Philippines Experience ended

That is the end!

I'm already in Poland heading for new experience in Belgium!

I spend 10 months in amazing country - Philippines :)

I'm extremely happy that i decided to come here and spend that time.

I had chance to work in different culture with divers people. I had chance to experience how business works in the Philippines what sometimes was challenging.

Moreover I met great people with whom I did a friendship. I had my Family there :)
Eva, Karla, Cees, Bryan and Akie :)

It is very hard to describe all the experience that I gained in Philippines.

By this post i would like to close my blog.
Hope some of you enjoyed reading it ;)

For those who are going to visit Philippines enjoy your time there! Wish you such a great experience as I had.

Family Visit

 Last 2 weeks I had my family visit (dad, sister and brother in law). It was great chance to show them country in which I’m leaving already 8 months. I’m sure that because of this it will be easier for them to understand me more. For their staying I’ve planed different activities, for me it was important to show different aspect of Philippines. I spend with them one week in Palawan the most beautiful and amazing place I’ve seen so far here. Great island, beaches and snorkeling! If you are coming to Philippines you have to definitely see this place. Moreover I went with them to Corregidor and historical island in Manila Bay, we learn more about World War II so it was also interesting. They also had chance to see famous Rice Terraces and Caves J and of course volcano J So all in all I think that they  had chance to see a lot! More you can see on pictures J I’m waiting who next will visit me!  Maybe you…?  :D 

Amazing experience in Donsol

Last weekend together with great 6 :) we travel to Donsol which is in the south of Luzon.

We traveled there by plane because it was most effective and fastest way :) only 45 min. – Cebu Pacific rules!!! We reached Legaspi at Saturday morning around 7 AM and first thing that we saw was Mayon Volcano which made an amazing impression on all of us. It is a perfect shape volcano very big and still active one, you can read more on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_shark

From Legaspi we have to take van to Donsol which was around 1,5 h. When we reached Donsol after checking few places we found good resort -  Amor :)  It was very nice place where you can eat and relax near beach :) after breakfast we went to Donsol Tourist office where we had to register for the main attraction – Swimming with Whale Sharks! YES ! SHARKS : ) Those sharks eat plankton so it is save to swim with them they can be grow till 18 m :) What you can do is rent a boat and snorkeling equipment and look for whale shark :) when the boat crew notice one you have to prepare and quickly jump to the water. After putting your head under water you are trying to find this BIG fish but because of plankton water is not so clear. Suddenly something big is swimming under or near you and you is realizing that it is a whale shark! It is such unforgettable experience that even hard to explain it. We spent on water around 3 h and we saw 5-6 whale sharks :) if you are in the Philippines you have to visit this place.

You can see the movie here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD35USc9LX0&feature=related

After this experience we went to eat something and later we were waiting for another interesting experience – watching fire flights :) I would never say that those small bugs can be so beautiful. It was on Ogor river of course it was already dark, we were on the boat going down on the river that suddenly we saw a tree full of fire flights it was something geurgus. The tree looks like a christmas tree. At one moment all of us were lying on the boad with a head in the direction of the tree and sky full of stars! It was so relaxing that none of us wanted to go back., but we couldn’t stay there forever

At the evening we just relax in our resort and have some good drinks :)

Next day we use chance and relax on the black beach, after lunch we catch jeepeny and as always we were riding on the roof :) back to legaspi. I love it! You can see all the beauty of Philippines :)

Thank we found accommodation in Legaspi btw the worst hotel ever: P eat and next day morning went back to Manila and work.

This weekend even if was short was very special because we did something that I have never think of :) I wish this kind of experience for all of you! Other trainee shares your feelings!

 

 

 

 

Crazy moments

One of the reasons why I like my internship is people around me! I gave a very cool group of friends.  With them I can have great fun, talk about serious topic and enjoy my time here. Those people are other trainee, my work colleagues and other Filipinos. Because of them I feel very comfortable here and even consider staying longer. Actually it was one of condition when I was looking for internship that there will be more of us :)  because I know how important it is. I want to share with you some of pictures which are saying how crazy we are :)

 

Key note speech

On FRIDAY I had chance for the first time of my life to be a keynote speaker. IT was amazing experience. I was invited by LYCEUM of the Philippines University Batangas for their conference with theme: Networking and Linkages between Business and Academics Institutions. This university is around 2,5-3 h from Manila in very nice place. I was giving speech about: Standards and Qualifications of multinational companies in hiring people.

I went to the university one day before, Thursday afternoon and when I get there I was welcomed as a star :) with a big bucket of flowers pictures etc. I felt like Miss Poland they even called me like that because of course for them I'm so beautiful :) I was given very nice room so at the evening I prepared myself to the next day and went sleep. Next day I woke up around 6.30 AM to practice speech and prepare myself. It was very nice sleep because finally no street noise just pure nature :)

The whole conference was from 9:00 till 12:00 I was at the very beginning. My speech long around 30 min and in my opinion it was the only one speech which was useful for students the other were not so much on the topic. But after such long experience in AIESEC and thousand conferences I have big expectations　：）after my part I was given a certificate some small presents. It was a very nice experience to talk to around 300 students, their family members and other important people. I know that the organizers and university itself was surprised that I'm so young but I think that it is not about how old are you but what kind of experience you have. I hope to have mire chances to participate in such events for me personally it was a great chance to check myself as a keynote speaker, to got to know more education system in the Philippines and of course to have a great fun :)

Key learning points from last 6 months

It is already 6 months that I’m here in this beautiful country. It is amazing how time is passing quickly. So far I manage to visit many interesting places like: mountains, caves, rain forest, beaches, volcano, towns, underwater world, etc. J of course I’m looking forward for more! If you like adventures, sun and nice people this country definitely is for you!

Talking about experience at work I have to admit that I’m learning a lot! Job that I’m having is very responsible and I wouldn’t name it internship because you have to make very crucial decisions and scope of work is big as well, thanks to that I can feel like developing and discovering myself every day. I was already in many different situations, dealing with different people. I can say that being HR in AIESEC and in company is very different; when money is there everything is more complicated. I’m learning a lot how money influence HR and all the activities connected with this.  I’m also learning how to work in completely different culture. Sometime it is very hard. Filipinos are very friendly and hardly ever will say no sometime they need to be push and guide. The labor market is also different than Polish one. In our company currently there are 6 trainees and I can see how big value they are bringing. I wish more Filipino companies will use foreigners to combine different cultures and benefits from it.

In front of me more 6 months, sometime I’m wondering how things will go and what next day will bring. I started to think what to do next. I have different thoughts in my mind. Staying in Headway, look for some other company in the Philippines, look for another internship or back to Poland. I hope that everything will clarify soon so that I don’t have to worry.

To summarize I’m recommending such experience for everyone. You can get to know a lot about yourself, world other people. You are not loosing anything just gaining!

Filipino Aerobic

Last week I decided to join aerobic classes! I have to admit that it is a good fun here in the Philippines. The club that I join is near my flat but definitely is not the most fancy one :) what is different? For sure how less difficult it is. They are not exercising so hard as we in Poland. They are doing all of the exercises in 8 series no in 15 – 20 like in Poland! But for me at the beginning is enough because my condition is not the best one unfortunately :(  On Wednesday we have step and exercising with weight (Handle) of course all of the people took 2 pounds :) I took 4 :P the funnies moment was when you have to lie with your back on the step, why it was funny? – because steps were too short for me :) so I had to take 2 ha ha. Anyway it is really good activity for me and I enjoy it very much! 

The Philippines – the country that I love

After the last 2 weeks, I fell in love with the Philippines even more than before. On January 21, Edytka (friend from Poland) visited me with Kasia, her sister. They spent 10 days here. I planned 2 trips to show them what this country is all about!

For the first journey, we started our trip by bus on Jan 21 at 10pm to Banaue - a place which is famous for its Rice Terraces. We also visited Batad where we got to see outstanding Rice Terraces and a tall waterfall upclose and personal! We trekked on the walls of the terraces, and swam in the cool waters near the waterfall. It is even hard to describe… maybe when you look at the pictures, you will understand what I felt.

During that trip I almost didn’t feel like I was in the Philippines. The fauna and flora were completely different than what that I have seen so far. Also, it was so cold in the evening! Yes I was really cold, but maybe it was also the fact that people from the area were not smiling so much unlike in Manila.



From Banaue we travelled by jeepney through an extremely exciting road to Sagada… which was made more exciting by sitting on the roof of the jeepney! :) We spent 3 days in Sagada, which is famous for Caves and Strawberries. The highlight of my Sagada exprience was caving - for the first time in my life I was really caving, not like in Poland where one was walking around on a well-lit path to see what is there. I was barefooted hopping from one rock to the other, with only an oil lamp to guide our way for around 3.5 hours. You really needed to watch each move that you were making. It was very slippery and you could get hurt (maybe even killed!) with one mistake. It was a great experience because you could learn a lot about yourself, especially being in an extreme situation while seeing something unforgettable. I wish to have more of such adventures.

Those full 4 days became something that I was looking for a long time! Spending my time with best friends in a beautiful place, to enjoy my time, to completely relax and not think about work, and to discover the Philippines day by day. Sometimes I can’t still believe that I’m so lucky to be here!

The second trip was only 2 days. I took Edyta and Kasia to Puerto Galera on Mindoro Island, which is around 4 hours from Manila. I wanted to show them the beaches here because this is something that this country is famous for. Of course they were not the nicest beaches in the country, but it was enough for us :) For them, it was great to sunbathe on the white beach during January :) For me, it was nothing new :P because it’s always sunny here! We spent as much time on the beach as we could so that in the evening we go to bars and try some drinks :) And of course, we loved lying on the beach and enjoy the view of a million stars on a clear night sky!

Next day I went diving! Finally I can use my licence! Ah I love it! If there is anyone who had ever went diving, the person will understand what I mean. The underwater world is completely different, so colorful, peaceful and unexpected at the same time. You can see so many different fishes and corals that sometimes it is even hard to recognize which is which… Yes it was amazing time! Now I’m full of energy to go to work and looking forward to the next trips. Already have something in my mind…

Trip to Bohol :)

Yes our trip started at 6 AM on 25th of December. After nice Christmas Eve we took taxi to the airport to fly to Bohol with Cebu Pacific Airlines. We reach our destination at 10 AM, weather was very nice. We went for some breakfast and think what we want to do and see during next days. There were 3 people joining us later (Katherine, Natalia and her boyfriend), they are having internship in Davao. After some discussions we decided to go to Alona Beach on Panglao Island

We found there nice accommodation and of course went for beach. Unfortunately we were so tired that all of us slept almost all day :) Next day we rent a van for two days which took us for a trip around Bohol. We see Blood Compact , Baclayon Church Loboc river and Man- made forest in Billar. After around 5 PM we reach Chocolate Hills, unfortunately it was too late to see them because it was already dark, so we stayed in the top of one of the hill for a night. In the morning we weren’t very happy because it was raining L so again no of Chocolate Hills. L But after around 1, 5 H sun rise up and in front of our eyes amazing view appear. It is very interesting how the Hills looks like. Our next stop was Tarsiers Visitors Center. Those are cute animals which looks like Gremlin and ET :) This little crazy animal can fit in the palm of your hand, rotate its head almost 360 degrees, move its ears in the direction of sound and has huge eyes, 150 biggest than a human’s in relation to its body size :). You can’t touch them because they will die very fast by making suicide. After those nice 2 days of trip we drive back to Alona beach and stayed at the same place as before. Our next 4 days were to relax on beach. Because most of us were not very into just chilling and doing nothing on the beach we decided to take Diving Course :) Yes!!! It was one of my best decisions ever! The Philippines are one of the most beautiful countries to dive so being here 1 year it will be silly not to use this chance. Our course took 3 days and it was unforgettable experience. You can’t even image how much you can learn about yourself. We had a great instructor Alex which made this experience both very useful and fun at the same time. We started with theory and movie than get to know equipment and first pool session. After first session and practicing some skills we went for Open Water :) Wow! For a first time I saw the underwater world in reality! IT is even hard to describe how beautiful it is. All those magnificent, colorful fishes and corals! During next two days we had more theory, tests, pool session and next 3 dives. The deepest that we went was 20 m! Now I have my license and can go diving in many places, can’t wait to do it next time :) If you will have chance to do your license don’t think to much just do it! On the last day which was 31st of December we had finally J some time to lay on beach and relax :) For New Year Eve first we were have some drinks in our room with some friends and then we went for beach :) Yes for the first time I spent NY on beach when it was around 25 degrees :) On the 1st of January we had fly back at 11 AM so we come back to Manila around noon and at the same day one hour later new trainee from Peru came :) So now I have new flat matte – Karla.

That was story about my last week :) if you are interested to read more about Bohol visit this page: www.bohol.ph

Christmas with Filipino Family

When you are so far from home, in such tropical country it is hard to feel Christmas spirit. It is around 26-28 C every day, sun and even all the Christmas decoration, songs, shopping mania is not helping. Sometime I think that maybe it is better not to feel that this is special time, it is helping me not to miss much family and be sad. Together with other trainee we decided to go for a trip about of Manila to Bohol. It is island which is part of Visayas Islands about 1 h by plane. Our trip was from 25th morning till 1st of January. I will write more about this trip in next post ;)

What was very nice is the fact that we had chance to spend Christmas Eve with Filipino Family (of my work friend). We (me, Eva and her boyfriend, Milan) went there around 9.30 PM. We were first guests (as always :) ) Whole family gathered around 11PM. We were waiting till Midnight and start the evening :) we started with short pray and thanks for the food and all the good things. Later we started dinner. As always a lot of delicious food but nothing special (traditional) for this evening. After dinner we had some time to talk and after short second prayer. At the end around 1.30 AM it was time to give presents. It happens in the same way as in Poland. Whole evening finished around 2 AM. It was very nice experience to see how Family is important in the Philippines. When we reach home it was already 2.30 AM and we had around 3 h of sleep because at 6 AM we needed to go for an airport and start our trip to Bohol.