House Hunting in Malaysia...Day 2

Day two started out way different than the first day.  I was able to get up and get moving at my own pace Wednesday morning.  Patric went in to work for a little while.  This was all good since we were both so tired Tuesday night.  I think we were both on such mental overload we barely remembered much of what we did the first day.  Good thing for us we had the presence of mind Tuesday night before we passed out from exhaustion to save the pictures of the houses we liked and delete the pictures of the ones we didn't.  Go us!!  I looked over these while I was killing time (and I posted a blog trying to get caught up).  Then it was time to put on the game face and see what was out there for viewing today.

Shanny was scheduled to pick me up at 12:30 then we were going to get Patric from work.  When she arrived she showed me the list of viewings...eight (yes 8) scheduled for today.  I told you, she is a machine!

Right out of the gate...house number one...we fell in love!  It was  a corner lot, perfect kitchen, perfect master bathroom, perfect everything!  The houses Shanny was showing us that day were different than on day one.  Day one she focused on bungalows.  Day two she was focusing on what is called semi-detached.  They seem kind of like duplexes but muuuch bigger.  This particular one has 3800 sf with five bedrooms.  The fact that it was a corner lot gave it a bigger yard than most of the other semi-detacheds.  This house just happened to be in a new development where there were other similar houses for rent.  Our real estate machine, Shanny, drove around and collected phone numbers of listing agents on other properties in case we decided this was our first choice (duh!) and the offer fell through.  We continued on with the list of properties she had prepared but now we had something to compare them all to...

Even with the semi-d's there was much of the same as the day before; although they definitely fell more inside our budget which worked better for us since the rest would go towards furniture leasing.  On our list were a couple of bungalows but they weren't even a good comparison to the semi-d we fell in love with.  We had pretty much determined that the bungalows are just too much house for us here.  They are really BIG!!!

By the end of the day we were still in love with house number one so Shanny called and made our offer.  It was agreed that she would call us Wednesday night to let us know what the owner of the house said.  I found out from Shanny that it is typically a two week process.  Just because we get a yes today that does not necessarily mean a definite yes.  Once the owner gives the initial yes Shanny will email the listing agent/owner what is called a TA (tenant agreement) which is the Schlumberger agreement.  This is where the negotiations (if any) will take place.  There are some things that can't be negotiated on both sides.  If this can't be agreed on then we don't get the house even if the initial answer was yes.  Bummer...right?  Well, we didn't have to worry about all of that.  We were told no immediately.  Apparently, somewhere along the lines, the owner either wasn't told by the listing agent or decided at the last minute they didn't want our dogs.  Have I mentioned that Malaysia, in general, is not a dog friendly country?  Well, it isn't...

Shanny was awesome on the phone, though.  She is so high energy and has such a "never say die" attitude!  Before she hung up she told Patric she had already spoken with three other agents from that same community from the numbers she had written down and had already made appointments for the next day.  I'm telling you...a machine!!!!  So even though we went to bed heavy hearted from the loss of the house we had hope for the next day.  Still, house hunting sucks!!  And on top of house hunting our morning will be filled with orientation...Thursday will be a loooong day!  But full of adventure so there should be plenty to share with you!!!

See you next time!

Monkey update:  day four...STILL no monkeys...not even monkey droppings.  I'm beginning to think I was lied to...  =(

Chai Replacement Therapy

Since the oasis I had found sadly let me down I have been forced to go on a hunt.  Here in the jungles of Malaysia I am now on an excursion.  I am hunting the ever elusive chai latte.

Actually, they aren't all that elusive here.  It seems that almost every coffee shop serves them.  Every coffee shop that is EXCEPT Starbucks.  As I go in search of my new favorite cup of chai I shall share with you my experiences.  Keep in mind, I'm having am extremely hard time finding milk that I like so I'm trying very hard not to imagine what is being used to make these.

Those of you that have been with me when I order my chai at Starbucks know I have an entire list of requests.  That has been reduced to nada here.  I order it as is for now.  For anyone that has read the post titled My Oasis you know that I found a place called The Dome that made a most excellent chai latte.  Unfortunately, I did not get a picture to share with you at that time.  Fortunately, that means I will have to go back...yay!!!

Here is my latest try...

If I'm not mistaken these are also in the States.  This was a pretty good chai...not quite as good as The Dome but this is walking distance from where I am staying now.  This fact alone puts it in the top running...

I will keep you posted as my chai hunt continues...

House Hunting in Malaysia...Day 1

We were very excited that we were going to be able to start looking at houses right away.  Through emails the relocation company that Schlumberger uses here set it up with Patric for us to start looking on Tuesday, the 27th.  This was perfectly fine with us - the sooner we start the sooner we can find something.  We met with our real estate agent, Shanny, and also our relocation Field Consultant, Lana, at 9:30 in the morning.  We had nine (yes 9) houses on the schedule to see...

Shanny is a real estate machine!  She pretty much kept to the schedule and we were on time to each showing.  Each of the units we saw that day were what is known here as bungalows - houses back home.  They were all at least two story and some were more.  Only one was carpeted and it was in really bad shape.  It's really funny to see the things that make the difference between here and there.  At home the emphasis is put on the kitchens and bathrooms - here those are the two areas that the least attention is paid.  Most master bathrooms had little to no storage.  This would be easy enough to fix by purchasing some sort of cabinet and putting in the bathroom.  The problem?  There was also no additional space for an additional cabinet.  The kitchens are so completely different that they are almost too difficult to explain.  Typically there is a dry kitchen where the food would be prepared.  This is also where the stove and oven (if there is one) is located.  Most of the cabinets will also be in this area.  Then there is the wet kitchen which is where the sink is located along with another stove (most of the time).  The refrigerator is usually in the wet kitchen but can be in either.  It is not always the case to have both and sometimes the kitchen is very small and the appliances can be very old and small as well. 

All of the houses we looked at that day were old but most of them had been recently renovated which was ok with us.  The smallest one had 3200 sf with five bedrooms plus a room for the maid that could also be used as storage if we chose not to have a full time maid.  You would be amazed at what they could do with space here!  They like to build up, not out.  One house even had a really cool built in display case that would be perfect for my fairies!!

Of course, the bag would have to go...  =)

At one point we got a little ahead of schedule so Shanny and Lana showed us a popular store for renting furniture.  There was some really nice stuff in the store and as I looked around (meaning "as I looked at prices") I started thinking to myself, "how in the hell are we going to afford these prices on a monthly budget???"  So I just sat down and went into overload.  Patric continued to look around with Shanny and the store owner.  Lucky for me Lana kind of stayed back with me and noticed that I had the deer in the headlights look going on.  She explained to me that I was supposed to take the price of the furniture and divide it by 12 - this was the monthly rental price...whew!!!!!  At this, for no apparent reason, I began to cry.  Right there in the middle of this furniture store I was crying somewhat uncontrollably.  I say somewhat because I couldn't stop but I wasn't blubbering.  Lana told me I had every right to cry and even to yell if I wanted since I was going through a huge change.  Then she asked me if I wanted her to get my husband to which I promptly replied no.  There was no need for him to worry at that point.  Lana was amazing! She is an expat that works for the relocation company for the express purpose of helping expats and being able to understand where we are in our process both physically and emotionally.  Just so y'all know, I did tell him at the end of the day about my breakdown and he is fully aware that his wife is a big baby!

Anyway, by the end of the they day we had some favorites picked.  It was suggested to us that after looking at all of the houses that Shanny had to show to us that we come up with three that we like.  We thought that we were doing very well having a few good choices at the end of our first day of looking.  Tomorrow we will meet with Shanny beginning at 12:30 to look at more houses and see what we come up with...keep good thoughts for us!

Monkey update:  day three...still no monkeys.  This is getting downright depressing!

My Oasis...

Oasis - A pleasant or peaceful area or period in the midst of a difficult, troubled, or hectic place or situation.

I finally found my oasis on Tuesday...







Those that know me know that I have a chai latte daily.  Mostly I make them myself at home but at least once a week I visit Starbucks for a Venti nonfat chai with 8 pumps, no water, no foam, 175 degrees.  Yes, I am particular.  When I'm really lucky I'm able to get into the Heights and get a most excellent chai from Waldo's.  Well, I hadn't had a chai of any sort since I left home on Friday so needless to say I was ecstatic to find Starbucks right after we finished lunch.  Then I read the menu board...

Then my bubble was burst...Starbucks does not serve chai latte.  What???  The thing that makes this so funny is the place we just had lunch did server them.  As fate would have it, there was another branch of the same place - The Dome - right next door.  I ordered a small chai latte to go and was very pleasantly surprised.

This whole little excursion put our house hunt a little behind but it was worth it overall because I got my chai and now know a great place to get one.  I'll post more on the first day of house hunting later...

Look out...here I come...?

Jen G fun fact:  tough cookie exterior...fluffy marshmallow interior...

Before I left home I told as many people as I could about these wonderful plans that I had for Monday - see Patric off to his first day in his new office, go to the bank, go meet my dog boarder, go to quarantine to check on my animals, then come back to the apartment - all by taxi.  Seeing Patric off was no problem.  Then the rest of the day presented itself to me...

I had made plans to meet the boarder at her house at 11:00 AM and was told it would take about 40 minutes to get there from where I am staying now.  I asked the concierge to call a taxi for me and showed him the address I wanted to go to.  Those that know me will not be shocked to know that I wrote down all of the addresses that I needed to visit throughout the day...best to be prepared.  Addresses here are very different and I did not want to chance the language barrier.  So I felt pretty confident when I asked for that first taxi and sat down to wait for it.  Then I saw it pull up and I felt myself get up and start to walk toward it and I started wondering exactly what I was doing.  It hit me that I was about to get into a taxi in a strange city in a strange country all by myself and set off to do things all by myself and I started thinking that maybe this wasn't such a good idea...but the wheels were already in motion and I was already inside the taxi and the day had begun.  So here we go...

My driver was a really nice guy and he was really talkative.  He asked all the usual small talk type questions.  I felt like an idiot sometimes because I could just give him very simple answers...I think I was in a simple state of shock.  The driving here is indescribable.  I figured out in this first taxi ride that as long as I look out of the side windows I will do much better than looking out of the front or rear windows.  But sometimes even the side windows are a little scary.  I'm amazed there aren't more wrecks than what there are.  But it seems to work for them.  The combination of his driving and my reality of the day had me in my simple state of shock which had me feeling like an idiot when it came to basic conversation skills.  I'm sure this driver thought he had the world's dumbest expat in his backseat at this very moment.  During the course of the conversation he did manage to get it out of me that it was my first time in Malaysia and that I had just arrived the day before so I hope that he understood I was just taking it all in and that I wasn't truly mindless...

Anyway, he got me to the boarder's house safe and sound and even waited to make sure I was at the right place.  What a nice guy!  I should let y'all know that Patric found our boarder online (of course) and since then I have had many email conversations with her.  We had planned this Monday meeting before I had even left home.  Let me just say that Duke and Josie will enjoy their stay with her.  They will have their own room, they will be walked twice a day and there are other dogs for them to play with.  If you know anything about my dogs you know these facts will make them happy.  Needless to say, my meeting with Shayne (the boarder) went well which lowered my stress level a bit.  We had agreed to have lunch when we arranged our meeting time so I knew that I could relax for a bit longer.  I just had to figure out the bank bit since I had to give her a deposit for the two week stay.  Luckily, Shayne agreed to take me to the bank and even show me the system...yeah, there is a system...

We went to a local bank, Maybank, which is a national branch.  I learned from Shayne that if you are doing a basic transaction, such as a withdrawal or deposit, you can do that at one of the ATM machines on the first floor.  If you are doing a transaction that requires a teller you have to go the front desk and let the person know what you need to do and they will issue you a number.  Then you go upstairs and wait for your number to be called.  Luckily there weren't very many people ahead of us so we didn't have to wait very long for my number to be called.  I'm also very happy that Shayne can speak seven languages because the teller's English wasn't that great...she tried really hard but we would have had a tough go of it if Shayne wasn't there.  So I gave her the traveler's checks that I wanted cashed and then we sat back down and waited some more.  And here I thought this would be an easy process.  =)  After a short-ish wait the teller called my name and money was exchanged and we were on our way.  I should mention here that it's not just that taxi drivers that drive the way they do...it is a way of life here.  Shayne fit right in with the best of them...

She took me to a local chain restaurant called PappaRichteh.  It is iced tea mixed half with milk - very good.  I will definitely eat at this place again.  She ordered a bread (again, I can't remember the name - I will take pictures when I go back and order myself) that we dipped in half boiled eggs mixed with soy sauce and pepper.  I know...those that know me are thinking there is no way that I ate that much less liked it but believe it or not it was pretty good.  And yes, I would eat it again.  Now, pick yourselves up off the floor...isn't this supposed to be about trying new things?  I'm still not about to try the squid though!!! 

As lunch started winding down I could feel my stress level pick up as I started thinking about how I was going to get to quarantine to see my babies.  This would be another taxi ride and from what I understood quarantine was about an hour away from Shayne's house and not real easy to find.  The only think I knew was that it was near the airport.  Great!  Shayne was on her phone speaking in a different language so I didn't know what she was saying.  Then I heard her say something about the quarantine center...she was asking someone something about it.  I figured at the least she was trying to get me better directions to give the taxi driver which would be most appreciated.  When she got off the phone she looked at me and told me she was free the rest of the day and didn't want to worry that a taxi driver would just drop me off somewhere at the airport and leave me stranded so she would take me to quarantine herself...besides, she wanted to meet my dogs.  I love my HP!!!!!!!  In another unexpected turn she even bought lunch amidst my protests.  Life is just funny...

Off to quarantine we go.  It was far, too.  We got in with no issues.  We stopped to see PK first.  My inside cat is being kept outside in a cage and is quite stressed.  It was very hard to see her that way.  It did not take her long to warm up to me though.  She was very happy to see me.  I can't wait to get her here with me on Friday!!!  Our next stop was Duke and Josie.  They are being kenneled together which is a good thing.  As long as they are together they are happy!

They are being kept outside, too, but that is not so bad for them.  They are doing a little better but I can't wait to get them with us, too.  In the meantime, I know they will do well with Shayne.  I felt much better after seeing all three of them and knowing they were all well.

We left quarantine and I thought we were heading back to Shayne's so I could get a taxi home.  Then it hit me...the only address I did not write down was mine.  Before I could mention this Shayne informed me that she was going to take me home.  What an amazing day!  I insisted on paying her for her gas which she allowed.  On the way home she showed me a shopping plaza that was so much closer that the one that Patric made me hike to Sunday evening!  I just can't tell you how happy that made me!  Throughout the day Shayne gave me so many helpful pieces of information...she was truly a lifesaver that day!!

Monday evening Patric and I walked to that new little shopping plaza and had dinner and went to a little grocery store called Cold Storage.  We are still finding it difficult to find milk here.  Skim milk is next to impossible.  I'm going to try lowfat milk today, although I have no idea what percentage of lowfat it is.  I will have pictures of the plaza tomorrow.

So until then...see you next time!

By the way...day two, no monkeys...

Is it still Friday?

Even though I slept some on the planes it was beginning to feel like one long day...Friday.  I was so excited when we were dropped off at our new home because it meant that I was that much closer to a bed and some sleep...so I thought.  When we walked in to the concierge desk we were promptly told our unit was not ready.  Talk about having the wind knocked out of your sails.  Oh well, what's another 30 minutes right?  I mean, at least I'm in the lobby.  So just a short time later we were shown to our unit.  It is very nice and spacious.  I was worried that I wouldn't have a soaking bathtub here and I have one in the first place I'm staying.  Keep your fingers crossed that I find one in a house, too!  And check out what I get to look at right off of my balcony...



This was almost enough to bring me back to life...almost.  But I had already reached zombie point and just wanted to get some sleep.  Plus every AC unit and ceiling fan in the apartment were going so the place was freezing me to bone.  We got a few things unpacked - Patric unpacked his entire wardrobe.  I crawled into the bed to warm up a little as he was asking me what I wanted to go eat.  Now, keep in mind we don't have a car so for us to "go eat" we would either have to walk or get a taxi.  He had his mind set on walking to a "nearby" mall that he had found online before we left home.  This shot my napping plans out of the water.  Shot plans will most like be a recurring theme throughout my posts...

Anyway...after I defied him and slept for about 45 glorious minutes we left on this first adventure.  Let me just say that a kilometer is a VERY long way to walk when a person hasn't slept much in a 48+ hour period.  I love my husband very much, as is evidenced by the fact that I now live in Malaysia...among other things - but he really pushed the limits with this walk.  Grumpy just is not strong enough to describe where I was.  But, it got better and he survived.  We made it to the mall and found the pet shop he wanted to find.  It hit us that if we bought anything we would have to carry it back that really long walk so we decided to just wait on the purchases for now.  Our animals are still in quarantine until Friday so we are good until at least Thursday before we have to get anything for them.

Then we had our first meal in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!  We decided to eat at a restaurant there in the mall called Tony Roma's.  =)  Yes, just like the one back home.  We stuck with what we know.  How unadventurous is that?  After our meal we found a teksi (taxi) and paid RM10 (about $3) for a ride home (yay Patric!!!).  Then we got really lazy and finally fell asleep.  I'm not sure what time it was but I know it was no later than mid afternoon.  Around 9:15 I woke up and got Patric off the couch and we finally got into bed then slept all night.  Don't you just love happy endings?

So that was our first day in KL.  Hope to see you soon!

By the way...my first full day and no monkeys, what a disappointment!

Let's back up a bit...

So I set this up the Thursday night before we were due to fly out with the full intentions to either have the time or make the time to write my first post Friday morning before we left my mom's house.  Well, we all know what road is paved with good intentions, don't we???  Needless to say, that didn't happen.  So, I figured I would just do it while I was waiting for the plane at the airport.  Wrong again.  Yeah, judging by this so far you would think that I had no idea that plans are nothing more than God's way of laughing at us...but I am full on aware of his little inside joke and yet I somehow still let him keep making them.  Anyway...back to me...

So here comes Friday in all of it's glory.  There are days in my life that I can say rank right up at the top as big or great days in my life.  I have to say that Friday, September 23, 2011 rates right up there with the best of them.  I've had plenty of time to process and get used to the idea that the day was coming but even that didn't really prepare me for the emotions that would come along with it.  I thought that I would be an emotional wreck but aside from a few tearful moments I really wasn't.  The emotions I felt were a little different than what I expected.  I expected the anxiety and nervousness but I really didn't expect the amount of excitement and at the same time calm that I felt.  Kind of weird, huh?  I mean, here I am about to move half way around the world to a country I never even imagined visiting and I have a sense of calm???  Crazy!!!

So we are at the airport and we get our luggage checked in with no issues.  This gives us plenty of time to hang out with the moms and say some final (tearful) goodbyes.  Then we start the security check process and the long walk to our gate.  The wait wasn't so bad since we had a visit from a great friend that works at the airport.  Then we got on the plane and reality sunk in a little more which caused a few more tears to fall.  All in all the flights were uneventful and went amazingly well considering we were in airports that were completely unknown to us and had little time to transfer.  Luckily most of the signs were written in the native language with the English translation shown under it.  The Russian alphabet looks really difficult...

Then there was this really cool plane we saw that didn't have the translation...any guesses???





So here is my shameless free advertising plug...Singapore Air was a fantastic experience!  We will not have any problems flying with them again.  Even flying the economy class was enjoyable...as much as the economy class can be.

Anyway...to make this long story short...our flights arrived on time and we made it through customs with no incidents.  Our luggage locks were even still in tact.  After we claimed our baggage we were greeted by our driver with this...



So how cool is that???  This is movie and TV stuff!!!  So from here we were taken to the car that brought us to our temporary housing...the corporate apartment.  Which leads me into day one of my new life.  That will also take us into the next post...

See you soon!!!