Back to the Philippines

I am a Federal Absentee Voter in the Coming US General Election 2008

mixxy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 08:27:39 +0000

This letter has been sitting in my mailbox for a week. At first I thought it was nothing important but actually it was THE BALLOT. It is my absentee ballot for the upcoming General Elections. It is also my first time to vote! I am very excited and thrilled to be able to participate in this upcoming Presidential Elections. This is only my second time to vote in my whole life, my first time was in the Philippines back in the early 90’s. I know shame on me for missing out on many elections.

At first I thought my registration was late so I missed my chance but here it is, my chance to get my voice heard. I need to get these mailed to the Country Board of Elections as soon as possible. They said that unless the ballot is received by the County Board of Elections before closing of Polls on Election Day, it cannot be counted.

I am doing my research today and hopefully I will mail it by tomorrow or Saturday.

On House cooling and Being Far From Family

mixxy — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 06:57:31 +0000

We did not go to Den Haag last Tuesday to do my oath taking since MrC has a flu. Also, we do not have all his papers yet for the immigration so it’s probably better to time it when we have all of them so we save on one trip to Den Haag.

I heard from MrC that his mother is still trying and pleading with him to change his mind. Of course, it is never good to be far away from relatives. I asked him if she thought we are making a bad decision but he said it’s only because she will feel bad not seeing us here close by. Yes, she is right however MrC told her he will be miserable if we stayed here. I know he doesn’t want to miss out on the opportunities and adventure the Philippines will bring to us. Besides, we plan to visit at least once a year anyways. How bad can that be? I have been missing my family myself, them being in Canada and all. The last time I saw them was last Christmas. Ok, that wasn’t so long but at least my mom would be with us in the Philippines this Christmas. I have a hint that MrC would at least like to have our trip after Sinterklaas which is usually in the first week of December here.

We plan to have a house cooling before we leave. I was only familiar with house warming up until now. As of now, we plan to sell all of our big items: furniture, appliance and such. The cost seems way to high to store them and ship them eventually compared to buying furniture once again.

A Visit to the Philippine Embassy (Part 3)

mixxy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 10:12:56 +0000

[Show as slideshow]

Last Tuesday, we went to Den Haag again to first legalize documents at the Department of Foreign Affairs. The car even got hit lightly by a car in front of us who was backing up. We were lucky the damage was negligible. There were no parking spaces there so I ended up waiting for MrC at the car. It was considerably fast, about half an hour of waiting time to get all of this authenticated: marriage certificate, and MrC’s birth certificate. After that, we went to the Philippine Embassy and there I finally submitted my documents for Retention of my Philippine Citizenship along with the following pre-requisite applications: Report of Marriage. I brought a copy of our legalized marriage certificate and my Philippine birth certificate. We also had our ID photos taken at the nearest passport photo center. I think we had 10 pcs each and used up almost all of them!

They told me that it will be ready by 7th of October. After that, we had a nice lunch in a place called Dap & Co. which we accidentally found while driving around. It was a very nice and cozy cafe right next to water. As usual we had uitsmijter (fried egg on top of sliced bread). We came back to the Embassy at around 2pm. Great food and great service with one of the best interior designs I’ve seen to date.

By the way, in case you are wondering what the two small bottles are for (see album) they are for MrC’s medical exam *grin*. We need that for MrC’s immigration to the Philippines. He also needs the following additional documents: Police Report from our municipality, biodata, proof of funds/income. We can expect this Statement of Good Conduct processed from the Department of Justice within 2-4 weeks.

A Visit to the Philippine Embassy (Part 2)

mixxy — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:06:33 +0000

I just came back from my visit to the Philippine Embassy in The Hague. It takes a bit of time to get to Den Haag from Amsterdam due to the traffic. The distance from Amsterdam to The Hague is probably like Makati to Sta. Rosa, Laguna or even Tagaytay.

When I arrived there, there was only 1 other person being served. It was not a busy day. However, when I presented my documents for the Registration of our Marriage, which is a prerequisite to all our applications, she told me that it needs to be legalized by the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. I didn’t realize it was necessary to go there because this one had a stamp already from the Municipality. Oh, well, after looking at MrC’s immigration paper requirements we realize we need lots of documents legalized there anyways: including his medical examination results and police report!

Another blooper I had also is the size of my photo. The lady told me that I could also apply for a passport at the same time as the citizenship retention however my photo sizes were wrong. And so we went home without any applications filed. At least we now know for sure that our next visit to Den Haag will be spent in the Foreign Affairs Ministry right before I even apply for Dual Citizenship.

Oh and by the way, while I was in the WC I was hearing a man shouting like he was angry. Turns out MrC saw that it was the Dutch husband of the other lady that just came in. He was really making a fool of himself shouting insults to the Embassy lady. Gosh, so rude! I feel bad for the Filipina wife who couldn’t shut him up.

Anyways, that was my visit to the Philippine Embassy.

Back in Amsterdam

mixxy — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:47:03 +0000

I have been back here for days and I have spent the past days trying to absorb our experiences and also catching up with daily activities here. Basically, we as I have mentioned before, the trip was a scouting trip meant to tell us if we absolutely don’t want to go back.

We have been taken cared of well by my relatives there and for that I would like to extend my gratitude towards them. I have been reading bad stories of Filipino relatives trying to extort the foreign spouses and it is indeed shameful and sad. However, we are fortunate to not have the same circumstances. We had a Dutch colleague who has a business in Vietnam who visited us and also visited an online female friend only to end up staying in a crowded house in their living room and paying for trips to various places and feeding the whole neighborhood.

During our trip, I have seen this attitude of “give me money because you are rich and I am poor” everywhere. It makes things uneasy for me and sometimes you feel that you have to get yourself in a lower profile not to be extorted. We were extorted by corrupt policemen for goodness sake! Anyways, this is not the only country we have experienced this and others are much even blunt and pushy so I can’t totally say my country is that bad. I just want to act naturally but sometimes you don’t know how to act because people might discriminate you if you don’t look rich enough (or foreign) to pay for things but at the same time you also don’t want to look too rich that people will rob or make you pay higher than what is normal. I hope you got the idea.

In some ways, I long for a society that is more egalitarian in ways but poverty prevents that from happening in less-developed countries such as the Philippines. This I realize I now just have to live with and approach in a humane or charitable way. Now I just have to think that the extorted money could have been paid for a sick child (I hope!). One of the positive ways I have seen as a good example from my family I visited is that instead of just handing out free money, they hired less fortunate folks and get them to school for free. Maybe I would do that and even help someone pay for tuition in exchange of doing some skilled work or work that would have them pick up skills for the future.

My feelings go from excited to disillusioned nowadays. I want to still consider even going to the US but look at what is happening now! It’s also sad to think I will be farther away from my family in Canada but that could be solved by regular trips yearly. MrC and I talked about my wishes and hopefully we can plan for it financially. He also has to see his family regularly of course.

In the meantime, I have started working for MrC’s company and we are trying to research how I could get paid legally without too much costs incurred by his company. Tomorrow, I will also file my application for retention of my Filipino citizenship. This is but the first step towards the preparation. I also made lists now of stuff we would put into storage, give away or dispose, and sell. We plan to stay for an additional 6 months in the Philippines and see if things are still positive from there. I just hope and pray for wisdom to guide us in our decisions for the next few days. Our target for coming back is December of this year.

Village Subdivisions South of Metro Manila

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 09:07:48 +0000

We visited several housing developments in the South of Metro Manila, between Paranaque and Tagaytay.

I had two goals: first, is to visit the house and neighborhood where I grew up and second, is to look around for places where we want to live.

Villages or subdivisions are the counterpart of the suburbs in the US so to speak. We visited both middle class and upperclass villages. The upper-classy villages

we visited were developed by Ayala Land and Landco. Ayala Land is one of the most reputable developers in the country. You can’t go wrong in your investment with them be it condominium or a lot. Don’t worry I don’t work for them at all. This is just from my observation after having lived in a Condominium developed by Ayala called the Columns and visiting a subdivision called Ayala Westgrove.

They do take care of many details such as security, infrastructure, and quality of life by making sure strict rules are implemented and using modern techniques such as underground power lines. We loved the Ayala Westgrove in Silang, Cavite! It is not cheap for sure but it sure is better than taking a 30 year mortgage for a small rowhouse (100 sqm) worth 250K euros in Holland.

A house and lot here would cost roughly 150K Euros and that will be roughly a 250 sqm FA house on a 400 something sqm lot. Another nice development in that area is the Ponderosa which is more like a hobby farming community.

Anyways, let’s not go overboard with this. We also looked into middle class housing

somewhere in San Pedro Laguna or Cavite area developed by Filinvest.

Ready for occupancy house and lot with 100 sqm FA costs roughly 3 Million Pesos or 45K Euros. We also looked into smaller houses that cost not more than 2 Million Pesos (below 30K Euros).

Taal Volcano

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 08:11:28 +0000

The only place I remember vividly was going to Picnic grove in Tagaytay. However, when we went inside I was ready to turn back immediately. It’s not really just the fact that they charge us entrance fee per head when getting in but also the fact that it now looks ugly. I had fond memories of picnic grove and I do remember it being clean and nice to go to. However, today, I was turned off by it.

It was good that the rain stopped and so we were able to go back to People’s Park in the Sky.

I read some articles about the People’s Park in the Sky. I found out that the Marcos administration started this palace with great visions of grandeur only to be left unfinished. We know the rest of the story of course — Marcos getting exiled to Hawaii thanks to People Power.

Let’s just say that these are ruins from the Martial Law days. It is still impressive in spite of corrosion. Can’t the current administration restore it at least?

Or if not, why can’t some developer turn this into a commercial establishment. The view from here is really awesome!

Inspite of its ruins ambience, the area is actually complete. It has gift shops where you can buy shirts, and native arts and crafts. You can also buy some snacks and eat them while seated in one of the small picnic tables or while wandering around.

We had lunch at Josephine’s (found out about this from the web) where the view was perfect! We didn’t pig out at all and just decided to enjoy the view more than eating so we skipped the buffet.

Tagaytay countryside

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:42:53 +0000

We spent a weekend going towards South of Metro Manila. Starting from Paranaque, passing Alabang, Santa Rosa then to Tagaytay. Overall if we went there without stops it’s probably only 45 minutes from Alabang.

The breeze was not as cool as I expected it. I was still sweating!

Anyway I was able to see countryside again and now away from the complicated and crowded streets of Metro Manila. The visit was still worth it. It was nice to see coconut trees and pineapple plantations.

Fort Bonifacio Global City

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:34:59 +0000

I was fortunate to be able to have time to come back to this new area several times. I particularly like the fact that this place is a product of well-thought out urban planning. Prices of land have already gone up for the past few years. This wasn’t there when I left in 1996 and I am very impressed as to how it has developed.

Basically, you have here places for upscale and middle class shopping and dining. Market! Market! is quite middle class. The other nice place is Serendra and High Street which is more upscale. Both places have nice open air areas where one can hangout. We were at Serendra one evening for dinner and the place was packed with yuppies even at 10pm and that was in the middle of the week!

Transportation is also not a problem. One one side of the Market! Market! is a taxi line

and I think on another area I saw a whole public transportation terminal complete with signs. I saw various signs for transportation to major cities in Metro Manila.

Food Adventures

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 07:19:21 +0000

The Balut has gained notoriety all over the world as one of the “grossest” and scariest looking food. However, it tastes good actually. You can also skip the chick and just eat the egg yolk but don’t forget to slurp the soup that goes with it.

The Halo-halo is a cold dessert which is a mixture of local fruits such as coconut meat, beans, ube yam, ube ice cream (purple ice cream), red beans, langka (nangka), and topped with crushed ice and evaporated milk etc.

Another local favorite and guilty pleasure is the dried seafood that you fry until it’s crunchy. It smells aweful! However, it’s really yummy when eaten with even with just plain white steamed rice. When I was little I remember that they sometimes mix in fresh goat’s or carabao’s milk with the steamed rice when eating the dried fish. I still do this myself sometimes.

Buffets are everywhere and they don’t cost so much and even for locals. Here at Market! Market! we had lunch in Filipino buffet that costs 250 pesos (4 euros) normally but they have merienda buffets that only cost like 150 pesos (3 euros). This particular Filipino food buffet, inspite of having a smaller selection than Dads Triple V seemed to have a great selection and better quality. I also like the fact that it is quieter than Dads Triple V.

MRT Ayala to North Avenue

mixxy — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 06:58:22 +0000

Going to Quezon City from Makati my aunt strongly recommended that we use the MRT or the Metro from Ayala to Trinoma (North Ave).

It proved to be a great idea. The trick is to use it before the rush hour starts to avoid the long lines and the huge crowd. You don’t want to get into a “sardine can” situation as what they describe it here. Anyways, the one way trip cost only 14 pesos! And it also took only half an hour included the waiting. The only hassle was having our luggage with us. It was always inspected by the security guards. Going back (second photo) from QC to Makati, we got off at Buendia only to be greeted by this huge crowd! Later on, we found out that getting good taxis is a pain from Buendia.

A Taste of Cebu

mixxy — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 14:10:18 +0000

[Show as slideshow]

We were at the place called Serendra, right at Fort Bonifacio, a few days ago where we met two of my former colleagues. Both of them have chosen to stay here inspite of the popularity of seeking opportunities abroad. Most of our former colleagues are now in the U.S., Australia and Europe. I wasn’t surprised that they are both in very high positions with big responsibilities in their respective companies. One of them is a VP for the corporate office of a big mall chain and the other one is a Project Manager for a well established IT company. They are both busy managing IT projects and one common thing I noticed is that they are both in a big crunch, with not enough people to do things, experienced people leaving and projects. They are extremely busy now and should I happen to join them, I’d be jumping into the grind definitely. I am also not sure if I want this life this soon. I think by working at least part time with MrC I will be able to pursue other opportunities and interests. It is however tempting to join in with my former colleagues just to able to reconnect and see how it is to work again with a Filipino team. Oh, and by the way, we saw Dolphy at Serendra that night! Serendra reminds me of a mall in LA next to the Chinese theater.

Last Friday, we flew to Cebu via Cebu Pacific Air. We took the taxi towards Terminal 3 from Makati and it only took a few minutes to get there. One hour later, we were in a shuttle heading towards Shangri-la Mactan Resort. We were given a free night stay courtesy of my generous cousin. At this point, I was already sleep deprived so we ended up staying in the room, and catching up on sleep and MrC working instead of swimming and walking along the white sand beaches. We had quite a heavy lunch. We ate buffet at the Tides Restaurant and it was one of the best buffets we’ve ever had. Total bill was around 50 euros for both of us. That night we had dinner at the Italian restaurant. The food was so-so and we were surprised that the bill was almost exactly the same as the buffet. The next day, we were picked up by my cousin and I was able to see more of my family again and catch up with each others stories. The next day was spent going around different places in Cebu. Some of the places we visited include the Provincial Capitol with golden statues of Lapu Lapu, Fort San Pedro, Taoist Temple, the Tabo-an Market, the IT Park, the International Convention Center, the Ayala and SM Malls, and a farm and plantation in Danao city.
First impression of Cebu is that it is a lot more peaceful and orderly than Manila. I did not see beggars or squatters at all. The City of Cebu has all the amenities and facilities of a modern city but it also includes charming small villages such as Danao City, and Mandaue, which are among those we visited. In principle, what I saw in Cebu is exactly what I was looking for. However, I am not culturally affiliated since I am not a native Cebuano nor I speak the language. It does give me the secure feeling of being protected by family but also somehow I am used to the feeling of being independent from watchful eyes if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, I like it! Now I know that there is indeed a better alternative to Manila and Cebu is one of those. I heard Davao City is also a remarkable city. I hope I could visit that city as well. Now, I am hoping I could find another alternative to Metro Manila that at least does not need me to go to the airport or drive too long. The past few days, I have given hints that I am not a city girl. I could not imagine myself living in the city. This is probably one reason I never liked Amsterdam or New York City. I am longing for a quiet and simple place that could also be good for the business, and of course with stable highspeed internet connection. I am also a bit ashamed to admit it but the heat and noise is such a big issue for me now. I know it sounds to picky or “maarte” but the last few days I have been sweating continuously that I always feel unpresentable in front of people. Someone even said I looked “haggard”. At this point, I am a bit depressed and disappointed at how I feel about Metro Manila. I still have not seen the rest of Metro Manila though. In the next few days we will visit the subdivisions and other possible places outside of Metro Manila and see if it has something I am looking for: less congestion, quiet, peace and cooler weather.

Blog Explosion Declined

mixxy — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:38:16 +0000

Your blog was declined for the following reason:
Posts fall below the fold

Site reviewed:
Back to the Philippines
http://backtothephilippines.com
Sincerly,
BlogExplosion Team
http://www.blogexplosion.com

My changing point of view

mixxy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:44:15 +0000

[Show as slideshow]

My husband likes it here! Even more than me. I feel confused still with how things work. Have you heard of reverse culture shock? I had my sort of “romantic” memories of Philippines of the past and some of the bad part as always has been forgotten and now I am seeing the real Philippines. Somehow I have a new point of view now. It also makes it difficult that my family is not here, no usual family house to come home to. It’s all very new and different. I think I have a bit of trouble because I had some expectations about the Philippines but MrC doesn’t.

We’ve been looking at places also: Pioneer (Mandaluyong), Ortigas, Makati, we still have to visit Fort Bonifacio, Alabang, Quezon City and our house. We are meeting people tonight. I am excited about this because they were my former officemates in my last project before I left for the US. This week was extremely busy indeed! We’ve had several lunch meetings with people such as Rob, a guy; I’ve met through this blog. He moved recently from the US and is very happy with his decision. We enjoyed exchanging our observations of life here and abroad. I also net another friend of mine from the US who came back here.

We rented a car and tried to drive to Rockwell by ourselves, and guess what, we entered a one-way street at Makati Avenue and ended up being caught by traffic enforcers (locals told us they are called bwaya or crocodiles here – go figure). I won’t go into details, but to make it short, it was quite an unpleasant memory for me. One thing I noticed about people here is that they try not to take things to seriously here and always have a silly sense of humor to make it through the day and maybe I should become like this (again) someday especially towards things that are out of my control. Nevertheless, my mood was bad for a couple of days. Today, I believe I have recovered from that bad experience.
Yesterday, we were looking at condo apartments in Makati with the help of a relative of mine and a broker she knows. Today, I just told my relative that we don’t need the help of that broker. Both of us didn’t like the fact that she was the one who caused them to be late by 2 hours. She also made tactless comment about me having a nice looking white guy, like I didn’t deserve to have one just because I don’t exactly look like a model. Anyway, I was not surprised of her reaction; I was expecting to have this reaction from locals anyways.
Our Dutch friend has warned us of this and I’ve also read some stories about this in the internet of how badly locals seem to look down on the Filipina spouse like as if she was someone below the league of the foreign guy or something. Anyways, these are one of the things I am trying to adjust with now. Things I did not hear or experience when I lived here decades ago as a single woman. Anyways so what!

Today, we saw a nice place in Mandaluyong, Pioneer area, and a new business district that is developing. It was near the mall and several big companies have made the place their home. MrC and I are quite impressed of the potential of this new CBD and this is definitely one place we’ll consider. We are already thinking of renting a condo unit there. Today, I sit with him in the office of our Dutch friend.

Ayala, Glorietta and Manila Bay

mixxy — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 10:12:39 +0000

For the last 3 days we have been busy meeting people. Last Saturday, we went to Glorietta to pickup our tickets for Cinderella. First, we had breakfast at Binalot in the nearby building. Binalot serves Filipino rice topping meals that are wrapped in banana leaves. The prices are inexpensive. A Tocino with rice, egg, tomatoes, and salted egg only costs around one Euro (68 pesos). After that, we took a Jeepney right at Ayala Avenue. I wanted MrC to try it for the first time. I was a bit excited and nervous at the same time. We prepared our money beforehand and MrC was in charge of counting the money and I was of course the “spokeswoman”. We got into a full jeep and the whole time we were sweating beads! As expected I made a mistake of stopping the Jeep on the wrong location and I heard some people that followed us out were also going to Glorietta only to find out that we were just at the corner of Makati Avenue and Ayala. We had to go down to extremely high stairs in order to cross and then to climb on the other side. I wasn’t prepared physically for this I thought I was going to faint, trying to catch my breath. It was good I had bottled water in my bag Glorietta is still the huge mall that I remembered it to be and this mall is adjacent to Landmark, Greenbelt and Park Square. MrC was looking for broadband wireless internet since day one but we have not been able to find a good one yet. I will make a separate article about this. Anyway, we also thought of going to the movie theater but we didn’t find anything we like to watch. Then we decided to go back to our apartment. I waved for a taxi at the Pasay road side of Park square. Anyways, the taxi driver admitted he doesn’t know the area and he needs help and I also noticed that the car was quite rundown and does not have airconditioning. The driver kept on apologizing and somehow feeling sorry for himself that he is very new to this. We noticed that he was also quite inexperienced in driving. I am so glad I still remembered Makati streets even though my memory is from 1996. Nevertheless we did not get lost and the fee was around 60 pesos. Later on that night, we took the taxi again and went to the Harborview Restaurant near Manila Bay. We weren’t sure where it was but everything went out well since the taxi driver was okay compared to the last one. One thing we learned by now is to always keep small bills for taxi. The restaurant was next to the Ocean Park and near the US Embassy. It’s our first time to meet the Dutch IT businessman who gave us a very interesting story of his life in the Philippines and the business. I was the one who found him in the Internet from a list of software companies. It is also worth mentioning that he is married to a Filipina and several topics about this are worthy of a series of blog posts. He generously offered free use of his office during the week because MrC needed to work! At this point, the only decent internet connection we can get is through Starbucks via Globe Wiz.
It’s funny to admit but up to now we have been blessed by people with free dinners, lunches and lodging. This is definitely great help for us as in the next few days, our funds would be mostly eaten by transportation. And yes, I have not even started with my shopping yet :P.

Hello Philippines

mixxy — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 03:22:25 +0000

The last time I was here was in 2002. We finally arrived here in the Philippines.We were fortunate to have an easy time at the airport. First we tried to withdraw money from the airport ATM and we spent a bit of time worrying about a completed transaction without any money coming out.

We tried it on two cash machines and both transactions did not give us any money! Fortunately, using my other bank account it worked and so we had money to pay for taxi. However, during paying time, the bill was too large I had to run to a Starbucks nearby to break the bill by buying a frapuccino drink. The bill was 235 from the airport to Makati but the taxi driver said he had no change, even after 300 so I just decided to just give in.

After settling down a bit on our condo we were picked up by my ever-generous cousin who let her stay in her condo and she decided to bring us to the Rockwell Powerplant mall. It is my first time to see this mall. We ate at the Chinese restaurant called GloriaMaris. We had birthday noodles, Patatim, fried rice, and dimsum. I ordered the watermelon shake. For dessert we had taho. MrC ordered his own bowl of braised beef noodle soup. He is not yet that familiar with the Filipino-style sharing of dishes. In the Netherlands, everyone usually orders a meal for himself. Chinese food is sub par if not terrible back home. The same goes in the US. Only in Toronto I find Chinese food as good as this. The Chinese food here is as I expected but not as salty as I expected it to be. But nevertheless I was satisfied, especially with the service. Little things like being served water before you are asked is very much appreciated since we never get this kind of treatment in the Netherlands. Service staff is much more scarce there that’s probably the reason for bad service. But maybe then, the attitude is different (much much better) here of course when it comes to customer service. I noticed that Powerplant mall has a bit more upscale feel, and less crowded. I also immediately noticed the presence of maids, yayas and drivers. The atmosphere of privilege and entitlement is pretty obvious here in this side of the world.
Living abroad makes one forget about this ultimately. I am sure whenever an overseas Filipino visits home, it is always hard to leave this sort of life but the main thing that keeps you from staying is the thought that you have no idea how you would earn the same amount of money you do abroad here. I believe this is a good subject to discuss in future postings. I think most kababayans abroad are always dreaming of having a good life here and leaving their overworked mortgage-driven life abroad but have no clue as to how to actually reside here and lose all their savings. I believe it is possible to do that through entrepreneurship. That is how people get prosperous here – not from finding a job from big corporations or so it seems.

At 4AM, I woke up only to see Makati offices still lit up and business still ongoing. Many Filipinos work as call center agents in Makati and their shifts are mainly during during the night since the clients are on other time zones. I am so impressed really that Makati is now open 24 hours! It’s like what you say about New York, the city that never sleeps but not because of partying but because people are working hard. That says a lot about our countrymen indeed.

I resigned

mixxy — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 18:22:29 +0000

Today, after months of rehearsing it over and over in my mind I finally have the guts to resign from my job. After all, it’s inevitable. I told first the HR and then my manager. We just interviewed someone yesterday and today after hearing from them that they are ready to hire that guy I felt that it was a good time and one of the final “signs” that mean that I can finally resign and cut off the cord totally. Many new developments and new information has been gathered throughout the past weeks and indeed things are getting clearer that we are indeed leaving this country. If it’s not the Philippines, then we are moving to the U.S.

Earlier this week, we have gathered new ideas from MrC’s colleague. He said that one option we also have is not to really start a new company at all but to just hire companies that are already doing offshoring or individual freelancers and lower the risk and headaches that go with this direction. This also means that we don’t have to struggle thinking about who owns the new company, taxes, paperwork and matters like that. We can easily change our mind and not have to run into legal issues if we had employees. And also this way, if we decide to startup our own outsourcing or offshoring company we also would learn from our vendors. Basically, we plan to contact various offshoring companies and propose a setup where both of us would be physically there to manage the hired programmer(s). OK, it sounds like I am in it again and now of course it looks like it that I will be part of this after all but at least we don’t have to worry about who owns which and how much and such. At least that’s how it would be at the beginning. That also relieves us from having to find and recruit people ourselves.

But anyways, now, I am actually quite happy upon resigning and I do not feel as if I did it to escape something. I have a bit of sadness because I will be leaving nice colleagues, but in the long run it is not so bad. I always have this strange pattern that after I leave a company scary changes suddenly take place like people getting fired, or my boss getting fired or worse some kind of suing takes place in the company. Believe me strange things happen most of the time after I resign. Don’t ask me why. But anyways, I am leaving the Netherlands (and it feels great to say it). It is after all something that is bound to happen naturally. At least I see it was done in a good way. I still have to write my resignation letter still.

Nothing personal — it’s only business

mixxy — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:00:03 +0000

The past few days we have both been busy trying to research what structure is appropriate for our business and have been working on our business plan. Later, we ended up concluding that this will not be “our business” but it will only be his. The first reason is quite clear: working together is not the best setup for us. It’s painful to think but I think we are just too different in how we work plus I am quite afraid that being together the whole day and having to go home with the same person is not very healthy for our relationship and for me personally. I need to have my own space to grow and not be watched by someone who I would eventually see again at home. Right now, if I messed up something at work at least when I go home I know I can relax and forget about it and see my home as a haven of rest but if we work together there will be no space and breather!

I guess that’s the deal-breaker. The second major thing is that his business partner finds that having us together as owners in the same company spells imbalance in the control of the direction of the business. They have both worked hard to develop their business for over a year already and having me there seems like not the right thing to do and besides.. didn’t I say earlier like you know.. when I started this blog that I wanted to have SABBATICAL. That was one of my main goals of choosing to move back to the Philippines. That will be a time for me not only to rest but to explore my interests, skills and develop myself free from any care or expectations from anyone. I think that is the way to go for me. However, I can foresee that my sabbatical will not take that long and soon I will discover something really cool for me to do. Of course, the only thing I can see myself doing right now is to be an IT professional/consultant and starting my own outsourcing company is always a dream that I would like to pursue but I think I should restrain myself from pushing myself too soon and then risk getting myself burned out again.

On the other hand, we both know and acknowledge that with this new big undertaking both of us should benefit and not just only one. We are in the process of coming up a plan or deal that in the end benefits both of us. In the next posts I hope this will be clear. I am after all giving up a pretty good job that pays well enough and an okay situation that I would probably miss from time to time. It’s a challenging job and has its ups and down but overall it’s a career and I do not see myself giving up on my personal dreams and ambitions for nothing.

And regarding our upcoming trip we have been slowly developing our itinerary as well for our upcoming visit. Later, we would be making appointments with some interesting people we’d like to meet as well as family of course. Only a few more weeks and we’re there !!

Health Advisory for Philippine Travelers

mixxy — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 14:41:09 +0000

It is recommended for anyone staying in the Philippines for longer than 1 month to have the following vaccinations least 4-6 weeks before departure :

Yellow Fever - 10 days before travel
Hepatitis A - 2 weeks
Typhoid fever - 10 days
Japanese encephalitis - 1 month
Hepatitis B - 3 to 4 weeks
Tuberculosis - 3 months
Rabies - 1 month
Diphtheria - 3 months
Tetanus - 1 day

We also need to have caution when going to areas near water or rural areas where mosquitoes are prevalent. The following infectious diseases are spread by mosquito bites:

Malaria - there are no vaccines yet but there are prevention drugs available. However, the side effects of the drugs are quite significant so one must consider if the risks outweigh the side effects that one may experience when taking these drugs. You need to take the drugs few weeks prior to the trip.

Dengue fever - caused by a virus also spread by mosquitoes. Only prevention available is using insect repellants and using impregnated (sprayed) mosquito nets at nighttime.

Believe it or not, I would not have thought about this if not for my inlaws and co-workers mentioning about the necessity of vaccinations for our travel to the Philippines. As a native of this country and someone who has lived here for 24 years of my life and have not seen or knew anyone who have gotten sick from the diseases mentioned below I do not have any fears of getting sick other than getting the usual travelers diarrhea. But then, my husband has never traveled to a tropical country and have not been exposed at all to these diseases so I guess it is worth considering these precautions. We’ll schedule a visit to our huisarts (family doctor) one of these days.

My not-so-boring Status Report

mixxy — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 05:30:26 +0000

I’ve been quiet for the past days but so many interesting things have happened. First of all, I FOUND BUBBLES! Just a few days ago MrC and I were web browsing together and we thought of searching in Facebook and there I found a name that sounds familiar, it was the name of her little brother. I fondly remember this little brother of her was in kindergarten when we were high school seniors and sometimes we would go and pick him up when going home. So, my husband dared me to send an email to him and finally we did. After less than 48 hours I got a reply back from him and he was indeed her little brother! He gave me her e-mail address. I sent her a short introductory email and after a day I got a short reply! She is in the Philippines, married with 2 kids and a business woman! That girl has eluded me for almost 20 years but anyways, with the way I lived my life the past few years it’s quite natural that I would lose touch with many of my friends but I think when I go back to the Philippines it would really be nice to reconnect with a lot of my old friends.

Next good news is that MrC and I are actually meeting people who might become key players in our business venture. He is now working closely with a fellow Dutch businessman who is doing the same kind of outsourcing business in Vietnam and has a colleague that works here as well. Their company has now provided one .Net web developer from Vietnam who will start ASAP on his current project. They are also very willing to assist us with any information we might need to setup our venture which is actually almost the same as what they are doing. Hopefully we could learn a lot from them! MrC is also constantly searching for people knowledgeable in mobile development in the Symbian platform as well. On the other hand, through this blog we were also fortunate to meet one highly talented individual who we hope to meet up with during our trip in August and see how it develop from there.

At work, it is becoming easier and easier for me to really leave without any feelings of guilt or whatsoever because I have made known to my boss and now to my colleagues what the trip in the Philippines means. It is not 100% sure but it surely is close to that. After our 3 week trip, and if all went well, I will resign from my job immediately. On the meantime, the HR has sent me a message that they are going to hire a full-time employee to assist me since the one we have now is a freelancer consultant who has no plans of being a corporate slave anyways they need us to provide them with a good job description for this new colleague. For me, I think this person is also my replacement as well so at least they won’t be in a risky situation when the freelancer’s contract ends or if I leave.

With regards to my residency status here, it is still unclear but it looks like I will end up being a tourist when my 5 year permit ends in 2 years. I need to pass inburgering (inbuggering) before that 5 year is up otherwise they will not renew my permit. This would mean that if I am really motivated enough to stay here I have to at least pass this state language exam and just thinking about this wants me pack my bags now and leave for the States. Anyways, I asked MrC again, he knows this but I constantly ask him anyways, I constantly wanted confirmation that we would go the U.S. if Philippines is no longer a choice. In a heartbeat I will apply for his visa to the US and that should only take less than 9 months if we applied from the consulate here in the Netherlands.

You know, I truly appreciate the Netherlands and what it has done for me personally and the experience of meeting wonderful and interesting people here is priceless. However, when the inburgering and the “meedoen” pressure they put upon immigrants like me who are hardworking and contribute to Dutch society is pretty much an insult and to me I’m heartbroken from it because I’ve seen several good relationships fall apart from it and foreign partners live in depression in such a country that talks of itself as tolerant, fair and most of all a welfare state(!). But times are changing and so my husband and I are preparing ourselves to go if our dreams cannot be realized in such a place.