Excited to go home

This is one big anticipation that I wouldn’t want to miss to write about. Going home.

I had just purchased my ticket online via Apple Travel. It was all done through Skype, no actual personal encounter with the travel agents and no phone calls involved. It was amazing how technology nowadays can ease up things. I found its website from a quick google search.

There is no direct flight from Xi’an to Manila. The travel agent provided me options I could choose from. This will be my first time to take a connecting flight. I could fly via Shenzhen, Guangzhou or Beijing through Air China or China Eastern Airlines. I had to wait almost half of the day for the agent to give me all the available schedules. I would have to review all of them, though I already knew which I preferred to take.

I took Philippine Airlines for my flight to Beijing when I was required to stay there to wait for my residence visa and work permit last July. While on my way to Xi’an on August last year, Misys was able to book me a flight via Air China. For my flight to Hong Kong last October to meet my children for Shami’s 5th birthday, I reserved tickets from the China Eastern airline ticketing office located in the building next to our office’s. For two of my three flights to and from Singapore, I preferred the cheaper choice -Cebu Pacific. The most expensive airline I paid for was Singapore Airlines, for my second trip to Singapore –and so far it’s the best plane I had ever taken. But Singapore Airlines is just the second best airline in Asia (according to a magazine I read sometime ago). This time I wanted to take the plane from the #1 airline –Cathay Pacific, via Hong Kong.

The round-trip tickets cost more than RMB5,100. The itinerary would be to take DragonAir from Xi’an to Hong Kong, then Cathay Pacific airbus from Hong Kong to Manila. My plane leaves Xi’an on the 20th of December at 12:30AM, and I will have to wait at the Hong Kong International Airport for around two hours before my next flight to the Philippines at around 5:30PM. To pay for the tickets, I had to sign a form sent via email by Apple Travel, and photocopy my credit card then send them altogether back to them via email or fax. I did not have access to any fax machine so I just thought of using my SLR camera to take images of the form and my card, and then send the images to them via email. Resourceful and hi-tech… Hahaha!

I prepared my itinerary. I only have around fifteen days so I will need to make the most out of my short vacation. Below is a list of my initial plans:

1. Dine at my favorite Pinoy restos with my kids.
2. Go to any Canon service center to have my SLR camera’s lens cleaned.
3. Go to the dentist and my OB-Gyne.
4. Shop for Christmas gifts with my kids.
5. Shop for Christmas dresses for my kids.
6. Go to Pampanga for Christmas, New Year and Jeff’s wedding.
7. Have some games for the children in my hometown, as what I always do every New Year.
8. Visit my father in Manila.
9. Meet up with my high school classmates (at most 2 days).
10. Shop for kikay stuff that I will bring with me to China.
11. Shop for coats at Debenhams or Zara.
12. Have some piamicucu and natural facial services at Prince Jireh Spa.
13. Have some glycolic peel at Let’s Face It.
14. Have a hair rebond service from Britanico Salon (c/o of my three-year hair advisor Dennis).
15. Buy Intel Atom laptop.
16. Buy either an Apple IPhone or HTC Touch Diamond.
17. Buy a Magic Sing microphone.
18. Drive Ava.
19. Hug my kids everyday.

I managed to convince my boss to allow me to return to work on the 6th of January. It’s one loud “yahooooo!” for me. Aside from spending more time at home, tickets are cheaper for non-weekend flights.

I can’t wait to see Manila again. It doesn’t matter how I utilize it, the best thing about this vacation is being home… and feeling “at home”.

Khristine's Birthday in Xi'an

I forgot that it was Khristine's birthday when I went for work yesterday morning. If I was at least reminded, I would have brought my camera. I was not on leave the day before. I supposed only a few knew about it and that Khristine would not find it a good idea to announce it to the whole team. So I was sure no one would bring anything for her birthday.

She was late. I thought she won't come to work at all. Arlene whispered to me about her planning to bring Khristine to some place, and I was so frustrated for not remembering. I had nothing -not even a simple token to give her, though it was a relief neither did others have any plans. When she arrived at work at around 10 in the morning, I was hoping she was wearing something red, just to let the day realize that she was special. In addition to that, it was her favorite color.

Before lunchtime, Xiaoxia approached me to ask if it was really Khristine's birthday. They did not take it seriously, it was my fault I guess. Before Khristine left for the Philippines last month for a short vacation, we had a dinner party in my apartment and I told everyone that it was her birthday and that I was cooking all those food for her. A cake was surprisingly brought to my apartment by Johner (Khristine's team group leader) a few hours after that. If you were wondering why it was Johner who bought the cake, well, let's just say that Khristine had been a very special lady in Johner's heart in the past few weeks (you know what I mean).

So Xiaoxia arranged for a very special cake to be delivered to the office right before office hours were over, not only for Khristine, but for all birthday celebrants for this month. Around 30 people were inside the conference room. Khristine thought it would be a general meeting of some sort, we pretended to feel nervous about it. She was surprised to see the cake and the party hats worn by the other celebrants. As expected, no one brought a camera so Chris (my boss) used his iPhone to take pics. He left the room with Zahid, though, shortly after that. Unlike in the Philippines where we usually buy palabok, Pichi-pichi and barbeque from the popular Amber's resto, here in DCFS they just had this cake with few little candles that the celebrants blew altogether before they made their wishes. They did not really do this often, maybe Xiaoxia just wanted to express her gratitude to Khristine for helping out on the project.

Almost everyone saved the icing of his piece of the cake for a much more childish part of the celebration. Maybe you know what I am talking about...

Geoff (our big boss from Misys of course) caught us on cam with icing all over our faces. There was no exception. Even Geoff got a taste of it, hahaha. It had been so long since I felt like a child again, I felt both enjoying the moment and irritated because my hair did not escape from "the boys".

After work, we went to a resto which I first checked out after I got back from Hong Kong. People who joined the nightout were Geoff (again, our big big big boss), HJ, Arlene, Steven, Bao, Genius, Purple, Johner, Khristine and myself. We ordered all sorts of food -seafood, pork, a variety of vegetable dishes, as usual neither fruits nor pastries for dessert. The boys decided to order one bottle of 50-proof alcohol drink from which I was not exempted from. Another bottle followed that in less than an hour. Letting this liquor touch my lips was enough to make me hate it for the rest of my life. Geoff had a lot next to HJ. Johner and Bao turned red all over after a few jiggers. It was good Geoff had this something which he mixed with a glass of hot water that alleviated the effects. Johner did not seem to be the human dictionary like he used to be before taking Geoff's solution. Bao surprisingly was undefensive and closed-mouthed when he's drunk. Hahahaha...

We left the restaurant at around 10 after Geoff paid for our bill. After that, Arlene and Zahid went home and the others decided to go to a KTV bar. It was odd that the boys seemed to never have taken any alcohol that time, and that everyone was excited to go somewhere else. And so we went to this popular KTV just 6RMB-cab ride from the resto. It was probably the fourth KTV I had visited so far. Our colleagues did not really take us to the same place. Geoff ordered for a big room that had its own stage inside and ordered some more liquors and bites to eat.

It always felt distressing to try to listen to our colleagues singing those Chinese songs (except of course the songs from my all-time favorite F4). They usually did not "sing" the songs, they sounded like yelling with some melody at the background. I remember advising Bao to sing from the heart so the song would be pleasing to whoever listens to it. I don't know what is it with the volume that makes them think it's better music. Everyone, except Khristine, had their own song number. Geoff and I did some duets, I remembered they were "Somewhere Out There" and "Endless Love" . Bao and I sang "A Whole New World" (I asked him to learn to sing this song a few months ago and he kept on listening to it until he perfects it). We also got our Chinese colleagues to sing the two of the very few English songs they know: "My Heart Will Go On" and "Yesterday Once More". They also requested me to book "Lemon Tree", but I personally find that song a little monotonous so I did not bother. Sorry for those who like that song... Aside from singing, some also danced with Khristine.

We reserved the room until 2 in the morning. After that, we called the night off and decided to go home. Surprisingly, everyone still seemed to be "recharged" for another activity, except for HJ who fell asleep a few hours before singing time was over and started to throw up just before he reached the KTV room exit. We waited for him for half an hour outside and he still looked tipsy when he got out. Genius and Bao went off with me while the others were still arguing who's gonna go with who... We dropped Bao to the street near where he lived, then Genius and I got off in a corner road near my apartment. He personally walked me home to make sure I would be safe. Genius rents a small flat somewhere in the small village just across my apartment's building.

Then was one of the many times I stayed out very very late. I never had the chance to feel this kind of independence in the past. It was really unfortunate I did not went back for my camera before we started the fun last night.

Climbing Cui Hua Shan

I had a terrific Saturday. It was a day of many firsts for me. I joined DCFS employees in a mountain climbing activity. It was fun. The experience was worth all the physical pain I almost could not stand the night after.

People in Digital China usually plan team-building activities the day before the actual event. It was a few hours before office hours were over when Tong Xiaoxia, the manager of the DCFS-Misys project team, came to us to invite us to join the Integration group climb the Cui Hua mountain. It was not really my cup of tea, but I never hesitated to say "Yes" because it was a good opportunity for me to get out of my nest in the weekend. I was aware of the consequences but I thought it was part of the experience. So not knowing about our rendezvous the next day, I headed off to leave the office to hopefully as early as I could to be more physically prepared for my first mountain climbing experience.

The first thing I did when I got to my apartment after dining out was to charge my camera's battery. After watching a few episodes of Heroes Season 2 which I was able to completely download from a torrent site, I finally fell asleep. I even forgot to turn off the lights. The next thing I knew was I staring at my wall clock, not believing it was already 8:43 in the morning. I couldn't help myself to utter, "Shit!"

I immediately grabbed my phone and sent a text message to the organizer of the activity, Pu Dexiang. He was one of the junior Java programmers from the Integration group and a close friend. I gave him an English name -"Peter". I asked him what time we were supposed to meet and where. I did not wait for his reply, I immediately ran to the bathroom to have a quick hot morning shower.

I heard my mobile phone ringing twice in a row, and some message alerts, while I was in the bathroom. I knew it was either Peter or someone who would ask if I would still be joining or not. I never cared to check them. I could not waste 5 minutes more of my time to take the pressure. Suddenly, I realized it was my first time to take a bath without even thinking what I was going to wear! I felt like hugging myself when I found some appropriate clothes already ironed weeks ago hanging in my closet. Xiaoxia said I should not wear very thick jackets for it might be warm at noon in the mountains. I got myself an old pink knitted sweater I brought from the Philippines and put on a couple of thin "Kamiseta" shirts. To complete my "get-up", I brought one of my many caps -I chose to bring the one I just recently bought from an ESPRIT factory outlet in Hong Kong.

I put on some facial moisturizer and some moist powder to complete my morning routine. The wind nowadays in China is strong and can easily dry up anyone's skin. I still found time to put some "blush on" despite knowing I was too late... Hahahaha... The last thing I should not forget -putting my signature perfume ("Beauty" from Elizabeth Arden which I have been using for five years. Rustan's in PH no longer sell it, got a couple from Singapore last year and saw some too at many cosmetic shops in Hong Kong last month).

I was startled when I heard knocks on my door. "What the --?" I knew it was Bao Jinlu. I somehow anticipated he would be fetching me. He was one my constant companions here in Xi'an and the only person who would always make people panic -someone like an alarm clock that automatically snoozes every two minutes. He belongs to the Development group and works for Khristine's team as an RPG programmer. He would be mountain climbing with the Integration guys because he failed to be part of the Development group's team building activity two weeks ago.

When I opened the door, I saw Peter too. Whoa! I must have been very very late. I saw the clock, it was 9:05. It was actually record-breaking for me -being almost prepared in 20 minutes. All I had to do was to brush my hair. I grabbed all my accessories and put them all in my bag. Brought my passport and ATM card (I had no cash!) and a huge grocery bag so we could pick and bring home for free some fresh fruits from the mountain. Peter and Bowen (Bao Jinlu's self-chosen English name) kept on yelling "Oh! Why do you keep on doing this?!" They said the bus was already waiting in front of my apartment building. Yeah, I think I am known for making people wait. I was always late. It's probably in my blood. Hahahaha.

We left the apartment without my hair combed. I was too guilty, making all those people wait for 40 minutes!!!

The service vehicle was a mini coaster rented by DCFS for the whole day. When I got on it, I saw all those people staring at me, maybe thinking how special I was to almost stand them up. Khristine was also there, who was not supposed to join due to an earlier commitment to play badminton in the afternoon with some fellow Filipinos working in Fiserv. I got a seat behind the driver, next to Bowen. There were plenty of mineral water and bread just in case someone gets hungry. Others brought their own "baon" too.

I was unusually quiet the whole trip, not only because of too much guilt, but because it would be my first time to take a long day out. After a few months of staying in china, I felt sickly. It may be a psychological effect of being far from home, adjusting to Chinese food and cold weather, being less sociable, or just physically deteriorating with age. The trip to the foot of the mountain took more than an hour. Bao kept taking pictures of the city during the trip while unendlessly asking why I was not talking.

It was around 10:30 when we reached Cui Hua Shan. There were a few souvenir stores with stuff that you could actually buy from the city streets. I felt better when I saw that there were not much people around, it meant we were probably early. It should be a good excuse for me not to spoil the whole day blaming myself about being late. The weather was warmer than usual and I had to take off my jacket to feel nature's very own breath.
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The mountain was setup so tourists could easily explore it. Even non-climbers can reach the top with no difficulty using the artificially-made trails. The way up was a challenge, though, for the mountain was steep and the collapsed ruins were disturbing -a slight tremor might cause the big rock fragments to roll all the way down to the foot of the mountain. There was not much to amaze any climber along the way except the breath-taking view from the higher grounds. There were only the usual trees with autumn-colored leaves, no birds, no anything except the large stone fragments held in place to form caves, creeks and familiar shapes. These structures were caused by a landslide when a great earthquake hit the center of Shaanxi province in 780 B.C.
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The scenery at the highest point we reached was not something worth-remembering. The big lake which they called the "Sky Pool" was dry, and a few vendors and restaurants somehow prevented us from completely realizing we were actually close to the peak of the mountain. Cars were everywhere, too, for those who did not choose to climb. The Sky Pool area almost looked like a National Park for me; I almost forgot we are on a preserved mountain. On the other hand, the "Tomb-raider"-like adventure while inside the caves, where I could not almost pass through, was scary but memorable.

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We tried to look for a good place where we could take our late lunch. It took us around two and a half hours to reach the Sky Pool and we were all very hungry. The biscuits and bread we had during the climb were not enough to nourish us. After checking out some restaurants (which I observed were all empty), we decided to head back to the city to get a well-served lunch. .

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I did not expect the trip back from the peak would be more exhausting. We forgot about taking pictures because we were all hungry and anxious to reach the coaster. We took a different direction to descend and it was not anything easier than the way up. My legs were shaking when I attempted to pause, and I could not seem to stop from running down the slope because gravity kept pulling me down the tracks. I also should watch each step for any excess move could be the end of me. The descent was more dangerous and stressful, but we managed to return to the foot of the mountain in less than two hours.
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When we reached the coaster, my stomach was grumbling, and my feet and legs were aching like hell. I was crying like a baby inside the bus while massaging my feet until I finally dozed off. We were in the city when I woke up. The bus was instructed by Song Jiangbing (I call him "Shawn"), the team leader of the Integration group, to take us to a fancy restaurant that serves "Eat-all-you-can" food. It was almost 5:00PM then. Foods at the buffet table were not served yet and the restaurant could not give one table to seat us all. Thus, we were in two groups.
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The buffet table was finally filled with fine dishes at around 5:30. The fried rice was good as the others we had in other restaurants. The "pansit" though was a little sour, so I honestly did not appreciate it. I especially liked the breaded squid and the sushi. The restaurant obviously served all sorts of food. Aside from the buffet, a little bit of more than twenty dishes were served one at a time on each plate -pizza, seafood, chicken, pork, duck, fruits, etc. It was amazing that each person was only charged 48RMB (bottomless drinks included) -48RMB was just one Pork Steak rice meal (without drink) from a coffee shop near my apartment...
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When dinner was over and just as we thought that everything ended well, Khristine realized she could not find her bag anywhere. Initially, we were thinking someone might be playing some trick on us. Her bag was a small back pack, with her digital camera, mobile phone and some cash inside. The thief would surely be very very lucky. Our Chinese colleagues were humiliated about the incident, constantly saying they were sorry it happened to us in China. The kept on arguing with the restaurant manager, who later called the police, who honestly could not help anyways. Khristine repeatedly asked us to leave 'coz every minute of thinking about what she lost tortured her. (By the way, it was her second time to be robbed here in China. The first time happened in Beijing.)

The three of us, Bao Jinlu, Khristine and I, decided to drop by Citadines Hotel with Zahid (our Functional Consultant from Bangladesh) primary to get Khristine's laptop from our other colleague, Arlene. Unfortunately, she was out for dinner so we ended up at Zahid's hotel room eating some pears. We waited there hoping Arlene would arrive soon. We left at around 8:45PM after agreeing that Arlene might return to the hotel much later than we could wait.

I reached my apartment at around 9:00PM from Citadines. I immediately changed to my thermal clothes and thicker socks, then laid on bed. Again, my legs started to ache like I was going to die in pain. Unwillingly, I took two tablets of pain reliever (which a Chinese doctor prescribed for my stiff neck) and placed a Salompas-like patch on each of my legs which I bought a couple of weeks ago from a Chinese pharmacy. I was bursting to tears thinking someone might have been massaging my feet if I were only in the Philippines. I could not remember what time I blacked out.

The next morning, I could not move my legs. Generally, I could not move at all! The pain was worse than the day before. Yet, the soreness was no bigger deal than the exciting adventure I had with those wonderful people. As a matter of fact, I did not want to forget any of it so I decided to write this blog.

For more pictures, please go to http://www.friendster.com/piapetillucero