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!