Strawberry Jelly, No More Grape
So for starters let me introduce myself. My name is Babajide Adetayo Adebayo. Jide for short and the tongue twister impaired. I consider myself an entrepreneur by trade and by lifestyle. Currently, the company that I work for, Rokk3r Labs, has sent me on an entrepreneurial pilgrimage for 1 year around the world in partnership with Remote Year. Every month, I’ll be in a different country hearing entrepreneurs’ stories, understanding what investors are looking for, and working to connect what we call the global collective genius. Yes it’s a dope ass job, so give it up one time for Remote Year and two times for the Rokk3r fam. First stop, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!
First 48
After 20+ hours of travel and flying, I touched down in Kuala Lumpur on January 28th at 9:00pm local time (11 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time). I grabbed a GrabCar (Asia’s equivalent of Uber) and headed from the airport to the apartment in which I was staying for the night. Upon arriving at this dank (luxurious for my bad and boogie readers) hotel/residence, I met a fellow remoter who happens to be a software engineer.
He who shall not be named had already spent 3 weeks in this fascinating city and before then 2 years working remotely in Australia (I think? Either way that’s dope my G). Fast forward through the superficial conversations and intros, I check into my new apartment for the next month, meet a lot of new faces, and arrive at my coworking space which happens to be located inside of a mall, and is only accessible through a biometric fingerprint scanner. Kuala Lumpur you savage.
Uber Everywhere
Already impressed by my fellow techies and rockstar lifestyle connoisseurs, a few of us decide to find a grocery store so that we can stock up for the 90 degree winter ahead of us. For some reason unknown amongst humankind, we decide to walk to find the grocery store. We pulled out google maps and saw that the store was within a 5 block radius. Can’t be that hard right? If I fast forward at this point in the story, we would still be walking -_-. Moral of the story, uber or GrabCar everywhere people.
We finally reach the grocery store, which happens to be located on the bottom floor of another mall. Seems as if malls are the way to go. I’m strolling through the aisles, up and down perusing all the items that I want to toss into my cart because I know that it’s going to be mad cheap (Inexpensive. Again, they are watching and reading folks). The first item I go for is PB&J. That has to universally taste the same anywhere you go. Peanut butter, check. Jelly, come again? No grape??
Besides OJ (orange juice), grape jelly is the most essential accessory to my day and I know I am not the only one in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia stressed right now. My mates are checking out asking me if I am going to be done soon and meanwhile I am suspended in thought and disbelief that I have to eat my PB&J with strawberry jelly. But if there is one thing that I have mentally prepared myself for in light of this year long commitment, it is to have a “{insert censored word here, because my momma might read this} it” attitude. So I scooped the strawberry jammy and kept it moving.
Just to Live this Here Lifestyle…
By now you are wondering what is this lifestyle this reckless, but intelligent and extremely handsome young man is leading. Well it’s not as easy peasy as you think. Let me break it down.
- I will be working the graveyard shift for at least the next 4 months. I start my day at 9:00pm. Work until 6am. Go to the gym. Eat.Talk to my pops and my momma (shoutout to Google pixel and Project Fi for the worldwide data plan). Go back into the office around 10:00am to work on personal stuff like this blog post. Then go to sleep at around 3:00pm just to rinse and repeat the next day.
- I still have reservations about finding a black barber in South East Asia. I mean, I’ve had a fro and makeshift dreads before, but I am not trying to go back to that situation. I will keep y’all posted on how those efforts develop.
- Honestly, I can’t complain. It’s an amazing experience with amazing people and the first point that I made in regards to the graveyard shift really isn’t that big of a deal. Other awesome people are working the shift as well. To you other remoters, I def recommend trying it out at least a few times.
If you are interested in Remote Year, Rokk3r Labs, or doing what you love in general, drop me a line through my website here. Until then, make sure that everyday you are putting your best foot forward and making moves that you potentially would be proud to share with the world. Never doubt yourself and remember… a hater’s life is probably stressful (Mick Jenkins said it first).