eerie silence...

arriving for work this morning was SUREAL! my taxi dropped me off by the ‘east gate’ of the building ... there was no one there. i walked half a kilometre to the main gate ... a guard! i tried to tell him why i was there, but he simply opened the gate. i walked through. the front of the building was completely deserted ... five football fields of concrete in front of a huge building, but no signs of life; no cars, nothing.
silence.
i approached the one door to the building ... it was open. i entered .... a large, spartan reception area ... a single guard ... silence. i said ‘hello’. he shook his head ... no English here! i showed him a piece of paper with my contact Hsaing Chen’s name on it. he picked up the phone behind his desk, spoke for a while, chuckled, and motioned for me to take a seat.
silence.
a cleaning lady entered and started cleaning around me ... silently. after a few minutes the phone beside me on the couch rang. the security guard came over and answered it, spoke for a moment, and hung up.
more silence.
eventually, a woman arrived, spoke with the security guard briefly, and approached me. i shook her hand, which seemed to surprise her. she motioned that she would like to see my piece of paper. i showed it to her. she pointed to the phone number beside Hsaing Chen’s name and gave me a quizzical look. i returned the sentiment. she picked up the phone, dialled the number, and started speaking with someone. she handed me the phone.
“hello?”
“hello”
“i’m here for the SAP training”
“oh ... okay. pass the phone to the guard.”
[more talking]
[the woman leaves]
she came back a minute later and motioned for me to follow her through a door. she led me through an empty office; then an empty production facility; then an empty corridor. finally, she opened a door that said ‘Training Room’, turned on the light, and left me there .... alone .... again, in silence.
finally my students began arriving, the first group asking puzzled ‘how did you get in here?’