Meeting the Team

Dateline July 19th

Riiiinnnng!

It's 4:30PM in our "In Country" Manager, Waya(Araos-Wijangco) welcoming me to The Philippines. She is the one who is going to be making things happen and work with us and our customer's while on this assignment.  She says the team is gathering in the lobby to make plans for dinner. Waya is the boss while we are here so if she says jump I'm gonna jump so even though I have about an hour sleep and therefore, the social skills of Frankenstein, I figure I should head down below to meet whomever is there and make plans. I can just head back up for sleep, sure!

Nick, Becky, Sridhar, Brian, Vivek  and James are in the lobby.  We will be getting the whole team together for dinner later tonight at 6:30 but going for drinks now, want to come? That 's such a crazy idea it might just work. We head out find a suitable spot to partake in a couple of sasparillas and sample a few appetizers in Quezon city. We walk past the IBM building and the area is bustling with activity. Like any major city it is built up for new business, tourism and local night life.  Just walk around the area and see likely 50 + restaurants and bars. This area is very modern and lively. 

We seem to get on very well so it's a great start and excellent, after being on the road for essentially a couple of days, to see some friendly faces. It's always slightly awkward meeting new people but not for long.  A few drinks and we try one Philippine specialty Pork Sisig; basically Pork parts (often: head, liver, cheeks) mixed with onions, chiles, citrus, and egg. We are starting to work our way towards the Balut which I am told Filipinos like to challenge their guests to try. I am not even sure they eat it but it is great fun to get foreigners to try it or watch them squirm. Like Newfoundland getting guests to kiss the cod...or eat seal flipper pie! It is part of the local fun http://edition.cnn.com/2014/02/05/travel/how-to-eat-balut/  Waya says it's the real deal but I think she is setting us up! :-)

We meet the rest of the team at 6:30.  Same as before; great to see all of the new faces! Head out for dinner and stick to more traditional menus we know; half for pizzas and half for Vietnamese. We have a Philippine fiesta scheduled for Sunday night so let's hold off for now.  Everyone is tired so it ends up being an early night for most.  Tomorrow should be busy with a trip to Santa Rosa and settling in.  Hit the wall and out by 10pm; hopefully ready to roll tomorrow!

#ibmcsc philippines