Gratitude list day 2:

1. Flatmates yg akur

2. Bisa cuci mata

3. Australian Tangelo.Nyammm.

I'm joining the bandwagon of writing daily Gratitude List for #7DaysGratitudeChallenge. So here we go.

Gratitude List Day 1

1. Supporting my mom

2. The story ideas in my head. They're all mine.

3. I'm going to a cool party tonight. And I have a pretty dress for it.

4. Looked around my apartment and thought,"not bad"

5. Devious Maid. It's so bad that it's good.

The happy marks.

I looked at the bruised marks on my upper thigh. I used to get them alot after a long days of practising Saman Dance. From performing at a military event to touring southern Italy, I trained like there was no tomorrow.

I missed performing this dance - so I gathered 6 of my colleagues and asked if they would be keen to perform the dance with me for our company annual dinner. I'll teach them how.

Today is the first practise. I came home with bruised marks that once was very familiar to me. I smiled at them and said "Hello, long time no see".

Favorite People Conversation #1

At a COACH Spring Summer sale, I overheard a really interesting conversation between a middle aged husband and wife. The wife was carrying 2 hand bags over to the cashier. The husband followed her while grumbling;

Husband : (sounding agitated) why do you need two bags for?
Wife      : (shot him a look) for all those years I brought up your children!

Husband went silent and took our his credit card to pay.

WORD.

How to have a more cheerful last day at work

(Incorporate a topless guy in the mix)

The NGO that I worked for had seen all kinds of people walked through its door. From aspiring students, hardcore activists, (alot of) sales people, to corporate big wigs and minister.

I was going through a document about socially-responsible business on my last day with them. It was nearly lunch time when the girls in my office started cheering and there was a loud music.I looked over my shoulder to see a topless guy walked into the office. "What is this one selling?" I thought and went back to reading my document. The cheers gotten louder and topless guy came to my side, grab my chair and swirled me to face him. He said his name was John and he came to bid me farewell. He went on to recite a poem..something with mountains and seas...by that time I just stared at his finely sculpted torso and didn't pay attention to any words he was saying. At the end, he gave me a bouquet of flowers (arranged by my colleagues), a kiss and I got to touch his smooth bare back.

It's been a roller coaster of emotions counting down the days with the organisation - sending good bye notes, having farewell luncheons and final lunch stroll around the chic neighbourhood of Chinatown.  Everyone thanked me for job well done and John made my last day a little less sad. 

John is from San Fransisco. Apparently there are more 'telegram singers'(or whateveryouwannacallit) around if you need their services. Just get in touch with my former colleagues. Thank you, ladies. You definitely said good bye in style.

The flowers from John.For practical reason, I didn't post any photo/video of him. Use your imagination.

Female condom and Pesos : memorabilia from women empowerment Woodstock

When my artist friend asked me what Women Deliver conference is all about, I told her it's like Woodstock but on women empowement. For 3 days in the last week of May, 'celebrities' of the development field take their stage in Kuala Lumpur Convention Center. A-list speakers such as the head of UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA, Melinda Gates, Chelsea Clinton and Malaysian Prime Minister 'headline' the plenarry hall sessions. They talked about health access, MDG, violence against women, child marriage and other universal issues.  While more than 100 'indie' sessions such as social barriers, economic empowerment, youth leadership, engaging men as partners were held in various smaller venues. 

At the same time, participants like myself get to visit exhibition sprawled in 3 halls, watch more than 80 women-themed films, listened to new product/initiative launches  or network like crazy with thousands other attendees who come from more than 100 countries.

I collected alot of name cards, brochures, samples, freebies and found 'cute' memorabilia in my hand bag at the end of the conference.

1. I'm on toilet break
Everyone fought for the best seats in the room or developed preference for a favorite spot.Mine is near the aisle so I can make toilet run easily. It was freezing cold inside the convention and scorching hot outside the building. I gulped down bottles of water to stay hidrated. I made this little signage to 'chope' my seat while I went to the bathroom.

2. Female condom
I had 15 hours-worth of information how policy, power inbalance in the family or financial situation limit women's rights to choose when, with who and how many children they want to have. I realized how many vulnerable women in the villages and remote areas end up with too many children that her physique, emotion or finance can handle. They showed a woman who lives in a slum gave birth to 22 children-not by her choice.
So there's a booth of a female condom manufacturer that became more popular as the conference progressed. They give free samples. I guess more people realized (including me) that in some places, the onus is on women whether to have 2 children or end up with 22.

I always wanted to find out how female condom works. Turned out it's like inserting a tampon. Read more about it here. I learned that it can be placed way in advance of intercourse. The staff told me that some women found this very useful especially when the husband came home drunk and wanting sex but refuse to put on condom.

 3. Foreign currency
You bound to meet really cool people in this sort of event. I spoke to a director from Clinton Global Initiative while waiting to check-in to my hotel, chat with the head of JP Morgan Philanthropy Center while queuing in the toilet and met a 70-year old Australian midwife who had trained young midwife around the globe, from the African desert to Sweden since the 60s.

I was shuttled to my hotel with a group of South American delegates. One of them is a young, skinny-jeans-wearing, human rights lawyer who just flew 30 hours from Colombia. The next day, he asked whether I would be interested to attend a session on legal abortion and I invited him to a session on ending violence against women. We had dinner at the airport before flying back to our respective countries. He gave me 1000 Colombian Pesos as souvenir. He said it doesn't worth much but he hopes it'll bring me to Colombia.

Melinda Gates Convinced Me to Return to the Den of Thieves

I dreamt of being bitten by a snake the night before I found out that I'm going to Kuala Lumpur. Women Deliver Conference will take place in KL and there's an opportunity to present my programme.  

I blacklist Kuala Lumpur (and the entire country) since I got mugged in Suria KLCC, the mall under the Petronas Tower, in November 2011. My handbag was stolen, with my passport, ATM, credit card, ID card, blackberry and one-month-old Samsung Galaxy.  The management was of no help - I haven't heard anything from them since, no sympathy, not even "Sorry this happened in our mall". When I reported to the tourist police station, their reaction was more like "Oh, here's another one". No word from them either.

What was supposed to be a weekend trip turned into one week of nightmare trying to sort out temporary travel document to leave Kuala Lumpur. 

The Indonesian Embassy, at that time, was issuing temporary travel documents to thousands illegal Indonesian immigrants in Malaysia. Some of them have been illegal for 2 or 3 generations. And they treated me like one of them.

For some reason, my temporary travel document must be legalized by the Malaysian Immigration Office, which located 1 hour away from the embassy. I went there twice because neither Indonesian Embassy nor the Malaysian Immigration gave me the exact set of procedures to go through. When it's finally my turn to get the damn stamp on my temporary passport - the Malaysian Immigration asked me to pay 100 Ringgit. My six-day frustration of being stuck in a city that robbed me culminated right there. I shouted for all officers to hear "Your citizen robbed me, I have no money and now you wanted me to pay to leave this country? How do you expect me to pay?" And this lady ignorantly replied "Asked your friend lah". I threw the 100 Ringgit that my friend lent me and left. 

My friends never bothered to ask me to join them in any trip to Malaysia, since.

I wasn't that keen to attend an event at the same complex where my nightmare started. Until I saw Melinda Gates' name on the list of speakers. This woman is going to win a noble prize one day (I'm sure) and I want to hear what she has to say.

So I got my registration number, bought a travel insurance and booked myself in a hotel 3 minutes from the convention center. My flight leaves in 17 hours. And everything will be fine this time.

My Twitter rant on Suria KLCC timeline