Hit the Road Jack

Saturday Aug 16 

Time to head home. Was packing until about 3am so running on 4 hours sleep as I have been all week.  Too much excitement.  We grab a quick breakfast and say our good byes

This is really it

The cab shows up at 8:30 and it is good to be sharing it with my teammates, Carina and Brian.  They are planning on traveling through different parts of The Philippines over the next 4-5 days before  heading out and their flights are close to mine so it makes sense to leave together.  We share a few laughs during the hour long drive to the Manila Airport and drop them off first as their terminal is on the way first.  I had told Carina that I expected it to hit me well after we left but it is hard to say good bye right now.... I hate good byes at the best of times and especially where you never know if you will ever meet again. We spent a lot of time together and they were great to work with....lots of laughs! As someone who works mostly from home it was good to have that camaraderie again!

I spend the last 15 minutes with Ricky the cab driver and talk about the Philippines.... what we have seen, what we liked.  "Philippines people are friendly sir, don't you think?"   Right on Ricky ...right on !

The airport is a zoo with long lineups. I am glad I got there 2.5 hours early because I need most of it to get through.  The flight will be from Manila to Taipei (2 hours ), a 3 hour layover in Taipei Airport   a 14 hour flight from Taipei to Toronto and the final 2 hours to Halifax from Toronto. I am dreading, especially again being assigned a middle seat for the 14 hour piece (Both ways I tried well in advance to check in and no options other then middle seats....hmmmmm).  

The Manila flight is uneventful and pretty much on time.  I spend the 3 plus hours moseying around the Taipei airport psyching myself up for the journey.

All By Myself !

Buy some chocolates for Annette which cheers me up. How sappy is that? :-)

14 hours later land in Toronto; all in all not too bad. They look after you well on EVA Air but sleep is hard to come by and hard to get up and walk without disturbing your seat mates.  The Toronto Airport is an unexpected roadblock and it takes almost the full 2 hour "layover" to navigate successfully through baggage transfers, Customs and to a new Airline (Air Canada).  I had enough time to get a bottle of water before getting on the last flight.

Annette is happy to see me at the airport and I can't tell you how good it is to see her again.  We land home just before 3am.  Even the cat is happy to see me, see the joy ?

I'm telling you..she's overjoyed!

It is great to be home and hit the hay around 6am!

30 Days went by so fast. Can't believe it is really over.

 #ibmcsc philippines

The long GoodBye

Friday Aug 15 

Today we will be heading down to city Hall one last time to say our good byes and drop off our final documents to our client contacts. Becky is the first one who is leaving.  LinKIT has completed all of their activities and Becky's husband and young daughter (just over 1) just arrived in Metro Manila on Wednesday.  She is heading out to be reunited with them! We will miss her as she has been one of the life's of the party and chief organizers to many thing. One last team picture.

See ya Becky!

We leave a bit later and make record time....just over 30 minutes to City Hall. We have a conference call with the IBM Philippines Team and then we spend the next 3 hours finishing up before the good byes.  I pop out to get a Halo Halo from the Chow King....I had intended to get one, so it is now or never!  Watch the Tony Bourdain video I had linked in my Philippines Link tab. This dessert does not make a lot of sense but there is something to it and totally unique!

We make the rounds down at the Social Welfare Office. It is very touching that they will miss us. We will miss them and the rhythm of the last month so hard to say good bye.  We get some pictures up in the business office with girls up there.  

Last shots in the Business Office

We get back to the hotel for the the last time and profusely thank the driving Duo for everything! Time to get a few staff pictures at the Microtel. The staff have been so kind and welcoming to us; they were happy to have us for the month and it showed. We really liked them and will miss them a lot!  TripAdvisor will be getting an update on my opinion shortly!

Now that captures the smiles from the Front Desk staff!

Carina with Edward - Edward was the man!

We head out for one last round of shopping and to meet for dinner at Paseo.  There has been little time for shopping over the past 2 weeks. I regret not having shopped more in Palawan when I had the chance under the mistaken belief there would be many more chances!

I think everyone is feeling satisfied but a bit morose. It is hard to say good bye and it is hitting us all that this it it.  28 Days have come and gone...it is over!  :-(  We have a quick dinner and head back to the hotel to start packing, have a drink and say our good byes. Martin will be the first guy to leave
as his flight is at 5am Saturday morning.

Martin Doynel - Argentinian and all round good guy!

Earlier in the day we had received gift packs from the mayor and we want to get a picture to show our appreciation.  We get the use of a Selfie Stick (it allows you to attach your phone and extend it so you can take pictures of yourself - how wonderfully narcissitic it is!! :-)  Brian puts it to good use for us!

Thank you Mayor!

Time for bed...have to head to the airport at 8am to catch a flight back. It will be a loooonnnggng day.  Sigh.

#ibmcsc philippines

Own The Podium!

Thursday Aug 14th

This is the big day we have been working towards! Final presentations to our clients and then in the afternoon the LinKIT team has arranged for an educational community service session with students of the STI College of Santa Rosa and small business people who may some day use the small business incubator that LinKIT has been working on.  

Can't start without a picture!

As mentioned earlier each team will have 15 minutes to present and the customer is requested to respond formally to the presentations followed by a QA.  In all through the 4 presentations over 50 recommendations will be referred to with as much description as can be provided. We start the day out with a welcome and a few speeches from Reps from IBM as well as from the city.

Agnes Africa from IBM Philippines

Next we show an audiovisual presentation of our time in The Philippines.  The customer was interested in seeing some of our experiences so someone was needed to assemble.  I volunteered to put the slides together and as someone who has not done one before it turned out pretty good. PhotoStory 3 was a great tool and very easy to use; the biggest problem is curating through over 1000 pictures to grab some highlights and then picking the music to match the mood and the time it takes to show the slides. It seemed to be well received once we got the sound working; finicky speakers meant holding the plug to the laptop and praying! 

Next were the presentations and I have to say all the presenters did a great job covering the material and kept things brisk. Everyone sticks to the 15 minutes!

Anne Taylor covers the Traffic

Vivek Describes the Objectives

James kicking it off for LinKIT

Ioana talks Police work

Brian Kulak presents and kicks of 2020 Presidential campaign

The clients provide a lot of positive feedback which was great to hear about the work that was done.  The Police Chief, Bong expressed his thanks on behalf of the City and The Police Force and presented his own slide show which was a highlight of the morning.  After that it was handing out the certificates

Sridhar "graduates"! Surrounded by the clients.

Carina and our client Ms. Judith Hasil

The program ends shortly after noon and then we are treated to a quick buffet lunch before setting the room up for the afternoon session. The crowds start to arrive at around 1:30 and they are mostly students from the College. Dr Antonio Del Carmen kicks off the seminar with an impassioned speech about what small business can do to for a community and the "teach a man to fish" theme.  Dr Del Carmen is a very successful businessman and his dream is to see this business incubator become a major part of a thriving community. It is

That's Tony to the right of me. 

James, Becky and Sridhar talk about the work they have done and the Incubator.  The goal was to get the information out to small businesses first but hey these students will be the next business people in the community so the timing was right.  The session is interactive with questions and prizes, and the next topics are on some of the biggest technology trends. Cloud, Mobile, Social. We are very fortunate to have a guest speaker from the IBM Philippines, Dr Alexis Pantola PhD to cover 5 in 5 (Innovations that will change our lives in the next five years). 

Vivek covers Cloud, Luciana covers Mobile and Carina does Social. They are excellent in the 15 minutes they have. Then the  highlight is hearing Dr Pantola talk.  He is a former University Professor, now working for IBM and his talk covers a lot of ground in 30 minutes while being totally engaging. The students are paying close attention and are very complimentary of all the speakers in the feedback we get. 

Becky promoting LinKIT

Carina talks social Media

Luciana finishes Mobile chat with a Selfie.

Dr Alexis Pantola  does an excellent job of IBM's 5 in 5

Students like pics too!

Dr Pantola and students

The Big Team Pic after graduating !

The afternoon session is a great success and Dr Del Carmen is pleased. Great job by Anne Taylor who started the planning for this Community Session and then the LinKIT team that ultimately made it happen!

We head home late and as per usual keep our van and drivers waiting.  Now is a good time to tip them and get a picture! Trying to gather a bunch of IBMer's into a van every day is like herding cats and they are always patient and great to deal with. 

Us with the Driving Team!

Tonight it is one last meal at the Hotel's Japanese restaurant (most of us have eaten dinner there at least 8-10 times and it has always been excellent). There is no time to go out and the LinKIT team are out for an appreciation dinner with Dr Del Carmen. Most of us still have some documents to complete and the Police Team has done so well that they have been asked to present at a Police conference on Friday morning in Manila. It is quite an honor! 

All in all a very successful day.

 #ibmcsc philippines

Presentation Eve!

Wednesday Aug 13th

This will be our last regular day in the office.  It is a mad scramble to the finish line as we put everything together and try to make sense of what exactly it is we will present vs the materials we will provide.

We just just received the schedule on Tuesday for the presentations so we know how long we have and in what order. Basically the hope is to review exactly what you will present with your client by end of day today and then on Thursday we will only have 15 minutes per team to present to the larger teams of all the clients, some members of City Hall, and the IBM Philippines Team. 

15 minutes is not a long time to present so it will have to be very concise. We have elected for Brian to give the pitch,  which he has graciously agreed to do; we know he will do a great job. Besides the presentation, we will have to show all of the supporting documentation behind the recommendations and there is a lot of information to gather. 

But of course through the day we have one last lunch with the staff. Ms Judith is not in the office so this is a staff production.  So at 11:45 we head down...we provide the drinks, ice and desserts and they provide the food.  I have prepared for this by running a quick marathon n the morning and skipping breakfast ! :-)  The lunch contains some Sinigang (A sour soup/stew made with tamarind,  meat, and mixed with a variety of vegetables.) some Sisig (Fried and sizzled chopped bits of pig parts) chicken, rice, noodles and some deep fried intestine! 

gathering for pictures

lunch!

Making the rounds

Team picture with some of our main contacts...Sallie and Amore

After lunch more work and we make a point to meet with one of our main clients Paulo Velasco to review what we will be presenting; Judith is not available. We want no surprises for Thursday.  We get the "all clear" so now all that remains will be to tie everything together; especially the supporting documentation of what we have done. 

We don't get back from City Hall until 6:30 and need a break so I make a point of joining Becky for dinner since she will be leaving on Friday to meet her family in Manila.  We decide on John Bamboo
since it has something for everyone. James, Waya, Becky and I head over and it was funny listening to Becky and James talking about James trying to teach Becky "the Queens English"! :-o   Becky being a native Texan (though living in NYC) has taught James how to say "y'all".  James has clarified that pants refers to underwear not trousers, that tea does not require actual tea but at least some biscuits or cookies in the afternoon, and pavement refers to the sidewalk. There are a number of other clarifications that have made Becky and now I much more refined as a result :-) Now to get that accent!

The language does not translate to ordering ribs at John Bamboo however.  James orders the ribs and the waitress comes back to clarify what size he wants. James seems taken aback and says...."man sized"....you know.... "proper" in his fine English accent!  Alrighty! Apparently in The Philippines  proper is about a 2lb monster rack of ribs! Well translated!

Becky gets the crab with Waya, and I go with the first bowl of pasta I have had since I left Halifax. Ah the memories.  We cut the dinner short and grab a Starbucks! Coffee has been hard to come by other then instant with powdered creamer so the SBUX is a welcome treat. 

Back to the hotel and a late night as we hit the big day.

#ibmcsc philippines

Putting the Hammer down

Monday & Tuesday Aug 11-12

Monday and Tuesday are 100% dedicated to work during the day and dinner is ordered in to the hotel .....Monday night it is tacos and burritos from Army/Navy chain and on Tuesday it is some pizza from the Yellow cab chain.  In lieu of Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint slides I wanted to post a few pictures from the various teams and their adventures over the past few weeks. I have not been able to relay a lot about what the other teams are doing during the days while we were doing our thing. I had described what the teams will be doing and their projects in an earlier posts so here is some more info on what theu have been doing

LinKIT Team (Sridhar Vijayaraghavan, Becky Ju and James Hunter)

This team worked at another location outside of city hall and we did not get a chance to see them much during the days.  They had a lot of activities with their client and worked with local students, small businesses and even architects (for input on the new Business Incubator their client is working on)

Becky and James hi-jack a trike!

Sridhar catches a flight to Puerto Princesa

Tour of the Gardenia Bread company

Would you like some "ham" for your bread  :-)

The Police Team ( Luciana Siciliano, Martin Doynel, Ioana Topler) 

The Police team to this point has accomplished a lot and had a lot of two way interaction with thier client.  As demonstrated by our outing with the staff on Saturday they have a great relationship! To this point they have delivered education seminars on Social Marketing and Surveys, Excel and Social Media in general at their clients request.  We have leveraged this training for out clients to attend as well and they do a great job. 

Martin, Ioana, Luciana

Martin hands out seminar treats - Pacoquitas(cross between peanut butter cup filling and Crunchie bar from Brazil)

The Traffic Team  (Anne Taylor, Nick Lowman and Vivek Agarwal)

Have I mentioned traffic before in Santa Rosa?  Only about 10 times so far as it has dominated our days with the amount of time it takes to get back and forth.  It is a difficult problem with a lot of stakeholders and players in the issue.  Anne and Vivek have mostly wrestled with looking at how to define roles and responsibilities of the Stakeholders and then how to measure and use data to get meaningful data for improvements. They are striving to find a repeatable process for conducting traffic volume counts which support recommendations. 

Outside to start traffic counts

The Traffic team reviews data

Training Photo

Certificate provided

So all 3 worthy projects and updates from the first 3 weeks as we head to Thursday D Day. 


#ibmcsc philippines

Lazy Sunday.

Sunday Aug 10

Karaoke was a late night so today on the agenda..........nothing ! Time to sleep in and catch up on some rest! "Ring" goes the phone...."sir I just wanted to let you know breakfast is over in 5 minutes !" How thoughtful! :-), so I decide that actually some breakfast is a great idea! It is truly a lazy morning after that.  I spend some time to clean up mail, some catch up on the blog and a bit of work.  We head over to the pool that afternoon since we pledged we would use it again after finally discovering it. 

The weather is great and really has exceeded my expectations. I knew it would be hot and it certainly is; every day the weather is in the 30-35 range with a lot of humidity.  I would say the lowest it would get, even overnight was maybe 25. As posted earlier the average expected rainfall was in the 400mm + range so I expected constant downpours but it was really not the case.  During the first few weeks it was overcast and rained a bit every day but really since the Palawan trip on Aug 1 it has been sunny AND warm except for one day of heavy rains.  A quick trip from the office to lunch and your undershirt is soaked(you need an undershirt here).  If you are looking for a tropical destination The Philippines is a good choice especially if you can get near one of the many beaches ( see Palawan and Boracay ).

Boat to Underground River - last weekend

Love this picture- Luciana and Ioana Hanging 20 on the beach

We head out to John Bamboos for dinner.  It is quite a spot and amazing in the amount of variety they offer. They have fresh crab, seafood, ribs, chicken, pasta, salads, pizza.....really a bewildering array of choices. When I see a menu like that my first thought is, how can any of it be good if you offer such variety, and I see that in a lot of menus in other restaurants. But surprisingly everything is always good and at Bamboo it is no exception; everything looks and tastes good. 

Sharing some crab

An early night. This week is going to be hectic getting ready for final presentations from Monday to Wednesday and then it will be a full day of presentations and a seminar sponsored by the LinKIT team on Thursday.  Friday will be devoted to goodbyes with clients and wrapping things up. 

#ibmcsc philippines

Hangin' with the Police!

Saturday Aug 9

We arrange for a van to take everyone to the Philippine National Police Academy for a some target shooting, lunch and a tour of the facility.  The Police team (Luciana, Ioana and Martin) and the force have been trying to arrange to have a get together outside of the work day so this Saturday is it.  Most of the members of the force including the police chief Pergentino Malabed (Preferred name: Bong)
are graduates of the academy and proud to show us the place.

Academy Motto - Justice, Integrity, Service

As expected it begins with training to show people how to safely handle and fire a weapon; most of us have rarely, if ever used guns need the guidance for sure and it is a fun day to try. We shoot at targets about 20 feet away and some of us do OK. I am not a top dog but get the white part of the target quite a few times.  Becky hits the bullseye on her first shot but it was all down hill from there!  James, Martin and Carina seem quite good.  Brian knows his way around so his good performance was expected.We try longer distances and the performance of course goes down.  Bong tells us we need to have both eyes open on the sights to properly focus, but it just makes me see 2 targets.  Had to close one eye to see.

Luciana and the Police Team. Chief Bong to her left.

The grounds are beautiful and there are cadets everywhere taking various lessons, whether shooting, combat or just exercises.  Someone expresses seeing a demo from the instructor with the stick combat. The instructor shows us some sweet moves as he asks several of us to try and hit him....easily disarming and show how easy he could be in a position to make you surrender. That does not stop Brian from trying

Brian gets a lesson!

After that and before we get the complete tour of the grounds we are treated to a prepared lunch by the police.  It is served communal style on top of banana leaves and laid out over a picnic table.
A layer of rice, noodles, vegetables and pork adobo, adorned by tomatoes and salted eggs around the edges.  We stand around the table and start to eat with our hands; this is the 2nd time we have doen this(the other time was at the river)so it truly must be Filipino style!

Now that.....is a feast

One of the commanders, is our host for lunch. His name is Marjoe Bongngat and he has a very confident air about him as he tells us more about the facility over lunch.  He is still a young man but was already a Police Chief of Mindinao in the southern Philippines so he has a lot of experience. He tells us also that we are not to leave any food uneaten; there are about 15 of us eating and there is easily food for 25! That is not a problem for long.  He calls over some female cadets who were marching and requests for them to join us for lunch to help finish!

The cadets lending a helping hand

The girls are going in to their 2nd year and are lean and whipsmart.  It is a disciplined life they have chosen. We of course get pictures taken and ask to join them as they finish their march back to their quarters. They sing as they march with the girl in the rear(possibly chosen for her singing ability) singing the main and the rest responding to the chorus.  "I've been working on the Railroad all the live long day"  and "Someone's in the Kitchen with Dinah" I can't remember all of the other songs but we heard 4-5 of them on the way.

Workin' on The railroad

We are then shown the living quarters of a team of the male cadets. There are about 30 of them living in open quarters. It is a 4 year program which is a very significant commitment to be a police officer. Everything is neat and tidy and the cadets are subject to inspections on a regular basis. It is about order and commitment and you have to want it! (cell phones and gadgets for cadets are banned!).
I think about how hot it must be to live in these barracks with no air conditioning all year since the weather is about 33-34 degrees today! We finish up with a tour of the mess and the lounge before heading over to get some police souvenirs(T-Shirts, caps and mugs).  It was a unique and memorable day with many thanks to the Police Force and Officer Bongngat for hosting!

Officer Marjoe shows us the "Mess"

The barracks is "ship shape"

As mentioned it was a hot day even for Filipino standards so someone asks the question..."don't we have access to a pool near the hotel?"  we had never even thought to go there and 7-8 of us head over for a dip to cool off. It is a huge pool in the community just down the road and less then a 15 minute walk.  We have been so busy we had never even thought to avail ourselves. We regretted not having used it before! 100 Pesos gets you access (about $2.25 ) Capital idea!

Sunday is going to be the first and only unplanned day since we have arrived 21 days ago. Before then we have arranged a night of karaoke at a place down the road. We book a big room and have a great night out.  It was mentioned before we got there to know a song and everyone participates ... it is almost like initiation and a great team building exercise.  The highlight is Sridhar's rendition of Olivia Newton-John's "Let's Get Physical"....truly memorable!

After the karaoke, a down day will be needed!

 #ibmcsc philippines