Dialogue and Digression

(Scott, Rob, and Wayne--off on a bike ride!)


Wow, another week gone. Times flies when you’re having fun, so this must be a great time. But exhausting. I’m still having trouble falling to sleep at nite. And then, I get tired, even sleepy, after lunch. Part of my biological clock is very insistent on being on Portland time.



Of course, it may have something to do with my work days too. They’ve been crammed with meetings, and trying to re-baseline the project schedule. I feel like a ringmaster—taking inputs from the design team, construction team, procurement, management, and the like. Then trying to make it “real,” and dealing with constant changes. Things are a little scattered—like any project at the start, especially one that hasn’t had the best of planning or the best of starts. But, we’re trying (now) to plan the work and work the plan, and everyone is getting on board as they see incremental improvements.

It’s a team effort, and it’s a good team. The SunPower contingent from the Philippines are mostly people I’ve worked with before, and it’s amazing to see the growth they’ve undergone thru the experience of delivering Fab 2 in Batangas. People who seemed tentative and unsure, “at the beginning of their careers,” are now very adept and knowledgeable. It’s are real boon to my job. And I’ve even had people come to me with “concerns,” which I take as a good sign—I’m accepted and truly part of the team. It’s just impossible to downplay the “human” aspects of management in a situation where people are coming, literally, from all over the world to contribute to the project’s success. We’re all going to be living and breathing is work for at least a year, and we’re already starting to develop some priceless commodities: like trust, and confidence, and compassion. Sweet!



The Malaysian design firm, MEI, has even agreed that they’ve bitten off a bit more than they can chew, and has asked for help. That’s good, because nothing could but the project more at risk than foolish pride. In fact, it takes some real honesty and humility to admit that you need help at all. So, I’m bringing a couple of folks from the Portland office over for a month to help out with some of the systems with which they are less familiar. MEI has gotten into a bit more of a project than they anticipated, and their credit, SunPower knew this was a risk when they started, and planned for it.



So, baby steps, but positive steps.



And I’m really enjoying Melaka. It’s a small city, by Asian standards, but comfortable. The people are very kind, always willing to help and listen and do their best (especially with the language—which really isn’t such a barrier). I guess you might say there’s not a lot to do, but I really don’t need much. I spend my free time writing, reading, watching a little TV, and walking around.

I also went mountain biking this week, and Rob, Wayne, and I are determined to make it a regular, if not daily, break from the workday. It’s great, and luckily we have showers, because it’s hot and humid. I’m still getting used to mountain biking, and I fall (more like tip-over) a lot. It’s quite different than the road biking I’m used too. We ride on “roads” out behind the site in the hills, it’s pretty, and a great way to leave the workaday pressures behind. Hopefully, it’ll also lead to a leaner, trimmer, Scott. I know Jessica won’t mind that!

I move into my condo in about a week, and I’m pretty excited about that. The hotel is great, but it’ll be nice to have my own space. I’m really looking forward to fixing up the roof deck—a couple of chaise lounges, some plants, who knows, maybe even a little koi pond or something. As it’s right on the ocean, there should be a bit of an evening breeze, and I’ll be able to kick back and relax. Or have the guys over on the weekend for a barbeque. Later today I’m going window shopping for plants, just to se what’s available and what they cost. Hell, they grow all over the place—this IS the tropics—so it just can’t be that bad.
When they family comes, I’m sure they’ll be quite comfortable.


So I’m content, living my life, and yes, occasionally panged with loneliness. I miss my family tremendously, and my friends as well. But work keeps me hopping, and keeps my mind focused on things beside my problems and feelings. I talk to the family almost daily, and get emails and Facebook posts from friends. I need to get my webcam working, but it’s difficult to find a time for the I.T. guy to work on my computer when I’m using it constantly. I’m making new friends—the folks at work, and the drivers, for the most part. My regular driver, Afizul, had a baby (well, ok, his wife did most of the work) the other day, and we stopped by for a visit. Tiny little thing—you forget how little they are at a just a few days old. He has a lovely family, and tho he wanted a boy, and I think that is a little more important to a Muslim man than to most of us from the States, he is a very proud poppa.



I’m also starting to learn some Malay (pronounced mẽ-LAY, short “e”):
· Kana-left
· Kiri-right
· Udong—shrimp (yummy!)
· Udong coral (literally “coral shrimp”, or lobster to us—tho I haven’t seem any yet…)
· Tirema kasih (p: ka-shi)—thank you
· Tandas—toilet/bathroom (always useful)
· Matselaih (mat-sa-lay)—basically “white guy,” but not actually pejorative
· Nasi—rice (the num ber one staple—morning noon and night)
· Nasi gorem—fried rice
· Nasi barani—saffron rice (excellent)
· Sky juice—water
· Spritzer—sparkling water
· Air water—also sparkling water
· Gila—crazy
· Panas—hot
· Gila panas matseliah—crazy hot white guy (the drivers love this one)
· Pandan—market
· Pandan malim—nite market (which spring up at different places on different nites, selling produce, t-shirts, and what have you)
· Ayam—chicken
· Dobe (dough-BE)--laundry
And then there are the slightly “different” terms:
· A hand phone is a cell phone
· “to go “ is “take away”
· The “E-Q” is the Equatorial, my hotel
· And blissfully “no, thank you,” really means “no, thank you.”



I’ve only seen one panhandler. Unlike the Philippines those little white stripes in the road actually mean something. Red lites mean stop. The green lites blink before they turn yellow—kind of a pre-caution, and not a bad idea. Some of the traffic lites have digital timers above them, so you can tell how much longer you have to wait, or how much longer you have to go—also not a bad idea. The Malays pride themselves on borrowing good ideas from all over the world. It’s clean, the roads are amazingly well built. In fact, they build infrastructure—roads and power and sewers—first, and THEN build out the houses, shopping centers, and the like. In the Philippines, they’ll build a factory or hotel or school in what seems, to western eyes, to be the middle of absolute nowhere, and then, someday, the road might even get paved, or upgraded to 2 lanes. I remember the road from the end of the highway to SunPower’s Fab 2in Batangas—it was paved, I’ll give you that, but it felt like the wild, wild west: lined with shacks and grimy little stalls, cars all over the road, and (frankly) abject poverty, until you got to the industrial park where SunPower was, then it was back to a western-style business park. Malaysia is much more like the US in their development pattern.



I guess I expected something more like the Philippines, but Malaysia has a much higher overall standard of living. Now, there are some similarities with the Philippines. Curb heights vary from one side of the road to the other. Sidewalks, especially in the older areas of town, have all kinds of little steps, of all kinds of differing heights, slope one way and another randomly, and disappear without warning, rhyme, nor reason. Learning to watch my step his becoming second nature. Yet overall, construction quality seems high. Things are well-built, and nicely finished. Even the nicest hotel in the Philippines had some very “odd” gaps, joints, and “misses.” Everything here is pretty well done.
There’s one mall here with a handicap ramp that cuts right thru the stairway. Seems like a good idea, expect that most people still walk (or that’s been my experience) and the steps vary in height and width to accommodate the ramp. Drives me bonkers!



However, I may never get used to the idea that each and every wall plug has a switch that must be turned on before it’ll work. I’ve already “charged” my phone to a dead outlet. And the plugs are all the “goofy” Asian kind—3 prongs, with 2 horizontal blades below a centered vertical blade. Adaptors are a must, but easy to find.



Ah, it’s the little things, isn’t it?



The older sections of town have an amazing mish-mash of architecture. Antiques urban Chinese 9is that an actual ‘style?”), next to 60’s modern, next to Dutch colonial (think 1600’s German facades, but with plaster throughout—no exposed half-timbers), and then, to top it off, the Portuguese influences, which looks a lot like Spanish mission style. And colorful—bright reds, yellows, deep blues—always with red tile roofs.



The traditional Malay style is raised on piers, with steeply sloped roofs—originally thatched, then wood shingles thanks to the Europeans, and today, sadly, rusted corrugated sheet metal. Still each house has an attached porch, with a flatter rood, that, like a lanai in Hawaii, allows for outdoors sitting and living in the shade, and capturing the cool breezes. Indigenous architecture teaches lessons to our (suddenly, finally) energy-conscious world: Passive heating and cooling (tho no need for any heating here!), shapes and forms that are acclimatized to the local environment, living spaces design such that people move to the area of comfort depending on the time and the season, rather than trying to make everyday, and every space, and every time universally comfortable. I think about my next door neighbor at home, who likes his house 70. His A/C comes on as early as March (seriously), and his condenser roars away all summer long. I don’t think he’s ever thought of something as radical as, say, opening a window. Which is just nuts, because Portland is so very temperate so much of the year. Oh well, it’s his money, his “carbon footprint.” But it is our peaceful backyard and open windows that suffer the endless harangue of his darned air conditioner. (Oops, a little resentful digression there!)



Of course, Melaka also has acres and acres of attached, or semi-detached condo/townhouses—looks like some California suburb. Just like in the states, air conditioning, insulation, and the media-sold “middle-class” and “acceptable” styles of the US are, again sadly, everywhere. Maybe the move toward “green” building, and energy efficiency, will, in time, lead to a rebirth of a more regional, and appropriate, styles of architecture, both here and at home. Architecture appropriate to it’s setting, and that sits a little “softer” on the land. (another digression, but hey, it’s my blog!)



And ok, enough philosophical waxing for the guys at work…