First post in Houston

Day 01, 6th Feb 2009:

My day started off rather rushed as i was quite the last minute guy. When it was finally time to leave, i picked up the large bag my mom bought me and moved towards the door of the apartment. Just as i was opening the door, the bag's top handle broke...sheesh! Too late to change bags now as the taxi was waiting. So, without further ado, i was on my way to the airport and caught the plane with the rest of my colleagues.

After what seemed like forever, the five of us finally arrived in Houston. The entire journey took about 19 hours. A lack of sleep the past few days finally took its toll on me as i succumbed to a slight cold during the flight from Hong Kong to Los Angeles. It really was a long long flight. Imagine leaving at 6pm on Fri and arriving at 7am on Fri as well, he he. Oops, actually we arrived at 7am on Sat (7th Feb 2009).

The immigration and customs check went rather smoothly at LA, for me at least. I didn't get that many questions as the immigration officer had volunteered to do double shifts so i guess she was too tired to bother me much. Some of the others had to show some documentation to prove that we were in the US for training. Shifa even had to go through some 'special' screening as we were going into the departure hall for the transit to Houston. How special? Let's just say that they weren't eager to see an unwanted fireworks display in the sky.


Day 02, 7th Feb 2009:

Upon arrival in Houston, we claimed our baggage and went to catch the pre-arranged taxi that would take us to the hotel. The taxis were just big with plenty of trunk space to fit in all our huge bags and sitting in them made me feel like i was riding in a limo. Cool, really cool.

Finally, we reached the hotel, checked-in and had breakfast. The others decided to go explore around after that but i decided to just stay in as i didn't quite feel up to the task. I practically slept through most of the afternoon and felt much better after that. At night, we met the other Georisers (as the training is called Georise) from other parts of the world for an introductory dinner. There were 4 people from Poland, 2 from France, 2 from Mexico, 1 from UK, 1 from Vietnam, 1 from China, 1 from Nigeria and of course the 5 of us from Malaysia. 8 of us (including myself) volunteered to be the drivers after the dinner and that was the end of the first day.

Day 03, 8th Feb 2009:

This morning, i was the first of the Georisers to go down for breakfast. Most of the others had arrived later than the Malaysian group and were probably compensating for the lack of sleep during the long flight. Eventually, one by one, each arrived to have breakfast and we all got to know each other better. After breakfast, we walked to WalMart for some shopping. Took us quite a while to get there as it was far and we took a wrong turn and had to double back. I bought a pair of shoes (i think they're called loafers or is it moccasins, the type made of leather) as my current pair seemed to be falling apart after 8 years of disuse, ha ha.

According to the schedule, the volunteer drivers were to meet in the boardroom of the hotel at 2pm for a short driving course. It was already close to 1pm and we were still at WalMart so some of the designated drivers (myself included) decided to leave first while others were still browsing around. The four of us tried to make our way back to the hotel as quickly as possible but decided to have lunch at an asian buffet restaurant first. By the time we got back to the hotel, we were 15 min late and were the last of the drivers to arrive. We were shown a short video on defensive driving and the importance not drinking and driving. In fact, a lot was stressed on DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), DUID (Driving Under the Influence of Drugs) and DUI (Driving Under the Influence). The instructors also stressed a lot on the importance of following the speed limit and various laws. For me, i guess the hardest part was to accustom myself to driving on the right side of the road instead of the left and half of my concentration was also on trying to drive under 35mph (rather difficult for someone who's driven in KL, he he). Each of us were given 30 min to drive around with the instructors so we managed to get a preview of the other parts of Houston.

The day ended with a dinner in a Hong Kong food restaurant that served huge portions which none of us could finish. The food was also just so so. But it was interesting to see our western counterparts trying to eat with chopsticks.

At the moment, we haven't received our notebooks yet so pics have yet to be uploaded. Will try to upload some when i get the chance.