Monday is Exam Day

December 15 marks the first night of the traditional Simbang Gabi in our barangay. This mass is conducted in anticipation of the Misa de Gallo which starts on December 16, 4AM.  There was a big turn out of people in our small chapel considering this year's mass schedule, 9 to 10 PM. Our baranggay is the last place where the priest will celebrate mass. This year's mass schedule is relatively late for many people in our village. People here sleeps early! Even before the mass started today, my Grandmother already had hesitations if she will be able to complete the 9 Simbang Gabi masses.  But there, she went! A tradition is a tradition. It will never cease no matter how "late" the schedule is.

Tomorrow is quite a day! After more than two years, I will be taking a pre-employment examination once again! So say hello to verbal and numerical tests, plus the star of the show, the ever ubiquitous examination "must-have", abstract reasoning tests.  I really can't say I am good at it, but practice does help.  One more stuff that I expect to show up are number series, analogies and synonyms. The vocab test will not be left out for sure! I'll be seeing and reading words which I'll never, ever use in my lifetime.  Well, that's how a pre-employment exam goes here! But if ever I'll be unsure of my answers, I'll just follow someone's advice, "If you don't know the answer, it's either A or C."

Astalavista!

Ticket to the World

11 Days Before Christmas. Day 5 of My Sister's Room Extension.  2 Days before my exam in the Foreign Affairs Department. One day after the submission of my first ever financial proposal. Day 4 since the launch of my newly-discovered recipe, the breaded porkchop. Hahaha I can't help but laugh! It sells like pancakes! My spoon was full this week. From the more idle times in the previous months, I bounced back. There's so much to do with very little time. I was juggling myself dipping porkchops on beaten eggs and rolling them on breadcrumbs in the morning and finding myself eating abstract and verbal reasoning exercises during breaktime. My pre-employment examination is coming up and I need to brush up on aptitude exercises which are meant to measure my numerical, reasoning and analytical skills.  I've waited for this opportunity and I shouldn't screw it up. Fingers crossed. 

What is your dream job? What is that duty that will make you feel blessed everyday? What is that task that you are willing to do for the rest of your life? What is that something that you will look forward to everyday? What is the career path that will lead you to a happy life? 

Have you found it yet? I haven't found it yet, but I keep looking.  I am not twerking on it, but I am working on it! I'm not afraid to pass resignation letters and jump into the unknown because I want keep looking and discovering. In his inspiring commencement speech in Stanford, Steve Jobs said,

“If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on.” 

Who knows, my very own, newly-discovered and delicious breaded porkchop recipe will be my ticket to the world! 

SUPER POWER. Traveling is one thing I can do for the rest of my life. I am sure of that. I can do this for a living! Maybe I should try becoming a tour guide. The photo above was taken in the vicinity of Puerto Princesa Underground River. 

Happy Lives

For two days, I prepared a response to an e-mail I received regarding a possible job placement. The deadline was today, December 13, 2013, 5:00 PM.  I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will Friday the 13th bring me good luck? I'll see in a couple of days. Just before writing this piece, one tweet caught my attention. It says, "The mind is everything. What you think you become."- Buddha.  Great words, indeed. I just hope the whole universe will conspire to help me realize my dream. This is a dream to chase and this warrants a blog post after more than a year of hiatus.

While searching for a photo to accompany this blog post, I suddenly opened the old family pictures I compiled back in 2010. I saw the pictures of my great grandfather Mamay Lucas and great grandmother Nanay Anda. They seemed happy and content with the life they lived. Were they able to follow their dreams? Did they chase it? I'll never know that. Nanay Anda and Mamay Lucas, if you're alive now, what would you want me learn to live a fruitful life? I hope your story inspires me to become a better person. 

                   Mamay Lucas and Nanay Anda lived a simple, happy life.

Thai Food: Pad Thai

Thai's Best.  This pad thai sold in TESCO Lotus Food Court is different in a way 

because the noodles are wrapped with a thin sheet of scrambled egg. 

Pad Thai is my all time favorite Thai food! I used to eat this on a regular basis in a carinderia in front of my school in Ratchaburi, Thailand. It was so greasy, so nutty yet so delicious! The sourness of the tamarind concentrate complements the very earthy taste of the bean sprouts and onion chives. Vinegar, sugar, fish sauce and chili flakes definitely go well with this dish.  A plateful of pad thai costs about P40 pesos in Thailand.

The pad thai sold in the streets of Khao San Road in Bangkok was the best I ever had. 

Maroon 5 in Manila!

Maroon 5 Overexposed Tour

September 18, 2012 

Smart Araneta Coliseum

I left the office at around 5:20 PM for Cubao.  Melodz informed all of us a day before that we should meet at 6:30 PM in front of Araneta. By that time, we should have already eaten our meals since a lot of people will be attending the concert. It was a longer ride from DA to Cubao as the rain caused a heavier traffic that day. Upon reaching Cubao at around 5:50 PM, I grabbed a sandwich at 7-11 in Farmer’s Plaza and headed to the coliseum.  As expected, there was already a big crowd at the entrance.  I hurriedly looked for an ATM Machine in Gateway Mall to get some cash as I had not paid my ticket yet. Marion initially paid for all of our tickets. I contacted Melodz and she was around the area already.  I just waited for the others in front of the General Admission Gate.  The big crowd that I saw earlier was already inside, but the line was getting longer though.  Seeing people flocking and hearing the Maroon 5 songs being played inside, I had a growing desire to get in already. Marion showed up, he told me he had not eaten his dinner yet so he better grab some food. He was giving the tickets to me but I insisted that he better keep it. After a while, Donna showed up, followed by Melodz. I was just too excited and I wanted to get a better seat.  I knew then that the “premium” seats in the Gen Ad section was filled already. Ekay, my officemate, confirmed that as she told me through SMS that there were still seats left at the side.  The three of us decided to fall in line as we wait for Marion and Rizaa. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, Marion and Rizza had not showed up! We just kept ourselves entertained checking the paper binoculars we bought for P75.  More walks and then, we were inside, hiking up the stairs to the main entrance gate.  Where were Marion and Rizza?  Melodz hastily decided to fetch Marion and Rizza (who turned out to have a companion, Dennis) downstairs. Fortunately, Melodz found them in the 11^th hour! Marion, Rizza and Dennis literally bypassed the long line. I just did not mind what the people behind us thought! We could not afford going back to the end of the line. So here came the entrance gate.  As I thought we would finally be able to get our seats, Kuya Guard instructed us to leave our backpacks at the baggage counter. Marion, Dennis and I had to endure the chaotic lines of the baggage depository counter for 30 minutes! People were so frustrated that the person behind me was planning to shout “ipis” so that people might just walk away from the line.  In my mind though, I was thinking of shouting “bomba”. Knowing it would not work, I just prayed for more patience. Then, finally, we found ourselves in front of the grueling line, bag 1156. Then finally, finally entered Araneta Coliseum at 8:00 PM! 

Araneta Coliseum was bursting with people! The crowd was definitely bigger than Smash Project’s concert. Snaking our way to our seats, I finally confirmed that the “premium” seats were already taken. We had to seat by the side, just below the Pizza Hut ad, but surprisingly, it was not that bad after all. We had a lot of seating space. It was not crowded over our area and we could still move like jagger during the concert. First up was “The Cab”.  That was the second time I was able to watch “The Cab” live. The first was during the Smash Project concert with Dashboard Confessional.  But since then, I have not really learned so much about that band except, the vocalist still fashioned a bonnet like the first time I watched them.  After around 5-8 songs, Araneta was blanketed with darkness again, but  with chilling excitement from the crowd.  The colorful neon sticks hawked for P150 each flickered around the dome like fireflies. Beautiful.  

At exactly 9.15, the dome erupted with joy and excitement as Adam Levine himself sang the first notes of Payphone! I have been listening to this guy for so many years and the feeling that I was listening to him live was surreal.  Probably thousands of neon fireflies of green, red and blue colors were swaying to the tune of Payphone.  Everybody was having fun! WE were having fun.  Music brought the house down. Maroon 5 played up until 10.50 pm with a very short break probably to have the guys change.  During this very short break, all of us were yelling “We want more! We want more!” We definitely deserved more not only because they just played a couple of songs during that time, but we need a reward for that very challenging journey up until we finally arrived to that very moment. (Well, talking about the frustrating lines at the baggage counter we experienced earlier)

The concert was also a showcase of what Adam Levine can do.  He showed off his skills in playing drums, as he gave his co-band member, the long-haired James Valentine his own spotlight.  He also did Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback to the surprise of all 15,000-strong crowd. He sang ALL their greatest hits including This Love, She Will be Loved (Acoustic), Sunday Morning, Won’t Go Home without You, among so many good songs from their previous albums.  They also played songs from their current album, Overexposed, with Daylight being my favorite track. The jampacked Araneta remained on its feet until Moves Like Jagger, which true enough, I expected to be their last song. Who wouldn’t be hyped with such “dance-easy”, “enjoy-the-party” sound of that song? I also thought they would do a repeat of Oppa Gangnam Style which they played in Korea. It turned out they were just teasing the crowd. If they played it, it would be a complete mayhem. After Adam finally thanked everyone and the whole band gave their final bow, I was expecting an encore and asking my friend, “May encore pa ba?, “Wala na, kinanta na nila lahat”, Marion replied. I was just hoping I would hear another track from the Overexposed album, which I fot familiar with in a span of two days.  I even tried memorizing at least one song (which is Daylight), but my efforts were to no avail.  

Some thoughts. Filipino music fans are very responsive. We know their songs. We sing their songs. We love their songs. Not surprisingly, Maroon 5 is the most downloaded music artist in the Philippines based on a recent report by Musicmetric’s Digital Music Index.  No wonder, Maroon 5 keeps coming back to the Philippines. According to Adam’s tweet early Tuesday, the Filipinos are the “most energetic and most enthusiastic fans in the world”. I just have to agree. We love Maroon 5.

Get to Know: LAOS (Part 1)

Last October 11, 2010, I was finally able to travel to Laos, a country located on the northeastern borders of Thailand. It was actually a long overdue trip for me, since most of the Filipinos I know have been there already. Many foreigners in Thailand process or extend their visas through the Royal Thai Consulate in Vientiane, the capital of Laos. Going to Laos for visa run is a common practice among tourist visa holders to extend their stay in the Kingdom for another two months or so. Foreigners who seek employment, on the other hand, can also process their Non – Immigrant Business Visa (visa for workers like me) in Laos. There are agencies in Bangkok that facilitates visa processing in Laos, Cambodia and Malaysia. You just have to pay, go with the trip and receive the stamped passports in time. Processing through an agency is a very convenient practice. You just have to choose an agency that would best serve your needs.

After booking a Laos trip with Philip’s agency, I prepared myself for my first visa processing outside Thailand. For two years, I had my visa applications inside the country and never had the chance to process in Laos. It was like hitting two birds with one stone – processing my Non B visa and traveling in Laos for the first time. I had mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness. I don’t know what to expect, but I just thought it would be the same road my mother had taken when she went to Laos few months back. The only difference was that I was alone. But in a way, it will not make so much difference. I am a solo traveler at times and so far, I enjoyed the company of myself.

At 6.30 PM, I already found the agency’s address. I went up to the sixth floor of PB Building and filled out forms and immigration cards. For the first time, I met Philip. I was talking to him a number of times on phone and so that time I finally met the person behind the strong, seemingly angry British accent voice. He speaks perfect English and to my surprise, he has a quite pleasing personality. As expected, there would be other Filipinos joining the trip. As I fill out my documents, the Pinoys came in one by one. They seem to be very confident in filling out the forms, evidence that they have been doing visa runs for a long time. As for me, I was carefully writing and observing the people who came in and out. There were a lot of Pinoys on that trip and I didn’t want to mingle with them. Filipinos here in Thailand are known to be noisy travelers. Stories say other nationalities are bothered by the out loud conversations of Filipinos that’s why the agency decided to have one van for Filipinos only.

After furnishing my documents, I went out to grab dinner in one of the most Filipino-populated community in Bangkok, Klongtan district. It is a short 5-minute walk from the PB building, so it was hassle-free. I ate pad krapao as usual, and met up with Shay, my co-teacher. She was so nice to wait for me until the call time, 8.30 PM. She accompanied me with her advices in traveling in Laos and mingling with other Filipinos I would definitely meet. While waiting, I already saw the group I would be traveling with. There were a lot of Turkish women, well that’s what we thought at first, but later on, I found out they were from Uzbekistan. Right on that moment, I decided not to marry an Uzbek women. They were interesting, but not my type.

At 8.45 PM, I already found myself comfortably seated on the front seat of a commuter van. The seat was very comfortable, one designed for long travels such as Bangkok to Vientiane. We were seven Filipinos in one van, three pairs and I. Later on, a Japanese couple was added. My fellow Pinoys didn’t want to have white guys. They were requesting if it would be an all-Filipino van, but other two Asians needed to be seated so we left for Laos with such arrangement.

It was a long and winding travel from Bangkok to the northeastern borders of Nongkhai. Along the way, we had several stops to rest and refuel. I realized that LPG powered vans need to refuel frequently, one reason why I had short, interrupted sleep. The national road was not well –lit, Northeastern Thailand or Esaan as we call it, was indeed sleeping. As I join them sleep, I didn’t mind the pirated yet very clear copy of DVD being played on board. We reached the border at 5:00 AM. The vans and other vehicles were on queue, waiting for the border gates to open. So I had my little time to go out of the van, look around and do some stretching. Pi Kan, the liaison officer who would help us all throughout the trip, checked our passports in a while and gave us neon green stickers, a sign that we were coming from Philip’s agency. She kept my passport with her, along with another Filipina, because I overstayed for three days. Thirty minutes later, the line of vehicles moved towards the border. Our driver drove just about 100 meters and dropped us in front of the passport control booths. By this time, we had to carry all of our bags. We were asked to fall in line in front of the passport booth, but they told us it wouldn’t open until 6:00 AM. Pi Kan called me up and asked me to wait in front of the immigration office. I thought I could pass the border immigration without paying the fine for overstaying, but my hidden wishes didn’t come true. I paid 1, 500 Baht (2, 100 Php) for a 3-day overstay. Yes, it’s 500 baht per day. One farang, Thai word for somebody from the West, even paid around 10, 000 pesos for a 14-day overstay. According to Philip, the immigration officers are happy about foreigners who overstay because they get a 15 % cut from the fines. After emptying my pocket, we waited for the vehicle to pick us up. I thought it would be the same van, but to my surprise, we had to transfer to a bus. The non-air-conditioned bus was jam-packed with people from different countries. I was able to grab a seat, (I’m that fast!) which gave me a window view of the great Mekong River which divides Thailand and Laos. The Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge connects the two countries. The bridge seems to be justly divided between two countries, the stripe flag of Thailand stands proudly as the Angkor-inspired Cambodian flag.

We, then reached the immigration checkpoint, the gateway to Laos. I jumped off the bus and lined up for the stamp. Surprisingly, the Laotian woman officer encoded Malaysia as my country in her database. How could she miss it? “PILIPINAS” isn’t small enough not to be noticed. I was about to correct her, but I just kept quiet not to create any problem. After all the immigration work, our group headed towards Vientiane, the capital of Laos. The 45-minute drive to the center of Laos was no different to any countryside travel I have been too. Green rice fields and bamboo houses dominated the landscape. I couldn’t be wrong that I was in just another Southeast Asian country.

Meeting Thai Actor: Mario Maurer

I am not a fan of Thai showbiz, but I happen to know some popular faces in this kingdom’s entertainment industry. Since Thai TV had accompanied me through my first months here, I was able to make sense of the alien TV programs in an entirely alien language. I also watched Thai movies, thinking that it would help me sharpen my Thai language skills. It was when I bumped into a popular Thai movie on Youtube, “Love of Siam”, that I was able to know Mario Maurer. If you happen to know this movie which [I believe] scored big time in the Philippines, you would probably know Mario Maurer. He bagged the Best Actor award in the tenth edition of Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila and numerous local awards.

I met him last Monday during their shooting day in one of the schools nearby. During that time, the production team was just preparing a new location. Unlike what I witnessed back home [whenever there are shootings] fans in multitude gather around the area to have a peek of their favorite movie stars. Here, the people seem not to pay much attention of the on going activity. I was just walking around the school to attend a caroling practice, and then I saw this guy roaming around in his skateboard. I recognized him easily because his face is a common cover of magazines here and I usually see him on TV with a 'thousand' microphones positioned towards his mouth. I was able to approach him without any interference from the production crew. I took a picture and he even started the conversation. “Where are you from?”, “You speak Tagalog? [he pronounced as Tahkalokh] So on and so forth. We talked about some random stuff for a good five minutes.

For an actor whose “star status” in Thailand right now is somewhat comparable to Sam Milby/John Lloyd Cruz, I was surprised that I was able to approach him that easily. No bouncers. No guards. No screaming. No pushing. No crowd control. No crowd. I didn’t even thought that I would see him right there in my usual weekend hang out.

By the way, he also shared something about his bestfriend, "My bestfriend is Filipino", he told me. 

(INPUT-Dec2611) The movie Mario was shooting during this time was "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" which became extremely popular among Filipino youngsters. Later on, Mario would sign an endorsement contract with Philippine's clothing brand, Penshoppe. The writer would also be an envy among some friends and officemates upon learning about this little story. 

*originally posted at www.multiply.com on December 8, 2009