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!

I love the food in here!

The food in here is amazing! Especially the fruits! I even did not know that there are so many different sorts of mangos, watermelons, ect! All I mean all fruits taste so much better in here than in Finland! Probably I cannot be eating “Finnish” fruits after this….

On Wednesday I, Duke and Robert had an excellent lunch in Imay’s which is local seafood restaurant – I think the picture give you an idea… and price under 5€…

Duke and I had also a pleasure to Visit West Negros University. Loida gave us an excellent tour on University. I was very impressed the way things are here. For example we had a change to see the laboratory where nursing students practice; those dolls on which they practice on can actually speak, turn into blue, lose the pulse… Amazing

We had a ride with motorcycle with sidecar, interesting experience :D

Visit to Bacolod Town Hall and welcoming-party

In the morning we had a pleasure to visit Bacolod City Hall and briefly present the IBM SCS and our team to the Vice Mayor and City Council members in the council chamber. The council started with a prayer and city's anthem. It was quite charming; the group of employees of City gathered together singed and played guitar!

I, Duke (3rd left), Jocella (4th left) and her staff in her office

In the evening our client, BNEFIT, hosted welcoming-party to whole team. We had excellent dinner with local foods like Chicken Inasal and surrounding atmosphere was very very welcoming. All our clients (city, the universities and city) were present in the party as well as couple local news reporters. Let see what we can read from the paper…
After the lovely dinner we had the possibility once more introduce our selves and learn more on our customers.

Learning on Bacalod and its history – experiencing the great hospitality of Filipinos

Isabelle, Duke & Guillermo in Bacolod

Today we had a kick-off session with our clients. The meeting was hosted by University of St. La Salle. The clients gave the presentations on how they are operating and what are their expectations on how we could be supporting them. And believe me they are wanting the moon from the sky… ;) IBM CSC team also had a pleasure to give a presentation on the CSC assignment and introduce ourselves. After the kick-off session we visited a couple of museums and the split up to continue with the clients.

Team ready to go to the kick-off meeting

Duke presenting

The head of our client is the “super woman” called Jocelle Batapa-Sigue; Congresswoman and the first ever woman candidate for Congress! With her Duke and I had the honor to be able to participate to the 6th Bacalod History Quiz for high-school students in Bacalod. It was great to see how enthusiastic the kids were on the history of Bacalod and it was amazing how much they know! At least I learned a lot! We had also the possibility to discuss more closely on our assignment and we agreed to arrange three full day and one half a day seminar; one for business development, one for faculty development and one & half for University students.

It is really true when they say that Filipinos are known for their hospitality and joyfulness! And I am very honored to be able see and feel that. For example before the quiz Jocelle arranged us a private tour on the city with Maricar and invite us to have a dinner with her, her husband, Maricar & Loida from West Negros University, and list continues...

Pictures from 6th Bacalod History Quiz

Greetings from Phillippines!

After 12 hours flight we arrived to Manila. The travel went quite quickly. We arrived to the hotel around 11 local time and learned that the rooms are ready around 14 o’clock. So no shower but we (Giselle from Brazil, Jaydip from India, Qiong from China, Robert from US, Alina from Russian, Guillermo from Spain and I) went for a lunch and look around.

After receiving the rooms a part of us hopped to taxi and went to see the city of Manila. There are not any signs of flows in the parts of Manila we visited...

Guillermo, Robert and Sunil in packing themselves to taxi

Local busses

The traffic in Manila is something you really cannot describe – you need to see it…. It seems that there are no traffic rules. People take driving in middle of lanes; fours car side by side on the road with three driving lines… But we did not see any traffic accidents!

Lot of trash in Manila bay - maybe because of flows?

In the evening we went to have a dinner with IBM Philippines Country Manager, Waya from ABV and Andrea from IBM Philippines. After that I finally had a chance to go to the shower and have a good night sleep! Weird how you can enough so much on such a small things ;)

On Sunday we flow from Manila to Bacolod. This seems to be very nice “small city”. Out hotel is very nice; rooms are just renovated (you can still smell the paint) & there is a wireless connection in the room! In the evening we packed into two taxis and headed to restaurant called “Chicken House”. We learned that there are actually two restaurants with the same name in Bacolod. The other taxi went to correct “Chicken House” and I, Duke, Robert and Guillermo to other. Bit funny but the food was very good also in this “wrong Chicken House Restaurant”.