YOGAYUGA

I noticed car sign here with “orange symbol” in the middle. My driver told me that Florida is an orange state so the car sign is designed with oranges. It’s sweet!!

BTW, I just realised that I am actually in the north of Latin America. My colleagues told me. They said here is with culture of Latin America, not America. It’s culture more with Cuba. People do have relaxed life here, doing things slow and such. OK! I am in America geographically, but in Latin America practically. LoL

Two of my work mates took me out for lunch today. I had great lunch!! We went to Latin American restaurant where you find no English speakers of waiter and waitress. It’s grilled style chicken fillet with fried banana and salad. It seems that I will put on weight here. I almost finished the whole plate.

I talked to a Cuban today who is my driver. He drives me to work everyday here. He acted so cool the first day he drove me. I found he doesn’t speak English. He only speaks Spanish. I was so curious where he is from. Then he told me today his story in his broken English. He is a Cuban who swam to the U.S. seven years ago in order to get out of poverty life in Cuba. He swam with few others across the sea with support of a piece of wood broad. The journey took him seven days, and was very dangerous. I was so shocked. How can someone swim for seven days without food and rest?? Anyway, he got his citizenship directly due to his status. He also had his wife and daughter to move to the U.S. two years later. He can never see rest of his family again once he is in the U.S. He said he loves America. People only earn USD20.00 a month in Cuba. It is so bad.

It’s very interesting that I met people with complete diverse culture of my own here. Most of my colleagues are Latin American root though they moved to the U.S. long time ago, some moved to here 40 years ago. They do still speak English with Spanish accent. Some actually don’t speak English. Some are from Argentina, Columbia and Bolivia. Most of them have been working in my company more than ten years. It seems my company is a good company as employees stay for long, and being happy.

It was raining yesterday so got no chance to have lunch outside. We did it today as it was sunny. In fact, most of my colleagues do order lunch box, and have it in the office very often. I did have the lunch box yesterday, the Colombian meal. It was ok!

My jet lag started in the middle of last night. I woke up around 4am. I didn’t fall in sleep during day time as I kept drinking Cuban coffee, a coffee that I have never heard before. In fact, it means normal Italian Espresso, but here people call it Cuban coffee. It tastes very good. I love it!

I did have a great day at work! Work mates are friendly. I feel very warm with overall environment. It looks like an office with lots of laugh. It’s very different from the office atmosphere of Asia. Open opinions are always welcome at work. Well, I know I am under very high expectation of my new job, but I am happy to take this challenge.

My driver drove me to goceries after work. I managed to buy lots of food that I can cook for three days. I prefer to cook rather than to order food delivery. I bought my favourite dark rye bread and cream cheese for breakfast.

My first own made dinner in my kitchen…

I eventually arrived in Miami but saw no sunshine after twenty hours of journey. LoL I was expecting to see the smile of Miami. I was starving when I arrived. AA didn’t sell any food on the night flight apart from giving passengers free drinks. They charge everything on the flight even the head set for movie. It costs USD2.00. I was shocked as it is supposed to be part of the services on the plane. My AA flight departed at 10:50pm on 29th. I didn’t eat much on the CX flight as it was the breakfast food. The CX dinner was good though with beef and salad. The new seats of CX are not so comfortable I feel. Their business class section became so congested with the new seat design. The flight was absolutely full. Few babies were on board I think. My goodness, one of them kepy crying and crying. There was one sitting next to me with her mother. I was so glad that she didn’t cry much, and only made some noise. The AA flight was full too, but the seat next to me was empty.

I was absolutely starving when I arrived. I quickly got to the hotel by taxi. It only took 10 mins. Miami looks like a beautiful holiday place. I thought that I can have a nice meal in the hotel, but found the surrounding is so empty. It was rainy and windy during day time. The hotel manager told me that I could walk to Warmart nearby, but I didn’t due to the rainy weather. Many food service menus are available in my room, so I made few calls, but found they all are not available until 11am. Some open at 4pm. I finally got one at 11am, and ordered so much food. The American portion is big, but I ate them all. LoL

The surrounding lookouts from my room.

My studio room

My first Miami lunch by food delivery. The onion soup was great with a layer of THICK cheese. It’s like an inch thick, God!! And I love it! The steak sandwich was delicious too, not too heavy in taste. I was ordering Cuban sandwich, but couldn’t figure out what it is, so just dropped the idea.

The strawberry cake was good but too rich for me.

My first Miami dinner by food delivery service.

I stayed in the whole day due to the weather. Apart from eating, I just slept and slept…..zzzzzz ^_^ I need some beauty sleep for starting of my new days……………

I was listening “Where does my heart beat now?” by Celine Dion while the plane was landing in L.A.

Transited in L.A. Seeing L.A. again, the same L.A., the same LAX, the same feeling, absolutely no changes.

I departed again in Terminal four of LAX to Miami by AA, but found not able to connect to the local wireless network while I was waiting on the boarding gate.

I saw the plane of Alaska airline. It reminded me of Sarah Palin.

My parents sent me to the airport tonight. It wasn’t my first time to leave home, and also not the first time to leave home for long. It seems they do worry about my trip this time. My Dad kept telling me not to go out on my own at night. My Mum asked me to wear more clothes when I sleep at night. LoL

Today could be the most thankful Thanksgiving Day with Obama as president of the U.S……

Today I also feel thankful that my life is transforming, I am growing, I am improving, and I look forward to seeing the good and the bad in the rest of my life……..

Thank you so much for my parents who have been supporting me with positive attitude in my whole life though we do disagree with eachother sometimes. My mother is so sweet that she helped me to iron my clothes today. LoL I have been so busy to prepare stuff for my new job. I need to reserve air ticket, to buy new laptop, Blackberry, and some personal items. There are still many stuff to handle related to my new job. I feel I am already in it. I am excited, and also feel nervous!!

TO YOU AND TO ALL YOUR LOVE ONES!

I will be in Miami on Nov 30th for several weeks. I didn’t mention this trip before on my blog. I got a job offer from an American company. I decided to give up my current work due to various negative economic factors behind. I deal with mostly the U.S. business and obviously things are not doing well right now.

Fortunately, I got an offer from a fashion accessories company in Miami two weeks ago. It took me three months for the whole process before I had been offered. An American job agency found me on the web site of Australian Chamber of Commerce three months ago as I made my own ads there. The job agency arranged me to have LD call interview and web cam interview on Skype with their CEO and COO. I also did have face to face interview with their designers in Guangzhou while they were there for tradefair. Everything went fine. They were impressed with my CV and my experiences. I had been picked among many American candidates I am so surprise. It’s a position with two choices of location for candidate. The local American candidate needs to relocate to their headquarter in Miami. The Asian candidate can remain to stay in Asia, but commit to travel to the U.S. periodically. Therefore, I need to travel to Miami and other places in the U.S. several times a year as well as to other places in Asia for work. They don’t have an office in Hong Kong for now, but they will have it set up three months later. For the time being, I will work for them at home. It’s funny I work at home again!! I have been working at home for four years already, and this pattern still continues until the office has been set up.

I feel lucky to get this job as the global economy is not good at all. The offer is good. I will have lots of chances travelling around many places for sourcing. I will love it.

Be honest, my life has never been settled. I am always in everywhere since 16. This life style still continues. God knows when I can settle!! I am really a bird with NO LEGS! Keep flying and flying!!

I had been informed that I need to be in Miami on Dec 1st yesterday. I quickly made my air ticket reservation and packed my bags. My God! I have been offered to have a car for drive during my stay in Miami, but very unfortunately, I can’t drive. Well, I can have taxi arrangements instead but it wouldn’t be so flexible as having a rental car for the whole journey. I heard that Miami is not a great city for taxi, so I don’t know what I am doing during weekend over there. The location of my new company is not too far from Miami beach. It takes 25 minutes to drive. It takes 3 hours to walk, and 1 hour by bus I google it yesterday. Hahahaa, I certainly can’t walk. Oh well, whatever………..I will be fine I am sure.

Jet lag is horrible, and am going to experience it again!!

Posting won’t be light I am sure! ^_^ See you there!