Liv's latest adventure around the globe

It's been a month of being home to my beloved country, where traffic is normal during rush hours, protests trying to impeach the president, hungry people on the streets and indeed this is the day to day reality.

Now you start wondering how can people still have unending pleasures for Midnight Madness or Christmas Bazaars? Where do they get all the energy to live on a minimum salary that's not even enough to feed the whole family? Why is vacation time spent most with family and friends when it could be the time to be finally alone in peace? How can young people still manage to take care of their elders even when they have a family of their own which is hard already to manage? How do people get to give you that pleasant smile when the worse has already hit this country?

Then I thought, that's why I am proud to be a Filipino and be able to smile once again despite all these problems. Realizing that stressing myself further wouldn't do any good, much more just adding visits to the dermatologist for a wrinkle-free treatment. When you get to read those books on having a work-life balance and time management, it's not hard for most Filipinos to juggle all those responsibilities in order to play that complexed but indeed important role in society.

I was on the way to meet some friends, and walking across Julio Vargas to go to Metrowalk trying to find where Meralco Ave. Then I came across a sign that says Welcome to Pasig and a fly-over just across. I felt that I have walked to the other direction thus opted instead for the cab that shall give a more relaxed ride. Then he gladly accomodated me(as sometimes cab drivers here can be too picky on their destination), and that's because it was just right around the corner. I am no promdi when it comes to the city but at that point I felt a lot has changed in the past year that I can even get lost in that corner.

No I didn't feel stressed or pissed but just laughed and gladly gave him my 5o pesos.

Yes, Only in the Philippines!!!

I have been meeting friends over the week, and one of the favorite topic of decisions would be relationships: past, present & future! Just busy gossipping about each other of people who are not there, found some interesting observations. While trying to find a trend, it seems tough to identify just one path that most people follow. It can range from someone who can last a relationship for several years since college to someone who's been on a relationship for less than a year and ending up in exchanging vows.

As one of my close friends would always say, love is not like mathematics, so there’s not one equation for such a complicated thing. But I guess one thing that's common is the fire that keeps the flame going for these couples that we know at least live for the present time with each other.

After about a week in the desert, I decided to go back to the city life and drop by Singapore for awhile. A country that’s so familiar to me, that it’s not tough to go around the city and neither was it complicated to contact people that I know from way back.

IC is not yet over???

After several days of morning plenary, AIESEC dances & parties, I thought IC was the last time I would experience that. There were no plenary nor roll call on the day I arrived but it was Andi’s birthday party where there were people I would usually see in an AIESEC conference. To complete the atmosphere, they were also playing some AIESEC dances where Aditi & Melissa were leading the jives. The debate started then as to which AI dance is the best since there was Pedro & Pita from AI0304 and me, Pixi, Albert & Luis from AI0405, each of us can just insist our loyalty for our own dances.

Karaoke night

A visit in Singapore of course won’t pass the certification of Melissa & Nacho without having a karaoke night. I failed to bring it during Andi’s birthday party(expecting it was a pool party), but I failed to foresee the drinks that happen after. I am referring to no less than my very handy Magic Mic where all you need is a TV and neighbors who won’t mind the loudness of the voices. It doesn’t disappoint people from singing further because of the scoring system that makes it competitive to pick the right song for their masterpiece.

Shopping: an addiction or a skill?

I am no shopaholic, but when it’s at your convenience to just go around shopping malls and be presented with so many discounts, it’s sometimes hard to resist such temptations. Good for me since I had an excuse of not having enough luggage space to do even more shopping. There was too much for me to pack already back in Netherlands. Nevertheless, I guess the act of shopping and bargaining is always the interesting part of it rather than the end result of buying an actual product for yourself. How many times have you yourself managed to haggle for a good price, but a week later you regret of having bought that product after all. I didn’t have to experience that, but I had the sense of fulfillment of getting a good deal along with my local specialist Cheryl, who was more patient than me in finding an iPod Nano for my cousin. We were both happy in the end, being able to get a good deal without having to spend at all! J

Rendezvous with friends from Singapore & Malaysia

One week might seem long for a stop over, but with several friends to meet and catch up with, it was just right time to have the most relaxed agenda for me ever. It was great to meet same generation of MCPs again; meeting a former CEEDer of Philippinnes whom we’ve changed its name since it was hard to pronounce; spending a night in Malaysia to keep up with the supper tradition with the Malaysian MC members; seeing former MC members all part of this yellow company; or just being with former AI members which is creating a hub in Singapore, and apparently also with the yellow company? J

The list goes on and on & I am really happy for having spent quality time with them. It wasn’t in the activity that I enjoyed with them, but just the possibility of being able to meet them once again is just amazing within that week.

So my parents are wondering what’s taking me so long to reach the Philippines? I guess if the above list isn’t enough, then I definitely have more to share just to be able to explain to them. It’s a unique encounter to be with the people that you really want and spend the most time without having to worry about another meeting or work that you have to finish. There’s nothing compared for a real chilled out vacation to traveling around for work & leisure. I guess I have just been enjoying the latter over the year that the former has its own rewards as well.


Back in the Philippines

It may have taken me the long route, but definitely there’s no place like home! I was greeted by my 2-year old niece Luce, first just staring at me, wondering who is the stranger that just arrived from the airport. It took a few hours to warm up, after which she started speaking and identifying the names of each and everyone in that car. My turn came and she recognized me as “mommy” because I also have a long hair like my sis. Yeah, it would be cool to play that role but not until she has to change her diapers or she starts crying that you have to turn it over to the real mom.

The past days have been fun just playing around with her, of course with the supervisory of her parents. I was brave enough to volunteer to my sister that me & my parents can take care of Luce so they can just go for a date and spend quality time together. The process wasn’t that easy as when Luce discovered that the room where she last saw her mom, suddenly appeared was her “Nanang”(grandmother) instead, that she just started screaming “Mommy! Mommy!”. Her recognition of me as her “mommy” ended as I lacked the smell of the real mom & neither could I stop her from crying. In the end it was the grandparents who were able to put her to sleep, but I don’t think I’d ever volunteer again to take care of her (not until the time that I shall have authority over her, or at least she thinks so).

Questions, questions, questions….
So many questions, but the answers are so few….

I guess this is the stage in my life that I have the most questions to answer. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the quarter life crisis, let’s hope not. The most important questions of them all would be what’s next after this short vacation. I committed myself to taking on a traineeship, but it’s not that easy figuring out what, where, when, etc. I first had the option of applying first for this traineeship in Bonn, Germany, and if I don’t get it there’s another good opportunity in Shanghai, China. The decision making flow was modified when all of a sudden the opportunity in Bonn would take 3 more weeks before an interview would be set up while the one in Shanghai would need to be verified in a week’s time already. So if I were to see you in the next few days, expect that I would be asking you the same questions rather than giving you any answer at all.


What’s next?
This is one of the frequently asked questions ever since my AI term was about to end. What I can say for now would be this week is definitely booked with meeting old friends from different age groups. Yeah, I have different group of friends, some of which has long been alumni already while I was still hanging out with students and they get younger and younger the longer I hanged on. Given the fact that it’s been almost a year and with the last time I went home not being able to meet everyone else because of the short visit, I definitely have to make up for the lost time.

So my stay in the Philippines shall definitely be filled with dining in great restaurants, with delicious menu, huge appetite to enjoy the chismis and updates that can last the whole night. If I haven’t managed to contact you yet, then make sure to email me so we can grab a bite somewhere.

For more photos, please check my online photo album at this link: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AcN2TJizbNWNM