Visit the National Museum and be Awed

Can't believe that at 36, I have never even stepped inside the National Museum! Such a pity when this
place is a few cartwheels away from my high school, and my office of almost 15 years.

October was National Galleries month and entrance to the two museums which we visited: the Museum of the Filipino People, and the National Gallery was free! But even if I have to pay the full entrance of I think P150 each, I would have gladly paid given that the facilities in my opinion were well- maintained and it really was, without a tinge of sarcasm here, a treasure waiting to be discovered.

I wouldn't recommend it to  families with small children. Well, maybe a few sections will be okay for kids, like this Climate Change area where we get to admire the nice set up and write our own pledge to save mother earth.

We got to see interesting things such as stuffed animals, jars, and solid wood doors.

Tried our hand at Baybayin --which if you look at it, is really quite simple.

There are various sections like the San Diego galleon exhibit.

Sculptures and paintings.




 And this series of paintings on medicine by Botong Francisco.

Even the door handles are by Abueva!

 

These are two of the most photogenic rooms.

But nothing prepared me for this: the Spolarium.

Granted I am not really an expert on painting, this massive display just sort of looks at you, wherever you are in the room. I spent a good 10 minutes just looking, and looking and looking.

Generally, adults will appreciate this better. We sure did, as part our our Art Appreciation department activity.

Go and visit our museums at least once in your life.

Scenes from Shanghai

We were there less than 48 hours so I did not see much of Shanghai, except for the Expo venue and the very nice Mercure Shanghai (with the best hotel shower I've seen).

I should probably start writing about business travels, too since this blog is where I share our life stories. Dear Jared, when you get older, you'll understand why mommy goes away for 3, 5 or 10 days. I don't particularly like to travel because I get stressed (yes, from the packing, the checking in and all), mommy is usually asleep on the plane and there is nothing mommy looks forward to more than the trip back home.

Anyways, I took up Tourism as my major in college. After a brief stint at a hotel, I started working for this company already. The industry where this company belongs totally different from what I majored in.

Since a few years ago, by some twist of fate, and while still with the same company, I finally got the chance to be on familiar ground: our team is now supporting our affiliate hotels in the Western Pacific.

Just thought that little trivia will make this blog post more interesting. =)


So anyway, back to Shanghai, I don't have much pictures to show a lot of scenes from Shanghai. It just sounded poetic and wonderful.

p.s.
In that 48 hours, we found time to squeeze in a fun night at Xian Tian Di, Shanghai's hot new district. Fun night!

Over packing

I'm not one to travel light. I like the comfort of knowing I have extra clothes in case plans change, or I decide to not wear the outfit I had planned for the day.

Take for example now, I have 6 pairs of footwear for a 5d/4n trip.

I better start taking this packing business seriously.

What your mother does for a living

Dear Jared,

Mom writes this today, Labor Day. Mommy as usual wanted to post something unique, and in a light bulb moment, I thought of going in the gory details of how you were brought out in this world. But, that maybe too gory for public consumption. I will tell you that story when you turn 10 or 11, when i feel the love for things gory grow on little boys.

For now, I should probably tell you about what mommy does at the office.

Hmm, how do I even begin?

You always say mom is so old already, right? Well, once upon a time baby, your mom was quite young and impulsive. I was then working at a hotel in Makati, feeling oh so glamorous, when I got a call to ask if I was interested to apply at this company. That came at a perfect time because our boss was asking for volunteers. Volunteers who will take on the shift during New Year's Day. The heck (excuse the word) that I will miss one family reunion. That prompted me to go to an unfamiliar place in Manila where trailer trucks pass in great numbers every single day. I didn't know yet that the place gets flooded ( and I have my share of stories of wading in waist deep waters!). So in short, I accepted the job. That was in July 1999.

At that young age, I imagined I will go places. Because son, mummy's previous employers slash companies mommy worked for has the word "world" in it. I studied tourism in a University so big we had to ride jeepneys to go to our classes. But this job is in marketing. In a forwarding company. Before that call to come in for an interview, I didn't even know what forwarding means!

And so I started. Don't get too bored yet, okay? Mom's work gets interesting from here. My boss and I were part of a newly-formed group of the company: it's called Corporate Planning and Development. Our group started small, I think about 12 members and I was the youngest that time.

I loved my job and I truly love the people I work with. During that first year or two at work, I got to go to Hong Kong, then celebrate the success of our event there in Boracay! I made friends for life. That maybe the reason why I'm still here with the company 14 yeas after.

But one by one, my contemporaries left.

But you see, baby, I grew with my job. Or maybe, my job grew with me. It probably is a mixture of both. Four years after I was hired, I was getting bored and restless. Then, our group got involved with affiliates in the Western Pacific. These is a small group of islands where the sun shines brighter than here in our wonderful archipelago.

I can safely say, and its not a cliche, that everyday is a learning experience for me. I get to work with people from 3 time zones. I somehow get stumped trying to answer questions on what I do that I keep on revising my résumé, and why I had to send mama (your grandma) a copy of my job description so she can in turn answer her friends' questions on what I do for a living.

My job can be dirty to glam. I've climbed pallets and boxes inside a container, cut cardboard until my fingers hurt, stacked 3 chairs atop each other trying to hang ceiling decors. I go to the mother of flea markets to source various stuff. Then again, it also finds me discussing color palette and brand book guidelines and dressing up to attend corporate events. I get to see that the world is a big, big place. For one not so musically-inclined, I also once sat as a pseudo judge for auditioning bands who will play at our company hotels.

So, why do you ask am I writing about this stuff? I want to document this so when I'm old and forgetful, you can read about how interesting mom's job is. And that you should love and grow with your job...no matter what that is ( and hopefully it's legal and pays you enough for the effort you put in). That there is no short cut to reaching the top but hard work and dedication and malasakit. That sure, there are a lot of employees, but be one that people will love to work with. Be one that will earn the respect of others.

With that, 16 years from now as you look for your first job, I wish you well, baby. Go out there and prove your worth.

With love,
Mom

Going Home

This is the longest trip I've taken after I got married. I thought 14 days will be long enough to have a slower pace at work, time in between meetings, and have time and energy left to try getting my feet wet here, literally. Because it definitely was a loooooonnnggg time away from my son.

Did manage to get my feet wet, but it was still for work and not leisure. But been doing this for the last 8 or so years and I've learned to just count my blessings.

Like on this trip, we were fortunate enough to see playful dolphins who surprised us with their appearance along side our speed boat. They are not known to be so plentiful in this particular bay. Or the very good salad with scallops and prawn tails we had one evening. Or going on the sunset cruise, a fitting cap to the flurry of activities the last 2 weeks. Or meeting my island-based friends for dinner one day. Or the tuyo, sardines, salted egg feast they prepared for our despedida.

The sweetest thing about going on trips, if ever there is one, is the look on my little one's face when he sees me later.

A Business Trip in Cambodia

It was for business, but since I haven't been there yet so I consider this my most exciting office trip in 2012.

The meetings were held at the Phnom Penh office and at the hotel conference room where we were also billeted. Here are pictures of the Cardamom Hotel. We got the rooms at only $40 per night I think. I got the big corner room, with a view of the street below. Then something went wrong with the aircon when I was about to sleep so I got upgraded to a bigger room on the top-most floor (they only have 8 floors)

These is the room before I transferred.

After 2 days of hectic meetings, we went to visit their National Museum and had to take in everything in there in under an hour.

Most of the artifacts weren't protected by glass, but sadly picture-taking isn't allowed.
There was a quadrangle bathed by soft sunshine in the middle of the buildings. It was a wonderful place to take photos!


This stands guard by the door.

I took several shots of the architecture.

The warm glow of the afternoon sun complemented by sunshiny outfit! I changed to more comfotable clothes right after the meeting.

There were monks resting.

 

This is the market closest to our hotel. I became too busy haggling and sorting through clothes to take photos but I was able to buy Zara, F21 and other branded clothes for unbelievably low prices. Too bad we only had an hour before we were to meet up again with the rest of the group. There were only 3 of us girls among the group so I'm guessing that the 1 hour shopping allowance was already way too much time for the guys.

My sandals matched the hotel tile! Orange is my happy color.

Me in a tuk-tuk. One night just as we were going back to the hotel riding one, hoodlums riding in tandem tried to snatch my bag. And my passport was inside! We all got a big scare. Thank heavens they did not pull hard, or maybe the weight of my bag surprised them? I lug along really heavy bags full of unnecessary stuff.

So that was Cambodia, and that was at least 3 months ago. =)

Stay Sane in a Crazy World

So, what is a girl (on a diet) to do when pressured and tired???  Hmm, I cannot eat the yema cake I so love, or the 3-in-1 coffee that has accompanied me through difficult times at work.

Hie off to the nearest mall and get her eyebrows done.

It's free and gives a much needed morale boost.

eyebrows almost non-existent. stray eyebrows yucky!

 After a few minutes.....


Well-groomed eyebrows make you look polished and ready to take on whatever life throws your way.

This is now my new favorite product. Even I can do it and believe me, if I can, so can you. =)


A very dramatic post for such a trivial matter eh =) Maybe this is what will bring me out of blogging drought.

Musings of a 4 Year Old on Having a Working Mom

There are days recently that it literally pains me to go to the office.

Aside from my boy pulling my arm, or leg, or clinging to my neck, the words coming out from him are so pure and true I always wonder if working and securing his future is more important than being with him now--in his formative years.

I still do not have the answer, and I don't think realistically, we can survive as a one-income household (with my plenty of wants!) and there is still a part of me that gets fulfillment in my career (if I were a basketball player--last year and this year is a career high for me).

I am documenting these exchanges between mother and son-- I didn' expect I will need to asnwer to such questions as a mom until much, much later.

* * *

J: Mom, I will pull off your arm.
Me: Why?
J: So you canot go to work na.

* * *

J: Mommy, you don't care for me na.
Me: That's not true, I care for you.
J: No, you don't. Because you don't bring me to school everyday.

* * *

I called the house and talked to him.
J: Mommy, I'm sad. You always go to the office.

* * *
We always tell him mommy has to work so we can buy food, and clothes and toy cars.
One day...

J: Mom, I don't want to buy any more Ferrari car. I have two cars na o. Enough na.

* * *

Tired at the mall. This is his sad face when we leave for the office in the mornings

Moving Day

The reason for lack of posts? This...





I think the pictures will speak for themselves. =)

I'm moving to a new place here at the office and I am hauling more than 11 years worth of stuff. Sigh.