another YO post

Another source of yogurt-related happiness. After introducing my new flavor of choice comes another reason for my taste buds to celebrate. see this

Click the photo now to get the details of my first ever Ensogo voucher purchase. Ensogo is offering a great deal! For on 65 pesos, you can get a medium -sized california berry yogurt with 3 toppings! A 50% discount since this normally costs 130 pesos.

Frozen yogurt, or FROYO was first introduced to me by a cousin. A bit more expensive than your usual ice cream treat but since this is yogurt, a lot healthier they say. My first Froyo experience happened at Kenny Rogers, a buy 1 take 1 treat!

Interested in knowing more about California Berry? click here!

Wanna get the same deal I got from Ensogo? Better do it now, as many as 10700 vouchers has been sold as I write... I guess a lot of yogurt lovers thinks this is a good deal. Click away, only 100 hours to go before this offer expires.

yogurt mania

The latest object of my taste buds' affection. Saw this by chance at my usual brunch place...7-11 at terminal 3. At first I was hesitant, after all I am not a hardcore yogurt fan, but curiosity took over me and I had to try it. I grabbed a banana and snatched a cup of this off the chiller:

Sweet little langka bits, in ube flavored base. I am used to eating yogurt in all its fruity glory.. mango, strawberry, melon and raspberry, a bit sour, but this one is sweet, a bit too sweet for something that is supposed to be healthy, but the sweet tooth in me is not complaining. 

Got this for 35 pesos at 7-11, but had a trip to the supermarket and bought a few cups for 28 pesos! Looks like I'll be munching on this for the next few days.

my 8-hour Cebu experience

Have a look at these boarding passes:

As someone who has worked in the airport for 1/3 of my life, I guess it is safe to say that I have encountered more than a million passenger. And whenever I come across a traveler who says they are traveling on duty; I tell them I am jealous. Who wouldn't want to be paid to travel for free? But more often than not, seasoned business travelers tell me that I shouldn't be jealous. And now I know why.

Last Tuesday, my company asked me to go to Cebu to handle a Dangerous Goods training class. A class normally takes 4 hours, or even shorter depending on the participants' willingness to participate.

So after my counter duties at terminal 3 ended at 1002h, I took a heavy brunch for I know that no meals are served for domestic flights. After my agents were shuttled to terminal 1 for their 2nd airline duties, I asked the company driver to bring me to the domestic terminal of Philippine Airlines. I reached the airport at 1115h, enough time to check in for my 1245h flight. I guess it was not a full flight because I did not have to wait to be attended to at the check - in counter. After which, I proceeded straight to the boarding gate and waited. Having been awake since 0430h, I was able to take a quick nap at the holding area before my flight boarded at 1225h.

I must admit though that I was a bit surprised at how the boarding was handled. There were only 2 agents at the boarding gate, 1 did the announcement, which really did not sound very impressive, and the other agent tore the boarding passes. Nobody was there to control the flow of passengers, so even the business class passengers had to wait in line.

T'was a cloudy day, I was seated by the aisle and slept immediately. After what seemed like 20 minutes, I woke up to meal service. A pack of peanuts, a fudgee bar and choice or coffee, tea or water. I asked for coffee and later asked for 2 glasses of water.

I arrived Cebu at 1410h, was met by a pretty Cebuana. Being the naturally chatty me, we engaged in small talk and later learned that they have been very busy for most part of the day since another boss of our company was also visiting. I was guided to the PAL admin office to meet out training manager.

His class ended at exactly 1600h, my cue to start mine. I just waited for 15 minutes to let the group settle.

I found our Cebuano agents to be quite a happy bunch. I enjoyed my little class with them as they do live up to the warm and friendly Cebuano reputation.

I finished my class a little before 2000h. Dismissed the class and went to the nearby Marina Mall with our training manager. I was not really in the mood to eat, I was glad to see a shawarwa stand in front of the supermarket. My colleague paid for it and I had my avocado shake. That is dinner and I am happy. Knowing that our manager had to rest for he still have to prepare for his class the next day, I told him to head back to his hotel room and I shall find my way back to the airport.

I was back at the terminal by 2100h. I was early but I had nowhere else to do, I've been to Cebu 3 times before and I know that there is not much I can do in 2 hours time. I decided to just do a bit of work : check the exams that I earlier gave so I can inform the manager if a retake needs to done. Luckily all agents passed.

The flight was slightly delayed, but sadly no announcement was made. It was said that boarding will start at 2150h, we did not board until 2224h.

I again slept in the cabin.a pack of peanuts was again served this time paired with a pack of sumo mini cookies. This time around I asked for a cup of tea. After sipping my tea, I went back to sleeping.

The flight arrived manila at 2340h, as instructed, the company driver met me and drove me home.

-an hour spent awaiting boarding in Manila for my flight to Cebu

-an hour spent on board

-an hour spent waiting for my class to start

-roughly 4 hours of talking

-an hour spent for dinner

-an hour and half awaiting boarding in Cebu for my flight back home

-an hour spent on board

Guess I really should not be jealous of all those business travelers.

i am a TRY - athlete

That is no typo.. I did not mean to announce that I am a triathlete, I mean to say that I am A TRY-athlete.. a trying hard athlete! For as long as I can remember, sports has always been a part of me. Taekwondo in grade school, Swimming class in high school. In college, I was part of my batch's volleyball team. But don't be deceived, true enough that I did try out to be part of the team, I was a shoo in not because my volleyball skills was spectacular, but because they needed at least 12 players for the team, and only 8 showed up for the tryouts. PE in college was fun, I was able to try table tennis and soccer. 

Despite being employed, I still find time to play badminton, a sport that I have been playing almost 7 years now but still has no confidence yet to play it competitively. I also had a short love affair with tennis, but that sport proved to be too expensive. I also have a pair of boxing gloves collecting dust now  And lately I have been running 5k's.

Last year, I participated in 3 out of 4 events in a company sponsored sportsfest. 

I played basketball but was not able to shoot a single ball. I felt confident about my badminton game, we finished second. The volleyball event was also a pleasant surprise, I felt.. needed and important as I was assigned the tosser and we also finished second. The only event that I did not join was bowling. Balls are too heavy.. not my sport really. 

But I guess there is no escaping bowling. For my Thai Airways group's team building, they have decided to have a friendly competition at the bowling alley. The 7 supervisors of Thai Airways were each assigned a color and drew names from a bowl. I was picked by sir Toti and we were assigned the color red. 

When I learned that I needed to play bowling, I panicked. I have never held a bowling ball! Good thing I was picked by sir Toti, because everybody knows he is very competitive so he had scheduled a day of practice for us. As expected, I performed badly. My balls tend to run straight for a few feet but slowly turns to the sides before it reaches the pins. I was so concerned about me looking stupid on the event that I have asked my mom to accompany me to the bowling alley and practice. My mom obliged and she turned out to be a better bowler than me.

I have surrendered to the fact that I will only make a fool of myself in the bowling alley. But I was still determined to have fun with my friends. And I was pretty sure it was going to be 1 colorful event. With this in mind, I have asked my cousin Ken top borrow his sister's nice camera to document the event. 

Here are some photos of the event:

Here is my team in action

ever poised ms. Phet

nice form from sir Toti!

Greg in action

Monique throws like a boy! My idol!

our most dominant player! 

me of course!

 Guess which group was declared champion?

we are the champions!

After the games, we stayed on for some more photos. Here's me with my photographer and his assistant! HAHAHA

the photographer's assistant

my demanding photographer!

We goofed around the bowling alley after...

jumping is difficult!

more so with an 8-pound ball!

but my photographer needs more shots!

I am not sure if it was the bowling game or the pictorial that made me burn calories. 

My TANABATA experience

   Today is the 7th day of the 7th month of the year. For those who are in Japan, I am sure they will be celebrating the TANABATA festival. Tanaba-what? Tanabata is a Japanese tradition wherein people  write their wishes on colorful strips of paper called tanzaku and hang them on bamboo branches.Tanabata is celebrated on July 7th of each year. Being a closeted hopeless romantic, a festival that is based on a love story surely hits the spot. click here to read the full story of Tanabata festival's origin.

  

   I was giddy with excitement when I learned some time late last June that our station will participate in the Tanabata festival. I wanted to learn more about the event so I googled it right away. I immediately looked for a bamboo tree supplier and gave the information to our supervisor. After learning that origami can also be hanged on the bamboo tree , I spent a whole afternoon looking for origami crane-making tutorials on you tube. I got more excited when we were shown the  tanzakus that was brought in from Japan. who wouldn't want to write their wishes on these dainty looking pieces of paper?

   We actually had the bamboo trees available for wish hanging for two days, July 6 and 7, but since I would want to hang my wish on the exact date of the festival, I held on to my wish and only placed them on the bamboo tree this morning.  I placed a chain of origami crane because I read that hanging one means wishing for  safety and health of family and longlife! a 3-in-1 wish! lovely! Have a look at how our trees looked like after it was decorated by wishes:

passengers hanging their tanzakus being assisted by yukata wearing staff

my crane!

colorful wishes

my two lovely co-workers wearing Japanese traditional summer outfit  called yukata

wishes wishes wishes!

   A lot of the passengers , specially those who have experienced this for the first time gamely participated and wrote down their heart's desires on the tanzaku. Aside from providing the bamboo trees, we also distributed fans to passengers and since this celebration is also known as the star festival in Japan, star-shaped cookies were also given to the passengers. After the flight, the bamboo trees were kept in the office. The wishes hanged on the trees will be collected and sent to Japan and will serve as an offering to a shrine. 

   I hope that my wishes will be granted.. I also wish that we get to do this again next year!