Busy Nowadays

I've been busy lately. Probably this will go on until Christmas.

I'm busy adjusting to this shift, to new people, to heavier responsibilities and to wild expectations. Sometimes I get goosebumps going to work because I know I have to deliver GOLD all the time. It's not anymore a possibility of pulling this project off. It's a matter of MUST.

Forgive me if I don't grace this blog often. Even my weekends are drained by compromised time with loved ones. I will get back on my own terms soon. Soon.

This is the perfect time to have a vacation, don't you think? Even for the weekend.

And for that...I smell HONG KONG!

Perceptions

After attending a charming children's party in QC, I went over to Manila Peninsula to pick up my American Colleagues for dinner. Since they wanted to eat crabs, I decided to take them to the nearest crab-joint, Red Crabs in Greenbelt. I figured to save Dampa for some other day when the major manila participants are complete. From Manila Peninsula, we hopped to Greenbelt and ordered Philippine Seafood dishes and not to mention the gigantic coconut crabs. The dinner was fulfilling, scrumptious and messy. For Mitch and I, we paid 4 thousand bucks for the four giant crabs, halaan, softdrinks, oyster cake and rice. We nearly vomited seeing the bill, but I knew from the start that the place ain't Dampa.

After dinner we joined a colleague of ours across the restaurant for some drinks and desserts. Then we transferred to Italiannis for further cocktails. There we discussed a lot about cultural perceptions, social politics and of course, the topic we all had in common and the exact thing that brought us together, work.

Since I don't want to bore you with work stuff, I'm just going to write here about interesting perceptions our guests have of the Philippines.

1. We don't have air conditioned buildings.
2. Starbucks is rare to us
3. Western food is rare to us.
4. We don't have cable, even if we do it's dubbed using our local language
5. Our music is old
6. We rarely drive cars
7. We are "physically" poor.
8. We're uncivilized.
9. Our city is so small and boring.
10. We are not that interest at all.

While I was in Cincinnati, a city that hosts their own skyscrapers, conveniences and landmarks, I thought that our very own Global Fort Taguig could simply melt the America town away in terms of entertainment, people and buildings. I found it funny how my colleagues in Cincinnati kept on asking questions that clearly sprung from rural documentaries of National Geographic or Discovery. What grounded Americans, who rarely travel, think of the Philippines as a 3rd world country full of cows, grass and simplicity. I just smiled and thought of how badly they needed to educate themselves and straighten their funny perceptions. As expected, when they got in the Philippines, stayed at Manila Peninsula Hotel and walked at our new and modernized office headquarters in Fort, they were speechless and full of all the words they ate.


Thank god I have the means to travel and get cultured. My world is not limited to cable documentaries.

Busy Week. Blog Later.

This week is very interesting. Interestingly busy, toxic, exciting, disappointing and tiring. I've had insomnia, anorexia and mental degradation. But that's why I love this work. The stress is nerve wracking, but it's exhilarating after.

To end this busy week, I will meet up with our Cincinnati visitors for a weekend relaxation. We're eating at Dampa and feast ourselves with fresh seafooods. I miss seafoods. I miss Dampa. I've been out of this country for almost 3 months and for my first weekend back I'm ready for a seafood fixation. So technically I have 4 hours to sleep.

Meanwhile, I can't report anything yet about my phone. No new discoveries. Apparently my Android phone is still a virgin. It has not been fully "touched." The most that I did there were text and call. Well, I did one stupid thing though. I linked all my Facebook accounts to my phonebook, now my contacts are messed up and duplicated. I know this phone is smart and I can remedy this, but I've been so busy lately that I can't even figure that out.

I am also reading a book that I'm halfway through. I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak. It is fairly interesting. I read half of it on the long grueling flight form Cincinnati, but for the rest of the work week since my return, I haven't touched it.

With all the chaos and life consuming activities I'm still glad to be home. I got to drive my car and play with my dressed up dog. This week may have been toxic and busy, but there's nothing like a welcoming pinch in the face.

I have to sleep. Maybe I can be of more sense later...or I doubt I'll have time. Maybe tomorrow.

Finally got my HTC Android

The long wait is over. I'm done salivating and wondering if I would really push through with this major tech purchase. I'm done looking up images online and reading what this new Android phone is all about. I'm done with all that preparation because I finally have my own unit. I finally have my new Android Phone.

Thanks to Mitch's expertise and encouragement, I got one of the best units for now. I must admit that the image, the navigation and the advanced features are new to me, but it's something that I could learn and cope. I love the color, the navigational specs and how smart the phone really is. I am so excited that I kept looking at it while I was having a massage.

But I will save my other discoveries for another day because for now it's time to get some sleep. My head hurts from the lack of it and fumbling at new gadgets certainly wouldn't help. I am still too excited.

For those who might be curious, I got the HTC Desire and I'm loving it.

I'm Finally Home

After 24 hours of travel, I finally got home in one piece though with a sore back in my hot and humid country. My father and mother picked me up using Essie and I couldn't have been happier. There's always a comforting feeling of being able to go home and that people missed you or took time to pick you up and attend to your needs. When I got home, I have my favorite food on the table, Luk Yuen dishes of steamed shrimp dumpling, fried meat dumpling, fish congee and siomai, all my special requests. Since I got too excited with the sudden shift, I took time to unpack and sort my messed up luggage. I got reacquainted with my dog who I terribly missed. My sister woke up to see her packages and my boyfriend went to the house at 12 am to check up on me.

I tried to sleep at 1 am, but as expected I couldn't. Jet lag. In totality, I only had 3 hours of uncomfortable sleep and woke up at 6 am in early preparation for my big welcome-home-date with my boyfriend/tech consultant. When I was in the States we planned for this day a thousand times. We knew how it would turn out. He would file for leave, drive me to libis to get my previous employer's documents, finally assist me in buying my new kick-ass phone, have lunch at one of our favorite Chinese restaurants, watch a movie and cap it off with a massage. It would be a date marathon. I'm happy that everything turned out perfectly fine. It was a day intended for us.

We were able to retrieve what I had to retrieve in Libis and we immediately went to Greenhills to satisfy my phone-itch. I left the negotiations and searching to him. Obviously he knows what he is talking about. As far as I'm concerned, I am just there to test drive and pay. He perfectly knows me and what I need in a phone. It didn't take us long actually. Within 30 minutes, we finally found the perfect unit with the perfect price. After 10 minutes in that store, I finally possessed a new phone and spent a fortune for it (in my tech expenditure standards).

Unlike some people who randomly change phones like how they change their moods, this is life changing for me. I don't really buy gadgets. Technology doesn't really interest me. I'm perfect with hand me downs and simple devices. But I find myself shifting to a new OS, to a new unit and most definitely to new navigation specs. I certainly felt I was behind with everyone else including my 14 yr brother and my old fashioned father. I have a lot to catch up on. Right now, I'm just excited about this new gadget and I'm pretty proud of this acquisition. I feel the time is indeed right to make that upgrade.

After buying my phone, I bought accessories for full protection. We also ate at our favorite chinese restaurant, watched a 3D movie which half of it I slept on, ate dinner at Max's Fried Chicken and capped it off with an intense massage to cure my sore back from traveling that long with a Brooklyn White Cheese Pizza as my midnight snack. Life is indeed good in this perspective.



I have missed Manila. I missed the sounds, the accessibility and the connection of people whom I care for. I certainly missed hanging out with my boyfriend and siblings. Certain things have to change but somethings will always stay the same. Tomorrow I go back to work and face the challenges head on. I think with a positive outlook, I will be fine. Last night, it didn't sink in yet that I'm finally home. But spending the whole day outside and going to comfort places I love, I finally realize that this is it. I'm back to my life and I started it off great.

Goodbye Cincinnati

I guess I will catch my sleep on the plane. I have to be at the airport at 7 am and catch the 10 am flight to Detroit. Lay over there is 4 hours before we fly to Nagoya Japan then reach Manila at Sunday 10:30 pm. Then reality resumes.

It has been a good stay here. We met new people. We learned a new process and we experienced a sweet chapter in our life. I have gained something from this. I'll figure that out once I live my life back home. Right now, I'm just focused on getting on that plane and hope I won't have an upset stomach.

I am chatting with my sister right now and making last minute preparations at home. I asked them to get me specific dishes on Sunday night. I miss Chinese food, the authentic ones from Luk Yuen. I can't wait to see my dog, my home, my car and my loved ones. I might be able to stay here a few more months, but now that I'm going home, I really can't wait.

In a few minutes, I have to get out of the bed and get ready. I have some last minute checks to do. Cincinnati has been really good to us. My stay here has been so pleasant. I'll miss people. I'll miss my routine. I'll miss my apartment. But I'm a person who easily detaches when reality hits. I know I'll be fine. I have something to look forward to at home. Work and my life back.

Months flew so fast. I can still remember the day I landed here and first viewed my apartment. And now I'm going home. I'm at peace and happy.

All my bags are packed....but..

Damn this packing!!!

I took the half day off yesterday to figure things out. After saying those bitter sweet goodbyes to the lovely people we worked with at Cincinnati, I had my very last meal at Chipotle (very sad) and went home to fix my luggage.

Special thanks to my colleague JP, who loves packing than unpacking, he redid mine. Sure, he was able to put everything in and more, but I'm hanging by the thread. The allowable baggage is 50 pounds per bag. Excess is only for 20 lbs. The last time I weighed, my first baggage is 67 pounds and the other one is 49.5. Damn. That isn't good at all. I have resigned to the fate of paying excess for the first baggage, but do I have to pay excess on my 2nd bag? Most likely since the scales are different in the airport.



Whatever!

Packing hurts more than just paying and getting this 24 hour flight over with. Just let me get through peacefully in the airport and I'll be fine. I can have my breakfast at Starbucks and read my new book.

I tried to sleep, but woke up at 3 am. I had a bad dream about my bags again. Now I couldn't sleep. The weather's fine here. It's the start of fall and it's cooler, a farewell change of weather in Cincinnati. I'll surely miss this place. I can stay, but real life goes on in Manila.


Screw the bags, right? I think I'm ready to go home.