Back at home

After more than 24 hours traveling I am finally back home. I am already missing my CSC team members. They all are more than colleagues to me; I prefer to call them as my friends.

And of course I already miss Bacolod, the sun and all smiling people.

The whole CSC experience in Bacolod was amazing; that is something I will remember for my whole life!

A fire in Barangay (District) 19

The last weekend there was a fire in one of the poorest areas of Bacolod; in Barangay (District) 19 which is very close to our hotel. Houses in the area are built on very light material, like pieces of wood and corrugated plate. All in all, 62 residences were destroyed and 17 people died. Candle caused the fire… People did not own too much but everything was destroyed.

We visited the place and left some rise and sardines for the victims. In addition we bought a huge amount of candies and gave those to the children playing in the street. It took couple of seconds and then the candies were gone. Not much but at least we were able to bring the smile to the children’s face.

Time to start to say Good Byes

Back to Business; on Tuesday we had the seminar day for the students in University of St. La Salle. I had a huge audience to listen my almost three hour presentation. In the room there was place for 260 people and there were not too many empty seats; I think there were almost 200 people listening. I hope that they found the topic useful!

On Wednesday we had one extra seminar day. Duke and Alina were presenting their topics at the University. Gisele and I met local business people who were not able to participate to the first seminar day and gave our presentations to them. In the afternoon I had a change to visit one of the call centers here in Bacolod. It was very interesting to see how and hear how they operate!

On Tuesday evening we had a wonderful and a bit sad farewell party at house of Mr. & Mrs. Dumancas hosted by our client BNeFIT. I have had so wonderful time here and I have had to change to get to know extraordinary people so it is not easy to say good bye.

Mrs. Loida from West Negros University

Of course once again the food was excellent; grilled pork (a whole pig), sea food paella, desert…

We prepared a slideshow with pictures to show our clients what all we have been expiring here. After watching that it was time for karaoke! People in here love to sing karaoke and also couple of people from our team had a courage to sign. It was very nice evening!

Karaoke!

The weekend at the paradise island

Imagine; the weekend at the private owned island with sun, white beaches, snorkeling, swimming, good food and boat trips to sun set just for our team none else at the island! Can you ask more?!?

We had an amazing weekend at Danjugan Island which is the paradise island! The days we spent laying at the white beaches, enjoying of the sun and swimming. By snorkeling you were able to see different kind of fishes. In the evening we had a change to have a boat trip and enjoy the sun set. Three wonderful meals a day and two snacks… Then go to sleep under mosquito net and hear the voice of the nature. Life cannot be better!

• Lying in the Sulu Sea, 3km west of Negros Occidental, Danjugan Island (1.5km by 0.5km) rises steeply to 80m and is covered in rainforest - home to a nesting pair of sea eagles, rare pigeons and doves, threatened Tabon scrubfowls and coconut crabs, fruit and insect bats and many other wildlife species that struggle to exist in themainland.


• There are five lagoons: three landlocked and two flooded at high tide and colonised by coral and reef fish species.


• Danjugan is fringed with turtle-nesting beaches and surrounded by diverse coral reefs.


• The PRRCFI received the Best Managed Reef Award last 2001 in protecting the exceptionally-rich coral reef that surrounds Danjugan Island.
  (http://www.prrcf.org/about_danjugan.html)
  

Addicted to massage

An hour massage and the price is 3-5,5€, sounds tempting? Just after we arrived to Bacolod Maricar recommended Spa called O’Fisher Spa to us and I have been visiting the place since!

They have multiple different kinds of massages; Swedish is the regular one but my favorite is Pinoy Hilot. Pinoy Hilot is local massage style where they use thumbs and you can feel that someone is massaging you. I have also tried Shiatsu one and I almost screamed! The masseuse was a tiny lady but she pressed and stretched me I seriously thought that they have changed the masseuse... But afterwards it felt great; it do not remember the time my back has been this well!

I highly recommend! What is better than have full body massage after the work day ;)

The day in the sun

Today Duke and I visited a small white-sand island close to Sagay City called Carben Reef. The drive took about two hours and the boat trip to the island 30 minutes. During the ride we had a change to see more the country side and sugarcane fields. In the fields they are not using machines like tractors but human labor and water buffalos.




During the car drive we also run into “united countries” schoolchild - parade. They were caring flags of various countries and in the “coach” was sitting Miss of the Country. Unfortunately I was not able to take a picture from Miss Finland. So below is picture of Miss Sweden and Filipino schoolchildren carrying Finnish flags.

Carben reef was wonderful! Actually there was one other group in the island at the same time but they left a bit after we arrived so we had the whole island just for us :) And the water was so warm! I did not spend too much time in the sun but I am a bit red… The sun in here is so much stronger than in Europe.

Seminar day for Faculty

Today we had next XceleRate 2009 seminar day for the faculty. I was not presenting but I was present to listen to the presentations and available to help if needed.
Below is the agenda of the seminar day.

Isabelle opening the seminar

Sunil presenting

Artistic Diving

The last weekend the whole CSC team took a trip to Sipalay which is located on the south part of the island. The ride took around four hours but it was great to see some country side; poverty and luxury side by side. Some of the houses were made of pieces of wood and corrugated plates. On the other hand luxury houses are very luxury also on the scale of Europe.

Our destination was Artistic Diving Beach Resort owned by Swiss gentleman. The place was beautiful and sea water was so warm! Lot of swimming, a boat trip, snorkeling and relaxation!

Robert, Guillermo and I took a intro-diving lesson; on Saturday we spent a couple of hours in the pool to practice the basis of diving. On Sunday morning we went to sea and dived to ten meters with “guardian angels”. We had two diving masters and Duke with us. It was fun! We saw a lot of different color of fishes, coral, ...

If you have been reading my blog it probably seems that we have been just on vacation. But that is not quite true; of course we have had a marvelous time and we have been visiting amazing places but we have also been working.

We have been arranging the series of seminars which are called XceleRate 2009. The XceleRate 2009 consist on three modules; one for business, one for faculty and one for university students.

On Friday we had the first seminar day for local business; Business Development Day. In the room there were place for 80 people and there were not too many empty seats. In the morning Jayped discussed on “Trends in Ecommerce” and Giselle on “Marketing and Web Marketing”. After lunch is was our turn. I hold the presentation on “Creating an Effective Proposal” and Duke on “Business Process Management and BPO”.

Giselle presenting

A bit of culture and "THE" Balut ;)

Yesterday we had a pleasure to have a dinner at Mr. and Mrs. Dumancas’ place. They are local real estate developers and members of the BNeFIT organization. Their house was amazing; I do not think I have enough words to describe that! I really loved the architecture and the water elements inside the house. And of course food was also very very good. In the evening we had a change to hear their future plans for Bacolod; BPO Park that would include spaces for BPOs to establish their delivery centers, hotel, restaurants, ect. The pictures looked impressive!

On Monday we had a change to enjoy a bit culture; we attended to the City Birthday. Bacolod celebrated its’ 71st birthday with speeches, choir performances and award ceremonies. In the evening we enjoyed on the sun set in Ruins in Talisay City. See picture below.

A bit more on local food – would you taste this?

Baloot or baluut is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines. It is a fertilized duck (or chicken) egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.. Balut are most often eaten with a pinch of salt, lemon juice, plus ground pepper and Vietnamese Coriander leaves (Southern Vietnamese style), though some balut-eaters prefer chili and vinegar to complement their egg. The eggs are savored for their balance of textures and flavors; the broth surrounding the embryo is sipped from the egg before the shell is peeled and the yolk and young chick inside can be eaten. (More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg))

Duke actually ate it…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z61vL_e389M

By the way; we were yesterday guest at the TV show called She Factor hosted by Jocelle Batapa-Sigue...

MassKara 2009

Bacolod City celebrates the MassKara Festival October of each year. The festive mood in the City of Smiles becomes contagious as masked dancers line the streets, dancing along with the music all the way to the Bacolod public plaza. The three-day streetdancing competition and the Electric MassKara at the Tourism Strip in Lacson Street highlight the 19-day festival. (http://www.masskarabacolod.com/)

Feeling like a celebrity …

There are not too many tourists in Bacolod and I have a blond hair…. It seems that everyone wants to take a picture of me and actually of the whole our group… I do not mind but it is quite strange :)

On Thursday we first went with our client to “hand-washing” event for Girl Scouts. They were teaching the importance of washing hands in order to prevent diseases. There was a cute small girl presenting a song, see picture below.

After that we had a pleasure to be able to participate grand launching of new tourist magazine called Follow Me. The magazine was really great; something what we were really looking for! It describes what to do and see and what to do in Bagalod and Negros area. The story behind the magazine was really touching; the magazine was a dream of a lady but unfortunately she passed away before the magazine was launched. Her only daughter took the charge and finished the work her mother started.

In the evening we were able to participate to Miss Masskara beauty contest. Beauty contests are very popular in here; every candidate had

their own supporting teams in audience and the atmosphere was amazing. I am glad that I had a possibility to experience that!

On Friday Duke and I were working in the hotel lobby (we do not have office and that is not any problem – the internet is working very well in the office) when Robert and Jaypid came to tell that their client, University of St. La Salle, are going to take them up to mountain. And we got the pleasure to join them! It was less than hour drive to there. It was great to see some country side. The resort are in the mountain was opened a couple weeks ago and the place was very beautiful! The hiked to waterfalls or actually to two out of seven. To see them all would take a whole day.

It is MassKara festival in Bacalod this weekend (http://www.bacolodmasskarafestival.com/ & http://www.masskarabacolod.com/). People are wearing costumes, dancing and eating in street. We already visited Electric Masskara and plenty more to come in the weekend!