It's an interesting, if not uncommon, observation that humans are generally quite resilient by nature, and able to get used to just about any new circumstance. And so it is with KL. Over the months I've fallen into a simple routine, and most things no longer seem exotic or strange.
Work is intense and often stressful, and I'm learning to manage that; I have a handful of places I gravitate to for simple meals and a few simple things I make at home. And, of course, it's the friendships that are forming that make the whole experience delightful at times, while rest of life falls back into mundane normalcy.
Below are some visuals to this "new normal".
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| During Ramadan, the malls put up really pretty colorful cloth hangings. |
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| Discovered yummy matcha shaved ice at Snowflake |
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Another weird shaved ice place at Pavilion , Kakogori - weird almost sticky texture of the matcha, but the top brulee portion was really delicious
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| A fun sign on one of the many juice places, this one in Pavilion mall |
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| My wall decorations in my apartment - a mandala calendar I colored on one side and am tracking my stay on the other, postcards from our trips to Singapore and Phuket, and the pretty top of a box of chocolates I got to share with my team at work from Phuket |
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| Right around the time of my Italy trip were the national elections in Malaysia. A few weeks beforehand, the incumbent Barisan Nasional party plastered their flags and signs all over KL, attaching the fabric signs to fences, streetlights, etc. |
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The opposition's flags only appeared a few days before the actual election. For those not following Malaysian politics, this was a major big deal, as the corrupt ruling party (lead by Najib Razak, called "the Man of Steal", accused of pocketing over $700M USD) was ousted for the first time since Malaysia's independence in 1957. Malaysia now has the world's oldest (93) sitting head of government, Mahathir Bin Mohamad, who previously served as Prime Minister (1981-2003) with a strong record of curbing civil rights and pushing the racially discriminatory laws currently in place in Malaysia.
On an interesting side note, when Malays go to vote, they dip an index finger into indelible ink, showing that they have voted (thus preventing them from voting multiple times). I had to have this explained to me, when I was wondering about the significance of what appeared like black nail polish on many people's index fingers. |
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| I returned from Italy on my birthday, and the hotel staff brought this up to my room. So nice! |
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| While I work at a client site, I had the opportunity to visit our own KL office a while back. Pretty intensely cramped seating area... |
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| ... but large couch area. This seems to be our new direction which, I have to say, I'm not a fan of. While having a nice place to chill and chat for a bit is nice, having your own dedicated working space with adequate room seems pretty key. Folks I've talked to about this seem to agree... hopefully our co will hear us and make things better. While my home office, after a recent move and refurb isn't quite this crowded in the desk area or this lavish in the common areas, we're moving to a similar model, of less personal desk space and where not everyone even has their own dedicated desk but some folks have to move around for seating. Me no like. |
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| Learned to eat rambutan - my new delicious furry friends! |
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| Another furry friend - Coco, Akhil's new kitten. OMFG - squee! |
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| Already bigger, a few weeks later |
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| Joy trying to explain to Akhil that while in theory he had great cards to win on his next turn, that is of no consequence if he in the meantime helps someone else win. Akhil is having none of it. |
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| My favorite client project team, here being silly after we'd completed our big project |
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| It's a good day when you come in and suddenly get invited to a huge pot luck being held in one of the offices on our floor |
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| With Hazel, waiting for the rest of the crew to come to our private karaoke room (ps - it wasn't anyone's birthday, that was up just in case... haha) |
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| For some reason everyone comments on my laptop stand at work... it's functional, people! :) |
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| An absolutely amazing shot (courtesy of coworker Freddie) showing the moment the cloud opened up with rain. This only lasted a moment before it dissipated and expanded to a larger area. Super crazy mini-micro climate areas here. And apparently Malaysia has the world's 3rd largest number of lightning strikes. |
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| Caught one! (zoom in, look at left third of pic) Lightning often strikes our building during the frequent thunderstorms (even not during rainy season). At first it freaked me out, now I kind of enjoy the "bzzt" sound of the electricity running down the metal of the building. |
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| Pretty view of the distant mountains in the clouds, from the 75th floor |
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