were frantically finishing drawings so that the report could be submitted. By 8pm the boss bought us all dinner which gave me the boost I needed to continue to work. I was surprised at how happy I was to continue working after dinner though, I guess the way to my heart is through my stomach as well. By 3am, we had finished most of the drawings but we were going a lot slower. Usually this would be time for another round of coffee, but in true Malaysian style, we went for food. I thought this was a crazy idea, as surely no shops would be open, right? Not only were the hawker stands open, they were half full of people sitting and eating rice and curry or roti’s. Did these people not need to sleep!
The report was finished at 8am, by this time, the receptionist had come to open up the office, and was shocked to find us still there. At this point, I thought it was best to ring the boss and tell him that I would need to pop back home for a quick shower before heading to Ipoh with him. He was more than happy to wait, as I think the prospect of sitting in a car for 2 hours with me stinking the place up was not all that desirable.
I managed to get home, shower, change and walk back in just over an hour. I was exhausted and must have looked it. By the time I got back, the report was printed and bound. It did look great, and I was glad I put in the extra hours for the work. Now I turned my attention to the meeting I was supposed to help out with, and began quickly gathering the documents. When we were walking to the car, the boss told me to get some sleep during the drive. I informed him that I felt fine, but I must have passed out before we got out of the city, since I remember hardly anything of the drive.
Ipoh is an interesting city, a lot smaller than KL, but more importantly, it still has kept its colonial buildings, making it feel far more attractive than the capital. The shopping centre was called DeGarden Mall, and when we drove up towards it, I had a swell of pride at knowing I helped create that. I shall post pictures of the building later.
The meeting was held in the management office that I personally designed. That was a very eerie feeling. At the end of the meeting the boss informed the rest of the group that I had not slept last night, much to the amusement of the contractor and management team. I wondered why he would say that, and assumed it was because I had a vacant look on my face when talking to someone.
On the way back, as a form of peace offering for a chaotic first week, the boss treated me to some really lovely Yam cakes and some Chinese sweets which I cannot remember the name of. We got back to the office around 7pm, and I was surprisingly awake. Speaking to the few colleagues unlucky to be working there at that time on a Friday, we decided to pack it up and go for a drink or two. Beer never tasted this good.
It is now Saturday, and I have spent the whole day (after having a generous lie in) on sorting out my apartment. Having spent the last week sleeping on an empty bed, I finally managed to buy some pillows and a bedsheets so that the room looked vaguely appealing. I also managed to clean the surfaces and the cupboards so that I could buy food and have a proper breakfast before leaving for work. I still have no internet access, but luckily the local coffee shop has free WiFi, so it will have to do for the time being.
Apologies for not updating the blog for a while, but hopefully the work should not be so intense next week. Pictures from Ipoh and my new apartment will soon be up…
