USC Spirit at Moog Baguio

Each year when the time comes for the annual USC / UCLA Football Game, there is a group of us at Moog Torrance (divided into USC and UCLA fans) that informally competes to prove which group is most dedicated to their team. Although I wouldn't be in Torrance this year for the the week of the game, I suspected that my boss, Greg (the ring leader of the UCLA group), would be organizing some rivalry thing, so I decided to organize something at Moog Baguio. When I first went to Baguio in September 2006, I brought USC shirts for some of the guys. This year on Saturday, 12/1, I asked those guys to wear there shirts, so that we could take a picture and send to Greg. Afterwards I sent the pictures out to some of the Moog Torrance and Baguio folks, and there was no longer question as to whether I had been able to integrate well at Moog Baguio. :)

Bobi, Jun, Bendix, Amanda, Lito, Alex

Another Baguio City Tour

Although I had been to Baguio 3 times before moving there, and had already been in Baguio for 2 months, I still hadn't been to the downtown "wet market," which apparently is a must see. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "wet market," it's basically a market where fresh fish, meat, and veggies are sold. For the meat, it is literally fresh, in that they are butchering it right there. Emily and Tracey from the Moog East Aurora (Buffalo, NY) plant were in town, and they expressed interest, so we decided to go. We had been warned to not wear our best clothes because there is sometimes blood flying around, and also to be prepared for the smells. In addition to visiting the wet market, we also planned to do some other sightseeing.

Friday, 11/30, was a holiday for Moog Baguio, so we figured it was a perfect day to see the sites. Our first stop was the market. To be honest, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I definitely saw some things I had never seen, but I really enjoyed going because I learned so much more about the true culture there. When I visited Thailand, we got to see so much culture at the markets, and I always thought Baguio just didn't have that. Turns out there is a whole section in downtown Baguio filled with the market.

Downtown Baguio

Meat Portion of "The Wet Market"

BBQ For Sale

Fish Portion of "The Wet Market"

The Market

The Fresh Vegetable Market

After visiting the wet market as well as the fresh vegetable market, we went to Mines View Park. I actually had visited there a few times before, but it's a nice place with some great views of Baguio, so it's good for picture taking.

Tracey, Amanda, Emily

View from Mines View

View #2

Amanda & Emily with Random Filipino Guys

Gear Cell "Thanksgiving Inspired" Potluck

With this being my first Thanksgiving since moving to Baguio, I really wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner to remind me of home, and also because some of the Gear Cell guys wanted to learn what Thanksgiving was all about. I decided to do it, and the plan was that I would host dinner at my apartment, and we'd combine it with a housewarming party. I would be making all the side dishes and desserts and the guys would bring the turkey's. A couple of days before Thanksgiving, the guys brought me the list of people they had confirmed, and it was 30+, so we had to rethink things. I loved that everyone was looking forward to having Thanksgiving dinner at my place, but 30+ really meant 50+, and I just couldn't accomodate that many people in my place, nor could I cook the whole dinner alone. We all decided that it would be best to change our plans and have a "Thanksgiving Inspired" potluck at one of the picnic sites at Camp John Hay.

Rather than celebrate on actual Thanksgiving, we celebrated on Saturday, 11/24, since it was better to celebrate on a weekend day anyway. In the end, this was a much better venue, and we had a great time. The potluck idea was great because I got to learn so much more about homemade Filipino food. The turn out was great, and from what I could tell, everyone had a great time. I'll definitely host a similar event next year.

The Group

Ryan, Von, Amanda, Roland

Ed, Jerry, Ferdie, Robert, Jun, Lito

The Group #2

The Group #3

More Sightseeing & Pictures of Baguio

Here are some pictures from my random sightseeing on Saturday, 11/17:

A Mountain Road

An Arena for the Famous "Cock Fighting"

A Hill Full of Homes

Picture this...

On Thursday, 11/15, I'm in the shower and just about to turn the water off when the hot water knob comes flying out of the wall and hits me in the stomach. As if that wasn't bad enough, the water coming out of the pipe had the pressure of a fire hose, and it was HOT! I immediately panicked, as all I had was a shower curtain to prevent from the water going all over the bathroom floor.

At that moment I had to make a quick decision. I asked myself "will the guards downstairs be totally freaked out if I run down there in my towel?" I figured YES, so I changed quickly and ran down. Figures... the one time I need the guards, I couldn't find them. I went outside, and once they saw me they came running. I tried to explain situation to them, but I'm sure they thought I was a little crazy. Initially the guard said "maintenance will be here in 1 hour." I then said "I don't think you understand....you need to fix this now!" He still wasn't really moving with a sense of urgency until I opened my front door, and you could hear the water in the back room. He practically knocked me over as he ran into my bedroom, which by the way now had water coming into it. He immediately was rolling up his pants, and said "this is serious." He did some 911 call into his walkie-talkie in Tagalog, and next thing you know the water stopped. I was so thankful that he was able to shut off the water, because since I hadn't fully unpacked, my stuff would have been ruined. Fortunately, we were able to control the amount of water that entered the room.

My favorite part of the morning was after he turned off the water and he said "I think we need to schedule a maintenance call." My internal feeling was "ya think?" :)

Only in the Philippines...

Let's just say that story had people laughing for a while at work. I'm still wondering what the guards would have done if I had come down in a towel. I'm also thinking it's only a matter of time before another knob flies off and hits me.

Mike Becker's Retirement Party

Mike Becker, a fellow Moog employee, was an integral force in the creation of Moog Baguio and as well as working to sustain and continue to help it grow. This year marked his 45th year working for Moog, and he decided to make this the year of his retirement. Because he was so respected by everyone at Moog, there were several parties held for him across the various sites. On Tuesday, 11/13, Moog Baguio hosted a retirement dinner which I was invited to.

The dinner was at the new Camp John Hay Suites, which is a new addition to the Camp John Hay Hotel that Moogers stay at when visiting Baguio. There were about 40+ people there, and it was a great night filled with laughs, reminiscing, and good wishes. I was lucky to have been a part of it. One thing I find some amazing about Moog Baguio is how they continuously honor their employees and the people who have really devoted their lives to making Moog Baguio as successful as it can be. Mike is truly one of those people, and Moog Baguio did a great job honoring that.

Group Picture with Mike (In the Middle)

Another thing I find amazing about Moog Baguio is that the company started with just 18 initial employees. Of those 18, I think 11-12 remain. It's really neat, because even though that the facility now has 1400+ employees, it still feels like a small company, especially since the majority of the senior staff are from the original 18.

A Portion of the "Original 18" Singing to Mike

Monday Afternoon Club (MAC) Golf Tournament

Somehow Steve Leece, the managing director of Moog Baguio, managed to convince me to join him and 10+ fellow Moogers in a local charity golf tournament on Saturday, 11/10. I made sure to be very clear to Steve that I hadn't played in a while so I couldn't promise anything. Fortunately, I was able to team myself up with 3 other guys who were also in the same boat. Golf is a popular sport here in Baguio, not so much amongst the locals because it is too expensive, but definitely amongst the expats and visitors from Manila. The tournament was at the Baguio Country Club, and was sponsored by the Monday Afternoon Club, a club formed many years ago by some expat wives who wanted to give back to the community.

I don't what it was, but I was so nervous the morning of the tournament. I think it was mainly because for the first hole you tee off right next to the restaurant where all of the folks are eating breakfast. Needless to say I kind of choked, and it continued to go downhill for the rest of the day. The good news was that here in Baguio caddy's are required, so I didn't have to carry my bag the entire 18 holes. I know that doesn't sound like a big deal, but you should see some of the holes, I felt like I needed hiking boots. Overall, our team had a good time....from hitting trees, using all of our mulligans and more, and most of all having my caddy kind of yell at me "eyes on the ball ma'am" numerous times. Rest assured, I'm buying golf clubs when I'm home at Christmas so I can practice when I get back, and be ready for next year's tourney.

Our Team and Our Caddy's

I think my caddy is trying to figure out if that is really my score :)

The Unpacking Continues

I headed back to Baguio on Sunday, 11/4. Since the drive is quite long (6 hours), I didn't make it back until the afternoon, but fortunately I had enough time to continue the unpacking that I had only barely started. Here are some pictures so you can imagine how fun it was. Actually, I can't really refer to it in the past tense, because I still have some left to do. :)

My Bedroom Looked Like This for a While

More Assembling of IKEA Furniture

Who knew California Pizza Kitchen would make it all the way to Manila?

On Saturday, 11/3, I headed back to Manila for the night, prior to making the drive to Baguio on Sunday. I had been to Manila several times, but usually arrive late and leave in the morning, so I haven't had a lot of time to explore. Have I mentionned that shopping is one of the favorite past times in the Philippines? Well this time I was able to visit 2 different malls, one of which reminded me of home because it had a lot of same shops, so that was nice. However, the most exciting part of my trip was when I came across a California Pizza Kitchen. I can't tell you how excited I was, not only because it's one of my favorite restaurants back home, but also because it was just nice to have some familiar to eat. Don't get me wrong, I am very much enjoying learning and trying all of the food that they have to offer here, but sometimes I miss my favorite things.

I fully expected the menu to be different just because McDonald's has some similar items to the U.S. but also has some local favorites. I was pleasantly suprised to find out the menu was pretty much the same. Have you ever tried the Potato Leek soup? Well, the CPK's in the US have removed that from the menu, and it is my favorite, so it made my night to see it on the menu. I think I'll plan to eat at CPK each time I go to Manila. :)

My First Trip to Tagatay!

I flew back from Singapore to Manila on Thursday night, 11/1. I didn't get back until late, so I just crashed once I made it to the Hyatt. One of these days I want to try out the casino at the Hyatt.

On Friday, 11/2, I ventured on an overnight trip to Tagatay (aka "Probably the Most Pleasant City In Asia"), about 1.5 hours away from Manila. For those of you have never heard of Tagatay, it is well known for the Taal Volcano as well as the pineapples grown there. I didn't do a whole lot in Tagatay except relax and see the sites, and it that was just fine with me. It was great to be away from work for a little bit and have a chance to explore another part of the Philippines.

http://www.tagaytay.com/

Overhead View of Taal Volcano

Taal Volcano - It was amazing!

Another Overhead View of Taal Volcano