Drastic Weather Change

Powerful adjective but that is how I could describe our Philippine weather these days. Being a tropical country, Philippines have summer and rainy seasons.  For several days we had warm weather and I was to blog about the sun shine.  The other night it rained, last night it rained real hard. Manila, Philippines is on storm signal number 1 as strong typhoon Ofel visited some areas of the country for the past two days. Several air and sea commuters were stranded as their planes and ships were not allowed to travel. Despite the dismay of some passengers, authorities are careful for safety of all travellers. 

The good news is, we will have fine weather over the weekend and on All Saints Day. All Saints Day is a feast Filipinos observed yearly. We visit our departed loved ones at their resting places offering candles and flowers. To some they offer prayers. It is the time of the year when families gather together. Memorial parks and cemeteries are on festive mood from the 30^th of October to the 2^nd of November. I will visit my parents on the 31^st of October.

The Aftermath of Monsoon Rain

This was taken by my nephew outside their office.

Manila, Philippines and nearby provinces, such as Batangas, Cavite and Laguna, experienced another weather disturbance. It happened last 6^th of August 2012. I did not pay much attention to the continuous rain as my place has less rain compared to other places In Manila. Little did I know in most places, residents were being evacuated from their houses as flood water begun to rise to its alarming level. Rained poured its fury in some areas in the evening of the 6^th of August.  After my work shift in the morning of the 7^th, I received text messages from my family members asking me about the flood. I sent text message to my niece, who also works in a call center like me.  She was safely home at five in the morning.

Rubber Shoes

I was at the shopping mall last Saturday, the 30^th of June, destination, SM Mega Mall Ortigas Center, Pasig City, one of Manila, Philippines, busiest shopping mall. After treating me, for lunch at Shakeys Pizza my niece first pay was spent on her favorite rubber shoes. She is currently a trainee at another Call Center, not same Call Center where I am working.  It was the same brand of shoes she wore in her college days. The sales lady at the department store was smiling when my niece chose the new arrival pair of shoes. It was also paid in cash.

I could commend the sales lady for her good disposition. When my niece and I were heading towards the shelves, where arrays of pairs of shoes were neatly lined up, the sales lady smilingly said –“Ma’m rubber shoes?” She looked down and noticed the old shoes of the same brand my niece was wearing. The sales lady immediately mentioned they have a new arrival pairs of same cortex shoes. The features of the shoes apparently, are as follows. –

Lightweight, 1 lb 2 ozsC
Molded nylon arch shank
Waterproof nubuck leather
Ortholite,  anatomical footbed
Antimicrobial solution resists odor
Air cushion in the heel absorbs shock and adds stability

Independence Day

Happy Independence Day Philippines! 

 Yes, my beloved country is celebrating its 114^th Independence Day, today the 12^th of June. The celebration will be done in almost every part of the Archipelago. I will miss the celebration. I got work tonight. I need my sleep. It had been raining in Manila lately. I do hope the rain will not bother this special occasion as it happens only once a year.

Family First

My sister and I, years back at our house in the province.

Folks, spam did not get into my blog it is why I was on vacation from blogging. I had just some activities for the past few weeks that got me so tied up. We had team building at work around the third week of April. Last week of April, my youngest brother and my sister came. My sister stayed with me for a week. The three of us, me my sis and my niece, my sis daughter who stays with me had bonding time in those days I am off from blogging.

The last time I saw my sister was October last year. She did not come last Christmas. She is lazy traveling when there are too many people. When she is in Manila that is the time I am on vacation from household chores. She does almost everything, from house cleaning, laundry and most importantly cooking for me and her daughter. Our stories do not seem to let up from our childhood years to our preteens. She is a good cook.  I always missed her cooking style.

It is Holy Week

I am home today and yesterday, my days off. Although I would love to be at work being a holiday in Manila, Philippines. That means additional budget for my groceries. On my way home from work yesterday morning no traffic jam. I guess almost everyone is on vacation to their respective provinces or on retreat. Shopping malls and groceries are closed Maunday Thursday and Good Friday. They will be back to business on Black Saturday. 

To my believer blogger friends –“God bless everyone as we commemorate the Holy Week. The week of the great sacrifices our Lord Jesus Christ did to give us everlasting life.. “

Palm Sunday

It was Palm Sunday last of April 1st. Remembering my childhood days, my mother never missed this day being a devout Catholic. They would summon me, my brothers and my sister to go with her to attend mass in celebration of Palm Sunday. Philippines being dominated by Catholic religion Palm Sunday is very important occasion. This is to commemorate Jesus Christ triumphal entry to Jerusalem met by people bearing palm leaves.  Palm Sunday is the start of the Holy Week.
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I remember lining up bearing young coconut leaves shaped in the best way my young imaginative mind could design.  As practice in Philippines Catholic churches, we substitute palm leaves with young coconut leaves. There was a designated place inside the church for those bearing the leaves. The priest would come to us and whisked Holy Water on the leaves. After the mass, we brought home those leaves. My mother put them in the altar. Those blessed leaves are believed to drive evil spirits.

Earth Hour 60 2012

Folks... It is Earth Hour 60 tonight 31^st of March from 8:30pm to 9:30 pm. Manila Philippines time is ahead of that of Canada, UK and U.S. but Australia is ahead of our time.  I will be at work by then.  I will miss the celebration. You may want to share with me here on my blog how you will celebrate or how you celebrated this worldwide event. We are saving mother earth, do no miss it. You got a date tonight. :)

More on London Lad

In my previous post I blogged about my nephew being sent to London by their Manila office. He works as a web designer. Let me share with you a little background of this young fellow. Nope, he is not an achiever in his college days. Like most stories of some young successful entrepreneurs. School is not a favorite place of my nephew. He wants to earn money but he does not want to study. His mom graduated from one of the best universities in Manila, University of the Philippines and my brother despite being a working student, graduated from Ateneo University in our province.

When my nephew was in high school his grades are not satisfactory. When he was about to graduate we were worried he will not make it. He was enrolled in a good school in high school. He could see some of his classmates coming to school with parents dropping them off to school in big cars. He often asked his mom, why they do not have money despite his parents graduating from good schools. Out of these premise he concluded education is not needed to become successful. Therefore, he does not need to study to earn money. We did not let up on him.

National Flag Day

The 28^th of May through the 12^th of June is Philippines National Flag Day. Throughout the celebration, all Filipinos are encouraged to display Philippine flag at their public and private offices, schools and even private homes. When the flag is displayed, the blue color should be on top. Putting the red color on top means the country is at war. Philippines National Flag Day is to commemorate the very first day the Philippine flag was flown freely after the Filipinos Revolutionary Army defeated Spanish Forces in the Battle of Alapan in 1898.

Philippines had been a colony of Spain for around three centuries, 1595 to 1898. Filipinos adopted the Spanish customs and traditions. Spanish highly influenced Filipinos in all aspects of their lives. In the early Spanish colonization, education was mostly religious oriented dominated by Roman Catholic Church. The two oldest universities in the Philippines are University of Santo Tomas and San Carlos University. University of Santo Tomas was founded in Manila, 1590 by Jesuits. University of San Carlos was founded in Cebu City in 1595. These schools are still operating until now honing Filipinos with their educational mandate.

American Idol Season Ten

I had the privilege of watching the finale of the show American Idol season 10.  It was last Wednesday 25^th of May night time in the U.S, 26^th of May in the morning in Manila. I came home early from work after I learned of the result of my training. I thought of watching the news because of the typhoon in the provinces. My sister lives in Bicol provinces where the typhoon was heading.

After watching the early news I waited a bit to see what would be the next program. I got lucky to watch the finale of American Idol season 10. At the upper left hand of my television it was flashing “live”. I am elated. I do not have a cable television. I was glad our local network had the show via satellite. Only, I had to endure the local television ads.

Scotty McCreery, 17 years old lad from Garner, North Carolina emerged as the winner. My congratulations to him!

Thia Megia, 16 years old Filipina contestant from Mountain House, California, made it to the top 11. She was eliminated 31^st of March. She has a wonderful voice but the ballad style kind music did not favor the modern day fans. The judges even suggested she has to go outside the box. Thia, win or lose I am still your fan.

The Eight of May

For the past two months Manila, Philippines had been into warm weather. I am a bit alarmed. I know with this kind of warm summer weather we will get lots of rains on rainy months.

Last Sunday the 8^th of May being Mothers Day, my niece and I decided to visit my parents at the memorial park they were laid to rest. The sun was not shining brightly. I told my niece she got lucky, the weather had been cooperative with her. We bought our folding umbrellas to shield ourselves from sun. Being the most awaited day of fight for our boxing icon Manny Pacquiao versus Sugar Shane Mosley, there were not too many people at the memorial park. I guess family members decided to visit a day before. Philippines, is twelve hours ahead of time of the most states in the U.S. The boxing bout was in Las Vegas Nevada. I thought, I could watch the boxing delayed telecast. Mothers Day is more important.

A New Beginning

Folks, there is another side of the story I have not told you yet. After my lead training for escalation agent was concluded in mid February this year. While my co trainees and I were in the process of getting ourselves used to answering escalated calls, we had a general assembly. At the general assembly or simply a general meeting we were informed the electric company that hired our Call Center will no longer renew their contract with Manila, Philippines Call Center. 

Did I worry about becoming jobless? To be honest, yes. However, all of us were given assurance by the Call Center we are working for, we are to be transferred to other account. Lucky for us, the Call Center we are working for has several accounts. Some of the accounts are in the process of hiring employees. I was first endorsed to a gaming account unfortunately I did not pass the tech exam. 

Tsunami Warning Lifted

My sister, her husband, her daughter and neighbors endured an overnight stay at an evacuation center last night for the first time. Philippine government agency Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) issued an alert level two for possible occurrence of tsunami to some provinces within Philippines Archipelago. The 8.9 magnitude quake in Tokyo Japan triggered the tsunami. Philippines was issued tsunami warnings, along with Russia, Taiwan, Papua New Guinea, Guam, Hawaii and the U.S. West Coast.

These were the 19 provinces alerted for tsunami warnings yesterday. Quoting from news reports, tsunami would hit between 5pm to 7pm, (UTC+08:00) time in the Philippines.

Batanes Group of Islands, Cagayan, Ilocos Norte, Isabela, Quezon, Aurora, Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Catanduanes, Sorsogon, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Leyte, Southern Leyte, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, Davao Oriental and Davao del Sur.

Stepping Forward

Today, I received congratulatory message I passed my interview and written examination in my application for Account Supervisor position. My training starts tonight until Friday this week. After the training I will be a member of Account Supervisor Group (ASG). As a member of ASG, I will be handling or getting escalated calls from front line Customer Care Representatives (CCR).

Before some of you get dizzy with what I am writing here. Let me explain to my new comer blogger friends. I work for a Call Center of an electric provider in one of the States in the United States. The electric provider has Call Centers in the US, Manila Philippines and some are located in Central Latin American countries. When a customer dials the customer hotline of the electric provider, whoever is the available CCR, gets the call. Meaning either the customer gets routed to Manila, in the US or in Latin American Call Centers.

New Years Eve

Here are some photos my brother captured on his camera. This was how we celebrated New Year  to welcome 2011 in Manila, Philippines. ☺

Shopping Malls

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Miss me folks? No worries your princess is very much alive, walking and running. I had just been extremely busy this week. I completed and mailed my Christmas presents to my sister and her family. I had to do a quick shopping to finish my Christmas presents for my two brothers and their families. It is good I only have one nephew and three nieces. Otherwise more budgets are needed. I am done with those of my godchildren. Next are for my close friends. With limited budget, I had to stay longer scouting around shopping malls. I am glad in December malls have new stocks, no problem in looking around.

I mentioned about my transferring to a bigger place next year in my previous blog post. Meaning bigger than the room I am renting now. I had to start scouting for some appliances I had to buy when I transfer. I tried to scout for some at the big shopping malls but the prices are exorbitant. I do not use credit card. I am glad I found a small appliance store where prices are reasonable. That is one advantage of living on tight budget. I learned to be imaginative to buy items within what my money could suffice and enjoy little luxury. I had observed mall owners had been wiser. They do not have too many items. Once some item is sold, they replenish their stocks.

I had been mentioning about shopping malls in the Philippines. Does it mean Filipinos have plenty of monies? Not really. Big shopping malls in Manila are not solely for selling merchandise. Some malls used the building to house offices like Call Centers. Some malls are good place for conventions and meetings for small delegations, amusement centers, restaurants, fast foods etc. Some mommies who live close to the shopping malls would simply bring their children to enjoy rides and play. The slow moving animals that would drain your coin purse are great treats for the kids. The air conditioned shopping malls are believed to be better and safer for the children rather than open space playground.

Its Christmas

Here it comes! It is December again, the most anticipated month of most Filipino children. This is the month of family gatherings, parties here, there and everywhere. In the Philippines we spend lavishly on Christmas, not only on gift giving and parties, but with our Christmas decorations. The most common decorations in our homes and offices are Christmas trees and Christmas lanterns, we call Parol.

Children anticipate Christmas presents from dads and moms, godparents, nearest kin and close friends. Underneath the Christmas tree is the best place to gather all the presents and open them at the same time on Christmas Eve, after a family dinner we call Noche Buena. 

 

Christmas lanterns line up busy streets at night. Or continuously illuminate homes until the wee hours in the morning. Forget about Earth Hour 60 in December. After all, comes March, is the time for synchronize celebration of Earth Hour. To most Filipinos December is the most expensive month.

No matter how we thought of the Holiday Season. Let us not forget the essence of this especial occasion. Think of something special why you celebrate Christmas. I do not want to touch on religious beliefs and magical Christmas. Just make this Holiday something that will become special and make you happy. If it makes you happy to give, then nobody is going to stop you. Remember it is more blessed to give than to receive. If you have no one to give your presents to, I am here.☺

Thanksgiving Vacation

We do not celebrate Thanksgiving in the Philippines but I am happy to be off from work comes the 25^th and 26^th. Yes, some of us were allowed to go on vacation leave because we are expecting less call by then.  Our team captain approached me if I want to go and vacation and he got a positive reply from me. It is not that easy for us to go on vacation leave. I am happy for being given the opportunity to have a rest day along with some of my officemates.

The vacation leave is just the right timing. I have cold this time. Although manageable because of the cold medicines I am taking. It will give me time to rest and sleep with gusto. I seldom get sick but when I do. I would like to rest for fear I might end up in a hospital. We do have hospitalization benefit but being at the hospital makes me sicker. Why? It is because I am unable to rest being at the close watch of a nurse, getting my temperature every now and then. In line with duty, a nurse has to write something on the clipboard for the doc to see the progress of the patient. If the hospital has a nursing school, pray that a throng will not come inside your room to ask you how many times had you visited the toilet. Oh, no please do not get me wrong. I have nothing against the nursing profession. Nurses are doing a noble job. I am just saying I am not comfortable being at the hospital, okies? Likewise, please do not be alarmed I am alright. ☺

To some of my American friends who are to celebrate Thanksgiving, please take it easy on the drinks. After Thanksgiving there will be Christmas to spend your precious dollars with your godchildren. 

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Bon Voyage

Violin is a family of stringed musical instruments having wooden bodies whose backs and fronts are slightly convex. It is informally called fiddle. Someone who plays this musical instrument is called a violinist or a fiddler.

My eleven years old niece, only child of my youngest brother loves this musical instrument so much. Last April I posted a congratulatory blog dedicated to her for being a member of a String Ensemble that won gold in 2010 Singapore Youth Festival. Last year their group won Silver. Let us forget about last year. So what if the group won gold this year? Well, the children with their conductor and the chaperon mommies and maybe their daddies as well, are flying to the Big Apple this Tuesday, the 16^th of November. Yup! I typed it correctly, the Big Apple, that is New York United States.

My niece had worked so hard during the practice and so with all the other children in the group. They deserve the reward on their school break. Oh no, please do not get me wrong readers. My niece is not studying in Manila Philippines. She is studying in Singapore. My brother chose to live in Singapore with his wife and daughter because of his job. My Math wiz brother is an Engineer. ( Ahemmm.. do not forget my Christmas present. :) If anyone of my blog readers knows the educational system in Singapore. You would agree with me, the children needed a break or a time to play on school breaks.

Congrats Sarah! Who would have thought you will be at the Big Apple at eleven years old out of your own achievement. I am happy and excited for you. Hey! Send my regards to Snowman, okies?  See you in Manila at Christmas time and share with me your New York City trip.  Love you girl! ♥