Day off

Today is my day off, and since I'm the only one not working today (Natalia and Shen are working on this windy windy day huahuahua) I prefer to spend it at home with some house chores. Yes Mommy, I am neater here than I am at home. Something about staying with two other girls makes me a bit more conscious where I throw my undergarments and where my hair falls. >_<

And also because I had an unexpected TEN FREAKING HOUR shift yesterday, so today I woke up with sore limbs, the worst ever, and with a swollen heel. Good grapes, I have never had those before. Though it's better now since Sandra gave me some Epsom salt soak.

I learned how to close up the shop last night, and it involves a lot of cleaning. You have no idea how messy it gets during working hours: sauces and bacon and cheese and tri tip flying everywhere, fries on the floor, veggies littered on the countertops... bleeahh. The floor during closing is barf-worthy. There's so much crap on the floor I have to make myself tread carefully even though I'm wearing shoes with non-slip soles.

But yeaaaaaa Buckhorn food is goooood hahaha

Not sure if I mentioned this, but I get my Asian food fix by trading food with our next door store, Coriander, a Thai food shop. They have awesome pad thai and thai milk tea. I laik. I think I will eat it on Friday ngeeheehee

Okay Mom if you're reading this, here's how you make fruit and nut salad. When I come back then I make for you okeh

Salad greens
Fruits: Dried apricot, mandarin oranges, apples
Nuts: Walnuts and some other nuts that I don't know
Feta cheese (but I prefer blue cheese)
Honey lime dressing.

Did I miss out anything?

I eat it with this crispy chicken thing, and it's super awesome. So since I eat very unhealthily during dinner (think microwave pizza and mash potato and the like) I try to eat as much greens during the day. And Buckhorn salad helps a lot :)

Okay now I'm waiting for Nat to come back with my pad thai from Coriander. Till next time.

Christmasing & San Francisco Warriors vs Houston Rockets

Before I begin, Merry Christmas everyone! Best wishes to the New Year ahead too. So here are some pictures of us housemates at Sandra's church's Christmas play. Some pictures are from Natalia and Takahiro. Goodness gracious I have to repair my camera. Mannn.


Their theme was Christma(treblenote)ing. So it was a lot of musical performances and like halfway through the drama, the pastor will come out like so


and lead the congregation in singing Christmas carols. Random but like, carols! Who doesn't like to sing them!


And here we are waiting for the musical to start. Natalia asked "I think I'm the only one who doesn't have *pulls eyes to form Asian squint*" WALAO. So here she is trying to pose as one of us, while we do what we do best, kawaii poses. Heeee.


Takahiro has the weirdest facial expressions.

Multitude of angels.

Shen's been always coming home and reaching for the bottle of Smirnoff we got at a cheap price, so one night Sandra let us have some of her wine. :D




And after the Christmas play, Takahiro asked if we wanted to watch a basketball game so since we had nothing better to do, we bought tickets on that night itself, and on Monday we headed to Oakland after work to watch the Warriors take on the Rockets. Jason has been telling me that SF isn't very good in basketball, but well. As a n00b I think they did pretty well. They were leading at some point so that isn't very bad.

We had dinner at Tokyo Express before the game. Super yummy ramen that is quite worth it, but expensive nonetheless. Food in San Francisco is expensive!!!

Early in the game

Go Warriors! But seriously I think their logo isn't very nice. It has the Golden Gate Bridge on it and I find it not as.... championlike.

Closer shot of the logo with some onanoko. That's girls in Japanese. Gosh are they toned and limber.

During half-time. We were sitting at the same row as this douchebag who kept yelling "YOU GUYS ARE NOT CHEERING THAT'S WHY THE WARRIORS AREN'T WINNING! IF YOU ARE NOT CHEERING THEN WHY DO YOU EVEN GO TO A GAME!!!" And stupid stuff like that. So annoying. And somemore I think he wasn't sitting at his designated place because we had to move over at one point to accommodate some other people.

After the game. Half of the crowd left at the last minute cos they knew that SF is not going to win. But well. I paid 30 dollars for my ticket so I'm sure as heck going to stay there until the guards come chasing!

So at this point the guards were like "GET OUT OF THE STADIUM!" So we ran out HAHA



On a random note, we visited Vertigo somewhere near Van Ness Street (or Avenue hahaha) for a night out during Takahiro's final week here. Note: Drinks in the US are cheap, but kao. Like really kao. We had about four cocktails for 25 dollars. And it's not as lame as the drinks at Laundry where it's so watered down with juice it doesn't even taste like alcohol. Here? Walao. One sip and fuhhh


And we learned a drinking game from Takahiro called "Isanosen" or something. It was fun. No dodgy people at all. And I think it was Indie music night at the bar. First time listening to stuff like that while I'm drinking.


And finally Merry Christmas again! Here's Chew Christmas tree. It's REAL. IT SMELLS LIKE PINE. It'll be a sad day when they take it down.

Till next time.

Christmas lights

Soz, a quickie before I head to bed so I can wake up on time for work tomorrow.

We went to this area where the neighbourhood went all out on the Christmas deco. There were a lot of other random people walking around taking pictures so we are not as touristy as we thought. Or maybe we are. Apa saya cakap ni, letihnye aku

They even had Jingle Bell Rock blasting from outdoor speakers. Who does this! And apparently they had guests into the house at one point and a group of Azns thought they were opening the house for public viewing... so they went up to the front door, ready to go in... only to be disappointed. HAHA

That's us with Takahiro, nickname Tako. He's from Japan. We recently got to know him better and he's pretty fun to hang around with, despite the language barrier. His English is really bad but it's getting better, heh. We're going with him and Natalia to watch a basketball game on Monday, how fun!



Random candy canes lining their yard. And check out the gingerbread men!
By the way, the pair of jeans I'm wearing is from Forever21, and I got it for like, USD9.50. SO CHEAP RIGHT. So I went back and bought another pair in a slightly lighter shade.

I think if this happens in Malaysia, the deco will only last for a day. Until some illegal immigrant jumps over your gate to steal it for besi buruk.

And then on Tuesday it was Shen's birthday so I spent her a meal of Thai food in Chinatown.

I had tom yum goong and it was AWESOME. Just the spicy kick I needed to last me for a week or two. And the scarf I'm wearing is from H&M, for $3. Hoodie from Aeropostale for $15. I love shopping here!

I just came back from a Christmas play at Sandra's church, where she and her youngest daughter sang in the choir. So Mom and Dad and Dorothy if you're reading this, yes, I went to church. But I don't think I'll be joining them for church service there, because I don't think the church is the kind that is good for me. Might go look for another one when I'm properly settled in or more confident with taking public transport alone.

Before the Christmas play, Gordon took Takahiro and I to the premium outlet stores. They had SUPER CHEAP stuff from Gap and Guess and Juicy Couture and Burberry and Coach and Nike and you get the drift. So if you want anything from a premium label, I can get it for you. All you need is to ask. And T/T money to me of course. Hehe.

And something interesting happened while we were there. Takahiro wanted to get a wallet in Gucci (around $119 according to him) and while he was there, there was an attempted robbery that happened right in front of him! Apparently the dude wanted to steal some Gucci bags with a scissors. A freaking scissors. So lame. Anyway the security guard tackled him and Takahiro, like a real Japanese, stood there and took pictures with his camera phone. Hahaha! The police came and all and in the end he didn't get to buy his wallet. Aww.

So I'll be working tomorrow, and I'm really dreading it. I am thinking of telling the manager to transfer me to cashier duty or something, but like. Sandwich making is fun if my coworkers are not breathing down my neck everytime I'm doing something.

But yeah, till then.

"But she didn't prepare the salad..."

Today was the second day of my training at Westfield. It was equally as hectic, but more pressure was put on me because apparently I should be making sandwiches at the speed of light and getting the orders correct. Pfft. I screwed up a lot. I think I wasted a lot of food. But then again better make mistakes now than later, right.

So yeah today I got reprimanded by a customer and it wasn't even my fault. A woman came over to me after I handed out her food to her 5 minutes ago and complained that there wasn't dressing on her salad. I checked, saw a hint of ranch dressing but dismissed the fact. "Okay," I said, "What dressing do you want? I'll go get some for you."

"What dressing do you think this salad comes with?" She hissed. "I've been buying this so many times and there's no dressing in my salad! I want to speak to your manager. I don't care. Let me speak to your manager."

Lei yao mou gao chor.

So we got Oscar to speak to her (and he pushed me away from the crossfire by asking me to check on the fryer) and he said, get this. "Mam, there IS dressing in your salad. Look."

"NO. I TASTED IT AND THERE'S NO DRESSING. WHAT KIND OF ESTABLISHMENT IS THIS. HOW CAN SHE NOT PUT DRESSING IN MY SALAD!!!"

"Mam. But she didn't prepare the salad."

HAHAHA BURRRRNNN YOU LOU TAI TAI

And the el stupido thing about the entire ordeal was that she was standing at the counter the entire time, waiting for her food so she obviously saw me standing there for quite a while, handing out food to the ones in line. How in the world can I actually prepare the salad? WITH MY MIND? Bravo, piecing things together. Geez.

Anyway. Other than that, work has been really hectic. Towards the end I felt like I really wanted to go home. Home as in Malaysia home. Where I can relax. And not think about how many ounces of beef should I put in different sandwiches.

Natalia from Brazil is now here, and she's dead asleep, probably from her flight. She'll be working at my outlet. She can speak Spanish, so I guess I'll still remain as the most incompetent and underperforming worker, because 90% of the time, the workers at the food line are talking in Spanish. It is extremely frustrating because I don't like not knowing things, nor do I like standing around being useless.

Maybe I SHOULD just transfer to the Metreon outlet. Haha YEAH RIGHT.

Plus since today was Shen Yee's birthday, we went for some Thai food in Chinatown and had drinks at home after with Takahiro and Jason. Got to know them more and they ARE funny guys. Aww.

My eyes are closing on me. Till tomorrow, or something.

Actual first day

HAHA.

So I had my first day at my actual assigned Buckhorn outlet. One word. HECTIC.

I have never seen so many sandwiches made in such a short amount of time. The following is a list of sandwiches offered at my outlet.

1. Big Buck
2. Little Buck
3. Philly buck
4. Bacon and cheddar buck
5. Roadhouse buck
6. Chipotle border buck

And that doesn't even include the salmon sandwich and the other chicken sandwiches. And I'm sure I missed out one or two beef sandwiches. Meh.

OH. And besides the sandwiches, we have beef platters, combo platters, and like. Another wide array of salad dishes. Fulamak.

And the restaurant has a policy that if your food doesn't come in 5 minutes, it's completely free. So we have to hustle.

I tried my hand at sandwiches and manning the fryer. Coating onions are funnnnn! At one point I think the guy handling the char-broiling of tri-tips kinda stood there watching me bewilderedly as I sprinkled flour on the onions like I'm sprinkling fairy dust. Ngeeeee!

The employees are really friendly too. I was kinda skeptical because my first impression of them was that they were very busy and easily annoyed people, but once I got to know them, they're a lovely bunch. I hope that prolongs till I'm done with my contract. Heh. Plus they generally speak in Spanish so I am hoping I'll come back to Malaysia with a Spanish accent to my English. How freaking awesome will that be. :D

The best part about this job? The free food. So basically it's like McDs, where they give you a sandwich/burger, fries and a drink for a combo meal. But at Buckhorn, you can substitute fries for mash potato, salad, roadhouse onions, or even sweet potato fries. So since their servings are big, I either eat the side or sandwich for lunch and keep the other for my dinner. Save money the el cheapo way, I laik!

So yeah I think that's about it. More stories to come!

First day

I got assigned to a cashier post in Buckhorn Grill at the Metreon for my training. It's kinda like the receptionist job I had back in Malaysia, but it's more complicated. I have to remember where everything is on the touch screen monitor and well, if you think just because Americans speak English I should be able to understand them, you're wrong. They speak with a certain drawl, and they speak fast. And they have different ways of saying things too. So like. Yeah. I screwed up a bit but it's all good, better get it out of my system before I actually work at SFC.

SFC is Westfield Shopping Mall, and the Buckhorn outlet there is even busier. The manager, Alex, cited 600-700 customers A DAY for that outlet, so like. Phew. I hope I can get through this four months here.

You may be wondering how difficult it is to press buttons on a monitor to take people's orders... well. It is difficult. Especially when they have so specific requests for a sandwich (like dude it only lasts like 10 minutes and then it's on the way out your no-no hole) but yeah. It's mind opening how someone can actually refuse a serving of steak JUST BECAUSE it's sliced too thin.

It's a good thing that Americans are generally polite. The manager at Metreon, Carol, told a customer that it's my first day, and the customer cheered me on with a "Go, Leeza, GOOOO!!" HAHAHA. And some customers actually are very patient as I slowly look for something on the screen. Awww.

What else has been happening... errh. I just found out how to do my laundry at the house? HAHA. Shen Yee's out for her shift and I'm supposed to get ready to meet her soon. She got her schedule earlier than me because I'm only starting on Monday. We planned to go cycling today because it's forecasted to be sunny today but now it's super foggy and Sandra, our landlady just said that it's crazy cold outside and I should stay home. Unfortunately I didn't bring enough clothes here so I plan to go get more later... so like. Yeah. I guess I have to brave the cold.

Okay I think my laundry's done. Till next time.

Time to spare

Oh hello there, I almost forgot I had this blog. Whoops.

I've been going out a lot, exploring the city as much as I can before I started work, and it so happens I started today at Buckhorn Grill at the Metreon Center. So I think posts will be more far and few so I better finish up as much as I can, whenever I have the time.

Let's have the pictures do the talking, shall we

It was sunnier so we decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood, to check where the bus stop was and how our route was going to be

Loving the architecture and the way the roads go uphill and downhill.. it gives the residential area a certain flair. And they're all in these cute pastel colours like cupcakes!

This is where we are supposed to disembark from our bus back home. To wait for a bus would be the stop across the street. Two palm trees, our marker.

After that we decided to nom on some mexican at El Farolito. Tacos are awesome when they're not as expensive.

We also visited Twin Peaks, one of the famous hills of San Francisco. Golden Gate Bridge is visible from the top, but it was kinda foggy so pictures didn't really turn out that well.


On another day, we went to Market Street. It's the main street in San Francisco where if you walk right down, you will reach Fisherman's Wharf (if I'm not mistaken, ahahah) and it goes through the Financial District. We'll venture into Chinatown another time. Maybe during Chinese New Year or something.


If I'm not mistaken, The Palace's rooftop is where Maroon 5 did their summer session for Vevo. And since it's the winter, there are not many performances or concerts lined up. Well, Lady Gaga will be coming but it won't be in San Francisco. It'll be the place near here. LOL. I can't for the life of me remember what that place is called. And Lady Gaga tickets are crazy expensive so.. pass.

A tram. So kewt. Will have to try using that sometime. I usually use the Muni or BART to travel around, and although it may not be as convenient as Singapore's MRTs, it sure as heck is much easier to go around than using Malaysian public transport.


I can't remember where this shop is at, but the way the shops are laid out on this street kinda reminds me of Bangsar without the climbing of stairs. Heheh. But yea. This bagel shop sells super awesome bagels.

Their super kao OJ and a cinammon raisin bagel with schmeared cream cheese. Yummy.


Oh I bought a hat that actually fits me well from H&M, and a black trench coat from Forever21. Most girls in the city are wearing black trenchcoats so I bought one too. Almost wanted a red one but didn't want the unnecessary attention, so yeah

My meal from Hawaiian Drive Thru. Teriyaki pork chop, so yummy! Plus they give you TWO slices of meat. And that can at its side? It's some famous Hawaiian drink. Like. Made from passion fruit. Heh.


Okay my eyes are literally closing as I type this, so I guess it's off to bed for me for now. Will blog about my work experience anotehr day!

Keep close.
xoox

ps. If you know people who know me who don't know I have this blog, please let them know

Landed!

I've landed safely in San Francisco and am suffering the repercussions of not being able to sleep well for two days. Trying to get some sleep now, but first, updates!

My farewell committee. I didn't know they would miss me so much, and I didn't know I would miss them a lot either. Until I saw KL below me. Felt sad... and almost wanted to jump off the plane but like. A bit impossible hor.


My flight there was not very comfortable, given the long transit hours at Changi airport, and the fact that I get very bad unpasssable gas when I'm on the plane. You know the bloated feeling and the urge to fart, but it doesn't come out cos it's shy? Imagine holding that for 8 hours. Sad.

Plus it didn't help when the Subway sandwich I got at Changi airport turned out half the size a normal Subway sandwich. Lame sauce.

My neck wasn't being nice to me either, hours upon hours attempting to sleep upright. So if you have the same problems as me, remember to bring a good neck pillow (it didn't stop the pain but it sure felt more comfortable) and take a dimenhydrinate pill, if I'm not mistaken. Just go to your local pharmacy and ask them for air sickness pills, they're sure to help you out.

United Airlines at Narita Airport, Tokyo. Love the setting sun effect. It was around 5pm at that time.

After the entire ordeal, Shen and I finally touched down at San Francisco International Airport and we waited for our hosts, Sandra and Gordon Chew. Looking mock sad because they were taking ages to come pick us up. Turns out they're very nice people with a nice home, so that's bound to make living here easier.

The view from the house. Houses here are individually unique, and they're painted in pastel or bright colours. Easier identification when you come home, I suppose. USJ houses should start being painted various different colours. :D

Plus I realised that there are a lot, and I mean A LOT of Asians here. They're everywhere! Climbing in yo windows, snatching yo people up.. and stuff. Looking forward to sampling some Hong Kong or Shanghai food while I'm here.

This is the size of their Carl's Jr small. Yeah. It's the same as our Regular in Malaysia. I ordered some Guacamole Bacon thing that includes an Angus Beef patty, something SF is apparently famous for. I ate half and left it in the kitchen but when I went back to eat it, someone had already threw it away :( Ah well. Now I know to keep my foods in my room.


So that's about it. Things you have to do once touching down:

• Call your employer
• Register at the SEVIS site
• Get a local number
• Open a bank account
• Get a monthly bus/train pass
• Call home!
  

That's all for now. Gonna continue sleeping.

My bags are packed, I'm not ready to go

Ohai. First post of my Work and Travel travel log. The title states that I'm not ready to go, cos I am going to miss my family and friends. A lot. Haven't cried yet but I'm expecting the floodgates to open when I'm at the airport tomorrow.


Here's a picture of my luggage. I have a few more items to stuff in before it's considered "fully packed", but the blue luggage is already crazy heavy. I feel my long lost cheerleading muscles making a guest appearance.

I don't really have any tips for packing for a 5 month trip, but like. As long as you have your essentials covered you're good to go. Some heavy stuff that you need to take note of:

• Toiletries: shampoo, soap, facewash, lotion, makeup remover etc. No need to bring? Go stand in the corner. I don't like changing brands for shampoo and soap because my scalp's pretty sensitive (my hair falls like snowflakes in winter due to excessive blow-drying and stress) and.. I am quite particular with how I smell after a bath.
• Pills: medication, vitamins etc. Mom insists that I bring multivitamins and bak foong yuen pills, and I nabbed some meds from the clinic I work at (legitimately, of course). Remember to get a letter from your doctor if you're bringing stand-by medicine
• Winter clothes: bomber jacket, leather jacket, whatever jacket, woolen cardigans etc. Don't put in your carry on cos it's heavy to lug around. Srsly.
• Foodstuff: errh. I brought Nissin noodles and some packs of curry chicken/nasi lemak sambal mix. I've gone to Canada before and have been deprived of proper chilli during the entire length of my stay, so now I'm more prepared muahaha (fingers crossed there'll be Lingham's in SF)
  

And like if you are in the midst of purchasing a luggage bag, buy a cloth-type one. It's much lighter. I'm using this blue hard case one Dad bought dunno how many years ago, and it's kinda heavy = ohai overweight charges huhuhu

A backpack is also very useful as carry on because it has super a lot of strings and compartments and whatnot to stuff your... stuff. I got influenced by a friend of mine who brought it to Perhentian, so now I have a 60L one. It's not that necessary to get such a huge backpack but the 50L one came in a not so nice colour so... yeah. I'm narcissistic like that.

That's about it for now. Next update in Changi airport! :)