JV in KL

A great year that was

2010-01-14T10:53:00.010+08:00

(No time for edits or pictures. Just plain raw thoughts that come to my head at the moment.)

"Growth means change. Change involves risks, stepping from the known to the unknown."
- from a friend

The year of 2009 was all about taking chances and having the thrill of having new experiences. Hell yes, it was. I'd like to share with everyone the memories and recount the blessings I've had with the year that was:

January: College academic life over. Still happy about the group thesis award and the thought of graduating soon. Excited to get myself a job.

February: Graduation march. Now officially an alumnus of DLSU-M. Applied for AIESEC's Global Internship Program.

March: Got myself accepted into the internship program. My career world was now open for anything anywhere in this globe can offer. Sweet.

April: Through AIESEC, I started applying for jobs in Europe. I was quite ambitious myself at that time, and eventually I got in talks with a company from Germany.

May: Germany didn't turn out so successful because of documents to settle. I had not enough time to dwell on this AIESEC internship thing, and I was about to give up because I promised myself that by the time June comes, I'll get myself a job no matter what. Then an AIESEC guy emailed me about a job opening in Malaysia.

June: Exchanged emails, did interviews, etc. And after a website design proposal later, this Swedish-Malysian company based in Kuala Lumpur officially hired me as a Multimedia specialist.

July: Papers were submitted, but needs time to get approved. Worked on the company's website at home, back in Batangas, in the meantime.

August: Bags are packed up for 'Malaysia, truly Asia'. Stepped on Malaysian soil on August 14, ready to embark on a new phase in life. Met Jiong Kit, the AIESECer guy who emailed me about the job, and Daniela, a fellow intern from Brazil.

September: Was enjoying my stay so far. Have gotten along good with the AIESECers, other AIESEC interns, and the people from the company. Spent my birthday away from home for the first time.

October: Andras from Hungary came, and a week after, Letzy from Peru arrived. We are now 4 people inside the condo. Daniela and I are now confident teaching Andras and Letzy the ropes here in KL.

November: Things got busier in the office. Two friends from the Philippines got to visit, Izah and Leola. Didn't get to meet Izah in person while she was here for the SEAChange conference though. Leola had Sarz and Viel come along, and all four of us went touring KL, and got ourselves some fun time in Genting Highlands.

December: The last intern, Martin from Czech Republic, had finally arrived. Christmas party with the company. Prepared a mean Chicken Macaroni salad for everybody, and was glad everybody praised my first time cooking well. Left Malaysia to spend holidays in the U.S. together with my siblings. Went to different places, (details and pictures to follow in a separate blog entry). Finally got to experience snow in Palm Springs, CA, and in Grand Canyon, AZ.

So much things have happened, most of them, good. Sometimes I like to think that 2009 was my year. A time when I have felt that I could be whoever I wanna be. A time when I felt like I could take on whatever that comes my way. A time when I took risks. A time when I decided on things for myself.

A time when I have never felt so much ...alive.

I really am grateful for all the experiences that I have had in my life so far. I am so lucky to have met talented people from all over the world whom I can learn from and look up to. Thank you, I have always liked learning.

And all this goes out to thank God and all my family and friends out there who are always there to give their love and support.

I like inspiring people as well. So there, I have never felt so adventurous in my entire life. My life has gone through a 360 degree turn, back to being not as passive and shy as I was before.

"Life is what you make it." No matter how cliche's go, I'm telling you that they are true.

Spreading the love from KL,
JV

Birthday Blast!

2009-10-04T12:27:00.014+08:00

Last Monday I just turned 23! Woohoo! And it was my first birthday spent away from home!

Yep. It was a little different now, because first off, I don't have my old set of family and friends with me. But instead, I have a whoooolllleeee new set of friends, which is nothing close to bad. :D

In fact, it's when you think that nobody will be there for your birthday because it's a Monday night, (and we know how Monday nights usually go -- it's not really a usual night for dinners/parties or whatever) , that you appreciate the effort of these set of people who made their way to come over at a simple dinner slash get-together after office work just to be on your birthday. Aawwww..

Since I was a kid, I don't think I have ever dreamed to have a grand birthday party for me. I mean, I don't know, call it weird or whatever, but I'm an easy guy. Sure, I can have my birthday with friends on a grand theme park, or in a Japanese restaurant with tons of sushi plates stacked together, etc... but I could have it even if it was for over a single tub of ice cream.

The people who came to the dinner invitation in Pizza Hut (nearby Petronas Towers) were quite a lot. Seriously, I didn't expect them to be so many, because yeah, it was a Monday night, and the place isn't that far (but it wasn't that near either). Add to that, that I've only got to invite them like 5 hours before the dinner.

Second, everybody who came was no Tagalog speaker. And that's still good! Yep. Those who were able to come to the dinner were Dani and Lucas (Brazil), Dante and Juan (Mexico), Viktoria (Russia), Lotta (Sweden), Rajib (Bangladesh), Teppy (Vietnam), Andre (Czech Republic), and Wiola (Poland). You don't see that everyday! Hehe.

Third, my birthday this year is a little different because usually I'd invite my friends over to our house back in Batangas (Philippines), get them to meet up with my family and celebrate my birthday with my sister. Yep, she has the same birthdate as me, but we're not twins! Uh-huh. And we're four years apart. Anyway, it's a good thing that I got to talk to everybody back home the day before. It's good to hear from them from time to time.

Fourth, we're in Malaysia. And I just found out that Pizza Hut here does NOT have my favorite pizza -- Bacon Cheeseburger. Malaysia does NOT have bacon. When I was flipping through the menu that time, I was like,

"Uh.. was that it?"

*flips through menu the second time*

"Miss, do you have bacon here?"

"Hmm, okay, not even side dishes?"

"How about pork then? Any dishes here that's got meat other than chicken?"

"Whaddya mean 'Nobeken'?!"

"Oh.. 'No bacon'."

...

"Nnnnnooooooooooooooooo~"

o_0

We ended up with a couple of chicken filled pizza then. Chicken. Again. Ugh. Haha!

But! Don't get me wrong, the food was still good either way. What was more important to me at that time was to have.... (drumroll).... Cheese. Lots of it. Haha! Keso. Queso. Quejo. Or whatever you call it. This mouse here *points to self* was craving for cheeeeesssseeeee. Oh yeah.

As you all know, bacon as well as cheese here in Malaysia (the good ones, at least) are rather scarce, and pretty expensive too. At least I've satisfied one of my cravings for my special day, and that's to have cheese haha.

I told you I was ~~cheesy~~ easy. Hehe.

Cheers!

Polish-Latino Night in Malaysia

2009-09-23T09:28:00.011+08:00

September 19-21, 2009.

It was another week, with yet another holiday -- the Hari Raya Aidilfitri -- a.k.a. End of Ramadan season for Muslims. Yep, ever since I came here, it's been like every week there's a holiday, which explains why I was usually "busy" for the past weekends on travel or just going around KL or chilling out with friends.

Sto lat, sto lat,

Niech żyje, żyje nam.

Sto lat, sto lat,

Niech żyje, żyje nam,

Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech żyje, żyje nam,

Niech żyje nam!

"Sto lat" ("One Hundred Years" in English translation) is a traditional Polish song that is sung to express good wishes, good health and long life to a person.

So what's with the song? Last week, back in Bangsar Permai Condo, we prepared this birthday surprise for our friend, Wiola (her birthday was this last Sunday, September 20).

She's from Poland, and naturally we got to teach ourselves the Polish version of the Happy Birthday song for her. So with combined efforts from Dante and Manuel (both from Mexico), Lucas (Brazil), and the rest of us interns and friends, we were able to pull it off, and man, it was awesome! The details, I can't think of right now, but lemme tell you that Wiola was quite surprised and happy to see everybody on her special day.

After a couple of beers and a Bacardi, some Roti Canai from Jassal, some 80's and some Latino music and getting to know people from all over the world, we went to Changkat in Bukit Bintang where bars are at in our area.

This would mark my first time in a bar in Malaysia then.

And I have to say that it's somehow ...different compared to my country? Haha.

Bars here in Malaysia aren't that filled up with people. Maybe because alcohol and cigarettes here are expensive. (Emphasis on ex-pen-sive. RM 20 for a beer bottle. That's a freakin 200 Pesos or so! Just. for. a. single. tiny. bottle. of. beer.) Or maybe it was just that it was holiday season at that time when we got there. (Muslims are out of the picture because of, as I mentioned, it was the end of Ramadan season.)

But anyway! We went to eat a quick dinner first at this Chinese restaurant nearby, and finally went to hang out at Pincho's bar.

Apparently, it's a bar owned by this Latino Pincho guy.. I think. Haha. It's been playing upbeat Latino music most of the time, and naturally, our Spanish-speaking friend interns from our group (who make up around half of our group, haha) were having so much fun!

Every Latino/Latina -- Mexicans, Peruvians, Colombians, Brazilians.. and even this Filipino right here (What, Filipinos are part-Latino too! Haha!) -- went crazy singing, dancing, and drinking the night away.

It's been one heck of a night with friends, and it couldn't have been so without the help from our crazy friends from these parts of the world.

Crazy Latinos.

Haha!

Perhentian Islands

2009-09-16T22:29:00.011+08:00

September 4-7, 2009.

"I've got a ~~peeling~~ feeling, woohoo, that tonight's gonna be..~"

You know that Black Eyed Peas song.

And I've got that 'peeling', alright. (from nasty sunburn, that is. Haha. Ouch!)

So here's the story behind the sunburn. While we were just doing our normal routine at work, Lucas (from Brazil) invited us to go with him and Wiola (from Poland) to go out over the weekend. Long story short, we got ourselves traveling to the wonderful Perhentian Islands, and man, it was amazing!

(Source: Wikipedia)

Think Boracay or Galera or whatever (if you're Pinoy), because it's THE 'beach-slash-islands-to-go-to' that we went to. Sadly, I couldn't compare the beaches here in Malaysia to the beaches in my country, because to tell you the truth, I haven't been to any of the famous beaches in the Philippines (or does Punta Fuego and Corregidor count?). I could only base my 'comparisons' from pictures of Bora or Gale or Coron that I see over the internet, or post cards, or pictures from friends. But I tell you, the beaches are a sight in themselves. White sandy beaches with clear water, flanked by rolling forest-covered hills make the views from the beach spectacular.

Anyway! I'll just write down ~~some highlights~~ a highlight of our Perhentian adventure for this blog entry.

Since I'm not that kind of a beach-person, I thought I'd enjoy myself and get the best out of this island getaway. I thought, hey, it's not like everyday that I have the chance to enjoy the beach and the sun.

So what the heck! So the day when we got to the white sandy beach of Long Island, we got ourselves into a snorkeling party on a boat after only about an hour after we set foot on the said beach. We thought of going for the diving, but, we thought, uh... let's do snorkeling first. Haha.

Yep, you read that right. Snorkeling. Into the sea. All day. My first time. So I was kinda hesitant.

I know swimming wasn't my department, but before I know it, I threw myself out into the water, just because I wanted to try out snorkeling so bad! Haha! And whaddyaknow, I could swim! (Yeah, lame-o. Haha!)

Snorkeling was really amazing. We had lunch in Fish Village, and went back to snorkeling on other sites right after. Thanks to Captain Henry, we got to see lots of marine life out there -- fishes, corals, 'Nemo' (Clown fish) and 'Dory' (uh, dunno the name), sharks, and turtles. HUGE turtles! Ahh, the beauty.

And at the end of the day, we went back to Long Beach to take our rest.

Whew! I think that's it for now. So while I have no pictures to show you yet, you can know more about Perhentian Islands in this Wiki enty here. So check back soon for the next part of our Perhentian adventure!

-- End of blog entry Part 1.

Coming up next, part 2!

And pictures, lah! Haha. --

Edit: I don't think I will have time to update this.. or maybe I might. Haha. Anyway I'll just update this whenever I can. I need to synchronize my blogging with current events, yknow! Haha.

Petronas Towers ...Almost.

2009-09-08T22:27:00.013+08:00

Sunday, August 23, 2009.

Tired from the Global Village event, we still woke up early around 6:30am on Sunday morning, because we wanted to go to Petronas on this day. We thought you can't be considered having been to Malaysia if you haven't been to Petronas Towers. So we left Bangsar Permai Condo at around 7am, went on our way and were surprised that highways didn't have so much cars as it used to have on a regular day. We figured, "Hey! Great day to visit the towers today! Not much people!"

Sunday morning in Bangsar: no cars in sight!

So after a train ride and a few minutes of walking, we finally got to Petronas!!

Well, we got there alright..... but was too late to get any tickets, because the place is packed FULL of people! And to think we got there around an hour before they open their gates for visitors! :(

Sigh. We then realized it was a Sunday, and naturally it's when people, local or foreigner, were all on the prowl for tourist spots. Especially if the tourist spot was for free, e.g. Petronas Towers.

We had to look for somewhere else to go then, since we can't anymore get tickets to get ourselves uuuupppp the Petronas Towers' Skybridge. So went on to the nearby KLCC Park instead. Thought there wasn't much to see here, but to our surprise, we get to see more of the Petronas towers! In every angle! So basically we wasted shots and shots to take different angles of the towers the whole morning.

Petronas Towers. Almost. We'll get to the Skybridge next time!

We wasted shots for different angles of the Towers. (and it's usually us, who serve as the "background")

More pictures to be uploaded in FB!

Cheers~

Edit: Pictures now uploaded in FB!

Global Village

2009-08-27T17:51:00.008+08:00

August 22, 2009. Global Village. With people from over 100 countries. All gathered in the Palace of the Golden Horses.

From taking pictures with the Aussie's 'kangaroo', to trying out Swiss chocolates, to meeting fellow Pinoys and local AIESECers, the experience was just amazing!

Me and AIESECers who flew all the way from the Philippines!

In that few hours, I ate junk food from all over the world XD

Met people from over 100 different countries, some from countries I honestly have never heard of before or just do not know where exactly they are on the globe.

I had an amazing time! Four hours was not enough. (because I wasn't able to try out other candies/food from other countries haha!)

**Will upload pictures tomorrow! Check em out when they come up!**

Edit: Photos uploaded in FB!

Selamat Datang!

2009-08-21T23:46:00.004+08:00

"Selamat Datang!" -- that's "Welcome!" in Malaysia. Yes, I'm here in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia now, ladies and gents.

(Source: Wikipedia)

So for those of you who don't know yet, I'm here because I applied for AIESEC's Global Internship Program; it's where undergraduates and recent graduates get to have a chance to do an internship in a country of their choice. In my case, I chose to have mine in Malaysia.

I got hired last June 25 (or 26, or 27, I forgot haha) by a Malaysian-Swedish company based here in KL. I work as a Multimedia Specialist there, so basically I do websites, brochures, user's manuals, e-learning CDs, etc. -- media stuff.

After some time for preparing my visa and all that, I flew to Malaysia on August 13, 9pm, Manila time, and arrived here in KL August 14, 1am. Soooo, if you do the math, today (Friday) marks my first week here in KL! So far so good, KL has been treating me nicely. Woohoo!

I wish I could put up some more pictures for my first blog post here, but oddly enough, I haven't taken out my camera ever since I arrived here haha!

So right now, I think I should be getting some sleep now. My friends and I will go tomorrow morning to this event called "Global Village" at the Palace of the Golden Horses to see presentations and all sorts of it from different countries all over the world -- think of it as an event where you can travel the whole world in one day. I'm actually excited about going, 'cause who knows, I might find another Filipino there! (Represent yo! Haha!) So yeah, I still have lots of things I should tell you about, but yeah, for my first blog post, I should stop now. Haha.

That's my way of saying, "check out my next post!" :D

Cheers, la!