Ramadan

Just got back from Indonesia, or as I like to now call it, our Filipino cousins with Indo-Muslim names (They look like us, sound like us, act like us, joke like us, wear tsinelas like us. I could of easily been in the Filipino Islands of the Visayas, cuz I dont understand anyone over there either). Some people were concerned about me going, considering the recent bombings in Bali, but AHHHH screw it, you have to have a sense of adventure. Anyways, I think media fear mongering by association goes a bit too far sometimes. Its the tendancy for the news to present facts that feed on fears for uncontrollable risks, things we have absolutely no control over, despite how remote or minute in comparison those risks are. To be honest, I felt as safe there as anywhere else, and to local expats, the terrorist label was a joke, for the Sumatra Island, anyways. Indonesia is a surprisingly huge country (It unbelievably has a population of 240 million people, which is just below the population of the USA) so I didnt necessarily think that terrorist fears in one part of the country would have anything to do with the safety in another part. I could of easier of died from some exotic disease instead.

On a related note, I think I might now have the bird flu. Ive been coughin like a chicken ever since I got back. I wouldnt worry though, I dont thinks its contractable through internet connections. Tomorrow I have the best prank planned; I wonder whatll happen or if Ill freak anyone out at work when I show up tomorrow on my first day back wearing a face mask, coughing like a 94 Ford Topaz, and wearing my year old contacts so my eyes go blood shot. Sooo fun...

What was I doing in Singapore and Indonesia, some might be wondering? Well work. Some people, like maybe the 8 of you that actually read this thing, might still not really understand what it is I do. In a nut shell, my company sells Automation systems to the Paper Industry, and more specifically I design and project manage the installation of these automation systems into Paper Mills. So if Im going somewhere, usually thats what its for. Now you know why it is one week Im in Germany and the other Im in India. Its why sometimes Im too tired to blog.

Other interesting notes from Singapore / Indonesia:

- During installations onsite in paper mills, Im required to wear steel toe boots. In Indonesia though, safety standards are a bit more lax... I actually saw people working in the mill wearing tsinelas / flip flops! Wow, this is so third world. Now that totally tops my list, surpassing the pipe fitter I saw in the Japanese mills, wearing steel-toe ninja shoes.

- As I mentioned, even though I got to fly in the front of the plane on British Airways on the way there, I was forced to travel in the back of the plane on the way back to Dublin. It was HORRIBLE. Like Seinfeld says, you cant go back.

- As I mentioned, Indonesias are carbon copys of Filipinos in every way possible, except for religion. Even when I talked, my filipino accent would sometimes slip, which usually only happens when I talk to parents or aunts / uncles / grandparents. For example... I was working with and got to know associates from the local ABB office, including one cool guy, Chusnull. This guy was awesome. He looks exactly like Jeff Melegrito, from the smile, to the way he laughed, to same humor about him, to the way his hair got messy and he wouldnt give a shit; only difference was his fob Indonesian accent with a touch of Singlish (Singapore English slang lah). He even had the same stories as Flips, and the same awareness for the supernatural.

(Me and him walking to the residence, late at night)
Chusnull aka Jeff: "Hey Noli... why dont you try to go swimming in da pool tonight. hahahaha you should go maan.."

Me: "Shit they have a pool here? Swimming at nite rules. Is the pool nice?" (It was 32C and 95% humidity at night)

Chusnull aka Jeff: "Okeey Maan! You should go den... the pool is bery nice... hahahaha, ip you are not scurd. Just be carepul becus you might meet the spirits. da White Lady! da Lady ghost. oooohhhh."

Me: "The White Lady! Oh my gosh..."

See, it turns out Indonesians universally believe in spooks and mythical phenomenon in the exact same way as Filipinos. They even call ghosts the same thing in Indonesia, The White Lady. Parallels were endless...

- It was nice to be able to experiement again with food in Singapore. Food was amazing and a welcome departure from the usual monotony of the Irish fare. Singaporean food is influenced predominantly by three cultures; malay, chinese and indian. It translates to the best of all worlds, or the amazing fusion of all into one. Soo good lah.

- Sumatra coffee was awesome.

- Got to watch some actual playoff baseball over there, since they had ESPN Asian / Star Sports. This was huge, because baseball is nonexistant in Ireland. The games were usually live early in the morning, or replayed later in the evening. The BoSox lost, as Wayne tried to rib me with his comments on my last post. Oh well, like as if him trash talking really bothers me anyways... what was more satisfying was that the over rated Yankees lost too. Derek "I threw Jessica Alba out of bed" Jeter, Gay-Rod, Chop-sui and "stick a needle in my ass" Giambis.. LOL what a running joke.

- I got proposed to for the first time since I was in Africa. This local canteen girl at the guest house residence, I think kinda liked me and was increasingly flirtatious, asking my name, asking where I was from and giving awesome food service, like free coke and beer... and over the days eventually she asked if I was married. No. Then she asked If I wanted to marry her... uhhhhh... I just wanted some shrimp fried rice?

-Stayed a couple days in London on the way back. Shock and Surprise, I did some shopping. H&M stores rule. Lets put it this way, it was the first time I acted like a chick and brought 8 items into the change room. Im mad.