A Relaxing Weekend at Calamba, Laguna

Living a corporate life is as toxic as receiving all the pollution emitted by the cars in EDSA. Not only do you gamble your body with physical stress, but you also pain your brain with magnanimous office requirements and deliverables. It is for the very reason that I see to it that I take a quick break from the structured jungle of Makati.

I can imagine how each and every office spots are into number crunching, reports and transaction processing, tension meetings, unreasonable deadlines, etc....

Thanks to my foster family - the Bajamundis, who give me a family atmosphere whenever going to Bacolod seems to be an unworkable option. The Bajamundis plus the homey atmosphere of Calamba made my short weekend escape a very relaxing and happy one! 

Plants are one of the best therapy for tired eyes and brain. The greens are the perfect epitome of nature and nature is a perfect venue for relaxation. Ah, I love how these plants in pots and soils are beautifully arranged in their lawn! 

 Levy and I also spent a good afternoon coffee beside their pond and their big Santol tree. Starbucks may be cool, but nothing can beat having your cup of coffee while sitting in a traditional garden set with some papers to read on! Moreover, it was a good moment of feeding their tilapia at the pond!

One thing that I love about visiting the Bajamundi home in Calamba is the mini-gym that Levy assembled. Jogging at the Amoranto stadium or The Fort's area is a good time to exercise but then again, who can beat a gym with lovely orchids as the background? I love how I shed off my good 45 minutes in the treadmill and cut off some 240 calories! Yey! 

Home service is what I always miss in Bacolod. And I am thankful that I got to experience it if I am here in Calamba. I love to pamper myself most at home! 

It's Levy's time for pedicure! :D

And oh, did I say coming home to Calamba absolutely means one thing? FOOD! LOL! 

It is fitting to know that I have a foster family when I am miles away from the Alonsos. It lessens the longing to go home to Bacolod most frequently. I love Levy's family! Cheers to Tita Ruth for raising up a happy home!!!

Job Offer #1

I am proud that among the 60+ candidates rooting for the job, I practically edged out each of them. I got the post as a Senior Internal Auditor for Job Opportunity #1! I was pretty much ecstatic to know about it and was eager to see the job offer.

It turned out well. And though it was not as high as I expected it to be, it is still higher than what I currently receive. Not to mention that it is a multinational company with a very diverse cultural roots. I will certainly learn from the organization. What limits me is the thought that there is no car plan or car loan when in fact the job requires to travel provincially.

I did not close a deal yet with the company and I asked for one week for me to decide on it (and of course, for me to wait for the other offers!). :D

Filipinos In The Eyes Of The Foreigners

Insightful seminars/briefings are one of the best freebies when you are in a corporate world. You get to hear the best speakers for free! Our company organized a briefing session of where the Philippine Economy is for 2010. It was given to the hands of Dr. Bernardo Villegas who was tasked to converse with us as to how our economy as well as the global aspect is moving for this year and the years forward.

The speaker gave us a lot of helpful facts as regards to how the economy may impact our business. But what stucked into my mind were the examples he gave about how marketable Filipinos are worldwide (this is in relation to the OFWs remittances which forms a big part of our economy's development).

Atlantis hotel in Dubai is one, if not the highest end hotels in Dubai. Come the global recession, the company had no choice but to slash off their workers as occupancy rate dropped to as low as 20%. All nationalities - Indians, Indonesians, Chinese, etc were retrenched... except for Filipinos. When he asked the management why, the answer was simple: Filipinos are flexible. They can multi-task. They can be a chambermaid or a bell boy in the morning, and they can instantly turn into fantastic singers by night.

There are restaurants in Spain who only hires Filipinos as waiters. Our speaker thought it might be because we were under the Spain for ages and that we fairly know the Spanish cultures, words, and way of living. To his surprise, he got a different answer: We hire Filipinos because they are the people who takes a bath everyday. It's a funny yet very insightful realization. Petty characteristic of ours yet turns out to be very essential to the other nationalities.

In the UK, Filipino nurses and caretakers are renowned for their tender loving care. In that country also, they are sensitive on the so-called equality of each nationality. With this dilema at hand, UK hospitals found a way to still tap Filipino nurses in a subtle way. In the list of qualifications, they included that a candidate must know how to speak Tagalog. Of course, it was just a scapegoat to being racist for them!

I was amazed as to how we are regarded by other nationalities. I was actually in awe. It was a good realization for me and made me prouder than ever.

Ah, Filipinos!

Fun Night with Superb Friends!

I practically started my crazy career life with 12 equally crazy, fun people. We call ourselves RAFers 2004.

Almost six years had passed, and each of us are tredding on different waves of time. One by one, we left the doors of SGV (except for the three last standing guys as of the moment!) and continue our quest for a better us. It is in this situation that gathering all 13 just like our PSE lunch days seem to be impossible as of now. The schedules are not on the same pages and the locations are geographically insane - sad. Very sad.

But life is not that bitter as it may seem. And if time permits, we do see to it that we gather, make fun of ourselves, and dream about the future. One of the most special and rarest events that we gather is when one of our "balikbayan" friends would come home and spend a short vacation here. The most recent who flew back to the Philippines was our dearest ilong, Molds!

Last night almost half of the batch spent a night in Marriott hotel to serve as our send off party to Molds. It was unplanned, spontaneous, and very fun night with each other! It was fitting to know that amidst all the success that we are enjoying now, we are still the same crazy little creatures who would do nothing but make fun of each other. Ah, it was like a backtrack to 2004! You know that feeling when you have everyone to hear your stories, hardships, and frustrations? When you have all ears listening to your funny and awkward experiences and all mouths are so damned ready laugh them out?

Molds might be this high guy who managed to make it big in the US, but he is still the same old Boy Pending who struggles his English in the land of milk and honey! And he is still the same kuripot guy who would just let the hungry Con munch on the cake I bought instead of ordering at the hotel! haha!

Ermz and I may be regarded as one of the "Maams" in our respective offices but we still struggle for that "Where is your car?" question at the workplace. And yes, we are still drooling over that LV and Hermes bags.

Con can be regarded as one of the bests and the longest staying RAFer but he still find a bit of frustrations of still not having an out of the country engagements.

Nels might be happily spending her career life in Chevron but she knows she does not like Accounting.

We are these normal people in our own eyes. No pretensions. No competitions. Just plain pure friendship. How sweet!

Second RL In Less Than A Year

I never expected that I will hand in two resignation letters in less than a year. I have blogged all my frustrations in this little site of mine when I finally decided to leave SGV. It was a roller-coasted ride but then every ride ends, and I was happy about it. I jump off to another ride, hopeful that I will find another home in the arms of Ramcar. I did not see that it will be a short, short ride. :) Am I sad? I am because I know the company needs my help. But much as I want to help, the company seems to lack those eyes to see the need for improvements. Traditional versus Advanced method - that's where the conflict arises.

Don't get me wrong, I was not kicked out of the company. I am too good for them to throw me out. :p It is a matter of choosing what path should I take. It is a matter of knowing where I will do best. It is a matter of fighting the mediocrity and the art of settling for something less. It is safeguarding my future ahead. :)

Now I am restless. I needed to hand my resignation letter to my boss. And yes, I don't want long talks. Haha!

You may ask, where will I go next? Crossing my fingers to get into the cement industry. :D