A little teensie, tiny bit of culture shock

Ok..Went in for my first day of work and it certainly was a mixed experience.  All the employees, mainly a mix of Filipinos, Indiansm Sri Lankans and a South African thrown into round out the group seemed genuinely excited to have me aboard.  There is just a lot to do, and I have to learn a whole new medium (digital still photography).  Photography is the bread and butter of the company so i just need to learn how to be a project manager.  i guess you could say...im a officially a "suit" although i will cling to my creative roots.  Ultimately we will produce more video, I just need to learn how to manage the financial base so we can flourish into other higher risk/reward projects.  

Ok here's where the culture shock comes in.  They moved my hotel to another longer term facility.  I think they are trying to encourage me to find housing more quickly...and believe me...im certainly motivated now.  The new place im staying at resembles something out of 1940.  But the crazy part is, its only 17 years old...it just looks like its 170 years old.  Look at me the spoiled American complaining.  Most other non-westerners would consider this a 5 star hotel where westerners would consider it barely a 1 star.  But this is just a temporary housing situation.  I go tomorrow with a realtor to find an apartment.  Surprisingly enough housing is very expensive here...at least it compares with California.  For a 1-2 bedroom furnished apartment Im looking to spend around $1500-2000 per month.  But maybe staying in this hotel for a couple nights is God's way of saying...spend the bucks its worth it.  I have seen how the migrant workers (Filipino, SRi Lankan, Pakistani) live and calling their housing situation deplorable would be a fair assessment.  So I need to watch myself if i complain at all about anything.  The roaches aren't big enough to warrant a saddle...so i guess i'll count my blessings from here on out.  Whew...thanks for letting me vent.  

Tomorrow is a new day.  I decided to buy the staff pizza for lunch tomorrow...They are thrilled.  I had another long talk with another employee.  Julie is a Filipina in her early 60's I think.  She is a part-time receptionist, videographer, and photoshop artist.  She is a grandmother of four with a daughter and husband back at home in the Philippines.  Once she was a seamstress in the Philippines, now she has been gone from her family for the last 20 years.  She returns home for vacation for two months every two years.  She just had her vacation and now she is heading back in 2010.  She misses her family very much, but she feels as if she has to keep working in order to support her daughter, four grandchildren, and husband (who is sick/disabled).  The money she makes here ($750/month) is worth 3-4 months of salary in the Philippines.  Please do not think my company KSDI is treating these people unfairly because of the low almost insulting salary.  Rather, we are one of the better companies in this region for paying and taking care of their employees.  Its hard to imagine but most Filipinos make much less here.  The employees are all glad and proud to be a part of the company.  They enjoy their work very very much. Once i make the company more financially solvent you better believe my first efforts will be to take care of the little guy.  But i have to make some money in order for me to put it where my mouth is.  Still the employees are glad to see a change of management.  This family run company has been in the black but it hasn't been flourishing, that is why they wanted me to come aboard.  They believe in me...and i don't want to let them down.  Suddenly,  a little thing like buying pizzas for the employees, doesn't seem like that much of an endeavor.