An American in Moscow

Panama

I'm in Panama for two days.  Flew in yesterday to do some ethics and compliance training on anti-corruption and business ethics.  I won't be able to do much (if any sightseeing), but two things worth noting: (1) my hoteIl lobby smells suspiciously musty -- definately some sort of water problem in the pretty recent past; and (2) I'm pretty sure whoever cleaned my room today used Deep Woods Off as a substitute for Febreze as an air freshner.  It smells like I just sprayed myself down with the stuff in here.

Before my friend Jennifer Underriner jumps in, please refrain from making a jokes related to smells, odors, and the size of my nose.

Headed out to dinner tonight, then back to Houston tomorrow evening.

Airport Lounges

So, one last post from Asia before the long flight to Los Angeles.  I've been introduced to a new travel feature on this trip.  The business and first class lounge.  Whenver I traveled previously, I always flew economy.  On this trip, I'm flying business class because I am with my boss.  In any event, business and first class flyers enjoy a private lounge while waiting for their flights.  It's a pretty nice perk.  Unfortunately, I don't automatically get business class travel on all my flights when I travel alone.  It's discretionary with my supervisor.  Anyway, I'm enjoying it while I can -- it includes comfortable furniture, gleaming bathrooms, showers, hot food, all the beverages you can drink, newspapers, full service waitstaff, etc.  Pretty sweet.  Here's a shot of the business class lounge in the Singapore airport:

Last dinner in Kuala Lumpur

Went out tonight at a restaurant called Mei Keng Fatt.  It's a Chinese Malay place a short drive out from the City Center. It was fantastic.  We tried several types of crabs, shrimp, peppered beef, spicy fried rice, buttered fish, and papaya, mango, and watermelon for dessert.  Great way to end our last night in Malaysia.  A few pics:

Petronas Towers, as shot from the car on the way to dinner.

 
Mei Keng Fatt signage:

Aquariums with live fresh seafood:

Our future dinner, freshly delivered:

The busy kitchen at Mei Keng Fatt:

Next post -- from American soil!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The trip is almost finished.  At least the international part.  Instead of heading directly back to Houston tomorrow from Los Angeles, I'm connecting into Denver to spend the week at our main office in Colorado.  I'll be back in Houston on Friday, August 20th.  Thankfully, I'll have all of Monday to relax before meetings and field visits on Tuesday through Thursday.  On August 26th, I fly back to Minneapolis and then turn around and drive with Rachel, the three dogs, and our cat to Houston where we all will be finally settled.  Can't wait for that.

The trip is, frankly, quite a blur.  We only really spent about a full day and a half in Jakarta and I feel like that was just a blip on our path across Southeast Asia.  Luckily, I've had a chance to see and enjoy more of Kuala Lumpur.  Today, we spent the morning at Royal Selangor, the largest and original Malaysian pewter manufacturer.  It was founded in 1885.  I didn't think I'd be that into it, but the visit was actually quite enjoyable.  We toured the manufacturing factory and then, of course, hit the retail shop.  We headed back into the city center and had lunch at Kuala Lumpur's Central Market.  Best Asian food I've ever eaten.  Afterward, we walked through the market stalls and bartered with the locals.  Tonight, we're headed out to dinner at an open air crab restaraunt. 

It will be a long travel day tomorrow.  We leave the hotel at around 9:00 a.m, and have an 11:30 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore.  Our flight from Singapore to Los Angeles leaves around 4:30 pm.  I have an 8:30 p.m. connection from LAX to Denver.  Kuala Lumpur is 12 hours differnce from EST (13 hours from Houston/Minneapolis).  Right now, it's 3:00 a.m. in Houston on Saturday morning.  It's 4:00 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur.

It was a great trip.  Tiring and a whirlwind, but a great trip.  I'll probably be headed back to Dubai and KL in late September.  With another trip scheduled to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in December.  My frequent flyer miles will be greatly expanding.

Indonesia

Made it to Jakarta. First and only day of work here. On to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. I'll try to get a post up from there -- the jet lag is starting to catch up with me and I'm too tired to concentrate and type right now.

Out of the Apocalypse

So let me preface this post by saying that I truly like Moscow. I was really excited to go back after living there in 2007.  With that being said, I've never been more ready to get the hell out of a city.  It was awful, as the world's media are picking up on.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/world/europe/07russia.htm

The entire city is shrouded in a dense, hovering smoke.  You can feel the ash in the air.  I read a story in the news that being outside for 2 hours was the equivalent of smoking 2 packs of cigarettes.  Couple the smoke with 100 degree temperatures, and Moscow was definately not a fun place to be for the last 3 days. The most apt description of the scene would apocalyptic.  There is simply no wind, and the smoke and ash just hang in the sweltering heat.  Here are a couple of pics from Red Square on August 6.

 
Needless to say, I was ready to get out of Moscow.  We were a bit worried that we wouldn't be able to get out of the airport due to the smoke, but after about a 1 hour and 45 minute delay, we were able to take off. The high point of the trip for me was reuniting with my good friend and former colleague Anton.  We me for a quick drink on Thursday night.  He still has his sarcastic sense of humor.  Moscow is notorious for its "face control" -- tough guys working the door as bouncers who decide who to let in bars and who to keep out, all within their sole discretion of how you look.  We had a bouncer give us a long look over before finally letting us into the bar.  I commented about the face control still going strong in Moscow.  Anton responded derisively, "Welcome back."  It was great to see him, but good to finally get out of Moscow.

Following a short 5 hour flight, we made it to Dubai, United Arab Emerites, around 11:30 pm.  After immigration and customs and a short drive, we were at our hotel by about 1:00 am.  I'll spend two days working in our Dubai office meeting our team who heads up our Middle Eastern operations.

Moscow......

I arrived in Moscow yesterday around 1:40 pm local time (Moscow is 8 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time in the U.S).  The flight was pretty uneventful.  I will say the Singapore Airlines is a fantastic airline.  It was strange arriving in Moscow, as everything was covered in a dense cloud of smoky ash.  There are massive peat fires burning in the countryside outside of Moscow and the smoke has descended on the city, making breathing and even seeing difficult.  I amazed at how bad the air quality was.  As we landed, the visibility was horrible.  You couldn't even see the plane next to ours when we arrived at the gate.  It's also unbearingly and historically hot in Moscow right now.  Here's a quick link to both the fires and the weather.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10762921

After deplaning, we started the nightmarish process of queing up in the non-Russian citizen passport control line.  It was a madhouse.  As the only former resident of Moscow among our group of travelers, I took it upon myself to make sure we weren't pushed around in lines, instructing two sets of line cutters to get behind us in Russian.  To my surprise, they meekly did.  After waiting in line for about an hour (which included a brief interlude next to a pile of vomit -- ahh, good to be back in Moscow), we made it through passport control, picked up our bags, and got to our hotel.  I treated my travel companions to a shot of Russian Standard vodka.  After dinner, I managed to stay up until about 10:00 pm local time.

Today, I put in a full day of work at our local office.  But the jet lag is really starting to catch up with me.  I'm supposed to meet one of my former colleauges from the ABA here in Russia for a drink tonight.  Not sure I will be able to stay awake for that, but I'm going to give it a shot.  Tomorrow is a short work day in the office, and my travel companions have asked me to take them down to Red Square.  Not my favorite place in Moscow, but it should be fun.  We'll definately be taking a taxi, however, as I can't imagine walking from our hotel to the city center with the heat and smoke.

Moscow seems relatively the same to me -- sprawling, crowded, and traffic everywhere.  It seems kind of strange to be back.

Heading out....

Yesterday was my first day at my new job here in Houston.  Pretty typical first day. IT got my computer set up. Filled out HR paperwork. Spent the morning being introduced to various colleauges in the Law Department.  And by the way, I learned the folloowing: "we just appointed 53 local ethics officers around the globe at the company's various offices -- and they are all going to report to you."  Couple that with the fact that I also have to hire 2 attorneys and 2 other compliance professionals.  The most people I've "supervised" was about 9 when I worked at the DOJ.  And you can barely even call that supervision.  Suffice it to say that I seem to have entered a whole new ballgame.  Oh, and I'm leaving for two weeks on a trip to Russia, Dubai (UAE), Indonesia, and Malaysia.  Exciting and daunting first two days of work.

For the visually inclined, here's some links to the hotels that I'll be staying at.

Moscow: Hilton Leningradskaya.  http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hotel/SVOHFHI-Hilton-Moscow-Leningradskaya/index.do Located in one of the famed Stalin Seven Sister's buildings.  There's a previous post about my nightmarish attempt to rent an apartment in one of these buildings when I was in Moscow in 2007.  Scroll down and enjoy.  Thankfully, I think this time will go much smoother.

Dubai: Jumeirah Emirates Towers. http://www.jumeirah.com/hotels-and-resorts/destinations/dubai/jumeirah-emirates-towers/ The website reads: "Where business meets pleasure."  Not sure what that means, but I'm looking forward to visiting the United Arab Emirates for the first time.  The government is going to block Blackberry service starting in October.  I'm fine for this trip, but am hoping this ruckus gets straightened out before I return to the UAE in December.  It's supposed to be about 120 degrees while we're there.  I'm told we won't be outside much, if at all.  I bought some sweet new sunglasses, though, so I figure I'll have to venture out at some point.  I wish I had a linen suit.  Because that wouldn't make me look like a tool at all.

Jakarta: Shangri La Jakarta. http://www.shangri-la.com/en/property/jakarta/shangrila I love everything about the name of this hotel.  Never been to Indonesia.

Kuala Lumpur: Mandarin Oriental Kuala Lumpur. http://www.mandarinoriental.com/kualalumpur/ Never been here, either.  My knowledge of KL stems soley from bad Sean Connery movies.  Looking forward to seeing the Petroas Towers, world's tallest building until 2004.  Still currently the world's largets towers.  See, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petronas_Towers

My flight leaves Houston at 5:40 pm today.  We fly direct to Moscow.  11 hours 20 minute flight. On Saturday, we fly from Moscow to Dubai. 5 hour flight. On Tuesday (August 10), we fly from Dubai to Jarkata. 8 hours 40 minute flight.  On Thursday (August 12) we fly from Jakarta to Kuala Lumpur (2 hour flight).  We start the return trip to Houston on Sunday August 15, catching a 55 minute flight to Singapore.  From there, it's just a short 16 hour and 25 jaunt to LAX in Los Angeles, where we have a 6 hour layover to Sunday August 16, before a 3 hour flight from LAX to Houston.  I will be officially circumnavigating the globe on the trip -- and fully expect the mileage will allow me to reach some sort of elite status for frequent flier purposes.  Thankfully, unlike my last job, I get to keep my own frequent flier miles.

So it begins. Assuming I can get some semblance of wireless internet service I'll be making more blog posts from the road.

Russia, DC, the Senate, Minnesota, and Back to the Blog

So, yeah. It's been a while since I last posted a legitimate post on the blog.  It's been kind of a strange, convoluted 3 years.  For those of you who care, here's a quick update.  I returned from Russia in late 2007 planning to set up shop in a small law firm in Washington, D.C.  Before leaving Moscow, I had sent a resume for a job opening on the Senate Judiciary Committee.  I had no idea what Senator was hiring, other than the vague notion of a "Senior Democratic Senator."  So I fired off a resume, packed my stuff up in Russia, made the trip back and started work at the firm.  To tell you the truth, I kind of forgot about applying for the job in the Senate.  In December 2007, I got an email asking me if I wanted to interview for the position, as counsel to Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).  I did, and somewhat amazingly, got the job.  So for about a year and half, I worked as Counsel and then Senior Counsel to Senator Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee.  My primary issues were national security and criminal law -- think the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, the torture debate, federal criminal law, war crimes, etc.  It was a wonderful, stressful, maddening, amazing job. And pretty busy, as any current or former Feinstein staffers reading this can attest.  Not much time to blog.  And even if there was, I'm pretty sure the senior Senator from California wouldn't have taken too kindly to one of her Judiciary counsel's hammering out blog posts about their work.

In any event, in April 2009, Rachel, the dogs, the world's most slothful cat, and I decided, in the immortal words of the Avett Brothers, that "we, are headed North."  Back to the Midwest, that is, after I got a job at Target Corporation as a Senior Corporate Counsel for compliance and investigations at their Minneapolis headquarters.  Rachel got a job at one of the University of Minnesota's hospital ICU's.  We endured a Minnesota winter.  We didn't fall in love with our jobs or with Minnesota. We decided to head the opposite direction, and are moving down to Houston, Texas.  Why? Well, that's probably fodder for about 5 blog posts, but suffice it to say we got an offer we couldn't refuse. Me to be an Assistant General Counsel for an oil and gas service company. Rachel to get warm weather and to work in the largest medical center campus in the world. I'll be doing international compliance work -- anti-corruption, anti-bribery, etc.  It seems that all that was old is new again.  Only this time I don't have to move to Russia by myself.  Rachel will be able to join me on some of my forthcoming travels.  Hopefully, she'll be able to make a guest appearance on the blog.

So that's the brief rundown on where we've been the last few years. The next month or so will be a whirlwind.  My last day at Target is tomorrow, July  23.  On Saturday, we leave for a much anticipated vacation with friends from DC at a beach house in Myrtle Beach, SC.  A week later, on July 31, we return to Minneapolis.  The same day, I'll pack up one of our cars and head down to Houston, starting work on August 2nd.  On August 3rd, I leave for a 13 day trip to Moscow, Dubai, Jakarta, and Kuala Lumpur. Nothing like jumping right in to the deep end of the pool.  Rachel, the world's most patient and amazing wife, is staying in Minneapolis to wrap up our house details and will join me in Houston in late August or early September.

Whew!  I'm exhausted just typing that.  I'll keep you posted as I live it.  The blog lives again.

Bringing Back the Blog

It's been almost 18 months -- must be time for Spalding to take a new job. Rachel and I are moving to Houston, Texas. I've accepted a job doing international compliance work at an energy services company. As I'll be doing a ton of international travel, I've decided to fire up my old blog, An American In Moscow. Might need to rename it, but I'm headed back to Russia on August 3rd, so I'll leave it the same for now. More blog posts of the move to Houston, travels overseas, and general whatnot to follow.