Adventures of Alex Kmz

Blogging will be back in 2012

But probably not through timblr

So the Bali Experiment is over..

I’m spending my last night not partying, not even drinking.. well a little bit :D, not shopping.. but just like i spent most nights.. in my room looking at different food trends, listening to new music ( + korean music! :D ), eating fruit.

The past three months were really an out of mind experience. I am so much weaker physically, mentally, and spiritually than i ever imagined. But through my struggles of loneliness, boredom, frustration with work, aggravation over people in Bali, I find inner peace in myself like I’ve never felt before. Inner strength and confidence that the world is in the palm of my hands, and I’m just a few brilliant ideas, a couple sleepless nights of hard work, and firm handshakes with influential people away from realizing my destiny and becoming great!

I look at a map of the world, and after every travel, the world shrinks that much more. I know it’s truly God’s plan for me to not only visit and sight see different parts of the world he has created, but root myself in these parts and absorb the good and bad of different parts of the world so that i may grow to be strong enough to stand strong through the harsh winds of life :D

I shared with a few friends, but I realize now fat and lazy not only physically I’d become living in OC, but also Socially.. a slob. I was so used to being spoon fed the fast foods of social fulfillment. Meeting with only asians, eating only asian food, never having to displace myself into a new environment or learning how to cook for myself!

Man, people in Bali half way across the world have such a different interpretation of life, and their place in it. it’s so cliche to say, but I take so much for granted. Loving parents, car to drive, money in the wallet, food in the fridge. These people absolutely cannot live without tourism, and because of that it’s almost like they are here to serve us foreigner in their own home.. its strange, sad,… awkward..

It was pretty dang selfish of me to ask my parents to support me all the way through this damn expensive culinary school AND on top of that support me through this UNPAID internship in Bali. I can’t see into the future, but i know this experience in Bali will always be in my heart and my mind. I have such a deeper love and appreciation for my mom and dad for always always always supporting me in every way. They are my source of inspiration in all things, B&B, socially, and ethically.

THANKS to all my friends who kept in touch with me. I know I’ve been super emo sometimes, downer, needy but yall really helped me through this time!! I have such a deep gratitude towards yall and ill be there at your chatting service if you’re ever in a foreign country lonely.

ok thats enough yapping. I have a plane in 16 hours. Ill see you all zoon at the party!

Being in Bali for the past 3 months reminds me of all those prison movies, where the guy gets falsely accused for a crime he didn’t commit.. and so he spends the next 20 years of his life scheming about how to get revenge on the man who set up the false evidence that put him in jail. I would plan out every single detail down to the seconds..

There would probably be scenes of getting in prison fights, and eventually become best friends with those guys and use them to in my revenge scheme.

There would also be scenes of me working out in my cell doing dips and push ups against the wall and getting all prison buff..

Except Bali is the prison, the crime was working at Alila, the scheme is B&B4, the prisoners I fight with are my new staff members, and getting buff never happened :«<

Have almost no desire to write in this anymore! I still dont understand whats the point of having a tumblr. I dont really want to reblog something someone else posted.

- 3 more weeks of Bali
- 1.5 weeks of singapore
- I do not foresee myself ever working in Bali again
- excited to come home and see my family and friends again, but i do not wish things would go back to normal but only things would continue to evolve.
- I miss my church
- I really am dreading the fact that people will come up to me, smile, shake my hand and say.. “How was Bali” nothing against the person, but cmon peeps lets get creative! and if your really cared about how I was doing in Bali, you wouldve reached me through Email or Facebook.
- Im suppppper excited to be with my Bb crew again!! Bb EMPAT
- Im beginning to see the small things ill miss when i leave this island :<

Just sick of looking for silver lining. Some days I’m so excited to come home and start changing the world with this new found motivation and strength. Other times I fear that maybe all this optimism is just self generated to keep my mind busy.

Pt.2 so ive learned when big events happen like my accident, its better just to write the whole thing or else I lose interest and or forget finishing the story. Basically after 45m of waiting he ( through a translator) asked how much money I had with me. I told him to go jump off a cliff and asked how much he expected. He said 500k rupia (about $50). I said i have 100k and a $10 bill, so you can take it or leave it. He took it. bought me a coke (???), shook hands, and that was it.


That being said, I really appreciate all the people who tell me randomly that they enjoy reading my tumblr and the shenanigans i get myself into. I always wonder when i write long posts if anyone is ever reading and so it’s super encouraging to hear peoples responses.

so please gimmie a hollar if ya’ll read it so i can post more!!

As for how I’m doing…. I’ve been feeling really down lately. There have been  many people whom I was counting on to help keep my spirits up and encourage me along the way. People who i thought were going to keep me in their lives as if ive never left, but it was unfair of me to put those unreal expectations on them. One month through and I know I’m on this journey Solo!

But those people who are keeping me in your thoughts and prayers i really appreciate you! Ya’ll know who you are. Even if it was just chatting with me through FB or messaging me that you were praying for me or if i’ve been doing my QT, you are really special and helped me to survive this far :)

MK, TLP, RYL, JP, JJ, BK, JH, HN, TK, MS, AC, LC, TP, HO, VV, JC

yall know who you are :)

Being constantly surrounded by Bahasa Indonesian 24/7 is beginning to take a toll on me. I didnt expect everyone to cater especially towards the english-only speaking American, but i was hoping i could at least find one or two friends i could relate with here. not really the case.

That being said it’s already/only been 1 month and i have 2 more months to go. No more wallowing and time to move on and continue to make the most of my trip! :)

Not bad I must say for no formal art lessons!!

(Before reading this post you must remember that the road ways are switched when compared to US roads. Left turns are sharp, right turns are long)

So today around noon on the way to work  I got into a motor accident. I was turning from the major road to a smaller road leading to the hotel villa I work at. I switch on my left turn signal and just as im about to lean into my turn…

KABOOM!

Some dude is literally is inches from my parallel to my bike !! Now mind you this feller is a total idiot trying to pass someone from the left side going into a left turn.

It all happened so fast. One minute on a scooter driving, the next minute scrambling to get myself and my bike out of the street. You never realize how you react under pressure until you’re forced into the position. My first reaction. find “my glasses” (tina and max hohoho). The next im standing over the dude on the floor yelling at him pointing at my left signal blinker.

As you can see from my masterpiece artwork, We crash land into the parking area of a local restaurant. By the miracle of God, one of my closest coworker was there to see all the action go down and help me put myself together. I brush myself off and dont feel anything is in too much pain. I look over at the culprit, who has now made himself the victim by writhing in pain on the floor and grabbing all sorts of body parts with a look of anguish on his face.

and HERE’S where lessons were learned and cans of trouble were opened.

IMMEDIATELY all the bystanders from the restaurant RUSHHHHHED to his attention. Sitting him down, bringing him an ice cold coke with a straw in it, treating his wounds. This was going to be a sticky situation.. Common sense says he’s the idiot. Home court advantage says the “rich” American who doesn’t know how to drive was at fault. Everyone begins bursting out in Bahasa Indonesian, pointing at the idiot’s ( Let’s call our friend Franky) bruises, pointing at the street where we crashed, pointing at the barely damaged scooters, and ending by pointing at me. I’m getting scared. I can’t defend myself, and the longer this pointing goes on, the worse it’ll be for me.

I plead with my friend, Madee, to translate whats going on, but he says sit tight he will translate everything at the end. Oh great… more pointing, more Bahasa ensues.

After a few minutes…

Madee ” They say it’s your fault because you didn’t signal”

Kmz ” ARE YOU JOKING?? Here are my keys, turn on the bike now!”

*Turns on the bike, the left signal winks at them. The crowd murmurs*

Madee says its still my fault and that because I’m a foreigner and appear less injured than Franky, I will be the one perceived at fault especially if the police come. I know that if the police come to settle the matter, I could be in serrrrious danger so I move the discussion from who is at fault to how much does he want me to pay to settle this…..

PT 2 TO FOLLOW!!

WAKE THE F UP!

Stop thinking like a manager and starting thinking like an OWNER!

Stop trying to get other people rich with your skills and save them for yourself!

Love,

Mr. KMZ

Meeting the right people in order to come to Bali can’t be a coincidence. For goodness sake, even my internship advisor was Balinese !! After having a verrrry long chat with my supervisor today, I can say today i have a very different perspective of my time here in Bali. We had an impromptu coffee break and i asked him a very deep question.

“Put yourself in my shoes. American Korean, degree from Le Cordon Bleu, just finished an internship from Alila Villas Uluwatu… What would you do?”

After pausing to think, he replied, ” I would stay here and work in a smaller hotel where you can have more hands on work experience so you can know what you are actually talking about when your prepare yourself to work in a big hotel corporation.”

I was seriously taken back, STAY??? … HERE?? But i want to go home and work and live in LA!!!

…And then it dawned on me, the reason why I found it so difficult to work and live in Bali was not because the work was challenging but the culture was too shocking, but it was because I always left the door to come home open. Had I closed the door to the possibility of coming back to LA, I would have no choice but to learn how to live and work with no escape plan.

I’ve always believed everything in life has a purpose. Every soul you love or hurt is all part of the Lords plan to guide you to the next step in your life. And maybe my purpose is to start my career here. My supervisor went on to tell me that even the old lady selling slices of watermelon on a cart knows theres money to be made through tourism. He gave me an example of how by cutting the melon into slices and selling them by the beach, she is able to make 4x the original price of the melon!!

My supervisor said with a grin, ” If i were you, a young and risk taking 22 year old like yourself, I would take the next three years to relax and have fun, but also getting my work experience in so when youre 25 you are able to choose the career that is right for you.

Bali is a great place to start. So many amazing hotels to choose from and so many ways to climb the ranks in the hotels. Never spend more than 2 years in any hotel, and thats how youll rise even quicker! Learn all you can then after 2 years move to another hotel to get at least one of the following… a higher wage, or a higher position, and because youre young you can rise to the top in no time! I see it in you!! “

…… And only now I’m slowly realizing… LA will always be my home, but I can always come home. I definately won’t have an opportunity waiting for me like this in Bali..

SO many thoughts are running through my head as I’m excitingly writting this post! What lies ahead for me! and Things that I’m not even to reveal to the public!

I’m… excited?? anxious?? scared..??
:D :r :O

I miss you TLP

Ive been dreading writting in this thing lately mainly because i feel like i have so much i need to fill in. but f that im going to write from the present.

- My neighbor died last night. He was a large retired American man married to an Indonesian woman. Bob. Bob was such a genuinely kind hearted man who said his door was always open if i needed anything or just to talk. Our rooms were connected by a thin wall so it was almost as if we lived in the same house :<

Around 1:30 in the morning i get an urgent knock on my door. it was his wife. she continued to knock profusely and even opened the door to get my attention. she said it was urgent and her husband needed help. I quickly go dressed and ran over to their room. There was Bob naked on the bed knocked out. There is a large scar on his heart. not a good sign. Boom panic adrenaline time. His wife ran to his body and was shouting and shaking him

“wake up! why do you do this to me! Alex help me! Do something!!”

Ive never seen a person whom i thought was dead. I’m sure most of us haven’t. Other than stop and stare what are we supposed to do?? Thank God my mom is a nurse and i know don’t do anything influential if im not a professional because i may make the situation worse for the victim and i would be held liable.

I check if Bob is still breathing. One finger under the nose… Nothing. Lift up the wrist to check the pulse… Cold and Nothing.

She tells me to call an ambulance, dials the number, and throws me her phone. i go outside to read the address and im speaking to an indonesian speaker. i demand to speak to someone who speaks English (how American haha) to call an ambulance over. They are on their way.

Now call me ignorant but in Southern California when we call for an ambulance we expect 3 things.

1. They will be here hella fast. Someones life is a stake!

2. Trained professionals will come with the necessary equipment to help stable someone’s vitals.

3. its going to be expensive.

None of those things happened. After about 45m of waiting 4 men came out of a Lincoln sedan and w my help attempted to lift this 250+ lb man from his bed to the car. Seeing he obviously wasnt going to fit in the small sedan we opted to lift him into the neighbors mini van. dead weight is heavy!!

So at this point my neighbors wife is crying and telling us to hurry whiles shes in the back seat w her husbands head in her lap. we finally close the doors by sticking Bob’s feet out of the minivan window.

They drive to the only hospital in Bali. An hour away. by now its 400 am and i have to get ready for work in 2 hrs. To try and sleep or not to sleep. I try to sleep. Can’t. roll around the bed for an hour and half till i hear the wife come home crying. she unlocks the door. grabs some belongings. and then heads out.

what a day. didnt even get to the part where i fight with my hr director for an hour and half.

:<