For those of you who have read Mike’s entry – yes I now have a job. I am working for a wine company called ewineasia.com. They are a company that specializes in fine and boutique wines with a primary focus on France and Italy, but do also carry a small selections of wine from the rest of the world. My primary role is to take care/re-vamp their website www.ewineasia.com- (currently working on this and hoping to have it rolled out by the end of the month) writing a monthly newsletter, taking care of private/corporate customers, (in Asia you can buy directly from the distributor) and finally planning and taking care of all of their events and promotions - In short I am the marketing department.
Not going to lie, at first I was very nervous about this new adventure and thought I had gotten in way over my head – and this still might be true, but the more I submerse myself into this role the more I am excited and fascinated by it. I have found myself wanting to get up and go to work in the mornings and reading everything I can find about online marketing and communications. I have a boss who is open to my ideas and given me a lot of freedom to explore and create……he also seems to understand my sarcastic sense of humor a very rare thing in Asia, but then again he is French.
The work culture itself is taking some time to get used to – so far I am enjoying the company of my work colleagues and boss and yes I realize I have just come off a three month job hiatus but the work day in Singapore has proven to be an interesting one.
My job is supposed to be 9-6 with a 1hour lunch break. Lunch is usually a sit down affair and not something to be rushed – very different from the eating on the go lifestyle that I was previously used to. The 6pm end of the day can be seen more as a mere suggestion, as quitting time doesn’t seem actually happen till at least 7 or 8 pm, people just don’t seem to know how to leave. It's not that they are necessarily busy (although sometimes they obviously are) and I have no problem working overtime when there is a deadline to meet, but Singapore’s life vs. work balance seems to be a little off tilt (although Mike keeps telling me it’s the west coast life people view as wacky). For example, I was out for lunch with one of my work colleagues the other day and asked her what time she went home the day before – she told me 8:00 pm, when I mentioned something about it being late she said that she didn’t mind as there wasn’t much for her to do at home anyways………its not that this is young lady doesn’t have an active social life or friends its just well, in general people in Singapore seem to live to work vs. work to live……. maybe this is just some of my “wacky” west coast lifestyle up-brings coming out that makes this bothersome to me.
I haven’t 100% figured it out but there is some sort of stigma around being seen, as the first to leave the office and a strong need to have the “appearance” of working late. I have witnessed this first hand in my office and have heard this to be true from many fellow expats.
This is defiantly going to take some time to adjust to. After trying to follow suit a few times I’ve realized that : I’m hungry & ADD begins to set in.
For now I figure baby steps and taking one for the team will have to do. Worst comes to worst Iife wasn’t half bad being a lady of leisure ………… meh off to Phuket next weekend ;)
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