Blogs from Philippines, Asia - page 316

firstly, i will give you a brief background about myself......i am ricky, from cebu.....i was teaching in USC when i first heard that i was accepted for a study grant in the Netherlands....so in August 1998, for the first time in my life, i set foot in a foreign country.....i stayed there for 2 years to complete my MSc in Biochemical Engineering in Delft Technical University..... To make the story shorter, it was a school-house-school scenario for the first year until i began to assimilate into the dutch society....i made friends (enemies too..hahaha) and maybe the whole Filipino community...... When i finished my MSc, i had to go back to USC to return service.....but the urge to seek for greener pasture was more overwhelming than returning service.....I left again in November 2001.......but this time in Maastricht, ... read more

Yesterday we went jet skiing with Captain Rico Hermoso (aka Jimmy). Jimmy is a family friend and is building a private resort on the shore of Lake Taal - a lake within a volcano. We made an early start from Pasig and got a good run to our meeting point with Jimmy, the Petron station on the Southern Highway, it took about 45 minutes. The meeting time was 8.30pm and we were a bit early so Michael, Justine and I grabbed a cup of coffee from Starbucks, the coffee is much the same as Starbucks in Australia and so is the price. Still it's nice to have a good cup of coffee. Jimmy arrived right on time and we followed him to his resort, probably about another 45 minutes, the builders were working on the main ... read more

After updating the blog on Thurday we went back to Fort Ilocandia Resort (FIR) and relaxed; played some eight ball and went back into Laoag for dinner at Max's chicken. I stopped by a wine store before heading back to FIR and I was able to buy a bottle of Hardy's Cab Sav (an Aussie wine) for only 320 pesos (about $8), Eleanor and I enjoyed it later that night. Friday we stayed at the resort all day, Michael and Justine rented ATV's (All Terrain Vehicles) and rode them on the sand, I relaxed by the pool and read my book whilst Eleanor and Mummy made some new friends, one lady was from England and was holidaying with her daughter and daughter's boyfriend. Later in the day we played some more eight ball in the Sports ... read more

This year's company summer outing was at Virgin Beach Resort. It was a two and a half hour bus convoy from Makati to San Juan, Batangas. There is not much to write about this beach, actually. The pictures from their website looked prettier than expected. It was close to a sugar-fine brownish-white sand beach nonetheless. The food provided by the resort was bad. Big time. Good thing we had fun with our game ala 'Amazing Race'. We were divided into 6 teams and I was tasked to swim from the shore of the beach to the man on a kayak to get our next clue. My male teammate had cramps when we reached the kayak so I left him and I swam as fast as I could back to the shore! As soon as I got ... read more

The traffic noise is deafening, yet I find myself crouched behind the counter in the lobby of my door-less hotel-come-brothel, a finger in one ear and a phone to the other, struggling to conduct an interview with my future boss in Korea. Luckily neither of us can really understand the other in the din, so it is decided the best thing for me to do is write an essay on 'The teaching of English as a foreign language in Korea'. During my 45 minute flight from Cebu to Palawan the following morning, I eat my airplane snack, drink my coffee and put the finishing touches to my essay. I know nothing whatsoever about teaching …or Korea for that matter. So after completing my three page plagiarized master piece, I feel pretty pleased for myself. I'd arrived ... read more