Life as AFAC

Maricar loves Hongkong. She wants to live there. HK doesn’t really excite me that much, dunno what to do except to shop and eat. But a rmb600 roundtrip airfare promo is hard to resist. Boy did I shop and eat! On my first day, I blew my budget for the week. (Hey, Zara, Morgan, and the rest of the shops were on sale!) On my second day I was using credit card and rmb. Yikes!
I ate lots and lots and lots. Greek, Italian, Portugese, Chinese, NY, vietnamese food… yum! I so love to eat. I think it’s impossible to stay angry with good food. I remember an ex who confessed to me a break up-worthy confession, but treated me to really good food that I was pissed and happy at the same time. “HOW CAN YOU DO THAT??! btw this chicken is really good… AND WHY ARE YOU TELLING ME THIS JUST NOW… ONE YEAR LATER??! please pass the rice…”

I also met people I’ve met at Tim and Lara’s wedding, plus a few of Matt’s friends. We ate at Red Pepper which was supposed to be a famous local place but that night it seemed full of gweilos.

That Friday Matt treated me to Macau which is just a one hour boat ride from HK. On the boat TV was a really weird and funny Japanese game show called Kasohi Taishow. People were dressed like things such as a giant washing machine and giant clothes and they reinact what happens inside the tub. Or they dress as a giant lint remover and some dress up as lint and they roll back and forth.
Bugger my camera went dead when sightseeing. We saw some nice old architecture but they won’t let us in coz they’re all private property. Didn’t see the famous touristy places too because we didn’t do our research. But it’s okay, we went there on a whim and had fun. So I just took a pix of the pier wallpaper with all the famous places, haha.

Played for the first time in a casino too! But just did slot machine and roulette. Basically because those were all I can understand and all I can afforD. I was quite bored with that, I’m really not a gambler. I enjoyed watching the Filipino dancers onstage more. What I liked most was walking in the huge park and eating at Fernando’s. yum, Yum, YUM!
Then we had dinner at Aqua, one of HK’s posh restos which overlooks the HK island. It is so sosy you need reservations days in advance, and first thing Matt did was to make a walrus face, haha!
From up there I can see the brightly lit carnival rides at the fair across the water. (Ferris Wheel!!!!) I love ferris wheels. Everytime I think of it I remember an old Close Up ad starring Tonton Guttierez and Dawn Zulueta (before they were famous). When the ride ended they were being escorted out then Tonton pulled out from his pocket a looong line of ferris wheel tickets! I was a little girl then but for some reason I found that romantic. Or maybe because I just like the ride and imagine myself with all that stubs riding the wheel nonstop.

On my stopover to HK this CNY I am going to ride that ferris wheel and no one’s gonna stop me.

Being an expat changes one’s perspective faster than I thought. Especially on travelling. Back home it seems so hard to travel. It’s not necessarily expensive, but since people are generally earning just enough or a little bit extra, it’s seems harder to part with money you’ve spent ages to save on a 3-day trip. People also feel guilty taking long vacations while everyone else is at work, or worse, doing more overtime because of your load. I should know, I had about a month’s worth of VLs forfeited in BBDO in my three year stint there. (Nobody told me it’s non-transferable to next year!!! I should’ve taken more time off!)
“Sarap mo naman, pabaka-bakasyon lang. (Wow you’re living the high life, all you do is take vacations here and there.)” In a country where people work very hard, take countless sidelines for extra money (starting from teachers selliing longganisa to notary publics accepting labada), and take up nursing not exactly for the love of the job but for money and an exit visa… taking a lot of time off can be misconstrued as lazy, not taking your job seriously, or maluho (spendthrift). The traditional concept is to work hard all your life, and enjoy the fruits of your labor when you’re old and errr…. don’t have the energy to enjoy travelling anymore.
Here in BBH Shanghai, travelling around the world seems like the norm. Everyone seems so well-travelled, not just the whiteys but the asians as well. The Sings talk about France like it’s Cubao. The Chinese have studied in London. Some just went to Australia, Greece, Cambodia for R&R. And a couple of weeks ago, our MD told my boss I have to use up my 2006 VL or it will be forfeited. And my boss made me take a holiday even if we had a pitch coming up.
So without much thought I booked a flight to HK and a side trip to Macau. Just like that. And I’m glad I did.

I wonder what is the fascination with China and bridges. They had famous ones since the beginning of time and now have the longest trans-sea bridge, but not for long, because in a year or two a trans-oceanic bridge that crosses several seas will be finished, bridging Shanghai and whatever-Zhou (there are many sound-alike places that end with Zhou. Su zhou and Xu zhou for instance are 240 miles apart.) When I went to Macau last week, there were two massive bridges connecting it (I think) to HK.
Actually this post has nothing to do with China. I am going to write about Bridges of Madison County. I saw a DVD lying around our office and decided to watch it in full for the first time. It’s so heart breaking. If Francesca stays, she knows she will lose the love of her life. If she follows her heart, she knows she may destroy that love too. Either way she won’t be happy.
What I find more intriguing is the time it took for them to realize they are MFEO. Four days. Four sunrises and he knew his life’s work was all but a pathway leading to her. Four sleeps and she knew she will never be the same again. Melodramatic. I wonder if these whims of fate are really possible.
Anyway, there is a nice quote from Clint Eastwood: “This kind of certainty comes but once in a lifetime.”
I can so relate. Last week in Hongkong. I saw this pair of blood red patent lace up ankle boots at Morgan. I had absolutely no more money and it hurts so much. I took out my credit card, took a deep breath, and wore it limping.

I hate prank callers. In 2005 I was featured on tv for my face painting biz and shortly after, in a national daily for my bags. Both succeeded in coaxing me to give my contact numbers to get business prospects. Gosh, that was a mistake. My phone won’t stop ringing, but mostly from horny losers who were more interested in me than my biz. I hate it because I’d wake up in the middle of the night thinking it’s from my mom or friend in trouble only to hear lonely OFWs from Oman, Dubai and Saudi who saw the segment on TFC (The Filipino Channel) and want to be “friends”. Then I’d get really obscene texts and calls to the point that I complained to the National Telecoms Commission but they said to block a phone, the process takes so long and the caller can easily get a new sim. Plus the guy was asking for kotong to hasten the process. I said forget it. I just left my phone at home. But I can’t do that forever because I need my phone for work. Sometimes I would take the call and leave the phone on the table so the prank caller’s load will get used up. Good for him!
It took about two months before the prank callers stopped, then after a few moments of silence I’d wake up at 530am again with rings and beeps. The show rerun! It had about four reruns from 2005 to 2006 and it was just crazy. Maybe this is my karma. When we were bored as kids we would look out the window and copy telephone numbers on our neighbors’ signages. Patricularly this shop called Crown Shell. Nothing was airconditioned then and we could see the secretary on the desk from our window. My siblings and I would take turns dialling, while the rest of us would look out the window and see her pick up the phone and mouth “hello?” Then we would slam the phone. Then do it again. I don’t know why that was so much fun for us then. We would also pick a number from the yellow pages and order elaborately from a batchoyan and when they say “Para sa diin?” (For which address?) we’d say “Para sa ido!” (For a dog) and slam the phone. We’d keep laughing and laughing and that must be really fun ‘coz our nanays (nanny) would play along. Thank God Nintendo and Gameboy was soon invented.
So it must be payback time now. But how come I’m the one paying for all our faults? My siblings never got this much prank calls. Good thing there were a couple of nice texts too, from moms who said I inspired them to keep supporting their artist kids. One mom in particular, Susan, had a daughter in UST fine arts advertising (my same univ, same course) in her first year. She wanted her girl to quit on the second sem because times were hard and she felt her daughter will starve to death with a course like that. Then she saw me on tv and I didn’t look like I’m starving (yeah I’m fat!) and seem to be living the good life. So she said she’ll allow her daughter to continue with her chosen path. She continued to correspond with me every so often until I flew here and had my globe phone cut. The last time she texted, her daughter Sugar was already in 3rd year college and she was asking my advice how I’d feel if I were her daughter and I was asked to stop school for at least a year because the bread winner son was laid off. Being able to give her comfort and hope made all those prank calls worth it. Sort of. Not!
Since last week I’ve been getting prank texts and calls on my Smart phone. Last night my phone kept ringing, and the first time, I answered it thinking twas mhy mom (roaming phones don’t show numbers). The other party hung up. Then it kept ringing and ringing again and I thought, it may be an important call or the other party would stop calling. Besides, my Smart phone is unlisted so I must know this person. I answered it and I got a male squeaking, “h-hello?” Dammit I turned my phone off. That b*****d just cost me over a hundred bucks! Turned out he was my ex-neighbor who got my number from another neighbor. And he knew I was abroad!! How inconsiderate. He’s the barkada of my neighbor who they say had a crush on me for the longest time (not my type). And he confessed through a slew of texts that he also had a crush on me since he met me. He’s funny and all but again, not my type. (Remember Carl’s Pope Palpatine theory?)
My gorgeous friend Claire once declared, “I am not single by choice. I am single for lack of good choices.” Bravo.

I got a slew of prank texts last weekend on my Smart phone and it irritates me. I used to get it all the time in my Globe phone, including lewd calls because I was featured on TV and a national daily (But this is another story.) I really disdain things like these because I feel it’s an invasion of privacy. And I am a very private person. Okay okay, so I have a blog. But I only started one to keep my sanity (or is that too late?)

I’m notorious for not giving my number to just anyone. It dates back to college when I’d give excuses like, my dorm doesn’t have a phone (no cellies then and if you had a pager, you are ubercool and everyone wants to be friends with you), my tita is strict, my aunt’s phone is private.

Fast forward to more recent, double chin existence, my excuses have spawned to “Sorry, this is a business phone.” If the loser persists, “Errr…it’s a communal business phone.” I’d occassionally say I don’t memorize my number (which is true too) or occassionally just ask them to give me their number and I’d text them later. Because if I get my phone out of my miniscule weird bag, everything will fall out. Actually these are true, or at the very least half-truths. If it’s people I think I can be hang out with I’d ring back, or just give my number.

A couple months back though, I had a funny experience. One bloke actually was cheeky enough l to make me prove I gave him the right number. This guy offered to give me his number, got his phone and typed his contact details, email et al. I think I offered to just type it in mine so he didn’t have to pay roaming charges, but he casually said it’s okay. After, he asked me for my number. And texted it in front of me. And waited for it to send! When my phone beeped, I realized what just happened and laughed.

Hahahahaha! This guy’s definitely a player. Either that or a desperado who’s been given lots of wrong numbers. I found out much later his job is in Risk Management. hahaha! I guess he must be pretty good.

If nothing is coincidental and everything happens for a reason, what is the reason why Mr. Bebs lost his wife, a sibling, and his son all in the same year? I can’t start to imagine what grief it must be. His wife died of cancer (I think) and in a way, probably less painful because he’s prepared for it. At the wake his sibling came and had a heart attack that night, so it became a double wake. Then last October, in a company outing, his 28 year old son got towed in the undercurrent and got lost at sea. What could he have done in his past life to deserve such tragedy? How does one cope with such pain? I don’t want to know. I don’t want it to happen to me or anyone I love. Knock on wood.

Matt’s friend Gareth spent Christmas and New Year in the hospital. His knee operation got a complication and they have to operate again. And yet again yesterday. He might be stuck in the hospital until February. If nothing is coincidental, what good will come out from this? Hmmm, Kanye West started writing songs that made him famous after being stuck in the hospital for months. Maybe Gareth will become super famous too then I’d just be two degrees of separation from him!

Apple has nice fonts because Steve Jobs took Typography as an elective in university. Housewife Cory Aquino led the historic 1st People Power in the world after her husband was shot. Rubber as we know today was stabilized because Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich accidentally left some near the fire.

On a humbler, personal note, gutfeel tells me the scholar I used to send to school (who became my friend) will touch my life more in the future than I have touched hers. My new year was happy because two months prior, I dragged myself to attend a post wedding party even when I wasn’t feeling very well. And the first person I met on my first day of school became my best friend for almost 14 years now. Nothing is coincidental. But I am still figuring out what is the relevance of me forcing my two best friends to record the song “Friends are friends forever” complete with voicings.

Growing up, my father would tell me again and again his fave mantra: Nothing is given free in this world. Nothing is coincidental. Nothing is lost.

What I got from it is, every little act of kindness you do will be repaid, if not this life then the next. For me it the first statement also means, everything has a cost. Your career, personal happiness, love life, friendship, success… they all come with a price. The question is, is it worth paying for?

Nothing is lost. If you don’t grab the opportunity somebody else will. Or, my father also says, if you lose something don’t lose the lesson. Then nothing is lost. (Uh-oh, I’m combining different thoughts already, I’m turning into Melanie Marquez.)

My favorite of all three is Nothing is coincidental. “Be at peace knowing you are exactly where you are supposed to be.” This prayer of St. Therese circulating around the net hit home when I got it (again) on my first month in BBH and I was wondering why I moved to China. I had a good life in the Phils, and modesty aside, was doing pretty okay career-wise. Here it’s back to square one. I’m the lowest in the food chain. I voluntarily mount ads for awards shows just to make myself feel useful. Deep inside I know why I came here, I hate complacency. I was getting too comfortable and not as challenged, so it’s time to move on. I am exactly where I am supposed to be, that gives me peace.

It’s amazing how pieces in your life can be so connected, but you don’t know how it will affect the other until it finally happens. For instance, the journey to BBH was a long one, starting in 2005 when I wanted to be cross-posted to BBDO China, only for a couple of months because I had a lot of commitments in the Phils. But a lot of things happened and I ended up not going. In 2006 yet another senior team resigned so I thought the cross posting will never hapen because we are so short in manpower. Meanwhile, the ECD of BBDO China apparently resigned to start BBH. He remembered my work and gave me a call! And it was just perfect timing. The weddings of Alelee and Malen were done. My family day contract with Ayala Cinemas is over. I have no boyfriend to miss. And the opportunities and deal are better than being in BBDO China. God does love me. He gave me more than what I prayed for. (Carl told me to start praying for a good man to love me, hahaha.)

Carl was serious when he said that. He said he prayed for his Ms. Right and though it took soooo long to find her (as in he got his first girlfriend when he was in his mid-twenties), they got married less than a year later and now have four boys! Being my work partner for four years, he’s met both my boyfriends (not at the same time!), witnessed both break ups, and knows most men I’ve dated. Knowing how discerning I am in everything, including men, he is worried the only guy who can meet my standards is the pope. “Yaak I don’t like the pope. He’s old, he doesn’t seem funny, and he looks like Emperor Palpatine.” Having said that, Carl believed the only recourse I have left is to pray.

But you know, nothing is given free. nothing is lost. nothing is coincidental.

today I’m a baboy. I’ve been acting like a piggie for several days now. All I did today was stay in bed and covered myself in comforter. It’s soooo cold. It’s 4 degrees celcius outside and even with electric blanket and heaters I still feel cold. I wanted to go to a museum but got so lazy and just slept instead.

Then tonight I went to Jasmine’s bday. I didn’t even know twas her bday until I got there. Jasmine is my accounts manager but she took up film in university. So all her girl friends are gorgeous!!! As in gorgeous! They are tv actresses and hosts and what have you’s. One of her friends is a famous singer who’s song we sing to in KTV. Er… they sing to. I can’t sing mandarin. Actually I can’t sing period.

Too bad the famous guy didn’t make it to the party. I’m curious what he looks like in person. He isn’t cute on tv, he looks cool but mainly I think because of his hair. But Anna my brit officemate thinks he’s gorgeous.

I’m rattling off. It’s past 1:30 am and I can’t sleep coz I slept the whole day….

Fave sport in Shanghai is drinkie drinkie. So that’s basically how I spent my Christmas and New Year. I celebrated Christmas eve with an eat all you can and drink all you can fest with hot Catholic girls at the Marriot (we were downing vodka and champagne like crazy, coz we smile at the waiter and he’d keep serving us drinks even after cut off time). That’s me (I need to lose weight), Jenn and Leah. Of course being good Catholics, we went to mass. New Year’s eve was with Matt in a cab. New Year’s night Colin and I had a few drinks. He just came back from his world tour to promote his new company The Shanghai Job (creatives, get him, he’s cool to work with) and has so many stories to tell. But my fave one is close to home, he was talking why he’ll never date a Shanghainese woman again. Each of them may seem different at first but at the core, they’re all the same, he says. Controlling, manipulative, and materialistic. Hahahahaha! (And the men, no matter how successful, are henpecked at home and expected to do all housework, cooking, driving etc.) Speaking of, there is a new dating service in Shanghai catering to millionaires. Entrance fee is rmb30,000 and millionaire geeks who have no time to find love are all gathered on a yacht. Pretty girls are screened and can come in for free. Trophy wives for millionaire husbands. According to the news, a recent survey asked women if they would marry a rich man and a lot said yes. It seems to be some sort of requirement nowadays. What about friendship? conversation-skills? Breeding? Shared values? Love?

While money to a certain degree is important to lead a comfortable life, it can never buy happiness. Nor love. Or maybe it can. In Shanghai anything is possible. Oh well, people get what they deserve. Happy New Year!

This was Matt’s question when he flew to Shanghai for new year. It’s my first Christmas and New Year spent away from my family and was getting ready for a cold and friendless existence until my friends came back from their holidays. He was like, “Come to HK!” but HK doesn’t appeal to me so I was like, “Why don’t you come over here?” And he did, to both our surprise! I was excited, my first friend to come visit.
I am the lousiest tour guide ever. I have no sense of time nor direction, don’t know the cool places to go, nor can I speak or read mandarin. Like, he wanted to go to People’s Square and we were walking around asking for directions (coz it’s useless to take the cab if you don’t know the Chinese name of the place) but still couldn’t find the park. Then I saw a park nearby and said, “Here! Here!” He’s not convinced, “Is this People’s Square?” “No but it is a park and it has people. That’ll do.”
We went to Cloud 9 at the 87th (or was it 89th?) floor of Grand Hyatt, the highest bar on earth. It was so high you feel like you’re in a plane. It was awesome! A bit pricey (a glass of champagne costs rmb140) but within reach if you’re working in Shanghai, just no shopping for the next two weeks.
Next day we went to Hangzhou, a city outside Shang which advertises itself as the Most Beautiful city in China. It almost didin’t happen because Hangzhou is supposedly an overnighter but Matt was being a prince and wants to spend new year’s in Shanghai. But miraculously, Ken got roundtrip day tickets at the last minute. But me being me, we went to the wrong train station and missed our train. When we finally got to the right station, Matt asked how many stops to our destination and I didn’t know. I was upset for being such a dippy. He was being sweet, “Don’t worry. I knew this was gonna happen so I already said goodbye to everyone before coming here.”
We arrived in Hangzhou and bought a map and with my trusty English-Chinese dictionary and almost non-existent Mandarin managed to tell the taxi where to go. We went to the famous West Lake which is enormous! My fave part is going boating around the misty lake. It was very peaceful (if you don’t count the boatman who keeps talking to me every 5 minutes as if I’d miraculously get what he’s saying if he talks long enough.) We didn’t know where to go after that, Matt kept staring at the map, figuring out where we are. I said, “You’re the more experienced traveller, why can’t you reap the map?” He passed me the map, “It’s in Chinese.”
So we just walked around the lake talking about everything under the sun, from how sine and cosine are important in Preferrential Index (what?!) to rating 2006 to how do Filipinos sleep in such hot weather? (”By closing our eyes” I replied).
It was funny how people were staring at Matt. Not discreet stares but really rudely staring. The kid from the next table went in front of him while we were having lunch and just stared like she saw an alien or frankenstein! He tried to shoo her and she would run away then come back again two minutes later and stare at him again. Maybe they seldom see a white man. Or maybe they thought we were little red riding hood and the big bad wolf. Hahahaha.
Know where I spent my first New Year’s countdown away from home? At the back of the cab. Stuck in traffic. The train back to Shanghai arrived past 10pm plus it’s hard to hail a cab (plus it took me forever to change, hehe). I really wanted to see fireworks and all we got were bits and pieces of fireworks not blocked by skyscrapers. I felt bad because I love fireworks; and when Matt flew a thousand miles to spend New Year’s in the ‘Hai, the back of a cab may not be in his priority list. Anyway, I managed to get us in a bar overlooking the Bund, no mean feat on New Years.
The next day we took the maglev train to the airport. It goes up to 431km per hour, meaning you arrive in the airport in 8mins. Being a lad’s lad (euphemism for retrosexual), Matt was giddy with excitement. “I can ride this again and again but I need to bring lotsa underwear!”
That night, my friend Colin and I lounged around at Velvet Rope (best Arugula Margherita!) and he was telling me about his trip to Angkor Wat. (I wanna go to Angkor Wat.) The ruins were gorgeous (I wanna go to Angkor Wat!), shopping and nightlife is fab (I WANNA GO TO ANGKOR WAT!) and to watch the sunset you have to climb the ruins like rock climbing but without any rapel and one tourist recently fell down and died (okay, I wanna go to Bohol.)
Colin also recalled what he did in Hangzhou. “The Sakura garden is beautiful! Did you go there?” Er..no. “What about the tea garden where they serve all kinds of tea?” Er…nope. “What about the pearl market that sells pearls at 80% off?” Ummm.. no. All Matt saw was.. .

But hey, he did fly over to see me, right? Quite literal but well… job done.