8. I have a roll of toilet paper in my purse just in case there is none in the bathroom. I did have to drip dry a few times yesterday and monday...not a fan!!
9. They have funky toilets (picture coming soon). They also have some regular toilets, but not as fancy painted as the one my friend Natasha blogged about.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Just a few things I have learned about Malaysia
1. McDonald’s delivers!!
2. There is no high fructose corn syrup in the cokes
3. We have a thief in our office (we are pretty sure it’s the cleaning man. What cleaning person cleans an office while people are here? A stealing one!)
4. They have sea cucumbers that have spiky things on them and one of the guys from the Dublin office stepped on one last weekend at their island vacation. A witch doctor from the jungle just happened to be around and happen to have a safety pin and got the spikes out. I wasn’t there for all of this (but on a plane) so I just have second-hand information. But they have been making fun of Peter saying he was attacked by a vegetable!! HAHA
5. They have toilet paper for paper towels.
6. The motor bike drivers wear their jackets backwards. It’s actually pretty genius because their jackets don't poof out from the wind.
7. Monkeys are common (video to come) and at the zoo here they have squirrels and North American white tail deer as exotic animals. I haven’t been to the zoo yet, but I plan to go!
I’m sure I will learn many more things about Malaysia, but this is a good starting out list!
2. There is no high fructose corn syrup in the cokes
3. We have a thief in our office (we are pretty sure it’s the cleaning man. What cleaning person cleans an office while people are here? A stealing one!)
4. They have sea cucumbers that have spiky things on them and one of the guys from the Dublin office stepped on one last weekend at their island vacation. A witch doctor from the jungle just happened to be around and happen to have a safety pin and got the spikes out. I wasn’t there for all of this (but on a plane) so I just have second-hand information. But they have been making fun of Peter saying he was attacked by a vegetable!! HAHA
5. They have toilet paper for paper towels.
6. The motor bike drivers wear their jackets backwards. It’s actually pretty genius because their jackets don't poof out from the wind.
7. Monkeys are common (video to come) and at the zoo here they have squirrels and North American white tail deer as exotic animals. I haven’t been to the zoo yet, but I plan to go!
I’m sure I will learn many more things about Malaysia, but this is a good starting out list!
Monday, August 30, 2010
A few Updates
So on the last blog I said there was (I think) another movie I watched and there was. It was The Last Song with Miley Cyrus. I'll tell you right now that that girl makes some horrible faces. I'm not a huge fan of her, but that movie was pretty good. Well, except also that I do love "Party in the USA" what can I say!
Also, the big temple picture is the Taj Ma-hall. I guess I'm a big fat idiot and need to go back to school or something. I'm sure it said what it was on the picture, but I just didn't read it. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you know what it is too, just in case you had a hmm hmm (clear throat) brain fart hmm hmm like me and really knew what it was the whole time right?!
Also, the big temple picture is the Taj Ma-hall. I guess I'm a big fat idiot and need to go back to school or something. I'm sure it said what it was on the picture, but I just didn't read it. Anyway, just wanted to make sure you know what it is too, just in case you had a hmm hmm (clear throat) brain fart hmm hmm like me and really knew what it was the whole time right?!
Here are the details!
Ok so do you want a step-by-step of my travels?
Well, here it is…(this is going to be pretty lengthy so you can just scan if you want. No hard feelings)
Friday August 27, 2010
I arrived at the airport at about 2:15 to check-in and find my gate. We weren’t sure which carry-on I was going to be able to take because of size, so we packed one full of stuff and then when we got there we realized it was too big. Luckily we brought the spare and my sister moved everything over to it while I was checking in.
When the company bought our (there is another guy that is staying the 6 months as well) tickets, we booked our return flight for 6 months. However, when he showed up at the airport the Friday before I left he was not able to go because in order to stay that long in Malaysia you have to have a visa. He had to get his fight changed to reflect that he was leaving in 3 months instead. Don’t worry he flew out the next day and everything was good.
So, when I was checking in I had no worries that I would be just fine to get a boarding pass with my 3 month return flight. But the lady that was helping me told me that I needed a visa. I was very calm and just said politely that I don’t think I need one. She was kind of nasty at first, but after she went and got a co-worker to help her search again she came back and was very friendly and said that she was sorry for before. See what being calm and polite can get you. She didn’t even charge me for the one extra pound for my suitcase. I checked my computer (I put it in its original box with its original wrapping) and I was really nervous about it, but from what I gathered it was going to cost $700 to get it shipped over here so I was interested in another option. The lady at the counter said “whew this is going to be expensive.” I said “Ok, how much?” Then when she said $117 I said, “DO IT!” I was nervous the whole time, but I talked to my dad beforehand and we have insurance so if it broke or anything like that I would be ok. It would only be bad if I lost it.
I said my good-byes (on tape ;)) and then headed through security. I made it through security with flying colors and headed to my gate. My family was waiting at a glass waiting room when I walked by so I got one more wave and then I was off. I got to my gate pretty early so I made some phone calls and just sat around.
The first flight: Nashville to Chicago (1 hr 40 min)
The flight started boarding sometime before 4. I had one duffle bag and one roller suitcase as my carry-ons. The roller bag had to be put under the plane for this flight because it was too big. But in this case they take it from you right before you board the plane and then you can pick it up in the same spot right when you get off so it’s kind of like having it with you. If I would have known that I would have kept my cuter bag as my carry-on :).
I got a window seat with nobody sitting next to me (quite nice). I thought this would be the most packed flight, but I guess I was wrong. It was a one aisle plane with 2 seats on the left side and one seat on the right side. The flight was only about an hour or so. Short and sweet.
Before I got off the plane the flight attendant came around and asked if you had a connecting flight. Thank goodness because I was nervous about that. I called Gary to make sure that I didn’t need to claim my bags and check them again (just to be sure). He assured me I didn’t. I found my next gate and felt pretty good about it all. Then, as I was sitting there I realized people were going to the counter (good thing I was facing it) so I thought maybe I am supposed to go up there because the first boarding pass did not say anything about the rest of my journey. Correcto I was!! I received my boarding pass for the flight from…
The second flight: Chicago to Delhi, India (14 hrs 31 min)
We boarded the flight at about 7pm. As I was walking down the aisle I was praying that A. I had a window seat and B. I was not sitting beside someone who might have some bad body odor. Well, this is what I got…an aisle seat (yay) and beside an Indian man who currently lives in the states so no odor coming from him (yay). There was no window seat in my future for this flight because they were all taken (boo). This flight was scheduled to take a little over 14hours and I wasn’t sure how that was going to be. I talked to my Aunt Karen while I was in the Chicago airport and she told me that I would have my own individual TV and should be able to watch whatever movie I wanted to. She said she hoped she wasn’t lying and that was true because honestly I was really looking forward to that. Guess what!! She wasn’t lying!! YAA HOO!! I watched Date Night, Post Grad, Some of Iron Man 2 and Shrek Ever After. I feel like there might have been another movie, but alas my mind is blank! I am guessing that I slept a lot on this flight because it didn’t seem like it was that long. However, it could be because I watched a lot of movies, ate 2 meals, slept, and read. I was pretty busy! We were served dinner on the flight pretty quickly. It was chicken and pasta, vegetables, yogurt and some sort of fruit square thing (I don’t really know if the yogurt and fruit square went together, but I ate them together. I kept trying to peak at the guy next to me and see how he was eating it because I’m not a huge fan of just plain yogurt. You know now that I think about it I’m not really sure what the square object was, but it was sweet and made the yogurt taste better, so fruit it is). Then right after we ate our dinner they gave us a bag of goodies, which contained some chips, raisins, a wrap, crackers, water, cream cheese (not really sure what for), and maybe something else that I can’t remember. I only ate the chips and wrap and drank the water so I’m kind of blank on what all was in there. Then after we slept for a while we were served breakfast. It was really good with a cheese omelet, hash brown potatoes (and yes there was ketchup, but I was still on American Airlines…I was told that they don’t have ketchup here, but chili sauce that looks and is treated like ketchup) and once again plain yogurt. I didn’t eat it this time because there was no fruit square with it. Our flight landed in Delhi at about 8:30pm (Saturday night India time, which is 2 and a half hours behind Malaysia time - 11pm Saturday night, and that is 13 hours ahead of US Time – 10am Saturday morning). I’m getting really good at this time game thing. They gave out immigration cards on the flight, but since I had a connecting flight I did not fill one out, which I was hoping was correct (they ran out anyway, so I would have had to get one when I got off).
Once we exited the plane a lady was standing there handing out the cards and since nobody on the flight told me about a connecting flight I asked her if she had any info. Good thing I did because she told me to stand there with her (and 2 other scared-looking Americans). So, I did just that and watched everyone else leave the flight smiling and laughing while we were standing there scared to death at what was about to happen. So, we followed her to a cluster of seats with a glass wall behind and there was a security guard there checking people’s badges and such as they walked over to our side. She took my passport and info to a little desk and as we were sitting there me and the other 2 Americans were talking about how weird everything was and how we were so confused. I had to be taken care of first because my flight was leaving at 11 and there’s weren’t leaving until 1am and 6am. Thank goodness I didn’t have crazy layovers like that! The lady then led me through the glass doors to the lines for the airlines and I was flying Malaysian air. There was no line there so the lady went straight up to the guy and gave him all of our (me and another guy she was helping) info (also these people weren’t overly nice at this airport by the way. Just a side note). She finished with whatever she was doing and then she told us that we might not get our checked baggage on the flight with us, but if that happens it will be there tomorrow. This made me extremely nervous!!!!!!!!!! My computer!!! So, I was a little freaked out, but once again stayed calm and polite. There was another guy from my flight that was also going to KL and he jumped in front of me to get his boarding pass, which is ok with me because I kind of watched him to know what I needed to do. I noticed that he had these little strips for his checked baggage. I didn’t have that but I had my receipt that the lady told me to give them to make sure that they knew that I had payed for all of the fees. However, that is not what they wanted. So, there I am in the Delhi airport with my duffle bag wide open searching for these little slips I was supposed to get all the way back in Nashville. I stand up several times and say I was never given those and they look at me like well…so back to the bag I go in a frantic racking of my brain as to where I could have put them IF I even got them. That lady was so nice surely she wouldn’t forget to give me something so important right?? Then the savior of the night (a man standing beside me watching all of this take place) shows me what it looks like (his aren’t slips, but a little thing with a barcode stapled to his boarding pass) and then he sees where they put mine :). They were stuck (they were stickers) to my original boarding pass holder! Whew that was close! I received my boarding pass and then I was off through the trillion security check points. Man does India really make sure you are supposed to be there. I’m not sure that I remember this, but I had just gotten off a long flight and I was little crazy from the baggage experience I just had, but one of the other guys who is here (Frank – he is a solutions guy from North Carolina) said that the India airport that he landed in, the security guys had machine guns (scary). I got frisked, checked, and re-checked, but I don’t really remember any machine guns. Then I was off to board to my next flight…
The third flight: Delhi to Kuala Lumpur (5 hrs 41 min)
I tried to hurry to this gate because when I got my boarding pass he said if you aren’t at the gate by 10:30 you cannot board. So, I went straight there and waited. I was blessed that none of my overlays were more than an hour an a half because once I finally made it to the gates I really didn’t have that long to wait. The guy that checked me in gave me an aisle seat. I really wanted a window seat, but I guess there weren’t any of those left. Once again as I was boarding I was praying I would have an odor free flight. There was a pretty long walk to the terminal and there was a man that, once again, checked your passport, and another that checked your carry-ons. We received some paper straps to put on our bags and then they were stamped at security. I kept checking mine because one of mine had fallen off when I was on the escalator. That’s a good thing because the girl in front of me lost hers and she had to “step to the side.” Thank goodness I was a little paranoid about that huh?! Once I was on I spotted some window seats that were unoccupied and I prayed that nobody was sitting there so I could move. God said “No” to that request. He answers our prayers, but sometimes they aren’t what we want right?
There were a few things on this flight that got on my nerves…
1. A screaming baby behind me in the next cabin area
2. A man that would make a loud sucking noise on his teeth after he ate that was diagonally behind me
3. No American music
4. The movie that they showed was on a TV that flipped down from the top of the plane and I could only see the screen if I sat straight up
5. The movie was some kind of foreign film about a guy who was a nanny for this woman’s little girl and they would switch back and forth from their local language and English, so sometimes it was hard to follow.
6. The food was not as good (I’m just not a big fan of curry).
There were a few things that I did like though…
1. There was more space on the Malaysian airlines than American Airlines.
2. The seats were colorful!
3. I fell asleep with my headphones on (during the foreign film) and I woke up and GLEE was on!!! I love that show!!
4. The flight attendants were very very nice!!
We received a card to fill out before we got off the flight (I guess it was like an immigration card). One of the things we were supposed to fill out was the address of the place we were staying. I wasn’t sure of the address, so I left that part blank hoping they would know of place (Gardens Hotel, Mega Mall is all I could remember from my co-workers emails).
We got off the flight and I was just following the crowd blindly. We got to a place where we had to give them those cards (she didn't even ask for the address) and our passport and that’s when they stamped my passport! What a memory! I should have taken a picture. Then I went to search for my bags. The nerves came back about my bags not making it. I waited around for a while at the conveyer belt thing and there were several bags there, but not mine. So, once the bags stopped coming up and I had watched the same bags pass by several times, I found a man that worked there and asked him what I should do. He took my bag tags and got on his little walkie-talkie and with the language barrier we were having a little bit of a hard time understanding each other. Essentially he wanted me to wait a couple more minutes. And then, there it was MY COMPUTER!!! The bottom of the box was open and there was a rope tied around it to keep it in, but it was there! Then next was my suitcase! Shew life is good!!
I grabbed my bags and headed to find the taxi place. I was told that they have taxi’s that they call limos that are no different from any other car they are just really expensive (75 USD). I made sure that I asked for the budget car, which cost me about 25 USD. I then found the bank place to exchange my USD to MR. I had $90 in cash at that point and I recieved 275MR. I found my taxi man and off we went. The scenes were pretty nice. It kind of looks like Florida with palm trees everywhere. The ride to the hotel was about 20-30 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tip the taxi driver (I didn’t). However, I did tip the bell hop. He was extremely nice and helpful so I tipped him 10 MR which is equivalent to about $3. I felt like I was cheating him, but I didn’t want to give him too much right? I have since found out that we do not tip EVER!!! Supposedly they add taxes and service fees to everything.
August 29, 2010 I arrive in Malaysia for my 6 month adventure!
Well, I know this is long and not really that exciting, but I wanted to write it all down while it was pretty fresh on my mind.
For those of you who suffered through it I hope you were able to stay awake!
Love from Malaysia!
Well, here it is…(this is going to be pretty lengthy so you can just scan if you want. No hard feelings)
Friday August 27, 2010
I arrived at the airport at about 2:15 to check-in and find my gate. We weren’t sure which carry-on I was going to be able to take because of size, so we packed one full of stuff and then when we got there we realized it was too big. Luckily we brought the spare and my sister moved everything over to it while I was checking in.
When the company bought our (there is another guy that is staying the 6 months as well) tickets, we booked our return flight for 6 months. However, when he showed up at the airport the Friday before I left he was not able to go because in order to stay that long in Malaysia you have to have a visa. He had to get his fight changed to reflect that he was leaving in 3 months instead. Don’t worry he flew out the next day and everything was good.
So, when I was checking in I had no worries that I would be just fine to get a boarding pass with my 3 month return flight. But the lady that was helping me told me that I needed a visa. I was very calm and just said politely that I don’t think I need one. She was kind of nasty at first, but after she went and got a co-worker to help her search again she came back and was very friendly and said that she was sorry for before. See what being calm and polite can get you. She didn’t even charge me for the one extra pound for my suitcase. I checked my computer (I put it in its original box with its original wrapping) and I was really nervous about it, but from what I gathered it was going to cost $700 to get it shipped over here so I was interested in another option. The lady at the counter said “whew this is going to be expensive.” I said “Ok, how much?” Then when she said $117 I said, “DO IT!” I was nervous the whole time, but I talked to my dad beforehand and we have insurance so if it broke or anything like that I would be ok. It would only be bad if I lost it.
I said my good-byes (on tape ;)) and then headed through security. I made it through security with flying colors and headed to my gate. My family was waiting at a glass waiting room when I walked by so I got one more wave and then I was off. I got to my gate pretty early so I made some phone calls and just sat around.
The first flight: Nashville to Chicago (1 hr 40 min)
The flight started boarding sometime before 4. I had one duffle bag and one roller suitcase as my carry-ons. The roller bag had to be put under the plane for this flight because it was too big. But in this case they take it from you right before you board the plane and then you can pick it up in the same spot right when you get off so it’s kind of like having it with you. If I would have known that I would have kept my cuter bag as my carry-on :).
I got a window seat with nobody sitting next to me (quite nice). I thought this would be the most packed flight, but I guess I was wrong. It was a one aisle plane with 2 seats on the left side and one seat on the right side. The flight was only about an hour or so. Short and sweet.
Before I got off the plane the flight attendant came around and asked if you had a connecting flight. Thank goodness because I was nervous about that. I called Gary to make sure that I didn’t need to claim my bags and check them again (just to be sure). He assured me I didn’t. I found my next gate and felt pretty good about it all. Then, as I was sitting there I realized people were going to the counter (good thing I was facing it) so I thought maybe I am supposed to go up there because the first boarding pass did not say anything about the rest of my journey. Correcto I was!! I received my boarding pass for the flight from…
I decided to add some pictures, because words can get pretty boring!
The Chi-town airport
We boarded the flight at about 7pm. As I was walking down the aisle I was praying that A. I had a window seat and B. I was not sitting beside someone who might have some bad body odor. Well, this is what I got…an aisle seat (yay) and beside an Indian man who currently lives in the states so no odor coming from him (yay). There was no window seat in my future for this flight because they were all taken (boo). This flight was scheduled to take a little over 14hours and I wasn’t sure how that was going to be. I talked to my Aunt Karen while I was in the Chicago airport and she told me that I would have my own individual TV and should be able to watch whatever movie I wanted to. She said she hoped she wasn’t lying and that was true because honestly I was really looking forward to that. Guess what!! She wasn’t lying!! YAA HOO!! I watched Date Night, Post Grad, Some of Iron Man 2 and Shrek Ever After. I feel like there might have been another movie, but alas my mind is blank! I am guessing that I slept a lot on this flight because it didn’t seem like it was that long. However, it could be because I watched a lot of movies, ate 2 meals, slept, and read. I was pretty busy! We were served dinner on the flight pretty quickly. It was chicken and pasta, vegetables, yogurt and some sort of fruit square thing (I don’t really know if the yogurt and fruit square went together, but I ate them together. I kept trying to peak at the guy next to me and see how he was eating it because I’m not a huge fan of just plain yogurt. You know now that I think about it I’m not really sure what the square object was, but it was sweet and made the yogurt taste better, so fruit it is). Then right after we ate our dinner they gave us a bag of goodies, which contained some chips, raisins, a wrap, crackers, water, cream cheese (not really sure what for), and maybe something else that I can’t remember. I only ate the chips and wrap and drank the water so I’m kind of blank on what all was in there. Then after we slept for a while we were served breakfast. It was really good with a cheese omelet, hash brown potatoes (and yes there was ketchup, but I was still on American Airlines…I was told that they don’t have ketchup here, but chili sauce that looks and is treated like ketchup) and once again plain yogurt. I didn’t eat it this time because there was no fruit square with it. Our flight landed in Delhi at about 8:30pm (Saturday night India time, which is 2 and a half hours behind Malaysia time - 11pm Saturday night, and that is 13 hours ahead of US Time – 10am Saturday morning). I’m getting really good at this time game thing. They gave out immigration cards on the flight, but since I had a connecting flight I did not fill one out, which I was hoping was correct (they ran out anyway, so I would have had to get one when I got off).
Once we exited the plane a lady was standing there handing out the cards and since nobody on the flight told me about a connecting flight I asked her if she had any info. Good thing I did because she told me to stand there with her (and 2 other scared-looking Americans). So, I did just that and watched everyone else leave the flight smiling and laughing while we were standing there scared to death at what was about to happen. So, we followed her to a cluster of seats with a glass wall behind and there was a security guard there checking people’s badges and such as they walked over to our side. She took my passport and info to a little desk and as we were sitting there me and the other 2 Americans were talking about how weird everything was and how we were so confused. I had to be taken care of first because my flight was leaving at 11 and there’s weren’t leaving until 1am and 6am. Thank goodness I didn’t have crazy layovers like that! The lady then led me through the glass doors to the lines for the airlines and I was flying Malaysian air. There was no line there so the lady went straight up to the guy and gave him all of our (me and another guy she was helping) info (also these people weren’t overly nice at this airport by the way. Just a side note). She finished with whatever she was doing and then she told us that we might not get our checked baggage on the flight with us, but if that happens it will be there tomorrow. This made me extremely nervous!!!!!!!!!! My computer!!! So, I was a little freaked out, but once again stayed calm and polite. There was another guy from my flight that was also going to KL and he jumped in front of me to get his boarding pass, which is ok with me because I kind of watched him to know what I needed to do. I noticed that he had these little strips for his checked baggage. I didn’t have that but I had my receipt that the lady told me to give them to make sure that they knew that I had payed for all of the fees. However, that is not what they wanted. So, there I am in the Delhi airport with my duffle bag wide open searching for these little slips I was supposed to get all the way back in Nashville. I stand up several times and say I was never given those and they look at me like well…so back to the bag I go in a frantic racking of my brain as to where I could have put them IF I even got them. That lady was so nice surely she wouldn’t forget to give me something so important right?? Then the savior of the night (a man standing beside me watching all of this take place) shows me what it looks like (his aren’t slips, but a little thing with a barcode stapled to his boarding pass) and then he sees where they put mine :). They were stuck (they were stickers) to my original boarding pass holder! Whew that was close! I received my boarding pass and then I was off through the trillion security check points. Man does India really make sure you are supposed to be there. I’m not sure that I remember this, but I had just gotten off a long flight and I was little crazy from the baggage experience I just had, but one of the other guys who is here (Frank – he is a solutions guy from North Carolina) said that the India airport that he landed in, the security guys had machine guns (scary). I got frisked, checked, and re-checked, but I don’t really remember any machine guns. Then I was off to board to my next flight…
I'm not really sure what this, but it came up when I googled Delhi and I thought it looked cool!
The Delhi airport
I tried to hurry to this gate because when I got my boarding pass he said if you aren’t at the gate by 10:30 you cannot board. So, I went straight there and waited. I was blessed that none of my overlays were more than an hour an a half because once I finally made it to the gates I really didn’t have that long to wait. The guy that checked me in gave me an aisle seat. I really wanted a window seat, but I guess there weren’t any of those left. Once again as I was boarding I was praying I would have an odor free flight. There was a pretty long walk to the terminal and there was a man that, once again, checked your passport, and another that checked your carry-ons. We received some paper straps to put on our bags and then they were stamped at security. I kept checking mine because one of mine had fallen off when I was on the escalator. That’s a good thing because the girl in front of me lost hers and she had to “step to the side.” Thank goodness I was a little paranoid about that huh?! Once I was on I spotted some window seats that were unoccupied and I prayed that nobody was sitting there so I could move. God said “No” to that request. He answers our prayers, but sometimes they aren’t what we want right?
There were a few things on this flight that got on my nerves…
1. A screaming baby behind me in the next cabin area
2. A man that would make a loud sucking noise on his teeth after he ate that was diagonally behind me
3. No American music
4. The movie that they showed was on a TV that flipped down from the top of the plane and I could only see the screen if I sat straight up
5. The movie was some kind of foreign film about a guy who was a nanny for this woman’s little girl and they would switch back and forth from their local language and English, so sometimes it was hard to follow.
6. The food was not as good (I’m just not a big fan of curry).
There were a few things that I did like though…
1. There was more space on the Malaysian airlines than American Airlines.
2. The seats were colorful!
4. The flight attendants were very very nice!!
We received a card to fill out before we got off the flight (I guess it was like an immigration card). One of the things we were supposed to fill out was the address of the place we were staying. I wasn’t sure of the address, so I left that part blank hoping they would know of place (Gardens Hotel, Mega Mall is all I could remember from my co-workers emails).
We got off the flight and I was just following the crowd blindly. We got to a place where we had to give them those cards (she didn't even ask for the address) and our passport and that’s when they stamped my passport! What a memory! I should have taken a picture. Then I went to search for my bags. The nerves came back about my bags not making it. I waited around for a while at the conveyer belt thing and there were several bags there, but not mine. So, once the bags stopped coming up and I had watched the same bags pass by several times, I found a man that worked there and asked him what I should do. He took my bag tags and got on his little walkie-talkie and with the language barrier we were having a little bit of a hard time understanding each other. Essentially he wanted me to wait a couple more minutes. And then, there it was MY COMPUTER!!! The bottom of the box was open and there was a rope tied around it to keep it in, but it was there! Then next was my suitcase! Shew life is good!!
I grabbed my bags and headed to find the taxi place. I was told that they have taxi’s that they call limos that are no different from any other car they are just really expensive (75 USD). I made sure that I asked for the budget car, which cost me about 25 USD. I then found the bank place to exchange my USD to MR. I had $90 in cash at that point and I recieved 275MR. I found my taxi man and off we went. The scenes were pretty nice. It kind of looks like Florida with palm trees everywhere. The ride to the hotel was about 20-30 minutes. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to tip the taxi driver (I didn’t). However, I did tip the bell hop. He was extremely nice and helpful so I tipped him 10 MR which is equivalent to about $3. I felt like I was cheating him, but I didn’t want to give him too much right? I have since found out that we do not tip EVER!!! Supposedly they add taxes and service fees to everything.
KL airport
I'm here!!!!
Well, I know this is long and not really that exciting, but I wanted to write it all down while it was pretty fresh on my mind.
For those of you who suffered through it I hope you were able to stay awake!
Love from Malaysia!
Sunday, August 29, 2010
I'm Here
I arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia at 7am on Sunday (Malaysia Time), which is 6pm on Saturday (US Time). That's right we are 13 hours ahead. I have been trying to put some videos up, but I'm struggling a little bit. As soon as I get everything worked out you will get a tour of my apartment. I know you can't wait!!
Keep praying that Gary is able to come soon. He is going to LOVE it here!!!
Keep praying that Gary is able to come soon. He is going to LOVE it here!!!
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The Final Leg
The last two weeks have been so surreal.
My dad texted me this morning and asked "getting excited?" All I could say was "I'm not sure what I'm feeling." And that is the truth. We have been so busy saying our goodbyes that I have forgotten to think about the adventure we are about to embark on. Malaysia...for 6 months? Am I sure about this? I am sure that this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience and I would never think about giving that up, but the part I'm most scared about is traveling and being by myself for a couple of weeks until Gary can raise the rest of his money.
I have 2 more nights at home with him and I am taking it all in. I take for granted the little things that he does for me or says to me and while I am miles and miles away from him I won't have him to touch or hug, but just his words. We have done the long distance stuff before and now that we are married I hope it makes it easier!
Please pray for us that we will be together again soon (after Friday of course).
My dad texted me this morning and asked "getting excited?" All I could say was "I'm not sure what I'm feeling." And that is the truth. We have been so busy saying our goodbyes that I have forgotten to think about the adventure we are about to embark on. Malaysia...for 6 months? Am I sure about this? I am sure that this is going to be a once in a lifetime experience and I would never think about giving that up, but the part I'm most scared about is traveling and being by myself for a couple of weeks until Gary can raise the rest of his money.
I have 2 more nights at home with him and I am taking it all in. I take for granted the little things that he does for me or says to me and while I am miles and miles away from him I won't have him to touch or hug, but just his words. We have done the long distance stuff before and now that we are married I hope it makes it easier!
Please pray for us that we will be together again soon (after Friday of course).
Friday, August 20, 2010
I love IMing
So at my work we use Yahoo IM to communicate with each other so that we aren't constantly walking back and forth to people's desks. Well, every once in a while people send out mass IM's to the whole team and this is the one I got today...
Angela Fryer: Did any of u ladies accidentally drop or flush ur phone down the toliet?
kimberlywasher: nope mine is safely on my desk pee free
Angela Fryer: haha
I wasn't able to find out whose phone it was, but I hope they have some sanitizer at their desk, and their car, and their house because it will need lots of it!!
Angela Fryer: Did any of u ladies accidentally drop or flush ur phone down the toliet?
kimberlywasher: nope mine is safely on my desk pee free
Angela Fryer: haha
I wasn't able to find out whose phone it was, but I hope they have some sanitizer at their desk, and their car, and their house because it will need lots of it!!
Can you believe it?
So, every morning at 9am one of my co-workers comes in and asks if we want to go to Starbucks. Sometimes I get something, sometimes I just go for the walk, sometimes I don't even go. This morning was for the walk. My friend Tabitha and I sat outside at a table while Brian went inside for his cup of joe and I look to my right and there...sitting on a bench...listening to his music...was a man...in a FREED HARDEMAN T-SHIRT. That may not seem like a big deal to you, but it's just not everyday that you see that, of course unless you live in Henderson. Of course I didn't have a camera with me, but luckily I have technology savy co-workers who have camera phones and can imediately upload it to facebook. So, here he is ladies and gents the man of the hour. When this picture was taken he had made a friend so he is talking with his hands, but us Freedies know what those shirts look like.
He is the one on the right side in the grey t-shirt. We tried to zoom in, but just trust me he has a Freed shirt on. You may be wanting to ask if I talked to him, but no I didn't just looked at him.
7 Days and Counting!!
Last night was our going away party at our friend's Lee and Rachel's house. There were over 30 people there to tell us goodbye. Even though I will be around for another week and Gary will be here for a little longer than that it was nice to get together with everyone one final time. It was such a beautiful night, which was great because we were able to put some tables and chairs out there for some outside dining. I took video and pictures last night, but I'm going to do something special with it, so keep your eyes peeled for that!!
We are so blessed to have a church family that cares so much about us. They are some wonderful people and I can't wait to be in heaven with all of them one day! Thank you God for blessing us!
We are so blessed to have a church family that cares so much about us. They are some wonderful people and I can't wait to be in heaven with all of them one day! Thank you God for blessing us!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Christmas in August.
We have a group of girls from church that get together once a month to play Bunco. We have never taken a group shot, but since it was my last one for 6 months they were so willing to do whatever I wanted. It was great!! The theme for this one was Christmas in August, which I explained in an earlier blog. Here are a few shots. I also got some video, but that is a surprise for later!!
I ended up with the Wipe-out crown. It's is actually a brand-new crown and is really cute!! I don't really care because I got a Christmas gift out of it.
Don't know if you can tell, but I had to photo shop(really I used foto flexer) to put Darlene's face in there because she was hiding behind my crown. When the pic is bigger you can really tell. I took an individual picture of her so I would remember she was there. She said she was trying to hide. Silly girl I got you anyway!!
Love you Bunco girls!! Thanks for being so good to me for the last year and a half!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Let the Countdown Begin...
15 days and counting until I am on a plane to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
I know you're probably thinking
I know that people out there are probably thinking...what about the wedding videos that I haven't gotten done yet?? Well, not to fret! The Mac is making the long trip overseas with me. I will have access to all of the same things I have here, as far as the editing process goes. So, here is what I have on my plate. I have to finish Trey and Chrissy's DVD. Then, I have to do Martha and Matt's, Jimmy and Sara's, and Chris and Anna's. Don't worry I have a feeling that I will have some spare time on my hands over there, because right now my hands are pretty full with the whole...getting ready to move to another country thing. So, for those brides and grooms that put their hope and trust in me getting their video done...don't lose faith yet because Kimberly Washer Videography is going GLOBAL!!!!!
P.S. I really do hope to be able to get some stuff over there. Maybe not a wedding, but who knows what God has in store for us right :)
P.S. I really do hope to be able to get some stuff over there. Maybe not a wedding, but who knows what God has in store for us right :)
It's starting to feel more real!
Today I booked my flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!! I will be flying out on the 27th of August and landing in KL on the 29th. That's right folks 2 days to get there. The flight that I chose was actually one of the less hour flights out there. I will have a layover in Chicago and Dehli! I can't remember how long my layovers are, but they are at least an hour. That's good because I will probably be completely lost since I'm flying alone. There are 3 people from my team currently over there and they all flew alone and made it fine, hopefully I can follow in their foot-steps. I have A LOT to do between now and then. We have to get all of our visa's and stuff ready for India before I leave, get our house rented out, take all of our "personables" to someone's house (aka our parents). Whew it's making me crazy just thinking about it!! Wish me luck and keep those prayers going!!
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
My Cubicle through the eyes of the FLIP!
This is just a little view of my cube. I wanted to bust out a flip a little. I would have gotten my friend Tabitha on screen, but she is on vacation this week. We have our wall torn down because we are constantly asking each other questions!! The quote at the beginning is a staple at my desk because it won me the FLIP!!!
Caught on Camera
I walk in the house to find Gary... This is a re-enactment. He actually did forget!
I GOT MY FLIP!!!!
Excuse how horrible I look!! It was not a dress up day at work and it looks like I weigh one hundred thousand pounds with that double chin! Whew, this is why I am the videographer!!
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sad Goodbyes!
Tomorrow night is the last night I play bunco before I leave for Malaysia. It is going to be bitter sweet. Maybe I can get some girls over there together once a month for a little dice game huh??
We were supposed to have Christmas in July theme last month, but the girl that was hosting it had an emergency with her brother and had to cancel at the last minute. So, we are having Christmas in August! I found this online. Even though I would love to take credit for it I just can't do that, but I still love it!!
We were supposed to have Christmas in July theme last month, but the girl that was hosting it had an emergency with her brother and had to cancel at the last minute. So, we are having Christmas in August! I found this online. Even though I would love to take credit for it I just can't do that, but I still love it!!
VEGGIE CHRISTMAS TREE!!
Recipe:
Broccoli, pretzel sticks, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, yellow bell pepper. Make into a Christmas Tree!
Enjoy with Ranch Dressing!!
India here we come!!
So, we have been planning to go to India for a while now and we are finally going to make it happen in October. I thought since the hole Malaysia opportunity came about we weren't going to be able to go, but I have an amazing husband who is going to pull it off (just keep praying about it).
My aunt's (dad's sister) in-law's are missionaries in India and she went over there in '97. She has a TON of Indian clothes. She brought them to me on Sunday to try and take with me to India. Enjoy the fashion show! Oh and vote for your favorites!!
My aunt's (dad's sister) in-law's are missionaries in India and she went over there in '97. She has a TON of Indian clothes. She brought them to me on Sunday to try and take with me to India. Enjoy the fashion show! Oh and vote for your favorites!!
My aunt said this is more of an American outfit. Most Indians don't wear this kind. I really liked it!
This one was nice and airy!
They look like they are thick material, but they really aren't
No pants with this one and the slit came up pretty high. Shelley's checking out my legs under there. She likes it!!
I love the top to this one!!
This one is a little tight in the chest area!
See-through and oh by the way, some of these pants don't stay up. This one didn't have a draw sting or anything. I'll def have to get that fixed so I don't moon all of India!
Just so you know I showed these pics to Gary when I got home and he said, "What if all of these are out of date by the time we get there?" You know what buddy they are true Indian clothes and if I'm in India I want do as the Indians. Who cares if these are old fashioned! So there!
VOTE NOW!!!
Magan's Early Birthday
Not a half birthday, but an early birthday! Magan, my very bestest friend from high school, came with me to my sister's house for a girl's weekend before I leave for Malaysia. Well, her birthday is on the 19th and I will more than likely not see her on that day. So, Shelley and I made some cupcakes for her. She knew about the cupcakes, but didn't know we had a slammin' 2 and 5 candle just for her. Mom provided those and luckily she had the right numbers, who cares if they don't match!?
Shelley icing away with her homemade icing squeezer. We think she cut the hole too big.
Shelley's best cupcake. Sorry for the blurriness.
Just noticed the backwards 2 when I was loading it on here. BOO!! I Think I even changed it because I thought it was wrong and Shelley is the one taking the pic and didn't notice it either. Whew, thank goodness Magan didn't notice!
I am lightening fast!! ZOOM!!!
She was sooo surprised!
She is about to cry she is so happy. Jared, not even noticing that we are there!
She is thinking of her wish!
Just took a pic of this for old times sake!! Remember these!! My favorite was the Mondo's!
Team Outing
My company, Service Source, allows each team to have one outing per quarter. However, our team is soooo large that we are divided up into smaller "sub" teams. This allows us to not only go on a big team outing but also a small team outing. On Thursday we got to leave at 3 (not all of us left at 3 remember because Dale Jr. did show up :)) and go to McFadden's, which is a restaurant/bar downtown. Those of us who don't drink weren't too keen on the idea and we let it known, but we it was mandatory. On Friday our "sub" team (SAS) left at 3 and went to a team members house and grilled out and talked (not about work because that was one of the rules). Then they busted out the slip-n-slide. I had to leave to go to my sister's so I didn't slide, but I got some cool shots and some not so cool shots.
before the action began
the first slider (Brian)
then Clint out team lead. It looks like he feel and there go his feet!
face first!!
ok so only 2 of them were sliding at this point. Some were already gone and others wanted to wait until the cameras were gone.
Me trying to get a good shot in action, but Brian was too scared he was going to run into me and get me all wet. It was soooo hot out there I didn't care!
This is a good one because of the water!! Good job Clint!
Another Jr. Video
This is the video that was on Channel 17 News in Nashville. Jessica, the girl that got interviewed is on my team in our office. Actually my team made this video a lot!
Click here
Click here
Friday, August 6, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
TV Crews
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There
will be some TV crews onsite tomorrow conducting a few interviews – no
need to dress up but please be aware that you may see some cameras
around.
Thanks,
Keith
Keith Leimbach
VP and GM - Nashville Sales Center SERVICESOURCE dir 615.523.5410 | cell 615.335.6800 | fax 415.962.3242 kleimbach@servicesource.com www.servicesource.com The Service Revenue Performance Company
_____________________________________________________
We received this email yesterday from our VP. So, today at 3 when our team was shutting everything down to head to a team outing we thought nothing of it when we saw cameras come onto our floor.
My company takes up 3 levels of the old AmSouth building downtown Nashville. We are on the 2nd level and the main level where the secretary is, is the 3rd level. I sit at the front close to the doors on our floor and I was trying to finish a few things up when the crowd came. I didn't know what was going on and since we had gotten this email yesterday I didn't really think anything of it. Well, the crowd just kept growing so I finally stood up and asked a couple of people what was going on? They said it was...STAY TUNED FOR A VIDEO!!!!
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Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The video of the people we caught on camera when we told them our news!
I wrote about this story earlier on my blog. Here is the video I promised! I love that we were able to get this on video, but I hate hearing my voice on camera! Don't judge! I sound like a man!
Monday, August 2, 2010
It's a Dad's Life!!!!
I saw this on Mindy Mehaffey's blog and I had to post it on mine. I know it's not Father's Day, but who cares this is a year round good laugh!! Happy Late/Early Father's Day!! However you want to look at it! ENJOY!!
We have something to tell you...
So, this is how Gary and I have been starting a lot of conversations the past 2 weeks. I think it was the 20th of June when the first people found out besides my sister. I was sitting in the hospital with my aunt and uncle (my aunt had surgery) and I thought it was the perfect time to tell them. You will see why I wanted to let them know so soon later. So, I say, "Well since both of you are here, I have something to tell you..." We were planning on going home to tell my parents last weekend, but my mom decided to come up here and spend time with her parents before she started her new job. We were just too excited to wait a whole week to start telling other people, so on Sunday we went to lunch with our friends from church. We were eating with Jimmy and Sara (who already knew because Jimmy works with Gary), Brett (who already knew because he works with me), and Lee and Rachel (who were finding out for the first time). Sara was running the video camera to get Lee and Rachel's reaction. With the camera running we begin with, "So, we have something to tell you..." On Monday I was at my friend Stephanie's house for our weekly Bachelorette party and I pulled the camera out pretending like I was going to video her son, who is by the way HILARIOUS and I did tape him for a while and then I said, "So, I have something to tell you..." as I pointed the camera up to Steph. On Tuesday we had all of Gary's family over to tell them the big news. After we had dinner and we were waiting for dessert to finish baking, I went over to Gary who was playing Mario Bros on our old original Nintendo, and asked him if he was going to be done for a minute. He said "yeah sure" pushed pause and walked immediately to the kitchen because he thought dessert was ready. I tell you what, boys are crazy. After he realized dessert wasn't ready he went straight back to his game. I had to spell it out for him practically!! Anyway, so we went to the back to make sure we were on the same page and get the camera ready and then we said, "So, we have an announcement to make..." Wednesday night I was at dinner for our weekly meeting at Cheddars with my Aunt, Uncle and their family and my Grandparents. Remember my aunt and uncle have known at this point for over a week, so they are busting at the seems!! I was going to wait to tell my grandparents after I told my parents, but my uncle had a different idea. He says, "So, Kimberly don't you have some big news?" Of course instantly my grandmother is interested so I say, "Yes, grandmother and grandaddy I have something to tell you..." On Saturday as we are driving home I decided to call Martha and Beth because Beth was in South Carolina with Martha this past weekend and I knew they would be together. I call Martha first and no answer. So, I call Beth and she answers!! I do a little chit chat at first and then tell her to put me on speaker phone because "I have something to tell them..." Saturday night after we had dinner we were all sitting in the living room and we gave my parents 3 bags and in each bag was a hint. They laid it all out and had to figure out "What we were trying to tell them..." After mom and dad knew the phone lines were open to call the rest of our family and friends. Grammy, Aunt Katie, Aunt Karen, Shanon, Magan, Nick and Rachael and the girls, and Rachel D. On Sunday we went to a bridal shower for a girl I grew up with and we were able to tell everybody at the shower. I was trying my hardest not to take the glory away from David and Maria, but my mom was just so excited she wanted to tell everybody. The only people I haven't talked to yet are Nick and Rachael. The last person I talked to was Rachel Donnelly and that was this morning. I tried to call her last night, but she was already in bed. She called me this morning and I as soon as I said "hello" she said...
"ARE YOU PREGNANT!!????" and I said "hahahaha!! No, we are MOVING TO MALAYSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"ARE YOU PREGNANT!!????" and I said "hahahaha!! No, we are MOVING TO MALAYSIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
My company is expanding to Malaysia and they need people to go over there to train. I am leaving in 3 weeks and Gary will be right behind me. We will be there for 6 months! We are also going to take advantage of traveling to different congregations hopefully spreading the work of SFT Awareness. We are extremely excited for this opportunity and can't wait to get started!! Please pray for us as we face this new endeavor!
We plan to rent out our house fully furnished for the 6 months we are gone. My uncle has agreed to take care of it for us!! If you know of anybody that will be in Murfreesboro and need a temporary place to live between September and February let us know!!
I will post all of the videos we have from telling everybody, so we be looking for those!
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