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.

 

ho chi minh city - day 1

my biggest fear when traveling is this: that by some negative force of nature, my alarm will not work and i will miss my flight. that's why i check my alarm 100 times to see that the correct am/pm setting is used. 

i did just that the night before our march 14 7am flight to hoh chih minh city. i set the alarm at 4:30 am. but that did not save me from not waking up to my alarm. i woke up to my phone ringing. weird, i thought. why is jan is calling me? but what's even weirder is that it's 6am! and we're supposed to meet at the airport at 5:45am! my alarm went off fine. it's the volume that's so low it didn't register in my ear canals hehehe.

reality hit me that i just might not make it to my flight. unless... i don't take a bath, i don't brush my teeth, i just strip off and change. and. i. did. just. that. yuck. but what is yuck if it saves my flight? yuck it is. by some positive force of nature that overpowered the negative ones, i made it just in time - in my grossest physical state ever. i don't mind. but it's a big deal, ok?

after less than 3 hours, i found myself in a foreign country. feeling hungry and dirty, jan and i waited for jake. his flight was coming in a few hours after ours.

i was unsuccessful in finding a bathroom (for a shower) in the airport. no choice but to take a bath in our hotel after a few more hours. 

we roamed around the airport while waiting for jake and found some local instant noodles and coffee at the star cafe. we loved them!

then we went to find a cool spot where we could wait for jake. you see i was in danger of expiring anytime soon. hehehe.  view from the departure hall:

we finally found jake and we headed off to our hotel. and i had my much needed bath. all perfect! 

we headed out to face the scorching sun and looked for some place where we could eat authentic vietnamese food. we found a place that looks like a karenderya in manila. we had these: sticky rice with chicken flakes (that turned out to be an appetizer hehehe), some rolls, and a tiny coke to seal the deal. it did not disappoint me. food was very tasty, except for some hard carton-ish stuff in the rolls wrapper that was far from edible.

and then the trio was ready to face the streets of hoh chih minh city! 

we just had to...

we found the ben thanh market. so many stuff to see! fruits - fresh and dried, food, liquor, clothes, bags, decors, souvenirs. name it, we've got it all for you! the only thing that turned me off are the tinderos who almost force you to buy and get offended if you don't purchase their goods. 

next stop was the saigon notre-dame basilica. it was a bit far from our hotel but it was worth visiting. 

one thing we all loved are parks, parks, and more parks. could be compared to parks here in sg. i wish we have more of these in the philippines!

tindero/tinderas for a minute!

and the most fascinating thing is this... the motorcycle traffic. it's insane! what's more amazing is that when you cross the street, they won't hit you. It's like the red sea that parts when you set your foot on the road. but i guess you have to master the art of crossing the road first before you dare to do it! 

we capped the day having dinner at jollibee! the chicken joy did not give me much joy though hehehe. Iba pa rin ang orig!

cr? you are in a filipino store indeed!

twix

keyla, having a sweet tooth, discovered all the tingly goodness a pack of twix can bring. who wouldn't love it? a pack consists of 2 sticks of biscuit that's embraced by chocolate and caramel. it will never disappoint!

last night, kuya opened a pack. keyla's eyes twinkled. aware that too much sweets will be bad for her, she asked, "daddy, will you give me one stick only?" to which kuya replied, "anong 1?! 1/2 stick only! it's too sweet."

no problem, she probably thought. as long as she can have some then it's all good! but somewhere in her heart, i know that if she had a choice, she would consume it all!

then i decided to tease her. i just want to see how funny her face would be. "keyla? can i have some? can i bite?" i was expecting her face to go sour, or for her to say no, or run away. what i saw instead melted me. without hesitating, without even thinking twice, she smiled and said, "ok!" she then approached me to give me some of her treasured half stick of twix.

don't you just love children? they are honest and selfless and pure! i think we should emulate them. let them be our role models instead of the other way around. :) i love my niece!

how failures give you the best presents

i failed a calculus subject during college. and a digital systems subject too. for someone who took computer studies for a course, i shouldn't be proud of these failures because these are major courses! hahaha! what could i have done? the only math i love is geometry. i just perceived calculus as a jumble of numbers and my mind just chose not to digest it.

these failures pushed me out of the block section during 3rd year, out of the comfort of the circle of my barkada. i thought it would be the beginning of a miserable life because i find it very "easy" to blend in a new group. i thought i failed big time.

but the universe had other marvelous plans for me! i met two new friends, len and wendy. we had nothing in common but we somehow got attracted to each other. we even had a term of endearment for each other: BI, which means bad influence hahaha!

they taught me a lot of things - like cutting classes to watch a movie. and the more important thing that i learned here is that you are only licensed to cut classes if you are super smart because you are capable of catching up even if you don't attend class. well, len and wendy are super smart. i am not. hahaha! so i learned that cutting classes is really, really bad for ME!

after college, we kept in touch but we seldom met each other. we had a memorable caliraya trip though. memorable because we rode a bus to get to laguna and rode a tricycle to get to the resort. looking back, i realized how crazy we were to go uphill riding a tricycle! we also enjoyed kayak! maybe i enjoyed more because i wasn't holding the paddles. hahaha! i went home happy, they went home with sore arms. i love these girls!

ca. 2008, we all met once here in singapore. len and i were already based here and wendy just came for a visit. wendy brought us along when she went shooting photos somewhere in the cbd.

and fast forward to feb 21 2014, i met len again for lunch. a lot has changed. the old kalokohan talks were replaced with serious, mature talks. like plans in life! oh my! :) things indeed change.

i thank God for my failures. you see they come with unexpected presents like wonderful friends :) 

day 17 - imported goods!

today i am thankful for these sosyal na sosyal na imported goodies from the philippines. you are looking at authentic gourmet purefoods tj hotdog and tuyo from the palengke of zapote! so yummy with fried rice, kahit plain pa :)

i cherish the first few weeks after a manila trip. this usually means you'll have a lot of baong goods that will last for about a month.

i bet you know that it's good to eat tuyo with vinegar, but did you know that hotdog with vinegar also tastes superb? satisfaction guaranteed! 

day 16 - sudoku

today i am thankful for the addicitve sudoku game. this keeps me company while the train is in a tunnel where there's no available mobile data. 

i first heard of sudoku from my good friend, michie. she said she bought sudoku pasalubong for her friends. i was clueless and curious! i learned the art of solving the puzzles and i got hooked :) this is a very good pastime because you get to exercise your brain. kailangang kailangan ko na ito! hahaha

day 15 - off

today i am thankful for fans turned off. it's been soooo cold for the past few weeks. love love love! feels so good when you don't sweat, when you don't need to turn on fans or aircons, when you feel the natural breeze flowing through the house. 

wish it would be like this for a long time. i it's about 26deg here, 17deg in manila, 8deg in baguio, and 5deg in benguet. can you imagine that?!? coolnesss!

* if it's this cold now, people are feeling the coming wrath of summer :-s

day 14 - estudyante blues

i am trying to study again! and for this i am thankful. well, not study study-in-a-school-with-teachers-and-classmates-and-graduate-soon-wearing-a-toga! but study as in self-study-and-take-an-exam-for-certification.

after 33+ years, i am trying to digest a reading material. and by digest i mean memorize, understand, analyze! naks! parang totoong totoo naman! may this be a wonderful learning journey :) and may i pass the exam. that's the most important thing! i am not submitting myself to pressure so i will schedule for the exam when i am done with my reading. sunday driving lang ang dating?! go go!

day 13 - eating alone

today i am thankful for having the opportunity to eat alone. i had a doctor's appointment at the clifford center and i had a couple of minutes to spare. so i went to have lunch at this vegetarian stall. 

i used to dread eating alone. now i realized how peaceful it is to eat by yourself once in a while. alone time gives you the chance to silently talk to yourself. in effect, eating alone is like having a date with yourself. craycray much lang ang dating?!?! 

note: i didn't enjoy the food that much. there's something weird with the pancit. 

day 12 - convenience

today i am thankful for an efficient transport system. no car? no problem! the buses, mrt, lrt will take you to your destination. no sweat. you'll be surprised how all places are magically linked. 

all stations have working escalators and lifts. a lot of walkways are covered. transport guide mobile applications are available so it's impossible to get lost... unless you're ligawin like me. 

i don't really mind crowded trains as long as it gets me to my destination :)

day 11 - friends

today i am thankful for this bunch. we may not see each other that often, but when we do, it's tingles all over up to the bones :) it all started with a common company that's ubs. that is the foundation of our friendship.

we met up for dinner to bid elzie goodbye and all the best as she ventures into the semi-unknown in new zealand. i am sad to see her go. but i am thankful that she will do something that she likes and believes in, with the hope of realizing her dreams!

nasabon nang todo si elzie! elzie, aim high, pasay!

day 10 - healthy options

today i am thankful for healthy (healthyhan) food! we are continuously trying to stay away from anything that makes us fat and unhealthy. above pic is my baon for lunch for the whole week, mon to thu. friday is eat-anything-you-want day.

trying. sometimes i go back to old ways. what can you do if there is masarap na ulam and rice that practically throw themselves at ya? of course, you devour! ehm, you ignore the calling!

grateful for finding these damo-damo enjoyable and yummy!

day 9 - off to the garden with ubs friends

today i am thankful for remembering 1) witnessing the wonders of nature and 2) catching up with ubs colleagues. 

gunnar was here! it was on late december. it was a good catch up with the 2 jans hehehe. the mighty tall gunnar with 3 tiny asian ladies. hahaha! odd looking bunch we were.

we brought him to the gardens by the bay - flower dome. it was a vast garden with plants coming from cool and dry regions of the world. we were amazed with the plants, flowers, vegetables, fruits, trees, baobabs! parang ang sarap tuloy mag salad hahaha! 

we had a wonderful time walking, talking, and having coffee! 

as a final note: coffee at the dome is expensive. kailangang sulitin, ika nga ni gunnar! hahaha

day 8 - the need for a pet

today i am thankful for pets and a child's desire to have one. this pic was taken in mike's house last december. it's only in the philippines where we could interact with pets. we don't have our own house here in singapore and not all owners are thrilled to have tenants and pets living their house. that plus noone will take care of pets while we are at work.

i am happy to see the ecstasy on keyla's face while she was playing with peewee. initially she was scared, then she was playing like there's no tomorrow. she likes pets. so does mike. as for me, i am not compelled to have a pet, but i know it wouldn't hurt if i had one. :)