26
Oct
Guarding the Office
Based on my work, I was supposed to take on the graveyard shift on the occasion. Wednesday was my first attempt at wrecking havoc on my body’s natural tendencies.
I did not know what to expect, though in retrospect, I should have slept a few more hours before going in to work. It was more of a direct plunge into the entire affair rather than a properly planned transition.
As the night-shifter, I was the saviour for the guys whom had to work from nine to nine, since they couldn’t reasonably go out to buy their dinner with a 20 minute break. It was more of a reciprocal gesture, since I was previously saved by other night-shifters previously.
I settled in, with 3 layers of clothing, since my friends whom have been through the artic before me have warned about the trying conditions. I ended up underestimating the prowress of 3 ceiling-mounted air-conditioning systems on full blast.
Even before the critical dew-saturation hours of dawn, the 3 of us were numbed like ice-cubes. I brought in a cuppa hot steaming Milo, which had frozen like the rest of us within minutes. I dreamed of setting up a sun in the office. I miss the glorious warmth of nuclear fusion.
The cold also made me feel even more tired: I was surprised because I had stayed up till the wee hours of 4am before, and I was only mildly sedated, compared to outright dozing off. Imagine an elephant sitting on your head.
We tried to keep warm by opening as many windows as we could (total of 2 out of 10 windows in the entire office, but without the huge difference in temperature, not much of the cold air escaped.
Eventually, the two ladies stayed in the corridors, which was only connected to the central air-conditioning system, turned on only during office hours. I stewed in the office, determined to overcome the ridiculous situation of freezing in the tropics. I think I would never understand the Japanese, if what a taxi driver in Taipei told me was true.
I am tempted to ask Badaunt: do the Japanese wear singlets out in the teen degrees climate? How could they still keep warm with such blatant assault of their senses?
I am thankful that I live in the tropics.
on December 9th, 2006 at 10:38 pm
And I’m finally here to answer – the Japanese wear a LOT more than singlets. It’s definitely woolly sweater time around here. The temperatures have been in the teens recently, and it’s time to bring out the winter clothing. The smell of mothballs in the train is pretty strong.
Longjohns are popular for men. (And for some women, but we’re less likely to advertise it.) I don’t know how warm offices are, since I’m never in one these days, but classrooms tend to have varied temperatures, depending on the age of the building/heating system. I dress according to where I’m working. Some places make it difficult for me by having me work in several different buildings in one day, with different heating systems, and wildly different temperatures. It drives me nuts, and I try to cope by wearing layers, which I peel off or put on depending on where I am.
But I like winter. It’s easier to warm up in winter than to cool off in summer. In summer there’s a limit to how much you can remove, but you can always add another layer!