Two weeks after I joined my current company, I received an email regarding the annual dinner and dance. At that time, I thought of not joining the party but everyone confirmed their attendance, so I said yes, too. There was a problem though. The theme was, “A Blast From The Past”! We had to wear something from the 30′s – 90′s! Believe me, I’ve spent hours surfing the internet and I finally found one: Fashion Pictures. The site did give me ideas but it is so hard to find something that appears like the ones in the pictures. I do have a bell bottom pants, but it is so hard to find the right blouse. Another problem was: makeup! I didn’t have any idea on how to put on those colors.

Days before the D&D, I’ve visited every corner of the nearby malls. The night before the D&D, my friends helped me decide to wear a dress. I always wear pants, so I also wanted to wear something different. Then I spent until early dawn practicing how to put on makeup! I was glad I did some preparations, because people really took the theme to heart!

Last night was really exciting. I saw many people wearing wigs, bell bottoms, and loud colored-shirts. Somebody even dressed up like Austin Powers! He didn’t win, though. That “geek from the past” became the best-dressed dude, and the lady wearing something like a showgirl was the best-dressed gal. I wish I could show you guys some pictures of these two along with the other nominees, but my cellphone camera isn’t good enough to get a clear picture of the stage.

Here are photos of me with colleagues:

There’s a major deadline in June so for the past few weeks, I have been working overtime. But for some reasons, I don’t feel as stressed as I was in Japan. Because of this, I think I may need the help of effective diet pills in the near future. I just sent some photos to my family and their immediate reaction upon seeing them? I’m putting on some weight fast! Aside from the bigger servings of food here, another factor could be the distance of my house to the office. I no longer have to spend hours in the train. When I had to travel from Osaka to Kobe daily, I weighed 46-47 kilograms. Now, I’m pretty sure I am way past 50 kilograms. This is one of the few disadvantages of almost stress-free work environment. Despite the gain weight, I still love it at the new company.

Transferring to a new company sure do presents tons of challenges. And one of them is to mingle with officemates. I admit I got scared but excited about being in a multi-cultural work environment. And multi-cultural it is. I have officemates who are Singapore locals, some are from China, Myanmar, France, and not surprisingly, Filipinos. I wondered if I could easily cope up with it. But one thing is certain: at least everyone speaks English.

There are lots of people who closely resemble Filipinos, so on my first day, I did not dare to approach them to find out if they were. So, during lunch break, I went out with teammates. I was very much relieved that they are all very nice. But there were times when they get tired of speaking English and use their native tongue. (I am also guilty of this) I felt really left out. In Japan, I’ve had enough of those awkward moments when you don’t have a clue what people around you are talking about. I don’t want to experience that again. Thankfully, the next day, a Filipina approached me and asked if I would like to join them for lunch. Without a second thought, I said yes. They have been my lunch buddies since then.

I’m getting a little bored here, maybe because I can no longer surf the internet as much as I want to. But the company’s annual Dinner and Dance (D&D) is fast approaching. And I still have no idea what to wear! The theme would be “A Blast From The Past”, so I guess it will not be all about tuxedo and fancy evening gowns. We could wear anything from the 60′s to 90′s. I have already asked my mother whether she still has her bell bottoms, because there is no way I’m going to wear a dress to the party! If my mother can’t find her old pants, then maybe it is time for me to buy loads of hairspray and wear a big hairstyle.

Any suggestion?

In one of my previous posts, I mentioned about almost stress-free job. These past few days, I’ve been getting busier each day and I guess I have to take that statement back. But then, every work has its ups and downs. There are times when you spend the whole day looking at the clock while wishing for it to go faster. And there are times when you wish for it to move slower.

But compared to the jobs I had in Japan, I think I like the current one more. Is it because of the language? At least now, I don’t have to worry about whether I got the instructions correctly or not. All I have to worry is the technical side.

Aside from the language, There are lots of things that I like about the current company:

1. it has many pantries so if I get tired staring at the monitor, I could just get up and “hide” for a few minutes there
2. taking a break and being away from my desk is normal. I no longer feel as guilty as I was when taking breaks in Japan.
3. free brewed coffee, instant coffee, black tea, green tea, and biscuits
4. very cheap (20 cents) canned drinks from the vending machine
5. there’s a ping pong table at the employees’ lounge
6. there’s a TV at the lounge. You could turn it on anytime you want.  Of course, you have to try to get to the remote first.
7. the company shuttle leaves at 6PM, so most people leave the office before that.  Leaving on time or a few minutes earlier won’t make you look bad.
8. Friendly officemates

I’ve been working an extra hour each day for three days already. But I am doing it to make up for the undertime I had last week.

Before I continue writing this post, I implore you, my dear reader that if you know my Japanese boss, please don’t mention this post to him. He is a very good and compassionate manager to all of us Filipino employees. He has helped us a lot especially in times of trouble. He has helped me a lot and it really pained me to leave my company in Osaka. But in a way, I hope I am helping the company. Less number of staff without client, means less people to pay… I hope. And I sincerely hope and pray that my previous company in Osaka could stand in the midst of this economic slowdown.

This economic slowdown has brought drastic changes to what I’ve been used to.  When our boss broke the news about the company’s situation, I spent sleepless nights trying to figure out how to continue supporting my family while sending out hundreds of job applications to companies in Japan, Hongkong and Singapore.  When all I got were rejection letters, I was really bent into taking a teaching position in a school somewhere in Japan, even in Hokkaido, or going home to the Philippines for good and work in Cebu.  Finally, I’ve received an interview invitation from a company in Singapore.  I think I wrote a very high salary expectation because they asked me if it was ok for me to accept a salary lower than the one I placed in the expectation.  I said yes.

Then the interview (by phone) came. I was not really nervous during the first few minutes because I was just asked to explain my previous projects.  Then I was given a sentence and was asked what I could say about the sentence.  The English tutor in me prompted me to blurt out that the grammar was incorrect! The interviewer laughed and I laughed too out of embarrassment.  After that question, I broke out of control and I was stuttering until the end of the interview.  I thought that I missed a big chance, again.  But then the interviewer asked me if I could join them in April! I immediately said yes.  Because of the excitement, I did not confirm when exactly do I have to start.  I was just told to wait for the formal offer.

The day after the interview, they processed my employment pass and I received the formal offer.   In the contract, I was to start on April 1st.

I frequently keep myself updated with what’s going on in the Philippines. Here’s what has been haunting everyone during this terrible economic slowdown:

Thousands of people are becoming jobless. Many Filipinos here in Japan are being sent back to the Philippines. Some of them are my acquaintances. We might be doing small home-based projects now, but we’re constantly in the “danger zone”…

For most of us, Keanu Reeves comes to mind when we hear the word “matrix”. But for those who have to face advance mathematics in college, matrix is a rectangular arrangement of numbers. I had to deal with matrices for a semester and I thought that passing the course meant I could already freely forget about them. But I was wrong. Ten years after our first acquaintance, I am now faced with a dilemma: I had to undelete all part, if not everything, I have learned about matrices and somehow use them in 3D programming!

Two months have passed and the day has finally come.  Gelai and I bid another sayonara to our colleagues.  For some ignorable reasons, I am a bit relieved to leave.  But as I have mentioned a few times, I thoroughly enjoyed the projects I did in that company. The team leads are kind and and patient to put up with my elementary-level Japanese conversational skill.  I wanted to stay but it’s a fact that recession got us.

I’m a little bit worried about our company, though.  As of now, there are already about five people who don’t have any assignment.  I just hope this won’t affect us in any way.  Interviews are hard, but I sincerely  hope our manager could find us another assignment soon.

I’m actually employed by a staffing company, and I was sent to the current company almost a couple of months ago.   So far, I like the people, the team leads, and the projects. When I got in together with other Filipinos, we were told that the contract would only be for two months, but there was a big chance for a contract extension until March next year. There was even a time when we were asked if it’s OK for us to work until 11PM everyday because it’s gonna get very busy.

Then recession became worse, and I think some projects were canceled. Last week, our leader told us that our (another Filipino colleague and I) contract will end this month.  So, by Friday this week, I’m gonna pack my stuff again and move out of the office.  Well, I’m gonna look forward to another batch of interviews again.  With the current economic situation, I hope our manager could manage to get at least one…