Pilippines in review

After arriving on Monday evening, I stayed at the lovely Manila Peninsula in Makati City.
I shared a photo of the lobby in the last blog posting, and here is a shot from my hotel window. I quickly learned how hospitable the folks were, not just in the hotel, but also my IBM colleagues and the local people. I was so graciously received by these people, and they made me feel very welcome. The "Manila Pen" was approximately 40 minutes drive to the IBM site. I had a driver (Jonathon) to get me from the hotel to IBM and vise versa everyday.

We went from Makati City to Eastwood, and it was quite humbling for me to witness the local surroundings. The children were playing in the streets, the families were trading outside their living dwellings, and they were all friendly to this foreigner as she passed by in the car taking videos and pictures. These photos show the dwellings and infrastructure between these two areas. I also had to capture a picture of a Jeepney, which is a VERY common means of transportation here. They are converted and personalized WW2 Jeeps that carry locals on various routes as buses would do. I sent a video to my children so they could take a moment to consider how lucky they/we are.

I had a very good and productive week with my colleagues in Manila. I had a country host by the name of Erwin Chuaunsu. He and his lovely wife took me to dinner on Thursday evening. She is a Dentist with her own clinic here in Manila and works on Fridays and Saturdays. They have four children and three live-in helpers! I only have one, i.e. Chris ;-) Here is a photo of us at our traditional Filipino dinner, including beef knuckles!

On Friday morning, I had the pleasure of attending a briefing with Chinabank. The stars must have aligned as the briefing was scheduled at my hotel, the HQ for this bank was viewable outside my hotel window, and I was asked to deliver the closing remarks. As part of my closing, it was fun to share a bit of my family's history (and present) in banking, in particular that I cut the ribbon to the first Nevada branch when I was 8 years old ... which of course was just a couple of decades ago.

Tomorrow, I'll be preparing for my visit to Malaysia. I hope to venture out into Singapore in the afternoon as I've spent the entire Saturday in PJs in my hotel room. The housekeeper, the room service guy, and I are quickly becoming BFFs!

One last thing. I promised the kids that I'd be sending them something from here every week. It takes a bit of time to get there! This video and message was from Chris when a packaged arrived the other day.

"This is grt! I had ordered a new toilet seat cause Papa broke the guest bath one (see I am not fat!) Well... This package was on the front step today so I just told the kids to open it - knowing what it was. Yours better show soon ; ) !!"

http://sharing.theflip.com/session/cb34bfdf20ff8f875eb2dd30ed43dcc0/video/4312051

btw - you'll have to copy and paste the link into a browser window... can't yet figure out how to upload the file he sent to me.

Manila, Philippines

I was very prepared to leave the hotel this morning by leaving the majority of my items with the Bell Desk last night. Earlier yesterday, I purchased a small rollerboard bag in China Town knowing I didn't want to check anything for this short 4.5 day visit.

I worked in the office for most of the day and had a very nice lunch with one of my mentees by the name of Lynnette. She grew up in Singapore and wanted to take me out to a very authentic Singaporean lunch of Spicy Chicken and Rice ... It was delicious!!

Mid afternoon, I headed to the airport for a 5:00 flight to Manila, Philippines. I am still in awe of the orchid displays throughout the airport. This one was particularly spectacular.
The security system is different in the Chengi Airport than any other airport I've ever known. You go through security at the gate... so every gate has its own security station ... interesting.

After enjoying a lovely conversation with my new row-mates, I had arrived safely. We, of course, exchanged info so we can connect on FB ;-) There was a car waiting for me with a nice driver by the name of Hipolito. I was a bit nervous, given the "warnings" issued to me by my friends and colleagues.

However, the good news is that everyone learned of the hotel where I'll be staying which is in a nice part of this world. (I must say room service is still looking pretty darn good). I've attached a photo of the lobby.

I start my work at the site tomorrow... I kept my driver, Hipolito, who will be picking me up at 7:30 ... here comes another leg of the adventure!

PS - click on any of the thumbnails above to enlarge - they are worth it.

The Weekend... No Memorial Day here

This may come as a surprise to those who know me well, but I did not venture out and "tackle" Singapore (yet). Unfortunately, I came down with a Sinus infection, so I wanted to take it a bit easy... oh and there's that whole jet lag thing! Fortunately, I have an amazing doctor at home with incredible foresight. She sent me with pile of "just-in-case scripts" including a Z-pack (antibiotic) which I started on Friday. Bottom line, I'm on the mend.

Friday evening, I learned that I'll be traveling to the Philippines Monday for a week. With the support of an amazing administrative staff working until 7 pm on a Friday evening, my paperwork was all in order and I fly out Monday at 5:00 pm. Current plans have me back in Singapore Friday evening.

Friday night I forced myself to stay awake until 11 pm hoping I could get myself on some normal schedule. I walked a few blocks from the hotel and sat to listen to a band who was playing all the top hits in the US. After sitting outside in the warm, humid air with a couple of beers under the belt, I felt victorious... It was 11:00 pm!!! I walked back to the hotel amongst the very BUZZING nightlife and fell into the bed. I woke up at 7 am... I was indeed victorious. I thought I conquered the jet-lag. Not so much...

Saturday came with a wonderful morning talking via Skype/phone with much of the family. My host (Irene) later called me and asked me to dinner that evening. She was to pick me up at the hotel at 6:30, which gave me the mid-day to fill. By way of her advice, I taxied to Little India and spent a couple hours there. When Irene arrived, she brought along her husband, Wei Hong. We went to an authentic Chinese restaurant, and I was glad they ordered for the table. It was a lovely dinner with very lovely company. I learned that Irene's husband is the CFO of a major bank in Asia called OCBC (Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation). We must have talked for hours. We had a lot in common, well not the whole CFO part.. but young kids, fishing, boating, skiing, gadgets, etc. They later gave me a tour of the city by way of their car... it was very nice. The picture above is the three of us at dinner.

Sunday began with calls to home... G-pa, CJ and kids, CJ, kids and CJ. We were able to get Emerson's b-day all planned. I made some plans mid-June for a trip home, and made arrangements with Chris for a trip back with me for a few days. After a great morning talking with the family and exchanging videos from our Flips (btw, Chris bought one for the kids to use at home and they are sending me snippets of what is going on there), I decided to get my rear out of the hotel room at 2 pm after the housekeeper (sweet girl named Hazel) insisted I leave, in a nice way of course. I took a cab to Clark Quey and then to China Town. China Town was very, very cool.. probably my favorite place yet. Got a few things, and enjoyed the scenery and the activities. I arrived back to the hotel around 5. I've been able to get some work done, and packed for the flight tomorrow. The hotel is holding most of my things while I'm gone since I'm back on Friday.

Ok - Well, I think I'm caught up on my goings-on. I'll work on attaching other photos... Still trying to 'master the blog.' Happy Memorial Day to all of you ... Enjoy the time off!

Thank God for Technology... Today's edition: SKYPE!

Ok, I've already been talking about the technology that is going to help me through these two months missing my friends and family... well, I was fortunate enough to learn about Skype before leaving the US. I'll admit I was a bit intimidated about downloading this new thing... and another admition - I didn't think it would work worth a dang even for a few pennies/min. Well - I was wrong on all accounts.

Not only is this thing very easy to download and setup, but if the people you are talking to have downloaded Skype and set up an account, you can talk for free through your computer! Chris and I ran this little experiment this morning (well, my early morning Friday and his mid-afternoon Thursday). We both downloaded Skype, went through the very few required setup steps, and voila! He punched in my name in the "Search Contacts" field, found me and called me. We were talking with very clear sound quality through our computers within 10 minutes! We talked for 8 minutes before he had to run - and it was AWESOME! I have a call scheduled with the kiddos at 11:30 AM my time and 8:30 PM their time today.

So calling all friends and family that want to actually talk voice-to-voice. Set up an account on Skype here: http://www.skype.com/intl/en/download/skype/windows/ , create a Skype name for yourself... mine is nicki_j_rich, and then find me (or whomever else you want to talk to on the planet for free!). It is really great and helps me feel more connected to home.

Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3....

I purchased the little "Flip Video MinoHD" camcorder at Costco before leaving the States. I had seen a few people on TV talking about this little device they use to upload videos to their blogs, etc. So - I decided to drop 200 bones and test this thing out.

I was surprised at the quality when I first downloaded the video snippets from the camcorder (which has a built-in USB connector, thus no cables are required!), I was really surprised at the quality. Also, it is as small as a pack of gum (which I cannot chew here)! While I have video capability on my BB Storm, the HD quality on this little guy is far superior. Plus, I would be remiss if I didn't give it proper kudos for being beyond easy to use.

Now, I'm going to test my first video posting ... and see if I can make you car sick along the way... Warning: Dramamine is advised!

No chewing gum!!!

After going to bed at 5:30 AM, I woke up at 7:30 to my Blackberry alarm chirping at me... time for my first day in the office. I have two hosts/buddies with whom I was suppose to connect first, one of whom I just learned flew out of the country yesterday to Manila. I finally connected with the second host today around 10:00 AM. After I got the address to the IBM facility, I caught a cab and was off. I took this picture out my hotel room window right before leaving.

The taxi cab driver was able to confirm some interesting laws... the one that is the most interesting to me is the "no chewing gum" law. I was warned about this law by several folks in the US once they learned I was going to Singapore. He confirmed that you are issued a citation if you are caught chewing gum; however, you can chew it if you have a prescription! I likened that to marijuana usage in the States!! Since all my friends prepared me, I made a visit to Costco and bought two boxes of BreathSavers before leaving. Although, with a slip of the mind, I brought three packs of my favorite Spearmint Orbit with me that I picked up at the airport ... I suppose I'll have to partake of the illegal substance in the privacy of my room :)

I spent the day getting to know some of the local executives and am now formulating a plan for how to proceed over the next weeks.

I have arrived

I landed 2 hours ago at a gorgeous airport filled with orchids! I was able to get checked into the hotel by 1:15 AM and begin to get settled. I start work in the "morning" which is about 5 hours from now. We'll see what tomorrow, rather today, brings!

I get a gold star for having patience today!

Already had an interesting morning... after checking in at PDX, I noticed that my bags were checked through to LAX. I asked the agent why they weren't checked through to Singapore. Turns out I had a flight from PDX to LAX and then a flight from Norita, Japan to Singapore - but nothing from LAX to Norita! I asked if I was going to be swimming to get there. After working with several agents on the ground and on the phone, they checked my bags through to Singapore - assuming I had a ticket, and they printed something out that looked like a ticket - so I'm assuming I'm rolling smooth... Not so much. After I arrived here in LA, they told me that I still didn't have a ticket to Norita. I worked with some pretty amazing agents today - and I'm all set to go (finger's crossed), but I'll know for sure once I'm in the air!

It's never easy, but patience pays off. I'm convinced that you get nowhere if you lose it with the only people that can help you. So my thanks to Raoul, Patrick and Elizabeth for cleaning up some crazy mess that we're all blaming on a computer glitch!

I think I board in about an hour... just enough time to get a little bit of work done, that is if I can connect to the IBM intranet - but that's another exercise in patience!

And the race is on....

Well, so much to say.... I'm off to Singapore for business and plan to log the trip using this blog. I'll have more time once I make my first stop in LA before heading to Norita (first stop in Japan before heading to Singapore).

Wanted to at least get this posted before I leave Portland.

Here we go....