Sunday, October 12, 2008

First Day in the Office

I woke up early around 5.00 a.m and suddenly got the mood to exercise. I thought of going to the hotel gymnasium but later decided to do push up and stationary run in my room. After shower and prayer, I dressed up (to kill) and rehearsed my smile and introductory line in front of the mirror - "Hi my name is Syamsulfaiz from Kuala Lumpur. I come to report to work".

I arrived at the office at 7.00 a.m and the office was still closed. At 8.00 a.m I checked again and met the receptionist. I was greeted by the HR manager and a few secretaries. They were all beautiful Arab ladies. They ushered me to my new room which I share with other 2 lawyers. My room have a wall sized window facing Sheikh Zayed Road and the sea ! The two partners who interviewed me, came in to shake hand. They were very friendly and good looking. Then a new partner from Canada also came in to my room. He also arrived for the first day same like me. He told me that he used to stay in Bangsar for 3 years. I also met a Malaysian lawyer who has been in Dubai for 3 years. I think I have seen him before in a seminar in Kuala Lumpur. Later we went for teh tarik session but in Starbuck Coffee. A very nice fellow.

"Hi my name is Syamsulfaiz from Kuala Lumpur"

My new battle station.

I noticed all the male lawyers coming to the office in full suit. So this is a new office culture that I must quickly adapt. Luckily I also wore my new suit. Also not to forget, all the office boys were wearing bow tie and vest. They look like hotel butlers, smart and sharp. My office also have Public Relation Officers (PROs), who I guess, are in charge of public relations with lawyers, clients and authorities. They were very friendly to me. All the personnel in the office are of diverse nationalities. I have met Australian, Lebanese, Jordanian, Indian, Egyptian, Canadian and Malaysian.

It was dark outside around 6.00p.m. If it is clear you can see the Persian Gulf


I asked to join my room mate lawyer for lunch. We went to the nearest grocery store and bought lunch packs. Then we ate lunch on one of the benches near Dubai International Financial Centre. Very quick lunch and delicious food. The cost was AED10 but my new friend bought it for me. He is a very kind fellow. I was the only guy wearing a full suit at that time and felt awkward. It was in a middle of the day, hot but I wasn't sweating. Don't want to jatuh standard ok !

After lunch the HR manager briefed me on the next steps for my residence visa and labour card application. Tomorrow I will have to attend a medical check up. They have fixed an appointment for me in a private hospital near Jumeirah. The cost will be AED650. I wanted to go out and buy a new mobile sim card, but one of the PROs volunteered to do it for me and he promised to get a nice number for me.

Feeling bored at my place doing nothing, I went to see a partner in my department and borrowed a few law textbooks from him. He told me they were not many English textbooks but if I can read Arabic then I can read more law books as they were written in Arabic. Refreshing my practice of reading and speaking Arabic will be a good move in Dubai.

A very improtant reading material for my line of work.


The sun sets early in Dubai like in Sarawak. It was around 6.00p.m (10.00 p.m in Malaysia) and already it was dark outside. So I just wait for 6.30pm where people leave the office to home. I looked around to see how busy their works were, but couldn't see them because all lawyers sit in their own room. I noticed a lot of Mat Salleh coming in and out for meeting with lawyers here.

So I just wait and send this entry first...

"Welcome aboard !"

Office colleagues

17 comments:

Dewangga Sakti said...

Selamat Syamsulfaiz. Semoga cemerlang.
Jgn lupa usha CD Umm Khalthoum,beli bass akustik dan masuk kelas darbuka di sana. :)
Lagi satu carikan kerja utk aku. ha ha

HH said...

Hang cakap awek sambut hang cantek. Takde gambo ke apo?

cohong gym said...

Aku setuju dengan herman. setiap kali ada awek cun, kasi post dia punya gambar baru aku percaya hehehe

Dewangga Sakti said...

Betul tu Cohong. Sebab spesifikasi cantek Along ni lain sikit.Betul tak?
Along,teruskan menulis travelog dkt sana.

HH said...

ha, jangan makan sorang bro. cohong tu lapor gak tu! gua layan je bro

Syamsulfaiz said...

Awek Arab cantik-cantik, tapi loaded wor. Nak tangkap gambar tu susah sikitla, karang dia potong aku punya kang habis !

DS, nanti aku nak cari tempat2 aktiviti seni kat sini. Baru layan.

Anonymous said...

Along...keep it up bro...selalu la posting latest news...our prayers with u..Good Luck from Malaysia we r so proud of u....regards from Ooi triplet

Syamsulfaiz said...

Ooi, thank you. Selalu la baca blog, kat tempat orang banyak idea nak menulis. Jenguk2 lah Kak Ida dan Adrin di rumah, kalau singgah KL ye. Kesian diorang kesunyian.

tamlikha said...

selamat maju jaya along, aweq arab memang dikenali seantero dunia akan ke cunannye, tgk mata pun bole tergoda, aku tau iman ko mmg tebal bro....

cohong gym said...

Tak pe long, buat slow-slow. Kau berlakon la macam tourist. Pastu shoot la 1-2 gambar untuk tatapan kitaorang semua. Pastu kau tapau minah arab tu untuk aku hahahhaha

Syamsulfaiz said...

Woi Cohong kat sini kalau tangkap gambar awek Arab, boleh terus masuk jail. Tapi dengan skill spy aku, akan ku usahakan demi kawan2 yg gersang.

tamlikha, iman aku memang tebal, pasal daku mencintai isteriku.

Anonymous said...

aku dengan dalam jail Dubai ada free WIFI, takpe la.. ko ambik je lepas tu kalau masuk jail pun.. dapat upload gambuat untuk Cohong yang gersang

Dewangga Sakti said...

Syam,
nanti tolong belikan CD Umm kalthoum,lps tu cari CD Naseer Shamma,Simon Shaheen,Mounir Bashir (ketiga-tiga ini oud players)
Juga survey VCD/DVD oud! terutamanya learning technique

Abafahim said...

cayalah long..sepanjangn ko duduk di dubai, ko tinggal mana? Mana tau kalau aku teragak nak melencong ke dubai..hhehe! Dengar citer hotel rate mahal giler!

Ifila Saila said...

dubai mmg antara negara arab yg mempunyai kos sara hidup yg tinggi. antara tempat pelancongan yg famous di timur tengah. selalu kwn2 aku yg duk jordan & syria nk balik msia akan transit di dubai sekejap, so waktu tu lah diorg ambik kesempatan utk melancong.

kalau ngko rajin, ngko ambik la gambor burj dubai tu dari semasa ke semasa, smpai dia siap.. misti cantik bila buat posting gmbr sblm dan slps siap.. hehe..

Syamsulfaiz said...

Ayid, sekarang aku masih tinggal hotel kat Safa Park sampai 23hb Oct. Lepas ni inshaallah aku menyewa studio di International City. Hotel mmg mahal kat sini.

Lipi, idea bagus juga tu.

Yacer X said...

battle station rocks!..must have bass guitar beside the table. ;-)

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