The Bum Gets a Day-Off

Friday! It's my farewell lunch with my Moody's friends. 

Incidentally, it's also my first time riding the new Downtown Line MRT - from

Bugis to Downtown station.

I love the theme: baby colors! I've seen baby blue, baby yellow, baby green. So nursery-ish!

Notice how clean the train is? It smells so new (except the walk from bugis to downtown because it smells foot-ish). The handles match the seat color. How dandy!

There are also... hmmm, are these butt rests? Hahaha! 

And look at those colorful priority seats! Nice! 

Wow! I've witnessed the opening of 2 MRT lines during my stay here: circle and downtown! I've been here for too long.

Undeniably, SG transport system is very efficient. I wonder how the NZ transport system will be? I've heard a lot of stories but we'll find out soon :)

Farewell, Moody's!

The final day ended fairly fast. I just sent my farewell email, shook hands with some members of the team, surrendered my laptop. I went out at 12 noon and have never felt so liberated! I'm sure a smile was permanently pasted on my face and I could understand why.

After graduating from college on October 2001 (I feel so old saying this), I had a good rest for two months before I got my very first shining shimmering splendid job offer. Don't get me wrong, the pay was not high, but that was how I perceived my very first job :)

After more than 13 years, this is the first time I'm taking a two-month break from work. Oh, the things I could do and the things I will not do for 2 months!

I started my freedom day by having lunch with my good friend, Len.

Pedi was next! 

And finally capped the day with McDo date with Jan. 

Vacation looks promising! 

Satsatan

                      

One of the most amazing benefits of mobile technology is the fact that your loved ones are just a few finger strokes away. I particularly like WhatsApp, Viber, iMessage. 

I have group chats with my family, St. Paul, SPI, UBS, Moody's. Everybody is so reachable and I love it! 

The most active channels are family and St. Paul. Family discussions include weekend activities, work rants, kumustahan, what's-for-lunch/dinner, inspirational quotes, general kulitan. Members hail from the Philippines, Singapore, Saudi Arabia.

St. Paul chat - dear St. Paul, where do I start? Paulinians are known for being talkative. That channel with 8 members is like an armamouth that's almost always active. Can you believe, we even had a discussion about our job descriptions because we were HS classmates but realized we didn't know what everybody does for a living. Isn't it the coolest channel? Crazy! Members hail from the Philippines, Singapore, USA.

And there is also a number of individual iMessage chats with Jan, Mike, and NZ advisers that are hyper active! 

To keep track if the members are alive or dead to the world, I keyed in everybody's time zone. I wouldn't want to miss chika time, would I?

Dear technology, thank you for keeping everybody nearby! You are awesome!

Dark Clouds

My view this morning from the office...

Ominous! Exactly the opposite of what I feel leaving these halls. Today is my last working day. I'll still go to the office on Monday morning but only to surrender my office stuff.

I get overly dramatic when leaving a work. This time though, I am more of excited to leave the chaotic work behind. I will miss the pinoy barkada I've gained here. I will miss the umay factor if there's no work to be done. Likewise, the umay factor when there's too much work to do.   I will miss Tanjong Pagar! 

Another chapter ends... On to the next! 

Take it away, Leann!

"Oooh, life goes on, and it's only gonna make me strong

It's a fact, once you get on board say goodbye 'cause you can't go back"

Pests

It's been a known fact that mosquitoes find my scent yummy. My cousin doctor said my body is warmer than usual that's why these pests choose to attack me more than the others.  I haven't been bitten for a long time. But lately, there seems to be a mosquito nest somewhere in our house. Let me sit for a few minutes and they come swarming towards me. The most that i've had is around 15 bites in a span of 3 minutes. I have no idea how they do it but they sure are good at what they do!

The bites are extra big this time. I've had 3 bites having this scary appearance:

I've read a bit. Research says some people are allergic to mosquito saliva. When a person gets the bite, the body produces histamines. This causes the itch and the swelling, thus the need for anti-histamine.

I am very "visible" to mosquitoes. That's why we need patches, mosquito lotions - to hide our scent from these pests. Could you believe that even if I wear pajamas they could still bite through the fabric? If you think that's scary, watch this. Gross!

http://youtu.be/49dQtrLxkYo

Ho Chi Minh City - Day 3

last day! we went to the kuchi tunnel since we had an evening flight to singapore. jake's flight was at noon so we bid our farewells at the hotel.

 

it took us around 2 hours to get to the kuchi tunnel.

 

but before that, we were dropped off at the souvenirs shops in kuchi village. the crafts are made by 3rd gen survivors who were left with disabilities after the war.

 

our guide was a war soldier. i felt the pain in his voice. there was something in his eyes that said, "i've seen it all." on second thought, i think he hasn't seen it all. he hasn't heard my deaf-girl-hirits yet.

 

sir: are you sing-gel?

(how intrusive, i thought. i thought i heard him ask if i was single, maybe i remind him of his daughter. i showed him my wedding ring and answered.)

me: no, i am married.

i don't know if he looked confused or annoyed. then he pointed at the microphone.

sir: no, no. sing-gel sing-gel!

aah, as in singer pala! hahahaha. sorry naman, ama!

 

pics at the kuchi tunnel:

 

in the end, jan and i went inside the tunnel. it was enlarged by 10% so i thought that it wouldn't be that difficult, plus there were 4 exit points inside the tunnel so you could opt to go out at any time. at some point inside the tunnel, i got claustrophobic, felt my heart pounding, felt myself running out of breath. we gave up on the 3rd exit and quit. it was a good experience :)

 

when we went back to our hotel, we asked if we could use the bathroom because we were so filthy. they said they will allow us to use a bathroom in one of the rooms, but they will charge us. neknek nyo. filthy it is! hahaha. the theme of this trip is "i'm so duuurrrrrrtyyyy!"

 

we went to the basilica to hear the sunday mass in their local language.

 

finally, we headed to the airport and had a good flight. except for that bad mistake the attendants made. they accidentally pressed the voice-over that the oxygen masks will be released. bad, bad timing to make a mistake like this.

 

overall, it was a good trip. it's a reunion with jake and janise. our first memorable trip being that gandria day tour in switzerland. surprisingly, we didn't sing our theme song, "for just a moment". we had the same boat ride, same walks, more juicy talks, but less of the funicular lectures by jake :p on to 2015 for our new zealand reunion!

Ho Chi Minh City - Day 2

day 2 was mekong river day. we started off early by taking a bus ride from the city center to the mekong river.

 

the trio at the boat. jake in his japan japan pose.

 

the river bank

 

and then we started sailing through narrow canals reminiscent of the pantanals in corumba, brazil. wow! i haven't been to brazil. i only read about in in grisham's 'the testament'. bwahaha!

 

this is our happy tour guide. i unfortunately forgot his name. he shared that marian rivera is a big star in vietnam, and that his mom has seen all her movies and teleseryes dubbed in their native language.

 

after the boat ride, we found ourselves semi-immersed in this little village. this is our group on our way to the 2nd boat ride that will take us to our lunch place. like a philippine procession, isn't it?

 

we boarded horse kalesas. some of the german tourists had issues riding the horse carriages because they said that they find it cruel. our guide debated that it's the culture and that they should adjust to the culture of the foreign land they are visiting. left with no choice, they boarded the kalesa with sour faces and reached the destination after all. cheers to them for standing by their principles. cheers to our guide for keeping calm and having the power to persuade people.

 

and finally the boat ride and our cool hats!

 

 

we had our lunch and visited some of the local merchandise spots.

 

after the tour, we had our dinner in the night market then did some more pasalubong shopping. we capped the night with a heart-to-heart talk and heart-palpitating coffee.