LIMA2013 | first impressions

22.03.13

      It was 7pm+ in the evening and we got word that the new volunteers were already at the Kuala Perlis jetty, heading into Langkawi. I honestly didn't know why I was so excited about but I just was! I couldn't wait to see their little hopeful faces and thinking that I was in their position two years ago, all eager to find out what work they were gonna be doing. Funnily, what they didn't know was we didn't have a freaking idea either. haha 

      Mr Haswan fetched us back to our motels to pack up and be ready by 8.30pm to be picked up by Mr Suren to our new motel, Landcons. We knew the shift was coming soon 'cause a few days before, our whole motel building was all resided by MINDEF people and mind you, all of them were MEN. Mr Haswan realised that wasn't such a good idea and it was wrong, when he fetched us back from work one of the nights and said he would try his best to try shift us somewhere safer. So, we quickly packed our bags and waited for Mr Suren outside the guys' 'mansion', and by guys, I mean the male LIMA early birds. haha 

      We decided to just leave our luggage at the door and the boys and us left to get bread, water and other supplies for the next few days. When we all came back, hell broke lose when Amirul (who was in charge of the room keys) couldn't find the key anywhere! hahaha As we all scurried around the area looking at the sandy+gravel ground beneath us for that key (which we had no idea what it looked like), the door suddenly flung opened and Vern appeared. Apparently, he 'broke' into the house through the luckily-unlocked window at the side whilst Amirul went to get a spare key from the receptionist. As much as we were worried for the boys, at the same time we couldn't help but break into a good laugh! Even Bash was laughing at the whole situation!

       We finally spotted Mr. Suren (another funny story about spotting him but I'll leave that for some other time LMAO) and loaded our luggage and off we went to pick up a few new female volunteers to check in at Landcons. Landcons Hotel is located furthur down Cenang Street, which meant it was more walking for us to get our laundry done or meet up with the guys. But at the same time, it was nearer to Cenang Mall (which had Starbucks!) and McD is just opposite it. Plus, we were more than happy that our room was way bigger than the one at Sandy Beach, there was WiFi and the toilet was bigger as well! A big thank you to Mr Haswan for making ends meet, to shifting us to a safer place :)

...

      9pm - The newbies had arrived! A few familiar faces appeared as I scout amongst the sea of new faces. Which were always heart-warming and self-conscious at the same time. After a short welcoming 'speech' by Miss Azlin or was it MD? I don't remember. Anywho, we brought them to the registration hall to get their nametags and then they were split into two groups for a tour around the exhibition hall. Gup led her info counter minions as Vern led one of the two groups of L.Os. The other group was led by Nay and I. Like a little hummingbird, Khairul, who revealed his true colours as an ex-temp-staff (shedding his chameleon skin slowly) and successfully conned a few newbies about his age, reminded us about a few stuff we might have forgotten through-out the tour.

      Our group was very welcoming. They didn't have much questions nor comments, they just followed us and took everything in. Perhaps, they were just too tired to think, which I don't blame them for 'cause that was exactly how we were last LIMA. Okay, maybe, we were a little more enthusiastic. As we were coming out of the OO, we bumped into Vern's group at a crossroad at Hall C and so since our group had already finished the tour and was heading back to the Pre-Function Room, it was just logical for Vern's group move towards the Media Centre instead of coming straight forth towards the OO which would have probably brought up a head-on collision with our group. And so I told Vern to why not bring his group that way and by merely just that, this tall Middle-Eastern dude made a casual comment on how women were dominating men in a way that to me inferred that he was, maybe, offended, in a way? I think I kind of instantly blacklisted him out of my to-friend list. hahaha

      After the tour, the volunteers were given a nod to go back to the motel to catch up on some rest. We, early birds, left a few hours later, after making a list of FAQs for a little LO briefing we were going to do the next day. See, newbies, all the things we have to put up for you! haha

23.03.13

     It was three days before the official event days and some of the static display aircraft were starting to come in, one by one. Aerial display rehearsals have started to have a few runs as well. So, the very loud but nostalgic engine roars could be heard, every now and then. I've missed the noise and I still do. Since the new volunteers were here, we all had to report for work at 7.30am and of course, we earlybirds knew that it was basically free and easy till about 9am, when work officially starts. So, we went around towards the tarmac entrance to check out the aircraft this year. The new volunteers then followed suit.

      

      To enter the tarmac, we had to have a special pair of red and green stickers attached at your badges. So since we didn't, we only could peer through the fence and go gaga over the massive aircraft from afar. Which was fine, for me. Gup seemed really sad, depressed almost, that she couldn't get on the tarmac and practically went on and on about how awesome the planes were till a point that it got a tad bit annoying. hahaha 

      Just a tad bit. (I still love you, Gur!)

       Thankfully, we still got to go on the tarmac. A COUPLE OF TIMES, I might add! Pictures and details will be in another separate massive explosive post, soon! At around 9+, we, the L.O.s all made our way to the Pre-Function Room so that Gup could distribute us our delegates who we would be guiding through the exhibition. (Remember last year's Mr-Here-This-Jade-Bracelet's-For-You?) Just when Gup was starting to call out the first few names, poof! the lights went out and there went the air-conditioning as well. If you're thinking that would have dampened our spirits to continue working? Well, think again! Khairul whipped out his phone and thankfully, he had an LED torch app or something. See, bosses? How we take our jobs so seriously :) haha

      There were at least 10 ex-LIMA'11-LOs around, so the plan was to split the newbies into 10 groups and we'd fill them in about what their duties and responsibilities were. Nay and I even made a list of FAQs the night before, so that 'our' newbies would be all set for what storm were to come. So, since Nay and I were taking a group, we decided that we'd break our group into a smaller group for each of us to brief. But that didn't happen 'cause well, remember that kind-of-sexist Iraqi I told you about previously? haha yup, he was in our group and Nay had made up her mind that she didn't want him at all. hahaha (Sorry, Mazin, you left a pretty bad first impression!) 

      It turned out with us briefing all of them together. God knows whether they understood what we were saying but their bright faces looked quite promising. So, I guessed they did. The briefing didn't last long as Ms Azlin called everyone back to tell them about their task for the next 3 days - contact delegate's Accompanying Officer, set a date to meet up, and route route route!  

from the notebook / faq scribblings

a glimpse at how packed the volunteers' room was with all these new faces

      This time around, each LO had to manage only one delegate, which was much easier and less work as compared to last LIMA. As everyone settled down and started making phone calls, all looking busy scribbling down on notebooks, I, too, sat at our quiet little earlybird workspace at the OO and plucked up enough courage to give my AO a call. Yeah, figure that, I still got nervous although I've done it before! This time I was in charge of a Thai delegate. His name was  Admiral Polawat Sirodom and is the Assistant Commander-In-Chief for the Royal Thai Navy. Funnily, Naomi, Vern and I got the same delegation. In other words, our delegates were from Thailand. How was it funny? Well, last LIMA, we all had Burmese delegates! Such coincidence cracks me up.

       It was pretty much work, work, work, lunch, then more work for everybody. Throughout the day, there were the occasional smiles and hellos from some of the newbies, which I find quite friendly. I actually recognized some of them from the first Volunteers' Briefing that we had in March, but most of them were just a blurrrr. hahaha But it was nice to see people opening up to us and taking the initiative to start a conversation during lunch. Although most of the time, I realized I was just repeating the same "oh I'm actually not in uni yet. I just finished STPM, so yeah I'm just waiting and applying everywhere" phrase over and over to different faces, in which I didn't mind at all! hahaha (sidenote: I can't wait to get into uni!)

     Good thing about the 23rd was we finally got to get back to the motel early, at around 7pm! We met Vern and his schoolmates at this awesome Nasi Kandar place called Nasi Kandar Tomato for dinner after getting our laundry to the laundry place. It was a looong walk to the launderette and so, for a change of view, we took the beachside route instead of the dusty main street. Indeed, the view was amazing. It was at that short period of time in between sundown and nightfall, where the sky was azure blue but meshed with a tinge of crimson orange. It was that beautiful that people by the beach (including us) just had to take a moment and appreciate the wondrous magnificence of nature. Naturally, Langkawi.
   

      After a long stroll on the beach to the launderette, we dropped off our laundry and headed back to Nasi Kandar Tomato, in hopes of some yummy dinner! I didn't realise I was that hungry until I step into the shop and saw food! We quickly spotted Vern and his gang and head straight away to get our food! We opted for the self-service food as one, we didn't trust the food offered in the menu and secondly, our stomachs just  couldn't wait any longer! We were famished! I had a really satisfying Nasi Briyani with chicken kurma and delicious vege on the side. Downside of that meal would have to be the cats around the area. I swear I was eating with a jumpy heart and I just couldn't not turn on my cat-alert mode! We left the place as soon as everyone was done.

      It was around 8.25pm and the three of us headed to Starbucks @ Cenang Mall for coffee and to celebrate Earth Hour 2013! Before coming to LIMA, to celebrate Earth Hour here in Langkawi was definitely one of the many things I kept in mind. But I knew it wasn't gonna happen since last LIMA, we rarely came back early during prep! But looks like, the elements were with me on this one! My hot Asian Dolce Latte was surprisingly yummy and did not disappoint on the supply of energy at all. Lights went off at 8.30pm sharp except the lights highlighting the menu boards. I can't think of anything better than an early day off, world music playing int eh background, free WiFi, a slice of cake with a good cuppa coffee, awesome peeps who made long conversations worthwhile, positive vibes and my new best friend (specially downloaded for LIMA), Whatsapp. 

       So, here is the Whatsapp story. A group on Whatsapp called 'LIMA Volunteer' was created for the earlybirds to communicate easier and much faster. To tell you the truth, the reception in the MIEC comes and goes like it's having PMS 24/7 or something, due to something that causes the signals for flight lift-offs and touchdowns run awry. So yeah, the Whatsapp group played a huge role in team organisation as a human GPS, a silent loudspeaker, and most of all, a safe haven for gossip and work-unrelated nonsense. It was a joy to scroll down and laugh at all the things we chat about, which are all not advisable to be posted up on here. hahaha but sometimes, we tend to avoid looking at it, in case of sudden call-ups for overtime.

      At 9.30pm, lights were up again and we all felt a sense of accomplishment. Before we could leave, Naomi got a text on Whatsapp from Haswan, calling us all back to the office. I think Amir got it at the worse time as he was just about to go have dinner when Haswan texted. Funnily, he was the one who made up his mind on Whatsapp that he wasn't going back for OT that night. Guess, we all did, in the end.

        See the downside of our best friend, Whatsapp, now? :P

       I think we weren't dreading to get to work in the middle of an early-off-day due to the caffeine we just had. So, we were pretty awake and alert at that point. Work resumed, in the form of more exhibitor's lists until at around 12.30am. That was when Mr. MD came over to where we were working and gave us all a little advice/life lesson/fatherly-talk/experience-sharing on how kissing up your bosses' ass won't get you anywhere. Sometimes, all it takes was for you to get out there, live a little, smell the roses and break some rules in the process of getting what you're passionate in achieving. Note that I said passionate.

      There was something Mr. MD said that struck a chord, really. It was along the lines of what would your conversation be like with Dr. M if he was right in front of you? Would you ask him about all his achievements and go on and on about why you admire him as a leader? Or would you ask him something different that brings at least a minuscule change in you? How would you let that moment leave him an impression of you or the other way around?

      That had got me thinking, in the middle of the night.

...

coming up | madness broke loose two days before the official opening! 

but with that, formed new bonds with like-minded people

stay close!