I don’t usually post on holidays.. but here  I am!

How has it been the past few days? We gave our staff a nice Christmas dinner treat at Harborview by the Bay after a toast in the office for a job well done the past few months. During the weekend, we were able to finally buy the curtains for my home office, the living room and entrance windows.  After a few days, we drove off to Baguio via Marcos Highway.  It is really so much easier now than decades ago thanks to the construction of the NLEX and SCTEX.  We bought a city map of Baguio and also a Luzon Atlas along the way at one of the rest stops.  My, these rest stop convenience stores at NLEX and SCTEX are really well stocked.  Almost everything you need is there!

We arrived before sundown in our hotel (weather was really cold for us now) and had our driver come home to his family by bus.  He will be back for us in a few days to drive us home.  Meanwhile , we spent our Christmas Dinner in the Other Hotel where we were supposed to stay but was fully booked (Manor) in decorated tents and an “ok” buffet with live orchestra playing next to us!  We were there together with our Dutch-Filipino business associates and their well behaved but very sleepy 6 kids.

The next few days was spent visiting our Dutch-Filipino business associate’s house on the West Side of Baguio and visiting places such as Mines View Park and also next to it (walking distance) was the Good Shepherd Convent where we bought the usual sweet pasalubong (goodies to take home) such as Peanut Brittle, Cashew Brittle for my father in law, Ube Jam and Strawberry Jam.  We also visited the ever so lively Burnham Park and ate afternoon “merienda” at the famous but unassuming Star Cafe which is actually a Chinese restaurant that dates back to 1976.  We also tried to find the  Silver Shop of St.Louis University but could not find it.  On Sunday, our driver arrived at around past 12 noon.  We then dropped by the Public Market to buy some vegetables.  We also stopped by a small store at Marcos Highway to buy brooms — both Tambo (indoor sweeper)  and the TingTing (for street sweeping).  Next time, I have to remind myself to just buy veggies from the stores along Marcos Highway instead of the Public Market.  It’s a lot less stressful to buy there.

There was aweful traffic from Rosario, Tarlac all the way to the exit of SCTEX so all in all it took as around 7 hours I think travel time.  Once we got to the first rest stop at NLEX I ran immediately to the ladies room.  After that we had our evening meal at Jollibee.  We arrived at around 9pm.

I am compiling here some notes I have gathered so far.  Please do come back from time to time as I will update it regularly:

Yellow Cab for Pizza

Almon Marina, Subway and Oliver’s has good sandwiches

Brother’s Burger for really good burgers

Cafe Breton for crepes

Spiral (Sofitel) for a good Buffet

There is a Belgian Fries stand at Greenhills (near the theater)

If you want to try local brands try Burger Machine (freshly cooked on the spot and really cheap) and Jollibee.  Forget about American chains — the quality is different here, you’ll probably get disappointed. I tried Wendy’s at Greenbelt last weekend and their most expensive burger was really pathetic – and I don’t usually criticize that much.

The French Baker sells pretty good fresh bread. We found great German bread at La Coeur de France and they usually have a have buy one take one offer.

Juri’s (Ermita) for Dutch food and Belgian Beer.

Earle’s Delicatessen for sausages, cold cuts, very slow service though.

Rustan’s Supermarket also has savory sausages in their grocery and I also found some more on display at their Cafe in Makati.

Santis has many branches across the city — it is a small but reliable deli.

Bakery at Shangri-La Hotel — someone told me about this but I haven’t really tried this yet.

Metro Manila has a branch of American chains such as Bubba Gump’s, Friday’s, Chili’s,  Krispy Kreme, Dairy Queen, California Pizza Kitchen and even Hooters (Mall of Asia) among others.

Miss Costco? Try S&R or Makro.

Gelati at Fior Gelato

Duo Restaurant at Serendra for European dishes and really good salad. Chefs Quarters also is just as good as Duo but you spend much less.

If you know anyone who sells fresh milk and a good Pasta restaurant, please let me know

Last Sunday, we made our very first visit to the Manila Seedling. It is I think “the” Garden Center of Metro Manila.  It was recommended by two people: my aunt and my landlady.  It feels as though, everyone knows about this place except us.  To start with, we were a bit unsure how to get to it.  The last time I tried going there I totally missed it and didn’t try to find it again because I was in a hurry for another appointment.

Nevertheless I had a hint on where it was.  It is located in an “armpit” corner of Quezon Avenue and EDSA.  Yes it can be described that way because it is hidden in a narrow street parallel to Quezon Avenue.  We actually found the right direction accidentally when we thought we missed Quezon Avenue exit from EDSA. We instead ended up at North Avenue and found our way to Agham road and by instinct found that little street and turned right before reaching Quezon Avenue from Agham.

Basically, Manila Seedling is where clusters of garden and landscaping stores are found.  You can buy seedlings, fruit trees, potted herbs, flowers or flowering pots and all sorts of tools related to gardening.  We saw a couple of buildings owned by the Manila Seedling bank, however, one with the fruit trees didn’t have anyone available to help us. Also, the other building seemed unmanned as well.  We ended up in a bigger store next to it that offers Membership.  With this membership you get to avail of their promos and discounts.

Since we were buying a lot of pots on discount we decided to apply for membership because the membership of 200 would already pay for itself with all the discounts we are getting from the pots.   In the end we bought pots of Lemon Grass, Lavender, two kinds of Basil, among others.  We also bought some vegetable seeds and gardening tools.

It is best to go there early morning on a weekend so it’s much cooler and less pollution.  However, MrC still felt the pollution stick to his skin, you know that grimy feeling.  Well, at least the Garden was there to at least to provide a bit of oxygen amidst the thick cloud of smoke of EDSA.   With all this, I still thought the whole visit was well worth it and it was nice to stroll around and look at and admire plants on an otherwise lazy Sunday morning.   I will be back there soon to pickup a Banana Tree.

It’s hard to believe that yesterday was our One Year anniversary here in the Philippines.  How time flies!

Here’s a month by month rundown of what happened to us.

December:  We arrived at the airport in the morning and was picked up by my Mom and uncle.  Since we had an apartment ready for us we were able to move in same day.   Later on, we got in touch again with the Dutch IT business guy we met last September.  We then met other Dutch expats on several occasions.  We spent some days also in a beach resort in La Union and attended his company’s Christmas party.  Christmas and New Year was just spent quietly at home with my Mom.

January:  Our stuff arrived and I took care of handling the government paperwork involved with tax and duty free exemption. We spent a weekend in Baguio and stayed at The Manor.

February: We started employing part time live out househelp.  Possible contract with Dutch client shows up in the horizon. We started scouting for office space and ended up renting one next to our apartment building.

March: The Manila Offshoring Office opens with 5 new people on the team!  Work commenced immediately after furniture and all pc’s arrived.  MrC’s Dad and business partner visits from the Netherlands and is there for the Office Blessing. MrC becomes a godfather (ninong) for the first time!  We also spent 4 days in Kyoto in celebration of both our birthdays this month.

April: Visited The Netherlands for 3 Weeks at the height of spring.  We stayed in a house near the Keukenhof.  It’s very beautiful out there but we realized driving back and forth to the place takes too much time! We were so happy to be back home — in the Philippines where it is warm, sunny and never boring!

May: Started looking for a .Net developer.  Interviewed several  good candidates but with no luck in hiring. Took a short but relaxing break in a resort in Subic.  After coming back from that trip, we bought a new car, (a gorgeous red SUV) after a few days and suffered from buyer’s remorse shortly after that (the remorseful feeling  lasted only a few minutes).

Life here has been quite good and we are thankful for our blessings.  We were also able to hire a driver through MrC’s Dutch local business associate.

June: I registered as a voter in Mandaluyong.  Then, we decided that it’s finally time to leave our “very convenient” but small and smoky nest near EDSA for a more spacious house a bit farther from the noise and pollution of the the CBD’s.  We started house hunting once again.  Another reason also is that the Office has had so many issues / problems that we could not anymore overlook.  We also realized that the Building Management is hard to work with.

July:  We continued looking for places but had no luck in finding one.  We kept ourselves positive in spite of the frustrations. MrC also had to go back to the Netherlands for a few weeks and I chose to stay here (bad idea for me).

August: Just as soon as we were almost giving up we found the house that we wanted finally! Also, our newly found .Net Developer started working for us. He was actually applying for Linux Admin position and we were just lucky to find out he is also a good .NET developer as well.  Indeed we are lucky! Or should we say it was all meant to be ;-)  Also, we started applying for MrC’s permanent residency.

September: We moved to our new place!  Later on, we endured days of storm and flood (Ondoy).  We are so thankful that our house was not flooded.  We were so glad we didn’t end up renting some of the houses we saw in Pasig which were all now flooded.  Our Pioneer office was damaged by this storm but this allowed us to discontinue our lease.  We then started looking for a new office (again!). Total number of people in our team is now 8 not including me and MrC.

October : Our ties at Pioneer is totally severed as I turned over the keys to our landlord and also moved all our office belongings to our new office in Ortigas.    We had another trip again out of the country but this time it was different for me.  I first went to Amsterdam and stayed for 5 days then took another flight to Newark and stayed there also for 5 days.  There I stayed at my old friends place in NJ and Pennsylvania.  I also went there primarily to keep my drivers license current.  After that I spent 7 happy days with my family in Canada.  I left Canada with tears in my eyes

November to present: I spent a few weeks away from the office also to recover from the trip and get myself back in the current time zone.  I spent the past few days being responsible for furnishing the house.  That involves a lot of painful visits to the mall, a hardship I tried to endure.  I also by the way, completed a SQLServer Analytical Services training course somewhere in Makati. In the next few days I hope to be busy with my usual IT Work again and have a more organized home before the New Year starts. Our house now has a beautiful Christmas Lantern which I bought near our place. It costs 900 pesos.

It’s that time of the year where the nights are cool and comfy, at least for people used to 30+ degrees weather.  It’s also the busiest time here in Metro Manila because of all the balikbayans and visitors that usually come here at this time of the year.  Hence, the traffic everyday is a nightmare!  I would not recommend traveling between 5 to 8 pm everyday and not to mention the early morning rush hour.  Do yourself a favor and keep yourself at home during these times.  The weekends are also shopping days for everyone.  The malls close really late, I mean as late as 10pm for most and at times up to midnight for some.

I went to the Greenhills Night Market one weekend and watched their famous Christmas On Display. But anyway, it is a remake of the Christmas display found in good old COD Department store back when I was a kid. I remember it vaguely though. Well, if you have not been there yet. I totally recommend seeing this 15++ minute presentation of the birth of Christ. (I am posting this video as soon as I find that card reader or camera cable. I hope you do come back at a later time to see this).

It was really well done I would say! However, be prepared to stand for that amount of time as seats are really few.

With regards to shopping, don’t expect a lot. There were fewer booths than expected but hey, across the street you could always continue your shopping escapade! The prices are pretty good though. They have like shirts for 100 pesos and toys for around 50 pesos. There’s also enough food booths for snacking and even a full dinner. That is, if you can find a good seat.

Later on I found out that this is only one of the many Night Markets all around the city.  There’s one also in Fort Bonifacio, another one called The Great Holiday Bazaar held on DEC 5-6 ,2009  (Saturday to Sunday) at the Rockwell Tent , Makati City, the Cubao Expo at Araneta Center Cubao Expo (formerly The Marikina Shoe Expo), Araneta Center, Cubao (it’s behind the old Rustan’s [which now houses the Automatic Supercenter as well as ACS Call Center], which is behind Shopwise, which is in front of the entrance of the Araneta Coliseum).  I am sure there will be at least one Night Market within a 10 kilometer range from where you live.