I am now counting down the days left in Manila by shifts.
I am really really tired, and want to blog about so many things... but I am so exhausted. I can't even keep my eyes open to try to call Arthur tonight. I want to talk to him, but I can't wait any longer.
I have to go to a different center here in Manila tonight to work for a new group. I will be there until 3:00 AM and then transfer back to the main location in Manila to finish off my 12 hour shift.
So tired... but just two work shifts left... then a wonderful 17 hour flight back home. *Sigh* I promise to blog a bit more when I wake up. Miss everyone!
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Philippino Phood Phun
I always hear these great stories from returned missionaries about their food experiences on their missions. I always laugh when they talk about the crazy food that they were "forced" to eat while they were visiting a member's house. I experienced this today.
I work with some of the most fun and sweetest people I have ever met. They are all so genuine and kind. They all treat me so well and make me feel important. I really enjoy working with the team here in Manila. They usually have one person who is "assigned" to me to make sure I eat lunch and make sure I have someone to walk me out at night. Usually for lunch we grab something fast and easy.
Yesterday, a group of us went out to eat at this Chinese spot in an area of Manila known as the Red Light District. I saw some pretty crazy things while we were driving down the main road of the Red Light District. I've been to Amsterdam and seen that Red Light District... but this one was pretty different. The restaurant they originally wanted to take me to was closed... so we ended up going to this other Chinese spot.
We walked in and got a table. I looked up on the wall, and there was this huge poster. In cursive in huge letters, it said "Chicken's Feet". The picture showed a plate with three fried things on it. I was not quite sure if it was for real.... but then they ordered it.
They brought lots of food to the table... there were shrimp wontons, fried rice, lemon chicken, chicken's feet, shark's fin and fried squid.
I tried the shark's fin and the fried squid, but NOT the chicken feet. I just couldn't bring myself to it.
The shark's fin was ok, it didn't really taste weird or gross... it just tasted like some kind of meat in a wonton.
I didn't like the fried squid, mostly because of the texture. The lemon chicken was the best and the shrimp wontons and the fried rice were good too.
I'm not sure I can try their duck egg... they keep talking about getting me one to try. I think they like my reaction to the food. It's not that I'm disgusted by it... it's that I'm not used to these types of foods. I can appreciate their culture and that they've come to enjoy these foods because they wanted to make the most of their resources. I hoped I came across in a way that was not disrespectful, and tried to show them this by trying most of everything.
Work is going well for me, I am working very hard. I am averaging 12.5 hours per night and so I get off of work and usually am pretty tired. Last night Karly and I went to breakfast and then out to the pool to relax. We had some non-alcoholic beverages and I chatted with Arthur in the sun. It was pretty fun... but we both got tired pretty fast.
I am excited for after work, we are going to Green Hills, which is the shopping market here where you can buy knock-offs of all of the best handbags and other brands. I plan on buying some nice things for my family for Christmas as well. I am excited! There is a girl at work named Ice who will be bartering for us in Tagalog. I can't barter worth crap, I end up just saying ok to the price they want. This is why Ice is coming with us! We are also going with a few other people from work, Laia, Glenn and Wency. I love them!
Ok, I am going to get ready for work now. Another day, another dollar. :) More blogging tomorrow!
I work with some of the most fun and sweetest people I have ever met. They are all so genuine and kind. They all treat me so well and make me feel important. I really enjoy working with the team here in Manila. They usually have one person who is "assigned" to me to make sure I eat lunch and make sure I have someone to walk me out at night. Usually for lunch we grab something fast and easy.
Yesterday, a group of us went out to eat at this Chinese spot in an area of Manila known as the Red Light District. I saw some pretty crazy things while we were driving down the main road of the Red Light District. I've been to Amsterdam and seen that Red Light District... but this one was pretty different. The restaurant they originally wanted to take me to was closed... so we ended up going to this other Chinese spot.
We walked in and got a table. I looked up on the wall, and there was this huge poster. In cursive in huge letters, it said "Chicken's Feet". The picture showed a plate with three fried things on it. I was not quite sure if it was for real.... but then they ordered it.
They brought lots of food to the table... there were shrimp wontons, fried rice, lemon chicken, chicken's feet, shark's fin and fried squid.
I tried the shark's fin and the fried squid, but NOT the chicken feet. I just couldn't bring myself to it.
The shark's fin was ok, it didn't really taste weird or gross... it just tasted like some kind of meat in a wonton.
I didn't like the fried squid, mostly because of the texture. The lemon chicken was the best and the shrimp wontons and the fried rice were good too.
I'm not sure I can try their duck egg... they keep talking about getting me one to try. I think they like my reaction to the food. It's not that I'm disgusted by it... it's that I'm not used to these types of foods. I can appreciate their culture and that they've come to enjoy these foods because they wanted to make the most of their resources. I hoped I came across in a way that was not disrespectful, and tried to show them this by trying most of everything.
Work is going well for me, I am working very hard. I am averaging 12.5 hours per night and so I get off of work and usually am pretty tired. Last night Karly and I went to breakfast and then out to the pool to relax. We had some non-alcoholic beverages and I chatted with Arthur in the sun. It was pretty fun... but we both got tired pretty fast.
I am excited for after work, we are going to Green Hills, which is the shopping market here where you can buy knock-offs of all of the best handbags and other brands. I plan on buying some nice things for my family for Christmas as well. I am excited! There is a girl at work named Ice who will be bartering for us in Tagalog. I can't barter worth crap, I end up just saying ok to the price they want. This is why Ice is coming with us! We are also going with a few other people from work, Laia, Glenn and Wency. I love them!
Ok, I am going to get ready for work now. Another day, another dollar. :) More blogging tomorrow!
Monday, November 2, 2009
New to NaBloPoMo
One of the main reasons I started blogging here was due to the fact that I read a few NaBloPoMo posts by my friend Aimee. NaBloPoMo is a shortened version of the actual phrase, which means National Blog Posting Month. During the month of November, bloggers everywhere try hard to blog every day of the month. For my first NaBloPoMo post, I will step away from my current trend of Manila and blog about my friends Tyson and Aimee.
I met Tyson in October of 2008. He was in the very last Top Buyer New Hire class that ever existed at eBay. I was the trainer for his class, and I first met him on the day he first came into Department Specific Training. He introduced himself and I was pretty intimidated by his phrase "I like to be a knowledgebase". I knew people like this usually were incredibly smart and I was worried he might not like the way eBay was always changing. I figured I would get to know him before I let this one phrase determine how I would see him. He definitely was very good at retaining information, but he also could quickly replace old information with new and recall it. I was impressed! Most new hires have a real problem with doing this.
He mentioned that he loved to laugh loudly. His laugh got that whole class through the 4 weeks of hell that is Top Buyer Training. I believe the entire class really appreciated his perspective and helped them trudge through to the finish line known as "Production".
Tyson mentioned his wife's blog to me one day in class after I had added him and a few others from class to Facebook. I went home and read over Aimee's blog. It was the first few days of NaBloPoMo... and I was intrigued that someone had the ability to stick with blogging for a whole month. I read it every day, and really enjoyed it.
Aimee is very creative and fun. Her writing style is very much like someone would talk to you. I read over most of her posts and really enjoyed every one. I thought she called out some of the funny quirks about life that most people miss. I enjoyed reading about her beautiful cat Chloe the most.
I got to meet Aimee when they both came over to our house for a dinner party. We ate seafood and played games. I wrote about that in a previous post. I had so much fun with them, and I believe we are planning on going on a double date with me and my husband when I get back from the Philippines.
I don't really have many outside-of-family friends, but I believe this couple is way fun and interesting, and I can't wait to spend more time with them!
Here is a picture that I think captures both of their personalities very well:
So begins my entry into NaBloPoMo! See you tomorrow!
I met Tyson in October of 2008. He was in the very last Top Buyer New Hire class that ever existed at eBay. I was the trainer for his class, and I first met him on the day he first came into Department Specific Training. He introduced himself and I was pretty intimidated by his phrase "I like to be a knowledgebase". I knew people like this usually were incredibly smart and I was worried he might not like the way eBay was always changing. I figured I would get to know him before I let this one phrase determine how I would see him. He definitely was very good at retaining information, but he also could quickly replace old information with new and recall it. I was impressed! Most new hires have a real problem with doing this.
He mentioned that he loved to laugh loudly. His laugh got that whole class through the 4 weeks of hell that is Top Buyer Training. I believe the entire class really appreciated his perspective and helped them trudge through to the finish line known as "Production".
Tyson mentioned his wife's blog to me one day in class after I had added him and a few others from class to Facebook. I went home and read over Aimee's blog. It was the first few days of NaBloPoMo... and I was intrigued that someone had the ability to stick with blogging for a whole month. I read it every day, and really enjoyed it.
Aimee is very creative and fun. Her writing style is very much like someone would talk to you. I read over most of her posts and really enjoyed every one. I thought she called out some of the funny quirks about life that most people miss. I enjoyed reading about her beautiful cat Chloe the most.
I got to meet Aimee when they both came over to our house for a dinner party. We ate seafood and played games. I wrote about that in a previous post. I had so much fun with them, and I believe we are planning on going on a double date with me and my husband when I get back from the Philippines.
I don't really have many outside-of-family friends, but I believe this couple is way fun and interesting, and I can't wait to spend more time with them!
Here is a picture that I think captures both of their personalities very well:
So begins my entry into NaBloPoMo! See you tomorrow!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Good Evening, Miss Genevieve!
Every time I go downstairs to begin my work shift, it is around 10:00 PM. I have just woken up and done all of my morning get ready for work things. I feel like it's morning. Everyone at the hotel will usher me around and open doors for me while they say "Good Evening, Miss Genevieve!" It makes me feel weird, because I am not used to being told Good Evening when it is in the morning for my body. Weird...
So today is my last weekend day. I have had a long and fun weekend... it was Halloween last night and I missed out on all of the fun parties and candy. I did, however, eat some 3 Musketeers bars before drifiting off. That helped me feel a little more connected with the holiday.
Today in Manila is "All Souls Day" where they go visit the gravesites of their dead relatives. It's like our Memorial Day. Cool, huh? I thought so.
So for my weekend... I did alot of fun things. Here is a short list:
1. Ate Pancakes at a Philippino breakfast restaurant
2. Left my debit card and room key at the Philippino breakfast restaurant
3. Went shopping at Philippino mall
4. Walked back past the Philippino breakfast restaurant and had the waitress recognize me from inside, come running out to give me my debit card and room key.
5. Bought two Jesus calendars at the Philippino mall
6. Found the biggest Harajuku Lovers shrine I've ever seen
7. Shopped at the very high end mall in Manila
8. Bought my husband a prize at the very high end mall in Manila
9. Avoided a Signal 3 Typhoon
10. Slept a lot
11. Had 3 breakfasts in 2 days
12. Went to the Pool and laid out
13. Had a 2 hour massage and facial
14. Had a pedicure
15. Had a neck and shoulder massage during my pedicure
16. Went to Hard Rock Cafe Makati Philippines
17. Enjoyed lettuce because I've missed it
18. Made some videos
The last one is good, because you get to see the videos. The first video is a tribute to our amazing buffet breakfast that we get every day after work.
The second video is at the pool. I hope you enjoy it.
So today is my last weekend day. I have had a long and fun weekend... it was Halloween last night and I missed out on all of the fun parties and candy. I did, however, eat some 3 Musketeers bars before drifiting off. That helped me feel a little more connected with the holiday.
Today in Manila is "All Souls Day" where they go visit the gravesites of their dead relatives. It's like our Memorial Day. Cool, huh? I thought so.
So for my weekend... I did alot of fun things. Here is a short list:
1. Ate Pancakes at a Philippino breakfast restaurant
2. Left my debit card and room key at the Philippino breakfast restaurant
3. Went shopping at Philippino mall
4. Walked back past the Philippino breakfast restaurant and had the waitress recognize me from inside, come running out to give me my debit card and room key.
5. Bought two Jesus calendars at the Philippino mall
6. Found the biggest Harajuku Lovers shrine I've ever seen
7. Shopped at the very high end mall in Manila
8. Bought my husband a prize at the very high end mall in Manila
9. Avoided a Signal 3 Typhoon
10. Slept a lot
11. Had 3 breakfasts in 2 days
12. Went to the Pool and laid out
13. Had a 2 hour massage and facial
14. Had a pedicure
15. Had a neck and shoulder massage during my pedicure
16. Went to Hard Rock Cafe Makati Philippines
17. Enjoyed lettuce because I've missed it
18. Made some videos
The last one is good, because you get to see the videos. The first video is a tribute to our amazing buffet breakfast that we get every day after work.
The second video is at the pool. I hope you enjoy it.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Philippines - I made it!
Here I am, and I'm exhausted! I finally made it to the hotel this morning at 6:00 AM Philippine time. Right now in Manila it is 11:30 in the morning on Wednesday. For everyone in Utah, it is 9:30 on Tuesday night. I lost a day! I'm going to make this entry brief, because I am exhausted, and want to sleep. I figured some good old fashioned blogging would make me tired.
I flew to San Francisco on Monday night on United Airlines. The flight was short, and I spent most of it reading a new book I just bought called "Remember Me?" It's by the same lady that wrote "Confessions of a Shopaholic". It's pretty good, but I haven't read a book in so long it was fun to read something again.
We arrived in San Francisco about 2 hours before our flight out to Manila. I had to go to the bathroom so bad! We found a bathroom finally and checked in for our flight. The line for Economy class was so long, probably close to 200 people waiting to check in. Because eBay is awesome, we got to fly Business Class. We didn't have to wait at all. We checked in and went to have dinner.
By the way, the "We" in this conversation is a coworker of mine, her name is Karly. She's close to my age (we're one year apart) and she is super nice. We're a lot alike, which is cool. We ate at this grill and then went to wait for our flight to board. We got to board first, and when we walked in, it was amazing. I've flown first class before and I've flown business class before... but only on the main airlines most people are used to. I've never flown business class like this business class. The seats were amazing! You could recline and lie flat. We were served a 4 course dinner. I got a hot towel to wipe my hands with! It was a pretty posh seat, for sure.
I didn't sleep extremely well on the plane, mostly because it's hard for me to sleep soundly if I'm not in a bed. It was more dozing for me. Karly slept soundly the whole night through, which is awesome. The little TVs we could watch didn't work to play movies or radio, it would only play a few TV shows and games. The games were ok, but I didn't really feel like playing video games when I was so tired.
We had a "technical stop" in Honolulu, Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii, and it sucked that the first time I could go there I couldn't even get off the plane. We literally sat there for a full hour while they refueled. I did get to check my facebook and email Arthur, which is good. It took us 4 hours to get from San Francisco to Hawaii. It felt like so much more time... and I realized that we still had like 12 hours until we would get to Manila. It was going to be a straight shot to Manila from there. Once we started back in the air, I tried to sleep a little.
I did ok, and the rest of the flight went by pretty quickly. I mostly just read my book and dozed. When we were about 3 hours from Manila, they served us breakfast. The food on the flight was so good. The night before, I ordered a Curry Sea Bass with Jasmine Rice. It was the most delicious seafood and curry I'd ever had together. The curry was kind of spicy, but not too spicy for me. I ate it so fast and was tempted to lick the curry from the plate. I figured it wasn't a good idea because I was surrounded by high-class people.
For breakfast, I had a croissant, a bran muffin and some kind of weird omlette. The omlette was served with ham fried rice, which was weird, but it was good. For the most part the food was delicious for airplane food.
When we got to Manila, I was pretty happy to get off the plane. We got our bags with no trouble. We had been told that it was likely that our bags would be lost or left in San Francisco for our layover. It didn't happen, they showed up within the first few minutes. That was a huge relief.
We were told to go outside and look for a man in a red coat that would be there with the hotel we are staying in called the Shangri-La Makati. He said we didn't have a car reserved, but he would get one there for us quickly. It was awesome, they only charged us for a Camry rate, but we got a Mercedes! Wooo! It was pretty sweet. The guy who picked us up spoke really good english and told us a little about the city while we were driving to the hotel. When we got here, we got checked in and went to breakfast.
Here is the lobby that greeted us when we walked into the hotel:
This hotel is famous at eBay for having the most incredible breakfast buffet. The food was amazing! I had like 4 plates. If you know me, you know I don't eat 4 plates at a buffet. I usually have 1 - maybe 2 - at the most. I had french toast, a chocolate croissant, a big chunk of granola, a plate of jasmine rice, salmon on a skewer, a piece of sushi, watermelon, pineapple and more. It was so perfect, since we were hungry and tired. I can't wait until tomorrow so I can eat it again.
Here is the buffet:
After we ate, I came back to my room. My room looks exactly like the room below, except for the TV isn't old and boxy - it's the new flat screen. I stole this picture from the hotel's website. Check it out!
I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on, though. I figured it out with Karly that we have to put our room key in a little slot in order for the lights to work. It makes sense.
I wasn't extremely tired yet, so I got my clothes that needed to be ironed in a bag and sent them off to be ironed. They will arrive tonight before I go to work.
You're probably wondering what I'm doing here anyway. eBay is rolling out a new dispute resolution process for items not as described, or when items aren't received by buyers. The resolution center will now be on eBay and not on PayPal, and I am here to support the agents as they begin to take calls for buyers who need help with the new process. I am considered a "subject matter expert" otherwise known as a "SME". I will be running around helping agents with questions they have about the new tool and the new process. I'm pretty excited, but scared that I won't be able to get to everyone who needs help. This is an outsourcing center with over 400 agents. I hope I do ok. I will wear comfortable shoes and try to do my best.
I am getting a bit more sleepy and I think I'm tired enough to go to bed. I am happy that I was able to talk to my husband for a few minutes. He told me it snowed there in Utah. Is that true? Insane. Ok, I'll try to write more tomorrow. I want to go to the pool after work in the morning if I can... and I'd like to take a picture or a video. Check back for more Manila Updates! :) Miss you all...
I flew to San Francisco on Monday night on United Airlines. The flight was short, and I spent most of it reading a new book I just bought called "Remember Me?" It's by the same lady that wrote "Confessions of a Shopaholic". It's pretty good, but I haven't read a book in so long it was fun to read something again.
We arrived in San Francisco about 2 hours before our flight out to Manila. I had to go to the bathroom so bad! We found a bathroom finally and checked in for our flight. The line for Economy class was so long, probably close to 200 people waiting to check in. Because eBay is awesome, we got to fly Business Class. We didn't have to wait at all. We checked in and went to have dinner.
By the way, the "We" in this conversation is a coworker of mine, her name is Karly. She's close to my age (we're one year apart) and she is super nice. We're a lot alike, which is cool. We ate at this grill and then went to wait for our flight to board. We got to board first, and when we walked in, it was amazing. I've flown first class before and I've flown business class before... but only on the main airlines most people are used to. I've never flown business class like this business class. The seats were amazing! You could recline and lie flat. We were served a 4 course dinner. I got a hot towel to wipe my hands with! It was a pretty posh seat, for sure.
I didn't sleep extremely well on the plane, mostly because it's hard for me to sleep soundly if I'm not in a bed. It was more dozing for me. Karly slept soundly the whole night through, which is awesome. The little TVs we could watch didn't work to play movies or radio, it would only play a few TV shows and games. The games were ok, but I didn't really feel like playing video games when I was so tired.
We had a "technical stop" in Honolulu, Hawaii. I've never been to Hawaii, and it sucked that the first time I could go there I couldn't even get off the plane. We literally sat there for a full hour while they refueled. I did get to check my facebook and email Arthur, which is good. It took us 4 hours to get from San Francisco to Hawaii. It felt like so much more time... and I realized that we still had like 12 hours until we would get to Manila. It was going to be a straight shot to Manila from there. Once we started back in the air, I tried to sleep a little.
I did ok, and the rest of the flight went by pretty quickly. I mostly just read my book and dozed. When we were about 3 hours from Manila, they served us breakfast. The food on the flight was so good. The night before, I ordered a Curry Sea Bass with Jasmine Rice. It was the most delicious seafood and curry I'd ever had together. The curry was kind of spicy, but not too spicy for me. I ate it so fast and was tempted to lick the curry from the plate. I figured it wasn't a good idea because I was surrounded by high-class people.
For breakfast, I had a croissant, a bran muffin and some kind of weird omlette. The omlette was served with ham fried rice, which was weird, but it was good. For the most part the food was delicious for airplane food.
When we got to Manila, I was pretty happy to get off the plane. We got our bags with no trouble. We had been told that it was likely that our bags would be lost or left in San Francisco for our layover. It didn't happen, they showed up within the first few minutes. That was a huge relief.
We were told to go outside and look for a man in a red coat that would be there with the hotel we are staying in called the Shangri-La Makati. He said we didn't have a car reserved, but he would get one there for us quickly. It was awesome, they only charged us for a Camry rate, but we got a Mercedes! Wooo! It was pretty sweet. The guy who picked us up spoke really good english and told us a little about the city while we were driving to the hotel. When we got here, we got checked in and went to breakfast.
Here is the lobby that greeted us when we walked into the hotel:
This hotel is famous at eBay for having the most incredible breakfast buffet. The food was amazing! I had like 4 plates. If you know me, you know I don't eat 4 plates at a buffet. I usually have 1 - maybe 2 - at the most. I had french toast, a chocolate croissant, a big chunk of granola, a plate of jasmine rice, salmon on a skewer, a piece of sushi, watermelon, pineapple and more. It was so perfect, since we were hungry and tired. I can't wait until tomorrow so I can eat it again.
Here is the buffet:
After we ate, I came back to my room. My room looks exactly like the room below, except for the TV isn't old and boxy - it's the new flat screen. I stole this picture from the hotel's website. Check it out!
I couldn't figure out how to turn the lights on, though. I figured it out with Karly that we have to put our room key in a little slot in order for the lights to work. It makes sense.
I wasn't extremely tired yet, so I got my clothes that needed to be ironed in a bag and sent them off to be ironed. They will arrive tonight before I go to work.
You're probably wondering what I'm doing here anyway. eBay is rolling out a new dispute resolution process for items not as described, or when items aren't received by buyers. The resolution center will now be on eBay and not on PayPal, and I am here to support the agents as they begin to take calls for buyers who need help with the new process. I am considered a "subject matter expert" otherwise known as a "SME". I will be running around helping agents with questions they have about the new tool and the new process. I'm pretty excited, but scared that I won't be able to get to everyone who needs help. This is an outsourcing center with over 400 agents. I hope I do ok. I will wear comfortable shoes and try to do my best.
I am getting a bit more sleepy and I think I'm tired enough to go to bed. I am happy that I was able to talk to my husband for a few minutes. He told me it snowed there in Utah. Is that true? Insane. Ok, I'll try to write more tomorrow. I want to go to the pool after work in the morning if I can... and I'd like to take a picture or a video. Check back for more Manila Updates! :) Miss you all...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Caramel Apple Night!
Halloween is coming soon! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays because I love to dress up and eat candy. I was pretty excited for this halloween because it will be our first real halloween in our new house. The sad part is that I will not be able to be here to celebrate it with my family and husband. I have been asked to go to Manila in The Philippines for work for two weeks. I leave on Monday and I'm pretty excited. I will miss everyone here very much... and I will miss Halloween! :( I heard that in the Philippines they call it the Day of the Dead and no one dresses up. Everyone goes out to nightclubs and parties. I'm not sure I will party, but I might order an extra slice of pie from room service. ;)
To celebrate a little eary, Arthur's mom invited us over for their annual carmel apple dipping party. I got some great pictures of the event and have posted them for you to see. Enjoy!
Everone helps unrap the caramels and puts them in a big bowl. We usually get the good caramels that you can find in the bulk candy section. Don't forget to wash your hands! Arthur melted the caramel in the microwave and had to stir them until they were almost liquid. We could usually only dip one apple at a time before the caramel started getting hard again... so you had to go fast!
Lili is Arthur's neice. She's attached to him. She loves to sit on his lap whenever he is around. It's cute to hear her yell his name. Arthur! This is her eating a caramel. I think she was alternating unrapping and putting the caramel in the bowl and eating them.
Arthur's family loves to decorate for the holidays. You will always see their house transform into a decorated halloween land. There are scary things hanging everywhere. This is a little witch that Arthur's little sister Sunny made at school. The head is made out of a rotten apple. The kids put the apples on the window ledge in class and let the apples go rotten. By the time halloween comes around, the apples look just like a shrunken witch head. I had a pretty good laugh at this witch. Her face is hilarious!
Here is the bucket of apples! I had one of the big yellow-red ones. Delicious! We stuck a long popsicle stick in the top of the apple for dipping.
It was time to decorate now! Here is little Noah taking candies off of Autumn's apple. Noah is Arthur's nephew.
We spent some time decorating and then everyone showed off their apples! Here are some pictures of the apples eveyone decorated!
Here is Sunny's apple! I like the top of hers. She did a great job!
Here is my apple!
Here is Ka'Lea's apple! She did such a great job with those straight lines of M&Ms!
Here is Arthur's apple! We couldn't get a good picture of Arthur. He kept closing his eyes. This is his "I'm-annoyed-with-you-Genevieve-because-you-won't-tell-me-when-you-are-going-to-take-a-picture" face.
This is Arthur's dad and mom. Arthur's mom didn't want to be in the picture so Arthur's dad tried to make it less awkward for her. Here's Arthur's dad's apple!
A closeup of my apple
Here's Eli's apple! He wins for most candy on an apple.
Here is Ka'Lea's first apple!
Here is Autumn's apple!
This is the apple I made for Mike. He loves KitKat. I was so excited to bring it home to him, excited enough that I texted him a picture of it right after I made it. He was not here when I got home to give it to him. It is in the fridge.
Another shot of our apples together. Brother and sister!
I hope you enjoyed this enty. I had some of my apple this morning for brunch. It is delicious! Have a great weekend!
To celebrate a little eary, Arthur's mom invited us over for their annual carmel apple dipping party. I got some great pictures of the event and have posted them for you to see. Enjoy!
Everone helps unrap the caramels and puts them in a big bowl. We usually get the good caramels that you can find in the bulk candy section. Don't forget to wash your hands! Arthur melted the caramel in the microwave and had to stir them until they were almost liquid. We could usually only dip one apple at a time before the caramel started getting hard again... so you had to go fast!
Lili is Arthur's neice. She's attached to him. She loves to sit on his lap whenever he is around. It's cute to hear her yell his name. Arthur! This is her eating a caramel. I think she was alternating unrapping and putting the caramel in the bowl and eating them.
Arthur's family loves to decorate for the holidays. You will always see their house transform into a decorated halloween land. There are scary things hanging everywhere. This is a little witch that Arthur's little sister Sunny made at school. The head is made out of a rotten apple. The kids put the apples on the window ledge in class and let the apples go rotten. By the time halloween comes around, the apples look just like a shrunken witch head. I had a pretty good laugh at this witch. Her face is hilarious!
Here is the bucket of apples! I had one of the big yellow-red ones. Delicious! We stuck a long popsicle stick in the top of the apple for dipping.
It was time to decorate now! Here is little Noah taking candies off of Autumn's apple. Noah is Arthur's nephew.
We spent some time decorating and then everyone showed off their apples! Here are some pictures of the apples eveyone decorated!
Here is Sunny's apple! I like the top of hers. She did a great job!
Here is my apple!
Here is Ka'Lea's apple! She did such a great job with those straight lines of M&Ms!
Here is Arthur's apple! We couldn't get a good picture of Arthur. He kept closing his eyes. This is his "I'm-annoyed-with-you-Genevieve-because-you-won't-tell-me-when-you-are-going-to-take-a-picture" face.
This is Arthur's dad and mom. Arthur's mom didn't want to be in the picture so Arthur's dad tried to make it less awkward for her. Here's Arthur's dad's apple!
A closeup of my apple
Here's Eli's apple! He wins for most candy on an apple.
Here is Ka'Lea's first apple!
Here is Autumn's apple!
This is the apple I made for Mike. He loves KitKat. I was so excited to bring it home to him, excited enough that I texted him a picture of it right after I made it. He was not here when I got home to give it to him. It is in the fridge.
Another shot of our apples together. Brother and sister!
I hope you enjoyed this enty. I had some of my apple this morning for brunch. It is delicious! Have a great weekend!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
