Day 9 & 10

DAY NINE

Date: 24^th June 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 22:42 of 26^th June

Weather: hot

(Trying my best to recall the past now, failed to religiously blog everyday baddd) Tuesday was… the first day of arts and craft lessons at KAISAKA!!! This also means, the first time we meet the children!!! Dang dang dang dang!!!

KAISAKA accepts every single disability so there was a really huge range, we didn’t know which to expect so the very first activity started out simple: Origami haha! I taught them how to fold a heart, dog, boat, hat and they decorated their end products with crayon and drawings. It felt like KidsREAD all over again, had a really enjoyable time and I really hope the children enjoyed themselves as much as I did! The age range of children present that day was so wide, and they were all quite high-functioning! As far as I can remember now (on the 26^th haha), there were three young girls of around 10-11 years old who are a clique haha, played together and all; the shy son of a teacher there who was really talented in math; son of Jeannie; three boys (another clique). Made them feel confident about themselves because we had role-reversal time, I called them teachers and asked them direct translation for simple words to tagalog! J Told Jeannie’s son that he is a good teacher and he smiled so happily :’) Thank you my teachers! J

The lesson got interrupted halfway because a group of Australian visitors entered the class and started saying hello to every one of them, Kim and I were lost and just stood at the side LOL, it became a really noisy place after a while. Turns out that they were fund raisers of KAISAKA, so it is understandable that they would like to witness where the money goes to I guess. Helped them take a group pics and the day ended shortly after! Had a mini sit-down discussion with beef burgers after the program, (didn’t eat the beef, and only a little of the bread) Poor president and Jeannie, it was a super tiring and shag day for them! Wonderwomen/Superwomen, #respect!!!

And of course… muahahaha Kim and I had to reward ourselves too! Celebratory time of our very first day at KAISAKA! We headed to a famous Korean café, Café de Seoul and FELL IN LOVE WITH THE PLACE!!! (or more specifically, the endless wifi there) It was pretty and cosy, typical nice café feel haha. There were many mugging students, and I was one of the rare souls there with no mugging to do heheheh. Oh and of cos, Americano as usual~ Nua-ed there till 7+ and we decided it was dark and time to go, reluctantly. We can actually just nua there for a long long time hahahaha.

Dinner was dim sum at a Hong Kong restaurant at the ground flour of a random old hotel! J Wah that day we were going international man hahaha, filippino snack, Korean coffee, hong kong dinner LOL. I had steamed tofu (I think the tofu is abit old already, a little sour just a little) but still yummy in really yummy soup. Ordered vegetable dumplings but it was sadly a no… the skin was really bad, and the insides are a lousier version of popiah’s insides. L Luckily I had my tofu!!!

Realize nothing can beat singapore’s food ever. 爱死你们! <3

DAY TEN

Date: 25^th June 2014

Day: Wednesday

Time: 14:45 of 28^th June (lag again)

Weather: Huge rain in the mid-afternoon

(Trying my best to recall, with my cui memory. Currently at Café de Seoul again on a Saturday afternoon) Second day at KAISAKA!!! It was picture frame making, with ice cream sticks, a drawn coloured pictures and strings of beads as decoration! The glue made it a really slow process, but nonetheless the products look really not bad haha J (I’m going to insert all the pictures into the posts another time when I’m less lazy haha!) Some children had difficulty with threading the beads but I hoped it improved their motor skills a bit! The girls loved the beading part! Girls being typical girls haha. It was quite hard to cater to ALL of the children, the age range and disability range was so wide L For e.g., there was a (very cute) young toddler boy who needed the help of his relative all the time. And some non-verbal children as well, we are always afraid that they disliked the activity/was bored. But feedback was always good LOL, I have no idea if the staff are just being kind.

Day 2 felt less tiring, probably because I was conducting the origami folding on Day 1, needed more energy to get everyone’s attention. I love everything about KAISAKA, the children and their volunteer staff J Xiexienimen for always being so welcoming :’) Even had a sweet fried banana after lesson together with the children!

When the day ended, Kim and I wanted to visit Café de Seoul again for wifi and aircon and electricity hahaha (we make FULL USE of our coffee’s worth) but sadly it was closed! Headed over to Vito Cruz area to locate the next place we can kope our wifi at: Hollys Coffee > Coffee Bean > Starbucks > FINALLY! Seattle’s Best Coffee had wifi for us!!! (makes me think about how amazing SG is, we actually have wifi almost everywhere) But Seattle’s so smart haha their wifi is timed, so the timer countdowned and ended shortly after hahaha. No wifi = no us. Off we go! Back to Boni Station’s Robinsons Mall for dinner! Tried out this Japanese place that SG doesn’t have: Tokyo Tokyo. My dinner’s name is Japadog! Which is actually just a fried chicken hot dog, ketchup, mayo and the typical hot dog bread. Hmm not really worth the money, SGD$2+ I think. Filipino’s Jumbo hot dog that is sold at ALL MRT Stations is much more worth, sadly it’s beef!

That’s all for Tuesday, as far as I can remember! OH OH OH!!! I just remembered the highlight: EARLY MORNING OF TUESDAY! It was freaking epic. We had a #seriouslyhapz #nightlife doing up a sample of the picture frame till around 2am. Epic moment happened at around 1+am: when we realized that we were talking about the art and craft issues with super serious mood, and working on the product soooo seriously. We saw the time and looked at each other and looked at our beads and ice cream sticks in our hands, with the fact that we’re 20 and 21 years old… And started LOLing until my stomach hurt so badly omg hahahaha. Until our laughter become those silent-shaking kind, our type of #nightlife omg LOL. Memories to keep for a lifetime J

Day 7 & 8

DAY SEVEN

Date: 22^nd June 2014

Day: Sunday

Time: 22:20 of 23^rd June

Weather: hot

The day started off with a trip down to LRT again, because Kim’s friend Dorothy is going to bring us around yay!!! They are church friends, so the first thing we did was to go to Dorothy’s church. Hmm dad won’t be too happy about this but I guess it’s like a cultural exchange so it’s okay! The church was about two hours long, had many songs and loud music and bands and pastor giving a lecture style talk about the younger generation. My first time in church! (the last too haha, but it was an interesting experience)

After church, time for lunch!!! Manila is really the land of fast food LOL we had lunch at yet another famous local fast food called Chic-Boy! I had my chicken leg with rice and sour sauce, yummy! J Took the taxi for the first time and we set off to Intramuros! A really old district with all the rich history of The Philippines, esp during colonial period under Spain. It was really a pretty place, with nice architecture and quiet streets. We took the horse and toured the area! Tour guide was really nice and patient with us, and he is always wanting to help us take group pic so cute hahaha. We went to MANY PLACES

1.  A Spanish museum to look at the real furniture during those times, the house of a rich Filipino. 
2.  A Filipino-Chinese museum which shows the history of Chinese in the PH
3. A Fort with cannons, green green grass (duh haha), posters of presidents and… caged places underground which were probably prison cells for the prisoner-of-war :’(
4. A church and another church. All looking so pretty, esp the glass. A wedding was taking place at the oldest church! Weddings held there are super expensive, 有钱人!
5.  A huge garden-like place, with the statue of National Hero, and carriages that looked like Cinderella’s, a super chill and beautiful place which sadly had entrance fee as well haha.

Spent a lot of money that day, around 500 pesos! Because of the museums and transport rides. Had nice small talks with Dorothy about everything and anything, mainly about PH and SG, from food to politics haha. To end off the day, Dorothy brought us to the huge Robinsons mall near her condo to try this mango with prawn paste and coconut at the food court! Love the food again haha going to repeat this ten thousand times, (but sg’s food still number 1 in my heart tho) We went over to visit her condo as well, it is a nice cosy apartment! J

Thank you Dorothy for taking her busy time off to spend the day with us!!! School here is really stressful as well, 谢谢你! J

DAY EIGHT

Date: 23^rd June 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 19:16 of 24^th June

Weather: okay-hot with rain in the morning

Monday!!! Omg I survived a week here already!

Monday was spent taking a trip down to KAISAKA INC for the first time ever! Woke up with a shock because Andy texted me at 6am that I should be making my way down already due to the rush hour in the morning. We were supposed to meet her at 8am at Quirino LRT Station, but we ended up early anyway haha, so it wasn’t so extreme.

The orientation (slide show and talking style) was a little sleepy, but still good. At least we got an idea about the organization and how it functions, people are really friendly as well J  The most exciting part was the AREA VISIT! Because four physiotherapy students were interning at the place, we had the chance to follow them during their area visit!!! It started raining but that doesn’t change anything! Geared with umbrellas and off we go! J Sadly I was wearing flats so it was super soaked after that (but it’s okay, I washed my socks already haha) Area visiting was really, really, really an eye-opener. We went into the slum areas and there were a lot of activities going on. It was a little dark, and probably darker because of the rain. The air was wet and moist. Ventilation wasn’t that good. There were: Naked children bathing, mothers washing clothes in the olden-sg-style with a pail and soap, people selling fried food (pots of oil and floating food like fish balls), children trading cards and playing, small stalls selling snacks…

We finally arrived at the first house of visit! The beneficiary was a three-year old, who has a muscle disorder so his muscles are really tensed all the time. He was so skinny he looked like a baby, small and fragile, heartbreaking to see… The house was dark and small and the sofa that he was lying on took up half of the whole place already. His really young-looking mummy told us he loves songs so everyone was singing lullabies so loudly during his therapy, which aimed to loosen his muscles but it hurts him so he would whine a bit L I could really feel his mummy’s love, 母爱真的很伟大 :’) Grow up healthy little boy!!!

Time was tight so Kim and I left with our in-charge, Jeannie to the second beneficiary, Angel! Second example of母爱真的很伟大, it was her grandma who raised her patiently. Angel is slow in learning and really quiet, we waved hello and she shyly replied. Did a hi-5 too J

I wish they will grow up happily, and may these illnesses never stop them from becoming happy people please J

We had welcome dinner with AIESEC UST (University of Santo Tomas), so we had to leave KAISAKA early at around noon! Headed over to Macs to wait for Andy, my EP Buddy, and we actually feel asleep in macs hahaha. Began the epic long journey again after much walking, we took a van that works like a jeep but looks like a taxi haha, squeezy as usual but I actually fell asleep in it haha. Sleep is possible everywhere I go~

Had lunch at a food court (finally!!! food courts are really rare in malls omg, it’s always just fast food or expensive restaurants) and I finally ate the very famous Siow Mai!!! It’s super popz here in PH, their version of siew mai back home, just that it’s one level higher, YUMMIER! J There were so many different types as well haha pork and shrimp, chicken, tuna… I got the typical pork and shrimp ones, and they come with lime and chili, wahhhh I really love the chili <3 Happy tummy with siow mai!

Met up with more AIESEC UST people like Kath, and even more at Gongcha (yes leh omg they have it here haha), and just waited till it was time to go! Took a tricycle to the final venue of dinner place, and the house was really nice! Wooden furniture, piano, garden, huge, with many pets (furry cat, dogs, fish, bunny hahaha) After exploring the house, it was more waiting time and small talks with new friends from UST. I suck at socializing as usual, did my best to talk… hahaha was dying for time to pass quickly tho.

And yes finally! MAKAN TIME!!! The other EPs from Explore arrived, so it began! J The food was whoohoo: The national fish, grilled milk fish, sweet grilled banana (LOVE), some sweet sticky rice with cheese on top, filippino noodles, fresh lumpia (LOVE), intestine things (nope didn’t touch that hahah) and SWEET BARBECUE CHICKEN (MEGA LOVE) Food was wiped out in a flash hahaha, super shiok, esp the bbq and the banana ahhhhhh! Things sped up a lot after the meal. That sentence can be translated into: we left. HAHAHAHAHA Andy, Kim, Ayla and I left for the dorm as soon as we were done hahaha, didn’t play the games or socialize anymore :P They weren’t feeling too well too. Made a trip to the super grand and huge supermarket at Landmark Departmental Store and tadah!!! We’re back J Comfort zone again hahaha.

Anddd… I forgot any small details in between sadly, so that’s all! (Didn’t manage to blog religiously everyday sian! It’s the 26^th today already…)

Day 5 & 6

DAY FIVE

Date: 20^th June 2014

Day: Friday

Time: 8.54 of 21^st June

Weather: I FORGOT

I skipped Day 5’s post that night because we were talking to Harmony, a fellow EP from Explore Programme from America, till 3am at night hahaha! When we were coming back to our rooms the karaoke room was still blasting music (walls are not soundproof at all lol) and there was this drunk Filipino who asked us to self-intro and spooked us out, we rushed back into the rooms haha. Shared with Harmony about Singapore and school and almost everything, learnt a lot about life in the States as well. Culture exchange! J It was nice. Maybe some awkward silence in between, but yup, still. Nice.

Back to what happened in the day! Kim and I were totally free on Friday, and we couldn’t stand staying in the dorm all day long unlike the rest. So we decided to head out to the malls near Ayala Station! Walked around, got our pictures for materials needed, more walking, more window-shopping, and the highlight: JOLIBEE!!! Got our first jolibee (set meal C3: a piece of chicken and sweet spaghetti) it was not bad! Bro will love it here, chicken heaven for him hahaha.

Simple Friday chilling and slacking around in malls. Therefore, short and sweet post! [HHAHAAHA when I’m posting this, Michael was making his way down from his double decker and it looked so uncomfortable and difficult. Niko did a judging look and shaked his head behind Michael’s back LOL]

DAY SIX

Date: 21^st June 2014

Day: Saturday

Time: 8.55

Weather: sunny

Our first Saturday here in Philippines!!! Tiring long day but it was awesome and worth the journey (MRT > LRT > Jeepney > Tricycle). We headed off to MAGINHAWA STREET, THE EAT STREET! J I really love the place it was so different from Boni, Manila where we are staying at. Maginhawa is quiet: the traffic is less crazy and roads are small, it felt like a Tiong Bahru area! Streets are filled with small eateries and cafes, I think it’s my favourite place in the Philippines so far! <3

Went to The Fresh Selections, an organic café and I had a really tasty Fresh Lumpia, which is something like a Singaporean popiah, just that it’s a healthy version: the filling is fresh vegetables, and the dish comes with sweet sauce at the side. LOVE IT HEHEHE J

Did a lot of walking around and next up was Gayuma Ni Maria, a really retro café!!! I flew to cake heaven, sooooo good I need to bring my bro here too! We had red velvet, rum and chocolate cake ahhhhh *v* Spent our time watching Youtube with Nerissa, like Wahbananas hahaha, glad Nerissa laughed at it, I was afraid she won’t get/like the Singaporean humour.

We finally left the favourite most amazing place at 5pm+, and took the long way back to Nerissa’s apartment! Along the way, we took a tour around UST, her university and it was really beautiful. Old and a little spooky at times but beautiful nonetheless. Got to Nerissa’s dorm and she gave us Filipino sweets from Palawan! I love it, some cashew nuts with sugar so all the cashew nuts are joined together, super sweet <3

Thank you Nerissa for the day! J

Day 3 & 4

DAY THREE

Date: 18^th June 2014

Day: Wednesday

Time: 21:29

Weather: sticky sticky! Rainy night

Today was yet another nua day, just that we changed the location of nuaing our day away haha. I woke at 5.15, same timing as Niko from Finland, and the sky was already SO BRIGHT! Took my own sweet time to change and get ready, woke Kim up nearing 6 and headed down for a morning Kopi-O (LOVE) and buns! Got our way to Wendy’s ourselves (yay success! Jeep > MRT) to meet Vim there and according to ‘filippino time’ (which means they will lag abit haha), we set off at 7am in Vim’s car!

Took an hour+ to leave Mandaluyong and reach the school in the mountains! Mr Vim kept feeding us throughout the day: beef noodles (left the beef for Kim again, xiexieni), really sweet mangos, local fruit, nuts, delicious HUGE lunch (which was my favourite fish friends in sweet and sour sauce, another fish friend braised, chicken, salad, sticky rice) half-alive duck egg called balutt which I can’t bring myself to eat, Kim tried it though! Brave!!! (Y)

We basically spent the day touring the Arts School which was just populated with the top music scholars of the area, from pianist, guitarists, to visual artists, creative writers etc. It was their secondary school so everyone is talented AND young (made me wonder what’s my talent again, 快点来 Talent, if you are even existent hahaha) People are really friendly and Mr Vim, being the Director, is a real big shot and I can tell how he is being strongly respected and loved by members of the school :’) Meanwhile… Kim and I are just small flies beside the King with zero talents LOL CUI.

We got alighted at a Robinsons Shopping mall which has a cinema andddd Gongcha (omg didn’t expect this)!!! Walked around and returned back while it was drizzling slightly. Did some work and planning but the best part of the day was WIFI (finally) <3 Slept at 2 and woke at 7+, ready to start a brand new day! J

DAY FOUR

Date: 19^th June 2014

Day: Thursday

Time: 23:34

Weather: Rainy less humid day

Hi.

Today I figured out that this random ‘Jumbo Hot Dog on stick’ that I ate twice is actually a mix of pork and beef, not chicken. Luckily I realized it early, if not Guan Yin Ma from SG needs to take an overseas trip here soon already. So yup, no more jumbo hot dogs!

Washed my clothes yesterday for the first time here and yay I just kept them back into the luggage nice and dry J The other EPs are clubbing, whoohoo whoohoo time but Kim and I have different schedules from them because of our projects anyway, so we’re having quiet alone-time in the dorm instead J 我喜欢.

Let’s take a trip down today’s memory lane. It was just Kim and I in the dorm last night, and because of the time we turned the aircon on, it didn’t switch off in the middle of the night so awesome, we had a super good undisturbed 没有被热醒 sleep J Headed out after the usual simple breakfast, took a tricycle to the Mental Hospital but got cheated off $30 pesos extra (sian). The trip there took $80, but the trip back was $50! Oh well, part and parcel of a foreigner’s life. The hospital felt like hospitals in the olden Singapore. It was nice and clean, but much less technologically advanced and a little old. Paints were chipping off and tables were a little dirty. We visited the waiting area of the Women and Children Protection department and got an idea of what should be done to improve the place in general. The doctors were classy nice ladies and welcomed us warmly J We were done with our tasks really quickly, chop chop Singaporean style. The trip there and back took only about two hours+ in total. By 10+, we were done for the day already!

Headed back to the dorm to get the first draft of proposal out and we were officially done again! After Kim rested, we set off for Taft Avenue! Random trip to random MRT station just because google says that place has some nice cafes, and yes tadah!!! They do! Nerissa, Kim’s buddy, is so amazing she brought us around enthusiastically despite her busy schedule and even treated us to Nachos at Zack’s. I got myself a SGD3 fish burgerrrrr (love for fish never dies). [ERM OK OMG WHEN I WAS TYPING THIS ON MY LAPTOP IN MY BED, NIKO MY ANGMOH ROOMMATE FROM FINLAND IS CHANGING HIS PANTS IN FRONT OF ME. CULTURE DIFFERENCE CULTURE SHOCK CULTURE SCARE OMG LOLOL] After Zack’s burger (first burger in PH) [OK NOW HE STARTS CHANGING HIS TOP OK CAN. TOO OPEN MY FRIENDS. THIS CULTURE. TOO OPEN! NUUUUUU] we headed off to this filippino-koreanish café that has a really nice feel to it, atas atas, with nice decorations and all, feels like those cafés back home. Got myself an iced Americano, hmm the ones at home still win. We sat at this wooden area where shoes aren’t allowed, it was right beside the windows you can see the crowd come and go, it was nice J Chill and good.

Ended the day taking the LRT and then switching over to the MRT, busy busy busy crowd as usual, but yes we are really getting used to this! J

Day 1 & 2

DAY ONE

Date: 16 ^th June 2014

Day: Monday

Time: 12:59

Weather: (peeking out of the window) bright & sunny with fluffy clouds

Hello. 'm currently using the laptop to charge my phone on the plane; we have one more day till we land and meet our buddies (OMG). Kim is watching her show beside me and I have no shows to watch I actually opened HM's slideshow "Lecture 1" LOL hahahaha I might actually mug During this trip because I have nothing in my laptop and wifi needs $. Saying hello to PH in an hour, we do not know what to expect OMG @! $! @% # IT'S FREAKING happening HAHAHA. 42 DAYS OF +63, so glad I have Kim though haha and we're in this together least. Keeping High Hopes, with everyday be a busy and fulfilling one please! J

Time: 23:38

Weather: cold Because the air conditioner is blowing in my face

One day finally ended. I'm currently sitting in bed, double decker bed omg my dream When I was young and I'm the bed upstairs - best thing ever, I get to climb the ladder hahaha. The hostel is fine, mildly-ulu but yes, fine. No hot showers but that's okay as well. Floor is unknown abit dirty but that's okay too, as long as the bed is clean I can live with this! J My bed is right beside the aircon shiok hahaha here's to winter nights! (I hope it's not too wintery though)

About today-One word to describe today: BOOM!! Kim and I were trying to describe how we felt but we realized we can only use this sound word to sum up our first day in PH. Overwhelming much hahaha.

Let's backtrack to funny times on the plane. We took Cebu Pacific Air, (budget of course) and it was a really funny plane. Funniest moment of the day was when we landed and were all preparing to leave the plane: the pilot said: "Cabin crew, doors open MAY BE". Kim and I freaking LOL, "hmm MAY BE only, there be close? There be open? 可能开,可能关 "HAHAHAHAHA OMG LOLOL. Funny moment number 2 was During the middle of the flight, the cabin crew conducted a 'LIVE QUIZ TIME! "," Round of applause please! "And everyone questioned about Filipino culture HAHAHA super enthu, Cebu is super cute! And a little scary Because the wheels of the plane are violent and there was quite a lot of TURBULENCE but other than that, the funny-ness neutralized all the scariness away ! J

Got through the customs (who were all really stern-looking, zero smiles, sadly) and was greeted with two huge boards Nico, Nerissa and Andy PREPARED for us! So sweet and so cute haha I was actually worried we will not be able to find them in the crowded airport, but I am so glad we saw them so Easily haha! Got a car ride from Andy's manicurist to our hostel and meanwhile, took a good look and feel of the really busy traffic here! After 6 months I bet you'll be so used to the buzz and crazy traffic and crowds. The BOOM moment came at the hostel. There were so many other fellow EPs and EP Buddies we said hi and small talked to so many of them it became abit tiring after a while, to Constantly stay high. Glad that part was over, but everyone is really nice J Because our flight got delayed, we skipped our lunches and were as hungry as a pack of wolves (simile SIA) so it was time for an early dinner. But a huge group always mean long waiting times, so the hunger ran away after a while! Finally assembled everyone together and we hopped on to two Separate Jeepies! An alternative to taxis. They are colorful open-concept long vans with two rows of cushioned seats and metal grills at the sides, whoohoo Filipino culture time! It was 8 pesos a ride to the MRT station, and to pay the driver, you have to say "Pay the man" out loud in Filipino and everyone passes the money over to the drivers one by one and the change gets passed back as well . Bumpy ride but cool J

After the ride, we got off and the market to make our way to the MRT station. First sight of the poor here and the market: road stalls selling all sorts of things like cigarettes and fried food; small children with worn-out clothes playing happily by the drain. The crowd got worse X3 and the MRT station. Got our train cards and literally packed like sardines got into the train (simile again, OMG zai). Same goes for the train ride back to the hostel as well, but the most memorable moment was this gentleman making gestures Towards the empty seats offering it for me twice. First impressions from my first day here: the people here have good train etiquette! Good courtesy made ​​my day J

Dinner was at Max's Restaurant, the chicken was soooooooooooooooo amazing I loved it! <3 Will definitely be back for more! Tried a few Filipino food like noodles and THEIR version of popiah, awesome as well J Not forgetting our dessert, shaved ice Mix, though I personally prefer our shaved ice back home! But yes, the chicken is still the champion.

Tadahhhh, that concludes my day! Managed to head to the supermarket to get some breakfast before heading home, I really need to be Meticulous with the budget issues this trip - save save save! Finally 12:15 of Day 2 now. Got to go get some rest and listen to music and force myself to sleep. TATA J

DAY TWO

Date: 17 ^th June 2014

Day: Tuesday

Time: 22:06

Weather: less hot, small rain

The air conditioner has an auto-off timer so I was 热醒 many times in the morning but it was too early to be awake. Thankfully I managed to fall back to sleep till 6am it was again! The sky brightens here really early, it felt like it was 7 + When it was just 6! I ate my made-in-Singapore 'European Belgian waffles' (10 packets of 2 waffles each, total of $ 3 SGD are priority is expensive L ) Haha it's not really waffles, It tastes like ... a friend-of-bread in the bread family hahaha, but still yummy nonetheless. Abit too pricey, I'm just going to buy the $ 0.80 SGD from now onwards bread buns (10 buns worth it TTM + yummy too) Had my yummy grapes for breakfast as well, cost me around $ 1.50 SGD are priority is cheap comparing to those back home, but ... I'm on budget budget budget so no more grapes for now. We had the whole morning to kill Because the 'orientation' only starts and then, so Kim and I headed out to walk around the neighborhood, and landed in this 24-hour restaurant where Kim got her $ 3.50 SGD local version of tunghoon in a HUGE serving. Super worth the $ $ $! I got a hard eggy bun at the local bakery are priority was really cheap, a few cents and tasted not bad too! There were many other breads and brownies and stuff, I can predict we will be back Often J Did a little shopping around the supermarkets, Bought a super huge jug of water to last us both for a few more days and a pocket-size instant Nescafe Kopi-O (in heaven, thank god for Kopi-O, ​​They do not even have it in SG spam 'm going to buy it on my last few days here muahaha) Waited for Hedzi and Marc to arrive and our hostel before we took the tricycle to the MRT! Bumpy ride tricycles and was fun! Three guys squeezed on the motorcycle, I tok squeezing skills (Y).

The 'orientation' turned out to be a 'meet-the-directors-over-a-lunch-in-a-cafe-and-just-chit-chat-session', super chill and flexi. Turns out this Programme did not follow whatever it Stated in the introduction ppt slides LOL we got cheated but it's still okay and quite interesting, we shall see how it turn out! Crossing my fingers and hoping for the best! J The directors treated us to lunch in this French cafe and I felt so bad because I did not finish my rice They Bought me ... Because it was beef. The meat was kind of untouched, 对不起 ! Directors are really nice people, warm, funny, friendly and of course, (rich haha). Got a brief overview of our job scope and I can not wait for them all EXCEPT the performance. We have to PERFORM at a café on our last week here, perform a TALENT but where do we find a talent in 6 months HAHAHAHA Kim and I are talentless OMG They are going to witness a most epic performance ever. I just want to LOL everytime I think about it. We shall see hahahaha.

Marc was really really friendly, he helped us a lot! And he spoke Chinese fluently Because he's from China even though he was born and raised in the Philippines! Plus he went to Taiwan for His AIESEC exchange. He helped us get our local number (finally yay) and fixed everything for us, yay to our new local phone lines! Bade goodbye to the locals soon after, am thankful They took time off to bring us for the 'orientation'! J

So it was back to let's-kill-time mission again. Kim and I landed back in the same mall that we went for dinner yesterday and since it is a huge mall connected to another mall so we just walked around the place. Between The difference Rich and creamy places the poorer places is really quite drastic L Did not buy anything Because the keyword is BUDGET hahaha. Got a jumbo hot dog for about $ 0.90 SGD, it was weirdly red in color but yummy! Loving the food here so far hehe. We will definitely be back to the mall again the last week of our stay here Because everything (eg sports shoes) is cheap (comparatively)! J

Kim and I were successful in our very first heading-home-alone missions, with zero help from anyone yay! Proud of ourselves hahaha. I'm getting more familiarized with the streets, especially the way to the MRT and back. We got squeezed in the MRT again but Filipinos are really very courteous people. You see everyone Helping each other to get in / out of the train and everyone smiles / laughs at the same time Because the crowd was abit too ridiculous hahaha. Our Jeep solo experience was yet another touching moment Because the driver was really nice too! Told us where to alight nicely, thankful for friendly people who really made ​​my day! J

Supermarketed yet again before heading back and it rained for the first time here! A small little drizzle, made the weather more bearable! I had dinner budget (Kopi-O, ​​a bread and a packet of waffles) while Kim had nuts. We shared a ¼ watermelon from the supermarket and it was really good and worth it once again. Often I'm gna watermelon!

Tomorrow's a brand new day fresh whoohoo, got to be at the MRT and 7am, early morning Means an early night, shall force myself to sleep now (22:52) J

QOTD

Today it's -drumroll- Flyer Distribution day! New people new place once again, and it just so happens that I see this very apt quote on FB: 

Be afraid of showing up alone and having no idea what to do or where to go next. Let it scare you to the point of tears. And do it anyway. (Jerrica Peterson)

Let's do this! :)

5am Mornings.

5am mornings make the day feel so long.

I'm done with my tissue distributor job for the day and it's just 11.23am now! Had a bro talk last night and I figured that I'm not in this alone hahaha I'm walking behind my bro's footsteps again: how we feel so annoyed at home at times. I'm at the peak of the annoyed chart recently, sadly, towards my parents. (His peak was jc/army period). Just like how they semi-spoiled my morning today by arguing about 4D early in the morning, which makes me really hate Singapore Pools despite it being good for our economy etc etc. I listen to them saying things they don't mean all the time, every single chinese new year especially. About how they are going to quit this but I honestly don't think it's ever going to come. On a positive side note, they are contributing (significantly) to our economy... so yep. Nothing I can do.

Now, back to today's job! The place was packed with people heading to work, with a majority of them wearing office attire, with the Monday-Blues look on the face. I had to be swift to pass tissue to these swift swift chionging working class. But a few of them said thanks back to me! Touching moments haha :) It was even happier giving them out to the foreign workers heading to work. They were so thankful all the time, major-made-my-day :)

Today's also...deng-deng-deng-deng RESULTS DAY! Strange, I have no feelings towards my results. Improved but it didn't make me happy idk why. Whole mood towards receiving results was just "ooooh. okay can!" -proceed to eat and watch drama- which is what I'm going to do now, so yes! Abrupt ending of post again! HAHAHA.