I am posting this because March is fast forthcoming and that basically means, it's almost the end of my current team and I am definitely gonna miss this part. What I am blabbing about is our Friday Night Shirt theme with my colleagues and team mates in the current account. On the next month, we don't know where and what team are we gonna end up with so as early as now, I want to show that this had made my work more amusing - the people, environment and the fun support. Change in this type of work is very inevitable, all we have to do is to accept and keep on moving on to life. Anyway, almost three years on this technical account has made my time on the call center planet a pleasing journey indeed.

My family and I had spent February 14 at Canawa Spring which I had already blogged previously. Today, I wanna share our second destination which was the Quinale Beach Bar. The bar is located in the heart of Anda in Bohol, this is a public beach resort mainly developed by the local municipality so there's zero entrance fee. You'll pay for the cottage but if you take an order at their bar, the cottage is for free.

When we reach the resort, I remembered my secondary years when we had one of our events held in this specific place. I recalled that the area where the resort is sitting now was actually a grassy one. My father told me that the current mayor had personally planned the development of the beach which I must say was really a great success. 

We bought our own food, no corkage fee at all yet we ordered a few drinks, french fries and their Tropical Platter. They have a wide range of menu from fruit shakes to sandwiches to wines and hard drinks. There were a lot of foreigners swimming in the beach, the numbers increased when the night came. And since it was the hearts day, the resort rented a band which had serenaded the couples and lovers who were staying in the resort.

My niece turned two last February 10 yet we postponed her celebration because her daddy's arrival was on the 11th. So last Sunday, February 12, 2012 at three o'clock in the afternoon, the kids party had begun. Compared before, there were more children this time. Aiesha's a year older now, she had enjoyed her day specially the cake eating time.

Remembering last year, we invited Jollibee along, this time we decided not to invite any mascots anymore instead, we just let the prepared games rule the party. The children seemed to have enjoyed it as well as the guardians.

Here are the photos during the party:

 When we went home last weekend for my niece Aiesha's 2nd birthday, James and I decided to go home via Tubigon since we ran out of promo tickets. Thinking we could save more if we go via Tubigon. So again, we rode the Starcraft 10:30am schedule. The vessel had a hard time docking on Tubigon port due to the heavy waves, almost twelve noon. We reached Tagbilaran past one and we were dead hungry.

Our taste buds looked for something we can't find in Cebu so we ended up going to the nearest one, Jojie's Painitang Bol-anon. I had been there before but I ordered their native delicacies like Cassava Cake, Biko, Puto, Sapin-sapin and more. This time, James and I ordered their breakfast meals. 

Spanish Sardines for him at Php 50 and Kosahos Baboy for me at Php 70. I was disappointed  because of the serving. I was really not satisfied, I guess it was just one small slice piece which I guess didn't reach my throat at all and worse it was very salty. James on the other hand was satisfied with his order. Said his order was "sulit" with the three pieces of sardines. His favorite Spanish sardines was from a small local "carenderia" near their former workplace in Escario, Cebu good for Php 35 per piece.

From Calin-Ay Falls, we went straight to Oslob's Cuartel, actually we ate lunch at a local restaurant/carenderia in the said town's market place. We all loved the viand they call halang-halang, it was a mixture of some noodles with meat.

After lunch, we headed to the town's famous landmark called Cuartel. I bet I had already blogged about it before. To read story, click here. Let me just share a brief history about the place:

The Cuartel was renovated a few years ago and ever since, it has started to attract travelers as well. The nice thing about this is it is just facing the open sea, there's a beautiful sight at night as per the residents. The place has a huge ground as well which is perfect for picnics. Aside from the beautiful sight, you don't have to worried about the heat of the sun during picnics, there are large trees on the area which gives shade to visitors. The area is airy as well since it is near the shore lines. 

Right after the group swam with the friendly whale sharks in Tan-awan, Oslob, [click here to read story] we headed to this not-too-famous natural falls in the said town.

From Tan-awan, we rode another ceres bus to Barangay Saging where we had drove on some motorcycles, locally known as habal-habal. It was a 5 minute drive from the national highway up to the mountainous place called "Calin-ay".

It was a breather reaching that area, away from the pollution from bus smoke and away from the tall buildings in the city. We had to walk a bit to reach the falls, it was indeed beautiful . There was zero entrance fee, it was just one of the few falls I had ever visited.

What was good about the Calin-ay Falls is that the water was distributed through the whole rock wall. It had created some hollow corners which makes shelter. The water was pretty falling from the above portion, it was a nice feeling yet if you would stay any longer, it would hurt you. I felt like I was having a massage though. Check this video we took:

Let me start this post by asking, how would you feel if you would see face to face a live whale shark?

I am very excited to share my new life adventure; I bet you have heard about the friendly whale sharks in Cebu. There had been news over the internet and on TV about these live creatures. It is really a great experience to personally see them swim with you.

The whale sharks, Butandings (Tagalog term) or Tuki as locally known are plankton eating mammals. There are whale sharks in some part of the Philippines and luckily, we have at most 14 in Oslob, Cebu. I had wanted to see them up close since last year. We originally planned to go there last January 22 yet because of some circumstances we moved it last February 5. Since I had just celebrated my 24th birthday last January 31, this was a wonderful gift. 

We left Cebu at three in the morning and reached Tan-awan, Oslob at five. There were a lot of people in the vicinity already; talks were it has been two days that the Butandings were not seen in the area so most of us were worried if we could actually see one. Everyone jumped for joy when a fisherman reported that they had seen one.

photo from Facebook

SM Cebu is in the currently closing their business as of this writing because of the earthquake which occurred a few minutes ago.

James and I were both merrily eating our french fries and chocolate sundae at Jollibee when we noticed the sudden shake from where we were seated. I looked up the glass windows and saw the outside car reflection, it was shaking terribly. I didn't feel any fear at all, thinking it was just a normal shake but the people outside the fast food were already running towards the exit doors. Actually, there were some who had used the entrance doors as well.

The earthquake lasted for I guess almost two minutes. When we were on our way outside the mall, there's a woman who was shouting for her life. Hundreds of customers and employees were already outside, texting and calling their loved ones. It made me send a "kumusta" message to my family in Bohol and friends in Cebu. James on the other hand, sent a message to her mom in Oslob and she replied they are all okay there.

It was not so long ago when I had shared my experienced at the World's Largest Floating Book Fair, the Logos Hope. The truth is, before James and I visited the huge ship, we were at Plaza Independencia taking some photos of the area. That was our first time together at the vicinity though we had been passing by it whenever we need to go to the port area. I was amazed because the area is quiet clean now and there were guards roaming around, blowing their whistles whenever somebody steps on the green Bermuda grasses.

There are a lot of changes I should say after the great renovation made a year ago, I can't really remember when the renovation had started and ended. All I know is, this place has a new look, a new face. More beautiful and more accommodating. Cleaner and greener. The area has been a place for events and gatherings as well, in fact, last year's Mass Wedding was held in there.

Memorable - I considered my 24th birthday as a memorable one aside from it being special because of the people who had made me very happy that day. First off, I am grateful for those who had greeted me before until the end of that beautiful day. I turned 24 last January 31, 2012. To my parents and brothers who sent me some messages and greetings, to my Manoy Steven who called straight from UAE just to ask me how old I am, he was really silly! To James, who had cooked me my favorite Adobo, aside from that, he treated me to Greenich, for my favorite pizza, pasta and lasagna. Thank you is not enough to thank him with the efforts.

Next are my colleagues and friends at work. They had made a super touching thing the night of my birthday. See, they bought me an Angelica chocolate cake. Though I was not able to blow the candle because we were at work and we were afraid the smoke detector might alarm the people inside the vicinity, I was still very happy because of the great surprise. Aside from that, they had agreed to wear red that night as a sign of my birthday! It was a coincidence that I brought with me my red jacket too! Woah! Here are the photos from the event: