Week 4

Week 4 is over. Only two to go!!!!

We had a good but very tiring week this week. I have not been sleeping well (still!!!) and have suffered for that during the day.

Today one of the trainees was late because he was held up at gunpoint on his way to work!!!! Yikes!!! He was on an FX. Apparently he had his phone in his sock (they don't look there) and it rang while he was being robbed (Mitch was ringing to see were he was) Fortunately he had it on vibrate so the theives didn't hear it. He was really blase about it when he got in, he just got on with his work and cracked a couple of jokes. I do worry about them all. :-( Here is Lester:


We had a bit of a 'do' for Anthony's birthday.Yesterday I asked Caryll if it was Ok for us to bring in a cake and the next thing I know a huge cake, burgers, hot dogs and soft drinks were organised. These guys are sooo ready to party :-). They are SUCH nice people!!!!







Of course, I joined Weight Watchers last night and have blown it on the very first day. I figure the next to weeks will be no good for WW anyway but when I get home I will get stuck in.

More Pikkies

Moving house Filipino style.

My room.

Real wildlife!!!!!!

Sunset from the room.

3 Weeks In

We have now completed our frst week of 4am starts and I have not adjusted as well I thought. I am completely knackered!!!! I haven't been able to get to sleep early enough so my nights have been quite short and I am really feeling it. I had a minor melt down on Thursday morning as the laundry had wrecked some of my clothes so I was REALLY grumpy first thing.It was also 'Thursday' and I hadn't slept much. I got over it though and now invested in some washing powder and have decided to hand wash everything in my room. The first load is now hanging over the bath, dripping happily.

We had a great day yesterday!!! For starters it was Friday (Yay) and then after work we had 'Team Building' 'Filipino' style and that meant................karaoke!!! Yes, my first ever karaoke!!! To start with we caught an 'FX' to the mall (OMG ANOTHER mall). An FX is a Toyota vehicle kitted out as a mini bus that acts a bus. It goes on a set route and doesn't stop to pick people up, it just goes from a to b. It is amazing how many people you can get in one!!!! LOL. Trinoma is yet another fabulous mall. Tom had booked us a room in a karaoke bar. It is soooo weird!!! You go into a booth (see photos) and there is a flat screen and microphones. You have staff coming around taking orders for drinks and food and you sit in there for four hours and eat and sing. It was HILARIOUS!!!!! We had such fun.

After the karaoke we were pretty tired so some of the guys escorted us on the infamous 'MRT' light rail. We had to keep our bags in front of us, tucked close to our bodies so we didn't get pickpocketed. The train was air conditioned (I love air con!!!!!) and we survived the experience unscathed (it was a lot like the undergound in London).

It was a great night but I was completely shattered by the end and when I looked in the mirror back in my room I looked TERRIBLE!!!!! 12 hours sleep followed and I am feeling little better today.

Mowing - Filipino Style

And this guy was lucky!!!! The next one I saw had a pair of scissors!!

Update

Sunday was a quiet day in anticipation of a VERY early start on Monday. Just hung around the hotel, caught up on emails and went to the gym.

Monday was our first early start. It didn't start particularly well as we were told that we would be picked up at 3 to be at work for 4. Anthony, Sheetal and I were there, ready and waiting just before 3 but the managers didn't turn up until 3:30!!! Apparently the pickup time had been changed and no-one told us! Grrrrrr!!! Could have had an extra half hour's sleep and since I didn't actually get to sleep until 1, that would have been EXTREMELY useful. To top it off our driver overslept and didn't get to us until 3:50.

We all got through the first day just fine but were pretty tired by the time we got back to the hotel. We had a celebration lunch after the shift at the Congo Grill in the SM mall across the road.

An early night was the order of the day.

Today we talked to some of the trainees at work and we have arranged the weekend of the 1st November to head down to Tagatay and to the Ta'al volcano!!!! I can't wait!!! It will be sooooo great to get out of Manila!!!!!

Here are some pics taken from the car.

A Night Out

Last night (Saturday) we all went out for dinner in Greenbelt, Makati....Niiiiice!!!!! It was so nice to see trees again!! Greenbelt is one of the most upmarket malls in Manila and has shops like like Prada and Rolex (the real ones LOL). There are heaps of restaurants and bars and lots of foreigners.

We had dinner at a restaurant called Kitchen. The food was really delicious. I had duck adobo which is a local specialty, it was very tasty.

After dinner we had a bit of a walk around and then an iced coffee and people watch at Starbucks. The place was HEAVING!!! We got home about 11:30. It was a lovely evening.

Oh.....My....God!!!!!!

I have been to Greenhills!!!!!! What an amazing place!!!! I have heard "Hi Ma'am. You buy bag ma'am" soooooooo many times today!! And I did!!! (buy bags). I am not allowed back there...ever!!!! Except that I got home and decided that the bag that I bought for myself I'm actually not that fussed on so I might just HAVE to go back...oh well. LOL. I like my new 'Rolex' though. :-) I can't show pikkies of purchases as they are Chrissy pressies. :-) So, family, you will just have to wait!!!!

Tonight we are off to Makati for dinner which should be nice.

Uh-Oh

Had a good day at work today. BUT found out today that we are moving to NZ time on Monday which means we will be leaving the hotel at 3am so as to start work at 4. Yech!!!!! It has it's advantages as I won't have to adjust to NZ time when I get home (4 weeks and 3 days) and it's not like we will notice that it is dark as our training room has no windows.

We had lunch at a little 'pub' in the carpark today that has all the little bamboo huts (they are dead cool!!!) but it was the first time that we have been out doors during the day (how weird is that???) and it was REALLY hot!!!! But it wasn't so humid todat so it wasn't too bad, i actually felt reasonably comfortable.

Not much to Report

As the title suggests I don't have much to report today. Probably the most exciting thing we have done in the last two days was to wander around the streets of Ortigas clutching our dirty underwear. LOL It took us two goes to find the laundry. The first night we wandered around for about half an hour, finally found the laundry and discovered it had shut half an hour before. Last night we managed to drop our washing in, just as well as I am down to the last of my clean clothes!!!!!

Last night (after dropping off the washing) Anthony and I went across to 'The Shang' (the Shangri La Mall). They have a FABULOUS Marks and Sparks AND a Debenhams...YAY!!! (Oh and Haagen Dazs!!!).

Tonight I have internet in my room so I don't have to wander to the 22nd floor only to discover that the wifi is sssssssllllllloooooowwwwwww. I am cooking spaghetti and staying in (have already done my hour on a treadmill). Lunch today in the Pantry (the in-house cafe) was roast beef and gravy and, of course, rice. Yummy AND cheap!!!!

One Week In

Lunch out with the gang.




The Drive Home

We have survived our first week and, in spite of some highs and lows (or perhaps because of) it has been a pretty amazing week.

This country is just, well, amazing!!!! The people are incredibly courteous, outgoing and friendly and it is a city of contrasts. On our way to and from work (an experience in itself) we go through some incredibly impoverished parts where people have their homes underneath motorway bridges and within 10 minutes we are passing some reasonably lavish homes. The are a heaps of brand new cars on the roads and then there are the motorbikes with sidecars and, of course, the jeepneys.

There are the shops in corrugated iron huts, the street side markets and then there are the INCREDIBLE shopping malls. Last night we went for dinner to the The Mall of Asia…..wow!!!!! You can get any major chain there: Dorothy Perkins, Marks and Sparks, Gap, Haagen Das etc etc. We had dinner at Italiannis – fabulous food. In general the food here is fabulous too!!!! You can get any cuisine you want and it is soooo well done.

Yesterday we went out for lunch with some of the trainees to have some authentic Filipino food. We had Kare Kare which was pork. I didn’t ask what part of the pork though as I suspect I wouldn’t have liked what I heard so I just ate it and it was delicious. We also had crispy pork and a seafood dish. It was all really yummy.

We had our first taxi ride yesterday. The secret to taxis here is to either insist on the meter, agree a price or get out. We went with some Telecomers that have been here for a while so it was nice to be inexperienced hands. We were actually going to the MOA to see the fireworks that are apparently on every Friday night but poor Annette that was organising it had been told 8:30 and they were actually on at 7 so we missed them but dinner was lovely.

Today is Saturday and I had a really good sleep in and spent an hour on the treadmill in the gym. I am having a really lazy day in the hotel and I am really enjoying it. It’s been a long time since I could be completely lazy. J