Bee in USA

Lay off culture

2007-10-22T18:44:00.000+02:00

It was the first quarter of year 2001. My company was having financial difficulty, and this gave nightmare to every employees. It was the first time I heard of "lay off", and witness personally how cruel this could be.

We were scared that we would be laid off, and have to go back to our country after just 3-4 months in the USA. Eventually, we got to stay, as we were the cheapest employees among the others.

Not so lucky for others. The direct impact for us was our program coordinator was gone. Then a coworker who was pregnant, gone too. It was such a brutal process. You come to work, you got an email saying that you are laid off, you go to see your manager, get your compensation pay, and you are no longer the employee of the company.

Some people cried, some was worried, some changed job, the moral and spirit was low.

Anyway, life goes on. I left the company in 2002, and since heard that both my managers in my two rotations were laid off too. Most of the people who worked with me during that 18 months had gone. I understand now what is the meaning of "high turnover".

To do research for companies, use Masterseek

2007-06-08T15:56:00.000+02:00

During my MBA studies in USA, I had to do many research on companies to do either financial reports or case studies. It was a tough job as some search engines provide too wide range of information. I was hoping to get one search engine just for business information. And now it exists. I just look into Masterseek to consider buying a share for a company, and it gave me all the essential information to decide on this share purchase. I will sure come back for my next hunt.

masterseek

Bloggerwave is here

2007-06-04T12:49:00.000+02:00

I have tried to find out some chances to earn pocket money as a blogger. I saw this Bloggerwave advertisement in someone else' blog, I was like, there's no harm trying. So I wrote a post on my personel blog www.tbeeean.blogspot.com, and 4 days after I got paid $10 in my palpay account. So, I'm letting you know, I really get paid by writing a post about Bloggerwave.

Tried it out yourself.

Bloggerwave

Mardi Gras in New Orleans

2007-06-01T19:17:00.001+02:00

My coworker suggested that we go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras festival, we took up the idea and just went for it. At the end, I was crying in the bar bcos some guys grabbed my ass, but it's New Orleans! People told me, they grabbed you bcos they think you are cute!!!

Look how free they are!!

My first Christmas

2007-01-23T22:53:00.000+01:00

A lot of "first" time experience happened in the US. I guess it's due to the huge cultural differences. For example as a non Christian we would not have cool Christmas or even a Christmas celebration.

Thinking about it, I rarely cook in Malaysia, but I managed to make this Chinese pudding. Crappy, but at least I tried. It's amazing how my cooking skills have improved! This would not happen if I still live with my mother. Never need to move a finger when I lived with her.

One thing I like about US is it's multiracial population. See, we had white, yellow, brown, just lack a black.

First trip in US: San Antonio

2007-01-23T22:46:00.000+01:00

It was new year 2001. We went to San Antonio. My first trip in the US. It was cold and I remember wearing a pair of shoes that have my toes exposed. Everybody was amazed that I can stand the cool so well. Well, I'm not now.

The Riverwalk

Christmas tree near the Alamo

A famous church

We had a ball night, my first ball night.

Austin, Texas

2006-10-14T14:22:00.000+02:00

Austin is the nicest city I have ever lived in my life. It's not too big but not too small. It's a hill country so the view is spectacle. It has several lakes where you can do some water sports. It's the capital city of Texas and it's the second silicon valley in US. Life in Austin is not chaotic but relax. Plenty of restaurants cater to different needs.

US and Austin flags

Capitol of Texas

Congress: One of the main road in downtown Austin.

A colonial building in downtown Austin.

The tourist bus circulating around downtown Austin.

University of Texas (UT)

UT football stadium, Austinites are crazy about football.

A colonial house in Austin

The special mailbox in on of the range road

Texas license plate

Austin 360 (aka Capital Texas Highway): A road we usually take to go home and go to work.

There are plenty of squirrels in Austin

Squirrel again. See, I told you Austin has plenty of them.

The sprinker, I found it amazing to have this automatically water the surrounding.

Sheriff, county police

You found this scene easily in most of the corner in Austin.

A school bus passing William Cannon drive, close to Motorola Oakhill.

Motorola Austin Texas

2006-10-14T13:45:00.000+02:00

Motorola semiconductor division had become an independant entity under Motorola group. Now the semiconductor division is called Freescale. It has 3 main officers in Austin. The main one in Oak Hill, south Austin; one in Ed Bluestein, east Austin; and one in Parmer Lane, North Austin. I worked in both 3 facilities during my 18 months there. The below is the facility in Parmer Lane where I had my first rotation.

I loved this facility the first time I came. It's very beautiful, like a college campus. It has a cafeteria so no problem for lunch. One thing that this cafeteria doesn't offer discount price like the one in Malaysia. Then, in the building, they have pool table and game facilities for their employees to play between break times. You seldom see this in Malaysia. No employer would want to see his employees playing games during working hours.

I was in a finance team consisted of a finance controller and a senior analyst. I was there to help out but they didn't give me much responsibility. Saying that they wanted to give me time to adjust to the possible culture shock. At one point I did ask for more responsibility. However, I didn't get as much as my friend who took over this position in the second rotation. She got a new controller and she got to involve in every tasks in this team.

The first time I saw my cubicle I was like wow, it's so tall that nobody can see you. I guess that's the point, people needed privacy here. In Malaysia, you can see everybody from your cubicle, easier for manager to observe who's working and who's not.

My first car

2006-08-24T22:30:00.000+02:00

The British intern took an afternoon off to drive me around looking for an used car. He contacted 3 sellers. First was a BMW. Too big and too old. Don't remember the other two, a pitch of memory that one of them was severely crushed during an accident.

A Polish trainee brought me to see an Honday Civic. It was a 14 years old car, but still running well. He checked the engine and everything looked good. The seller told me that this is a very nice car, it has never broke down before. I like the fact that the first owner was the seller's mother, and all the maintenance's documents have been neatly saved in a folder.

USD2000, the most valuable thing I have ever bought.

I enjoyed this car very much until the air conditional broke down around 6 months I bought her.

First Apartment

2006-08-14T23:56:00.000+02:00

I finally settle down in a two bedrooms apartment, roommate with a trainee from Czech Republic.

When I first head of roommate, I was like, wow, sharing room with someone, the definition in Malaysia. Later I found out that in US, it means you are sharing an apartment with someone, but not living in the same room.

I loved my apartment. My room was big, come with a closet and bathroom. Growing up sharing bedroom with several siblings, I finally managed to have one room all by myself. Cool!

This kind of apartment complex are quite common in US. The one I have come with a swimming pool. With other apartment you can have a gym also. You need to sign a lease with them and leave them some deposit. At the end of your stay, you need to clean up the apartment. The apartment worker will perform a walk through checking, and any damages found will charge towards your deposit.

My bed was very comfortable. I was so sad when I have to give it away when I leave. It was the first time I bought the bed sheets, pillow cases and the blanket for myself.

I bought most of the furniture used from the trainees who were leaving. They were all good bargain, that I took it by granted. Now I'm in France, everything is so expensive that I miss the cheap used stuffs in US. Here are what I bought:

Bed - USD50
Sofa - USD30
TV and Desk - USD50

When I received my first month salary, I bought a MP3 player, it costed me around USD250. I bought a lot of MP3 from Malaysia, and played them with this player. Just connected it with an Altec Lansing speaker. It was so awesome!! I used the speaker for more than 4 years and it was still performing well. No need to say that I was sad to have to sell it away because it was too heavy to bring to France and it needs a converter which cost most then the speaker itself.

I lived in this apartment for 18 months, and I would like to have the same closet and bathroom in my future new house. Why do you need a cupboard when you could have a closet?

Touched down in Austin, TX

2006-08-14T19:59:00.000+02:00

After almost 30 hours of flight including the transit times, I finally arrived in Austin, TX, a place where I should live for the following 18 months. It was the first time in my life I ever took a plane. I didn't like the experience but didn't hate it either. I was crying for the first hour after realising that I will be away from my beloved family members and boyfriend for 18 months. Here are the itinerary of my first trip to Austin:

Kuala Lumpur - Toyko - 7 hours
Toyko - Detroit - 11 hours
Detroit - Minneapolis - 3 hours
Minneapolis - Austin - 2 hours

There are many scary stories of Malaysian passing through the immigration. Mine was smoothed, the immigration officer just asked me several questions which I didn't really understand and just said yes. He let me go through anyway. Anyway, I went in US several times after, and the first one was the most unfriendly. I guess everybody who tries to go in the US the first time will be treated more seriously.

By the time we arrived in Minneapolis, the flight to Austin was almost departing. I rushed to the gate and arrived as planned in Austin, but my luggages didn't get through. Luckily I have some clothes in my hand luggage.

I was almost 11pm when I arrived in Austin, I was greeted by a group of Aiesecers with a big banner. Since I was the only Asian on that flight, they managed to spot me easily. They sent me some souvenirs and brought me to Day's Inn. I also met the French trainee and a Malaysian trainee.

My first impression of US: The highway is quite similar to the one in Malaysia. Signboard are in green colour. The scenery was not that much different from Malaysia. It was autume but Texas has more tropical weather.

My first cultural shock: The French trainee was living in the same Inn as me. We chatted a bit and he suggested to go to my room. The hell, I rejected immediately. My little Malaysian mind quitely think of dirty stuff, that he might want something from me. Looking back, I was too sensitif, he is a nice guy.

The following week, I was meeting a lot of people, including the other trainees and Aiesecers, little party here and there. The Brazilian trainee was very efficient, she arrived a week earlier, but she managed to find an apartment and a car already. Motorola was paying one week car rental and hotel, so we needed to find them fast.

The courteous Aiesecer was bringing me to see some apartment, but it was too expensive for my standard. I wanted to share an apartment with someone, but it was not possible. I stayed in an Aiesecer's apartment for several days, then stayed with the Brazilian for a while. I found my apartment two weeks after my arrival in Austin.

My impression for the American: Friendly and nice.

Walking down the timeline of the life in USA

2006-08-14T19:31:00.000+02:00

I lived in USA from November 2000 to June 2005. There are a lot of memories which are still vividly flashing through my mind from time to time. Therefore, I decided to create this blog, to revise my priceless experience there. It would be interesting to see how I look back at the life, but at the same, I might have forgotten the initial impression and feelings of certain things.

Ok, let's rock the roll.

First let see why I went to US.

Simple: I got an internship position through Aiesec UM
Duration = 18 months
Company = Motorola Semiconductor, now known as Freescale
Destination = Austin, TX
Position = Financial Analyst

Like most of the Malaysian, I got problem with my F1 exchange visitor visa. Simply because I was stupid, didn't realise I need to sign on the back of the application form. That costed me another week to get the visa, resulting in arriving a week late compared to other trainees.

It was a nice program with nice concept. Motorola hired intern from around the world where they present, take these interns in the USA for training. After 18 months, these interns will get a position back to their home countries depending on the position availability. We were the second batch, 9 interns already working in different branches in the US, including 3 Malaysians. We were 7 in our batch:
1 Malaysian
2 Chinese
2 Brazilian
1 French
1 British

The two chinese and a brazilian were based in Phoenix, Arizona, while the remaining 4 including me were to work in Austin, TX.