Talk about office stuffs
I was surprised to see I got a new monitor when I arrived at the office today. I guess it was part of the renovation we’ll be having by the end of the month. I heard we’re going to have a new furniture and office equipments. It feels good when you’re welcomed by a good stuff early in the morning.
At around past 10am, while everyone was busy with their own screens, I had experienced my first black out at the office. Everyone was caught off guard as this does not happen in Hong Kong. A colleague of mine, already 13 years in Crown, could not recall experiencing power outage during working hours. It was funny some of them pointed Hong Kong could not have been that stable after all. *Why so serious?* 
Anyways, after about 10 minutes of chit chatting and being idle, the power resumed. Everyone was disappointed.
Later that afternoon, another colleague of mine wanted me to try some food she brought back from her recent Taiwan trip. It was called iron egg – a preserved egg which initially looks like a smaller version of the century egg. Iron egg is a bit hard and has a chewy texture. That and the pineapple cake she brought the other day were both famous snacks in Taiwan.
As I left the office, storm signal 1 has already been hoisted. Tomorrow, storm signal 8 is expected in the morning and will probably reach 9 by the afternoon. The expected typhoon (international name Nuri) came from the Philippines which had a local name Karen. The typhoon has left 7 fatalities in the country and caused severe floods. It is expected to hit Hong Kong with the same strength and everyone was advised there is 80% chance that there will be no office tomorrow. It’s going to be a long weekend then.
Birthday Celebration - Hong Kong Style
I had no idea how I will be spending my first birthday in Hong Kong. I don’t have any plans; I don’t know what I’ll do for that day. I actually thought no one would know as I am barely new to the company. I was originally thinking of just having lunch with a few friends but not telling them about the occasion.
To make the long story short, my instincts were wrong because they knew it was my day. Joyce arranged for a birthday lunch and there were 12 of us who went for a traditional Yum cha meal at Asiana Restaurant. We were supposed to go to another restaurant but due to heavy rain, we went to Asiana, which is just behind our office building.
Yum cha, in Cantonese, literary means “drink tea”. Basically, people drink tea while eating small portions of meal. For an average Filipino, the serving may not be enough for one meal. There is no rice (at least for the foods I have experienced eating) which is the basic food eaten by Filipinos. There may be a lot of food varieties but the servings are usually small. For instance, a dim sum has only 3 pieces per tray. Of course, you can order 2 or more trays but as I have observed, Chinese people do not get more than 2 trays to allow everyone to taste each kind. The most they would get is around 2 or maybe 3 trays for one kind of food. The rest should be different ranging from stir fried vegetables to an assortment of glutinous desserts.
The food is ordered either at the counter or you can get it to a food servant passing by your table. For each table, there is a card given and every time you order a meal, they will put a stamp on it so they can keep track of your orders. Of course, as the most important part of this meal, everyone sips tea occasionally while eating. It is important that the cups are always full of tea. Every once in a while, my officemates would pour more tea on my cup and everyone else’s within their reach. Once the teapot is out of tea, you need to take its lead off so the food servants would know you need to have a refill.
In contrast to the Philippine tradition that the celebrant would be treating his/her friends, I was the one being treated for this meal. How cool is that?!
The celebration continued on Friday as 5 of us went for a night out. The celebration was a bit more Western this time – something closer to what I had been used to for celebrating birthdays. We had dinner at Al Dente’s in SOHO which is an Italian Restaurant. We had the usual salad, pasta and pizza. The pizza is superb, I must say. It has a salmon for its topping and although I am not a big fan of thin crust, the one we had was really good. The place was also nice, very cozy although it has low ceilings and narrow passage (very typical in HK as space is always conserved).
After dinner, we hang out at a bar nearby. The place was a bit busy but still okay. It was embarrassing though, as when they serve the menu, they had everything but non-alcoholic beverages. See, I don’t drink so there is nothing I can choose from. It’s a good thing V knew we could order some juice so I had punch.
So there yah go. That’s pretty much everything I had for my day. Nothing really special or fancy but it’s a much better way of celebrating my day than what I had originally thought. Until next year! 
Jo San!
So here it is. I have finally purchased my own domain. Don’t you think it’s quite odd that I have been working in the WWW industry for quite some time but I NEVER had my own domain? Ever. I did have my own personal site for years now, but had only signed up for those free hosting and URLs with little banners in almost 1/4 of every Web page. I’ve wanted to have my own domain ever since I have been hooked on the Web but I never had the will to get one. So here it is, after x number of years, I have found the domain I like. If it’s still isn’t obvious enough, my domain is an anagram of my name.
Gawd, I missed blogging. I have been detached from the blogging community for almost a year. But yeah, though I have been on hiatus for such a long time, I’M BACK! 
Please bear with me as this site is still under construction. I will add more pages and create a personalized layout when I find time and my patience would permit me. I am just sooooo excited that I need to blog ASAP!
So what happened to me in days I’m disconnected from the online community?
Almost a year ago, I have gotten a call overseas and had been given a wonderful opportunity to work in Hong Kong for the Crown Worldwide Group. Yes, a proud OFW as known in PH, and an expat as they call in HK. The experience has always been a blast. A bit shocking and frightening in the beginning, but very much appreciating where I am right now.
To be honest, I am not sure if I am ready for this when it was first presented to me. I guess the thought of being away all by myself just scared me. And when I first got here, I didn’t appreciate this blessing right away. I only thought of it as a good career move. I did not see the other opportunities that came along with it. I did not allow myself to enjoy my life as much as I can. It just occurred to me one day that we are who we choose to be. So if I isolate myself, I will always feel alone. I know there is still no place like home, but I also have to embrace the changes that have been happening to me. It’s a good change anyway. My experiences here are something that not a lot of people are able to experience. It’s a journey worth keeping. Something I will remember when I grow old. Something money can’t buy.
Living here, I get to learn new things everyday - professionally and personally. I get to meet different kinds of people; learned different cultures and traditions; and get to experience the good and the bad stuffs. There is something fresh every day. There are a lot of first times. And above all, there is growth. Looking back from when I first arrived here, it’s funny I didn’t see all these.
What happened almost a year ago was a wonderful birthday gift I received from Him. Did I mention birthday gift? Yes, this is the time of the year when I celebrate the day I was born. I just had my birthday 4 days ago. Consider this domain as a present for myself. So in a sort of reminiscing what happened a year ago, this is what I have decided to write on for my first post.
So what’s with the title of the post? It’s a Cantonese word for good morning. One of the first few words I have learned when I got here. It’s a new post, a new blog and a new life. The morning of it all – a fresh start indeed.
