I will miss...

I have no words to describe how I feel right now, so I have shamelessly copied (word for word) Andrea's team blog entry from the IBM CSC site. The entry started with just myself and Andrea contributing to this... until we can't help but get everyone else to type in their answers!

(this is a team blog, me Christine, Nitish, Sally, Colleen, Hiroya, Rodrigo, and Gloria .. Chris …is gone already … )

I will miss ...

(Christine): Wali and Kuku .. with Pili pili,
(Andrea): ...and me Ugali Kuku, with Casawa ...
(C.): the kids at the Orphanage
(A.): I'll miss very much Eastern Africa again, the smells, the sounds, the sky in the day, the night sky with different stars system
(C.): Going home with the sun still up and continuing to work by the pool at the lodge
(A.): My Tanzanian friends, colleagues, waiter/waitress, Maasai and non … they’re way to great you, to shake hands, to smile, to see life with a continuous powerful hope …
(C.): Talking about how our day went while playing cards
(Colleen): I will miss the friendship more than anything else…
Laughter – I laughed every day with this team – and learned so very much
And finally – I will miss the pole pole attitude and the organized insanity.
(A.) : Winning at cards, loosing at cards, being “neck to neck” with Christine … playing cards off course !!!
(C.): Walking off heavy dinners, sometimes under pouring rain.
(Nitish): Indian music channel in the Outpost Lodge., The Good Laugh of our friends
The discussion about our “Project”
(Sally): Crossing the busy road, street sellers, music, laughter, companionship, and the deep team spirit we had so easily together
(Hiroya): All of the happily and repletion time I spend at here Tanzania.
(Rodrigo): My new friends around the world, my friends in Tanzania…
And… Hakuna Matata, peacefull, teams diversity and Via Via (Great Times !).
Opps, also, losing at cards.
(Gloria): I will miss all of my wonderful new friends, including the children at the orphanage, stimulating conversations everyday, the magnificent natural beauty of Tanzania, learning something new and interesting everyday, and all of the delicious meals that I have not had to prepare or clean up afterwards. An experience that I shall always cherish with fondest memories!
(A.): I’ll miss you … all: “Shall I Kiss youuu” ?

Oh no!

This came via my email today. I've obviously postponed any wedding planning for the whole month that I am here in Tanzania. Now, the panic is starting to creep in again. Oh no, there's still a lot to do!

Run-rate

Chris and I came to IAA each with very broad two-page Scopes of Work --- I guess as did everyone in my team with their respective clients (AWF and TATO). Chris’ was to help improve their ICT infrastructure, and mine was to help improve their marketing and communications strategy. With 1 month to actually “make a difference”, the first thing we zeroed in on the first week was to specify and concretize our SOWs.

We did our rounds and each person we came in contact with wanted us to help or give recommendations on various things. We tried our best to accommodate each request, but they unfortunately left us with a feeling that small “victories” do not equal to actually finishing projects that are valuable and sustainable even as we return to our home countries.

Coupled with cultural differences and the “pole pole” (“slow slow, no hurry”) mentality, it almost became frustrating to a point. In fact, it took more than a couple of weeks for me to understand enough of the current situation in order to re-write my SOW, and revise timelines and deliverables.

IAA is an institute established by the government in 1990 to provide training on accounting laws and principles. It has, over the years, grown into a competitive institute offering long term courses for undergrad and post-grad studies, research and consulting services, as well as short courses and seminars. They have big ambitions and a good strategy: making use of technology as competitive advantage over similar institutions and universities.

However, being a government institution, they do not have the necessary funds to support the kind of growth they are going for. Thus, they look to the short courses to provide them with continuous and sustainable revenue. Currently, the short courses are far from making this happen.

Thus, my project can be summarized this way: leveraging on short course offerings to generate continuous and sustainable annual revenue for IAA by developing an effective business and marketing plan. This of course, includes improving their marketing & course calendar, brochures, info sheets, promotional tactics, web site content, and even their evaluation & feedback collection and analysis.

It amuses me how, when it all boils down to the specifics, how perfectly similar my project is to my real work back home. Run-rate business!

And I only have a week left to get this done. Oh dear.

p.s. sorry for the boring entry. this I posted on the IBM blog, hehe :-)

Say Cheese!!!

Most are orphaned because their parents have died of AIDS. The oldest is 14, but due to malnutrition, she looks like she’s just 10 or 11. She is very smart and speaks English quite well. She devoured all the books Colleen gave as presents. She would play with my "C" necklace every time she gives me a hug.

The youngest is 2 and just stares at you with his big black eyes, all the while munching on his sugary gum and playing with his toy car. He rarely smiles and never makes a sound. He is like a wise, old man watching everyone around him.

I remember another young boy, whom everyone thinks is my perfect match. He looooves the camera and said, “Say, cheese!!!” about a hundred times that afternoon. He will have giggling fits after.

The boys had a delicate operation the day before, so it was quite impressive to see them come out to play with us that afternoon!

There were 3 girls who just love “swings”. They’d stand in front of you and balance themselves as they loop their arms over yours. They’d say, “swing, swing!” as you swing them around. One would get up the platform and launch herself towards you until you catch her and twirl her around. Definitely the workout I’ve been looking for!

Then there’s this girl, with a giggle so contagious, you can’t help but giggle with her every time she breaks into laughter. She’s lovable and we’re happy that she’s found a home with a Canadian couple that will bring her home in a few months. She deserves the bright future waiting for her.

Rehema, the lady who founded the orphanage, is not much older than me. I am so impressed and so touched by what she is doing for these children. She told Gloria that with the stuff that we have given them, they feel like they are having Santa in March. To this, we said, these kids gave us an afternoon so fulfilling that what we have given them do not even come close to the joy their laughter have brought us.

More photos here.

Smiling Faces on a Tuesday Morning

As a side project, the team visited a local school and spent quite a fun Tuesday morning with the students. Gloria talked about seeds and vegetables with Andrea dancing like a sweet tomato ;-) Sally and Colleen shared some letters coming from a school in the US and encouraged everyone to write back to their American "pen pals". Hiroya and Chris did a wonderful job teaching a class paper origami. With the use of the Electronic Kit, Nitish and I showed 4 classes how a simple circuit board works. Finally, Rodrigo taught them how to play marbles ;-)

The children were all so engaging and very much excited about taking photos and posing for the camera.

The highlight of our visit for me though was when I was talking to a group of 7th grade girls. I jokingly told them that I will give a prize to the person who can guess which country I am from. This girl with the prettiest eyes smiled and nonchalantly said, “Oh you're from the Philippines”. I was shocked because she was the first person in the whole of Tanzania who was able to guess it correctly (I get Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, etc). She told me she watches a lot of soap operas on TV and some of them were from the Philippines. Hurray for cable TV!

Check out some more photos here.

Sitting across an open door

I share the room in IAA with Chris and Bakiri. Bakiri sits in one corner, behind the open door, Chris in the other corner, near the window. And I have the privilege of sitting right across the open door, almost facing the hallway. It's been quite amusing -- although sometimes distracting -- to see people pass by, sneak a glance into the room and with a surprised and questioning look, take a second glance before walking away. We get even more stares as we walk across campus, pass the pool tables and into the cafeteria every lunch break. I guess they're wondering what this white guy and this odd-looking lady are doing in their school. What's refreshing though is that when you catch their eye, not one fails to acknowledge you with a smile and a hearty, "Jambo!"

Another good thing about sitting across the open door is that when it gets stuffy in the room esp in the afternoon (no aircon, thank you very much), at least I can still feel the cool breeze come in from outside.

The thing is... kung hindi kaaya aya ang amoy ng mga taong dumadaan (and unfortunately, may mangilan-ilan sila), ako rin ang unang nakakalanghap ng kakaibang amoy ng simoy ng hangin. Pampalakas ng sikmura, hahaha.

--- Syempre isusulat ko yun ng Tagalog ;-)

Portable

Christine, Chris and Bakiri in IAA office. Around 11:45AM.

Bakiri: Hungry for lunch?

Chris: YES! Ididn't eat breakfast.

Christine: Like yesterday.

Chris: Oh, I don't really eat breakfast.

Christine: Hmm... I cannot NOT have breakfast. In the Philippines, we eat 6 times a day.

Chris: 6 times a day?!?

Christine (counting with fingers): Well, there's breakfast, there's the morning snack. There's lunch -- a long one at that -- then there's afternoon snack. Dinner. Then midnight snack.

Bakiri: Wow, you do eat a lot! But you're not -- how do I say this (gesturing with his hands) --

Christine (smiling): --- Fat? Healthy? Haha, oh believe me, compared to the other girls Philippines, I'm not slim either. Filipinas tend to be very slim!

Bakiri: Hmm.. I think you are quite portable.

Chris (eyes big): PORTABLE. Wow. I am sooo going to tell everyone about that.


Ayan. Payat-- este, portable-- daw ako sa Tanzania.

Mabuhay ;-)

Eating in Tanzania

So far I've tried grilled goat meat (like lambchops, but more rubbery); a number of beef stews (mostly with curry sauces); deep friend tilapia, fried and grilled chicken, and various green veggie salads.

For three days now Chris and I have been eating at the school cafeteria during lunch and today we've finally tried ugali. If it's potatoes in the US, and rice in Asia, then the staple in Africa is ugali. It's basically boiled cornmeal mush -- think mashed potatoes meet puto (steamed rice cake in the Philippines) -- served with a sauce for dipping. One is supposed to eat it with the right hand (never use your left hand in Tanzania!) -- take a piece from the mush, dip it into the sauce before putting the whole dripping thing in your mouth. Follow with whatever viand that came with the meal.

As far as student cafeteria goes, this one is very quiet and relatively empty, even during lunch hours. There's always a group of students hanging outside playing pool, but apart from that, it's a far cry from how it was back when I was in college :-)

Hmm... not that I'm complaining, but I wonder where the rest of the students eat?

First Day at Work

So we met our client, Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA), for the first time today. I was actually looking forward to walking to work (given that I am in this quest to "lose xx lbs" while I am here). Alas, the university is more than 5 kms away and walking that far to work is never a good idea -- thus, we're going to manage with a daily 10-min cab ride instead. The other 2 teams, however, AWF and TATO, will be braving the 10-15min walk to their respective offices. If our walk around town yesterday is any indication of how things will be for them everyday, then they would really need to learn to handle the pack of street vendors we encountered. They gathered around and followed us for a good 3 blocks, selling painting, beads, hats -- anything! -- with the usual script of, "Pls buy, sister, I will not have dinner if you don't buy from me!" or "My wife is pregnant, please help with the bills." They said those things with a good-natured laugh, so you know that they are just using these lines on you. They will not harass you or anything, but oh, they can be quite persistent! A firm, "Hapana, asante" (No, thank you), will apparently do the trick.

Going back to the topic of IAA... we met with the Director for ICT and his team this morning. One of his guys, Bakiri, was gracious enough to be our host for the day. He took us around the campus, fed us my first Tanzanian lunch, and made arrangements for Chris and I to share his office for the duration of our stay.

The campus itself, surprised me, to be honest. With more than 2000 students, 11 computer labs and a computer to student ratio of 5:1, they are actually more advanced than the average public university in the Philippines! Bakiri took us around and introduced us to some of the faculty and school administration staff. In general, the people here in Tanzania are very friendly. You will not walk 10 meters without someone shouting, "Jambo" (Hello!), or "Karibu!" (Welcome!) to you.

I have yet to meet the Director of Business Promotion, my main client, and I am hoping to do that before the day ends so I can finally firm up my scope for this project.

Hello, Tanzania!

After nearly 24 hours of travel, I am finally in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania! My itinerary: Manila to Bangkok (Thailand), Bangkok to Nairobi (Kenya), Nairobi to Kilimanjaro ( Tanzania). It was tiring and quite boring for sure, with nearly 4 hours lay-over in both stops, and my body aching to lie down and rest. For the record, it was the second day of my period and 11 hours of travel flying coach was indeed not pleasant.

It was a good thing that I spent 3 hours of my Nairobi lay over with a teammate, Sally from the UK. I was, in fact, sitting close to her for a full hour before she finally came over and introduced herself! We then grabbed a bite to eat -- what could've been my lunch back in Manila & her midnight snack in London, became breakfast in Nairobi. Hated the cheese pizza I ordered, but I absolutely loved the coffee!

We finally boarded the plane to Kilimanjaro at half past 10. On the way, I saw Mt. Kilimanjaro (the highest peak in Africa) and it was absolutely majestic! It completely dwarfed everything visible below with its snow-capped peak presenting itself between thick, white clouds -- a great contrast to the brown and very dry area below. There were tufts of trees every hundred meter or so -- in the vastness of the area, from 17K feet in the air, they actually looked like green dust bunnies the giant housekeeper forgot to sweep from under the bed, haha.

I have met Rodrigo from Sao Paulo, Brazil and Chris from Chicago, USA. Had a quite interesting pasta for lunch with Coke (no water for me, thank you) then retreated to my room to catch up on work. A few minutes ago, I finally met Hiroya from Tokyo, Japan and Nitish from Bangalore, India.

We're staying at KIA Lodge for the night and driving to Arusha tomorrow morning.

Pictures to be posted tom!

Crazy People Were Out On The Road Last Night

I was on my way home from Eastwood at around 1AM last night -- after dinner, drinks and a fantastic movie -- when I met Crazy Person #1. I was driving down Libis towards the U-Turn under the flyover when this motorcycle with no tail light almost screeched to a halt right in front of my car and JUST DECIDED to veer left and go up the flyover. I got royally pissed at what he did that I slowed down and honked my horn on him for a full 6 seconds. The a$&hole, far from being apologetic, arrogantly turn his head towards me and activated his weng-weng. Pwede ba?!

I proceeded towards my usual route via Edsa. Miraculously, traffic was pretty light (traffic conditions lately, due to constructions all around, were horrendous even at the oddest hours). Until I hit the Magallanes flyover. Vehicles were slowing down and changing lanes. Apparently, there was a Pajero up ahead with its blinkers on. Poor guy, I thought, to have your car break down at this time of the night. What wasn't apparent until I was a few cars from it was that it wasn't stalled after all. It was, in fact, moving IN REVERSE DOWN THE FLYOVER. Trucks, jeepneys, cars and buses -- all of us-- were swerving to avoid this incredibly stupid driver and his vehicle. What?! Was he planning to back up 400 meters down a highway so he can go up the SLEX flyover instead?? Ang tanga, I swear. And damn inconsiderate!

Of course, people like these just get away with it, right?! Grrrr...

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The Other Boleyn Girl was a cool movie. Scarlett Johansson was refreshing and Eric Bana was gorgeous, but Natalie Portman ROCKED the movie! Enough said. Catch it in theaters this weekend!

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37 degrees and it's going to get even hotter. I soo wish I'm down by the beach right now!

And she's back in the game!

Wow, I can't believe it's been more than a year since I last blogged. A friend told me it's testament to how I'm actually living life rather than just writing about it. I admit I have been so busy that I hardly had the time to update myself online. I had suddenly become one of those people who just accepts invitations in Facebook and Multiply without actually having the luxury of going thru my friends' pages. The irony of being connected but still not quite in touch with the rest of the world.

Then this morning, while sipping my Caramel Macchiato and wolfing down a blissfully sinful Cinnamon Swirl bun... I went thru my old posts and realized that I DID miss--big time--documenting my 2007. I could've written about so many things, talked about so many new experiences... but I simply just... didn't. Time surely flies, things have changed, and nothing was constant. Reliving them in print (or online!) seemed to make the experiences last a little bit longer.

So now, I dedicate this short, albeit much-awaited post, to people, esp my friends, who are shockingly interested in what I have to say (so much so that they would actually DEMAND to have me write something on this again). Coolness! I vow to do better in updating my blog-- even go back and write about stuff that happened 3, 5, 10 months ago, when I dropped out of sight. I vow to remember how 2007 was such a difficult year and yet such great one.

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Last night, while I was doing some Excel files for work (BOOOORRRIIINGG), I was simultaneously (mabuhay ang multi-tasker) chatting with Liz, a friend of mine who is now stationed somewhere in Bonifacio Global City. She told me, green in the face (or at least I can imagine her green), how one of our friends, Anot, is currently in Cape Town for work. Yes, THE Cape Town in South Africa! How effing cool is that?! I pinged Anot, seeing her online, and told her how I too was turning green with envy!

Scrolling down my YM list, I also saw Penot, another college friend, who married a Scandinavian and is now living in Finland. So there I was chatting away with 3 different people in 3 different countries, different continents. So much has changed since our UP days (splurging meant going to Katipunan for lunch!) and yet, things haven't. Chatting with them, it was as if we were back in the tambayan waiting for our next class to start. We would banter around, laugh, and update each other in between hirits, gossip and bading talk.

It then dawned on me how much technology can really change lives (you can bring out the Kleenex now, please, haha). I know, I know, it's corny thinking that way, ESPECIALLY since I work in IT. Then again-- really, somehow-- we ARE all connected, aren't we?
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Chronicles of a Summer Cruise

Day 1, March 3, 2007: It's 10:00AM, halfway packed, with memories of last night's mahjong-slash-drinking session (ok ba sa Friday gimik? :-P) still pounding in my head . I was supposed to be at the airport at 1PM to catch the 2:55PM flight to Singapore! In went 4 sets of swimsuits, 1 sarong, 2 LBDs (1 casual, another formal and quite lacey), 3 pairs of shorts, lots of undies, a sweater, a pair of khakis, 7 shirts (3 of them spags), my gym outfit, a beach bag, my toiletry kit, med kit, camera and phone chargers, a pair of heels, my newest havis, and another pair of sandals (whew!!). I was dressed in a pair of jeans, a plain beige shirt and my sister's dirty gym shoes (she borrowed mine, hmp!). I caught up with the rest of my team at the airport and in my haste forgot to transfer my newly-opened bottle of body spray from my knapsack into my check-in baggage. I grunted in frustration as it got confiscated by the hand-carry checker. I rolled my eyes as I clearly saw that she didn't put the bottle with the rest of the stuff and instead hid it where she can probably bring it home with her at the end of the day! Kainis!

I sat with Donna on the plane and we talked about our careers, B-school and how excited we were about our cruise. We arrived in Singapore, checked-in at the Pensinsula Excelsior and spent the next hour doing some serious shopping before the malls closed. Tired from the flight but giddy with anticipation for a much-awaited chili & black pepper crab dinner at Jumbo restaurant, all 13 of us headed for the East Coast Parkway. It's been more than a year since I last ate their mouth-watering crabs coupled with fried roti. Grabe, kaka-miss! Nagkamay na kami at lahat -- walang pansinan during the first 15 mins of dinner, hahaha!

Sated, with our bilbils almost bursting out of our pants, a number of us went to Clark Quay to check out the new gimik spot by the riverside: The Cannery at Clark Quay. The Cannery boasts of rows of high-class restaurants (think Eastwood meets Greenbelt and Serendra), designer bars and very cool clubs to cater to each unique night-life craving.

I met up with a Singapore-based friend at the Kandi Bar: a sexy chill-out bar playing groovy house music, serving expensive cocktail and displaying absolutely gorgeous Hed Kandi artwork.

** image taken from visitsingapore.com

Those Blog Things Again

Ms. AA takes the What Alcoholic Drink Are You Quiz!

We're Going on a Cruise!

Our team's going onboard SuperStar Virgo! From the Singapore hub on Sunday, we sail overnight to Penang, MY, stay there for 8 hours, leave for Phuket, TH, have fun in the sun for 10 hours, then go back to Singapore. Super excited as this is my first time to go on a cruise! Woohoo!

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cheers! finally being able to watch American Idol Season 6 :o)
it's ok... if you were made to take on more work this year to "further develop your skills"... right, right?
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me wild hair

my hairdresser texted me today for 3 reasons:
1. asking how i'm doing --- specifically, how my hair is doing.
2. thanking me because 3 of my friends went to her to have their haircut (i wonder who?!)
3. asking me ever so subtley when i'm coming over for my long due cut

i have 2 things on my mind after this text:
1. wow, people actually listen to me when i recommend someone or someplace or something!
2. i seriously need a haircut!

my schedule's been as wild as my hair these days and i never seem to find time to squeeze in some quality time with my hairdresser. the fact that the salon closes at 7pm doesn't help much as i'm never done with work before 6pm.

that's why it's great to go to the beach sometimes. the wind, the sand, and the salty water are a bunch of great excuses for having such wild, bad hair hehehe!

speaking of the beach, 5 of my IBM-friends and I went to Puerto Galera over the weekend. in a desperate craving for lounging in the sun, snorkelling underwater and drinky under the stars, we decided to head of for a weekend there before we head off to Bora in April.

needless to say, we didn't do much but lounge in the sun, snorkel underwater, and go drinky under the stars :o) perfect weekend.

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cheers! for great weekends with great company
it's ok... not having the perfect beach body... yet! and that's a hard-core promise!!
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On Sleep

Funny that my first post for the year (my first post in over a month!) is about sleep. I guess that stems from my missing my bed so much the past weeks. Friends have been bugging me about my last post (it WAS getting old) but I just couldn't bring myself to write. Year-end at work was pretty light for me---thank God--except for the planning, budgeting and occasional last-minute to-dos. However, December, being the stressful month that it always has been, left me craving for more time to do everything that needs to be finished. It goes without saying that I dedicated a 100% of my free time with my bud when he came home for Christmas. And since I finished up my leaves when I visited him last May, I had to squeeze in gift-shopping, dinners and countless errands between my waking hours at work.

And so... the past weeks, I found myself almost bone-tired from the reunions, Christmas parties, brunches, 1-rounds and out-of-town trips. So tired that I barely had time to check personal emails, much less go blogging!

Well, actually, I never realized I was that tired until I had my first full 8 hours of sleep last Saturday. And I have been catching up on my zzzzz since then... :o)

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cheers! having the talk with my bud that pacified a lot of my fears
it's ok... to slack off sometimes in order to fuel up for another stream of busy, busy days!
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Bills, bills, bills!

Spent last weekend doing very adult stuff--- accounting expenses, paying bills and balancing my accounts! The OC in me tries hard to account for every peso is spent, but it's really challenging to do that sometimes... A glaring sign that I should start my monthly accounting is when my wallet has more receipts than cash :-P

This is what my desk looks like every month = utter chaos!


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cheers! getting closer and closer to touchdown!
it's ok... if you get home almost past midnight doing overtime.
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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

The air is cooler in the evenings, the Christmas lights on trees are all aglow... and carols are played everywhere you go!

I love Christmas... and I particularly cannot wait to spend this one! :o)

Here's a pic of the breathtaking Christmas tree at the Waterfront Lahug.

And here I am molesting one of the drummer boy-slash-nutcracker-guarding-the-Christmas tree-kuno.
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cheers! for the 1st of the many fireworks display you will watch every weekend at the ATC after Sunday's Holy Mass!
it's ok... if you didn't catch up on your email today. Spending the weekend sleeping off the week's alcohol & head-splitting hangover is something you deserve!
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Back in the South

Back in Cebu! Only now I'm staying at the Waterfront in Lahug. Unluckily, I got one of those rooms that haven't been renovated yet... and all I can say is... I miss Marriott!!! My only consolation right now is the huge, gorgeous Christmas tree with the awesome decor at the lobby. Will take a pic of that and post it tomorrow :o)

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cheers! getting a text from a Business Partner appreciating the help you are extending to them
its' ok... if your hotel room surprisingly has no bathtub. The hot shower with the perfect temperature literally melted your stress away anyway.
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