Sorry it has taken me awhile to put up a new post! Things here have been very busy and interesting to say the least. Last week was pretty stressful at work, and after long days I didn't quite have the energy or patience to post on here, and I am sorry. I have been tasked with 3 main assignments that have several sub-segments so to speak. First, I am responsible for all of the marketing research for the water utilities sector of Brady's APAC (Asia Pacific) division. This means that I have to research how many water and waste water treatment facilities are in: China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Once I figure out how many facilities there are I have to determine how many employees each facility has so that I can determine the purchasing level of each firm. I will use a combination of these numbers to estimate the TAM (Total Available Market), and then I am responsible for figuring out what Brady's slice of that is likely to be and who the major players in the industry are. Trust me it sounds way easier than it is! Secondly, I am going to be assisting in test-marketing of two new products that Brady will be offering shortly. One of them will be released in October, and one of them is in "Alpha Testing" which means product launch is about a year away. For this portion of my assignment I am hoping to travel to Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia to meet with customers, describe each products main features and allow them to try them out and see what aspects of the product appeal to them. From that point my colleague, Mark and I will assemble a presentation to instruct the sales team on how to best "sell" the product to future customers. Lastly, I am solely responsible for constructing all portions of the marketing budget, and calendar for Brady APAC for their 2012 fiscal year which begins August 1st. Hopefully, I have described my job in detail well enough so that you know I am being trusted with a tremendous amount of responsibility. I am really only nervous about the 1st "check-point" because it is very hard to gather information from websites that aren't in English...so I am hoping for the best! I absolutely love the people I work with, they are so helpful and friendly! We have been taken out on several occasions for lunch, and have tried all kinds of interesting food, and I love 99% of it which is a good thing. Last week we were also contacted by a professor from the CIE (Center for International Education) at UWM who was in Singapore. She offered to take us out for dinner in Clark Quay (pronounced Key), and we went to an amazing seafood restaurant right on the Singapore River, called Jumbo's. We all had Black Pepper Crab which came highly recommended by Allan Klotsche, the VP of HR who hired me, and it was absolutely to die for. We also had prawn with mangoes in a cream sauce, bean curds with mushrooms, and a Malaysian type of spicy red noodles, and all of it was delicious. I am sure the meal for the 3 of us was very expensive, but it was an awesome treat! This weekend, we had planned to go to Sentosa which is an island off the coast of Singapore for some sight-seeing and just all around relaxation, but unfortunately it rained heavily for most of the day. Because of the weather we decided to head to a section of Singapore known as Little India. From the minute we stepped out of the MRT station, it felt as if we had entered a new country. There were Indian people all over the place, and different looking buildings, and a lot of the signs were no longer in English. We walked through the entire town, I bought a watch for $5, had an excellent lunch of Chicken Tikka Masala (my favorite Indian dish) with some garlic naan, and took in all of the scenery. We left Little India around 630pm and headed back to the apartment to change quick. We had planned to go out Saturday night, and there was one club we were particularly interested in called Zouk. It turns out this club is ranked #9 in the world, and although it cost $33 to get it, it was a worthwhile experience. There were lights, lazers, fog, and tons of people and we got lost in the crowd...until 5 am when things finally shut down. We made our way back home and Sunday was a lazy day filled with laundry and ironing (my new favorite hobby...not!). Monday was relatively uneventful other than that I met with my boss Dawn Ng, and I showed her my progress on the first of my many projects. I was very nervous, but Dawn assured me that I had been doing "great work"! Today was a great day, we went out for lunch with Jason (Russell's supervisor) and he is such a nice guy. He has taken us to places that were cheaper for food, helped us find slightly more reasonable groceries, and has just helped us get acclimated all around. He is even trying to get some of the guys in the office together for a few rounds of pool and some beer, and a few basketball games as well (you have to remember, I am tall here!). We had some delicious Vietnamese beef noodles, and the beef was fantastic, it was like a marinated brisket. It was very filling and only cost $3.50 per person! I must admit I am a little hesitant to trust Jason when it comes to food, he has said that he usually thinks things on Fear Factor look delicious...so I try to be careful, but I have been trying his suggestions, and they truly are awesome! When I got back to the office, Anishia the women who sits just behind me in Human Resources surprised be with 2 packages of these giant wafer cookies. She is very friendly, and always has a friendly smile on her face. She told me today that I remind her of her 17 year old son, because his name is Brian too! Anyway tonight was very uneventful, we went into town to buy a basketball so we can get ready for our games ahead, and then came home and watched some movies on tv. I also want to give my mom and my grandma a special thank you for the care packages they sent! I can't believe how much they were able to fit into boxes, and I can't put into words how happy and grateful I am for all that you two have done for us...oh and Russell says thank you too! Anyway, I will try to keep updating this as much as possible, I know you guys are reading now, and I don't want to disappoint you with long gaps between updates. I love and miss you all!
Love Always,
Brian
Heey, thanks for the update!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you're having a really good time now and that you overcame the little culture shock you had. :)
Good luck with the jobs you have been given! I know that research can be realllllly difficult sometimes...but I also know that you can do it!
Those pictures are just soooo cool, I can't believe how different it looks from the States and Europe, esp. Little India of course ;)
ReplyDeleteAnd that place where you had lunch reminds me of the place where the guys hang out in Hangover 2. At the end when they remember where Teddy is, remember that part? :D
Hi Brian!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post. I am glad to hear you are enjoying the food. On a couple of my international trips I opted for bread because it was the only thing that looked safe! And I am glad to hear that you are doing some sightseeing. Keep posting pictures! You aren't missing much weather-wise here. We have been pretty unseasonably cool and quite a bit of rain. Hope to keep heaing from you. Love you and miss you
Kati
Great pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteGood to hear that you are having a great time! The food doesn't look too bad either ;)
Enjoy your time =)