First Day at Work

Yes. I'm again on work mode. Since Monday. And already busy.

I spent almost my whole day in our conference room on my first day. 9:30am to 1:30pm talking about strategies on how to decrease production cost. 2:30pm to 5:00pm talking about a new project I'll be working on. My wonderful bosses filled up time slots in my outlook calendar even before I arrived. The big boss was even reminding me that he needed to talk to me on another subject but that could still wait till next week. What a day! I missed the traditionnal morning and afternoon café where almost everybody gather in a small room sipping their hot coffee or tea talking about all kinds of nonsense except work.

The next day, Tuesday, my supposed-to-be meeting at 10:00am was luckily cancelled and moved to Thursday. I had time deleting and reading unimportant messages. Important messages were kept aside thinking I'll have time today at home to read some messages (I won't work every Wednesdays to take care of my kids). But nah, I have too much stuffs to do at home too. It's now 4:00pm here and I haven't opened my work laptop yet. I'll try later when the kids are in bed (they're now taking a nap), I need to prepare my meeting tomorrow.

Going back on my first day, it's funny how my colleagues greeted me. After the usual beso beso followed by classic new year greetings like bonne année, bonne santé and meilleur voeux, almost all of them striked a quick glance on my tummy and said nothing. Mga usi, lol.

PS: Picture on the left is the only picture of me last Christmas. I'm always behind the cam. Don't be fooled tho. Remember a lot of years ago when Baguio was hit by an earthquake? Where roads and buildings were heavily cracked and damaged? Let's say it was intensity 7.6 on the Richter scale. My abdomen looks like it was hit by an intensity 8. Heavily cracked and damaged.

Tough Schedule!

It will be our 6th year anniversary tomorrow (that’s 9 years of knowing each other and over a year of long distance relationship!) and though we’re both here in France, we will be celebrating the day apart. I’m on the fast train going back to Dijon at the moment (from a 3-day seminar in Paris) while he’s surely driving to join his colleagues for a 2-day team building seminar. Yes, we won’t see each other this week.

What about Louna? She will be spending the night at the nanny’s place (because I’ll arrive too late) and I promise not to work too late tomorrow so I could be with her earlier. Tough schedule!

Well, we have the weekend for the 3 of us to enjoy. I need to find an idea for Father’s day!

Too busy. The 3-day seminar in Paris was great though. It’s a seminar for newly-hired executives in the company (hehe, moi newly-hired after 4 years?). The objective of which is to know the company better – know the strategy, its goals, its market, and the role of different departments to attain common target. 80 participants from different corners of the globe were there. The speakers, including the PDG of the group assured impeccable presentations which kept all participants all-ears from Day 1 to Day 3. Interpreters were there too to ensure that everybody’s getting the same message, but then, switching from French to English was inevitable. A workshop was also initiated - mixing employees from different departments then presenting the other department’s job through a stage play. I normally hate seeing myself in front of audiences but I find that experience pretty fun.

All 80 participants (even Parisians) were required to stay in the hotel to create real synergy among us. Dinners were animated and we really had fun. They organized a kind of casino on the last night with each participant holding 1000€ play money to begin with. Geez! It only took me an hour to lose that amount of money to poker. Now it’s sure, my future is not inside a casino!

It was my first time in my 4-year career life in this company where I travelled and I didn’t work (well, except for reading emails before and after dinner). Ang sarap pala, lol. Our department organizes an annual meeting outside of the company premises but then, it is held in a day so there’s no real synergy being formed.

Frenchguy’s team building seminar is a first in their department and playing golf is apparently included in the agenda. Not to mention that it will be held in a castle somewhere in the Alpes – in a mountain village located far from Dijon!

My big boss just sent a meeting invitation to the whole department and a lunch date was included in the package.

I just have this impression that something is changing in our company. Team building is in the air. Great! Especially when everybody's demotivated with decreasing buying buyer, increasing oil prices, the unpredictable weather, low satisfaction survey on HR department (probably why they boost team building, lol), etc., etc.

And oh, before I forgot, I need an idea for Father's Day. Any suggestion, hmmm?

Confort de Vie

Having a second child had been a hot topic at home. Frenchguy had been wanting another one since Louna blew her first candle. I was on the other hand taken into a whirlwind of work and was enjoying it. I was given more responsibilities, given a challenging project.. and I'm the kind who respect engagement at work.

Close family and friends started to ask for a little brother or a little sister when Louna blew the second candle. I always answered with a shy smile, justifying my indifference with reasons like : Louna's still too young or life in France is difficult. Frenchguy thought I wasn't interested. Then the topic died a natural death. Frenchguy not daring to ask avoiding disppointment, afraid of my negative answer.

Then my project had taken a lot of delay. And Louna's now approaching her 3rd birthday. I thought, there's more to life than burning my ass off at work...

Frenchguy was teary-eyed upon learning about the good news. It came as a surprise. Finally, he talked about his sentiments about my reactions when we talk about having a second child. He thought I would never be ready.

Announcing my pregnancy at work was another exercise - I hate to leave my job half-done - but it's time to set priorities. My boss wished me a healthy baby boy with a little survey on the side - What if it's a girl?

The question caught me unprepared. What if it's a girl? Without too much reflection, I told him that we only plan for two kids. Then adding that Life in France is difficult.

The last sentence surprised him. How on earth could life in France be more difficult if the only reference I have is life in the Philippines? He removed his glasses and looked at me inquisitively.

So I explained.

In the Philippines, it's just normal to have stay-in all-around maids and yayas even in lower middle class families. Families are always around to give us a hand especially in taking care of our kids. School buses are available to take our kids to school.

In France, it's another kind of lifestyle, thus another type of comfort. Both engineers in a multinational company, a leader in its domain at that, we cannot really claim that we receive a miserable salary. But all we could pay is a househelp who works 3 hours a week, cleaning and ironing included, and a nanny who takes care of 2 other kids aside from Louna, 8:15am - 5:45pm Monday to Friday.

With that, a load of houseworks still awaits us before and after work:

- Prepare breakfast / dinner.
- Clear the table (Even this tiny bit of housechore counts when you know Louna has to be at the nanny's place at 8:20am and on bed at 9:00pm. And yes, sometimes, it's left unclean in the morning.).
- Bring / fetch Louna at her nanny's place (Check the time. Avoid paying overtime.)
- Teach Louna ABCs and car colors while on the road. Time is gold.
- Bath time for Louna. Oh and yes, we still do baby massage till now. Tho it takes time, it sure gives us more bonding time.
- Prepare clothes for the next day (I loss a lot of time thinking about what clothes to wear in the morning so I prepare it the night before).
- Play/DVD time in between other housechores. Story time before going to bed.
- Breakfast / Dinner. Good thing Louna's independent in this aspect.
- Wash clothes if needed.
- Do some groceries once a week.
- Please don't ask about the bed. It's quite a mess.
- Add more minutes when I need to scrape off snow from the car in the morning.

All that are simple chores but certainly entails time. We normally arrive at home around 6:00 - 6:30pm so I need to shrink all those listed above up to 9:00pm.

A typical pinoy employee working in the Philippines would watch TV with his kids upon arriving at home (or other activities, of course) - oh well, that's what I would do. This typical pinoy employee working in France would prepare dinner and/or bath her daughter and dress her in pajama during that same time. (Imagine having two kids and a husband on work travel!)

No, I'm not complaining. Grrrr. Errr, am I not?

Life in a Suitcase

Long overdue. Started writing during my work travel in Milan last March 17-20 till today.

I’m pretty much appreciating this short work travel as I left cold and rainy Dijon to switch to 14°C sunny Milan. I was preparing my stuffs last Sunday night and I realized how packing my luggage became close to ordinary. That is to say, it only took me less than 10 minutes to stuff my bag with all the essentials that I need for a week.

What’s the secret of my *ehem* efficiency? Simple. I have my toilet set and phone charger permanently residing in my suitcase. Yes, I have 2 toothbrushes, 2 sets of shampoos, conditioners, creams and what-have-yous – one at home, another in my suitcase. So, in fact, I only pack clothes.

Travelling has been and will always be a part of my job (unless I change of course). Best bars and restaurants in town, mileage accounts, hotel tales, plane misadventures or even best bargains are regular topics in my entourage.

In my domain, dealing with men is nothing but ordinary. I was trained during my Mapua days where almost 90% of the student population ticked M on the gender case. I’m in my best form when I’m wearing jeans. I only wear high-heeled shoes on special occasions. I can handle very dirty jokes. I can drink beer and not visit the toilet every single minute.

This work travel in Milan is somewhat new to me – different from my normal travels where I go to our production plants and work with my co-employees. Here, I deal with suppliers who have their specific budget to please customers. I think I loved Milan because of that. I was able to eat in great restaurants and taste the best gelatos and espressos in town without swiping my American Express. Anyway, our travel officer won’t appreciate a bill of 90€/person for one meal.

Milan is the biggest industrial zone in Europe and apparently the biggest port in Italy. Funny when you know that the sea is still miles away. In fact, all fresh sea foods arrive first-hand in Milan. Once they’ve chosen what’s best, the rest would finally be delivered to the rest of Italy. Well, that’s what the Milanese claim, lol.

Most hotels in Milan (or probably the whole of Italy??) are coupled with motels. In the hotel where I stayed, a 4-hour stay in the motel costs 40€. Now I understand why I didn’t sleep well. I thought the couple next door were simply on honeymoon. Now I know, Italians are simply hot, lol.

Life on work travel is longer. Errr, I mean, I work longer hours. So I don’t really visit. It’s far from being a tourist. So don’t blame me if I visit but bars. But lately, I was just contenting myself with glasses of non-alcoholic beverages and a drop of red or white wine. Boring.

When I arrived back in my office the week after, I finally announced my pregnancy to my boss and my colleagues. My boss, after scratching his head and forcing himself to be happy for me, asked me his most delicate question of the day: Until when will you be able to travel?

Probably until my 5th - 6th months of pregnancy, depending on my condition.

That said (I was just being polite, lol), I think I'll arrange my suitcase at the most inaccessible part of my closet for the moment...

Business with Pleasure

I’ll be boarding the plane again next week. To Thailand. For two weeks. Alone. Buti na lang.

When Frenchguy knew I was going to Thailand just before Christmas, he eagerly suggested that I hop and spend the holidays in the Philippines - and bring Louna with me. At first, I thought it was a wonderful idea. My eldest brother, who never met Louna in person, will be in the Philippines for Christmas too so it will be a great occasion.

But bringing Louna with me would mean:

- Managing a toddler on a long-haul flight - alone!

- Asking my sisters to join me in Bangkok so they could babysit Louna while I work (which means they have to ask for vacation leave and two weeks is quite a lot)

- Buying 4 air tickets: 2 for my sisters (MNL-BKK-MNL) and 2 for Louna and I (BKK-MNL-BKK). This is quite a mess considering I changed the dates twice (because of work constraints). And since I buy the tickets at the last minute, I was offered the highest price!

- Buying another ticket for Louna (CDG-BKK-CDG). Our travel agent proposed a huge 850€ enfant ticket on waiting list. I should be insane to accept that!

- Worrying about my daughter while I work. Not that I don’t trust my sisters. It’s just that Louna is quite hard-headed and doesn’t want to give her hands when she’s outside. And though she understands English, she expresses herself in French. Not to add, what if she fells sick while in Bangkok? I just can’t justify an Enfant Malade while I’m on work assignment outside of France because my daughter is sick.

- Spending Christmas with my family back in the Philippines, but leaving Frenchguy alone here in France.

That’s just too much to manage. And too much to pay. So after weighing things out, we finally decided to cancel Louna’s trip to the Philippines – and mine too. Finally, we will be spending Christmas together as a family here in France. There will always be next time.

But my sisters would still go to Bangkok for a week. That’s a promise of great fun and shopping. Girls just want to have fun!


Cebu Pacific E-Tickets

Anybody who tried buying tickets online? Is it normal that I have received the e-tickets by email but no payments have been collected so far (3 working days after)? I’m quite used to online reservations here in France where payments are collected in no time. I hope my sisters won’t have any problem boarding the plane.

Bella Italia = Sad Louna

Tho travelling has became a part of our so-called normal life, it was still funny to prepare 3 luggages for 3 different destinations. One for Frenchguy who left last Tuesday for Mexico and the US, another one for me for my Milan trip, and the last one for Louna who stayed two nights at her Nanny's place.

Time management at home has somewhat became a national sport. We normally try to organize our travels so as not to disturb Louna from her regular routine - which means, when one travels, the other one should stay at home. But work engagements sometimes get in the way and we find ourselves driving 600 long kilometers so we could leave Louna at her grandparent's place - a vacation in disguise.

Since my trip to Milan this week just took me 2 nights out of Dijon, we decided to leave Louna at her Nanny's place instead of bringing her back at her grandparent's place. So Tuesday morning, with her luggage in tow, I explained to her that she would sleep at her Nanny's place and that I won't be fetching her up in the afternoon but two days later. The teary-eyed darling started to cling on my legs and when I looked at her, her facial expression just broke my heart (the same expression in the picture). The little boy sharing the same Nanny with her took her hand to bring her to the playroom. There, she broke out into tears. I said goodbye and took the car. I drove teary-eyed on my way to work.

Tho I know that she would cry for barely a minute, her message was clear and I know, we have to reconsider our organization as soon as we can.


The Journey to Milan

6 hours drive up to Milan, sandwiched between 3 unfatiguable men talking about their ski adventures with their kids and their business travel sagas from one country to another was already an adventure in itself. We didn't really find the drive too long. There were some pauses, unable to find a new topic for discussion, but we were 4 in the car, and a simple remark or question could trigger an hour garanteed discussion.

We took the Mont Blanc tunnel to cross the border and I had a little apprehension and a bit of curiosity to cross this tunnel because of the 1999 fire which killed 39 people. Imagine crossing an 11.6 km tunnel having that image in mind. The temperature inside the tunnel reached 1000°C, a real inferno. But security was well in place and toll-fee was discouraging enough that truck drivers must take another route to cross the French-Italien border (> 400€ for trucks).

We stayed in a 4* hotel at the suburbs of Milan and 15 minutes after our arrival, we were already savouring a glorious Italian beer at the bar. Who says I can't do bar-hopping with the oldies?

After a sumptous meal, we decided to head off directly to our respective beds because tomorrow is a promise of a long day.

We had the meeting the whole day and honestly, at exactly 6:30pm, I was glad to end the exhausting brainstorming we had with the supplier. A dose of aspirin was the only source of energy which kept me going.

Our contact person was kind enough to invite us to dinner at a cozy place in Milan that night. Oh, I love Italian cuisine! After bottles of wine, loads of antipasti, and a mouth-watering main meal, the supplier offered us a free tour of Milan by night.

We just loved that Italian hospitality that after saying our goodbyes, we bid each other See you in January.


Back to Dijon

Louna's stay with the Nanny was A-Ok as always. We had a phonecall from Frenchguy last night and he's finally heading to Mexico City (from our production site lost in the Mexican desert hehe) to meet MY friend. Inggit ako. He would spend the weekend with her before he leaves to the US on Monday. That friend was a classmate in my French classes way back year 2003 and despite the distance, we succeeded to kept our contact. They're surely having lots of fun while I write this post.. while I wait for Louna to finish her siesta.

Hope you're having a great weekend too.



Milan Pictures: 1. My colleagues appreciating the beauty of Milan Cathedral 2. Teatro alla Scala 3. Inside the Galeria Vittorio Emanuel II.

Plant Design

This is probably my most hated subject when I was still a student. And to double the hate, there was Plant Design I and.. tadan.. Plant Design II. Of course, we will not halt the hate at that level. To triple the hate, I was under a terror instructor who happened to be the husband of our department’s dean. That explained, among others, why there were only 11 students during that batch.

If I remember it right (whew, that was 10 long years ago!), Plant Design I was more of a definition of the subject, market research and project preparation. Sounds simple? Okay, here’s an appetizer. During those times, my group mates and I were regulars at the UPLB Library to do some research. Luckily, we stumbled on a preliminary study on what came up as our subject (transforming wastewater to construction additives). We then contacted the authors of the study to get more details, contacted the company where we could buy our raw materials (eg; their wastewater) to check if it is indeed feasible, evaluated cost for building constructions near the company (to zero-out transportation cost), did some market research to draw a forecast of the commercialization of our product.. and so on, and so forth.

Plant Design II was the start of the technical aspect of the project - plant design as the word denotes (you know, technical computations on the defined process), and of course, its finalization. I still remember, we defended the subject before the juries three times. Yes, 3x! I can't remember all the reasons but one of them was because there was a certain discrepancy in our manpower forecast vs volume to be produced. Nothing linked to the technical aspect of the project, ever.

One thing which probably showed my work personality during that experience was that, I was criticized of doing all the work. Very poor in delegation, etc. I was the group leader and I felt responsible. But it's true that some of the members were not working at all or lacked in engagement in the task to be achieved that I almost hated some of them. I had 1.75. They’ve got 2.50. Fair deal.

Well, going on to real life. As I've mentionned in my previous post, I'm a Project Manager on one subject and with it, I get to re-live my plant design experience at a more exciting pace. Tho my stress level is at its maximum level at the moment, I start to appreciate the new function because I'm learning a lot. I get to see the different stages of a project which was not visible for me before. Tho they present as huge problems, the challenge is to find appropriate solutions.

Working with a Project Team is completely different. Here, each work expertise is represented by a team member who would ensure the accomplishment of his given task. So far, at the stage of the project, I regularly work with 6 experienced male colleagues. I talk, dress up and curse like a man now, darn.

This Tuesday, I, together with my 5 colleagues will drive up to Milan to have a meeting with our supplier (because there will be a huge strike in France starting Tuesday, better not take public transpo). We will spend 2 nights there. Exciting sana, kaya lang, their age ranges from 45-55 years old. Dyaheng gumimik at mag-bar hop. Lol.

Project Management

Evolution in a workplace is a continual process which slowly but surely changes company culture and traditions in a given entity. Current technical and economic pressures drive industries to an increasingly competitive environment which pushes them to restructure and reorganize their work methods to increase productivity.

Downsizing is a famous product of this evolution. The challenge is then to manage existing workload with less people. Competence development within an organization has been industries’ response to attaining this goal – multi-skilling in a high performance workplace. Functional flexibility has somewhat became the standard.

My 2-day training in Paris two weeks ago was in fact an introduction to the ins and outs of project management.

Project management, as described in the Free Management Library is a carefully planned and organized effort to accomplish a specific (and usually) one-time effort, for example, construct a building or implement a new computer system. Project management includes developing a project plan, which includes defining project goals and objectives, specifying tasks or how goals will be achieved, what resources are needed, and associating budgets and timelines for completion. It also includes implementing the project plan, along with careful controls to stay on the "critical path", that is, to ensure the plan is being managed according to plan. Project management usually follows major phases (with various titles for these phases), including feasibility study, project planning, implementation, evaluation and support/maintenance.

Aside from my normal tasks, the big bosses had this brilliant idea of naming me as a Project Manager (PM) to validate a new machine loaded with new technology from a new supplier – without the salary increase, bien sûr - and before I had the training. At first, I didn’t really give it a budge. I will have a dual role on this subject, as a technical resource and a PM. Easy. I started working on the process conception taking into account the complexity of the new machine - thinking I would restart working on the subject once the machine is installed (I was still thinking like a technical resource and not at all as a PM). Wrong.

Now, aside from my usual monthly report,
- I have to do a specific report on this subject too.
- I have to attend to a lot of meetings – talking about Civil and Electrical Engineering (building conception phase) but never Chemical Engineering which is my line – and worst, write the meeting minutes at the end of the session.
- I have to take major decisions impacting quality, cost and delay – or negotiate everything with the big bosses – and take every blow imaginable.
- I have to monitor that we don’t exceed the 1M€ mark.
- I have to kick butts to get information from different actors of the project.
- and lastly, I have to work for myself because, not to forget, I’m a technical resource on this project too.

This new task is draining the whole of me. I’m a newbie and I’ve always been conscientious on whatever I do. Frenchguy’s out for business travel for 2 long weeks now and handling an active toddler after a long day of work is sometimes more difficult than talking technical matters with experienced men (*$¤#! Just wondering what these big bosses had in mind when they named a Filipina Mom to handle the job? – I mean, I’m the only girl in the team! And a foreigner at that!).

Next week, I will be somewhere around Germany with a supplier followed by Italy before the end of the month - again with a supplier. Then probably, just probably, to Thailand mid-November.

Now, how in the world would my immediate boss think that I’m not loaded? I can’t even blog, lol.

I'm on Sick Leave

For the first time! I always boasted that inspite of my underweight, skinny physique, nobody could really charge me as unhealthy. I was never sick... till today.

In fact, I was already feeling heavy and exhausted since last week (I was still in the Philippines then). Blame it to too much work. I was obliged to shrink all the jobs I had to accomplish in the Philippines in 5 days instead of 6 - and that included auditing our sister company's machine and process, training their engineers and auditing formulation procedures in our company. Yes, I was in two companies at the same time - all in one week. Top it with jetlag and yes, I was dead tired.

A friend of mine warned me against burnout, but no, I'm not yet at this level and I won't allow myself to fall in this trap. I'm just tired and a little stressed out, me thinks. The fact that I was asked to work with our sister company wherein big bosses (from both companies) held high expectations from me was quite a challenge. Though I worked normally without really trying to gain their wows, I nevertheless 'extremely impressed' (got that straight from the director's email to my boss) the Plant Director who openly expressed that my results and proposals, though showed a big drift in their process, would definitely help them improve their productivity. I even heard that he would again ask my boss for my assistance once they start a new process. I just had to warn them na malaki na ang talent fee ko by that time hehe.

At my last day in the company, aside from the engineers and technical managers who wanted to wish me bon voyage, the HR and Training Managers wanted to meet me in person to express how happy they were to meet me and that they've heard good reviews about me. I was tired but I was smiling up to my ears.

Arriving here in France, I went directly to Dijon because I had an important meeting the next day. I just can't be absent in that meeting because I'm the project manager and I just can't say I still have a jetlag after missing 2 or 3 meetings already.

Louna and Frenchguy were still out when I arrived. Louna was on vacation at her grandparent's place while Frenchguy was on a business trip in Boston. They just arrived last night when I was already zombie-like because of fatigue.

I had a medical check-up this morning and of all the things I should forget, I forgot to ask for a medical certificate. Darn! It just shows how newbie I am when it comes to sick leave. Kainis.

Tidbits: I was carrying some measuring instruments (one with some chemicals which produces smoke at the contact with air) when I went to the Philippines and I was so nervous that customs might stop and question me. Arriving at the airport, waiting for my only luggage, I heard my name being paged, asking me to go directly at the right side of the arrival area. I was already imagining the worst scenario, convinced that it was because of the instruments in my luggage. But in fact, it was because it was my first time in the hotel where I was supposed to stay and they thought I didn't know where hotel counters were. Naman, ninerbyos kaya ako dun!

Why I Can't be a SAHM

This is a cry from a Career Mom trying to justify herself. Hear her lament.

Job is not Everywhere in France

France is far from being the El Dorado for non-French job hunters regardless of the number of diplomas you have. Firstly, language is a BIG barrier. Another is equality. Though they cry out loud that Egalité is a French emblem, racial discrimination is still a rampant social distress. A job hunter named Mohammed won't have equal opportunity as someone named Pierre, even if both were born in France. Go measure for someone named Analisa born thousands of miles away from France.

During my recent business trip in Thailand, I bumped to one of the big bosses based in Bangkok. He was surprised to know that I am based here in France. I could still remember his reaction when he said in his inquisitive tone 'A Filipina working in Dijon?', then his endless questions on how I arrived here in France till how I bagged the job. Isn't that a yelling evidence of how white collar jobs are reserved to these royal bloods? Take my situation to the US setting and nobody will be surprised. Filipinos are part of their workforce, right? In fact, if not because of my previous working experience with the same company in the Philippines, I don't think they would hire me.

That said plus the current job scarcity France is facing, I think I'll need a great motivation to quit my job.

I Love My Job (because of …)

Flexible Time : I’m not the typical 8am-5pm employee. I could go to the office past 9am. I could take my vacation in synch with my Nanny’s. I could go home as early as 4pm. I manage my time.

Multinational Exposure : and since it’s a French company, we’re the boss. Ain’t that a bonus?

Business Travels : I loved it. When I signed my contract where it was written that around 30% of my time will be spent outside of France, I was excited. I was excited to the idea of having somebody waiting for me at the airport, holding a cardboard with my name written on it, me feeling like a VIP. Now, it starts to tire me up especially when I know that there’s a little girl patiently waiting for me.

I love what I’m doing. The best part is that I’m being paid to do what for me is a dream-come-true. I think this one is the most essential part, right?

I Need Cash

Who don’t anyway. Apart from all the monthly payables, I need my own money to keep my sanity. Frenchguy is quite tight with his money. He’s got this bad habit of saying he’s got no money and he’s got this mindset that everything is expensive. Though unintentional, he made me feel I was a parasite when I was not working yet. Me who was financially independent pre-Frenchguy time. He said I was stupid to think that way. Mea culpa.

No, I’m not complaining, I just need cash.

I’m at my Best at Work

I’m only excellent when I’m being paid. And nope, I’m not proud of that. I’m a lazy bum at home. I hate cleaning the house, I hate cooking, I hate most of the household chores. I just do all of them because I’m obliged to. And of course, Frenchguy does 99% of the job. But that doesn’t make me less of a wife or a Mom. I hope we’re clear with that. Call me lazy but don’t call me Bad Mom.

Though I have all the perfect reasons why I can’t be a SAHM, the dream of being one still haunts me at times like this - arriving from a business travel and finding Louna with long nails and dirty teeth.

Did I tell you that Moms and Dads are not the same?

Temporary Hiatus

I have been hiding behind the scenes lately (that reads: blogging world) and I’m afraid it would continue till I get back to France. Work has been taking a lot of my energy lately that I feel drained at the end of the day. In fact, my stay here in the Philippines was extended for few more days because of a big problem in the plant and I need to squeeze my brain from day in to day out to find technical solutions. And I mean having my brains turning even inside the taxi, while taking a bath, while dining, while watching TV.. I mean, everytime. Goodness gracious, they’re back to normal now, buti na lang, I could go back to normal life too. My brain is still bleeding and malfunctioning tho. Thanks to me - boss, can I have a raise??

And since I never went out yet since I arrived here (my social life was in its all-time low – I was doing the hotel-work-hotel itinerary), I finally called up some friends this afternoon and voila, I have my calendar fully-booked till my last day here. That would mean I won’t have time to blog and bloghop too. Catch up with you guys soon. Promise.

PS: Louna starts to understand pretty well. Read how she revealed my cooking prowess to everybody here.

Don't Break My Doll

Moms. When it comes to kids, they just don't trust anybody. Not even the father of their child. Well, at least for me.

After repeating (and I mean repeating) my list of to-do and not-to-do with Louna, I was left of nothing else to say but 'Don't break my doll.' to my Frenchguy. He then reminded me that he's the father and he cares as much as I do. Oh yeah, how many times should I explain to him that Moms and Dads are not the same? Well ok, I don't make any sense.

I was observing Louna after I arrived from a 10-day business travel and I just realized how such a short period of time could change a toddler a lot. To good and bad, of course.
- She looks prettier. (Miss ko lang siguro)
- She loves to throw a hug from time to time (she hated it before - but this is exclusive to Maman and Papa).
- She gives a lot of kisses (flying kisses included) - she could be considered malambing now.
- She starts to say Mama to refer to me (she probably missed me). She was babbling mama before but to refer to food.
- She dances each time she hears music.
- She's got less appetite.
- She speaks louder to get more attention.
- She doesn't do pooh on her potty chair anymore.
- She sleeps lesser hours in the car during long drives (so we have to entertain her most of the time).
- She doesn't want to sleep at 9pm anymore. She wants to play more.
- She screams when other people touch her.

And it seems that these changes aren't enough that I have to leave her again for another 17 days (I'm writing this from the airport). I start to miss her. She woke up early this morning to cuddle with me. She surely understood what I told her yesterday - that she'll be a good girl while I'm out.

Life of a working mom. A travelling working mom.

US Stopover

I hate airports. Make it double when destination displays USA: that would mean added security measures and more customs blah-blahs. Triple the hate when I couldn't make my wi-fi connection work at the airport for I don't know what reason. I'm a techy illiterate.

But well, there's more to my US trip other than hating the airport.

Customs

Come on, tell me, you know somebody in Pennsylvania, right? You just don't wake up one day and say 'I'd like to visit PA'. There's nothing to visit there. Hehe, I just re-entered the US with my 10-year tourist visa and I just couldn't tell the officer I'll go here for work. Bad girl. So I told him I'd visit PA on my own and it's a strategic destination to get closer to NY without paying NY prices. Well, I probably sounded convincing, the officer wished me 'Enjoy your stay in Pennsylvania, darling.'

Work

I spent the whole time working with men infront of a dirty machine. I let them work, of course. But that nevertheless kept me busy. It seemed that I work pretty fast for their taste, they now call me 'slave driver'. Well, I have to say, I ask a lot. I need loads of results within my 10-day stay and I need to keep them moving. When I said goodbye to the big boss this afternoon, he said he's been hearing good reviews about me. I know he said that to be nice to me but that nevertheless made me feel great. Feeling ko tuloy, ang ganda ganda ko hahaha.

American Hospitality

I was pampered. A colleague met me at the airport. Drove me to my hotel. Fetched me from the hotel and drove me to the company. And vice versa, not allowing me to take the rental car. He made sure I had everything I needed, up to the maps I needed to go to Jersey City. He paid almost all my dinner bills. I even pleaded to pay once, otherwise our department might think I don't spend anything, they might want to send me outside of France all the time. He wanted to show me the way to Jersey City. He wanted to accompany me back to the airport. I guess he will search for a Filipina wife soon. I made a good impression. But honestly, tinataguan ko na sya after my first week. Shhhh.

Business with Pleasure

What do Analyse do on weekends during business travel? I do visit!

I drove from PA to NJ to meet my HS friend who lives in Jersey City (thanks to the GPS, I got direct to her place without getting lost). We're supposed to watch Les Mis on Friday night but I was caught on a traffif jam for 2 long hours. As they said here, there are two seasons in PA: winter and road construction. I guess you know what season is it now. We spent the whole night catching up instead.

Saturday was spent walking around NY. This city is grandiose. And with the 1€ = $1.36 change, even a shop-a-phobic-me couldn't resist shopping. We wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty but we backed out when we saw a queue of about a mile. Next time na lang. We climb up the Empire State Building instead.

We dined out at Arthur's Landing where we had good food and a good view of Manhattan by night. Sarap. And to make the night even more special, Kat joined us there. It's my 2nd EB among blogger friends. What's good about meeting a fellow blogger is that, we seem to know each other already even if it's the first meeting. Thanks for being there Kat, even if it was for only a few minutes. Hope RSB's ok now.

Sunday was like, rest day. We had late breakfast at Little Quiapo where I had Tapsilog. We then played Badminton. After a 2-hour play, we headed back to NY to finally watch Lea Salonga in Broadway. Sarap. That made my weekend extra special. We did not wait for Lea to come out as I still had to drive back to PA. Watching her play is more than enough for me. We ended the day dining at Red Ribbon where we continued looking back at our HS days. Hay, sarap balik-balikan.

So now you understand why I was too silent and hiding behind the scenes. I was just too darn busy with work and gala. And I missed my baby so much. To all those who greeted me Happy Mothers Day. Thanks a lot. I really appreciated it. Happy Moms Day too.

Oppps, getting my luggages done now. Flying back to France tomorrow. Bon voyage to me.

Pictures: Billboards 5th Ave, Ground Zero, Times Square, Central Park, Manhattan by night (view from the restaurant - picture taken from their site), Kat and moi at Arthur's Landing, Moi resting at Rockefeller Plaza.


Blogging at the Airport

I'm bored. Still an hour before the flight and my Frenchguy doesn't even answer to my text messages. Buti na lang Haze is there to keep me company. I'm disturbing her from her loads of housechores hehe. Sa sobrang bored, pati luggages ko, pinag-trip-an ko no hehe. They're actually payatot when they left France. Look at how bundat they are now. Obvious ba na mega-shop ako? But of course, I limited myself to what my luggages could contain. I don't check them in kasi. I don't like waiting luggages at the airport, so if I could avoid it, I try to avoid it.

And know what, I was raging before as I couldn't make wi-fi work. I finally discovered. Sus dali lang pala. Techy illiterate, right? So now, I could blog and bloghop anywhere I want. Just hoping I have enough batteries to accompany me up to my next stop in Atlanta airport. Di kasi direct flight, kainis. Anyways, I'll go bloghop now. Ciao.

Labor Day Tidbits

Our Labor Day weekend to Prague has finally come. Our itinerary includes a 6-hour walk tour, drinks and meals included for 32€/person. We don't normally bite such kind of tours because we're more of discovery and adventure buffs and we hate following bunches of people, but after reading feedbacks about Prague, our 3-day stay seemed to be bitin. This tour would be a sure way to get a good load of what Prague could offer - history overload guaranteed.

Thanks Haze for all the suggestions. Everything noted.

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To mark history, this coming Labor Day marks my 3rd year as an official taxpayer here in France. Funny to start a job with a national holiday. Happy Labor Day everyone!

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Speaking about work, I was trying to block June 12 on my calendar and mark Business Travel-Philippines. The French expat in the Philippines then reminded me by email that June 12 is Philippine Independence Day and it's a national holiday. He ended up the email with a Kalimutan already? Argggh.

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I was checking on our shared calendar this afternoon and discovered that my boss will be in Bangkok at the same time as me. Darn.

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Browsing through Mitsuru’s NY adventures, I’ve learned that Lea Salonga’s playing in Broadway. And yes, he’s got a picture with Lea in person. I’m so green with envy. I so love this Victor Hugo’s grand classique Les Miserables and would like to watch Lea’s version (I’ve seen the American movie starring Uma Thurman as Fantine (1998) and the French version starring Gérard Dépardieu as Jean Valjean (2000). Les Miserables is the first book I’ve read in French – that’s how I’m in-loved with this book. Watching it in a theatre, with a Filipino Fantine should be something else. Now I should really mix business with pleasure.

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That is to say, I finally fixed all my schedules. Yes, I'm busy, but I'm organized.

I'm busy. I'm not.

I am feeling a little boredom infiltrating my office walls lately. It's stressing me out to know that I'm being paid to do nothing. Though I know that my work's nature is quite cyclic, depending on what project I work on, still the idea stresses me out. Just when I thought I should talk to my boss to ask for more short-term jobs (because I'll be busy on the second semester - in Dijon, fortunately), mental telepathy worked rather fast and saw him coming in with a contagious smile.

Bonjour.
Bonjour.

Ca va?
Ca va.

So there. After several exchanges of what's up and what's new, he asked me if I could assist our American plant on a week-long-or-longer job next month, probably mid-May.

Errr. I'm actually working on my schedule as I'm planning to go to Bangkok, then to Manila sometime end of May.

Conflict. Now I'm wondering if I really have a problem with time management or is it simply because schedules are quite unpredictable at work that I find schedules overlapping on my calendar at times. When I was in Bangkok end of last year, I was actually supposed to go to Milan at the same time. I asked another colleague to do the job instead. The Milan job, just like the upcoming US job, was a last-minute plan. And oh, boss just reminded me that I need to go to Milan before summer vacation starts (July-August).

It's either I stay put in Dijon, or I have to hop from one country to another, not even care about jetlag.

What makes the schedule more complicated is that there are a lot of long weekends in May and we already planned some getaways. Labor day will be Prague. Ascension day will be a birthday celebration of Frenchguy's childhood friend. In the menu are wild water activities mixed with a mountain hike and a via ferrata which I wanted to try. To top it all, Frenchguy just organized a wild-water-activity weekend on the first week of June.

Hmm. Do you still follow? Well, I know it's quite complicated and I'm afraid I have to sacrifice his friend's birthday to keep up with the schedule. Poor Frenchguy might not be able to ride his kayak because of me. Nobody to babysit Louna.

I'm in the process of negotiation and who knows, I could fit in all the schedules and sing 'We did it' in the end.

Tagged

Princess and SassyMom, both of Pinoy Moms Network, tagged me to list 7 songs I'm addicted into at the moment. It's been long months I haven't received any même on this blog, and this one came wrong timing - simply because I'm not into music at the moment. It's spring and I feel like playing badminton all the time (Louna serves as the net. She loves staying in the middle). After the match (with Frenchguy), it's bath/play, dinner and bedtime for Louna. Then it's telly or blog/surf time for me. No time for music.

Well, ok. I'm not as boring as that. Here's my list:
- I'm the Map and We did it. Themesongs from Dora the Explorer. I'm repeating I'm the map in my head while writing this.
- My toes, my kness, my shoulder, my head. Repeat it 3x. With actions please.
- Tape tape petite main, vole vole petit oiseau, tourne tourne petit moulin, nage nage petit poisson. Again, with actions.
- Itsy bitsy spider during giggly playtime.
- I tune in to RFM on my 12 minute-drive to go to work so that gives me a list of non-mommy songs. You gave me something by James Morrison is one of my current faves.
- And finally, Gardien de Nuit by Francis Cabrel. It's just way too cool that I use it as my ringtone.

Whew. That tag was cool. I just forgot about my hectic schedule within 5 minutes!

Work Tidbits atbp

I received an envelope yesterday containing a letter informing me that a certain amount of euros will be deposited on my account as part of the company's profit-sharing scheme. But before I could even plan on how to spend the euros, Frenchguy already told me that I have to fax the accompanying paper to our head office. The accompanying paper is the go signal for them to transfer the moolah to my PEE or simply put, to buy company stock-options. In fact, PEE is so advantageous as it exempts the capital and the revenu (appreciation of its value) from any taxes and social charges. The sum is then inflated by a mouth-watering amount by the company but it will be blocked for 5 (or 7) years. So what will you do? Instead of giving probably 30% of it to the government (tax on revenu), I better keep it for myself and have it available in 5 years, right? Anyway, I don't have any to-buy list at the moment, so ok, document faxed.

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The long-awaited email has finally arrived. A colleague informed me that the subject we are working on will finally push through.

In fact, I have a pending request from our Philippine site for a week-long job. But since it's not an urgent request, I've told my boss that I'll go there if I have another business in Asia. To which he agreed, but not after July.

So there, if everything works into place, I'll be in Bangkok with a side trip in Manila...hopefully soon.

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I've stopped business travelling since my pregnancy till Louna turned 1 year old. With that, I've lost my Lufthansa Miles and More silver membership and turned back to the basic blue card. With the coming travel, I think I'll have enough mileage to shift back to silver. Great. I just love VIP treatment during travels hehe.

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Frenchguy's donating his Flying Blue mileage tickets to his sister and her family this summer. At first, it was a round trip ticket to the Wild West but they backed-out at the last minute, frightened by the language barrier. Final destination became La Reunion. After discussing about it with me this morning, he suddenly realized 'it could have been for us'. Naipamigay mo na kaya.

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I'm off for a soirée choucroute. Happy weekend everyone.

How Far Could You Deal With Stress?

Most people try to personnalize their work areas to bring a certain life, a certain balance and a certain detachment from work. I, for one, have Louna's picture on my office wall and on my laptop's wallpaper and screensaver. A colleague displays one of his paintings on his wall. Another one, his wife (nope, no darts on the picture, promise).

It's normal. We spend most of our lives at work. A lot of people identifies themselves via their job. It's a source of self-esteem. It's a haven to those who want to showcase their competences, their skills and their talents. It's a place where we prove what we could do best. In fact, work has become not only a source of financial health but mental health as well. But what if stress has taken over to all that?

In France, some people are blaiming the 35 hour-per-week system as a source of stress. In fact, they get the same workload for lesser working hours. Add to that the massive delocalization of a lot of companies. Most are afraid to lose their jobs one day so they try to be productive and competitive, sometimes way beyond their capabilities. The latest news about Alcatel-Lucent suppressing 12,500 jobs worldwide in the next 3 years (1,500 in France) has just added to their mounting stress boosters.

The company Renault counted 3 suicides in 4 months. The last one left a letter clearly blaiming his working conditions as the cause of his act. The other two didn't leave any letter but have chosen their work areas as their death beds. Not long after, Peugeot Citroen followed suite with one suicide and another tentative. Both evoking their working conditions as the culprit.

Another news came directly in my mailbox. A manager from my previous post died of massive heart attack and the family is blaiming his big boss because of too much pressure. It seems that the defunct had been complaining about his work conditions too. The sad part is that he was obliged to resign because he couldn't take it anymore and he was just finishing his contract. He was close to freedom. He probably waited too long. - This news really shocked me. A Filipino died of too much pressure? We're known for being jolly, right. Tinatawanan lang natin ang problema. He must have endured too much pressure..

Based on personal experience, I've always considered these frenchies as more stressed-out fellows compared to Filipinos. But it's contagious. I now spend some sleepless nights thinking about work, and when I finally catch sleep, I then dream about work. I'm trapped in the system. I do try to manage it tho. Louna is my main stress buster, blogging is another way.

How about you? How do you deal with it?

When Work Goes Beyond the 4-Walled Room

I have been watching the telly the other night and my attention was caught by a program on M6 (topic: Extraordinary Homes), particularly the Australian couple living la vida loca in their appartment on the mega-luxurious ship The World. I wondered how they could manage such an extravagant life till they showed their laptop. Stupid me. Of course they're still connected to the real world (their businesses) with all the technologies available onboard.

Now let me talk about me.

I live exactly the same technology overloaded life (minus The World, of course). Technology has broke through the traditionnal office walls that I could work even inside my cozy toilet at home or in any internet center anywhere in the world.

My list of technology gadgets :

VPN : A virtual private network (VPN) is a private communications network often used by companies or organizations, to communicate confidentially over a public network. VPN traffic can be carried over a public networking infrastructure (e.g. the Internet on top of standard protocols, or over a service provider's private network with a defined Service Level Agreement (SLA) between the VPN customer and the VPN service provider. A VPN can send data e.g. voice, data or video, or a combination of these media, across secured and encrypted private channels between two points. Read more from this site.

But this gadget starts to be outdated so I pass to..

i-Pass : iPass is a commercial company that provides Internet services to business users working remotely (out of their country or region). Typically this means travellers with a laptop computer.

For most countries in the world, dialup service is available, in which one calls a nearby phone number that connects to the internet. Today it is also possible to use iPass with a wi-fi connection, if there is a Hotspot with an iPass arrangement available. ISDN connection is also offered in some regions such as Europe. Read more from this site.

Outlook Web Access : OWA is used to access e-mail, calendars, contacts, tasks and other mailbox contents while on the go. Microsoft provides Outlook Web Access as part of Exchange Server to allow users to connect remotely via Web browsers. Most of the functionality in Microsoft Outlook is also available in this web "look-alike". The most important difference is that Microsoft Outlook lets you work with e-mail, calendars etc. even when you don't have a network connection, while OWA requires a network connection to function.

OWA can be used from Internet cafes and any other location that provides connectivity to the Web. Read more from this site.

Conferencing has taken a whole new world too. Webmeeting, call and video conferencing. What a gallery of airfare/train savvy solutions.

Some companies even provide instant messaging - and I mean internet downloadable gadgets - with the microphone and webcam installed! A friend of mine showed me her 6-month preggo state through Skype while she was in her office in Makati. Galing!

I'm sure, there are more innovating technologies out there waiting to be discovered but these gadgets are already enough to give me the impression of having a shadow - my work following me anywhere I go. Enough.

My Bangkok Experience

Prior to my travel to this lovely country, I had already painted in my mind my own vision of Thailand. I have heard a lot about it and worked with its people that I know almost exactly where Patpong is and how the Thais feel about it. But let me repaint my vision. Travel with me.

The Arrival

My arrival was a mix of positive and negative vibes. I waited 30 minutes to get my luggage and hurriedly hopped into the limo to get to my hotel. Yes, you got it right, a limousine! But in fact, it was just a big Mercedez. Me, who, upon receiving the confirmation from the hotel, dreamed of that big long car.

The big, wide roads of Bangkok, though not flooded when it rains, provoke long queues of impatient Thais on the road and I didn’t figure out why. Probably because almost all of the toll gates are manual? Instead of 40 minutes travel time from the airport to my hotel, I was stocked for almost 3 hours inside the limo. Traffic jam was worse compared to Manila.

I spent half of the 3 hours sleeping inside the car. I needed it because I wasn’t able to sleep in the plane and I had to work that same day. The rest of the time was spent observing Bangkok and its people. From the airport to the hotel, I saw but new cars driven by young women in their 4 to 6-lane motorway. King-size roads! But hey, where are the guys hehe?

They have impressive wide roads but they’re not done yet. Infrastructures are just about everywhere. Ready for economic expansion, I should say - both for investors and tourists.

Arriving at the hotel, I was informed that there was no executive room available for me so they’re upgrading me to first. Tatanggihan ko ba naman? And since I was already way too late for my appointment, I asked them to prepare a taxi for me in 30 minutes. Bilis no. After a quick shower, I went down hurriedly to the lobby, and guess what, the company driver was already waiting for me. Sarap buhay!

The Stay

I just stayed for a week so I only had all the evenings of the week and one whole Sunday to get a feel of the Thai life.

For the first evening, I was too tired that I just contented myself for a feast of soft shell crabs (as in kakainin mo lahat, pati shells) at a good restaurant just a block away from my hotel. The good thing about having business travels is that I could taste the good life without worrying for my pocket hehe.

The second evening was of course, fiesta! Accompanied by my colleague, we dined at the Silom Village where traditional music and dances are being performed permanently. A line of art and jewellery boutiques are also present which makes the place extra special. Sayang, I forgot my camera.

We then walked up to the famous Patpong (well, everybody talks about it at the office) but nothing shocked me really. A mix of night market and bars.

The next evening was spent in Siam Square. A chic and cool place, I should say. After a little window shopping, we then joined the Thais in this cool and hip street party. What a night!

Since I only had one Sunday to visit, I decided to go and check the Grand Palace. Wow, these people have something to boast to.

Thai people put coins in this line of pots for long life, I guess. The last picture shows me while praying infront of the Buddha ;)
We ended the day with an intense shopping spree at the Chatuchak Weekend Market. Akala ko kung ano na, parang Divisoria lang pala hehe. One difference probably is that, wala tayo nito:

Current Events

I have been running left and right with my high-heeled shoes lately. Me, who had shown resistance to this form of formality and bourgeoisie during my younger years. And since I cannot be contented with this little change, I had taken this bad habit of wearing skirts too. All that because of work. And all that to say, I miss my Mapuan attire so badly (read: pants, shirt and flat shoes).

Madrid and Bangkok has just been added on my next month's itinerary. High-heel or flat shoes? I think I still have to bring my flat shoes in case I have time to visit these lovely cities after work. And who knows, my boss might ask me to catch a flight to Manila. My flat shoes then, become indispensable.

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My mileage reward has not been updated yet and its been 3 months. I lost 80,000 miles which is equivalent to a round-trip ticket Paris-Manila. (In fact, I requested for a ticket for my Mom which I canceled afterwards, but the airline company pursued with the deduction. Now, they're taking time for the rectification!). Louna's first visit in the Philippines this year-end depends on this free ticket! Darn!

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November 1 this year falls on a Wednesday. Time to unwind, a 5-day vacation at hand. Louna's yaya asked for a vacation leave on October 30 and 31. Frenchguy and I thought we could go out on November 2 and 3. Bordel! I guess we still need to work on our organisation prowess. Now, we're blocked and need to reorganize everything.