I’ve finally checked in to my ‘permanent’ accommodation in Philippines after some tough time with the rigid administration of Metro Dorm. I’m actually taking over a bunk that used to be slept by Patrick, an intern from Germany. He was sleeping here for the past 2 weeks before moving to another place nearer to the place he is working.
Anyway, the idea of sharing the room with 3 stranger wasn’t really appealing to me as I had not expected that at all. But there isn’t much that I can do either, as that is the only accommodation available near my working place. My first impression when I first walked into the room was, OMG! Are you sure that I’m going to stay here for the next few weeks? Jeez, it roughly measures 7x4 meters, and it consist of only 2 double Decker bed and a small iron cupboard for each occupant. It’s clear to me now, it is just a place to sleep, nothing more than that.
I’ve finally met all the occupants. Luckily, there are nice people - one interesting old man from US who originated from Philippines and 2 locals. It was fun and interesting talking to them as I managed to know different things from different perspective. I got to know that 90% of the occupants are nursing students and there are more than 100 call centers around this Ortigas. The most important thing I realized is how people have work so hard to earn a living away from their home town.
It was my first day to work. It was quite a boring day to be frank. There is nothing much on my plate and I wasn’t expecting to read some documents about the environmental law in Philippines. Anyway, I did it to kill some of my time in the office. It was pretty cool because it is a good time where I can evaluate whether I would enjoy the office working live from 9-6pm. After all, that’s what many people wanted after they finish college. The only highlight in the day was a visit to the clients company to settle some issues.
I was assigned to work under Gabi, my supervisor. He is a trained engineered and have been working in the industry for many years. He is currently handling the big clients and big projects of the company. It was quite fun working with him. He is very friendly and always explaining different things to me. He treats me really well. Despite his effort, I do believe that he is not used to guide an intern like me because he just let me do whatever I want. Anyway, I think that is just the beginning. Perhaps more will come with time. I’m pretty comfortable working with him as I am trained as an engineer too. So our way of thinking doesn’t vary too much. Analytical. Lol…
Hope that I can learn more things as the time pass by… as right now, all seems to be going well and falling in place.
During my first day at work, I’ve also achieve something that I never done before. Guess what? I had all my 3 meals in Mc Donald. Crazy ain’t it? Well, it is not that I really love Mc Donald so much but because it offers free wifi and its really near my working place. The costs of food in Ortigas are almost the same price and the local food makes me kinda sick. Although I’ve been here for a few days but the food here was almost always the same – lots of white rice and meat. That’s all! How can I eat those every time? I need vegetables and I need variety and I don’t eat a lot of rice! OMG! I really need to source out more places that I can eat. I guess Filipinos really love rice and it can be seen anywhere. I was kinda surprise when I saw all of my colleagues brought their own lunch! And you guess it, one dish and a hell lot of rice.
