The Jazz just had an exposition game where they played against each other AND they unveiled the new floor design. It was kind of cool so here are some pictures from that :)
Chris, Ramin and I had fun going to that and then going to lunch afterward. This ALSO happened to be the same day as Tanner and KayDee's wedding. So of course Ramin and I went to that later in the evening :)
It was so great because they held it in the cutest little outdoor area of an Victorian house - which I loved. And everything was so well done and I thought it was really great. I cried a lot of course because Tanner and KayDee are so cute together. On a side note, Chris and I are going to go see that Paranormal Activity 2 movie today with Tanner & KayDee because we all saw the first one together as a group. Anyway, here are some pictures from the wedding - I did not take these. These were taken by Tanner's stepmom.
And now it's time for my Philippines trip!! It's not going to be that long of a story, because honestly, I was there for work and BOY did I work!! I worked incredibly hard while I was out there and I was extremely exhausted each and every day I came back to the hotel. The hardest part was that you have to work through the night over there in order to match up with daytime in the United States. So I'd start work at 9 pm over there and leave the office around 7 am - which was really 7 am to 5 pm back home in the Us.
For the first week I travelled out there with my co-worker, Tim. That was good because he had already been there before and knew what to do logistics-wise, which was sort of my main worry before leaving. So he was with me for the first week and I was alone the last week. We stayed the first 3 nights in Manila - it is very metropolitan and crowded with tons of people! It was crazy but felt like any normal big city to me. On Friday we took a plane to Cebu City - which is about an hour long plane ride away from Manila. Cebu reminds me of sort of the Florida or Hawaii of the Philippines - everyone said it is beautiful there - and it is! Tim spent the night working with me there and then left back for Manila and then home while I stayed in Cebu for the weekend. I even worked on Saturday because there was that much work to do!
I came back to Manila early Tuesday morning and spent the rest of my time there. Just to clarify - we outsource to 2 companies out in the Philippines. And each company has 2 locations. The first company has both locations in Manila, just in different areas. And the other company has one location in Manila and one in Cebu - so that is why I had to travel out there. So basically I was meeting people from 4 separate locations and trying to remember names while also accomplishing the mission I set out to do. It was rather intense!
Anyway, the people are AMAZING in the Philippines. Everyone is so gracious and nice. I loved it - I think it was the major thing that got me through my time there. The food isn't so great. I don't even want to get started on my opinions - but I DID get the chance to go to a few really good restaurants - Chinese, Middle Eastern, Italian - and I actually some of the best food from those 3 genres that I've ever had. So without further ado, here are my pictures from my trip. Some were NOT taken by me but by other people there with cameras :)
One of the first places we went out to eat was Jollibee - it's sort of like their version of McDonald's. The people I work closely with were so great and took us to all these places and we all went as a group.
And then this is the same group of us back at the office.
I also took a picture of us in the van driving to dinner AND we also went out again when I was with them by myself to a place called Red Ribbon. I really liked that place!
And here is what my hotel room looked like when I was in Manila - I stayed at a place called the Shangri-La and it was a really nice hotel! Here is the view from the hotel and the actual room.
And then when I flew to Cebu, here was my room and the view from it! (for some stupid reason I can't get the picture of the room to rotate the right way - Blogger is being stupid :P )
And here are some pictures of Tim and I at the Cebu location. I do have more pictures from here but they are actually printed out. They had a little celebration while we were there and rented a picture machine that is really cool so all of those printed pictures I got with everyone are on my desk at work right now.
And I just realized that I don't have many other pictures from the other location in Manila. Hopefully someone will post up those pictures somewhere so I can have them.
But that's my trip. Glad to be home but really glad I had the experience over there and got the chance to learn about the culture :)
