Jet Lagged and Day ??? in Manila

Hello Far Away Friends!

It is Day ??? here in the Philippines. I think it's Thursdsay, if I'm correct. It does feel like a Thursday, I know that I have one day left before the weekend. I have spent a full 24 hours in Manila and so far the trip is going well.

After I blogged yesterday, I finished getting ready for work. I went downstairs to the restaurant and Karly and I ate dinner at the buffet. I love being able to eat rice and salmon and sushi for every meal. I also had tempura shrimp last night. They were huge, and so delicious! They had this amazing little round pudding thing in the dessert selection that had was so incredible. The top was like cake and the bottom part was thick chocolate pudding. Normally, I'm not a pudding eater... but this was so good that I almost went for a second. If you know me, you know that I don't do seconds on anything pudding!

After dinner we went back to the lobby and waited for our rides to work. Karly and I are working in two different centers in Manila. Her ride came first, and then a few minutes later my ride came. I got picked up by a big van thing. It looks like the van on John and Kate Plus 8. The only difference is that the ceiling isn't really any higher... since I was expecting a higher ceiling, I didn't worry about ducking my head once I was inside. Nope, didn't matter. The extension on the top must be used for storage or something... because I hit my head all the same. I was ok, I just sat down faster so we could get out of there and go to work. ;)

The drive doesn't take too long - only about 10 minutes... and I got to see a little bit of Manila nightlife from the inside of the van. It was almost 10:00 PM Manila time at this point, so people were starting to fill the streets and bars. Lots of lights and lots of honking. I love the big city.

We got to work and he dropped me off. I went inside, the building is huge, very tall. I took the elevator up to the floor that eBay is on and there was a cool sign on the door it said "English Only Beyond This Point." It was a little comforting that I wouldn't have to worry about not understanding anyone. The security guard checked me in and I was greeted by some of the supervisors. They were both so nice and made me feel comfortable. They took me around and showed me the different workstations.

I spent my day mostly in side-by-sides with the agents. They are so good, so knowledgeable about the site and about what eBay is about. I was extremely impressed with their empathy. One customer that an agent spoke with was so upset about the fact that a rock he purchased on eBay hadn't been shipped yet... and the agent was so nice to him and helped him get what he needed. I'm not sure how I would have dealt with someone like him, who was so angry... but the agent stayed calm and kept giving him options and information. I thought that was so cool.

After some side-by-sides, I had a meeting with Salt Lake. It was weird being on a call with some of the people I work with every day from so far away. I could tell it was like morning for them, 10:30 AM in Utah time and 12:30 AM the day after in Manila. It made me miss my team a bit... but I know there is a need for me here. It is so cool to be able to see what happens before the agents in SLC get the customer transferred from OS. I noticed that the agents to try to do everything they can before transferring. After only 1 day, I am already impressed with how well they do their jobs.

For lunch, a supervisor and a trainer took me to lunch at a Philippino spot. We had chicken potstickers, beef and broccoli, (it was more like mushroom and broccoli, yum) ham fried rice and some lemon chicken. It was so good! I think they ordered items that I would enjoy as an american... but I would be willing to try some other stuff probably. Before we went to lunch, I met the outsourcing manager who was waiting to go have a working lunch outside... and he seemed really nice. He is from the states and he now lives in Manila and works there. He mentioned that one of the things that Philippino people eat is a duck egg. The egg is developed up until a few days before hatching and then they eat the embryo. I guess to most people, it would sound disgusting, but I thought it was interesting that they considered it a delicacy. I am not sure I would try it, but it seemed cool that they have something like that they enjoy.

They also told me about this place called Green Hills that they want to take me to on the weekend. It apparently has all of the knock off shopping... all of the handbags and the watches that are made by counterfeiters. I'm thinking of getting some Christmas shopping done... :P Send me your requests now!

I ended up leaving work about an hour early, and it had already been 9 hours of work for me. I was so jetlagged, and was feeling exhausted. I could barely keep my eyes open in the last meeting. I totally tried, but couldn't. I came back to the hotel and even skipped dinner. I did, however get to call my husband on Skype. I talked to him for a few minutes and he turned on the Mac Webcam. I got to see his face, and my house... and it made me homesick a little. I know I'm here for a very important reason... but I also miss home. It was very nice to see his smile. I was able to go right to sleep knowing we had been able to talk. I slept for a good 8 solid hours, and now I'm feeling much more awake and happy. Today is going to be a good, good day!