I'm not Japanese!

I started out around 10am in the morning, walking from my hotel into the Medina, the ancient of Marrakech. It was simply stunning, all the buildings painted this red/orange color, the dust of the desert in the air, and palm trees everywhere. Finally, I came upon the Mosque at the center of the town, and shortly afterwards, the Medina, a huge plaza where there were bunches of vendors selling freshly squezed orange juice, and other small stands on the side doing henna tatoos, fortune telling, shoe repair, it was like one huge open market.

As I walked through the Medina towards the general direction of where I thought my hostel should be, all of the vendors of the juice carts started yelling out to me. "Hey Japan", followed by "Hey Korea", and then "Hey China", and then, sometimes, "Hey Taiwan". Or they would try to greet me in Japanese at wierd times, saying "konichwa" (good morning), which was then followed by "konbanwa" (good evening), even if it was still morning. Or other random ones like "ohaio gozaimas", which is something like "welcome. All of this despite that I'm not Japanese.

It was definitely annoying to get called this way. I thought how they would address me as "Hey Japan", which if reversed in Europe (ie, greeting a moroccan as "hey maroc") would probably end up with a fight.

As I found the souk (covered market) where my hostel was supposed to be, I noticed a juice vendor at the corner, that seemed to have a bunch of local people around it. Always a good sign, when you see local people at the stalls. So, I started to walk towards the stall, and the vendor called out to me, and I acknowledged him. At least he didn't call me "Hey Japan". And there, I had the most delicious cup of freshly pressed orange juice I've ever had. All for 3 Dirham (about 50 cents). It was so good, I had another glass of orange juice, and another glass of freshly pressed lime juice, for a premium price of 10 dirham ($1.25). These guys were so friendly, I came back every day to the same stall for my 2-3 glasses of fresh juice.



After getting fueled up on orange juice (good thing, since I hadn't drunk or eaten anything since arriving to Marrakech), I continued to find my hostel. I went into the souks, which are essentially covered markets selling all sorts of things, from the small butcher stall, to lots of touristy kitsch, and traditional bath houses. I found the "Berber FANAQUE", apparently a knockoff of the French FNAC bookstore, and remembered that I was supposed to make a turn after the FNAC to find the hostel. Here's where it got difficult. The streets and lanes in the souks are not marked with street signs. I turned into this little covered alley, it was very narrow, and I couldn't even tell if it was the right place. But it seemed all wrong. It was literally a narrow tunnel, with high walls on each side. As I continued, the "area" seemed to get more sketchy, and didn't seem right. Nonetheless, I just continued to walk, exploring the area. I continued down an alley, and saw a woman walking with her baby, and then 3-4 kids come up to me, asking if I need help, or where i was going. I explained "Riad Amazigh", the name of the hostel. Then, they got all excited, and said "Riad Amazigh is this way, follow me". I heard that these kids often "help", but demand money in return, and I felt I was at least on track and could find the place myself, but the kids were insisent. Anyways, I just continued walking and the kids followed me.

Sure enough, about 50 feet in front of me was the door for Riad Amazigh. Here's when things got interesting. The oldest kid asked, "please give me 2 Euros for help". I said, "hey, you didn't even help me, I just walked straight, besides, I don't have euros". Then, he said OK, give me 20 Dirham (about $2.50). Still, I was insistent, "you didn't really help me, I just walked straight". Now, the price started to go down... "ok, 10 Dirham", "No, I'll just give you 5 dirham". And so, I gave him 5 dirhams, and he ran off, but then all of his friends started asking me for money! Doh! Unexpected reaction. I simply told them they didn't do anything for me, and walked into the hostel.

After walking into the hostel, I thought, "I'm in trouble.. these kids will easily recognize me when I walk out." And for a a few minutes, I thought I'm going to be stuck in this hostel, because they'll ask me for money each time. Sure enough, when I left the hostel about an hour later, the kids were outside, asking for money. I explained I already paid them, and I don't need any help. One kid even offered to lead me out back to the main street, but it wasn't that hard, since I already knew how I came into the alley. Funnily, the oldest kid later found me the next few days, and kept on asking for money, even for doing nothing, and I had to explain "No" each time, until he finally got the message.

But the thing that's the most amazing about these places, even though it looks terrible from the outside of the alleyway, the places on the inside of these walls are spectacular mansions, completely hidden away. This hotel had a huge open courtyard in the center, similar to the traditional homes in Asia, and there were these marvelous rooms. These hostels/hotels are "riads", or the traditional mansions of Morocco. It's very deceiving, but you'd never guess that inside this hidden, dirty, and not very pleasant alley, that a mansion would be behind the walls. It was a great hostel, EUR24 per night, I had a 4 bed room, but it was practically a single, since two beds were upstairs, 2 below, and only one occupant on each floor. There wasn't any AC, but it didn't matter, it was a nice break from the hot and sunny hours during the afternoon.

Next time: food review of Marrakech

Arrival in Marrakech
So, to continue the story from last time, I was so tired and confused, I decided to find myself a hotel, at whatever the price. (well, to some extent). I was too dazed and tired to try finding my hostel in the Medina, and somehow, I didn't have the heart to sleep in the airport. (althoug it was nicely air-conditioned)

My handy guidebook (good thing I brought it onboard) said that there were some chains nearby the airport, so I asked the taxi to bring me to the Sofitel. I arrived at 3am, and surprisingly, there were still some staff there.

Me: "What's the price for the room"?
Hotel: "300 euros". (about $450)
Me: "um, do you have anything cheaper?"
Hotel: "sorry, the hotel is fully booked, we only have luxury rooms. How about 260 euros?"
Me: "um, sorry, I'm looking for something less than 100 euros, can you recommend me to another place?
Hotel: "perhaps you can try the one down the road"

So, I go down the road, into a half-decent looking hotel, doors wide open. Then I look around. The staff was sleeping on the couches in the lobby! As soon as they heard my footsteps, the guys woke up, and offered me a room for about 1000 Dirhams, so about $110. Compare this vs. the EUR24/night I was paying for my hostel! By this time, I was desparate, and would take anything half-decently cheap. That was probably the most expensive nap I've ever had.. I woke up around 10am, explored the hotel a bit, enjoyed the poolside view, because it was pretty nice and I wanted to get all $110 worth of my money. The interior reminded me of some opulent (or some might say 'over-the-top') decorations like the Drake hotel in San Francisco..

I started exploring marrakech and was determined to find my hostel... despite not having any maps or directions.

Was I able to find my hostel, without a map or directions? Or even contact information? Stay tuned...

(btw, I'm actually back in Switzerland at this point, but I'm leaving this weekend for Dusseldorf, and then immediately to Denmark for a meeting, readers may have to be patient for the next section...)

First Marrakech thoughts..

So, I had to fly to Marrakech from Munich, since I had a last-minute meeting that came up for the purposes of my internship. Maybe I should have seen the first signs of trouble when my Munich-Zurich flight arrived late. Then, once I arrived in Zurich, the Zurich-Casablanca flight was also late. When I arrived in Casablanca, I quickly ran to my gate, and saw that a fight was nearly breaking out at the gate. Not sure what the problem was, but probably something to do with the plane being late. It was wierd too - because when I arrived in Casablanca, I never had to pass through passport control, although I was boarding a "domestic" Moroccan flight.

I was supposed to arrive in Marrakech at 12:30am, and when my flight landed, it was about 1am. I got off the flight, and noticed that some passengers were staying on the flight. I thought, "maybe these guys are just waiting for everybody to get off first". As I stepped out to the tarmac and into the airport, I thought, "Wow, this is pretty primative, reminds me of landing in Jogjakarta, Indonesia". I waited in line for passport control, which was pretty simple, some guys (without uniform) stamping passports. As I'm waiting, an airline official comes through, says something in French about Marrakech. Then, he turns to me and says, "Are you going to Marrakech?", and I said yes. He said: "This is not Marrakech. Its the next stop"

I was confused.. where was I? Apparently, this flight I was on was one of these multi-stop flights, where they drop off a few people, then carry onto the next destination. Good thing he found me, otherwise, I'd find myself in the middle of nowhere in Morocco. (I think the city's name was Ouarzazate)

Finally, at around 2:30am, I arrive in Marrakech airport, which was completely renovated and looked great. I hung around to wait for my luggage (since I had to check-it, since they said they did not have enough cabin space). And guess what? No luggage!

No luggage = no maps or intstructions to my hostel, which was in a very hard to find location. I had placed all my things in my luggage, expecting to carry it on the flight. But now that it was "lost", I had nothing.

So, here I am, in Marrakech, very tired, in the middle of the night without clothes, hostel location, toiletries. I just had my camera, wallet, and passport. I debated what to do. Should I find a place to sleep inside the airport? Should I find a normal "hotel"? Should I try to "guess" at the location of the hostel, based on my memory, but without a map or any instructions or contact information?

Stay tuned for more answers and the next entry...

Bourne Identity

I feel like I'm living my own Bourne Identity movie today, especially that scene where Bourne, Matt Damon's character, goes to the Swiss bank, and opens a safety deposit box full of passports, money in different currencies, and weapons.

Since I'm heading to Germany tomorrow, and then straight away to Marrakech, Morocco, and then back to Geneva on Sunday. I have to carry various currencies in my wallet. I'm not sure if my ATM card will work in Morocco, so I have to carry some extra currencies. At the moment, I'm carrying Swiss Francs, Euros, and US Dollars. That's in addition to the Singaporean Dollars, Malaysian Ringgits, British Pounds, Chinese Yuan, Taiwanese Dollars and Canadian dollars that I'm already carrying with me, hidden elsewhere. Unfortunately, I don't have any extra passports or weapons.

Or... do I? Welcome to the INSEAD life...

The Arabs are in town

Apparently, every summer, lots of Arabs come to Switzerland, escaping the summer heat like Minnesotan's fleeing Florida in the summer. It's a very interesting crowd. You see lots of women shopping at the very expensive/exclusive stores, like Louis Vuitton and the other jewelry stores in town. I had coffee with some of the other students here this summer, and one person saw a limo pull up to one of the luxury stores, and a shopkeeper came out, presenting a bunch of different items. While staying in the car, the lady pointed to the ones she wanted, and the shopkeeper brought those items to her. Makes drive-thru shopping seem kinda posh.

And then you see cars like the ones above.. complete with license plates in Arabic. Sometimes you wonder whether they drove the cars here, or if the cars are flown here on their private jets, while they come to visit their private bankers in Geneva. It's simply a whole another culture that I've never been exposed to. I met a guy at the July 4th party that's managing funds for a Saudi family, something like $1.2b of assets under management. I'm sure they charge a 2.5% management fee, and there's a lot of money to go around.

btw - I always wonder if its too gaudy to be snapping photos of somebody else's sports car while i'm running around in my t-shirt and shorts next to the nice hotels in Geneva... There were all these other kids doing the same thing, so I guess it's OK...

I'm going to Africa!

In today's news, I'm finally visiting Africa. August 1st is Swiss national day, and is a holiday at our office. Conveniently, it lands on a Friday, giving me a long-extended weekend. I've been meaning to take a trip to North Africa, and just yesterday, I booked my tickets to Marrakech, Morroco. I'm excited! Still trying to get some INSEAD folks to go with me, but it seems that a bunch in Geneva have already gone.

My carrier: LCC EasyJet (ie, CrazyJet). Let's hope this time, I don't get stuck coming back like I did in athens. That's another story for another post..

Meanwhile, in other news: the EasyJet reference reminded me of this satirical article I read in the WSJ, finding new ways to generate revenues for the mainline US airlines (much like EasyJet... at least there, I know I'm flying a budget Carrer)..

My favorite quote:

- C'mon. My BlackBerry is not going to bring the plane down. I don't know of a single documented case of a consumer electronic device interfering with a plane's avionics. If they did, al Qaeda would just fly around with iPods. Since we don't fear an iBomber, why not just let me use my BlackBerry as much as I want, whenever I want. (I do anyway.) This one would be free, because it would be offset by negating the need for the flight attendant to expend energy cruising the aisle before takeoff searching for perps, like a prison guard working the tiers of Sing Sing

Link: My Plan to Help the Airlines

First week in the office

Amazingly, it's almost been two weeks since I've started at the firm. It's been totally awesome. It's almost like working in Silicon Valley. Check out the perks:

• Free lunch on Mondays (petite salad, sandwich, dessert)
• Open fridge - free soft drinks/water (alcohol only on special occassions)
• Snack drawer - nuts, dried fruit, chocolate bits, fresh fruits

Oh - my hours? Even more awesome: 9am until about 6:30pm, when most people leave. I tend to leave a little later since I'm used to staying later for school. Oh, and lunch? Well - the Swiss love their lunch. If we go out, it's like 1-1.5hrs. Today, I decided to go for a "quick lunch", and brought a sandwich back to my desk, and my mentor looked at me funny. He said, "Wow - that's so unusual for me, normally I like to take a lunch break, maybe 30 minutes or something. But I'm not used to seeing somebody eat lunch and work at the same time". I said "yeah, this is very American.. normally I like a break too, but I like to do something while I'm eating, I've gotten into this habit while at INSEAD". My mentor had previously studied in the US, so he's a bit used to my habits which may seem a bit odd (ie, American)

Oh, the best part? I have a great big desk and a comfy office chair... it's one of those Aeron chairs... the same expensive ($1000) ones that startups went crazying buying with VC money back in the Internet boom days.. Have to say, it's extremely comfy. Not sure if it's $1000 comfy, but I'm not complaining!

July 4th in Geneva
My mentor at the office pointed out early last week that July 4th was just around the corner. I was shocked.. OK, I knew I was starting at the office on June 30th, but I couldn't believe it was already July 4th! So - in a joking manner, my mentor yelled out to the big boss (President of the firm) that "Kent wants to have July 4th off". Mr President says "well, it's not Swiss holiday - or something to that effect", then I said "well - if you can bring in hot dogs for me on Friday, that's close enough!"



Sure enough, there's an "American hot dog" stand right outside the office. So, on July 4th, I decided to "celebrate" and had a hot dog for lunch. (see proof below). The bread - wow - the most delicious hot dog bun I've ever had. Imagine a baguette - with a hot dog inside it! Then I asked my British office assistant how the British felt about American Indepedence Day.. if there's any resentment, or jealousy. Her response was great "I think it's great - you Americans all don't have enough holidays to begin with!"


On Friday afternoon, I found out that there's this American Club in Geneva, it was throwing a big 4th of July bash. It required registration for some reason, but I decided to just show up. It was totally surprising... 200 people in a sports center park, American flags everywhere, band playing 50-80's hits, and best part: ribs, cole slow, potato salad for only CHF15 (about US$15). That's a steal by Swiss standards. (See proof below)





Going there by myself is a little hard, but I decided to join a table with some other people. And when it comes to explaing where I'm from, and what I'm doing in Geneva, it becomes soo complicated. First I explain that I'm from Ohio, but worked in Minnesota for the past 6 years. THen, I'm now in business school, in INSEAD Singapore and France, but I'm doing an internship in Geneva, but I'm returning to Singapore at the end of August.

After all this, the most common response was: "Wait - are you Singaporean??". It was a bit shocking to here this.. after all, I'm speaking with a plain midwestern accent, coming to a July 4th party - why would I be Singaporean? Because I look Chinese? Expats, of all people, should realize that Americans are a varied lot, of all races. Maybe I was a bit too sensitive, but I expected a bit more from an expat crowd.

Anyhow, it was fun, met a bunch of New Yorkers that have lived in Geneva for 10-20 years (not too surpringly, either working in banking or some international MNC), and had a nice bbq meal to celebrate the 4th.

Goodbye France - I won't be missing you...

My last few days at INSEAD-FBL, and I had the most miserable time last week trying to get away this country. First, I had a visit to Brussels, to say hi to former co-workers. I had to change trains at Gare de Lyon, but the trains were all stopped, nobody knew why, and my Thalys ticket was departing in 1 hr. Another frustrated traveller also taking the Thalys and i tried to get a cab, but couldn't find one, but we found a bus. Then, we arrived at Gare du Nord, too late for our original ticket, and found out, all trains here were stopped too. So - even though we were late, our train was later than we were. Something about fire stopping the train. Ended up talking with the very nice lady who was also stuck on the train, and we ended up chatting on the entire journey. Turns out her seat number was right next to mine... had we not been stuck trying to figure out the trains, we would have sat next to each other anyways!

Then, on the way back, it was so confusing to figure out how to get back to Fontainebleau. Each The map shows a RER line R from Gare du Lyon to FBL, but there's no line R. Each time I got different advice on where to go from 3 different people! I was stuck inside Gare Du Lyon for about an hr trying to figure out how to get back, until I figured out I had to take a surface train, not the RER. Or maybe it was an RER that rain on the regular mainline tracks. In any case, I think I made it back on the last train from CDG to Fontainebleau.

THen the following day, at CDG, I was supposed to board a Swiss Air flight to Geneva out of terminal 1 (as per the CDG website) at 3pm. Except - Swiss air doesn't exist anymore, since it's a Air France codeshare, and departs from Terminal 2! (no way I would have known this) So - had to walk REALLY far to terminal 2 with all my bags. THen, arriving at terminal 2, there's 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, 2E, 2F, and 2G! And no indication where is the one for Air France. Needless to say - I missed my original flight, which departed from 2B. I was told to go to 2G to get my tickets redone. Did so, paid EUR244, and was told to run back to 2G (about a 20 min walk, normally) and that the plane was waiting for me. Arrived there, and saw the ticket I was given was for a flight that departed in 5 mins. Obviously, I wasn't going to make it, and the AF guys certainly didn't check me in. So, again had to run back to 2G to get it re-ticketed again, for a 8pm flight. At least it worked this time....... until I got to the gate, when the airport workers decided to go on strike., which meant I didn't leave until almost 10pm.

THis is soo typical of my experience in France, it's amazing the place even works. From a transportation point of view, it's almost as bad as a developing country! Can't wait to be back in Singapore..

INSEAD Cabaret

Ok - lots of entries today to make up for the lack of entries the weeks before. A few days ago, we had INSEAD Cabaret, a fantastic variety show that is put on by the students, from music, singing, tons of comedy acts. I had no idea there was so much talent in our student class. And - there are no sacred cows - I think the students made fun of almost everything - professors, ourselves, interviewers, other students, the school. Absolutely hilarious.

Here's a great example of a film, Gone with the Ding, that came out of Cabaret - it's a National Geographic mockumentary of the life of an MBA student... see below

I have a summer internship!

For the longest time, I thought I'd be without a summer internship, another victim of the current economic problems in the US and in the rest of the world. I think my resume to offers yield for summer internship is hovering somewhere around 10%.

In a previous post, I mentioned that was in Geneva for an interview with a VC firm. Just last week, I got an official offer for them from the summer!

The firm's name is Endeavour Vision, they run a pan-European venture capital fund. One of the founders is an INSEAD alum, so I'm fortunate to have received this job through career services. ANd it's such a perfect match for what I"d like to do in the future.

I'll be working with them as a analyst to review med-tech investments over the next 7 weeks, then it's back to Singapore for the last 4 months of my program!

Wild Animals in the Fontainebleau Forest

So, most people think that INSEAD's main campus in France is in Paris... but they would be sadly disappointed. it's actually in Fontainebleau, a very small (but pretty) town about 45 mins south of Paris, in the middle of the forest, which apparently is the second largest forest in Europe, and the former hunting grounds of the French kings, because it's full of wild animals.

About a week ago, I was driving back home from school in the evening in my little Citroen C3, going about 80 km/h and suddenly, 3 wild boards, one big one ('mom or dad'), and then 2 younger ones ('junior a and junior b') ran out right in front of my car! I was completely shocked... I slammed on the brakes as hard as I could without losing control... the big one was running fast, and cleared my car, then the second one just cleared the front of my car..... but an car incoming on the other side wasn't able to slow down in time, and ... THWAAAP, collided with the boar that just cleared the front of my car. The 3rd boar saw this and run back without crossing the street.

I couldn't believe what I just saw! The car then slowed down and pulled over to the side, probably to check for damage. I was almost shaking.. what if I had hit the boar instead? Or what if the car tried to avoid the big but struck my car instead? And what does one do exactly after hitting a boar? Would you dare go out and try to push the boar back into the forest? He probably has massive interal injuries. Would the mother/father come back and attack you if you tried to move the boar off the road?

After this, I drove very slowly through the rest of the forest....

French border police lazyness

As many of you know, Charles De Gaulle airport isn't exactly the nicest airport in Europe, and my previous experience there has given me a bad taste, including the time when the French border control police didn't even bother to look at my passport when entering (!!)

Well - something similar happened again! I was in Geneva for a interview at a VC firm, and the Geneva airport is somewhat interesting. It's built across the Swiss and French borders.. so one side in in France, and the other side is in Switzerland. I was returning back to Paris, so I took a taxi to the Swiss side, then walked across the "border", where there was a French border police guy in the office. He was on the phone. I stopped, and showed my passport, but he continued talking on the phone, not even looking at me. I waited for like 5 minutes, he continued to talk on the phone, and didn't look at me.

Then, I wondered: "should I just go??". So, I just went on, and crossed the border. It's pretty annoying when you have an official that has so much power of you (ie, the immigration officer), but he's just sitting there, talking on the phone and not even acknowledging your presence, or even giving instructions saying "go ahead".

The days you wonder if the MBA was worth it..

This past weekend, we were travelling in Athens with my other classmates, since we didn't have class on Friday. While in Athens, we were trying to use our student status as much as possible, including getting tickets to the Parthenon, which is EUR6 for students in the EU, or EUR12 for everybody else.

Unfortunately, some of us (including myself) didn't have our INSEAD ID cards with us, but we had our business cards and passports. The following conversation took place between my friend and the guy at the ticket office

Friend: We're students at INSEAD in France, we don't have our student cards, but we have cards from the school

Ticket Officer: "Where does it say that you're a student?"

Friend: "The name of the school, INSEAD is on the back. On the front, it says MBA Candidate, that's what we're studying for"

Ticket Officer: "What is this MBA? This means nothing to me"

We all had a great laugh out of that one... As you can imagine, we didn't get the student discount.

Two new galleries posted

Life at INSEAD Singapore, including pictures of the campus and my little apartment, and pictures from a recent weekend whirlwind tour of Netherlands and Belgium.. It was wierd being in a hostel again, but I can't argue for 15EUR per night!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kent.x.lee/InseadLife02

http://picasaweb.google.com/kent.x.lee/BrugesAmsterdamBrussels

Life in France...

It's been two weeks now since I've moved to INSEAD Fontainebleau, and it's been a 180 degree change from living in Singapore. Good part is the weather is nice, bad part is that nothing is nearly as efficient, and things are a lot more expensive.

My roommate and I nearly had our first disaster within the first week. We have a car that we're using from the student that we swapped apartments with. After class, we wanted to go back home, and I needed to email an assignment out at 7pm. Around 5:30pm, we go back to the car, and for some reason, the key doesn't even turn! Checked all the normal things, battery seemed OK, etc, so we decided to get some help. I was starting to panic, because it was close to 6pm, and I hadn't done my reading required for the assigment due at 7pm.

When we went for help - the secretary was not exactly helpful. She said she couldn't help us call the service line (we were looking for a French speaker), and referred us to some other staff. We went to the other staff, and she said it's not her responsibility either. Luckily, we found somebody else in another office that was much more willing to help. She calls up the service line, asks a bunch of questions, then the technician asked "did you turn the steering wheel?" - then she realizes that we made a simple mistake.

There's a steering wheel key lock!!! I've NEVER heard of this before. Granted, I have a French Citroen, so everything is kinda weird. With this lock, you have to turn the wheel and the key at the same time. I guess it's to prevent kids from starting the car, but it's wierd that it only disables the key sometimes - defeating the purpose of being a safety lock. Ever since that day, I"ve noticed it 'locking' the key only once. (We drive 2x per day). How frustrating - and a nice start to my time here.

Otherwise, it's been nice, each campus has its own student culture, and it's interesting to see the differences. We live in a little old village called Bourron-Marlotte, complete with small streets, gray-stone cottages, etc. It's kinda cute - very quiet, and reminds me of Wooster on the weekends. More photos to come later..

Photo of the Chateau de Fontainebleau via Wikipedia

Done Done Done!!!

Can't believe it, but I'm finally done! Last exam finished about 1 hr ago, now it's a frantic rush to pack and say "zai jian" to Singapore and "bonjour" to France.. this past two weeks have been crazy, managing exams, final projects, packing, and trying to have to balance. Unfortunately, I think my balance is 2 weeks of nothing but studies, and then 5 days of nothing but relaxing, and then back to the regular schedule...

I think I'll miss this place already... I'll post some pictures of my "Singapore life" sometime in the near future...

Pre-exam philosophizing #2

I noticed for the first time that the shower stall in my apartment, has clear glass, and not frosted glass. Isn't that wierd? At least if it was frosted, and somebody had an emergency, they could still use the bathroom if they needed to.

Wonder if I've never noticed it because it steams up when I normally use the shower...

Pre-Exam Philosophizing - #1

P2 exams are here again, and so I've been frantically studying for 6 exams. And we have only 1 day off to study, so that meant starting early... ie, last weekend.

It was about 10pm, and I was at school, walking back to my "office", and through the glass, I saw a nice dinner party in the outside courtyard. Then I understood what it was like to be in an aquarium. Except the question is: Which is the aquarium?

Was it me in the aquarium, wondering about the lone student who was at school at late hours on a weekend, while people having dinner were looking into the school?

Or was it them, enjoy a nice dinner outside, the life that I could be having, and it was me, peering into the aquarium, watching these people enjoy their dinner?

The Economy Hits Summer Internships

Number of positions applied to thus far: 10
Number of positions with first round interviews: 3
First-Pass Yield: 30% (although one interview was with a very prestigious firm)

Number of first-round interviews "in the oven": 1

Number of positions with 2nd round interviews / offers: 0
Final-Pass Yield: 0.00%

Am I being too picky? Or should I not be so desperate? Or should I just take a 2 month vacation? The only such time I'll ever have so much free time?

I love Singapore

And it's not for the reasons that you think. Ok, Singapore does have really tasty dishes, but the reason I love it so much is because it's INCREDIBLY EFFICIENT. More so than the US (can you really believe that?)

I had a Maxtor external hard disk that I bought from the US, and it went bad on me as I arrived in Singapore. I was afraid that I'd have to return it to the US for a warranty exchange, but decided to look into options here. Turns out that Seagate (the parent of Maxtor) is based in Singapore, and there's a local address for RMA returns. This past Friday, I took a cab to the building, did my warranty return, and was told to wait about 2-3 weeks. (Interesting side note: This place was completely full of pallets of hard disks, seems like it's a regional distribution center for Asia, if not North America)

Today (Monday), I got an email from the company that my new hard drive will be shipped to me by Tuesday.

Incredible! I was seriously prepared for a long wait, or at most, logistical issues since I bought this in the US, but the service was beyond my expectations

Just like my experience opening my bank account here... They needed only a few documents, and within an hour, my bank account was open. I made a wire-transfer from the US, and it was credited the next day. That's faster than it takes for me to make domestic wire transfers between banks in the US!

One interesting thought: once Singaporeans (or expats in Singapore) get used to this type of high-quality efficiency, it must be so painful to move to other Western countries (eg, France), where things move at glacial speeds...

Learning about Wooster at INSEAD


As one of the few Americans at INSEAD, I often get a lot of flack from my other compatriots, because I come from the midwest, while nearly everybody else is from the coasts. But recently, coming from the midwest has been advantageous. Believe it or not, we actually had two case studies about companies in Ohio.. I was completely shocked, because I knew about both of them. The first case was about Lincoln-Electric, a welding supply company in Cleveland where my friend Mike Ohlsen did an internship during college. The case discussed LE's unique compensation strategy, where employees on the factory floor are "paid for performance", based on piecework. Apparently, many business school cases have been written about LE's unique compensation program. The professor even showed a clip from an early 90's episode of 60 minutes, where they went to Cleveland, interviewed the factory workers and the CEO. One of the clips showed the old-school Ohio auto plates... it made me homesick.

The second case that was covered, was about... RUBBERMAID! My dad's employer, the company that gave me scholarships to CWRU, and what was the proudest company in Wooster, Ohio, my hometown. Rubbermaid pretty much collapsed in the 90's after raw material costs rose rapidly, and they were unable to pass the cost to their largest customer, Wal-Mart. The accounting professor was talking about Wal-mart's ability to pressure its suppliers, and showed this excellent clip from Frontline, where they went to Wooster to interview Rubbermaid executives and visited the plant where all the machinery were being sold off to Chinese competitors. It was an interesting discussion, because in class, I explained that I was actually from Wooster, and that my family has a close connection to Rubbermaid. To which the professor said "I feel bad for your town... I think it's better in Singapore. I grew up in Bethelhem, PA (home of Bethlehem Steel), and it's a similar situation there".

This week, we'll be studying Newell, which acquired Rubbermaid around the late 90's, and as an assignment, we have to decide whether Newell should acquire Rubbermaid or not... a very touchy subject for somebody from Wooster.

I'd really suggest watching the clip #2 about Rubbermaid on PBS's website, it's a part of a series asking "Is Wal-mart good for America?"

Now, someone may ask, why is Ohio suddenly a hotspot for b-school cases, when everybody else in the world (and perhaps even in the US) thinks that the midwest is all boring and farmlands? Probably because the Midwest has a lot of examples of companies that were the top of their industry years ago, but with global competition, have been under a lot of pressure to survive, which makes for great b-school cases.

Purim Festival

Last week was the Israeli festival of Purim, it's a bit like secret Santa and Halloween all combined into one... and so one of the Israeli students co-ordinated this holiday for all of us here in Singapore. The idea is that you're supposed to give a secret gift (typically food, or something small and nice) to a person, and then the following day, you dress up, and then reveal yourself to your recipient.

It was completely hilarious to see everybody in their costumes on Friday! I think the professors had a good laugh at all of us too! And so much creativity! Photos are up on Picasa... there were these people who rented half of a bunny suit (ie, the ears half), one girl and a guy who dressed up as brides, among others.

As for me, I had a pair of scrubs that I got from a PM implant case some time ago. I've been using them as pajamas, but thought it'd work well for my costume. So, I found some shower caps, used them as shoe-covers, and wore another one as a hair net. And no, I'm not a doctor, I'm a male nurse.

More haircut experience...

It was time for a haircut again, and after the disasterous pre-Chinese New Year's haircut experience at the local HDB barber, I decided to try something more upscale. Our classes let out early on Friday, so some of us went to Bugis Junction, a shopping center near the city centre. It's actually quite interesting.. It used to be a real street, with traditional shophouses, but they've now covered the entire street, and knocked out the spaces between shophouses to convert it into a shopping mall. It's a nice experience, because you feel like you're walking in the city, but it's nicely air-conditioned.

This time, I went to a hair salon to get my haircut, and it was a nice experience. SG$30 for a wash and a cut (about $25).. the process though was interesting. First you get seated, and they bring you two magazines to read (Maxim and some auto magazine... neither of which I was really interested in). And with my vision, I can't see without my glasses. =) Then they do a pre-wash scalp massage, the haircut itself, and a post-cut wash. A very nice experience, BUT... they tried styling my hair in the latest 'Japanese pop-star' look. (ie, long in the front and back, but short on the sides). A little wierd... then she shaped my hair into a bit of a mohawk!

but then I noticed all the other people in the mall.. definitely was catering to a younger crowd.

In all - a more relaxing experience than the last one.. the luxurious treatment was a plus. That reminds me - I'll need to blog about how I learned that massages and facial treatments are actually acceptable for guys here...

Wintery cold spell in Singapore...

It's been super-cold here in Singapore the past few days, setting a new cold record in the past 74 years.. It's so bad that people are actually buying sweaters and jackets... because the temperature has dipped down to a chilly 25C (77F), and even better, a frigid 21.8C (71 F) at night. (I particularly liked the 21.8 precision on the temperature). It's time to buy some space heaters here!

Can you believe it? It's freezing cold!

This recent article in the Straits Times (Singapore's main paper) detailed the consequences of last weeks cold-spell, to the amusement of nearly everybody else who has lived in the Northern hemisphere.

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, it's coming out of the near absolute zero super-deep freeze at 40F...

P1-P2 Indonesia Break

Life is non-stop at INSEAD.. after finishing my last exam on Weds afternoon, I went straight to the airport to join a bunch of other classmates to travel around the SE asian region, and then returned on Sun afternoon for Monday classes.

One of my classmates, an Indonesian national, was arranging a trip to Jakarta and Jogjakarta, where we could visit some ancient ruins of Hindu and Buddhist temples, as well as get an idea of Indonesian culture. It was a fantastic 4 days. I had previously read so much about Indonesia, mainly negative things in the press, but this trip was a good awakening to what Indonesia was really like. The people were friendly and warm, but you also have to realize that it is still a developing country, and that there is a lot of poverty around you. But in the end, this trip accomplished everything I wanted... to get personal perspective of life in Indonesia, and travel to a new country, explore a new culture and society.

I've posted a set of photos on my Picasa page: http://picasaweb.google.com/kent.x.lee/JogjakartaIndonesiaTrip/ More stories to follow later...

P1 Exams!

Wow - I had forgotten what studying for exams are like. I don't think I've bad actually sit still for more than 3 hours in the past 6 years. And doing that twice. Ok, well, maybe for GMAT..

Things get kinda nutty when you're under stress, studying all weekend, and then doing 2 exams, then studying frantically again for another 2 exams the following day.

Nuttiness #1: I realized Feb 29 was an extra day that we had this year... a once in every 4 year treat. I used it as an extra day for studying... what would I have done without this extra day? I hope everybody else used their extra day for something more exciting

Nuttiness #2: I've been taking showers at night because of the heat, and last night, I found myself shaving after brushing my teeth. Only after shaving did I realize that it wasn't the morning, but it was actually the evening! I'd completely lost track of time, couldn't tell morning from evening. Especially when it all looks the same - get up, go to school, study, go home, sleep. Wash, rinse and repeat.

Well - one more left - statistics! Then it's off that same night to Indonesia with some classmates for our 4 day break. Hope to have some nice pics up when I return..

Signs that I've spent too much time in Singapore..

1. You instinctually start staying to the left when walking
2. Drinking coffee out of a plastic bag and eating rice off a sheet of paper seem normal
3. Your English grammar has gotten worse - you don't conjugate verbs, and end sentences with 'ah'
4. You know you've had a a high-class meal when it comes with napkins.

Things are getting crazy here as we prepare for finals.. in my sleep-deprived state, I start thinking about crazy things like the thoughts above....

Looks like I'm going to France..

We just had our bidding for campus selection.. I originally wanted to return to the US to do the Wharton exchange, but people were really crazy with the bidding, and completely outbid me! For reference, we're given 200 bidding points for class selection.. you had to keep 10 points for certain classes. 35 seats were available, and the marginal winning bid was 185! Completely crazy.. My bid.. a measley 97 points. Yes, that's right, 97, not 95 or 100, 97. Anybody know why I bid exactly 97 points?

So, life changes unexpectedly sometimes.. I didn't consider going to France, but now that I can't go to Wharton (wanted to do more healthcare classes), it seems that the only healthcare classes offered during May-June are in France.

Ironically, I thought S'pore would be cheaper, but given the high cost of rents here (and low cost of living), I think France might be slightly cheaper (low cost of rents, higher costs of living). Hopefully, it'll turn out to be a wash!

Well, let me know if anybody will be in France (or in a 2hr travelling distance) in May-June. I'll return to S'pore from September - December...

Strangest Cravings..

This past week, I've been thinking about things I miss, and sometimes it's the strangest things. I really miss driving. Driving, of all things... I've been walking, taking taxis, buses, subways, but haven't driven for almost 2 months now. Just that feeling of being in control, knowing that I can drive 2 hrs away if I wanted to.

Singapore is a small place, in probably 1 hr, you're already in malaysia. And if you want to stay in the country, it's kinda hard, because it's an island.

The other craving I've had - is a burger! I joined up with the INSEAD foodie club this Friday, since they were going to Botak Jones.. it's "Authentic American taste" stall in a hawker centre! Opened by an American guy who was looking for American-styled foods, they've become franchised and have 3 market segments: the burger one (original Botak Jones), American-style pasta (Spaghetti Jones) and beers (Brewski Jones). Absolutely brilliant - I was joking that if I don't find a job after INSEAD, maybe I could start a chain of Mexican hawker stalls here.... in Singapore, any non-Asian food is grouped into a generic "Western" heading... it's kinda weird, because you'll walk into a hawker centre, and there'll be an Indian, Chinese, Malay, and "Western", which might be pasta, steak, burger, fish&chips, etc.

Anyhow, Botak Jones was totally delicious - I had to demonstrate some American gluttony, so check out what I ordered...my classmates thought I was crazy... (note that's a double-decker cheeseburger with bacon...) Now, where's that Red Robin Royale when I need one...

Happy Chinese New Years! (新年快乐！)


The Chinese New Year holiday has just finished, we had a nice 2 day break from classes, followed by the weekend. It was really nice to be in a Chinese country during CNY, since all I've ever known is the small celebrations that we had as a family back in Ohio. It's really festive here, with banners and lanterns strung all about, and the other races in Singapore (Indians, Malays) also seem to enjoy the holiday.

During the break, we had traditional Lion Dancers come through our complex, including through the hallways of our condo. I was completely shocked! It was fun though, there's this stream of kids following the dancers as they walked throughout the complex, and then during the dance, the kids like to tease or hit the lion in different places.

CNY is also another time when the Istana / Presidential Palace is open to the public, and I went with a group of students to go visit. It's amazingly large, probably one of the most valuable properties in Singapore, because it's near the center of the city, and near the Orchard Rd shopping district. I've actually never noticed it there - the fencing and security is quite thick, and from the road, you would never realize that there was a huge park / governor's mansion set from the road.

Originally built by the British during colonial times, it's funny because - it has a golf course built into the palace greens! How quaint... it seemed so typically British. Maybe they first built the golf course, and thought, "hm, maybe this would make for a nice Governor's house".

Because CNY is such a huge holiday, EVERYTHING shuts down on New Year's day and the day after.. most families go back for their reunion dinners, much like Christmas in the west. My roommates and I decided to stock up on food the night before, and it seemed like everybody in Singapore had the same idea. THe grocery store was almost robbed blind of items like vegetables and meats. So, on Thursday night (CNY day), I finally cooked for the first time since coming to Singapore, mainly because we knew that all the food places would be closed. I seriously cooked up a serious storm. 6 dishes for 6 people. Felt nice to cook, but after everything, I think it's cheaper and more convenient to eat out. No cleaning necessary!

Well - now it's back to the grind for this week.. our schedule is heavier this week due to the 2 missed days for CNY, so "there is no free lunch"....

Two new galleries with CNY photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/kent.x.lee/ChineseNewYears
http://picasaweb.google.com/kent.x.lee/SingaporeIstana

It's done...

Finally, my last step of leaving the US, I finally canceled my Cingular cell phone plan today. It's kinda sad, I've had this number for such a long time, and now it's gone. Of course, the people who would want to get in touch with me can find my new number other ways, but it's just not the same.

I wish there was a way to keep my number, but at $50 x 12 months, my number doesn't mean that much to me.

Worst Haircut Ever

This is in reference to a previous post, Best Haircut Ever, which was the last time I had my haircut done in a foreign country.

I needed a haircut a few weeks ago, and so I decided to go to the market centre of the residential blocks here in Singapore. Singapore is a very small place, and so the government subsidizes these housing estates, large multi-story buildings, where families can buy a flat, but with a 99 year lease from the government. These flats can be bought and sold for money, but they're somewhat subsidized. Back when Singapore was first founded, there was massive problems with homelessness, and the government's approach was to create these housing blocks, which are remarkably efficient. At the center of most housing blocks, there's a traditional wet market, where you can buy fresh groceries like meat, vegetables, fruits, etc, then there's a hawker centre, where you have vendors selling all sorts of cooked foods, and then various "support stores", like a 7-11, a family run shop selling everyday things like toilet paper, soap, etc, a video store, a very basic hardware/electronics store (nothing fancy, mainly just cables, power converters, etc), and hair salons / barber shops. It's remarkably efficient, instead of having to walk/drive/bus to a shopping centre, you walk downstairs and head to the market that's at the center of your housing estate.

So, that brings us to the topic of my haircut. There were 3 places that offered haircuts, and so I went into the one where there wasn't a line. First mistake - because the lady who was there, asked me if I wanted a haircut.... in Chinese. That's when I realized that I knew very few words about haircuts! That was interesting - because most Singaporeans speak some English, but then she was confused whether I was not Chinese, and then I'm trying to speak some Mandarin to make her comfortable, but then she starts using words I don't know. Second mistake - Chinese people believe it's unlucky to have a haircut after Chinese New Years, the theory being something like cutting off your hair after CNY is like cutting off your wealth. Due to this "holiday season" the prices were increased. (not that it was so bad, it went from S$8.90 to $9.90, so about US$7.50.

So, decided to give it a try anyways just to see what would happen. I could only use simple words like "shorter here, flat on this side, don't take too much off, etc". The first round - whoa, not so good. She gave me this Chinese pop star look, where everything is long on the sides - not so good because I like my hair cut a bit closer. Finally after a few rounds, we got to something that looked a bit better, but was probably going to be the closest I'll ever get to my original haircut.... then, finally mistake 3. All I had was a $50 bill, and there was no change in the cashier's box. Completely embarrassed, since there were people now waiting behind me and probably laughing at my broken Mandarin, I had to ask people in line if they could change my $50. Luckily, this old lady was very kind and helped me out. But this lady was a bit crazy - seems like they exist in every culture. She was simply talking to everybody about everything... at first I thought she knew everybody in the shop, but after hearing her tell some things, and people's reactions, I think she was just either crazy or extremely talkative.

In the end, it was definitely a great experience, and although my haircut wasn't the best, it was totally worth it. As they say, the difference between a bad haircut and a good haircut.... is about 2 weeks.

One month - DONE

Can't believe it's been one month since I've left the US... time has gone by so quickly, and it feels like I've learned half a semester's material in such time. We had our first two exams this week. It's definitely stressful trying to study, and keep up with the material in the other classes that don't have exams this week.

But, at least it's done, and now I can spend this weekend catching up with the material that I overlooked this past week. And on the plus side, we have 2 days off for Chinese New Year's here. Nearly half of the class is planning to travel overseas of CNY, but I'm staying, since CNY in a Chinese-majority country would be an interesting experience for me.. my only experience is the small family dinners we had when I was growing up.

My roommate had his birthday this week, and so we threw a little surprise party for him, complete with a little cake. Check out the size of this cake relative to our kitchen table!!

Bak Gwa (aka Rou Gan aka Chinese Jerky)


Photo from SingapuraDailyPhoto.blogspot.com

Chinese people just love eating pork, and now that it's closer to Chinese New Year, people are going crazy for Bak Kwa, a special type of grilled pork jerky. It's really delicious stuff, but you can see how healthy it is for you, especially after you take each piece out of a greased wax paper wrapper.

The Daily Singapura Makan blog posted a great article about this very topic today, and I can completely identify with it. When my parents were here a few weekends ago, they gave me a bag full of this, and it lasted less than 2 days. I was snacking on it for breakfast, after dinner, midnight snack, anytime. Yum!

But how does this relate to INSEAD, you ask? Well, you know you've been studying when you start to apply economic principles to everyday things like bak kwa. This past Sunday's newspaper mentioned how bak kwa prices have suddenly skyrocketed around Chinese New Years, from around $20 / kilo to around $30-40/kilo. Sure, so nobody really buys a kilo for themselves, but it's a common gift. Our take on this phenomenon? The demand for bak kwa is fairly inelastic, people are willing to pay almost anything to buy this for CNY. And, what happens when prices suddenly increase in a market? It starts to attract new entrants.. and the Sunday paper even mentioned an economist from Morgan Stanley in Singapore, who said that NTUC (a local grocery store brand) should start supplying a private label bak kwa product because the bak kwa industry was dominated by 2 players who had complete control over pricing. Ok - only in Singapore would a MS economist comment about the economics of food!

Ok, guess that makes me a bak kwa / economics nerd, but I found it really interesting..

btw: Lim Chee Guanj is pretty good! I like the chili pork.. but be ready to stand in line (or queue as they say here)

Awesome!!

I passed my spoken Mandarin test!! The teacher administering the test was very nice, and funny too. We chatted about my favorite topics - travel, cooking, and food. Seems like most Singaporeans like talking about these things too...

What? It's Wednesday already?

Time flies here.. I have a Mandarin exam tomorrow, then Economics on Thurs, then Finance on Friday. Definitely will be a busy week. I don't know how people who are taking their language classes right now deal with the work - because it's already a lot without having to learn a new language.

INSEAD prides itself on its internationalism, how its graduates speak 3 languages at graduation. For me, English is native, then I chose Dutch as my second language. Yes, that's right, Dutch., and from my previous post, I amazingly passed the Dutch exam back in May. For my 3rd language (Chinese) I had to pass an exemption exam. The exemption exam was ridiculous, because it essentially tested all levels, all the way up to fluency. I could answer the multiple choice "pick the right word" questions, but had a hard time with the reading passages and essay writing. So, I didn't pass, nor did I fail. It was a written test, and I scored a 45, which puts me in the bucket for a spoken exam. So, there's not much preparation I can do for a spoken exam, so I hope it all goes well on Weds morning.

If this doesn't work - I might try to take the Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi test later, which I hear is easier, and there's no essay writing. Otherwise, might try then showing basic ability in German. I'm doing anything I can to avoid having to take these language classes! Don't have time nor money!!

Time to sleep - I think it'll be the first time during a schoolnight that I had > 6 hrs sleep..

Phone Numbers and Numerology

Numbers carry a lot of meaning in Chinese culture, and it even extends to everyday things. Here are two examples

Unlucky 4
Few weeks ago, I purchased a prepaid phone card for my cell phone. We went to Holland Village (the expat area I mentioned earlier) to buy these cards, and you can choose which phone number you want. I noticed a trend in the numbers.... they all had a 4 in them. In Chinese, the word for 4 sounds exactly like the word for death, and thus 4 is an unlucky number. It seemed like all the remaining phonecards had numbers that nobody wanted.

Even though I'm not superstitious about the numbers, I thought I should try to avoid numbers with "4" in it, you know, just in case. My roommates, however, did not know about this superstition, and one has the rather un-auspicious number of 9044-3774. That's three 4's!! My number, on the otherhand, was 9471 5836... 8 is considered a "lucky" number, and hopefully balances out the other "4"

Lucky 8
Now that Chinese new year is coming, there's lots of sales and advertisements for buying things, and since 8 is such an auspicious number, you'll see all these ads like "Buy a new washing machine, only $888, or a new computer for $1188, or win a chance to earn $888 if you deposit $88 dollars for the next 8 months. The list goes on.....

Busy Busy Busy

It's been really busy over here. We have readings every day, as well as exercise problems, but the issue is that you have these segments of time between classes, and any moment of downtime needs to be efficiently used to prepare for tomorrow's work. Definitely a different style of studying for me, because you need to stay at least 1-2 days ahead. It's almost like the game Whack-A-Mole, you get one thing done, but more work pops up! As one of my friends said, and it's pretty much become our motto in the apartment, "What's the reward for good work? More work!".

On the other hand, I'm glad I have roommates that are serious about studying... I think we're definitely in the minority. Everybody else is out drinking, socializing and travelling within asia. Seriously, what's up with that? Over half of my section is going to Indonesia this weekend, and we have 2 group assignments due on Tuesday... I think Monday is going to suck. =(

Ok, back to breakfast and time to go for class...

The Economist

Yay! It's nice to get back to old habits... I had a subscription to the Economist (actually has nothing to do with Economics, but more of an international news magazine) back in MN, and still had 6 months left on the subscription before I left MN. I didn't have high expectations that I would be able to transfer the subscription to Singapore, but sure enough, I received my first issue today! Good thing I had an existing subscription from the US - each issue here on the newsstand costs S$12, or about US$9!!

yay! Now I have something to read while I'm on the toilet.... =P

Career Day

This past weekend, I was walking through Raffles City (a mall connected to the MRT system) with my parents. At the MRT entrance, there was a guy with a sandwich board marked JobsDB.com, and he was handing out flyers on how to get your ideal job. The ironic thought that first thought that came to my mind was "Does this guy really think that wearing a sandwich board and handing out flyers for JobsDB.com was his ideal job?"

At INSEAD, we're told to start thinking about careers from the very beginning. Unlike the US schools, I don't think the career office is very strong, and at today's summer internship program, I think nearly 20-30% of summer internship positions are found using the student's own personal networks. For myself, I'm noticing an interesting trend. In the beginning, I was interested in banking, consulting, or returning back to industry. As reality sets in, you really quickly start to close off possibilities after hearing what the lifestyles are like. Banking sounded really glamourous, but when you hear what people do (ie, work 20 hr days), or what happens to their lives (disrupted relationships, substance addiction, etc), banking loses it luster fairly quickly. Consulting seemed OK, but I'm not sure if I'm at the point where I want to put in so much travel and time away. That brings me back to my original industry...

A few days ago, we had career day, and the career counselors had this interesting approach for people to find their ideal job, through some introspection, matching interests with strengths, etc. All very elaborate stuff, and a bit ironic because the MBA essays ask you to have a clear idea of what you'd like to do after your degree. But it seemed to me that many of the people in that auditorium did not know what they wanted to do! (despite their essays). My roommates and I walked out midway, because it was a pointless exercise. I wanted to return to healthcare, my roommates wanted to return to consulting. Probably the most interesting things I took from that session was that

1. Most MBAs are career switchers and don't know what they want to do.
2. You quickly narrow down on what you want to do, mainly because you don't have enough time to look into everything (esp with our classload)
3. There are some good techniques for trading off one preference against an another, and this is probably more useful in product development when trying to choose what features to put into a product. Essentially, you randomly list a series of preferences. Then, you compare 1 vs 2, 1 vs 3, 1 vs 4, .... 1 vs n. Then you do the same for 2 vs 3, 2 vs 4, 2 vs 5, 2 vs n. By the end, you count the number of times each number is circled.. the one with the largest count is the "first" priority, etc. Wonder if market research teams use this?

Overall, I guess I only learned one thing from career day: I should go back to healthcare and that I learned a new trick that could be useful in product development.

For a future note: I'll start to post more pictures of my breakfast / dinners, so all of you can be salivating with jealousy. =D

Little India

Today's entry starts with a little joke from our operations manager here at INSEAD..

"There's a large Indian population in Singapore, many were born here, but many are also guest workers. We have a lot of Indian professors and students here at INSEAD. (KL's note: there are a total of 57 Indians in the entire program between France and S'pore, making them the largest single national group.) So, be careful when you ask a taxi driver to take you to Little India .... they might bring you to INSEAD instead!"

My parents were here in Singapore this past weekend, they flew in from Taiwan, visited here a few days, and they're currently in Malaysia. On Sunday, my mom wanted to go to Little India, so we took a taxi instead of the MRT, because it looked like it was going to rain. There was a HUGE traffic jam once we approached Little India, and the taxi driver told us we should have taken the MRT and it's always crazy in Little India on Sundays. I honestly felt like half of subcontinental Asia was packed in Little India that night. There are millions (?) of imported Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Sri Lankan laborers in Singapore who work in the infrastructure projects here, and they all have Sunday off, and they just spend time roaming around in Little India. I've seriously never seen so many people, and especially for Singapore, such flagrant violation of traffic patterns... these huge groups of people would jam up the streets. It was like driving through a sea of people. After dinner, my parents and I walked around in Little India, and it was an amazing sight - all these people walking around, crazily buying up cheap goods (clothings, etc), and there was even once place where an Indian guy was quickly running a foot-pump sewing machine, tailoring the clothes right on the spot. Not too far away, SingTel was selling prepaid SIM cards like crazy, and it looked like these laborers had never used or bought a SIM card before. I wish I had a photo to explain just how many workers there were! It is interesting to think about the perception of expats in Singapore - not only do you have the highly educated expats, working for international companies, there are also sub-continental expats who come here for the manual labor, and then return to their home countries aftewards.... making me realize that not all the "immigrants" to Singapore are of the same class, but all of them, hopefully, are finding better jobs/careers than what they have at home..

Week 1 - all done

I've never been so busy! Completed my first week on Saturday (yes, Saturday) because we had classes on Saturday. That was rough, going 8:30 - 5:30, and although that seems like my normal work hours at home, I was mentally exhausted at the end of the day. This whole week feels like two weeks compressed into one. First I had all these exams (language and statistics exemption), so studying for that was stressful.. but hopefully I'll have passed the language test. The stats one... on the other hand... I had a poor showing. Yes, I know, I should have done better, at one point, I knew how to do the problems, but I couodn't remember the steps. Oh well - at least that class should be a guaranteed A

The one thing I've realized here is that you quickly need to prioritize and make choices. Bain (one of the large consulting companies) was doing a party for all the new students.. I was considering consulting as an option, but then, my parents were here at the same time, and I had been very focused on VC. You just have to make a step, choose, and be happy with it. these past few days, I've been thinking about the choices I've made (whether to do one thing or another, whether to go to one info session or not, etc), and hoped it was the right one. Never before has making a choice become so ... important, especially when each choice you make will set you along a particular path / career....

Training Day...

Wow - what a whirlwind first day. Had registration, meeting with our section (we're divided into two sections, and then multiple groups within each section), and even each section is designed to be multi-national. I have a German, Indian, Italian and one other guy in my team.

I've really realized how lucky I am to have grown up in a ENglish speaking environment. Everybody spoke English very fluently, much unlike my experience at CWRU.. These guys must have worked hard to improve their language to a level to be very functional.

I think it's going to be a fast paced year here - I can already tell that some people are very competitive.. and there are others that are laid back. I've been fortunate to have 2 roommate with similar mentalities (laid back, but serious), as well as thrifty. There are definitely party types too - what can you expect from an MBA program??

Holland Village

Walked more around my area today, and found Holland Village, basically an expat (ie, foreigners working in Singapore) area. It's a bit strange though, because it reminded of most ethnic enclaves in the US. You know how we have Chinatown in the US, where there's a bunch of asian stores, and asian people living near by? Well, think of Holland Village as a "Western" town, where you can get all your international groceries (cheese, hams., sausages, pastas, things you won't find in the domestic stores), as well as Western restaurants, in a compact trendy location .... filled with Westerners. I even saw a Mexican place there too - although I can't imagine many Mexicans immigrate to Singapore. Maybe it's more Tex-Mex?

After being so used to Chinatown, Little India, Little Mexico towns in the US, it's so strange to see something like this... it's definitely a nice area though, I'll be meeting up with my cousin's friend for dinner there tonight, so we'll see what it's like.

I'm in heaven, and what a small world..

Small World
Today was my first day in Singapore, and I was walking around, exploring the MRT station nearby my apartment. While in the station, I heard a guy yelling "Kent! Kent!". I turned at first, but didn't quite know if he was yelling at me or the group behind me. (Ken/Kent in my experience, is a common name for Asians) Then as this guy comes up, I realize it's my cousin's Singaporean friend from Northwestern University! We had met the previous year, and he had been helping me out with some details. What are the odds? Apparently he was on the way to work, and saw me, thinking I looked familiar. What are the odds? Of this little place, my first day, I happen to run into one of the few Singaporeans that I know from the US?

I'm in heaven...
Oh my gosh, I better not gain weight while I'm here. There's two hawker centres right next to my apartment. Should be super-convienient for lu. here's what I had so far...note S$1 = US$0.75

Breakfast
Nasi Lemak (S$2)
Iced Milk Tea (S$1)

Lunch
Spicy Sambal Fried Rice with Egg (S$4) - this was a huge portion, so I'm saving half for tomorrow

Who knows what dinner will bring? I've been craving a roti prata, but that might have to wait until tomorrow...

Goodbye St. Paul, Hello Singapore


These last few weeks have been completely a blur, from trying to pack up all my things, studying for my Chinese exam, and doing all the pre-reading during the Christmas break. Just seemed like a couple of hours ago, I was at the airport, and now here I am, 6am, writing a blog entry in Singapore because I can't sleep.

Travel here was crazy. There was a snowstorm that went through the Detroit area, so my connecting flight into Detroit was diverted to Saginaw (small airport with only 4 gates!) because they were plowing the runways in DTW. From there, we waited without any information about what would happen next, but within about 30 minutes, they had us departing again for Detroit. I was so worried that I would miss my connection to Tokyo, but the timing was perfect. What was originally a 3 hour layover in Detroit turned out to be more like 20 minutes. Too bad - I didn't get a chance to go to one of my favorite Japanese restaurants (Sora) in the main terminal.

Then, the flight from Detroit left 1 hr late due to de-icing, and waiting for other connecting passengers. THat meant we were also late coming into Tokyo, which gave me a close connection to Singapore. By the time I arrived at the gate in Singapore, most of the plane was already boarded.

Then, finally made it to Singapore - but more problems! Turns out that the rental agency forgot to leave the keys to my unit at the guard desk, despite my email clearly giving my arrival time. The guards were really helpful, called up the agents, and they were able to put me in another unit (un-occupied) until the morning, where I'll get my keys from the agent.

So, we'll see what happens from here, hopefully this is not a sign of future problems.

On the plus side, the flat is REALLY NICE. Maybe a bit too nice -I'll need to find something cheaper for the 2nd half of the year...

Welcome to Singapore...

Great article in the Wall Street Journal this week about personal space and different customs in the business context. Here's a link and a brief excerpt...

Touchy Subject: Doing Business Where Hugs Replace Handshakes

When to hug, shake hands or cheek-kiss?

"When the first person kissed me on the cheek I was with another colleague from the U.S. and we looked at each other and we thought 'hey this is great,'" he said. "I remember it vividly."

Mr. White says he was particularly surprised by the gesture because it came from a woman. She gave him a peck on each cheek as she shook his hand. That encounter, contrasting with the harsh realities of the financial crisis his colleagues were facing, was Mr. White's first taste of the physical warmth typical to Brazilian business interactions.

For a traveler most familiar with the arms-length, lawsuit-wary corporate environment in the U.S., physical contact in the workplace will seem unfamiliar at best. But Brazilians are comfortable with contact; the issue isn't one of personal space or propriety for them. Instead, touching has to do with trust.

This was a timely article, as I was thinking about my going away party, and wondered to myself what's the best way to express my thanks to my friends and co-workers? A handshake? Seems too formal and sterile. A hug? My preferred option, but after doing my GTMS training, that could be grounds for sexual harrassment. It's too bad that simple expressions of gratitude can be so difficult in today...

I was reminded of my time in Belgium, where I remember my first experience of having to say goodbye to a Belgian co-worker who was leaving the company. Everybody lined up and they were giving her this two-cheek kiss, as is typical in Europe. When it was my turn, like a good awkward American, I stuck out my hand to shake her hand and said "good luck!"... to which she instructed, "No, first, the left cheek, then the right cheek". Lesson learned.

I hope there's a time in the US where greetings and expressions of thanks are no longer associated with legal risk.

Swag and fairness

You all probably know what swag is, if not, it's the small little trinkets that you get at recruiting fairs, like little pens, slinkies, plastic toys, (or in my company's case, plastic hearts) all printed with a company's logo on it. Stuff that's totally cool when you see it on the recruiting fair table, but totally useless once you get back to your dorm (or office). Stuff that's likely made overseas for pennies, and sold back here to college students and trinket collectors, who probably throw the stuff out anyways.

There's this law firm that we work with for our patents, and in the past, once our patents applications have been submitted, they send us a $5 amazon gift certificate for our work. Only $5! I've always had mixed feelings about this, because we put in a lot of work for these applications, I'm sure the company pays a lot of money for these applications, but for all of our work, we get a $5 gift certificate. Since this reward is so small for the amount of effort, I feel like it's an insult and would rather that they'd keep the money. (or maybe discount the company's price by $5). But on the other hand, I also realize it's a free $5.

Recently, I read an article in the Economist about some neuroscience researchers who looked at very similar behaviour in monkeys. (See link to the original Nature article) These monkeys prefer eating grapes over cucumbers. In this study, they had monkeys performing a certain task. Half of the group was given grapes as a reward for completing the task, the other half were given cucumbers. When the cucumber group saw that grapes were being given to their colleagues, they refused to perform the task and refused to accept the award. Sound familiar? It's almost like the monkeys had a similar feeling that I did when I received the $5 gift certificate, the reward is simply not up to par with the work, and they'd rather receive nothing than an insulting reward. (Link to the article in the Economist)

How does this two seemingly separate topics (swag and fairness) relate to each other? A few days ago, I received two packages (year-end gifts?) from this particular law firm... one was a nice hardback book, and another was a hand-crank radio/light/survival kit. The radio was definitely some very nice swag, definitely worth more than the $5 gift certificates and it made me think: are they trying to earn favor with us? Or is it simply a gift?

INSEAD - Almost there!

So, long time without posts. It's been a busy summer.. first I received notification on July 31st that I was accepted for interviews at INSEAD. Unfortunately, I didn't have to go to Singapore or France to interview. Then, two weeks later, I receive notice from the Dutch test people that I've passed! (or something like that). In their words, Wij zijn blij u te kunnen meedelen dat u geslaagd bent voor het Certificaat Nederlands als Vreemde Taal.... YAY!

Definitely lots of progress these past few weeks. Still have one more interview to go, and then final notification by Aug 31.... keep those fingers crossed!