I'VE MOVED!

Hello, I've moved!
Which kind of sucks seeing as how blogger has schnazzy new templates that are oh, so sexy. Damn.

Okay, well here I am now www.clickanic.tumblr.com
You can follow me there.

Peace.

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Shanghai So Far

I got out!
I was able to meet up with Kassie and actually go around the city! Happy days are here again!
So that was Saturday night. I asked the concierge how to get there, but was helped by this super nice guy who could speak english. I swear, its times like that girls can totally use their being a girl to their advantage. Anyway, I proceeded to stay over at her place (unplanned) because we stayed out so late with her friends and I really didn't want to pay 70rmb for a cab back to the village. So I got up early and commuted from Kassie's to the village with a slight pounding in my head, care of last night's activities. Got to work on time-- I think I win at life for this one. First, though prob not the last outing like this, a success! After the advil I popped, I pretty much felt invincible coming out of that adventure without a scratch.

Monday was my first day off since getting here, so with some of my fellow Monday-offers, Bern (housemate) and Miko, we took to Old Shanghai! I knew it was going to be a foodtrip from the start and I wasn't disappointed! We bumped into Chan on the way out and invited her to come have lunch with us since she had the afternoon shift anyways, so she tagged along! Good thing too because she'd already been there before-- this made us look less like tourist targets. It was full of "ooh, what's that? Let's try it!"s which was an absolute dream! I got to try the famous stinky tofu which was perfectly UNSTINKY! and this red bean waffle-like thing with sugar and peanuts and sesame seeds on top which was SO yummy, we stopped by before we left to buy more for the rest of the girls at home! Then me, Miko and Bern went to Yu Yuan. Yu Yuan is an old Chinese imperial garden that, according to Wiki (God bless Wiki) was supposed to be a retirement home for an important guy's parents. We were totally hesitant to pay the 40rmb entrance fee at first, but it was one of those places you had to go to, so we paid and entered.

It was so worth it! Its absolutely gorgeous in Yu Yuan! We had so much fun wandering around the maze of buildings and roads, not really caring where we went or if we got lost, oohing and aahing at all the pretty things and taking random pictures of everything around us. We sat down in front of the Zhao (?) gate to take a break and were surprised by all the tour groups that passed by us. We were there for about half an hour waiting for an english-speaking tour but none came. We counted 2 french tours, one german one, one russian one and two korean ones. No english ones! What gives? I suppose english speakers are cheap (like us). Too bad.

We eventually found our way out and wandered back into Old Shanghai (YuYuan and OS are right beside each other). We stepped into the snack square and never looked back. It was almost 6pm but we were so ready for dinner! It was a crazy food line, where you kind of just point at things you want and put them on your tray. We got caught up in the food frenzy we kind of died when the cash register rang us the bill... 168rmb.
Oh well.

So the next day, since all our schedules are mixed up with people taking their days off and stuff, I'm stationed at the CITEM portion of the pavilion. And today, David, who's usually at the CITEM area, is back from his day off, kinda kicks me out of CITEM, so I'm homeless again. I mosey on over to the Travel Cafe, where Eli usually is. Eli was born in China and speaks like a local, so I'm pretty nervous about this position. Yknow, big shoes to fill and all. I made sure I borrowed Claire's Eng-Chi dictionary... just in case! Turns out, I didn't need to be THAT nervous! It was actually pretty fun! And the Travel Cafe staff personnel I was with, Ruby, was super nice.

I might be doing the Travel Cafe again tomorrow, since Eli and Clem switched days off (long story, but it involves visiting families). Other than that, I pretty much just lounge around the house. Doing nothing.
I wish China would let me upload pictures on blogger. Gah. I can't even comment. I attempted to open a wordpress account, but its just as pointless.
Much love to my commentors! I'm really sorry I can't reply, with freedom of speech and information being curtailed and all.

Oh, we only have 4 channels in English on our tv: HBO, CNN, CNBC and BBC.

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你好, China!

HI IM IN CHINA! And this is a picture of the inside of the Philippine pavilion. That I didn't take because my phone refuses to work with my computer.

I've only been here five days and I still sort of can't believe it.
There are SO many thing that have happened... not all great, not all awful, but mostly tiring.

House:
I live with four other girls in an apartment in the Expo Village. We had it pretty good, given the boys have to deal with living with 8 of them in one place. Plus my housemates are decently clean. Which is godsend.

Work:
Is tiring. Its far different from what I expected-- what any of us expected-- but its not complete torture. We basically came from being guides to being guides/translators/doormen/babysitters/salespeople/cafeteria folk.
Instead of our one hour break, we kind of deal with a how-fast-can-you-finish-your-food break. I have yet to visit another pavilion, but some of my fellow guides (who I'm going to start calling my friends because that's what they are and fellow pavilion guides is just too long to type up) have. I, however, am determined to visit another pavilion tomorrow before work starts, given ours opens at 10 in the am while most open at 9. We basically stand the entire time too, or run around after people, which could explain why we're exhausted as heck. Plus, I have the morning shift, and we usually wait for the night shifters to come home before going to bed. I get the same number of hours of sleep as I do back home, but it just doesn't seem to be enough.

Food:
From brown rice, whole wheat bread, non-fat cereal and skimmed milk, I go to pizza, deep-fried goodness, processed foods and preservatives. I need to munch on a celery stick. My weary, vitamin-depleted, fibre-needing body desperately calls for something healthy. My conscience isn't helping either.

Internet:
FINALLY got access. Have to pay for it though. And can't access facebook or blogger without a VPN. And even with THIS VPN, I can't comment on posts. Which is why this portion is dedicated to Ada and Pedram... YES, durian! Like the gelato flavor that people love in Mondo, according to Ada. And Adar, feel free to take <3

Philippine Pavilion:
So much to say, so little time. Internet time, that is. Its, uhm, pretty. There are lotsa lights and pretty colors and sounds. But I figure for our space, its not really utilized as well as it could be. There are performances every 30 minutes or so, so people stick around to watch them. They're not as popular as the curator would have hoped for though. There's huge turn over after the crowd does a once-over... which takes about 5 minutes. Anyway, the most common response we get at the door when we open the pavilion doors is "its so cold!" The air conditioning is turned up waaaay high. Its effing freezing in there.

The curator left the day after the first day. The organizing committee doesn't like us (its a long story, but it has a lot to do with money and power), but I'm otherwise doing okay. I've met some other guides from other countries and its really fun talking to them and getting to know them! Plus, they can get us into their pavilions without a real wait time :)

So for now, here's to eating more vegetables, getting more sleep and making new friends.

Excited for more adventures,
Nic

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Blogs, Ahoy!

In 3 days I will be making my way over to Shanghai, China!!

I am going to be living there for six months, working at the 2010 World Expo.

I am going to attempt to learn mandarin!!

Its going to be OFF-THE-HOOK.

One of the main challenges I will face is my attempt to scale the Great Firewall of China.

Gbye, Facebook :(

I suppose I'll have to rely on this blog as my link to the outside world more, with the departure of Fb.

So, I changed the format of this blog. It should inspire me to take more pictures to put in my posts. Otherwise, the front page looks icky and boring.

I am also resolving to writing at least once a week!

...for now :P

We'll see how that goes.

In between last post and now, I went to Davao!

It was SUPER COOL.

We first went to Eden, where they grow their own veggies, but I didnt eat any because no one told me they were grown on the premises. Then the Phil Eagle Foundation Center. LET'S SAVE THE PHIL EAGLE!!

Then off to dinner at a grill. Then the next day at Pearl Farm. Then off to buy pomelos and mangosteens (theyre cheaper in Davao), then had a talk with a tourism director for Davao (awesome!) then dinner, then durian coffee!! Then fabulous halo-halo at Aling Froping's, then random trip to Ateneo de Davao c/o Fr. Samson, David's family friend! YAY!

We ate durian and played with his bajillion toys in his office. So much fun! :P

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Much Ado About 普通话

Yeah-huh. You read right. 普通话。

Today was the official last day of the Pavilion Guides's chinese classes, and we had to put up this semi-major presentation depicting scenarios we would possibly encounter when in Shanghai. In other words, it was a scripted simulation.

The thing is, I generally have no fear when it comes to public speaking, presenting things in public, and heights. This time was totally different though. I thought about a lot of other thing's I would have rather done than perform that skit again. Some of them involved dancing and singing to B.Spears in a bikini, eating grasshoppers (never, ever cockroaches. EVER.), or giving up food altogether that day.

Unfortunately there wasn't really much of a choice in the matter, and while I didn't dazzle the audience with my mandarin skills, I didn't exactly sink the ship either. Though I did forget way too many lines, took too long to remember my lines, and I'm pretty sure I didn't even deliver them in correct, coherent tones. Crap.

Nevertheless, its over and done with. Here's a look at a rough draft of some of our lines. We (me and my partner, Claire) were supposed to talk about the Theme of the pavilion. The suckiest topic of them all.

菲律宾展览馆(zhan3lan3guan3)的主题(zhu3ti2)包括(bao1kuo4)许多(xu3duo1)方面。The Philippine pavilion’s theme has many different aspects.

在内部动感之都和在外面有许多双菲律宾人的手， 代表了有活力的菲律宾城市。Performing cities on the inside and on the outside many pairs of Filipino hands, representing the vigor of Philippine cities.

动感之都表现了城市发展和人类的互动。The performing cities show urban development and mankind’s interaction.

手象征(xiang4zheng1)人类在城市化， 但它也象征关怀(guan1huai2)，工艺(gong1yi4)，和劳动(lao2dong4)。The hands symbolize the human aspect of urbanization, but it also symbolizes care, craftsmanship and labor.

通过展示(zhan3shi4)很多手 还有使改变(gai3bian4)它们的形式(xing2shi4)，菲律宾展览馆(zhanlanguan)也显示（xian3shi4)城市和环境(huan2jing4)之间的相互作用。 By displaying many hands and causing them to transform their shape, the Philippine pavilion also demonstrates the cities and environment’s interaction.

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Free Fun! Get yer Free Fun!

Ahh, yes, I remembers why I stopped going to concerts in Manila because
1) international artists enjoy choosing third world countries to hike up their talent fees since people who can afford it will buy tickets regardless of cost because 1.1) who comes to Manila nowadays? this is a rare and special event! 1.2) the words 'gap between the rich and the poor' are SO early 00's. no one uses that now! like, ever! you know?
2) the crowd doesnt cheer, say WOOT, or YOU ROCK, or I WANT TO HAVE YOUR BABIES, GABE! instead, they scream a megadecibel, incoherent, ear-drum splitting scream, like they've lost all ability to make sense and their sole purpose in life was to make you lose your hearing on your right ear.
3) high school kids. wow, i'm age-ist.
4) faulty sound systems. 'nuff said.

Still had fun with Cara today :D

This was prob because we went to see Cobra Starship for FREE!!

And despite the massive amount of space between us and the stage, and the screaming high school girls, and the stupid broken mic, it was fun!

Was I expecting better? Yes.

Did I feel bad about CS falling short of expectations? No. Because it was free :D

Lame-ass concert vids up sometime this week :)

Oh, and the potato-bruise thing didn't work.

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The Potato Experiment

UPDATE!

Sunday, Feb 21, 2010

The Corinthian Gardeners, the motley crew of ica-xs folk frisbee team that I've become a part of won the Pool C New Year's League championships! YAY! This of course was followed up by several victory parties ;)

I havent won a frisbee championship in years!! The last and only one was the Indoor League 07 championships at UBC REC. Oh, happy memories :)

Unfortunately the victory was marred by several injuries (mostly mine), so I'm pretty banged up, scratched up and physically not feeling all that uppity. Notably are the giant gashes on my right shin (which after a week still looks like death), the bruises that surround the gash and the huge bruise that takes up half of my right forearm.

Yes, this will get to the potatoes eventually.

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

Me being Chinese and this being the year of the tiger, its absolute awful luck for someone like myself born under the tiger year. Go figure, I dont get it either.

Anyway, my mom insists I go to the temple on Tuesday to take part in this ritual that removes all the "badness" (I'm not sure what else to call it... evil is too strong a word, I figure) so you'll basically be okay for the rest of the lunar year.

Monday, Feb 22, 2010

I show up to work wearing pants, of course. My legs are an abomination and noone should see them unless they have to. Either way, the Gardeners just came from our glorious victory the day before (Sunday) so, David (a teammate and coworker) was telling the rest of the (work)

team about our win, complete with a list of injuries. Due to the fact that I am awesome, they all ask to see my spectacular, yet ghastly wounds. My teammate Eli was born and raised in China and only moved to the Philippines seven years ago. She suggested that I put potatoes over my bruises because they would help them heal faster. Like, thinly slice a potato and put it over my bruise and remove it when its dried up. It was cool, in that ancient Chinese healing sort of way, but I thought I'd stick to Hirudoid.

Tuesday, Feb 23, 2010

Badness-removing-ritual in the temple, I heard one of the old ladies in charge complaining about how she banged her knee on something and proceeded to put something that looked like a potato over her kneecap. OMG, this is exactly what Eli was talking about!, I think to myself. This is really cool now that its validated by an old Chinese lady at the temple,

but whatever I think I'll stick to modern medicine.

Wednesday, Feb 24, 2010

I get a massage to help improve blood circulation. Maybe this will help the bruises heal faster.

Thursday-Friday,

Feb 25-26, 2010

I worry about the gash.

Saturday, Feb 27, 2010

Its been a week since the championships and my bruises and wounds dont look any better. So I give the potato theory a try. I wish I'd taken before pictures so I could fully compare whether or not the potatoes had an effect, but I got caught up in making sure the potatoes didnt fall off.

Its been half an hour since I taped the potatoes to my arm and leg but it doesnt really feel any different. I suppose I'll have to report back with the results after its dried up. I'm not really sure how long that takes, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for one hour, max.

This entry doesnt really have a purpose, so there's no basic beginning, middle and end to this story. I guess I just wanted to talk about potatoes.

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Philippine Delegation to the Shanghai World Expo 2010

FINALLY!!

THE JOB CAME THROUGH!! I am going to be part of the philippine delegation to the world expo 2010 in shanghai!!
WOOOOOTTT!!!

the gig's specs are basically being trained from now (it started this monday, feb 15) till the 2nd week of april, and then we take off on the last week of april for shanghai. the expo's from may 1-oct 30, so we'll be spending time there till then working in the philippine pavillion.

also, because i'm lazy to retype stuff, here's a little excerpt from an email to a friend describing the job and my teammates :D

my training's officially started! it was pretty funny. like, orientation was on monday, and they were like, you guys are going on a team building/bonding event in a resort! yay! TOMORROW! wtf??
we're also going to be getting makeovers which i am PSYCHED for! i've always wanted a makeover!! seriously, i've really always wanted to be in one of those reality shows with makeovers but fortunately, im not ugly enough to be stopped on the street and be given a makeover! hahahaa!

anyway, im grouped with really awesome people for this trip. which is good, given i'll be working with them for 8 months and living with them for 6!! all of them are sweethearts! the only conflict i foresee is the possible difference in lifestyle. i know i have a diff lifestyle from a lot of them and the only thing im afraid of is people judging me because of that. i can already tell who im going to be getting along swimmingly with and those i'll only have a working relationship with. oh well, no complaints! already looking forward to hot men from all over the world convening in shanghai :D

anyway, the building/bonding was held at island cove, in cavite, which was pretty cool. as the sole purpose of the event was to build camaraderie among the group, i'd say it was extremely successful! the team gelled awesomely and it seems we'll all get along with each other throughout our journey. some better than others, but everyone well enough :)

i suppose this vlog will turn into somewhat of a chronicle of my journeys around here and there. sounds exciting? i hope so!

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Summer Specials: Cooking with Kiks, Madee and Nicole!

After swearing never to do have anything to do with iMovie again (VISA 110 nightmares, STOP!! Aaaaahhhh!!!), I suddenly find myself attracted to their snazzy new themes like a moth to a flame. I told myself my next project would definitely come from AfterEffects, but WOW there's a LOT of things you can do with AfterEffects! Waaay too much possibilities, its like putting a kid in a candy store. She'd take all day choosing and in the end go home with nothing because she couldn't decide. Plus, I wanted to give the new iMovie a spin :)

Any-whay, I originally exported it as an m4v file by accident, and that kind of sucked, so I decided to try to fix this tiny, tiny problem. Problem was, I stupidly overwrote project with the preview vid that was supposed to be for facebook, soooo I kind of... lost the original project. Trust me, I was banging my head against the wall for that one. I'm not even going to try to explain how I tried to fix it...

Donc, I apologize for the lack of quality awesomeness I thought I could bring with a mov file, but its the thought that counts, right? :)

This vid was filmed waaay back in the good ol' days of summer 09, and the raison d'être for the late, late, late (im sorry), late upload was the compatibility issued between my camera and my new laptop. Problem solved? Not quite, but I did manage to find my way around it. That and I didn't have much free time during the holidays.

Enough blabber, bon appétit!

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