My Trip to Palawan

There's always a first time to everything. Yup, including this trip to Palawan.

Even before i started travelling, Palawan's always been on top of my bucket list. Maybe because i wanted to see the underground river, which happen to be the 8th wonder of the world (as of 2015). This dream trip was built with my mom, but up-to-date, i wasn't able to bring her. Thus, when the opportunity came... I had mixed emotions: 1) happy because i'll be able to go to one of my dream destination; 2) sad because i am not going with my mom; and 3) anxious because i'll be going to work, without any guarantee that i can visit the places i want to. Well, it's up to me how i'll spend it though.

The airport in Puerto Princesa is welcoming enough.

This is a glimpse of what i will be seeing here.

Since this is an official business (OB) trip, we were fetched by our service car. I was told that we will be travelling 5-6 hours from Puerto Princesa to El Nido. But our trip, is more than that because of some errands of our engineers.

Along the way, we had our lunch to a canteen with this ⬇️ view.

It is very soothing in the eyes (the beach and the greens).

We arrived at the office late, so our purpose was moved the following day. I was saddened by it because my hope of having a tour vanished. Though, working is our main purpose in going here. Thus, i just spent the afternoon, well, i really don't remember what i did (FBing, Youtube-ing, i guess?). I even attended their daily meeting and butted in. We were asked to wait for dinner because our Japanese boss will celebrate his birthday (he gave a budget for it). Our very own (driver) cooked our sumptuous meal.

Patatim, Ginisang Monggo, Sauteed Shrimp, Igado, Adobo, Sweet and Sour Fish and Fruits (pineapple and banana).

Had a groufie with the birthday boy (man)... He's in stripes. (Sorry boss, you should've always open your eyes.)

Just when we thought bad news is over we were told that the hotel we were supposed to stay for two nights cannot accommodate us so we'll have to find a new place to stay, hoping that there still available rooms knowing that it is a weekend after all.

And the winner is... (Drumroll) Bill Tourist Inn! And this ⬇️ is very welcoming!

I have to share the room (and the bed) with my boss though.

Despite the 'puyat and pagod' i slept late, and i can hear the unending rain outside the hotel room. True enough, it is still raining when i woke up.

I can see the clouds move on that montain top.

I felt a little devastated, we cannot enjoy the beach if it's raining. Well, we have to work, work, work then. But ofcourse, we ate breakfast first ⬇️.

Our choice of rice meal or bread, coffee or juice or can be both since this is a buffet.

We arrived a little late to the office, thus we started work immediately.

(werk werk werk)

We went to our project site and based on what we heard, we have to walk on a very muddy way to it. But first, visit our batching plant:

Our batching plant.

From our batching plant via road 25 - 1.3 kms.

Just showing my blue boots, and loving it.

The road we need to take.

Just snapping some photos while walking.

This is just part of the project site.

Clueless that i am, the view that i've been looking for is right here where our project site is:

I forgot that we are constructing a jetty port, so work location include sea side (with a very good view)!

Returning to the office via road 1 - 1.8kms.

Snapped photo along the way.

We had lunch at the office again.

Continuation of boss' birthday celebration? I guess so... Crabs, pork adobo, fried fish and clam shells.

After lunch, we had a quick stop at the hotel and came back to the office. In time that our PM and engineers are already available to accompany us visit a tourist spot in the area, the Nacpan Beach.

I'm not sure if i've given justice to the nature's view with my snaps of it. But it is very overwhelming!

We left while i am still in awe. 😂😊😜

I guess the trip made us hungry, me and my boss were taken to a 'turo-turo' where you'll just pick any fresh viand then they'll deliver it to our table (on the sea side) cooked the way we wanted.

The gang, este, the team - the happy team.

Grilled Tuna, liempo, calamares, shrimp.

That wrapped up my second day, and the last but not the least dinner at El Nido, Palawan. 👌

Sunday, oh Sunday... It is still gloomy outside but we need to rise up early because we will be travelling another 5 hours to get to the airport. We left at around 7-7:15am and arrived at Puerto Princesa at around 12nn. We had a quick stop at Robinson's to buy some pasalubong before we had our lunch. What i am excited all about is the food we will be served.

Grilled platter good for 4-5 pax.

Crocodile sisig - my most after sought dish.

Aside from the dishes, the restaurant has a very unique ambiance and concept.

After lunch, we had a 5min-ride to the airport. So, i guess this is it - my memorable trip to Palawan.

It may not be the trip i wanted, but it exceeded my expectation. If you'll ask me if i still want to go back... It is definitely a YES!

Until we see each other again Palawan!

My Review: Everything About Her

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My tears for the night comes in two... But let's concentrate on my tears for the movie.

Everything About Her is basically a story of a successful woman, Vivian, who was diagnosed to have stage 3 cancer. As the CEO of her company, she must not be seen weak even under her medical condition. Her attending physician recommended a private nurse for her, Jaica. She, however was introduced as another executive assistant to conceal the real deal.

Vivian's son, Albert, was called by Jaica to help on the project they are working on. To convince him, Jaica told him the status of his mother. By the way, Albert is not close to his mom because he felt work is more important to her than him. For short, kulang sa pansin. 

Jaica relates to Albert's hatred for her mom because she also have issues with her mother. The good thing about Jaica's character is that she paved the way for Vivian and Albert's reconciliation. On the other hand, Vivian also helped Jaica soften her heart for her mom.

I think the movie is more appropriate during the celebration of Mother's day because it tackles the sacrifices of mothers and the consequences of their choices. It also showed how children respond to those so called sacrifices, positively and/or negatively. How this children react and cope with it.

For the mothers, there's nothing wrong with wanting your kids to have a better future. However, communication is a very strong tool while working hard on your goal. Let your children understand what you are doing. And also, once in a while give time to them even in special occasions at least.

For the children, as you grow and mature, learn to forgive sooner. As Vivian said in the movie, "wag mong hintayin ang cancer" to reconcile with people you have conflict with, specially with family members, and most importantly with your parents. We are only given one so learn to forgive and spend time with them as much as possible. Even when you felt that they deprived you of that, just remember that you are not what you are and where you are if things didn't go the way it did.

Pardon my eyes... They've just been cleansed.

Our Makati Trip

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Our Makati trip was an invitation by a real estate broker. They wanted us to listen as they present their new projects.

I also took this opportunity to treat my parents out, joined by one of my nieces. 

At the stairs of New World Makati Hotel.

The reception area...

And treated them to one of quick service restaurant that serves one of the best burger in town.

I hoped they enjoyed Makati, and the short walk in the nearby mall.

Goodbye Old but Young Friend

It's almost 18 years since we migrated in the metro and his family was one who gave the most warm welcome. Maybe because we speak the same dialect with his parents.  He was a little around 8years old then, I often go to their house, standby, wasting time. Life's not easy for his family, but they are happy... He was Happy! He was a sweet little boy who follows and respects his parents so much. I grew fond of him and how he call me 'ate' makes me feel proud as a real sister. I remember trusting him with my goldfish when we went for a week vacation at the province, though, my pet died during his watch, i cannot stay mad to him for long. Just like a brother.

After 3-4 years, he and his family left the compound. I seldom see him now, but i can vividly remember him. I heard he graduated high school few years later, i couldn't have been any prouder of his achievement so far. The next thing i knew, he left... for good.

I was surprise to know how his family stumbled and yet he remained strong. But maybe this was a battle he's not meant to win. He succumb to pneumonia.

This is not how i imagined to meet him again, but as i bid my final farewell, i'll always remember the good times we shared.

Goodbye my old, yet young friend - Michael John 'John-john' Ibañez... May your soul rest in peace.

My Review: The 5th Wave

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1st wave: EMP strike

The implication of the 1st wave is that all electronic gadgets were shut down. Thus, all means of communications were cut. Engines and machines malfunctioned causing chaos. Cars crashing, airplanes falling, and so on...

2nd wave: earthquake that caused tsunami

In the movie, you can survive a tsunami by climbing a tree. lol

3rd wave: plague

I can say that the heroine's family is a survivor because they only lost a love one on the plague, their mother who works as a nurse or doctor (i'm not sure) which was exposed to the virus of some kind.

4th wave: the Others as humans

Paranoia has risen when citizens found out that the Others already lived among them. And so, the hunt begun. Children were separated from adults. The adults were massacred and children were trained to combat.

5th wave: humans kiling each other

The trained children were deployed to combat with the alleged Others. Eventually, these kids found out that it was a trick to wipe out humanity. That the Others were with the military who trained them and the people they are trying to eliminate are the survivors of the first four waves.

Honestly, the movie is just okey-okey. I didn't find anything 'wow' in it. I even anticipated the fifth wave. I believe that the ending they did is an opening for its sequel since its novel (the inspiration) was a trilogy. I didn't read the novel so when i was watching the movie, i am still excited to what the next scenes would be. I would still recommend the movie to sci-fi fans but will warn them not to expect too much from it.

A Job Fair to Remember

Ok, so i am exaggerating. There's not much to remember on this event. Just an ordinary, typical job fair. I've been in different job fairs already, so attending another one is just addition to the experience. However, this is the first time in this institution: University of the East, Manila.

Upon invitation, the school asked for token/s to be raffled out for the participating students. We gave three pieces Parker pen with our company name engraved on it. The venue was kind of small, thus it looked congested for the nunber of companies who participated the event.

We were given a table and three chairs (2 for the company representatives and 1 for the applicant/student).

Tarpaulins (if any) was placed on the sides and back but facing the venue (i prefer it to have its back on the venue so students outside may see and/or read them).

Ventilation, they have a fixed huge fan in the left and a stand fan on the right. The companies may choose their table in a 'first come, first served' basis.

The  program was supposed to commence at 9am but it started at 10am.

To welcome us, we were entertained by the school's home-grown talent as they call it. Needless we know, they are Psych students (kabatak!) 👏 

After the prepared program, the struggle begun.

Only few students participated the event. Mostly were groups of Civil Engineering, Psychology, Marketing, HRM, Financial Management, Accounting Technology graduating students. They are kinda' picky of the tables (participating companies) they would want to go to. They only approach big companies like Chinabank, Metrobank, AB-CBN, Megaworld and the like. Unpopular companies like ours, had difficulty inviting students/participants to approach us (though we are already in front table).

Well, situations like this happens a lot. We went home, literally empty handed. But the good thing is, we were able to market our company to the school and students who are not familiar with us. See, there's always a bright side. Our participation in the event is still fruitful, it may not be what we expected it to be but what the heck, maybe the fruit of this hardwork will pay off in the near future.

The winners of our Parker pen with yours trully.

My Kind of Saturday

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Weekend, yes, happiness indeed! But this weekend is extraordinary for me, particularly my Saturday. I find it very productive and enjoyable. There are unexpected things that happened but also helped in the situation. Let me share with you why:

January 16 is the birthday of one of my beloved niece. She was promised to be taken to a very popular noontime show who will celebrate with her (one of the segment of the show). When we dropped them off to the studio at around 8am, we have to get back to bring shoes for her. Thus, traffic on the way, we rushed home to be back hopefully on time. Luckily, we arrived just in time. We are so excited for her (and for my mom). We had lunch short after.

By the way, this is my other niece.

At 1pm, i am to attend a seminar about resiliency with my graduate school classmates/friends. We thought of joining the said seminar to start our year right.

We were surprised to see that the venue was just like a small room with a maximum capacity of nine (yes, only 9).

The seminar started few minutes late because we still waited for some other participants, including one of our friend. 

While waiting for the others.

Resiliency was discussed and described at the beginning of the seminar. Further, the speaker talked about on how to be resilient by doing Shibashi.

After the Shibashi session... snack and wacky time.

Not the seminar i expected, but i can say that i didn't regret attending it.

With the other participants, organizers and speaker.

Yours trully woth our speaker.

Proud of ourselves as we received our certificates.

The seminar ended at around minutes earlier than 6pm. But wait, the fun didn't end there. Me, together with my friends went to Fisher Mall to meet my family (as my bro-in-law fetched my mom and his daughter from their tv guesting - naks!).

It was disappointing to know that the segment for the birthay celebrants were not aired and the main host was not able join them or greeted them. As a consolation and as per my mom's request (after so long), we treated them to Pedro n Coi, the restaurant put up by Shamsey and Lee. What's interesting about this restau is that it has a feel of classic Manila and or province ambiance. It was just so nostalgic since i was raised in the province. Not to mention the superb food and their very accommodating staff and crew.

We had fun taking pictures everywhere in the restau since we are allowed to roam around. And we are somewhat lucky that only few customers were there yet.

Even the condiment containers has a different touch (my mom on the background 😂).

Even the menu is so confusing, este, amazing...

A place also to have a father-and-daughter bonding.

I guess that's a wrap for now...