Well we found out that it's actually a 13-week stay over here. But im praying and hoping that they'll let us go after 12 weeks. There are times I want to ask them to speed the course up but I have to tolerate the others. More or less, the training is pretty manageable and quite easy to grasp.

Time is starting to cruise now and I'm glad for that.

Some of the indian folks who were posted for training in Singapore has come back here and it's good to see their familiar faces. Like one of them is trying her best to make us feel comfortable. She'll be planning with the HR to take us to some of the places around in Chennai. I am so glad for that.

Anyway i'll post more interesting things that I've seen around in Chennai during the travel from the apartment to the malls. I've seen their maxi cab for sure and i want to show you guys their modern cabs, with no side windows. Of course there's the buffaloes at the roadside just opposite the mall. And more i think. Oh one more thing, It seems that in the city centre area, there are more traffic lights around and definintely more traffic police. But it's so hard to recognise the traffic police. Especially since their complexion is dark and their uniform is pretty brown because of mud and pollution, instead of the usual pressed and wrinkle-free uniforms.

11 weeks more to go. I like the sound of counting down in terms of weeks. The number is so much smaller and i think in a matter of time, time will start going pretty fast with each week and day.

Well this weekend, yesterday we went to the 2 shopping malls in Chennai. Well one had the high end stuff but the size is even smaller than Lot 1. While the other one is really big, but it's like Far East in the 1990s. The size is about 3 times of Far east, or maybe 4. The nicer of the lot is called, City Centre while the other one is called Spencer's Plaza.

The Spencer plaza has a lot of good deals around. But of course there were many fakes going around too. I got 4 tees from there, cos the quality is just so good even for a fake or a factory left-over. Then i went on a search for a sneaker to last me for my 3months here. SO i just looked around for a cheap ones since i do not intend to bring it back with me to singapore. I'm too lazy to accumulate stuff here and have to bring it all back. At the same time, i was looking at some things that I can buy for the people in Singapore. For sure the sweets here will not match their tastebuds. It's super sweet and have spices in them. Elaine was telling me about the tea leaves. But i did not see it. I've seen some bangles and most of the girls (my older friends) asked me to help them get bangles by the boxes. Those silver bangles. Anyway my yesterday's best buy would have to be the leather belt. It was 750 rupees but i managed to get it at 400 rupees. It's a double sided one. Of course it is not a real leather, but the good synthetic kind of leather.

Today I am just going to be staying at home. Probably playing the PSP, watch the cables, and tonight hopefully they are going to show the LIVE F1 and not the pre-recorded kind. It just feels different, knowing that the people in MSN knows who had won the grandprix, while i still have to wait for another 2 hours before finding out who won.

PS: I MISS 44 TELOK BLANGAH DRIVE. I MISS MY 2 LOVABLE HOUSEMATES, I MISS MY ROOM.

PSS: I MISS MY COUSINS AND NIECES.

PSSS: NATtttttt, talk to meeee.... even if it's stupid talk, it means a lot. i miss ur company!!! i miss the time we just bicker and argue.. =p

Finally I managed to try the Maharaja burger. Basically it's a chicken-ised Big Mac. It's slightly bigger and definitely it's over-exaggerated by my colleagues who's come here before. But it has a very nice thousand island-ish kind of sauce with the chicken. It was not bad but it's not as filling as Whopper! I miss BK's Whopper! The french fries was pathetic though. Although it was soggy just like how i like it, but it's unlike the usual McD's french fries.

On the left are the Indian colleagues who are on training with us. They are also fresh graduates and just joined the company for 2 weeks. They are the people who got affected by my colleague's way of studying. On the right is our lunch buddy, Isamu, our Japanese neighbour. We might go to a japanese restaurant to eat tomorrow. I'm praying that it wont make me go broke!! haha..

This is our food court. Yes everyone eat their food with their hands. For us, they provide us with flimsy spoons. If we eat chinese, we get forks to go with it. The rest just give us dessert spoons.

The road leading to my place. THe one on the left is the turn i have to take from the main highway. u wont be able to see the house cos it's behind the hospital. That green thing is the hospital. Then on the right is the turn i have to make after turning into the road. Not very clear i know, but i will attempt another one soon k!

Well more on India pics, so that u can get a rough picture of India. The roads do have lines on them btw. The nicest one is a highway, where the traffic is as chaotic!



This few pics are pics from the "void deck" of our apartments. There's a common playground which is always packed with tai-tais in the late afternoons watching their kids. This picture doesnt have many of them cos most of them left when i came with the camera. Some looked pretty scary so I dont really dare to take a picture! haha. Most who stay at my apartment belong to the better income people.

The IKON car is the car that we used daily. My driver wasnt around so I couldnt take a picture of him.

The bottom car is our neighbour's car. It is the typical old vintage Indian car. Well not vintage but just the olden times kind. And yes, those are my 2 colleagues.

The traffic right outside my place. See how "anyhow" they are!

The number of people outside the temple. They are waiting for bus. Oh and the yellow thing is an auto-rickshaw, as they called it. In indo it's an equivalent to Bajai, but with meter!!! more high-tech! It's one of the common form of transport here.

On the way to work, I saw this. This happened at a T-junction. This car must have wanted to turn and must have hit an oncoming traffic.
See the road is practically shared by many people. These people are walking dangerously at the road side, since there's no pavement. Some of them are actually preparing to jaywalk across. It's pretty stressful to cross the road here cos anytime the car might hit you.
This one is the local train that travel within the city. If you notice carefully, there are no doors and there are people who just stand at the door pretty dangerously. The trains are all old and pretty dirty comparable to the Malaysian train that we take to KL from SG.

This building in front is my office in Chennai. The building was built by Singapore developer, Ascendas. There's 2 buildings, my office is on the 2nd building which is the one on the left of the front building.

Finally managed to try my prata! it's called Paratha here. And it is very similar to quesadillas! Especially with all the filling and cheeseee.. It was very nice but i think it's a bit expensive! Probably it's because of the cheese but still it's not really a meal here and most meals can be cheaper than this. As u can see there's like 3 sauces to go with it. If u think that's chicken curry, it's not. It's just red bean CURRY. Then there's the usual yoghurt with onions, and the other one. i tot it looked like green beans, but it's also another kind of beans.

When i ordered the parathas, i had already knew that it's not gonna be enough. So i went to order another dish. I had no idea what this is called but it's a non-vegetarian set, comprises of 2 vegetarian curry, chicken curry, rice, chapatti and something like papadam. The orange stuff? I'm not sure. I had conveniently forgotten to taste it.

Anyway moving on, training has been good. It's been interesting, but at the rate that my colleagues are memorising the stuff, I am wondering how long they can last at this rate. They are practically glued to the notes and very eager to know every detail. Oh well, i'm just contented that I'm still on track and so far, God has definitely been my moral support and strength at this juncture to be out of my comfort zone, having planned everything for me. What else can i ask for a good roof over my head, a generator in case of the blackout, a safe feeling even when the lift is manually operated, a safe territory even when it seems unsafe, and neighbours who helped us feel more settled. Everything is in His plan and i'm glad for it. I guess this time away from everything is a good chance for a reflection for me for all the things that has happened.

On the day when I was leaving, I was just imagining if I am leaving Singapore for good to somewhere unknown, what would I miss. And i really have a lot! The one that has the most impact on me was in fact church. The chance to be able to fellowship together with my churchmates, the worship camaderie, the familiar people. The fact hits me hard when i had people praying for me, tears unknowingly just dropped. ( I know this seems a bit drama, but it just happened). I know for sure I'm going to miss all these. The people, the companion! The first 2 days it already hit me hard at the people who i've been missing of. But thank god for technology, i can get to talk to all of them. So it is not that bad. Today of course i'm much better and I've sort of settled here.

Time is definitely walking now.. and I'm hoping it'll run soon.

Well just a thought about India.

It is a unique country where in terms of technology and communications they are westernised, but in terms of infrastructure, they sure are behind times. They have buses, which is always packed. They have MRTs, which i have no idea what they are called, which we intend to try but only when the other guys are coming over from singapore.

The traffic really amazes me. It is like driving those bumper cars that we used to ride when we were younger. They dont even use their side mirrors. How do i know? they have all either detached them or just close them. There's hardly any traffic lights over here. When u want to make a turn, u just have to cut the lanes of the oncoming traffic, not caring whether the other car is slowing down or not. They also horn a lot more than in Indo, definitely. Driving the car here really is like driving a waterbull cart!

Anyway there are a lot of other things that I need to discover over here.

Psst.. Have i mentioned that i got japanese neighbours (*wink at nata, tez and hana*). Not bad looking.. he's staying with this china girl who's based in japan. They are with Emerson Japan. But they are leaving next month end. They'll be heading to Singapore for further training till end of Nov. But we wont be there while they are there. They are pretty fun people. The china girl has intention to come over n start cooking over here for us. They are really nice people. Probably will be spending the weekend with them too.

Well, I'm settled in the room, basically because of the comfort of aircon and the hot stuffy weather outside encouraging me to stay in. Today went to the office and they almost start our training immediately. Our training consists of the 3 of us and 3 other new indian engineers. It was pretty okay listening to them speak. I'm surprised they speak better than all of our Indian lecturers.

Last night we arrived back to the apartment at 11pm. Well my first impression of the whole concept was China apartment. And then when i look at the lift, I almost laughed out loud cos the door is exactly the same like my toilet cubicle. The lift is those with manual doors that u have to open the inside and the outside door all by yourself. Then the rooms, it was WOW! pink!!! then the whole wardrobe concept also surprised me. It's just part of the wall and they just give it a wooden door. Of course my next concern was the toilet. Initially i got a room whose toilet is pretty nasty with smell and lighting. After that i moved to the smaller room but with a much better toilet. Now my room is my safe haven.. without the worries of mosq and cockroaches, not that there are any in the house thankfully.

Anyway back to office. We had the whole training room to ourselves after the training. We dont really have a table on our own and I think I am pretty thankful that we dont cos at least it doesnt have any odours in the office. Then they let us eat early so that we dont have to fight with the rest of the crowds. So i tried the chicken briyani and boyyyy it's really different from the usual curry chicken over ur briyani. Down here the chicken is cooked with the rice. With the amount of spices on the rice, it just tasted very dry, although the chicken was good and moist.

For dinner, we were sort of dropped at this hotel which looks super expensive and nice. When we entered the place, I was like shit, i dont know how much this dinner is gonna cost. Thankfully it was still affordable. We also shopped a bit at the supermarket for our daily stuff and some breakfast items. It was a very expensive shopping for this scale compared to shopping for grocerries in singapore. Probably it's the items that we chose are all international stuff kind of things.

So there u go. That was my day today.

Yes and finally the day is here. I can only wish that everything will turn out well. And i hope u guys can keep me in your prayers that I am safe and sound. I am pretty excited to see how things are over there.

Had a talk with YJ, the frequent traveller and she was pointing out to me of the things that I should look and feel. And i guess in a lot of ways it's true to feel how the culture is. The interaction with the rest of the locals, the ways things are done and carried out and try to understand them. With all these in mind, I find that maybe 3 months are not really that long. Other than that, everyone has been telling to be mindful with the locals as they may over-promise on certain things. So just be wary of them.

Anyway I'm leaving tonight on 8.35 pm flight on SIA. It's been a long time since I last took SIA, eversince they stopped their service to my hometown. I am looking forward to taking it again.

Well, I'm back from Bintan! It was a great trip with the company. All the team building activities were fun and great bonds were formed while we were on the trip. At least for me, I know I managed to get to know some more colleagues in my company. More than just a hi-bye relationship. Get to know more of the true colours of some of them. It was really interesting.

The managers and bosses can really drink! We had a drinking night after dinner yesterday, were beers were really almost like free flow. We made the restaurant run out of their Asahi and then we went on the stronger beer, Sapporo. I almost got a bit high as a result. But i was still sane and able to walk straight. Today, I have to deal with some slight rashes as a result.

Well the end of the Bintan trip also mark that I'm leaving for Chennai pretty soon (okay it's in 2 days time). 3 months! I'm looking at the bright side and actually I feel that it will all be over soon. 3 months will pass real quick considering how fast I've spent a month working for Emerson. So what is 3 months? (trying to be optimistic) I'm looking forward to taking some great pictures while I spend some time over there. At least I want to visit all the historical places and of course maybe some of the developing parts just to have a look. This trip will definitely forces me to step out of the comfort zone, no doubt abt it. So let's see how is it in a few days' time.

Left: In the making (after a lot of clearing). Right: Most of the furniture are set.

My room! (not done up yet)

Left: Dining table cum workstation and Livingroom. Right: Kitchen

There you go a preview of the new place. Either one of these days, we are going to get the mover to move the stuff in. Then the house will be complete. =)

After waiting for 2 weeks, my house is finally ready! My room is ready and I am staying there tonight! =) Too bad, I am leaving in a week's time!

Yes, I am only left with probably a few nights here since on Thursday, I will be going on a company trip to Bintan for a night. Well a part of me is still in denial about going to India. Although it's 3 months and looking at the rate time passes by, it is still easier said than done. I am just hoping that I like it over there. In the meantime, anyone (ANYONE) who's free to come or in the midst of considering a holiday destination, please do consider visiting me or joining me to go see Taj Mahal in the first weekend of December. There happens to be a long weekend for the working people.

Or if anyone is also sent there for work, please do contact me beforehand! Cos i might need you to bring some food for me! =p

Well, it's been a week. And our house is slowly taking on its shape. Will be going to get the rest of the furnitures sorted out. Fix the toilet and stuff. And then it'll be ready for use. We are getting there. All the hard work that is put into the house seems to be paying off.

Tonight i want t0 finish all the painting and get over with it. Hopefully tomorrow night, I can move in to stay.

So it seems that my training in India will commence on the 22nd sept till 19 december of this year. This means that i have only about 2 weeks and 3 weekends left to spend here before my 3 months stint in Chennai.

During the last week, it'll probably be spent on preparing the stuff to bring over and probably trying to enjoy as much pork, beef and fish before i become either a chicken-arian or vegetarian.

These few days will be spent on painting my new place. Trying to make the whole house feel cosy and homely. Oh i will probably going to be homesick pretty bad since I havent even have the chance to enjoy the comfort of my room properly. I will probably be enjoying it only for 1 or 1.5 weeks at the most.

Finally i got a table of my own. Well it's not exactly permanent since I'll be heading to India at the end of the month, but at least it's not shared! I am having quite a good time here. There is definitely more privacy and less stress since I am no longer sitting outside the bosses' offices.

I'm so tired out from cleaning the roaches-infested place today! Didnt expect the prev tenant of the house to be THAT DIRTY! It's literally like living in filth, sharing the flat with roaches with violent kids, who dent the doors, vandalise them, and destroyed the sofa! Furthermore, the kitchen cabinet doors were all left vandalised too! They were all hanging midway! My cousin and I almost fainted at the sight. The worst had to be the fridge! I think if it's not for my cousin's maid, I would have thrown it away and get a new one!

If my ex landlord thinks that nata and I were bad tenants, what would he think of my cousin's tenant man!

Anyway that was my short update.

And No, I have not moved in yet. We just cleaned it up, but have yet to get the other furnitures! SO Ong and I are putting up at my cousin's for at least a few days.