3hrs from manila

the bloomberg workplace in capital square on church street is quite a big office with about 300 people in it. i can imagine about the same number of terminals, each one spewing endless amount of information on the financial markets.
the terminals are fine except that i'm really having a hard time going through the keys, the tickers that should let me see some of the data that clients pay bloomberg oodles to access. man, i should be lucky i can get them with just a click on the computer. but nay, i need eons to be familiarized with the functions.
yesterday, reine and clyde gave us a few pointers on how to write the four-paragraph lead - the bloomberg trademark, and run some energy tickers. this also needs some getting used to. but as the guys would say, once you pass the paragraph test, you're on your way to carving a career with bloomberg.
the office itself is a melting pot of races - i see indians, indonesians in their native garbs. the floor, though, is dominated mostly by white employees - from south africa to australia - and it appears that there's co-existence in this corner of the world. it is a place where boundaries are erased and probably political and religious affiliations not much of an issue.
last night, i had a night's out with some of the guys - uyen and zang (hard to remember) from saigon and hanoi, respectively, reine from johannesburg, and sue from singapore) at clark quaye (they pronounce it, oddly, as "key"). it was a blast to say the least - so much to discover in people from different backgrounds. i'm having a feeling that i'm becoming cosmopolitan (hahaha) as i could tell i easily and quite effortlessly mingled with the group (every filipino has a good story to tell!).
no time to explore fullerton hotel though, except that i tried walking on cavenagh bridge nearby, said to be the first bridge ever constructed in singapore (by the british, whom sue called "stupid" because the bridge couldn't lift up as intended).
yesterday, sue introduced me to some of the reporters around the desk i would be using for the two days, and one of the guys said something like "were you the guy i saw two weeks ago?" not surprising. it happens all the time. i have to ask my parents if there were two or three of us when i was born.
i met steph, the editor from malaysia and she's quite personable (she looks weird in bloomberg bio) and lilian (the only filipino i know here in this office, besides luzi - they call her luzi ann here) also. steph said something like i'm doing a great job at the bureau (whatever that means hahaha, i don't want to flatter myself).
tony was his usual self. after we did a story on the central bank governor, he advised me to leave and enjoy the hotel. kler said he's the kindest soul hereabouts and i believe her.
quite an experience, really.