When you think that everything is going down and you hate everything around you - remember this short commercial from Discovery Channel:
Saturday, December 6, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Love Pakistan or Leave
UN: Karachi 25 Nov. Security Update
Law and order situation tense in parts of Orangi Town after killing of three political workers yesterday. IDEAS 2008 Exhibition also in progress in Expo Center at Hassan Square which may cause traffic congestion. Shahrah e Faisal (the street where my office is) will remain congested from 16pm to 19pm. All advised to avoid or tread cautiously mentioned areas.
UN: Karachi 28 Nov. Security Update.
Firing reported in parts of Orangi town, Nazimabad and Banaras. 3 persons dead and 23 injured. Snap checks by police in many parts of the city. Maximum caution advised.
UN: Karachi 29 Nov. Security Update
Violence spreading to other parts of city including Banaras, Sohrab Goth, Safoora, Las Bela, Business Record Road, Empress Market, Bara Board. So far, 7 vehicles, 2 shops and 2 houses burnt. Shoot at sight orders issued to police. All advised to remain indoors.
UN: Karachi 1 Dec. Security Update.
13 people lost their lives in firing incidents date. Situation still disturbed in parts of Orangi, Banaras, Pak Colony, Sohrab Goth, Baldia and Malir. Schools throughout city will remain closed tomorrow as a result. All advised to maintain low profile and conduct office routine tomorrow. Missions into and out of city to proceed with caution. All to avoid mentioned troubled areas.
These are just few examples of SMS which I’m used to receive during the days while being in Karachi. It is sad, but I have to admit that such things are happening for real. Though I have never seen from a close distance such incidence, but honestly I’m not even looking forward to do that.
When you are in office doing your daily tasks or having nice dinner with your friends on the roof café (on the roof of our house), you don’t even realize that such things actually are happening. Luckily I’m living in a very peaceful and secure area and all fights are happening only on the side of the city.
I was told that all these fighters are targeting only each other because of some political/religion issues.
As I’m more and more settling down into Karachi’s life, my mind can not accept such fact that something can happen to me. So far I haven’t experienced any threats (except the food direct impact on my stomach in the beginning of my arrival).
Local people simply used to that.
[…]
One day I was going home from my office by rickshaw and I saw some kind of “graffiti” on the wall: Love Pakistan or Leave. And I found it so damn right. The MC and exInterns are trying to promote the opportunities in Pakistan and encourage people to come here, but… You want it or not – here the life is a bit different than anywhere else. Not everyone can make a decision to come to Islamic country and it is absolutely fine. You have to be naïve if you think that you can easily convince any intern to come to Lithuania. How many people still think that Lithuania is still the same as they used to see in Hollywood movies Russian cities in period of 80’s..?
Here, in Pakistan, is no compromise – Love or Leave. That’s what I’m trying to do in the last days – to define the beauty of Pakistan. Unfortunately everything came not on the right time. I guess my ‘Honey Moon’ is passing away. The longer I live here and more people I interact with, the more challenges I’m facing. I starting to notice that the understanding of leadership is a bit different to what I used (AIESEC influenced as well), understanding the timing, tasks and promises delivery, language barrier, housekeeping, etc – all these small details comes into one big problem called culture shock.
At that moment you realize that you not going to change their culture, the way of thinking, you can not force them to adapt to your needs. The most you can do is just to stop for a minute, take a deep breath in, write down your frustration on the sheet of paper and continue your adventure.
Love Pakistan or leave…
Law and order situation tense in parts of Orangi Town after killing of three political workers yesterday. IDEAS 2008 Exhibition also in progress in Expo Center at Hassan Square which may cause traffic congestion. Shahrah e Faisal (the street where my office is) will remain congested from 16pm to 19pm. All advised to avoid or tread cautiously mentioned areas.
UN: Karachi 28 Nov. Security Update.
Firing reported in parts of Orangi town, Nazimabad and Banaras. 3 persons dead and 23 injured. Snap checks by police in many parts of the city. Maximum caution advised.
UN: Karachi 29 Nov. Security Update
Violence spreading to other parts of city including Banaras, Sohrab Goth, Safoora, Las Bela, Business Record Road, Empress Market, Bara Board. So far, 7 vehicles, 2 shops and 2 houses burnt. Shoot at sight orders issued to police. All advised to remain indoors.
UN: Karachi 1 Dec. Security Update.
13 people lost their lives in firing incidents date. Situation still disturbed in parts of Orangi, Banaras, Pak Colony, Sohrab Goth, Baldia and Malir. Schools throughout city will remain closed tomorrow as a result. All advised to maintain low profile and conduct office routine tomorrow. Missions into and out of city to proceed with caution. All to avoid mentioned troubled areas.
These are just few examples of SMS which I’m used to receive during the days while being in Karachi. It is sad, but I have to admit that such things are happening for real. Though I have never seen from a close distance such incidence, but honestly I’m not even looking forward to do that.
When you are in office doing your daily tasks or having nice dinner with your friends on the roof café (on the roof of our house), you don’t even realize that such things actually are happening. Luckily I’m living in a very peaceful and secure area and all fights are happening only on the side of the city.
I was told that all these fighters are targeting only each other because of some political/religion issues.
As I’m more and more settling down into Karachi’s life, my mind can not accept such fact that something can happen to me. So far I haven’t experienced any threats (except the food direct impact on my stomach in the beginning of my arrival).
Local people simply used to that.
[…]
One day I was going home from my office by rickshaw and I saw some kind of “graffiti” on the wall: Love Pakistan or Leave. And I found it so damn right. The MC and exInterns are trying to promote the opportunities in Pakistan and encourage people to come here, but… You want it or not – here the life is a bit different than anywhere else. Not everyone can make a decision to come to Islamic country and it is absolutely fine. You have to be naïve if you think that you can easily convince any intern to come to Lithuania. How many people still think that Lithuania is still the same as they used to see in Hollywood movies Russian cities in period of 80’s..?
Here, in Pakistan, is no compromise – Love or Leave. That’s what I’m trying to do in the last days – to define the beauty of Pakistan. Unfortunately everything came not on the right time. I guess my ‘Honey Moon’ is passing away. The longer I live here and more people I interact with, the more challenges I’m facing. I starting to notice that the understanding of leadership is a bit different to what I used (AIESEC influenced as well), understanding the timing, tasks and promises delivery, language barrier, housekeeping, etc – all these small details comes into one big problem called culture shock.
At that moment you realize that you not going to change their culture, the way of thinking, you can not force them to adapt to your needs. The most you can do is just to stop for a minute, take a deep breath in, write down your frustration on the sheet of paper and continue your adventure.
Love Pakistan or leave…
Monday, November 17, 2008
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.
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.
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