Life in the Big City

It's my fifth day in Manila and although it's not home, I can say I'm getting used to it.

Our training starts at 8:30 in the morning and ends at 5:30 in the afternoon. Every day, I wake up at around 6:30, take a shower, leave the hotel at around 7:30 and take the 15-minute walk to the Starbucks branch at the Standard Chartered building in Ayala Avenue, which is in front of the SMART Tower where our training is held. I'm not a coffee person, there are minimal choices for me at Starbucks, so I've had Green Tea Latte every morning since Monday. I love it, though, and I'm starting to like Starbucks, even though they do not have free WiFi access. What's amusing is that the people at Starbucks already recognize me and my companion from Ateneo de Davao University.

Unlike Dumaguete, where you can find Internet Cafes on every street, I'm finding it hard to hook up to the 'Net in Makati. I really don't know where I can find free WiFi (the hotel we're staying at is not posh enough to have it), so I decided to purchase the Smart Bro wireless Internet kit, which will supposedly allow me to access the Internet anywhere there is a Smart signal. It cost me 1,995 pesos. I tried it yesterday inside the Smart building, and it worked extremely well, but when I used it at the hotel, it was almost useless. I thought there was something wrong with the service, but I found out that it worked fine on my roommate's laptop. Hrm. I'll have to double check later and try to figure out what's wrong.

Despite the bling of skyscrapers, humungous malls, and posh restaurants here, I still feel lucky to be based in Dumaguete, where work is only 10 minutes from my house, I can drive around in my car, beaches and resorts are just 20 minutes away from the downtown area, and I don't have to ride a bus or jeepney to go anywhere. It's good to experience the big city life once in a while, but not all the time!

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ADIS Adventure

As I write this entry, I'm sitting at the basement of the SMART Tower in Ayala Avenue in Makati, using a computer that virtually has all entertainment and networking sites blocked. The fact that I can't access Facebook, or even Yahoo! OMG, is somewhat annoying, but I'd like to look at it as a blessing in disguise. After weeks of not being able to blog, I'm practically forced to do so.

What am I doing in Makati, you might ask.

Last week, I was informed by our dean that I was going to be sent here as a representative of Silliman University to SMART's Application Developers' Intro School (ADIS) Trainer's Training. It's a two-week long training of SMART application development practices that I, in turn, have to teach to my students in the upcoming semester. It's my first time to be in the Manila area alone. I was quite apprehensive about coming here, but I was not about to turn down an opportunity such as this. I've always wanted to be sent to trainings, I was not going to let the chance pass.

I arrived yesterday on the morning flight of Philippine Airlines (ticket shouldered by SMART, yay). I told my parents that someone would be picking me up at the airport so they would not worry, but I actually had to take a taxi by myself to the hotel where I was designated to check in. (If you read this, you can't tell them!) I had a couple of Iranian friends on the same flight (one of them was my ex, actually, hahaha) and they helped me find a cab. Fortunately, the taxi driver was a blessing--he was really kind, and I arrived at the Makati YMCA Hostel safe and sound.

I will be here for two weeks, until the 30th of May. I've already met great people, and I'm sure we will be learning a lot of things. Surprisingly though, I already miss Dumaguete, which has never happened to me in past travels. Maybe it's because this is the first time I've actually had to go anywhere NOT for the sake of having fun. I really  feel bad about the events I will miss, such as the Faculty & Staff Retreat that my colleagues will be having on the 28th, my friends Jonas and Lobelle's wedding on the 29th, and the already planned outings that will have to be pushed back into later dates because of my absence. I guess that's life, though. Not everything is about having fun, and despite it all, I am still very much grateful for this experience.

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