Lets explore Pakistan!

Hey everybody! Hope you missed me as I missed you : )
Today is my 19th day in Pakistan. In these days happened quite many things: I attended national conference as a facilitator, first time in my life I was going so long on the bus (a trip from Lahore to Karachi - 21 hour), exploring new dishes and drinks, finally started my job which is quite good in the beginning and going to be even better in near future...
I guess most of you are wondering how is my job looks like, the office, my boss, colleagues and what a hell I'm doing there. So I'm going to talk little bit about official side of my living here in Pakistan and I'm going to finish this entry with some interesting/funny things which I found in Karachi.
To go from my living place to the office takes around 15-20 min by car. I am lucky because my flat mate and my colleague in a company (an intern from Argentina) has a good friend Mina, who takes us every morning to the job by car. Usually I and my friend Tobias from Argentina come first in the company. Officially work starts at 9 am (at that time we are always present), but the rest my colleagues starts gathering at around 9:30 or even later. It depends on your status in the company: the higher position you take, the later you can come. We supposed to finish work at 6 pm, but people tend to stay a bit longer (sometimes till 7 pm) because of big work load.
Personally I'm not really overloaded as I just started (one week ago). First week I was given all kind of trainings about our products. As I'm going to work in sales department, it is extremely important to know all specifications of our product. To mention few of them: eQ System (queue management system and ticketing machines), Information Display Systems (something like ACM screens, plasma TVs, running line on Finasta building in Vilnius and etc) and finally - Touch Screen Kiosk. Don't ask me more about these products because you not going to buy them from me so don't waist my time. Thank you.
So in my department we are 6 people so far. My two colleagues are about my age (24 yo), other two - a bit older. And the oldest is my boss who is kind of cool guy. He is strict with deadlines, but very open for new ideas, suggestions or simply random questions.
Besides my department there is international sales department (there I'm going to work after some time), development, IT, Network department, Accountings and etc.
Inside the company we have few servants who take care of all of us: brings tea/coffee, cleans tables before/after job, brings some food if you don't feel like going by yourself somewhere to eat and all kind of stuff to which you could get to use. I still don't feel comfortable with that. I'm not really used that someone serves me like that (I don't count waitresses in restaurants).
Going back to products, I must say that I like and believe in potential of these products and most importantly - the value which they create to our customers. I'm really proud working for company which has clients such as: ABN-Amro, State Bank of Pakistan, Standard Chartered, Qatar Airways, citibank, Dubai Financial Market, American Express and many other big companies in Middle East. I strongly believe that is chance of my life to meat people from top management positions from one of these/such companies. Looking forward to start sales!
The days in my job are running quite slow as I don't have many things to do. I’m always waiting for evening when I and Tobias are going home. Here starts fun. There are two options of getting back home. As Karachi is 7+n times bigger then Vilnius - public transportation is not an option. In general, buses are weird here. You never know when and where they going to stop, you have no f#$%ing idea how much they will charge you and they very rarely actually stops. They simple slow down on the side of the street and people jumping in and out of the bus.
So, as I said, there are two options to get back home: taxi or rickshaw (it is more advanced bike on 3 wheels and with engine which runs on gas). In rickshaw are only two seats behind the driver. This is a second week when I'm going home by rickshaw and every single day they want me to charge with some extra bonus. I'm really proud to say that my negotiation skills are better then my friends' who is working here since the end of June. Communicate in rickshaw while he is driving through overcrowded streets - theoretically not possible. Driving skills can not leave you without impression. Everyday I'm sitting in rickshaw and smiling... Smiling like it is my last trip... I find difficult to describe how they driving: they can use each additional centimeter between the cars in order to be in front of traffic light. Speed and nose they make - incredible! Now I understand why parents from upper class prefer to invest a little bit more and hire a personal driver for their kids or themselfs. For some teenagers the traffic is too streesful.
Continuing about the traffic... Do you know that on crossroads they don't have a traffic light for pedestrians? Sometime you can see zebra on the road, but it doesn't really help as people have to run. Naturally comes a question: how to cross the street?! The answer is as simple as the question itself: if you see that cars are not going, waiting for green light - feel free to cross the street wherever you feel comfortable.
If you, for example, driving a car at late nigh or even during the day on less crowded street, you always can stop or park your car wherever you like. Here are no green, red or yellow zones. I was a witness in a car which stopped in a roundabout for 10 seconds, because driver needed to think which exit to take. The logic behind that is very simple: if I'm not disturbing anyone, it means I'm not breaking any rules, right?
Few days ago we were for a dinner somewhere in the city. I had really nice dinner: Mutton Kidney and Kapura (testicles). The taste of testicles was quite good. It reminds chicken just more soft : ) Anyways, after a dinner the sat in the cars and one of my friend was driving a car. I asked him to show his driver licence (like a joke or something), and he answered: I don't have licences... I thought he is joking. But finally I found out that it is for real. He is 20 years old and driving a car since 16 and he is not planning to get official driver licences. That night he took his mothers car (she was aware of that)... Police is very tolerant to such cases. It is enough to give them around 50-150 rupees (1-2 US $) and they let you go.
I’m still afraid to cross the street as I can not get used to the left driving side. I always look to wrong direction...
Well, that’s how I find my job and life on the streets. This week I'm planning to have a shopping mania! We will see how good my negotiation skills in clothing sector. Stay tuned and you will find shopping culture in Pakistan and little bit about local parties. Should be nice.