so how?

1 year here in my company...

i never really expected that i will be able to work here that long...

i learned to be more mature. my officemate were of different nationalities, different languages, different age(i got no batchmate here and all are older than me) and different educational attainment(phd, masters and of course a degree).

i learned to be more independent. despite the fact that i have been living away from my family when i was in cebu, being in a different country is far more different. i even manage to go to the airport alone and travel to sg for the first time.

i learned how it is to go through interviews and exams once again. my previous company in cebu was the first one where i had an interview during college. that time i was not really taking it very seriously like i'd prepare a lot of things just to pass it. but my experience here is very stressful. waiting for calls from agents and companies, desperately learning everything just to pass the interview and get a job. that time, i was desperately trying to get a job. i am my family's source of income and i cannot stand not having a steady income.

i learned to be strong and sacrifice. as in real sacrifice.

i learned more of shell scripting. i was working in unix/linux environment mostly when i am in cebu, but i never touched it. i merely code and use the existing makefile whatsoever. i still prefer gui, but trust me, once you know scripting, you'll love it.

i learned that i love to be surrounded by friends, but i can be alone if i don't have them. i thought going here in sg would be fun coz most of the aprilfools are here, but then i realized all are having their own lives. i am lucky that we got internet and i was able to connect to two aprilfools whom i can easily bug when i need someone to talk to. i appreciate the cheap international call to philippines as well as i can talk to my friends and my family often.

i learned to be mature most specially. or maybe it goes with age =p but i was happy that i was able to prioritize my unnecessary wants to a more significant wants. sg has a lot of gadgets and sale. given the money, anything is almost accessible here. but of course, despite the fact that i wanted a mac or the very thin vaio or an slr so much, i learned to control and focused on something more important which is my family.

i learned to bake here. and it's something that i really enjoy. it's a therapy really. any food here is readily available. but of course the taste differs. that's why i was really happy that i can now afford even the cheap oven and some cheap baking stuffs.

i learned that i love thai. its sweet and spicy. i love sweet foods. ilonggo adobo is the best for me. thai, japanese, indonesian, indian foods are available in sg for a cheap price. even cheaper than mcdo and kfc. the variety of food is heaven for me as i love to try anything. so now everyone knows why i gained lots of pounds =p

i learned to eat spicy food or eat with chili party. it's like a soy sauce with lots of sliced chilies. i like eating fish soup with it, and i love my chicken rice with dark soy sauce mixed with a little chili.

i learned that i can never go tired of eating chicken. i had 4 days of kfc for dinner once. i love to cook lechon manok at home.

i learned to love coffee. the strong one with milk.

i learned that even if i do not show it, i love my family so much. despite the difficulties, i still cannot stand my siblings. even if what i am doing was wrong tolerating them, i still cannot leave them behind and not help them. first time i felt homesick. a few days before and after my birthday i cried for consecutive nights because i miss them. i cried really hard when i got a card from nanay and read their message to me. birthday is a big deal for me. i wanted to make everyone feel happy on their birthdays which is why i was trying to give surprises or buy them cakes or greet at midnight because i thought it's nice to feel loved. i wanted the same way on my birthday. but i also learned i can let it go if i dont get treated the same way i do.

i am thankful that i went here. i was able to go to uk because of my job.
i am thankful that soi and i are not in long distance relationship. we see each other everyday.
i am thankful that i get along well with soi's brother.
and i am really thankful that i was able to help my family. one thing that i am really happy of is i was able to give my parents a general check up and we can now sustain their medicines.

life here was not easy. sometimes i feel homesick and depress. i don't know if it's just because of the circumstances or it is really the place that i feel depress. i never felt depress in cebu. now i can understand why a lot of people here commit suicide. sometimes it is just so boring.

despite the fact that i earn more here, it's the first time i felt so poor. i spent so much on my trip home last december.

soi even tolerated me. i spent most of my salary preparing for gifts. soi spent all his money to buy gifts for my family as well and even gave me money to spend home. come Christmas, then new year, then my birthday and i dont have enough money. it was heartbreaking withdrawing some of my savings just to buy some things for the new year and for my birthday. i canceled my planned kiddie party for my birthday and and opted for a simpler dinner.

my experience here was really life changing. it made me close to my family, to our youngest sister, to soi and to his brother. i learned to dream bigger. it was not easy living here. financially it was actually more difficult. it's just that we never forget to enjoy thru good food or good movie or some gadget buys. the whole year soi and i was like huffing. hurrying the days that our financial obligations will be over but i guess it does not end that soon.

expenses here in sg are quite high. the rent itself is a major deductions to our payroll. we sometimes slip from the budget with some impulsive buys but i guess that made our stay here sane. if not, we would probably be overstressed by the expenses back home and expenses here in sg.

my security on staying here in sg is still not sure. i still got the job, but my stay here still depends on their government of course. i tried my very best to get that security but i was not granted the favor. i just hope i can stay here longer.

this place might not like be cebu where i felt at home, but for now i dont want to leave either.

Please help :)

I am reposting my friend's request regarding this:

---
Need your help on my Survey on Social Network Systems

Hello Everyone.

As part of our research on Multi-agent Based Intelligent Social Networks, we are conducting a survey on Social Networking Systems and Technology.

The goal of this survey is to get information on your experience, preference and opinion on current social networks. We also want to know your knowledge on social network technology.
**No personal information is collected in the survey except for Age, Occupation and Location.
The rest is about Social Networks like facebook,etc.. **

The survey takes about 2 to 4 minutes to answer.

Here is the link to the survey:
http://gii.nagaokaut.ac.jp/~noel/survey/Survey.php

Please feel free to forward this survey invitation to those who might be interested.

Thank you very much for your support.

---

yey naa ko date ;)

=D

feb 14, vday date ;)

my officemate kindly offered me the free zoo pass provided by our company. she booked it for the vday weekend, but will be using it on sunday. she asked me if i like, i can use it on sat. i hope i understand her well :D sometimes she can be confusing =p

we're homebuddy =p so yeah, we haven't been to the zoo until now. who would want to pay 18sgd * 3(me, soi and ramen) + food + fare and get tired :p joking :D i have it on my list, but not on top priority. cable car is still my top priority, and since we done it already, we can plan on other things as well =p. but Lo Hei maybe really good luck, coz I got a free pass, without going thru the hassle of emailing our HR to book the pass, etc.

So there, booked for vday :)
and surprise surprise! soi said we are really going to have a date =p aside from the zoo ;)
(he rarely decides on one, so cherish the moment =p)

things have been bad this week. PMS, some bad news, etc. it's good to look forward on simple and small but great things once in a while. :)

hasty decisions...

it needs luck to have a good outcome..now, back to planning..

super late

we were all very tired last night from the very long walk around chinatown(will create a different post for this) that i woke up very late this morning. adding insult to the injury is i don't have pants for use so i have to iron one after taking a bath. i thought i can afford leaving the haus around 845 and take the train but i was wrong. it was already 9am when we left the haus. we were waiting for taxi for almost 15minutes, so soi told me to just call for one. the operator told me to wait for 5 minutes, and around 2 minutes after making the call, i received a call which i assumed is the driver. i was right. it was the driver confirming where i am waiting.

the taxi arrived minutes later. he is an old chinese, with white hair. he said his name is albert c*a*. i can remember it well i guess because it is similar to my tatay's boss family name ehehe. upon sitting, he greeted me with "magandang umaga". I just smiled and greeted a good morning back at him. he started chatting and i felt comfortable talking to him. he said he learned tagalog from a pinay maid of his sister. from then i forgot that it is almost 930 and i am still not in the office hehe

then he asked me if i knew matt monroe. together with my "yes" as an answer to his question i remembered my father. he asked me if i am familiar with "Born Free" by Matt Monroe. I said yes and he said, "let me sing you a song". A romantic love song as what he called it. Without hesitation, and without my permission, he turned on his cd to play Matt Monroe's music. Not that I would disagree of course. I wouldn't mind listening to him anyway. As he sing this song:

Portrait of my love

There could never be a portrait of my love
For nobody could paint a dream
You will never see a portrait of my love
For miracles are never seen.

Anyone who sees her, soon forgets the Mona Lisa

It would take I know, a Michaelangelo
And he would need the glow of dawn that paints the sky above
To try and paint a portrait of my love

It would take I know, a Michaelangelo
And he would need the glow of dawn that paints the sky above,
To try and paint a portrait of my love


I was smiling because he really reminded me of my father. tatay would always ask me to buy him a cd of Matt Monroe or songs similar to his. when he had a player that has a mic input, he asked me to buy him a vcd of Matt Monroe and on special days or just on normal days, he would play those cds and sing with it.

Uncle has a good voice. He sings really well actually. After the song, he told me he was featured on several newspapers and on several TV shows. He even mentioned that there is one coming from National Geographic but they still don't know the date yet. As we are approaching the last block to the office, we were caught in a jam, so he told me he wanted to sing yet another song for me. He chose this one:

"Love Is A Many Splendid Thing"

It's the April rose that only grows in the early Spring.
Love is nature's way of give a reason to be living:
The golden crown that makes man a king.
Once on a high and windy hill,
In the morning mist, two lovers kissed,
And the world stood still.
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing.
Yes, true love's a many-splendoured thing!

Once on a high and windy hill,
In the morning mist, two lovers kissed,
And the world stood still.
Then your fingers touched my silent heart and taught it how to sing.
Yes, true love's a many-splendoured thing!

He finished the song just in time we are about to enter the gate. It was also the time that I realized again that I was late hahaha. As he dropped me off our lobby, I smiled at him and told him that he made me smile with his songs and he reminded me of my tatay.

He was glad and we wished each other a good day.

Honestly, it gave me a good start for the day. I even posted it as a status message.

However! hehehe soi went online and was intrigued by my status. he asked me who did it to me. selos? =p seriously though, he does not like it. hehehe I just can't stop laughing because it was really nothing for me. and, this is just one of the rare cases that he does this =p

seriously, he really thought the uncle was flirting with me! I told him he is just like a father to me, but still he insisted that the man was flirting. Well he was not able to hear the whole story yet and maybe was surprised by my status, so there. My bad because I did not told me. I don’t have that much time either because we just both arrived at the office =p I was suppose to blog about this right after i arrive at the office but it gave me a second thought coz it might piss him more. but he is okay now. i just told him that the man was harmless, really. well for me at least. he will not have those good articles in the newspaper if he is a bad man right? if ever he is flirting, i dont think i would tolerate it as well. he just reminds me of my tatay that's why i loved listening to him. i was even teary eyed because i remembered tatay would sing it to nanay and lambing her.

but really, it was sweet of him to do it. he mentioned he keeps on doing it to his passenger even to a small kid, and to a mom with kids. maybe soi was just acting "overprotective" as how he puts it =p i can't blame him also :D a man singing to a girl is really something. that's why truly love it when i am taking my sweet time dressing up, and he would wait outside, playing some songs on the guitar, and when i come out he would sing for me ;)

Yes, true love's a many-splendoured thing!

=)

fruity

written january 20, 2009

i was trying to involve more fruits in my foods lately. so this morning, together with my baon for lunch, i brought 2 bananas from what we bought from auntie and the apple i bought which was just kept in the ref for sometime already hehe

since it's almost chinese new year and i dont know why but it seems that mandarin orange is very important. :D my colleague who ordered 1 box in yet another promotion here in the office shared it to us. so in breakfast i had 1 banana and coffee(not really eating banana while sipping coffee for breakfast =p), had another banana before lunch. and had an orange after eating. as i was peeling my orange, i saw my apple. it made me feel proud =p im consuming lots of fruits today :D

i love fruits. especially apple. i just love the crunchy bite and the sweet taste. i love sweets. chocolate, ice cream, and i love thai food because most of it are sweet(and really spicy). maybe i am just a true blood ilonggo =p soi would complain if my adobo is sweet because he liked it very salty! well, i grew up eating sweet tasting adobo and i love it =p

anyways, going back to the topic. i just love eating fruits. imagine i just stayed at the table most of the time after new year because i have 13 varieties of fruits =D i love the crunchy and the sweet combination =D

even in perfume and other cosmetics such as perfume and lipstick or lip balm, i also like the fruity smell. we stopped by body shop in TP while waiting for the bus last tuesday. i ran out of my favorite zen zest apple cologne =( i was not able to buy a new one on my trip home last december so i am looking for some replacement. i am thinking of victoria's secret but i am thinking of other options as well. something cheaper too. i dragged soi along to go inside body shop so he can help/agree with the new scent i am going to have. i don't like to have a disgusting look from him when i start wearing a new cologne, so there. he does not wear cologne or perfume and i know he is just too picky on mine as well =p anyways, he did not fail me when he bought me a perfume as a pasalubong from his business trip to japan before. i loved the scent he gave me. it's even in a heart-shaped bottle so more romantic(i cherish these special times coz he rarely do it) =p and yes, its a fruity scent. maybe he noticed that i like that kind of scent. but the perfume actually is fruity, yet very very light so i loved it more and i am only using it on special occasions. so i thought he also knows how to choose =p so he could help me choosing a new one :D

sidenote:

this is supposed to be posted yesterday before i left for home, but i was hurrying to take the bus since we went to chinatown :D :D :D i left it unfinished and sent it to myself first heheh

please...

i was sooo looking forward on to something. until i finally made you decide to come it excites me even more. as time gets nearer, you kept on changing, and you keep on saying you cant, then you will, then you cant.

one day i was so home sick. i cried so much that night. you hugged me and comforted me when you saw me cry, and promised that no matter what, we are going..

and suddenly, it changes again..please stop making promises..it hurts me more....

countdown

tom is going to be an off for us ;) we're attending a wedding around 1pm so we took a whole day off. :) as i was looking into our group's calendar, soon it will be chinese new year, then valentines, then graduations in the philippines(soi's sis is graduating! :D ) and holy week!! and im going home!!! it's gonna be the wedding of my very close and dear friend tina :) for the first time, i am her maid of honor. i am very thrilled to be a part of it and do it. but most specially, i am very much excited to go home. i've been feeling homesick a lot lately :(

and, and, and :D i will be 1 year in the company on april. we are expecting some major changes as well but hopefully it will be for good. and then, few months after that, i will be off my bond :D hahah

27th

im always lucky during my bdays ;)
last year, i received a free load from globe and this year, i got my refund from dbs(ok, not counted), but being a member in goldheart, i received a 50% off voucher or 150SGD off for their celestial products because its my birthday ;) not bad considering that i only bought once there. :D

as for my celebration, i loved my day off ;) as everyone in the world has started their first day of work after the holidays, i savoured my 3-day weekend :D not really a well rested day but i was amazed i was able to create a very delicious cheesecake :D we'll see if worth it ang expenses sa ingredients to the prize of other cheesecakes :D i messed up with the whipped frosting, but i was able to cover it up with fresh strawberries since wla jd ko kita ug blueberries or strawberries in cans.

i stayed away from pasta, since we had it pag new year, so i cooked pancit, and since there is still enough time, i decided to prepare siomai. jumbo siomai since my wrapper was quite big. my siomai lacks salt but after dipping it in toyo and lemon, it was delicious :D pwede na daw ko mocater ingon si rache :D my very own bday food and bday cake on my happy day :D all my favorites haha sorry housemates :D i even ordered KFC despite having siomai and chicken already and i am not expecting any visitor :D so i bid goodbye to the kiddie party idea, wla si ryan so wla clown, wla si neil so wala mascot :( heheh actually, i was just tired cooking for holidays, then work, then cook again, try out recipes etc so i decided to have our usual dinner at home. sayang the soon to be married couple are not around so kami lang 4 sa haus nag eat. i tried my very best na gamay lang ang food and honestly gamay ra jd sya but still, 4 lang mi so wla jd ghapon na hurot.

i then talked to my parents at home after dinner who also cooked spaghetti to celebrate ;) hayy i really missed home. i still wish im with them :( i have plans for my 28th bday with them though so please Lord, i hope madayon. :)

what's with being 27? nothing much really :D we'll see as i live on this year. but i am still thankful for friends who remembered and loved ones who celebrated with me :) next year, pramis mas simple :D hihi

bisaya na jud ko

--written october 9, 2008---

back when MBA started, i remembered hating Cebu and cebuanos because of Cebu Lakers. cebuanos are so rude when Negros Slashers are playing in Cebu. So when it is the other way around, the coliseum would be all packed with supporters to watch the Negros Slashers and Cebu game. we would in turn, be the cruel people mocking Cebu players. eheh the coli would be closed even during practice games of Cebu Lakers because everyone hates them.

i would always comment then, law-ay ang mga cebuano(cebuanos are ugly) :D but that was only on basketball though. when it was 2 years before graduation, my friends and i were all set to work in manila. but after our tour to manila and cebu, we thought we liked cebu better. less pollution, less traffic, but still plenty of opportunities.

and just like a dream come true,my first ever job was in cebu. i was lucky to find one and start immediately after graduation and the company is really good. but this means sacrifice as well. i will be leaving home for the first time. and unfortunately, my college friends are not with me. i am with 4 other BOYs from our school. im the only girl that got accepted :( one is my classmate, but at that time we had a gap :p the other one is our schoolmate which is not really a close/good friend, and i do not know the other two. the only consolation i had that time was the salary, and the fact that two of my high school barkada were there. one was already working there, and the other one will be there for review. so at least i still got company.

learning the dialect was never easy. attending the orientation and listening to our company nurse talking about tambal, etc is one thing i could not forget. i would always turn to my seatmate and ask for the meaning of the word :D but one thing i really appreciated is that we started in the company in a group. one guy also knows ilonggo so he is our translator ;) all the girls in our batch would usually hang out. and our batch had a lot of laag(out of town, or just around cebu), making it fast for me to learn bisaya.

now after 4 years and 9 months of working in cebu i am saying na bisaya/cebuano na jud ko(i am really cebuano). or i got used to using the dialect i guess. even if i talk to ilonggo or tagalog(my officemate here now are all tagalog), sometimes i subconsciously use cebuano words. even when thinking, or praying, i would use bisaya instead of ilonggo. :) good thing i am using the word correctly. some words are still foreign to me, but when i talk, im glad that i sound bisaya rather than sounding ilonggo using bisaya words ;) some would even say that they thought im cebuano and not ilonggo :p

even when i am no longer in cebu, i still have friends who are cebuano. all my friends and housemates here and of course soi are all bisaya, so i think i will never stop using the dialect. the connection i had with cebu will always be there. home for me is bacolod and cebu.

even if there are still more cebuano words to learn, i am glad i learned some of it well and am using it correctly :)