I can’t believe that it’s been more than a year since I wrote this (comments in teal have been added now): Top Things I’ll Miss in the Philippines (in no particular order): Pinoy chibog. Mangga with bagoong. Okra. Dinuguan. Kilawin. Inihaw na isda. Chicken inasal. Halo-halo. Tapsilog. Toyomansi. Fresh dalandan juice. Lansones. Isaw. Sinigang. Adobo. […]
I Got Retrenched and I Liked It
Yesterday’s checklist: *contract signed – check *employment pass approved – check *pre-employment medical exam – check Yep. After getting retrenched last May, I finally got a new job, a better one to replace the old. Now isn’t that totally awesome? Everything happened so fast, too, though it was really slow at the beginning. I had […]
Recession Victim
“I need to have a quick word with you.” These words are seemingly harmless enough and should not have sliced into my heart and caused me to send off this text message to my friend Cate with trembling hands: “My boss wants to talk to me. I’m nervous about this.” My fears were not unfounded, […]
Singapore Saga Day 1
When I first came to Makati, I had only one trolley with me. Four years later, I have to throw out ~10 large garbage bags, leave two trolley-fulls in my hometown, and still have 10 kilos of excess baggage upon checking in for my flight to Singapore. Cate and I gave bread sticks and biscocho […]
My Voluntary Exit
When the “queen of concepts” bid goodbye, the ones in charge of her despedida came up with a concept for that – eviction night, or actually, a voluntary exit sa bahay ni Bart. It was held last August 13, my last day in the office (though I still attended the team building on the 14th […]
25 Roses: the Best Birthday Surprise Ever
It was around 1pm of September 7 and I was busy answering emails and troubleshooting when suddenly, a voice boomed behind me. “Heidee, happy birthday!” His voice was so loud, so everyone in our floor (with the newly lowered cubicle partitions) turned to look. It was the office heartthrob Jon holding out a long-stemmed red […]
My First Swimming Lesson
Last night I attended my first swimming lesson with my officemates Ivy and Jaypee and my roommate Maya. It was held in the Mandarin Hotel swimming pool. P&G’ers have a 50% discount on the classes. We had been planning this since last year but due to some weird circusmtances involving Jaypee and his nose, we […]
Independence Day
One more full day and I’ll be off to my hometown. My first time to go back after seventeen months. I feel so excited, but suddenly the thing that had been nagging me at the back of my head comes to the surface this morning when my fellow housemate who had just arrived in our […]
How We Found Our Home Sweet Home in Makati
“There’s no place like home,” says Dorothy of Oz. How right she is. When Gay, Zenie and I first came to Makati, we stayed in the Dursleys’ boarding house. No, they weren’t really the Dursleys, that was just what we called them because living in their abode was very much like how Harry Potter must’ve […]