natasha_ahsatan

I’m very behind in my documentation of life here, and believe me, it’s not really for your benefit, but my own, as I am notorious for my sieve-like memory.  Bear with me as I return to my first real weekend in Singapore.  To preface, I was both very excited and very nervous for the weekend because I had found the Singapore office empty, and a bit cold (temperature-wise and personality-wise) during my first week, as many of the cases in Singapore require Mon-Thurs travel and my cautious attempts to make friends had not been very successful.  This is not to say that people weren’t nice, but, that they all had their own things going on and were quite busy with work etc, while I, as I “ramped up” was going home at 5pm and trying to keep my eyes open (12 hour jet lag is no fun).  In fact, I did have a really nice time going out to lunch with Ben Zhang and a couple of his friends (my “official” welcome to Singapore lunch) and then joining them for a drink after work on Thursday.  I was worried that I wasn’t assimilating quickly enough, but didn’t quite know what to do better. 

Thus, I was super excited to meet Andrea’s cousin, Aditi, for drinks on Friday and to watch the Mexico – South Africa game with her and her friends.  In fact, her company also had a group of recent transfers (from Germany…one of my fave countries) so she had invited them as well to the bar in Clarke Quay where she and her friends were hanging out so that I could meet more people to hang out with and potentially travel with. 

Of course, like usual, nothing goes as planned.  Friday was the last day that my American cellphone plan worked (yes I was paying through the nose to maintain one last connection to the world, as I was not sure how long it would take to switch to a Singapore plan), and I had just received my M1 SIM card.  Of course, my M1 SIM card worked fine in the office, so when I went home after work on Friday, I was convinced all was right with the world.  And since I assumed I would have a working blackberry, or at the very least, phone, I didn’t bother to write Aditi’s number down, or the location of the bar we were meeting.  Turns out the M1 network does not work with Verizon handsets (I only found this out later), even when they are unlocked.  Once I left office I was unable to receive or send messages and, in most parts of Singapore, calls.  Of course, my home internet took this very auspicious time to all stop working.  I am a self-described Luddite and my failsafe CTRL-ALT-DEL was not working.  Finally, after 2 hours on the phone and no progress whatsoever, I decided to venture out, without phone, email or internet, all I knew about the bar was that it was on one of the Quays and was called Senor Taco (yeah, we were watching the Mexico game, get over it). 

When it rains, it pours.  Of course, when I got into a cab and said the name of the bar, the driver had no clue what/where I was talking about, and, when I stopped at a hotel to ask, not only did the concierge not know, but the Singapore 411 service had NO idea.  Worse, when the concierge found out that I was not, in fact, staying at his hotel, he became decidedly less helpful and suggested that I try the internet café across the street.  By sheer blind luck I picked the correct quay and finally made it to the bar (after wandering around for what seemed like forever).  By this time I was hot, flustered and close to giving up, and realized that I had NO clue what Aditi looked like.  Thankfully, I must have projected “lost puppy” and she found me. 

This bar was more like a beach drink shack, with a cordoned off table area, than proper bar and had, what I can only assume, the entire Mexican population in Singapore (surprisingly large and proud) crowded into a space slightly bigger than my deck in Boston.  For someone still getting used to the heat and humidity, the addition of body heat was almost unbearable.  Plus we were all craning our necks to watch the game on a ~52 inch TV…all 100 or so of us.  Truly fabulous. 

Actually disastrous beginning of the evening aside, it was actually a really fun night. Because the actual bar was absurdly crowded, we got pints of mojitos…yes pints (you try to survive 90 degree heat compounded by the body heat of too many people crammed into too small a space and the din of noisemakers and Spanish cheers), and hung back to take in the scene and chat.  Plus, when the German’s came, I was relieved at how friendly and welcoming they were.  One of them had actually interned at Bain for a summer before joining DHL full time, so we had a lot to chat about.  More importantly they were very fun and still new enough to Singapore to want to explore and go out.

In fact, when the game ended, Aditi, who wasn’t feeling quite well, decided to head home and although I had heard from a bunch of Bainies that “Butter Factory” was “happening,” I had no way of contacting any of them and therefore the Germans and I decided to stay a bit more local and hit Attica a bar/club that was actually on the water on Clarke Quay.  To be honest, it was a bit crowded for my taste, although the music was fun (bottom floor Rap & Top 40) and full of very sketchy expats surrounded by adoring Asian girls…no I’m not joking, there were very at least 3 girls per guy and it felt a bit like Russia.   The upstairs, or Attic, was accessed through a cobblestoned courtyard and up a velvet corridor/staircase… yes the walls were red velvet – imagine a birth canal … I guess.  Upstairs techno and house pounded a sea of very tall people.  Actually probably the tallest people in Singapore were all crowded into this vast loft – only as we got closer did the emaciated forms of the men and women indicate that we were in a sea of models.  Trust me to come to Singapore, a city where I could finally be of average height, and pick the one club known to be a model hang-out.  Here too it was odd, every male had his own personal harem – surprising, until I found out that polygamy was only outlawed in the 1960s in Singapore (a fact I learned later J )

All in all, I had a fabulous time and made some great friends, but was glad to spend the next day with my aunt, uncle and cousin, trying delicious Singaporean cuisine and watching the World Cup from their comfortable couch.

I cannot believe that I’ve been here for more than a month already!  How time flies.  I have to say, that it’s disconcerting how quickly I have adapted to life here.  I guess the fact that Singapore reminds me of basically any western city – except with better food and malls that try to eat you alive (google ION, it’s scary) – and I see so little of Bangkok while there that it is easy to feel as if very little has changed. 

In fact, I have now even gotten used to the weather!  What once would have had me drenched in sweat and feeling quite gross, is now pleasant enough such that I am immediately cold when getting into cabs/buildings etc.  I think my adjustment has been eased by the fact that the ACIs and SAs started basically a week after I got to Singapore. 

Although I have not spent a ton of time with the SAs, I do hang out quite a lot with the ACIs as a few of them, like me, are in Singapore without a significant support system or network of friends and family.  Plus, two SAs and one of the ACIs are on my team and therefore my utter addiction to Bain IM and our shared wonder at some of the absurdities of life in Bangkok and at our client has drawn us closer.  For example, every day at 5pm exactly, our client’s “song” plays over the loudspeakers on every one of the 30 floors of the building.  It’s cheesy and hilarious with a mixture of musical genres and vocal stylings.  Now, according to some teammates, this is the “quitting song” ie other people in the building (not our direct client maps – who are basically the Green Berets/Special Forces unit of the client, specially chosen to work with us) all peace out.  But in our room, yes we sit with 30 odd clients, conversations go on as normal, even as a mix of 50’s peppy pop, Franz Ferdinand-esque rock and a slightly out of harmony duet play in the background. 
 

As I said before, Singapore and Boston, while similar in so many ways – awesome people, random events, cool office buildings… - have some key differences.  Bain Singapore is on the 50^th floor and has a view from coast to coast (until they change offices next year), which on clear days allows you to see Indonesia and Malaysia, we see office buildings and parking garages, or if you’re lucky glimpses of the south end.  Bain Singapore also parties/does events differently.  For one, “bay gatherings” have themes and have to include one health related event, thus I went with a collection of female EAs and ambitious male ACs and Consultants to a swanky gym where we learned how to … booty dance to single ladies/usher (no Caro not the actual single ladies dance, but some very random mix of jazz hands, line dancing and booty bouncing)…HILARIOUS.   But more importantly, while we have to wait in line at the “Bain Bar” (even though Kirby tried to explain to the bouncers that we basically own the place/provide much of their business), Singapore’s Butter Factory (think clery’s except with tables, VIP sections, a techno room AND a Rap/R&B room) has many Bain VIPs, who just have to flash a card to cut the line and avoid the admittedly expensive (from a boston perspective) Sing$30 cover. Oh and managers, consultants and ACs hang out there often together, unprompted by Bain events…

My first experience with Butter was thanks to a friend in the office who was in charge of the ACI welcome event – read, Dom table service at Butter – and it was epic.  This is the same friend who describes Bain Singapore as Gossip Girl… which doesn’t seem too outrageous given some of the stories I’ve heard.  The interns are super fun and I had a great time getting to know some of the other Bainees better – till 4 am.  Needless to say, the next morning, I felt our epic beer, vodka and champagne fuelled night and enjoyed spending the day with my aunt and uncle relaxing, shopping, being introduced to Singaporean food courts, and watching the world cup.  Yes I was lame that night, I decided to stay in and watch the world cup on tv, it was fantastic.