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

Singapore Revisited!

My first trip to Singapore was in March 2006 with my friends from the USC Marshall MBA Program for our GLOBE class. I absolutely loved Singapore, and that is why I was so happy when the opportunity came up for me to visit Singapore again, this time for work. Moog utilizes several suppliers in Singapore, so I made the trip there to visit a handful of these suppliers and to better understand their capabilities. I took along a fellow Moog Baguio employee, Belle, as she has been working closely with these suppliers as well.

We left Baguio on Tuesday, 10/30, and arrived in Singapore that night. Our trip was only for two days, so we had to maximize our time. We stayed at the Pan Pacific, a great hotel, which was also where I stayed in 2006. We got in late the first night, so we didn't do much. On Wednesday, we met up with 2 Moog employees, Edward, who lives in Malaysia and works closely with the suppliers, and Craig, from our Moog site in England, who has a similar function to me. We visited suppliers during the time, which was a great learning experience, and then that night, we decided to visit Clarke Quay. We had the most amazing Indian food that night at Clarke Quay, and then checked out a couple of local bars. I'm not sure what it is that I love about Singapore, but it is a city that is filled with so much culture.

Being in Singapore this time without my friends from USC was bittersweet. I have so many great memories from my 2006 trip, so I missed not having them there with me, but I was so happy to be visiting there again. I took this picture below simply because it reminded me of Jason Sexton. I remember him loving Clarke Quay. :)

When I woke up on Thursday, 11/1, I looked out my window to find this amazing view that I just had to capture. My trip was just 2 short days, but I had a nice time, and can't wait to go back.

Singapore Skyline from the Pan Pacific Hotel

Port of Singapore from the Pan Pacific Hotel

The Endless Unpacking Begins... :(

As I mentionned, I was excited when my container arrived, but then I realized how much unpacking, sorting, and furniture assembling I had ahead of me. Fortunately, the weekend it was delivered, Moog Baguio had a holiday the next day, Monday 10/29, so I had a full day to get started. I don't know where I got the energy, but I was so motivated. You should have seen me, I was maniac. I think that day I put together 4-5 pieces of IKEA furniture and sorted through a ton of boxes. By the end of the day though, my motivation started to fade though. As you can see in the picture below, I wasn't really that enthusiased to be putting together the 2nd bedside table. :)

I love assembling IKEA furniture!

The Big Day...The Arrival of My Boat Shipment!

Finally, the day I had been waiting for...the arrival of my 20' container with all of my stuff. As I posted earlier, the original plan was that they would deliver my boat shipment on the same day as the air shipment, but that didn't work out. Next they decided they were going to deliver the night of Saturday, 10/27, but I had the Service Anniversary Dinner, so I arranged with them that they would deliver it on Sunday, 10/28. Here's where the story begins..

I asked the moving company that if they were in fact going to deliver the shipment on Sunday, that they would need to call me ahead of time, so that I could leave the hotel and be at the apartment of the time of their arrival. Saturday afternoon..no call. Saturday night..no call. When I woke up on Sunday, there are no missed calls. At this point, I assumed they weren't coming, but this is the Philippines, and things are different here, so I start calling around to see if I could find out anything. Around 11am, I finally was able to get a status when I called my new apartment building.

Are you ready for this? Turns out, the movers arrived at my building at 12:00am on Sunday, 10/28. By that time, they had just been sitting there for 11 hours, hoping that I might show up. I couldn't believe it. In the US, I don't think movers would wait even 30 minutes without calling anyone. The best part was that these guys didn't think about calling me. They were lucky, because since it was already lunch time, I had almost assumed they weren't coming. Nevertheless, despite how the day began, it was such a nice feeling when they opened the doors of my container, and I saw my stuff. Despite that everything was in boxes, it was just comforting to know it had arrived.

First Glance at the Inside of the Container

Apparently, the Philippines Customs Department didn't care about how my things were loaded or about my new TV (you can see it in the back underneath everything), because this is how they loaded the container after they went through everything!

In LA, it took the movers 5 hours to pack my shipment, and it took about the same amount of time to unload it in Baguio. Overall, it went much smoother than I had anticipated, and the guys were great. The only thing that was physically broken was 1 vase, so I lucked out there.

Now on to the fun part...unpacking!

Moog Baguio Service Anniversary Celebration

After going through the humbling experience of buying my first Filipino formal dress, it was finally the night for me to show it off. On Saturday, 10/27, Moog Baguio had the annual Service Anniversary Dinner in which all employees who have worked at Moog Baguio for 5, 10, 15, or 20 years were celebrated. This event is a really big deal. There were about 200+ people there, and the dress was formal. Needless to say, I really looked forward to attending, as it's not something the domestic sites of Moog do.

At the event, each of the celebrants were recognized personally, and most brought their spouses with them on stage. Additionally, each group of celebrants performed either a dance or song to commerate their year, and their bond together. This was by far the best part. I was really glad that I went to this event, and I hope that in the future, the domestic Moog sites might be able to incorporate a similar their into their organizations.

The "infamous" red dress

More pictures to follow...

Finally..some of my stuff arrived!

Although I was originally told that both my air and boat shipments would be arriving on Friday, 10/26, it ended up that only my air shipment arrived. I guess they were not able to locate an available chassis for my container. Nevertheless, it didn't matter to me what arrived, I just wanted something familiar to show up on my doorstep. I can't begin to explain how good it felt to open the first box, and see my stuff. I was like a little kid in a candy store, especially when I made it to the boxes with food. I immediately starting eating some of the familiar snacks, which tasted better than ever.

Catching Up...

It's been a few weeks since I last posted, mainly because so much has been going on but also because I've had a hard time getting connected. Bare with me as I try my best to upload the key events and catch you up. :)