Leaving

"When will you be back?" asked one of my Polish colleagues from the office.

"Maybe next month, maybe never - who knows?" I replied.

When I arrived here 2 weeks ago, I realized that despite the cold weather and the language barrier, I really did miss this place. I went inside my old apartment last night - the one I stayed in for 10 months the last time - it was strange to me that it didn't smell like cigarettes and my stuff wasn't scattered all over the tables and chairs.

Days were filled with meetings and mind-numbing, work-related negotiations. Nights were filled with meetings as well - I met many old friends for a beer, and made quite a few new ones (also over some beers). I had a ton of work, but I had lots of fun as well.

Despite all this, I can't wait to get back home. I'm going to miss this place, though. A lot. Goodbye Warsaw, ciao everyone! Until we meet again!

Standing on a train for 3 hours, building a snowman in Zakopane

Since it was our last weekend in Poland, we decided to go up to the Polish mountains last weekend. Our destination: a small town in the Tatras called "Zakopane." Since we wanted to get there early, we took a midnight train from the Warsaw Central station to Zakopane.

Unfortunately, since this was a night train, what would normally take 6 hours took more than 10 hours. The train passed by several other cities (Czestochowa, Katowice, Krakow, and a bunch of other smaller towns). Rowdy groups of men drank, smoked, and sang (it was actually more like "shouted") all night. Occasionally, they would also approach you and ask for beer money (in English - surprising!). Because we didn't have seat reservations (one of our companions insisted that it was not necessary), I spent the first 3 hours or so in the train seated in the hallway (my lucky trip buddies managed to get "proper" seats). As you can see below, Polish trains have very narrow hallways - I had to stand up whenever these rowdy men wanted to go to the bathroom (which happened every 5 mins or so).


As people slowly got off the trian after each stop, I was finally able to get a seat. However, as it turned out, these "proper" seats were not that much more comfortable than those hallway seats. Oh well, at least I didn't have to get up whenever someone passed by.


Zakopane is supposed to be a lot colder than Warsaw (on the average, about 6-7 degrees C colder) - something like Baguio is to Manila back in the Philippines. It certainly looks very cold in the pictures. Surprisingly though, even if the temperature was indeed lower when we visited, it didn't feel any colder there than in Warsaw. In fact, we even thought that the weather Warsaw felt a lot colder than Zakopane - something we attributed to more "wind chill" in the capital. Zakopane was cold - there was snow everywhere - but the wind wasn't constantly trying to freeze your nose off.

Filipinos would go up to Baguio to ride horses, eat Strawberries, and shop for souvenirs. Warszawians would go up to Zakopane to ski, eat Oscypek, and shop for souvenirs. Since skiing down a mountain to break some bones didn't really appeal that much to us, we decided to build a snowman instead.

Back at home when you go for a trip to the beach, building a big, nice looking sandcastle seemed like a piece of cake - I mean how hard could it be? Just stack up some sand and mud, use your Havaianas to round out and shape the edges - and BAM - you have a sandcastle. I figured the same should be true with snowmen (minus the Havaianas) - I mean how hard could it be, right? You just need to create 3 snowballs of different sizes, put them on top of each other, and BAM - you have a snowman.

Like building sandcastles, building snowmen was not as easy as it looked. Snow was hard to handle - primarily because it was heavy and cold. It was also hard to shape - it would turn rock solid quickly if you squeezed it too much. Our first attempt at building a snowman was pathetic. Really, really pathetic.

Then, we had a breakthrough. In cartoons, to create a big snowball (to presumably crush the kalaban), you first need to start with a small ball of snow. They would then push this ball down a slope, and it would gradually get bigger, and bigger, and bigger as it gathers more snow from the ground.

We tried this "cartoon theory" out in practice, and it worked! Snowballs really do grow like in the cartoons! As you can see below, we managed to create something that resembled a snowman (he looks like he got punched in the jaw by Manny Pacquiao). Success! Sort of, at least.

People who walked by took pictures of us building this thing ("Look at those silly Asians, trying to build a snowman in the park! There is dog shit everywhere! Ewww!").


The trip back to Warsaw was much faster - we decided to take a bus to Krakow (took 2 hours), and the express train to Warsaw (2 hours and 40 mins). This time, we made sure we had seats reserved. :)

I don't feel like going out today

That's right - its snowing heavily here right now. Fortunately, I am working from home today and tomorrow, since everybody in our office went to the lakes for their annual offsite.

Anyway, we had a great time last weekend in Zakopane and Krakow - my next post will be about that. Hope everybody back home is safe - I heard there were a couple of storms headed our way.

Santa

Alright, alright - before you hit the comment button, let me say a few words about the picture above.

An officemate of mine here in Warsaw was compiling a list of Christmas traditions from all over the world - these traditions will be published in our local, in-company magazine. She asked me about how Christmas was like in the Philippines and I gladly told her about hearing Christmas Carols over the radio as early as September, about our penchant for going to mass early in the morning ("Simbang Gabi") every day for last 9 days before Christmas, and how we eat food with Spanish names (Jamon, Queso de bola, Paella, Lechon de Leche) on Christmas eve. I also mentioned that although pine trees do not grow naturally back at home, we make do with decorating plastic versions of these trees in our houses.

She then wanted to take a picture of me to publish in the magazine, and I gladly obliged. They did some photoshop "magic," and this is how it turned out. I have no problems with it, though - it looks fine. Really, it does.

I think I should mention at this point that the lady who took my picture and did the photo-editing is the Country VP of our company here in Poland. :)

Here is another picture of Santa that Mav asked me to put here - she somehow thinks that it is related to this blog entry:


See the resemblance? Hehehe...advanced Merry Christmas everyone!

It's 4am, and may kwento ako

One word will sum up why this blog was updated frequently the last time I was in Warsaw: jetlag. Despite traveling back and forth numerous times over the past year across several time zones, my body still thinks its 11:00am, when in fact it's 4am.



My antidote: coffee, an ipod with a wifi connection, and lots of cigarettes. A couple of beers last night also helped. There is now a permanent haze of smoke in my apartment (it has been there since last night) - it's similar to the smog over Makati on a clear day. I would open the windows to let the smoke out, but its so cold outside that I'd rather die from suffocation.

The past 48 hours have been interesting. I was able to get a good seat on the plane to Amsterdam - I had an aisle seat, good legroom (no seat in front of me), plus no one was sitting beside me. It was like being in business class (not!) - the food was terrible though, but that's expected. Also, as you can see from my last post, I originally thought that my flight was on the 15th. When I re-checked my ticket, I discovered that I was actually flying on the 14th - this stressed out Mav a lot (she's still stressed out, I think), and I suddenly had a ton of things to finish.

Warsaw didn't change much since my last visit. We had dinner at a new restaurant last night (called Papaya) which had raving reviews ("Must visit!") - it was pretty good. As expected, the "spicy" pork dish I ordered was not spicy at all, but that's OK. The beer still tastes great, and I'm looking forward to stuffing myself silly with Keilbasa later tonight.

I'm going with some Pinoys from the office to Krakow tomorrow. we'll stay there overnight, and then take a bus to Zakopane - a small ski town up in the Polish mountains. There should be lots of snow, and I am not looking forward to that.

Anyway, that's it for me. Have a nice weekend everyone!

Leaving again

Hey everyone! I haven't been updating this space for a while now - a lot of exciting things have happened recently. I "bought" an ipod touch (emphasis on the word "bought" hehehe) and "upgraded" my car stereo (2 pre-outs! Aux-in!) so that I could plug my ipod to my system. I can now practically live in my car, as long as there is a toilet and a Mcdonald's drive-through nearby.

The "issue" is that I work from home twice a week (Thursdays and Fridays), and my new office is only a 15 min walk from my apartment. End result: my car is now officially a "garage queen" (minus the garage, hehe). That thing hasn't moved in days, and a full tank of gas lasts forever!

If you need tips on how to spend money on items you won't actually use, contact me.

The most relevant item for this blog is that I finally got (after 1 month of waiting) my Polish visa! I'm going to be in Warsaw from Nov. 15 to Dec. 1! To my friends in Poland, LET'S DRINK!!!

Unleash the hidden nerd

When I was a child, I used to be such a nerd. I didn't like playing sports or going outside, I always brought along a ton of books, I asked a lot of questions, and I complained when our family newsletter (yes - my family is so big that we used an internal newsletter to keep each other updated) congratulated a cousin for being ranked 3rd in his class (I was ranked 1st and wasn't mentioned).

I lost my "nerdiness" when I entered high school and discovered beer.

(At least this is what I think - my cousins who I grew up with still think I'm sooo nerdy).

Some of my friends in college called me the "secret nerd." They were amazed at my ability to party and drink almost every night, and somehow manage to get respectable grades.

My secret? I lived right behind the university - so while the rest of my classmates were on their way home stuck in traffic, I would be in my room studying and finishing papers. By the time they got home, I would be drinking. Hehehe...

I lost all of this when I started working - I became interested in "normal" stuff. Cars, travel, large speakers, house music, going to the gym (although the effects don't show), drinking beer, drinking wine, drinking rum cokes, drinking scotch, food (especially Persian food - yummy!) - I was slowly losing the inner "nerd" in me.

Enter TED - which stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design. TED is an idea-sharing conference that occurs once a year in the US. It costs $6,000 to attend, and all slots are taken 1 year in advance. They decided last year to post their most interesting talks online. I stumbled onto this site when someone showed me a very interesting clip with "TED" plastered at the start.

I got hooked - its YouTube for nerds. Here are two of my favorites:

Hans Rosling - amazing how he can turn something boring (like statistics, which I still hate) into something very thought-provoking.



Dan Gilbert -a very, very, very interesting (and nerdy) take on how to achieve happiness.



Each talk is about 18 minutes long - and they cover a wide variety of topics. "Normal" people watch 24, Heroes, Prison Break, or Grey's Anatomy to unwind after work - I prefer watching short TED video clips.

Isn't that so nerdy?

Updates

Hello everyone!

I realize I haven't been updating this space recently - I've been very busy. These past 2 weeks, I've been staying at the office from 8:30am to 10:30pm. EVERYDAY. "Toxic" is an understatement.

Anyway, for those who I haven't seen yet, here are some quick (and uninteresting) updates on my so-called life:

1. Boom-boom - I had my car speakers changed, they are much louder (and they sound much "clearer") now. I was so excited to have them changed that we arrived at the shop in Araneta Ave. at 8am (the shop opens at 9am). Hehehe....I also lost 75% of my trunk space (the subwoofer stays in the trunk, hehehe). That pretty much rules out long road trips for me and my car.

2. The beach - because I stayed in cold, cold places (i.e. Brussels, Warsaw) for most of the past year, I swore that when I got back, I would go to the beach. This finally came through a few weeks ago - I went to Puerto Princesa with my brother and cousin a few weeks back. We had a blast! It was perfect - we stayed at my tito's resort. It's not open yet, so solo namin - ayos, the best talaga! I still have the insect bites to prove it.

3. Favorite foods - the moment I got home, I had sinigang, lumpiang shanghai, adobo, crispy pata, sisig, and other "pork fat deep fried in more pork fat" dishes. Heavenly!

4. Beer - because I was drinking beer heavily in Poland and Belgium, I didn't realize that my tolerance for alcohol went up dramatically. I missed San Mig Light a lot, so on my first night in Manila I had 10 bottles. I didn't feel a thing - it was like drinking water. My tolerance has gone down though - I am back to normal now.

5. Gym - I've gone back to the gym (you can catch me Gold's Gym in Glorietta early in the morning, during weekdays). It hasn't helped though - my tummy is still nice and round. Maybe I should cut down on my beer intake.

6. Office move - my team is moving to our 2nd office in Ortigas. As a result, my travel time has been reduced from a 45 minute drive (to Makati) to a 10 min walk to the new office. Starting next week, I will also work from home twice a week (Thu-Fri). Ayos yan, Wed night pa lang, pwede nang uminom hehehe.

There are other major positive work-related developments, but unfortunately, I cannot share them publicly. I might be back in Poland though - late Oct to early November. I won't be staying long though - maximum 2 weeks probably. There is still a big question mark on this - will keep you posted.

That's it for me.

Goodbye Warsaw

Warsaw has been my home for the past 9 months. I missed all the birthdays of my family members this year from Warsaw - 5 family dinners I really looked forward to every year (next to our annual family New Year dinner, of course). I also missed our annual family summer outing - I spent Holy Week stuck in the office, working. All the restaurants and stores in Warsaw were closed during this time, so I had instant noodles and cold hamburgers for dinner on some days (I can't cook, remember?). I also spent a fortune on cellphone bills trying to get in touch with various friends and members of my family - just so that I'd have someone to talk to (I was the only "loser" online during this time in Yahoo Messenger, hehehe).

It wasn't all that bad though. Warsaw is not the cleanest city in the world, but it is a lot cleaner than Manila (heck, it is even cleaner than Brussels, Paris, or Berlin). The air is fresher, traffic is almost non-existent (cars are moving - so its not traffic!), they have a bunch of nice, big gardens scattered around the city (which during the summer, gets really interesting hehehe), and it's relatively safe because of all the policemen walking around. Public transportation is cheap and reliable (but not quick, except for the single, unfinished Metro line), locals are generally friendly and helpful, the ladies look smashing (I read this somewhere - according to a recent survey, men thought that 70% of all the women in Warsaw were pretty. I disagree - I think its more like 80% hehehe), and the beer is strong. I also met the nicest, friendliest group of Filipinos in Warsaw - people who I will really miss a lot.

What more could you want, right?

Most of these things will sound very strange to some people (especially a Pole), mainly those who have been to Warsaw. But I guess it's all relative - if you ever go to Manila, you'll know why I'm talking this way.

When I got back to my apartment in Warsaw after a recent trip to Brussels, I even caught myself murmuring: "ahh...home, sweet home." I guess this is due to the fact that for the first time in my life, I've spent more time abroad than at home. My mind should get "rewired" to its original state soon - I hope.

Alas, Warsaw is finally getting rid of me. Will I be able to rid my body of this place? Well I sure hope so, I gained 10 kilos here - it will take me months sweating it out at the gym before my "beer muscle" fades away.

I will really, really miss this place.

This is probably my last post from Poland (at least for now). Although I'd love to come back, there are no plans for a "return visit" anytime in the near future.

I'll see you in Manila in 2 days! Ciao!

5 things guidebooks don't mention about Poland

Guidebooks (like the Lonely Planet) are usually very, very good. I use them a lot - and they have saved my butt many times over. It is impossible to be very comprehensive, though. If you're planning to go to Poland, there are a few interesting things that the guidebooks leave out. I've listed down 5 of my "favorites":



1. Polish "voice overs"- when the TV show you're watching in Poland is in English, they keep the original soundtrack in tact - all sound effects, conversations, even the music. You will notice, though, that they add an additional sound "layer" - a strange man's voice is translating every spoken word into Polish. This is fine - however, its the same guy's voice every time. It doesn't matter if the person speaking on TV is 50-year old man, 20 year old girl, a 3 year old child, or Triumph, the insult comic dog - its his voice ALL THE TIME. Every TV show, every advertisement - its the same guy. And he is so emotionless - the lady on TV may be screaming in terror - he will speak in the same tone, at the same pace ALL THE TIME. Good thing I figured how to turn him off.

2. Thank you means something else - one of my Polish friends just spent 3 months in Manila. When he got back to Poland, he picked up some Filipino habits - i.e. pointing with your lips, saying "psst" when calling someone, etc. He also acquired the habit of saying "thank you" to waiters when paying the bill. Big mistake. When you're eating at a restaurant here in Poland, saying "thank you" is interpreted as "keep the change."

3. Małe piwo - this literally means "small beer." Colloquially though, its the Filipino equivalent of "sisiw." (for non Pinoys out there - "sisiw" literally means baby chicken). They say it to mean any of the following: that's nothing, no problem, that's easy - for the average Pole, a small beer really is very easy - next to nothing even. Sisiw lang yan!

4. Charlotka - this one literally means "Apple Pie." It can also refer to Żubrówka (that popular Polish vodka, with a blade of grass inside the bottle) mixed with apple juice. Żubrówka literally means something like "Bison brand vodka." The joke is that its unique taste comes from the blade of grass inside the bottle - grass that has been pissed on by some pissed-off Bison.

5. Salad with everything - anything you order will come with salad. You will just have to live with it. Boiled cabbage, carrots, beetroot (my personal favorite - NOT!), or pickles - they serve them with Chinese food, kebabs, hamburgers - literally everything. Try telling a waiter you don't want any of the Polish salad with your food, and you'll get strange looks.

These things are strange for me, however, they find me strange as well. When I ignore red traffic lights, honk at pedestrians, call waiters "boss," and speak a mixture of English and Filipino while on the phone with folks from Manila, I am branded as the strange foreigner.

To each his own, I guess.

Kobylany

Since my great European adventure is almost over (I come home on July 31 - permanently for now), I decided to fill up my remaining weekends with out of town trips.

Last weekend, we went to a small town near Krakow called Kobylany. It's a nice valley which is particularly popular with rock climbing enthusiasts. Obviously, it's popular because there are tons of big rocks in this area. Rocks which you can climb. That's why its popular with rock-climbing enthusiasts (Whatever!). We even saw a Polish wedding (pictured below, in the wooden church). It's basically the same as a Filipino wedding, except nobody wore a Barong Tagalog and everything was in Polish.


Since I have no desire to climb big rocks (and hit my head on one, like one guy in our group did), I decided to go hiking (with my new friend, Agnieszka - you can see her back below taking a picture of a big rock). Miraculously, the weather cooperated - it was 10 degrees and cloudy the whole week before this.

"Home" at this place meant cramming together in a small shack (that's Krzysiek - my "kolega" from the office who invited me on this trip). Too bad for them, I had a pretty serious snore attack on both nights hehehe:


Evenings were spent grilling sausages, drinking beer, playing charades (using English movie titles, for my benefit) and exchanging stories. This is when I found out that the Polish title for the movie "Dirty Dancing" (Wirujący seks) literally means "Spinning Sex!" If you saw the film, you would definitely agree with me - it is a very good translation. Hehehe...

On our way back to Warsaw (this place was 4 hours away by car), we passed by a horse ranch - owned by one of Krzysiek's good friends. This place was packed with horses - and I mean packed. I've never seen so many horses in my life! (I am exaggerating - there were only about 20 of them there). The owner also had 2 dogs which were so big that you would think they were small horses (again, I am exaggerating - but they were quite big). Each one weighed 75 kilos - thats more than I weigh (if you add up their combined weight hehehe)!

I hope everybody else had a great weekend. See you soon!

Lose weight, be rich

Everyone I know would love to lose weight, and everyone on the face of this planet also wants to be rich. Skinny and rich - its ideal isn't it? Its the reason why we pay p120 pesos (or 26 zloty) to watch Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie running around on the silver screen in Rockwell - we want to be just like them. Perhaps we don't want to adopt children from halfway around the world (like they did), but we work our assess off in the gym and do the same at work to try and chase this ideal.

I just found out from this post that these two things (losing weight and becoming rich) are very similar.

Everybody knows how to lose weight - all you have to do is exercise more and eat less. Getting rich is the same, everybody knows that to be rich, you have to spend less and earn more. Everybody knows this, its not rocket science.

Why then do people still go on South Beach diets? Or invest in stupid get rich schemes? Why are there still so many fat people riding the MRT eating chicharon, why do we still see people who try and hit the jackpot with Zagu-or-lechon-manok-type-copycat businesses? Don't they know that 95% of all diets fail, and that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail within the first 2 years? Why can't people just eat less, exercise more, spend less and earn more?

Alas, reality tells us that this is not as easy as it sounds.

I am the perfect example. Due to my recent "European" adventures, I just wiped out every centavo in my savings account - money I have been slowly putting aside for the past 4 years. In these past few months, I also gained 10 kilos (not pounds, kilos - thats 22 pounds!). My pants are getting really tight, and my wallet is getting really light. I am slowly becoming the fat, bald guy who doesn't have any money. Not exactly Brad Pitt material, I know.

I know how to lose weight, and I know what it takes to be rich - its just, well...difficult. In my case, I have identified several problems:

I like to eat, but I cannot cook. As a result, I spend a big chunk of my income on restaurants (and in case you are wondering - no, eating out is NOT a necessity). The main problem is that I am very picky when it comes to food - if I have a bad meal, I feel terrible all day (or night, depends on when I eat). Good food, on the other hand, makes me feel great! I guess its in my genes - I am Capampangan, in case you didn't know.

Since Polish food is not exactly at the height of culinary sophistication (except for their Kielbasa - which is very, very good), I am forced to spring for more expensive meals. I also generally don't like fast food (except for Jollibee Chickenjoy - I love this, but it is obviously not available in Poland), vegetables, and fruits - which makes things worse. I can save a lot of money (and lose a lot of weight) if I cooked, but I just can't cook. I know, I know - if you know how to read, you know how to cook (try Googling "5 minute meals") - I guess I am just too lazy. Being a picky eater and a terrible cook is a bad (and expensive) combination. If you still don't believe me, read this post from my favorite personal finance blog.

I also spend a lot of money on stupid things - like beer. I absolutely love beer. The problem is that in Europe, beer is very expensive. The calories from beer also go straight to your gut. I am trying very hard to limit this expense - however it seems that the world is not cooperating with me. For example, today during dinner (at a restaurant, of course), I ordered one beer with my meal. The waitress gave me 2 beers. When I asked why she was giving me 2, she said that the 2nd one was free. Alright - free beer! Hehehe...

I also do not exercise at all here in Warsaw (walking to the office pantry to get a sandwich in the morning is NOT exercise) and I am not exactly earning a boatload of money (boss - if you're reading this, please take note). I guess I am a hopeless case - destined to be fat and poor.

Hopeless, that is, until I learn how to cook.

The best beer in the world

This is another post about beer. Please don't complain - my topic choices for today was either beer or my ingrown toenail. I think beer is a better topic. Also, the beer pictures look better than the ones I took of my toenails.

Search for "the best beer in the world" using Google, and it will show you a picture of the beer I am drinking in the picture above. If Michael Jackson says so (I know what you are thinking - I am talking about the writer, not the singer), you better believe him. According to his article, Saison Dupont is "impossibly delicious." Mav is holding a chocolate beer - that one was "impossibly undrinkable." She liked it though. I am not a big fan of chocolate anyway, so I guess I am a bit biased.


I also had a bottle of 1 year old Orval. As you can see from the label, this particular beer was bottled in 2005! When I got it, it was old and dusty. I had a "new" bottle of Orval before tasting this aged one just for comparison - the aged one tastes a lot better.

This bar I went to had over 2,000 kinds of beer - they are in the Guinness Book of World Records for this. Most bars in the Philippines have only 4 or 5 kinds of beer - and they are all from San Miguel. How's that for freedom of choice.

Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hands on Westvleteren - you could only buy this at an abbey somewhere, and you're limited to 1 case per year (they take down the plate number of your car to make sure you don't go back and buy another case). There is so much demand that you need to "book" your visit in advance by calling a call center.

Kinda reminds me of those donut shops in Manila, where people fell in line for hours to get their hands on a box. Those donuts were good.

The question now is that is this beer really that good? Hmmm...

Ilan ang panganay?

That's my most common follow-up question, after I ask somebody how many children they have. It seems like having multiple first-born children has its advantages:

Firstborns found to have higher intelligence

From this article:

"Wading into an age-old debate, researchers have found that firstborn children are smarter than their siblings — and the reason is not genetics, but the way their parents treat them, according to a study published today."

Why am I not surprised? Hehehe.

p.s. sorry I haven't been posting lately, I promise to put up some more stuff this weekend.

What do you do?

"I am a doctor, but I am studying to be a nurse so that I can go abroad and earn in dollars."

"I work for the family business."

"I have my own business. We sell (soap/cellphone load/purified water/lechon manok/zagu-or-similar-type-drink)."

"I work as an (IT person/HR person/salesman/marketing guy) for (large multinational company)."

"I am the son of (name of a mayor/governor/general/senator/congressman)."

"I sit around the house all day, watching downloaded TV shows from the internet. My parents give me all the money I need. Hey did you see my new car? Its really quick and shiny!"

What you do defines who you are. Your answer to this question, and how you answer it, tells other people what kind of person you are, what you are interested in, what your priorities are, what's important to you. At least in my book, what you do tells me more about you than the clothes you wear, the car you drive (or what modifications - if any - you've done to it. Case in point - my neighbor removed all the "Kia" badges on his new car, and changed them to "BMW" badges. See what I mean?), or the company you keep.

I ask this question a lot, especially when I meet new people. I ask this also when I see old friends who I haven't seen for a long time. The answer to this question, and how it is answered, changes frequently - for some people, it can even change daily. This is because priorities shift all the time - when you think you have too little money, then studying to be a nurse when you are already a doctor so that you can go abroad suddenly becomes appealing. If you have too much money, then your priorities shift too - now you want to run for public office so that you can get even more money. Hehehe. (That was a joke. Seriously, it was!)

If the answer is interesting, I usually follow it up with "What about your job?" Most people, like me (as evidenced by this blog), love to talk about themselves - so be prepared for a long answer. Sometimes, the answer to this follow-up question is predictable - for instance, I haven't met a single call center CSR who liked what he did. I'm sure they exist - there are tons of folks who pay to talk on the phone all day (just take a look at the success of Sun cellular), and being paid to do just that would be their perfect "dream" job - I just haven't met any of them.

My problem is that I've never had a straight answer to this question. I tell them that I work for a large American multinational corporation in Makati, and that I work with computers. This is usually followed by "ano ka programmer?" I tell them no. "So ano, technician?" Again I say no. Then I tell them that I work in the IT support organization (well at least I used to work in support, I shifted now to something different and more confusing), and they say "ahhh, parang call center!" Again the answer is no.

Head-scratching follows. A lot of head-scratching.

When I was working from home one time, my younger brother was observing me work. He then asked me, "what do you do? All I've seen you do is send emails all day!" Aha - to that, I can say "yes." I send emails, IM messages - I even attend meetings. And we talk about computers! All day!

More head-scratching.

So what about you, what do you do?

Dutch Maiden/s

Sorry I haven't been posting in a while - I've been pretty busy enjoying my stay in Manila. Anyway, a lot of you have seen this picture already - don't I look so pretty? :)

While I was putting on these clothes (there were about 4-5 layers of them), I could hear kids asking their parents "mommy, why is that man wearing the ladies' costume?" People would also shriek whenever I raised up my skirt to get something (I was wearing maong pants underneath hehehe).

The guy with me is Anton, our half-Dutch, half-Pinoy family friend. He drove me around Holland with my tita to see how cheese is made (in Edam), and what a traditional Dutch fishing village looks like (in Volendam). Here is another picture of us with some real Dutch maidens:


When we got to the cheese factory pictured above, they asked us where we were from. We told them that we were from the Philippines - so these girls started speaking in Dutch. They said stuff like "hey come out here - there are 2 hot, young guys out here!" (that is not a lie - they actually said "2," so they thought I was hot and young as well hehehe). Of course, Anton was fluent in Dutch.

When he demostrated this ability (which he did eventually, after listening to a good part of their conversation), the girls were blushing so hard that they looked like tomatoes! (well they didn't really look like tomatoes, but their faces turned so red that...well you get the idea!)

I am back in Europe, by the way. I just got here last night, after a long (12 hours!) and bumpy no-smoking airplane ride. I had to lug myself and my large maleta from Amsterdam to Brussels - it was a smooth but crowded 2 1/2 hour train ride.

On Sunday, I am flying back to Warsaw from Amsterdam, so that's another 2 1/2 hour maleta-carrying train ride for me. I am really looking forward to this leg of my journey (that's a lie). If I keep this up, I'll probably lose the 10 kilos I gained during my last stay in Europe (another lie).

I'll be back in Manila on July! See you all again soon!

Home Sweet Home

I am back in Manila! Its soooo hot!

Actually, I arrived on Tuesday (May 15, 2007), so I didn't get a chance to vote. Oh well, I guess that means for the next 3 years or so, I have no right to complain about our politicians.

I'm staying in Manila for work until Friday, I'll then spend all my weekends in Angeles. I've already booked the manicurista for Sunday - my toenails can't wait!

The past 3 months have been amazing. Work was very stressful (but surprisingly fun), I saw a lot of changes in my personal and professional life (just to set the record straight - NO, I did not "propose" when we were in Paris a few months ago - please stop asking me hehehe), and I saw so many beautiful places and met so many interesting people. As you can see from the picture above, about half of the places I've been to are not even in this blog. I actually have some more magnets I haven't posted up - they broke in transit and I have to repair them using super glue.

There were just too many things happening at the same time - it was just an amazing whirlwind of events.

It's so great to be back home - call me (my cellphone number is the same), let's go for a beer (or lunch, dinner, whatever). I'll be here for the next month (or so), then I'm flying back to Warsaw for the last "leg" of my journey.

See you all soon!

Berlin

Saying that Berlin is an exciting city is a gross understatement.

All I knew about this city before I came was that it was once home to the infamous Berlin Wall - which split Europe (and the rest of the world) into two halves. After a lot of research, I discovered 3 things about this city which I didn't know before:

1. Kebabs - Berlin is home to the inventor of the Doner Kebab (we Pinoys know it by its Arabic name: Shawarma) - the most popular fast food in the city. Serving it wrapped in pita bread was the brainchild of Mehmed Aygun, a 16 year old Turkish immigrant who set up his first Imbiss (or snack bar) in 1971.

2. Zoo Station - one of the major bus/tram/railway stations in Berlin, it served as the inspiration for one of U2's most famous albums (Zooroopa). This album was obviously recorded in Berlin - and the station is obviously next to the city Zoo (which is the official home of Knut the Polar Bear).


3. Dirty - it is a surprisingly dirty city - there are cigarette butts everywhere, and picking up after your dog is not a popular practice. As a result, you will sometimes encounter dog poo on train platforms, sidewalks, and even inside the train itself. Also, like Warsaw, Berliners love to smoke (cigarettes, that is) - and they do it everywhere.

I took a sleeper train from Warsaw to get to this city - I had no choice really, my Polish visa's 30-day limit was expiring in a few days and this was my last weekend to get out of the country (read this post for a background on my visa situation). Since I had a Schengen Visa, heading to Berlin was the cheapest (and easiest - but not the safest I heard) way to get a fresh stamp on my passport. The journey took about 8 hours - I had my own bed, and spent the night bunked in the couchette with 5 other Russian guys. It was a relatively uneventful trip - I was a bit buzzed (I had a "few" beers in Warsaw before boarding the train hehehe), and the only thing I remember about it was waking up a couple of times in the middle of the night to show my ticket and my passport (to a guy with a funny looking hat).

If you are a tourist, sightseeing is very, very convenient. Two double-decker buses (numbers 100 and 200) leave from Zoo station every 15 mins. They go around the city, passing through every major tourist attraction - you can get on and off anytime you like. These hop on/hop off buses are quite common in touristy places - the difference here is that you don't need to buy a special ticket for this - the regular public transportation ticket (which is valid also in all of the subways, trams, and trains) handles it all.

Quite cheap, a day pass costs only 6.10 euros (p384 - wow ang mura nga! Hehehe!).

Ok then, why do I think this city is so exciting?

It's the party scene of course - Berlin is THE home of techno music (or "Ugs-ugs" as my brother calls it). In fact, Paul Van Dyk who is the god of trance, grew up in East Berlin. Berliners party in empty warehouses and converted power stations - you'd never guess there was a club there by looking from the outside. There are no signs, and the entrance is usually located in some strange backalley that taxi drivers cannot find. Once you enter, it's a different world.



Astig no?

Money and happiness

Money can't buy happiness:

Low earners top job happiness poll

But it can buy a lot of things that can make you happy, for example:


Wala lang, just my stupid thought for the day. :)

Last Yosi

I brought 4 reams of Winston Lights to Warsaw when I came. Below is a picture of my last (partially devastated) pack:


In pesos, a pack of cigs here costs p120 - expensive considering they just cost p19.50/pack in the grocery store (Pioneer Center - for those of you who are wondering) near my apartment in Manila.

And the bad thing is that they don't sell Winston Lights!

If you think the prices and the selection is bad, in Western Europe, a pack of "cancer sticks" costs 4 euros each (about p250).

Wow! Talk about discrimination!

When I look back and think, I realized that I just finished 800 sticks of cigarettes in the past 2 1/2 months. That's a lot!

I should quit, I know. :)

How NOT to get lost

I get lost all the time. I've lived in Manila for 9 years, I still get lost a lot. In my hometown, Angeles City, I only stay on the major roads - for fear of ending up somewhere unfamiliar. I have a poor sense of direction - I frequently make wrong turns, and cannot tell North from South on any given day without a compass.

Now that I am halfway around the world, how do I survive? Mr. self-proclaimed "lost boy" uses a bunch of tools - here are my favorite ones:

1. Lonely Planet - these books are simply amazing! If you're planning to go somewhere unfamiliar, make sure you have one of these in your pocket. They are truly worth their weight in Gold. Need a cheap place to stay? Look it up! Can't decide where to eat? Look it up! It is just a gold mine of information. When I was in Tokyo, I frequently followed their restaurant recommendations. When I told my Japanese officemates where I have been eating, they were very surprised - these places were local favorites. I actually even have the Philippine version - it was written by an Australian who explored our islands extensively. It still lists "Embassy" as the hottest place in town. As they commonly say, it usually takes a foreigner to show people how pretty their own country is.



2. Metro - if you have a palm, ipaq, or any other type smart phone, download this program and install it now. This piece of software has subway, bus, tram, and train maps of almost every city in the world. All you have to do is input the station names in the "To" and "From" fields, and it automatically calculates the shortest route (or the route with the least connections - depending on how your preferences are set) using available public transportation links. I've used this in Amsterdam, Paris, Brussels, Warsaw, Tokyo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Berlin and a bunch of other cities I can't remember now - this is the single most useful travel tool I've ever used. When I get lost, I just look for the closest bus/tram/subway stop - I can then continue my journey from there. It is so good, I base my cellphone purchasing decisions on whether or not it is compatible with this software.

3. GPS - we've all heard how useful these devices are. Enter the address, and it automatically calculates the shortest route for you. If you make a wrong turn somewhere, it will automatically recalculate the route and set you on your way again. It knows all of the one-way streets, you can ask it to bring you to the nearest parking lot, restroom, gas station, or pub. Some versions even know which streets are clogged with traffic, or which roads are closed. It can even pick your route based on toll fees - showing the cheapest options first. These things are amazing - really, really amazing. Too bad they cost 600 Euros each.



Some people I meet on the road tell me that getting lost is part of the fun. I think its simple a waste of time and energy - why get lost when you can have fun?

Happy travelling!

Work

I've never been so tired in my life.

Between work, living in a foreign country, and other personal issues - it really is very stressful. Never have I been so tired in my life.

"He who does not work, let him not eat." I forgot where that quote originally came from, but considering the amount of work that I have to do, sometimes I don't feel like eating anymore. Actually, it isn't the amount of work, it is more of the nature of the work.

Don't get me wrong - I love my job. I just moved into a new role, that's why I'm here (partly) - and it is absolutely great. I get to control and influence a lot of things, and for the first time in my professional career, I actually feel like I'm in charge. Almost. At least until this week.

The problem with my job (I am a project manager, by the way) is that you are ultimately responsible for whatever happens to your project. Never mind if resource managers suddenly pull out your most experienced resources and replace them with new people (who were hired 2 weeks ago), it doesn't matter if your customers give you all of the requirements at the very last minute (despite months of constant, almost daily follow-up), nor does it matter if your manager doesn't support you at all - and tries to poke holes and see problems into everything that you do. YOU are responsible, YOU are the "one neck to choke" if everything falls apart.

Sometimes, I wonder if all this is worth it. Should I transfer somewhere else? Will it be better?

"It happens in all bloodsucking corporations," my friend said. Touche!

Oh well, at least I get to travel. :)

Small, silly, irritating things

Living abroad is an amazing experience, but soon you get to realize that everything is not as "hunky dory" as you first thought. You soon realize that some small, silly, unexpected things can and do lead to big irritations. Nothing that'll kill you, but irritating nonetheless:

1. TV - if you can't understand Polish, TV choices become very limited. You are basically stuck with two English channels: CNN and BBC. I accepted this as a fact of life abroad - for several months, I tried to stay entertained with looping news stories about the weather, Iraq, football, and whatever the hell some crazy dictator was doing halfway around the world in Africa. And then I discovered the special "+" button on my remote - it was the language option! From there, I figured out that "Angnielski" meant "English." As soon as I selected that option - voila - the language changed from unintelligible Polish to understandable English! I could now watch the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and a bunch of other sports and movie channels. You cannot imagine how happy I became because of this.

2. Toenails - a manicurista goes to the house every 2 weeks to cut the nails on my hands and feet. I obviously have to cut them myself here. This normally isn't such a big deal - I mean how hard can it be. The problem, however, is that my toenails like to grow in a strange way. In fact, I even went to the hospital emergency room once for an ingrown toenail. It isn't that easy either - with a belly like mine, its a struggle to bend down and reach for those toes. I compensate by prevention - before I left, I had them cut so short that they were sore. For maintenance, and to ensure I don't forget, I set my cellphone calendar to remind me every Saturday morning (at 10am) to cut those damn nails down. It has worked so far, I did see some blood a couple of times though hehehe.

3. Laundry - I talked about laundry in a previous post, however, I would like to add one small thing. Everybody knows that you have to separate white clothes from the colored clothes when stuffing the washing machine. (Well, not everybody - I didn't know about this last year, and that explains why some of my white socks are now bluish-white hehehe). The funny thing is that, apart from my underwear and some socks, I didn't bring too many "whites." As a result, when my supply of clean "brip" is running low, I start to consciously wear my white shirts to the office. This is so that I can wash them later that night, thereby increasing the load of whites I need wash. Dagdagan ang puti, para di sayang ang labada. Hahaha - ang weird ko!

4. Coffee - My apartment came with a crappy coffee maker - a 1 cup percolator. Because I am a bit of a coffee nut, this was a very big problem. This device didn't work so well - it was slow, only made 1 small cup at a time (if you were lucky), and leaked like a Nursing Board Exam. This crappy situation was the reason why I finally decided to buy a French Press - it cost about 60 PLN (about p900) - and it surprisingly makes good coffee! It is also perfect for traveling - all you need is hot water, coffee beans, and a coffee cup (well you can skip the coffee cup if you're really desperate, and drink coffee from the spout). Now I don't have to suffer from coffee deprivation anymore - yehey!

Reading this, I cannot imagine how spoiled I was in the Philippines. All TV shows (at least all the interesting ones) are in English, I don't cut my own toenails, I don't do my own laundry, and I don't make my own coffee (in my hometown, somebody else does it for us - even puts in my preferred amount of sugar hehehe). I guess these conveniences make up for the everyday hassles we as Filipinos have to deal with (i.e. traffic, crappy public transportation, pollution and litter, and corruption). Bawi bawi lang.

Wet Monday

Easter is a special time for Polish people - especially Easter Monday. It is a day when everything is closed (look, the streets are deserted! I took the picture above standing in the middle of the main street - only on Easter I guess), people spend all day at home eating and drinking with family, and boys run around the streets chasing girls - with water.

That's right - groups of boys spend all day standing on street corners, market squares, and upper story windows carrying bottles and baskets full of water - patiently waiting for their "victims." Girls run away and scream - but there is no escape, they should have just stayed at home (to eat and drink hehehe). Apparently, the communists tried to wipe out this tradition (called "Smingus-Dyngus") a long time ago, seems like there were pretty unsuccessful.

Here is a boy waiting for his next victim:


And here is a girl filling up for a counter-attack (this is pretty rare, they usually just run away and scream hehehe):


Of course, men can also be victimized - especially "strange-looking men" (i.e. foreigners). Fortunately, it was raining the whole day, so I was pretty much spared from the wrath of these water-carrying lads.

I was still wet though, but from the rain - not from water bottles.

I am still not used to spending Holy Week in cold weather, away from family. I guess I have to get used to it though - depending on how things turn out, soon I'll spend more and more holidays away from home.

(If you're confused about that last comment, send me a message - I can explain hehehe).

I hope you had a great Easter - Wesołych Świąt Wielkanocnych! (that's "Happy Easter" in Polish - impossible to pronounce, I know).

Luxembourg

When I told people that we would be traveling to Luxembourg, I heard a lot of comments regarding its size. In fact, the only thing one friend recalled about this place was the fact that it was "very small." In one of my work-related meetings, one person even joked that his system had data on almost every country in the world - including Luxembourg.

This small country in Western Europe is only 82 kms long, and 51 kms wide. In size rankings, it is 175th smallest (out of 194) in the world. There are only 450,000 people here, and around 120,000 (about 1/4 of the total) commute to Luxembourg everyday from neighboring countries to work. There are 3 official languages: German, French, and Luxembourgish (which is similar to German, but sounds somewhat like Dutch). English is also widely spoken.

Despite being very small, the capital (Luxembourg City) is also one of the richest cities in the world - per capita income is close to $70,000 USD, one of the highest worldwide. (In case you were wondering, the per capita income in the Philippines is a paltry $4,923 USD).

Due to its small size, you can walk around the city center and see all of its sights in around 2 hours. Because this picturesque city was built on a rock with deep valleys on each side, the sights were absolutely amazing:



Small countries have small armies - Luxembourg only has about 500 soldiers. Many of them become policemen or customs officials after their "tour of duty." Here is a picture of one soldier:


If Sparta could ward off those Persians with 300 soldiers, I guess Luxembourg can pretty much defend itself with 500.

Paris Videos

Sorry everyone, these videos are over a month old. I thought of posting them way back - but work got in the way. Better late than never.

The Eiffel Tower at night - night time is really the best time to view this beautiful structure:



A view of the city, taken from the steps leading up to Sacre Cour. Since this is on top of a small hill, it has become a very popular afternoon weekend hangout for young people. It also helps that the view is spectacular:



This shows the interior of Saint Chapelle church, just behind Notre Dame. The poor quality of the video does not do justice to the amazing interior of this place - the whole wall is covered with spectacular stained glass windows. If you go to Paris, DO NOT miss this place:



We took a boat ride up and down the river Siene, say hello to Mav:



The Tuileries gardens on a windy day - this sits between Champs Elysees and the Louvre museum. My feet were aching from all the walking we did - so we decided to take a short break here:



Ahh the Louvre, with its famous (and controversial) glass pyramid - the "scar" on the face of Paris. They said the same with the Eiffel Tower when it was built, and this pyramid does contrast with the surrounding architecture. I like it:




I shouldn't have posted these videos - now, I want to go back to Paris. It's such a nice city, its almost impossible not to fall in love with it.

Maybe in a few weeks. See you there! :)

Windmills

Kinderdijk in Holland was about an hour away from Antwerp - close enough for a day trip. It is one of the few places in the world where you can still take a picture of windmills while inside another windmill:


They were beautiful - check out the videos below:





Who would've thought back then that structures originally built for flood control would be preserved and become tourist spots later on.

p.s. even though it was very tempting, I purposely omitted any mention of Don Quixote de la Mancha, or the song Windmills of my Mind (by Grady Tate). This is the reason why this post on windmills is long on pictures and video, and short on text and stories.

Driving

If you can drive in Manila, you can drive pretty much anywhere. Nothing you see on the road will surprise you.

I drove through 3 countries last weekend (Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), and although I received a short "orientation" on the European rules of the road (c/o Mav - who has a Belgian driver's license), I was still pretty surprised at several things:

1. Priority to the right - this was probably my biggest (and weirdest) shock. Active only in Belgium and Luxembourg, it basically means that the car on the right has absolute priority. Sounds pretty simple, but when you're driving along on a main road at 70 km/h, and some guy comes out from a side street on your right - you have to give way. Actually, you have no choice - they won't even slow down - they just assume you'll stop. The same rule applies for intersections - the guy on the right will just speed through the crossing without even looking. This rule alone causes an additional 250 traffic accidents a year - it is a very, very abnormal rule.

2. Diesel cars are quick - Diesel powered cars are supposed to be slow, noisy, and slow. I was driving (for the most part, at least) a diesel powered, automatic Volkswagen Golf TDI. It had a 1.8 (or is it 1.9 - I forgot) turbo diesel engine - and it was surprisingly quick. My family owns 2 diesel powered vehicles in the Philippines, one has a 2.7 liter engine (no turbo), and the other vehicle has a 2.9 liter turbo diesel. This Golf is a LOT quicker than any of our diesel cars, heck it was even quicker than my 1.6 liter gasoline car. I felt like I was driving something with a 2 liter gasoline engine, but with lot more torque. Astonishing - I wouldn't mind having one of these in Manila.

3. Speed limits - these are strictly enforced, there are speed cameras everywhere - 50 km/h in the city, 70 km/h on "secondary main roads," and 120 km/h on the motorway. I understood this to mean that you can drive below this limit, but not exceed it. I was wrong. It actually means that you should maintain your speed at EXACTLY this limit. Aggressive Belgian drivers will get impatient and tailgate if you run at 48 km/h in a 50 km/h zone.

4. Flashing headlights - back at home, if you flash your headlights at someone, it means "get the hell out of the way, I am coming through." Here, it is exactly the opposite - flashing your headlights at someone means "go ahead, and be quick about it!"

5. Parking and narrow streets - you cannot imagine how tight parking spaces are here. They are very, very tight - after parking, it is almost impossible to open any of the doors in any reasonable way. You have to be extremely thin to get out. Streets are also impossibly narrow - it is stupid to drive anything larger than a Honda Jazz in the city.

6. Bicycles are like cars - bicycles, especially in Holland, have the same rights as cars. This means that if they appear on your right, you have to give way. If you need to overtake, it is like overtaking a car - you have to patiently wait behind the rider and only go for it when the opposite lane is free. It doesn't matter if you have enough space - you give bicycles the same space as you would a car.

7. Giving way to pedestrians - this is obvious, you have to stop at all pedestrian crossings to give way to the people trying to cross the street. Sounds simple enough - but theory is very different from practice. Since we don't do this in Manila (we actually use pedestrians to "block" other cars, so that we can go and take their lane), I instinctively don't give way. Mav has to constantly remind me to stop. It is really more difficult than it sounds.

8. Traffic lights - the traffic light on your right is the one that applies to you. It is a very simple rule - however, there are some large intersections with 5 (or more) traffic lights. What do you do when there are 3 lights to your right, and one of them turns green? Do you go? To be safe, what I do is I just stop - if the car behind me gets irritated and honks his horn, that's my signal to go. Hehehe.

9. Signal lights - if you're changing lanes, you have to use your signal light. This is to inform the car on your left/right that you are changing, and that he should give way - and they do give way. In the Philippines, its the exact opposite. If you use your signal light, the car on your left/right will speed up to close the lane. I never use signal lights in the Philippines when changing lanes - this is because to be able to effectively change lanes, you have to "surprise" the guy next to you.

There are obviously more rules - like you should only overtake trams on the left (or is it on the right - I forget, sorry), you should always use your signal light when exiting roundabouts (some don't look like roundabouts at all), you should always keep right on motorways and only use the left lane for overtaking, etc. Also, Belgians are not exactly model motorists - on the motorway, I was probably the only one following the speed limit.

I always joke that in the Philippines, traffic rules (including stop lights) are just "suggestions" - you should follow them, but its more common for motorists to ignore them. In fact, some motorists will even get mad at you if you decide follow the rules - I frequently get honked from behind when I stop at a red light in Manila.

When you drive in the Philippines, you automatically assume that all the other motorists on the road are bumbling idiots, incapable of understanding or following road rules and having absolutely no common sense. This means that late at night, you still slow down on every intersection, even if stoplight says green - just in case some idiot tries to beat the red light. It also means that you honk at cars backing up from parking spaces, because you assume that they are not looking and might back into you.

Here, the basic driving premise is exactly the opposite - you assume that all motorists WILL FOLLOW the rules. This means that they will stop when they have to, they will give way when you have the right of way, they will look first before exiting a parking slot, and they will stay on the right and overtake only on the left.

Some people say if you grew up driving in Manila, nothing you see on the road will surprise you. This is wrong - I was actually surprised that people DO follow traffic rules (no matter how strange these rules are) in other countries.

Bier, bier, bier!!!

Beer - the nectar of the gods.

"If you like beer, you will love Belgium. If you don't like beer, you will learn to like it once you visit Belgium."

That's what the guidebook said - and I agree wholeheartedly. This book also had a special section which dealt with the different kinds of Belgian beers. I read almost every line twice - this was my very short "beer education":

The first thing that really shocked me about beer is that you really have to use the proper glass for each one. I initially thought this was just a load of BS - but there really is a huge difference in taste. For example, I tried pouring half a bottle of Chimay Blue (which incidentally is my favorite) into an ordinary glass. I then poured the remaining half into the proper chalice-shaped glass - the difference in taste was HUGE!

I think its because of the way the bubbles (or "head") forms - using the proper glass forces it to give off the correct aroma, which accounts for the big difference in taste.

Beer shopping is difficult, there are so many kinds of Belgian beers available that you will just go crazy trying to pick the "correct" ones.


Fortunately, I had a shopping list - courtesy of a Belgian officemate who was also a beer nut. I looked for, and bought, every beer on the list.


I'll post comments about the beers I liked in a seperate entry - I must have tried 2 dozen different kinds.

Cheers!

Warsaw pictures

I was talking to a Polish guy once when I was going around Poland - when he heard that I was staying in Warsaw, his first comment was: "What are you doing in that ugly city?"

Here are some pictures I took of the city last year - tell me if you think its ugly:






Nice, eh?