To improve productivity and ensure better camaraderie in the office, our LGU planned and simultaneously conducted a team building. Our office together with the Rural Health Unit, OTRU, and a few OCC employees constituted Group II, we are grouped into four groups because most event places can’t accommodate a larger crowd.

Our group consists of 117 participants, before the event we conducted a site inspection of the possible venue of our team building, and after deliberation and carefully considering the best options, our team building was held at Blue Pebbles located at Alcantara, Romblon.

We agreed to meet up at 9:30 in the morning to prepare for departure at ten o’clock in the morning to Alcantara, I went to work earlier than that and waited for my workmates, we had a group picture in front of the municipal hall before departing, several vans were hired to accommodate employees who don’t have their own car or motorcycle.

We arrived at the venue after an hour, and since I was the one assigned to billeting, I had to assign rooms to every department, and with that, I wasn’t able to help a friend, who had motion sickness. We rested a bit and lunch was served, unlike our previous team-building food this year\’s team-building was catered.

The team-building activities started at one o’clock in the afternoon, and as host of the event I had no choice, but to be at the front and do most of the talking.  The usual preliminaries during a program were done, followed up by short messages from the present SB Members, and in between were the intermission numbers from each department.

After which, were short learning, discussion, and games with our GAD Focal person, who teaches us about the difference between Gender and Sex, as well as the do’s and don’ts in the workplace, the things we should avoid doing, because without knowing we may be violating someone’s privacy and someone’s being.

We all enjoyed the activity, we were grouped into four and had a mind teaser game, as well as creating and performing our own group chant/yell.  Our municipal Mayor arrives just right after we divulge into our snack, I let her rest a bit after acknowledging her arrival. Although I know that our Mayor is always prepared and ready to speak, it was epic that I  asked her if she is okay or ready to give a speech at the exact moment because I felt like it would be unpleasant if I called her right away without asking her, hahaha.

Anyway, before our municipal mayor shared an inspirational message I asked some participants to dance for entertainment, which made everyone burst into laughter because of the notable dance move of the participants and how they ran and their bodies stretched when our Mayor\’s aide and some councilors throw in some cash for them to enjoy and to dance more.

Our mayor shared an empowering and inspirational message, She also reminded everyone to serve the public with a happy heart and to love each other, but not to the extent of developing a love relationship with a workmate, Our municipal vice mayor also shared an inspirational message right after whom he talked about honesty doing our work well even there was nobody looking at us, and with his permission, the bar was opened, what I mean the boys were now allowed to group and drink. You know, boys will be boys, they will not enjoy a party without something to drink, so they found their own corner in the resort.

The second part of the program started right after listening to inspirational messages, where it was all about group games. It was a lot of fun, the participants enjoyed it and even requested another game before eating our dinner.  We ate our dinner, and we rested a bit to prepare for the social night, where our vice mayor hired a band for everyone\’s enjoyment.

Anyway, Blue Pebbles Beach Resort is located in Poblacion of Alcantara, it is along the highway with a nice landscape and surroundings and with a great view of the sea. Its location combined with the tranquil and peaceful surroundings creates a very relaxing atmosphere for anyone looking for a restful time.

The beach resort has small and big cottages for rent, they also have rooms for visitors who want an overnight stay.  Their family room can be rented for ₱4,500.00 and cater to up to five people but can be maximized to up to seven or eight people, costing ₱350.00 for an extra person which is a bit costly for those who can’t afford, they also have a room beside the pool which is designed for two people at ₱1,800 .oo, and ₱250.00 for an extra bedding or person.

The downside of the resort when we had our team building was having no water in the middle of the night, in short, we were not able to wash properly after dipping in the pool. Ha-ha

Disclosure: This is NOT a sponsored post. The above-written post was my own personal experience and might be different from yours.

My officemates have been asking me to go with them after office, to unwind and chase sunset or spend an overnight escapade somewhere, but I keep declining, I would love the idea, but the introverted me doesn’t like it. I don’t feel like being away from home and from the comfort of my comfort zone, but then one day I went with them to chase the sunset at a hilltop a few minutes away from the town center.

The hilltop was owned by a relative who also happened to be one of the town councilors, I thought it would be going to be a long walk, but I was wrong, it was only a few minutes walk and I had not even sweated going uphill. The place wasn’t fully developed yet, but there was already a trail to use, so it wasn’t that hard to reach the top.

The moment we reached the peak, we became busy snapping pictures while the others immediately prepared and feasted on the food, the view was very mesmerizing, seeing the shore and a little bit of sunset.

As if visiting the Aspire Farm wasn’t enough that I went to the sunflower farm again the next day with a coworker, The truth is this coworker’s friend wanted to visit the sunflower farm and since I wasn’t able to look around, and take more photos when we visited, I went with her. We borrowed a motorcycle from our coworker with a promise that we were going to put gas in it.

Visiting for the second time, I was able to take more photos and videos which I have used in my Facebook reels. The flowers were nearing to expire or to the end of their life, but nevertheless, they were still beautiful and full of life and vibrant colors.

Since it was lunchtime when we visited, there were only a few people around.  There are other two groups who are with us on the sunflower farm, and what is funny is when my coworker and I started recording the first couple started speaking English too as if showing off that hey they can speak the language, lol. Meanwhile, we befriended the second couple who seemed to be dating, we helped each other by taking photos and even sharing them with each other. They were friendly and sweet. We didn’t stay longer, because we promised to return the motorcycle in time.

Anyway, if you would like to visit Sunflower farm always remember that visiting is best done early in the season, The peak bloom time of Sunflowers is about two or three weeks, don’t be like us who visited at the end of the season, haha.

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When it comes to flowers, there are only two things I like the most, yellow rose and sunflowers,  I don’t know, but yellow flowers attract me the most.

The other day, we were finally able to visit the sunflower haven at Aspire Farm in Mayha after so many excuses and postponements. My workmate’s friend didn’t want to go, she wanted to postpone it again until lunchtime, but I had already decided to go, so she had no choice, but to follow me whether she liked it or not, because it was her last chance to see the sunflower farm with me. For our little adventure, I borrowed my workmate’s motorbike, and even asked another workmate to transport us to the farm, but while in the parking area, this workmate can\’t maneuver the bike and it was lucky of all luck, another workmate came and I borrowed his bike and there we go.

Some of our workmates followed us, they were asking where we going and I wasn’t expecting that they would tag along. When we arrived at the farm, it wasn’t as busy as the previous days, there were only a few visitors maybe because it was still too early in the morning or because it wasn’t the peak season anymore, an old workmate who was studying Agricultural Crops Production in the farm under TESDA saw me and even teased me, why I was there when the owner (sir R), who happened to be one of our bosses at work wasn’t there.

We logged in and paid our entrance fee of P20.00 each, took a group photo, and walked down to the farm. It wasn’t my first time at the farm, having been there during Sir R’s birthday together with our bosses and workmates. The sunflower farm wasn’t that huge like the sunflower farm in San Andres, but needless to say, it is worth it to visit when you are looking for a new travel adventure and you are on a tight budget.  We took a group photo in the middle of the sunflower farm and even before I could take many sunflower photos, my workmate friend was already hurrying to go, I let her walk ahead of me and take my sweet time taking a single photo, and suddenly I heard a familiar voice, asking if it was me she is seeing and when I looked back, it was sir R’s mother “auntie”, so I immediately went to her and before I can reach her hand to ask for a blessing “mano po” she happily hugged me so I hugged backed.

We briefly talked as there wasn’t a lot of time, I was caught between my workmate rushing and me wanting to stay when suddenly some of my workmates brought a watermelon, they found a lost watermelon in the field which was already almost cut in half and soaked in the rain, they asked permission to cut and eat it, and when they were permitted, they feasted.

Left with no choice, I had to bid goodbye to “auntie” since my friend already left and before I walked away, I went back to the beautiful spot I had seen a while ago before walking towards her and wanting my picture to be taken there, I run towards my other workmates who are waiting for me, and asked one workmate to take a photo of me, so they obliged.

When we reached the farm’s hall or the entrance my workmate friend already left without us to my disbelief, she was hurrying because we didn’t ask permission to go to the Aspire Sunflower Farm. Anyway, we also left after taking another group photo with a previous workmate, If you are going to ask me how long we spend on the farm, it is around fifteen minutes, lol.

Well, it was a good thing we went early in the morning because it rained at noon time.

We have been traveling in Eastern Europe for almost three weeks already,  we went from Hungary to Slovakia and now we are in Torun, Poland.  We stayed five days in Krakow and took an 8 hour bus ride to Torun, there\’s nothing much to see in Torun aside from the old town, churches and museums.  So after visiting two museums today and walking again in the old town (as we already wandered yesterday) we called it a day and headed back to our hotel to rest, we are heading to Gdanks tomorrow.

[Krakow, Poland]

I should be blogging in my main travel blog but it was stuck in Jeju, Korea blame it to procrastinated me. (Ha-ha), anyway while looking around my facebook page I have stumbled to a link shared by a friend about a blog of  two travel buddies who are disappointed/sick with Filipino food – I Would Rather Go Hungry Than Eat Filipino Street Food Again! Not new to me, my husband is not please with Filipino food either,  I will wait until he try an authentic Filipino restaurant. Lol!

Well, I admire their courage to eat street food because I would not eat street food unless I knew the vendor or person cooking it is better to be safe than sorry. It is like you travel to India and commit stomach suicide (errr Delhi belly)  by eating street food,  I am not sure if they do proper research before heading to Philippines or even try to use a lonely planet guide on their trip, because it is quite unbelievable that they are not able to try longganisa if they went to Ilocos (as I have read in few comments) you can get these famous longganisa in the street of Vigan and they even have their famous empanada with longganisa. Even if they didn\’t go to Vigan they can find longganisa in every wet market of the Philippines, they are all hanging like a wall decor in every meat stalls. So quite interesting they are not able to get one unless they really went to convenient store to look for longganisa, you know it is like buying  a loaf a bread in a pharmacy and buying  a medicine in a bakery.

Well if they stay in a hotel/hostel they should ask the information desk where to get traditional food if their travel guide (book) doesn\’t say so or a simple question to Mr. Google is already a big help.  Asking people in the street is like asking for direction, some people knew and some people don\’t.  If they want to Filipino street food like balut they can get them in the local market, just look for egg stalls and ask for balut but of course they have to boil them themselves unless they found a street vendor walking in the street shouting \”balut! balut!\” you can find balut vendor from 5pm till midnight.

Most Filipino eat heavy breakfast, consist of fried rice, fried eggs, longganisa and tuyo (fried dried fish) or tapa. If they want to eat Filipino breakfast they should went to tapsilugan or Chowking, Greenwich and McDonalds to order tapsilog, longgilog and more (see more varieties here).

Furthermore, I have read they want to eat like locals, but sad to say they failed. Filipino foods like adobo, sinigang, kare-kare, nilaga, bulalo, sisig are mostly cooked at home and can be found in a medium scale restaurants or large restaurants. Mostly Filipinos will not eat food they can easily cooked at home, so if you went to turo-turo (point-point restaurant), you will mostly see menudo, dinuguan, afritada, bopis and taghilaw or those food that you can only eat during birthdays, wedding and feast season. If you really want to eat well prepared food be ready to spend some shackles, further more if they are really in their tight budget or trying to spend $25 a day, malls in the Philippines has food courts where they can try different foods local and not.  Eat wisely,  eating in the street of South East Asia is not like eating in the street of Europe! Saving money while traveling doesn\’t mean eating bluntly and sacrificing your health.

Originally posted on March 21, 2014 @herztravel