Week 4/5 - Hard Work Kicks In

Wow! It's suddenly the 19th February and i am already into week 6 of this amazing adventure. Apologies for the lack of updates for the last 2 weeks, the simple fact is work has been hard, tiring, draining and demanding. More people have arrived which also carries extra responsibilities but its fair to say nothing has changed and i wouldn't want to be anywhere else in the world right now.
One thing that has changed is that Emma & Kyle have developed a slight issue with shopping. They can't stop. Every day they are going to the malls and buying things that they don't need. One example of this stands out more than others though. Kyle is very good at his job and knows our systems and processes inside out, however at times lets himself down somewhat and this time it was simple Maths. The Philippine currency is the Peso and we get 150 for every pound here, surely the maths is quite easy?? Not for Mr Francis, he went out one morning and came back with a rucksack. I will give it to him it is quite a nice rucksack but it cost him just over 5000 Pesos. I will let you work out the maths but it certainly wasnt the cost Kyle thought he was paying. Ever since this moment where it dawned on him how much it cost that bag has not left his side. In fact when he jokes that he uses it as a pillow when he sleeps i'm not so sure this is far from the truth! Worse still i remember seeing a replica of the exact bag in Greenhills market for £5. I try and remind him of this daily.
So the new week allowed us to once again go to Resorts World. The complex that Republiq Nightclub part of. This time JSD managed to get his act together and wear some trousers. It Probably wasn't a good idea for Emma, Kyle, JSD, Jimmit and i to have 4 Jaegerbombs, 2 Sambuccas and a tequila each before going in, thats on top of the San Miguel that by now is the norm whenever we are outside of the working environment. This night will be remembered for many reasons but even though we were in an upmarket area we were still treated like royalty. It was very busy similar to a decent UK club but instead of having to push your way through crowded areas there would always be a local on hand with a torch moving people out of the way of us as we walked. I can't imagine this going well in the UK at all. Other thing to note here is that JSD obviously has different ideas of the normal drinks to buy in a club. He didn't buy rounds of vodka and coke he just bought the whole bottle and although my memory is slightly blurry of this night i understand he bought 3! Bad times!

A Video of Republiq that night

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Nights like these are needed at times to take us away from the intense working environment that is now developing. In total our numbers have increased to 116 now from Online agents, managers, trainers and quality analysts. All of these individuals require moulding into their roles, expectancies need to be communicated and behaviours implemented and coached. On top of this reporting, systems, testing and auditing is continuously required at this early stage to make sure that we have everything perfectly in place for the 13th February which is was our official go live date.
One aspect of all of this which makes things easier is that when outsourcing work outside of the UK we have an agency which are responsible for all of the background work and fixing problems for us. The First Source workforce that have been implemented into our project have been fantastic. They understand why we are here and fully support what we are trying to do. This is one of the reasons that everything is running as smoothly as can be, lets just hope it stays this way.

When i look back on this blog in years to come this entry will be one that brings bad sad memories. It was time for the trainers to leave us. The BT New Entrant training is award winning and the success of this totally depends on what we teach our advisors from the first day they walk into that classroom. Similar to our floorwalkers the trainers were part of a selection process in the UK so that we made sure we brought our best.... and we certainly did. I want to thank Bev, Emma, Dierdre, Jackie and Judith for the hard work and hours they put in, both night shifts and day shifts. I really hope that our paths cross again. Dierdre will be known as the sneaky photographer. Everyone here is scared to know what pictures are hidden on that memory stick, maybe they will remain hidden and maybe that is a good idea!
It woudnt have been right to allow the guys to leave without a good send off so Sean invited us all to his house (Massive 6 bedroom with a pool) for some good old home cooking. Can't beat a good Chilli in my eyes and it was very good. Everyone had a fantastic evening but we did all realise one big drawback for a lot of people. The creepy crawlies. We ate in Seans garden in front of the pool in the worm weather. Only problem is that we had at least 5 Geckos sat with us having that meal. Mozzies fly around as if we invited them too and also the occasional worm would rock up looking for some left overs. Sean took great pleasure in continually winding the girls up and also shared some of his stories from good old Derry..Anyone would think he was actually Irish!
The second send off was very very touching. As much as the Filipinos love us coming here and look after us whilst we are they are also very sad when we leave. On the trainers last day i was strolling through the Pantry (Canteen) and i could see them setting up a microphone and speakers. We were all called in where all of the advisors were waiting for us, this was the way these guys say goodbye. In turn Honey, Abbie and Princess stood infront of all of us and sang, and boy can they sing. Everyone joined in and suddenly the whole place was singing "Leaving on a jet plane".. The trainers were bawling their eyes out by this stage which got even worse when the guys gave out presents to them. This was mad in a really lovely way. This would never happen in the UK where the culture is actually that we are happy to see the back of people. I was finding that the way i see things is going to be very different when i go home. I took a step back and realised how lucky i am to be here and learn the culture of these guys. If you go to this link you should be able to see the guys singing one of the songs.

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So the trainers on site who have been buddied with our guys now need to step up and make sure all of our new people receive this same head start as the others.. they are good so lets hope so!
It was very sad to see the guys go so where else to drown our sorrows but la verde bar. The King (Peter King) had arrived by this point as had Don Lemmon (pronounced something like lemoir). He HATES people saying it as "Lemon". There will be more on that later. There must have been at least 20 of us in the bar that night and several people embarrassed themselves once again on the Karaoke. JSD once again silenced everyone with his awful jokes and we all had a very good time. UNTIL - Pete managed to pursuade one of the team leaders here to sing Whitney Houston "i will always love you" whilst staring right at me from about 5CM away. All of you who know me will know that i cant control how red i go when i am embarrassed and it gave everyone a very good laugh! Slightly ironic though that by the time we had all woken the next day Whitney was dead. I blame the singer myself!
So i had to somehow shift the attention away from me so i took the microhone and introduced "Don Lemon" as the next singer.. he obvisouly refused to sing so what better than to start chanting "Lemon, lemon, lemon" soon the whole bar was doing it, thankfully he took it well. Then Jovs our centre manager turned up, he thinks hes a bit of a tough guy so started an arm wrestling competition amongst us. I think its safe to say Kyle won hands down although i have heard rumours of rematches!

The one mistake about this night is that we had the rest of the floorwalkers arriving the next day. Early - and i mean early. 1am UK time so i went to the airport straight from the bar, as we are 8 hours ahead it was actually daylight by this time and very hot. The airport as always was very busy. I was there to meet Sam (Samantha Walsh) Carla (Carla Hoggarth) and Kulli (Kuldeep Johal). These are the next grou of experts coming out to help start the new site. After waiting for 30 minutes or so i saw in the distance Carla and Sam looking for me. Its not the best place to be so i immediately ran towards them. Then disaster. I didn't see the huge chunk of the road that was missing and out of what seemed to be nowhere i felt absolute agony. My ankle had gone right underneath me. Anyone of my friends who plays football will know this feeling, suddenly i could feel my ankle trying to burst out of my trainer but i was too proud to admit how much it hurt. I pretended as if it didn't happen even though the locals were fussing over me. I managed to hop to the guys and greet them. What a great first impression that was to make!
Over the next few days i had hoped my ankle would get better. It wasn't and it was getting worse. In work i was getting teased for going to see the nurses for treatment and pain killers. We have two young pretty nurses, looking at the signing in and out book it certainly seems that boys seem to need more attention that girls in the office... strange that hey?
So i fought on for the time being and took the guys back to the hotel. It was Liverpool VS Manchester United that night... not a great game for me but what was great is that the locals showed us a new bar "The Union Jack" this place is a dream here. Its like a good old English pub with English fatty greasy food, right up my alley. They also sell british pints and have a shop attached to the side where you can buy.... Yes you guess it Heinz! Manila just got that little bit better!

The weekend passed quickly, my ankle was throbbing and painful and i couldn't turn corners without stopping first. Bad as that sounds it didn't stop a fair number of the people here finding it very funny.

Here we were it was day one. Manila was officially being opened. When i got to the office on Monday 13th Feb i was really amazed at the effort that everyone had gone to kick this off. Banners and balloons everywhere, even the staff were all dressed in BT Branded T shirts. All the hard work behind the scenes, all the technology, all the thoughts and discussion were about to be all forgotten and we were about to become a BT site officially. Soppy as it sounds i felt very proud that day. Everyone has done so well to get to this point and i would like to think they felt the same as i did.
I won't bore people with the ins and outs of the work that we did these first few days but what i will say is that imagine giving your job to 60 brand new people and exposing them to the British public, it was hard, very hard, demanding and we have worked a shed load of hours recently to give the best start possible. Some nights we found ourselves still working at 4am to make sure that everything was running as it should be. The team has really come together both the Filipinos and the BT people. I have definately picked the right people to be here. Yes there have been occasional niggles and constructive conversations (put very politically i must say) but this is healthy. We have a hell of a lot of expertise and experience here and the group has gelled better than i could have ever dreamt. Anyway thats enough compliments for them for the time being.
Those who are interested we beat 4 of our 5 targets for week 1, if i was told that would happen 6 weeks ago i would have grabbed it with both hands so i'm very happy.

On the Thursday my ankle was still that bad and o many people had told me to go to the hospital i gave in and went. For peice of mind more than anything. The facilities here are the same if not better than the UK as there are no queues. I was straight in. Jovs was finding it way too entertaining pushing me around in a wheelchair but it was nice of him to take me and it was good of him to wait with me.
The diagnosis is a bad sprain. I got told off for not resting and not elevating, not putting ice on etc etc but i was just happy to know that i was on the mend.

Below is a video of a "Jeepney" ride. Before we came here we were advised not to go near these things. They are the local method of transport but renowned for theft and just general discomfort. Carlo our onsite tech guy offered to come with a group of us to sample it, so off we went. The roads are crazy here at certain time but it was good, to put things into perspective you can get around in these things for 8 Pesos (12p). These vehicles originate from wartime and some of them are decorated very very well. Then again some of them look as though they are going to fall apart at any moment as well! Believe it or not we are very lucky with traffic and transport in the UK. Something i think we are all guilty of.

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So week 1 is done and we have a positive start, everyone is getting on well and everyone is healthy. I met Marie Collins this weekend who is with us for 2 weeks, she manages our compliance and quality and makes sure we are doing thing the way we are meant to. After a long flight it is against the rules not to go straight out so we went to resorts world again. After unitialy deciding to go for Chinese and were sat on a 9 seater table with Menus we all looked at each other around the table and collectively changed our minds. How awkward it felt all standing up and leaving without ordering a thing! The real reason was that there was no option for vegetarians of which we have 2 so we decided to walk across the mall to an italian. I left the others to answer the "why why why" from the people in the chinese. Lasagne, potatoes followed by chocolate fudge cake.. what a dream. Kyle decided to embarrass himself by saying the lights in the italian were actually the air conditioning but all in all it was very nice. We then went on to a club, a very expensive club. Rumour has it there were a lot of local celebs in there that night, we were just the rowdy english people blocking the entrance, or thats how it felt.

So the rest of the story i am going to tell in pictures. From what i understand back home its quite cold. Won't make you feel any better that we are creeping into the early 30's every day here. Even i am enjoying it now!

I am sure i will speak to most people very soon.

Lots of Ginger Love

JLB

P.S. We survived the Earthquake as well!!!

Week 3 - Manila Becomes Online

Every week I sit down behind my ipad and write for an hour about the previous week. Every time I end up sitting in my room and laughing to myself at everything that has happened (both good and bad). What I also do is worry that the next week will not live up to the times that I have had so far and the stories would stop coming like they have been in the short time I have been here. A worry that it seems just shouldn't exist!
Enter James Salter-Duke (JSD), the second James to arrive in Manila and the second double barrel. Rumours from the UK that he would also be the second ginger just weren't true as we met in the office; probably a good thing or I would start wondering if this whole thing was just one big wind up!
Each of the training classes had begun to take calls by this point and what with us giving the Team managers online experience as well it meant that Emma and I were rushed off of our feet helping. Admittedly Emma more so as she was our lead floorwalker. Work became tough, the focus on getting this right first time right from the start had reached the people we had trained and the queries came flooding in. It soon became obvious that we needed extra support so with a quick review with JSD Kyle was called for.
Kyle “The Jerk” Francis is a colleague from Newport who was due to come out in February. It was great news that he would be coming earlier as in an office which is 90% female it would be good to have some male support out here. He would be coming to us on Wednesday.
After a very tough day in the office and the arrival of JSD it would have been rude not to relax with a couple of San Migs in the evening and get to know JSD a little bit better out of the office. This would prove to be a massive mistake. We went to the local bar, a place that I have spent way too much time in within the last fortnight but it wasn’t long before “This is boring lets go to Makati” came from the other side of the table. It was Monday night at approx. 2am and JSD soon had us hailing a taxi for Makati, the nearby party part of Manila. I think JSD had made the mistake of reading too many books about the nightlife in Manila and it being crazy wherever you go, this isn’t the case but even so we were soon in a “taxi”. I asked the driver to recommend somewhere which was 1. Busy, 2. Had Booze and 3. Had Music. “Ok Sir Ok Sir OK Sir” was what I heard back and apparently he knew just the place. The first mistake on this journey was to NOT take the skyline. This is a flyover for the whole city which includes a small fee but cuts your journey by 2/3rds. The road towards the bar reminded me slightly of Bangalore City Centre (India). The roads and pavements did not seem finished, the buildings were more shacks and it was dark due to a lack of street lighting. It wasn’t the nicest of experiences. On the way to the bar we were in the fast lane following a car that must have been driving at approx. 30MPH. I told the driver to get on the horn or go on the inside. One of these things he did, he tooted and began to speed up. Instead of going on the right side of the road on the inside and easily overtaking the maniac pulled across onto the other side of the road into the oncoming traffic – Maniac! And I thought the driving was crazy in India!
Forgetting the journey we arrived at “Airforce one”, paid the driver and got out of the car. We should have known something was up as the driver reversed so fast away from us it was suspious. We were approached by 2 young lads to be told that this “Bar” was closed. We were then also approach by a guy who seemed to be what I would describe as an AK47 in his hand from a doorway with “Health SPA” above the door. One of the guys said “Would you like a massage sir??” Ummmm no you’re ok thanks. Where on earth had we found ourselves! Those of you who are interested Google “Airforce One, Manila” and you will soon find out where we were going to end up if indeed it had been open, believe me this is not what we wanted!
It soon became very obvious that we needed to get out of there and back home and we were soon flagging down another Taxi. Why we chose the most suspicious taxi ever seen I really don’t know. This car was literally crawling along the side of the road but we are white, and white apparently means money! On the way back to the hotel the taxi stopped 3 times at 3 different petrol stations. Once the Boot was opened, next the bonnet was opened and lastly we got petrol, 200 Pesos worth (Approx. £3). Not sure how far this takes someone but I can assure everyone it’s further than back home! We should have probably been more scared than we were but we were just happy to get home… Alive and without getting roped into a place we didn’t want to go. JSD – A lesson to be learnt and welcome to the Philippines!
Due to how busy and pressured work was I could not go and meet Kyle at the airport. The liability would have to find his way to us on his own. I’m surprised but also happy to say Kyle made it all the way without any hiccups. Sean, Mandeep, Jovs, JSD and I had gone to Alabang City Centre after work to celebrate Mandeeps Birthday. Mandeep is the First Source general manager and had moved here from India, we went to the “San Mig” bar which needs no explaining but as normal the drinks were flowing. Kyle came straight to us from the airport without any sleep in 2 days. This evening will be remembered for a few reasons, one of them being the guys discussing various ginger jibes. I can’t actually write on here most of them but in fairness it was very funny!
Back down to the 24 hour bar we went to celebrate not only Mandeeps birthday but also Kyles arrival. Only problem was there were 6 of us to fit in the one car. I offered to go in the boot but we finally decided to put 4 in the back. Jovs the First Source centre manager decided he would sit on Seans lap (Sean is the First Source manager). Obviously being blokes with a drink inside us the jokes started flowing. However the quote of the week has to be (sitting on Sean's lap) saying “Boss I can feel your respect growing on me”. Absolute classic but I guess you had to be there.
Back in work something quite amazing was happening. Our current performance was actually out performing every other site in our area including both the UK and India. We weren’t going to get carried away but the initial performance of what we were seeing is very encouraging. This is thanks to the trainers we have here both from the UK and Manila and also the hard work we were putting into both the advisors on the phones and the managers, we are working very long hours out here and it was a great feeling to seeing it pay off.
The team bought Mandeep a birthday cake and another thing that the UK have got wrong = Awesome Spaghetti. Apparently this is normal and definitely something I will hope to bring into home when I return. I stayed behind in work on Thursday to talk to a few of the managers. They were firing questions at me about the UK. The looks on their faces prove that they are so interested in learning our culture and understanding the people who they are speaking to. To be honest this was quite hard because if the truth is known the people, the places, the atmosphere and the environment here is so much nicer than the UK. There’s no greed, no jealousy, minimal trouble and people are generally caring and nice to even their most distant stranger. I learnt today that we have sleeping quarters in the office, before any jokes start this isn’t to be naughty but for a few of our people to stay as they live so far away. Just another fact which proves how much these people want this job and to be part of this.

On Friday morning I woke up with a horrible pain in my ankle. I didn’t have a clue what had happened but it soon became clear something wasn’t right. I have added a picture below of how it looked when I woke up. Anyone who has ever strained ankle ligaments in sport will understand how it look and felt. I had no idea how it had happened. Thanks to mum I had cream for it and the team gave me some tabs. I managed to forget about it for a while. Not for long though. Anyone who knows what bites are like will know how good it feels to itch it, really good! I soon found that whatever it was wasn’t just my ankle and that it felt good to scratch up my leg as well. I had to have it seen to. Not only do we have a brand new office here with brand new office equipment, computers, desks and technology but we also have 2 young nurses full time on site. As you can imagine it was an absolute chore to go and see them! As much fun as that sounds my face soon dropped as they told me they were ringing an ambulance. At first I laughed it off but it soon become obvious that these girls were serious. I had been bitten by a COCKROACH. Who knows where, who knows when who knows where but some little fucker feasted on my juice at some point.
After 15 mins or so the docs from the hospital advised that I use some strong lotion and sleep on it. I would be picked up in the morning at 9AM. Bit of a bugger working UK hours as this is actually 1AM to my body clock.
Mum will go nuts when I say this but I just wanted to forget about the Bite as it did actually shake me up somewhat so what could I do to take my mind off of it………….?
The next thing I know I am in the bar with the guys with a huge tank of lager next to me with JSD forcing it down my throat. All I can think of is when the locals shake my hand saying “Welcome to the Philippines”(Pictures of this below). A random drunk welsh guy approached us in the bar with a very attractive bride in tow. He asked me if I was Welsh which obviously I said “No but Kyle is” as soon as I made this comment I got the biggest smack across the back of my head followed by laughter. He was the stereotypical UK idiot abroad, then again when he asked Kyle if he spoke welsh Kyle responded “I don’t but I know what ARAF means”. (Everyone in Welsh will understand how silly this sounded).This would only happen here. I didn’t stay late this time. After being hit on by the local gay I was home relatively early as I knew I was going to the hospital in the early hours.
For everyones reference Kyle and JSD stayed up until 8am in that bar. So whatever anyone says about me there is proof that the influences around me haven’t been helping.

The bite is ok, apparently it will die down and become less irritating over the next few days, however the last comment to me was “if you get a fever or a bad stomach you must act immediately as there is a small possibility that it has laid eggs under your skin”… THANKS
Saturday came, time to relax and reflect on a hard, challenging but rewarding week. Saturdays are the only time that the training team can all join us operations guys socially so we usually make the most of it. We went to “Outback” an Australian Steak House. The one thing I missed when working in India was a good steak, and this was good and well worth the visit. There is a photo of us all below. (Beverley I won’t go into what happened to you after 3 bottles)
A few of the ladies decided to go home leaving 5 of us to hit the town. Jimmit the trainer wanted to introduce us to “Republiq” in Manila City. A 20 minute taxi drive along the skyway got us to a huge complex. This place was huge, shops, bars, clubs and a huge casino. We soon made our way to the club, this place was smart. Some of the most beautiful women were going in which all seemed great until……………. We were rejected as JSD was wearing shorts. So not only does he take us to a brothel on his first night in Manila but he also causes us to get turned away from one of the cities most well known clubs. He tried to blag the bouncers and then searched for a shop to buy Jeans but it was a no go. I am sure we will return although it was tempting to leave him behind and go in anyway (JOKE).
So beers and the casino it was. The casino was massive, everything you could want from a casino. Kyle and I hit the Blackjack tables. It’s been a while since I had been in the casino. Many drunken nights in Torquay had led me to the casino down there but this was primarily for the freebie munchies they provided. I won £40 within 10 mins or so and then went back to the others at the bar. We spent a good 3 hours in there before heading back.
Again, were we going to get home without any trouble?? Just a nice cab back to the hotel surely? NO! Emma, Kyle and I hailed a taxi and got in. “Alabang please”.. “Sure sir”.. It had all started so well but all went wrong so quickly. First it became apparent that this car had no headlights. Bear in mind we are in the middle of the night I assume this was breaking some traffic laws.. if there are any here… but still we just wanted to get home. We took a slight left turn and I mean slight and the whole of the right hand side of the car scraped the road. It was a horrible sound and it felt like the car was literally going to fall to pieces. Then the driver told us he needed petrol, not an unreasonable thing to need of course but what was unreasonable is the fact that we drove at least 4 miles off course to go to one particular filling station. Once we had got there apparently the nozzle was broken so we needed to go to yet another. We took a sharp right turn into a side road I didn’t even realise was there and we literally crawled between buildings. This road was the kind of road I would expect Jason Bourne to be sneaking along and with no lights this was something you couldn’t write!
We finally got petrol and after Kyle looking round and saying “This guy doesn’t have a clue where we are going lets just get out” we were back on the road. The idiot had missed the Skyway which would have had us home in less than 30 mins and before we knew it we were back in the towns with no lights, no air con and a car which scrapes the floor when it goes round corners. Could this get any worse?? YES.
Suddenly I see these eyes looking at me in the mirror, I knew something was about to make this even more surreal than it already was;

“Siiiiiirrrrr ccaaannnn yoooooooouu drrriiiiiiveeee???? I’mmmmm Sleeeeepppy”

Yes that’s right… I was being asked by our taxi driver to drive a burnt out old car with no lights on the wrong side of the road because the driver was falling asleep, and he wasn’t joking either. The worst part of all of this is that I was actually tempted as he was all over the road. Thank God Emma the trainer was with us as she sang to him and asked all about his family to keep him going. It took us over an hour to get home that night. Phew!

So again another week passes which has been full of eventful in work and out of work activities and stories. Today we went to Greenhills shopping mall. I have never seen so many replica designer labels for such cheap money. Rolex watches for less than £10, Trainers for £5, Shirts and hand bags at a complete snip. Upstairs there were iPhones, ipads and headphones all at amazing prices. It’s an amazing place and somewhere we will definitely return. Work had been a huge success performing way above expectations and even more important I had had a KFC (which by the way sells mash potato and rice). Although I miss a few people at home this place is amazing and as already mentioned the job that I am here for has started very well.

This week I have learnt

Not to drink with JSD
Not to follow JSD on any future nights out
Not to get into any taxis that haven’t been moving quickly
Fumigate my hotel room
Be careful with the £1.20 a litre of vodka

Finally thank you all who are reading and sending good luck messages. The hit counts on this earlier today were 314. I never knew so many people were interested and it means a lot.

Thanks and I miss you JLB

Week 2 - Part of the Family

Week 2 already, it feels like i have been here for months, not a matter of days. The apartment now feels like home and i have forgotten what it feels like to be in my flat in Newport. I have also forgotten what it feels like to wake up in the morning as now early afternoon (Filipino time) is now the new morning for me. It has been hard getting used to this but there are positives. For example if i go to MCDS and want a big mac meal i dont have to wait until after 1030 as its already the afternoon (i'm sure a lot of us have been in mcs wanting a normal meal before they serve them).
Work is going very well, the training has been received well and we have only lost a tiny amount of people. We are way ahead of target regarding the number of people we need which is one worry out of the way. The first part of the week was fairly painless. Reviewing the performance of the managers from last week, beginning to get processes in place for when we go live and dealing with weird and wonderful issues such as a manager calling herself "KitKat". This is one thing that is quite unique over here. People have nicknames and this is how they are addressed by their friends and colleagues. Another classic i heard this week was a young lad who called himself "Toxic". I'm not sure my bosses would be too pleased if this is the way we greet our customers when they call us! (anyone who wants to know why i think Toxic is part of his online gaming name).
As many of you may be aware the Philippines is a place where gay and cross gender people is commonplace. Again we have a slight issue in the fact we have a "John" who is in the process of becoming "Abby". Each to there own and all that but it does cause a slight issue with which name we use at work because customers on the phones like to know exactly who they are talking to! I think we are going with Abby :-). The first of our 5 expert process team arrived on wednesday morning. Emma travelled on her own so i went to the airport to pick her up with our hotel driver. Manila airport as you can imagine is not like the airports in the UK, it's quite disorganised and noone has a clue where they are meant to go. So i arrive at the airport just in time. The driver tells me that we pick people up from area "F". I was soon to find that area F was in exactly the same place as ABCDE and the place was just full of Filipinos waiting. There is a picture below of what it looked like. So baring in mind that the average person out here is probably a ft shorter than in the UK there i was stood in the middle of hundreds of 5FT people stood right in the middle. I'm sure you can imagine with my complexion and hair colour i stood out an absolute mile! There was certainly no need for me to stand with a big sign for Emma to see. It was kind of embarrassing. It's nice having a friendly face arrive and it was also nice showing the first of many around the local area and where to find essentials such as Starbucks and MCDS, this was me a couple of weeks ago.

Martin our transition manager left this week, it would have been rude not to have gone for one last drink in the La Verdi bar (The bar from the previous weekend). Martin is a local celebrity there and not only are we going to miss him being in the office doing the fantastic job he does but we will also miss his endless desire to socialise with the locals. So Sean, Emma, Martin and i had a few that night and it was sad to see him go. As always though the night didn't pass without something else crazy being seen. A girl joined us at our table, she was Martins friend and came to say goodbye. She brought her food over to the table too. People who know me know i like my food, but there was something about this dish that i hadn't seen before. "What are you eating there" i asked her as she chomped down on this chopped up mixture. The reply was not expected; "Pigs Face"..... Yes Pigs face is on the menu. I didn't even bother asking if she was telling the truth as i looked closer i could see a small ear on the plate. MMMMM! Those of you who would like to try this i have been told the cheek is the nicest cut from the face - I wish i was joking.
Thursday brought a trip to the supermarket. Chocolate stores brought from the UK had run out and it was about time i put some food into my fridge and cupboards. The market is literally a 10 minute walk away and although we have a driver i wasn't going to be that lazy so i walked. It must have been 31/32 degrees and just the walk there felt like a workout. There are pictures of the supermarket below. It was similar to the UK but obviously different brands and some of the well known brands were quite expensive. The meat is all just thrown into a big fridge in a huge pile. I'm sure its good, very edible stuff but you wouldn't see it like this in the UK. It is also your responsibility to make sure that the food is still in date. If it looks good you eat it, if you slip up and get food poisoning it would be your own fault. We shall wait to see how long i last before i mess that one up.
So having spent approx £40 i get to the till. 2 assistants immediately rushed to pack my food for me but it soon became clear that plastic bags don't exist here. My shopping was being put in a box, a second hand box which they reinforced with tape right in front of my eyes, baring in mind i had walked this could have gone very wrong. The assistant carried the box (which was almost the same size as him) to the door and asked me where my car was - i didn't have one, so i picked it up and started to walk in the blistering heat back to the hotel.
I approached the crossing at the road and by this time i had sweat dripping off my face, i was probably also getting sun burnt and my freckles were multiplying by the second but i could hear something to the side of me. There was a man on his hands an knees painting the curb of the pavement, he was looking at me in the eye and laughing out loud at me. This guy had a mini umbrella stuck to his head to guard him from the sun, ridiculous as that sounds he was still ruining me - i guess it was kind of funny.
Work came and went without too many issues. Apart from my laptop still being broken everything seems to be going according to plan - so far. We are now 3 weeks away until we officially begin. We are certainly on count down now. Below is a picture of the management team onsite. These people have been handpicked and are the best out here so lets hope everyone meets their expectations - Including me!

Friday came, this meant one thing.. drinks we in order in the evening. This time it was kept quite chilled, i cant say the same for one of our trainers (who will remain unnamed). Her whole training group went to the bar straight after work. She was still going into the early hours. A fatal mistake would be proved the next day as it was Beverleys birthday. Bev is one of the trainers from Middlesbrough so food and drinks were again in order.
We went to Sophia's resteraunt. It was very nice and sold every kind of food you can imagine. It was the first time i managed to hunt down a chicken Madras... i miss my curries! Below is a picture of us all. We are already saying its going to be a shame when the training has been completed and they leave. We have become like a family here and its made the whole experience that much more enjoyable.
Approximately £90 for 11 of us to eat starters and main including drinks tells you how much a good resteraunt costs over here and the quality was good. Especially the chicken wings you can see infront of me in the picture :-).
Down to La Verdi bar again where we had a table reserved especially to embarrass Bev on stage, only problem with this was that it seems she enjoyed the happy birthday songs and dancing instead of being embarrassed which was the plan. Sean decided that instead of buying everyone a tequila it would be more financially feasible to buy a whole bottle, so there it came, possibly the most disgusting straight there is in that bar and we had a whole bottle of it. No wonder everyone plucked up the courage to sing when the band stopped and Karaoke started. I am ashamed to say that this included me. The microphone was shoved into my hand and the words came up on the screen. "you are not alone" my Michael Jackson. Deary me one of my main personal objectives for the rest of this time here is to never, ever have that microphone in my hand again!
Once again it was a great night mixing with some of the locals and getting to know the team a little better. One question remains from this night. Where exactly did Jimmi go for that 20 minutes??? (people who are here will understand).

Another late night and several drinks meant it was again 7am ish when we got in local time. Straight to bed when i got in was a must and i was out for the count in seconds... unfortunately for me i didn't put my "do not disturb" on my door so the cleaner rang my doorbell 2 hours later. I was exhausted. What followed would only be done by me; I wasn't wearing too many clothes in bed (sorry if that offends people) so i walked with my eyes half closed towards the door. I didn't have the speed of mind in that state to grab a towel so instead i grabbed a hoody and tied it round me to cover the area noone should ever see. I opened the door and asked the cleaner to clean but to leave the bedroom. Without thinking i turned around and walked back to my bed. I lied down and i suddenly realised that by turning around i had just displayed by entire backside to that poor lad, i'm not sure i will be able to look at him straight in the morning!

Tomorrow sees the arrival of Mr Salter-Duke the one guy on the BT directory who beats my double Barrel. James Salter-Duke will become my new boss soon and its going to be great to meet him after several good conversations over the last few weeks. It will be good to have another UK manager on board to help make this place a success and i am sure there are lot of fun and exciting times ahead too!

Below are a few extra pictures mentioned plus couple more from this week. Week 3 starts tomorrow and i am already looking forward to seeing what this will bring.

Miss you all as ever

JLB

Finally well done to my bro on passing his driving test, look out everyone on the roads of Tiverton!

And well done to Jo for having a great report from the school inspectors, makes all the hard work worthwhile.

:-)