88 cents. Thats how much in ringgit that I am paying for an egg here. Its only half the price (and twice the quality) back home.
That’s all that I have to say about this place.
OR NOT
Because, back home, things are a lot more accessible. A lot MORE.
I’ll start with the shops, and after being here for 2 weeks, and making countless trips to Coventry, I suppose one business etiquette that I can deduce is; all the shops I've been into is short-handed. Compared to KL, its actually quite severe over here, this problem, and this is something that I cannot comprehend, because the basis, the nature of doing business is to start with providing good customer service, be it advice and recommendations to concluding transactions smoothly and quickly. And it’s hard to find this here.
My direct comparisons may be harsh, but, as far as the title of this post is concerned, I'm not complaining, just, you know what I mean. In London, the medium sized sundry shop is run by only one dude and one counter, and I had to wait for him to stop talking on the bloody phone before asking him for a top-up; our most isolated 7-11 has 3 cashiers, and they don’t need to scan the newspapers, just give them the coins and run. Like how Malaysians put it, “collect money also got problem, how to do business?”
The McDonald’s next to the London eye, a large, really large tourist destination has only 6 counters, and was packed like sardine at lunch, and had little seats left in the 2 storey building; our unknown Sri Damansara branch has about 9 at peak hours, and short queues, and lots of space next to the kid’s playground.
The Burger King in Oxford is a work of genius. They take the order from around 5 customers (and their money), make them wait like monkeys for 15 minutes, then only start filling out the orders, asking you again what you ordered. Our Burger King? Most of the time its empty, so no queue, no waiting, excellent service
In Coventry, the SportsDirect shop has a missing Nike sales guy; our Royal Sporting House has around ten following you all the time, like you are there to steal something, and our Nike stores, wow, they let you try every shoes until you find the right one. That’s what I call service.
The Tesco here has got 20 counters max. Back home, even our small Tesco express in Desa has 5 express lanes PLUS some 30 odd counters. And small Atria's Giant has more than 20, if you have to compare. Mutiara Damansara? If my memory didn’t fail me, its 40 cashiers, and it opens a new one everytime there’s more than 3 trolleys in the queue. World class.
Here, in the handphone shops, you have to collect a number and wait for at least 30 minutes to get some assistance. COLLECT NUMBER!! At home, even a really small shop in Cameron Highlands can sell you a phone faster, and probably serve tea as well, and tell you the latest neighbourhood news.
Then there’s the issue of opening hours. In Malaysia, the public transport extends their service hours during the weekends to accommodate more passengers. This makes sense, as people naturally go for late-night movies and come home late. But in London, certain Tube lines are actually closed during the weekends to facilitate servicing. And the bus lines are less frequent. I just don’t get it. Why can't they just service it at night, like back home?
The Tescos (and Giants and Carrefours) actually extend their opening hours especially in the weekends, but here, they close at 4pm. I find this really strange because, people like me who stay far away from Tesco wouldn’t go there on the week days for obvious reasons e.g. too busy, too tired, things like that, although they are open 24 hours. The same happens in KL, where on weekdays they work their socks off to make ends meet. Thus, Tesco Malaysia is considerate enough that, taking in to account the people actually prefer to shop in the weekends and take their own time, they extend the opening hours to 11 or 12pm. That’s what I call doing business. Unlike here, when I could find the time to go out and buy my groceries, they choose to close at 4pm.
If all these happen in KL, all the Kopitiams and Papa Rich would explode at lunch time, they will need at least another 2 Mcdonald’s in Sri Damansara, and the LDP toll would be closed after 11pm in the weekends, so if you find yourself in Scarlett at 12pm, might as well spend a night there. Crazy.
I could go on and on about how the Tesco cashiers just wouldn't help you with stuffing the groceries into the plastic bags, or how I had to queue in the HSBC bank, where in KL, they make you wait in a bright lounge with weird sofas and free water, but that’s all the time I have for now. Gotta check my fridge and plan my next trip to Tesco, this time on a weekday. They might as well close for lunch, like back home......
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Monday, October 12, 2009
The Old is Gone, I am Here
It’s my first post from abroad, and the first after nearly 2 months of abandoning my Under Where? Don’t know how many posts it will take to tell you what happened between the previous post and this, and won’t bother either.
So, I shall begin this epic post by answering the questions that I am sure you all are keen to ask for the past 2 months: yes, yes, I am fine, uh huh, yeah, I can see the lake from my room, uh huh, no it isn’t as cold as what you think, its England, not Siberia, yes, I get what you mean, must budget la, if not of course eat bread and drink water towards the end of every month, yeah, a lot of walking, yes I miss my car, no, I don’t miss rice, because I have 5kg of it sitting in my shelf, and I do my own cooking, and if I have to convert my currency everytime I buy something, I guess I’ll have to settle with bread and water, yeah, lectures are good, got some free time in between them, yeah, made some French and Russian and Korean friends, no haven’t been drinking and partying, yeah, it’s hard to find authentic Asian food here, and yes, things aren’t as straightforward as it used to be at home.
From my lengthy answer, you’ll notice a pattern going on here: I have to deal with everything on my own. And it isn’t just me, it’s all the dudes and dudess in the uni, be it undergrad, postgrad, exchange students or language centre students. And no amount of information and advice, whether it’s from the graduated cousin or the PhD uncle will prepare you for life on your own.
1 very simple illustration. It’s late at night, and the fridge at home ran out of milk. You feel lazy to drive out and get some Dutch Lady, and went to bed instead. The next morning, the milk is back in the fridge, probably bought by your mother. But, over here, you are lucky if your Dutch Lady don’t disappear with the carrots and the eggs. And you have to walk for at least 5 minutes just to get new Dutch Lady and carrots and eggs. That’s what’s interesting about living on your own.
And then you have to watch over your own health, making sure that you don’t fill your blood with MSG and melamine from the microwaved pizza and cuscus, and don’t drown yourself in Pepsi and Coke, and most importantly, Jack Daniel’s.
On top of that, you have to monitor your studies (on your own as well, lecturers won’t speak to your parents, not even a word), constantly check the uni email, your results, assignment dates, meet the tutor, attend seminar, make sure your timetable don’t clash (like my case), and be present at the stuff you need to be present in. Then you have to schedule appointments with the lecturer if you need assistance (unlike in college) and learn your way around the library to look for books (even more unlike in college)
Finally, and more significantly, you have to watch your finances. You have to chase up the bank if your card hasn’t arrive, constantly monitor your account to ensure that there’s no fraud, and crucially, watch your balances so that you don’t have to eat bread and drink water towards the end of the month. I am not complaining, but, welcome to England.
I’ve only been here for a week and the half, so I can’t comment on how hard the syllabus is (though maths seemed quite scary, but I will work on it more) or how complicated the assignments would be. But what I have discovered in the past week or so, is that uni life is not about pushing the limits of yourself. It’s more about knowing the limits, knowing how far you can go. So, it’s not “Yesterday, I took 15 shots of rum and was able to count to ten, today I’ll take 20”, but it’s more like “I took 15 shots and was puking my way back to my room, today I’ll have 8 shots and cheat with some cherry juice”. It’s also not “yesterday, I studied till 1am, today I’ll stay up till 3am.” It’s more like “If I want to last till the end of the week, I’ll call it a day and continue tomorrow morning.”
But what I can tell you is that the definition of fun in university life can vary in each person. My cousin’s definition of fun in university is having a friend with a car and thus go clubbing whenever they could, while my friend’s example is sitting in the quiet room in the library everynight. There’s also some who enjoy mixing with people from all over the world, and some who would stick to their group from the same country (so out!). All I can say is, its up to you to look for all the fun, and not let others dictate what you should and shouldn’t do. Its also about not doing things you’ll regret (like me bringing a bunch of friends to the pub, and paying through my nose)
Also, another thing I discovered is that here’s the only place where you have to be cautious when studying, because as you sit for a long time, your body temperature falls and the cold will slowly creep on you without you realising it. But that’s not the excuse to skip studying, of course.
I’ll end this post with some behind-the-scenes pictures of London, Oxford and Coventry. Until the next post arrives, I wish all uni students (and myself, nonetheless) Happy Studying and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and.............
Millenium Bridge at night
London Eye
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Coventry
Oxford
So, I shall begin this epic post by answering the questions that I am sure you all are keen to ask for the past 2 months: yes, yes, I am fine, uh huh, yeah, I can see the lake from my room, uh huh, no it isn’t as cold as what you think, its England, not Siberia, yes, I get what you mean, must budget la, if not of course eat bread and drink water towards the end of every month, yeah, a lot of walking, yes I miss my car, no, I don’t miss rice, because I have 5kg of it sitting in my shelf, and I do my own cooking, and if I have to convert my currency everytime I buy something, I guess I’ll have to settle with bread and water, yeah, lectures are good, got some free time in between them, yeah, made some French and Russian and Korean friends, no haven’t been drinking and partying, yeah, it’s hard to find authentic Asian food here, and yes, things aren’t as straightforward as it used to be at home.
From my lengthy answer, you’ll notice a pattern going on here: I have to deal with everything on my own. And it isn’t just me, it’s all the dudes and dudess in the uni, be it undergrad, postgrad, exchange students or language centre students. And no amount of information and advice, whether it’s from the graduated cousin or the PhD uncle will prepare you for life on your own.
1 very simple illustration. It’s late at night, and the fridge at home ran out of milk. You feel lazy to drive out and get some Dutch Lady, and went to bed instead. The next morning, the milk is back in the fridge, probably bought by your mother. But, over here, you are lucky if your Dutch Lady don’t disappear with the carrots and the eggs. And you have to walk for at least 5 minutes just to get new Dutch Lady and carrots and eggs. That’s what’s interesting about living on your own.
And then you have to watch over your own health, making sure that you don’t fill your blood with MSG and melamine from the microwaved pizza and cuscus, and don’t drown yourself in Pepsi and Coke, and most importantly, Jack Daniel’s.
On top of that, you have to monitor your studies (on your own as well, lecturers won’t speak to your parents, not even a word), constantly check the uni email, your results, assignment dates, meet the tutor, attend seminar, make sure your timetable don’t clash (like my case), and be present at the stuff you need to be present in. Then you have to schedule appointments with the lecturer if you need assistance (unlike in college) and learn your way around the library to look for books (even more unlike in college)
Finally, and more significantly, you have to watch your finances. You have to chase up the bank if your card hasn’t arrive, constantly monitor your account to ensure that there’s no fraud, and crucially, watch your balances so that you don’t have to eat bread and drink water towards the end of the month. I am not complaining, but, welcome to England.
I’ve only been here for a week and the half, so I can’t comment on how hard the syllabus is (though maths seemed quite scary, but I will work on it more) or how complicated the assignments would be. But what I have discovered in the past week or so, is that uni life is not about pushing the limits of yourself. It’s more about knowing the limits, knowing how far you can go. So, it’s not “Yesterday, I took 15 shots of rum and was able to count to ten, today I’ll take 20”, but it’s more like “I took 15 shots and was puking my way back to my room, today I’ll have 8 shots and cheat with some cherry juice”. It’s also not “yesterday, I studied till 1am, today I’ll stay up till 3am.” It’s more like “If I want to last till the end of the week, I’ll call it a day and continue tomorrow morning.”
But what I can tell you is that the definition of fun in university life can vary in each person. My cousin’s definition of fun in university is having a friend with a car and thus go clubbing whenever they could, while my friend’s example is sitting in the quiet room in the library everynight. There’s also some who enjoy mixing with people from all over the world, and some who would stick to their group from the same country (so out!). All I can say is, its up to you to look for all the fun, and not let others dictate what you should and shouldn’t do. Its also about not doing things you’ll regret (like me bringing a bunch of friends to the pub, and paying through my nose)
Also, another thing I discovered is that here’s the only place where you have to be cautious when studying, because as you sit for a long time, your body temperature falls and the cold will slowly creep on you without you realising it. But that’s not the excuse to skip studying, of course.
I’ll end this post with some behind-the-scenes pictures of London, Oxford and Coventry. Until the next post arrives, I wish all uni students (and myself, nonetheless) Happy Studying and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and.............
Millenium Bridge at night
London Eye
Big Ben
Trafalgar Square
Coventry
Oxford
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