Showing posts with label Jean Beltran. Show all posts
Updates from DXB
I haven't posted anything since I landed a job here in Dubai, I missed a lot of things and I haven't shared any of my experiences for the past weeks. June has just ended and I don't want to start July without telling you and sharing how my month went out. Here are the highlights of my stay here for the entire month.
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| Pakistani, Filipino, Egyptian, Arabic |
1. I landed a job and started training at a certain logistics company in Jebel Ali Dubai. I met a lot of people from different countries like India, Syria, Egypt and Pakistan. There many friendly ones and yet there are also other snobs and crazy ones but mostly are definitely friendly. The office is very far from where I am staying so I have to wake up early because I have to travel for an hour going to the bus station where our company bus would fetch us. From the station, it would take like 25 minutes to arrive at the office. It's kind of exhausting and sometimes I become tired with the travel time.
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| look at them! |
2. We visited the Dubai gold city at a place on Dubai named gold souq. I know gold and other kinds of jewelries are really eye alluring and all however when I arrived at gold souq, I never thought I would immediately get enough of it because the place was full of gold here and everywhere. If I could compare it to any area in Cebu or in manila I can say that it's like divisoria in manila or carbon in Cebu but instead of vegetables or any types of goods, in front of us were all but gold. White Gold, China gold, Saudi gold and every type of gold can be found there. Because of competition as well, the price there is cheaper compared to the other market areas. They have their own price per gram and I am thinking in the back of my mind that I can maybe start a business out of this. We'll see then.
3. I went out of Dubai and went to Muscat Oman. It sounds exciting and I felt really excited about going to another country but it was a total opposite because Oman for me was boring and we went there at three in the afternoon, weather was very hot and the flight made me dizzy and then made my head ache. I went there with my friend colleague named rose from Cebu as well. We only stepped on Oman for forty five minutes. We were running towards the check in area that we never had the chance to get a photo of ourselves. The country looked boring for me and I just thought that being in Dubai is a lot better than being in Oman.
June is Good to Me
The start of June and the end of May has been a productive week for me. I actually had accepted an offer from a big company here in Dubai after going through more than twenty interviews by the third week of May however, I was disappointed that they didn’t hand me my offer letter or contract even after waiting for five days for it. I was sitting and lying at home for the entire time then I decided to stop waiting and finalize things with them. The HR manager who told me he’ll process it told me that the offer letter needs verification and approval from the COO and he wasn't sure when would that be. I was thinking about my visa by that time and because I had already wasted five days, which by the way is like a whole week, I need to get a visa as soon as possible so that I won’t anymore extend my Tourist visa.
Anyways, to make the long story short, I called up that company and told finalize that I can’t anymore wait for the offer letter and because they couldn't really provide me a definite answer, I went on and asked a previous colleague to submit my resume or CV to their HR. It’s a famous logistics company here in UAE and I was glad that after the HR manager who was also a Filipino and from Dumaguete City received the CV, he immediately called me and scheduled for an interview.
Cloudless City
It has been a week since I arrived here in Dubai UAE, I recall that day when I first had a glimpse of what Dubai is, I saw blurry skies and cemented structures. Tall buildings, train stations, unified trees, neat, clean city but full of sand or dust. That day when I arrived, I asked my brother why the other end of the city is kind of blurry, said it's sandstorm. So, since that day, I would always look up the skies but I have never seen a single cloud at all yet nor a clear blue sky. And oh the starry night is always absent here as well. I miss Bohol and I am longing for that view we have at the back of our house in Guindulman. The wind there blows swiftly and the blue sky with lots of clouds doing a slow dance and then there's the green rice fields which turns light brown during summer.
In here, the sky's color is dull blue, if I look on the horizon, I see a blurry view. If there's a sandstorm, my brother said the place is full of dust and that if you go out, your nose will definitely be filled with dust.
At night, the skies don't show any stars only the moon. I believe the moon is quiet lonely there with no other company but the sky scraper buildings. I guess the reason why Dubai has a lots of shimmering things designs here like the Burj Khalifa is because they would like to see some stars across the sky at night. Though it is just an artificial star, at least they have something which represents those ones which aren't available in this country.
Manila International Airport Experience
This is a continuation to my previous post regarding my first international flight experience...
While waiting for my turn, some airport personnel were handing out the departure information sheet in which I wrote down some personal information. After thirty minutes of waiting and standing, I went nearer to the check in counter; I provided my passport, ticket and a certain travel tax receipt since I am travelling with a visit visa. I had to run over to the counter for my travel tax, paid Php 1620 and returned with the receipt in hand. The counter person immediately assisted me and provided my boarding pass and the baggage claim stub.
I rushed at once to the next counter to pay the terminal fee which was Php 550, boarding pass was the only document needed for this step. Then I went over to the travel verification counter, these guys were from the immigration office and I am considering this step as the most annoying procedure. I went to Miss Basher’s window, presented all of my documents, passport, Visa and the attested affidavit of support from my brother which was sent to me a day before my flight schedule. Miss Basher was a strict; her looks were telling me she isn’t pleased with me. While checking on the documents, she asked why the handwriting on the departure info sheet and the one on my visa are identical, at this point; she was looking at me ridiculously and asked if the visa and affidavit of support were sent to me from UAE. Of course I said yes, I received it yesterday and that my brother and my penmanship looks the same but those documents were definitely sent from the UAE. She was still skeptical and asked a couple of documents, first she want me to hand her my brother’s birth certificate which I don’t have with me (I was already sweating by this time). Since I can’t provide the document, I presented her my brother’s Overseas Employment Certificate instead but she asked for my brother’s birth date, I replied with the month and day but I forgot the year.
Bye Bye Pinas, Hello Dubai
My brother demanded I should be at the airport five hours before my flight schedule, it’s kind of early I thought but I have to follow him since he had done this and that before. However, when he demanded I should be in Manila a day before the flight, I wanted to say no but then again, since this is my first time, I just let it be and agree to his commands. And so I flew to Manila last May 7 via ZestAir, I thought I had chosen the right airline then until I was told I had to pay Php 2250 for my excess baggage. I was preparing a thousand peso for my 25 kilo baggage, and then I thought I should have gone with Cebupac since they have this better baggage deal, but anyways, I was there and I was left with no other choice so I paid the amount with a sad and heavy heart.
Due to the baggage issue plus the super hot temperature inside the tiny Tagbilaran Airport, I wasn’t able to properly bid goodbye to my family and to James, it was almost 12 when I checked in and the flight schedule was at 12:25. Well, remembering that scene I guess there was an advantage to that, it left us with no “drama” moments, I didn’t see mama cry unlike when we were sending off my two brothers last year. Then I wasn’t able to kiss James goodbye too, haha! I didn't cry too until I reached the waiting area but I composed myself and just thought of happy stuff.
ZestAir is indeed different to CebuPac in terms of service and amenities; I would prefer flying with Cebupac in the future.
Hurray To First Adsense Pay
Because I had resigned from my call center job and bored, I thought about checking my Google adsense earnings, the last time I went checking on it, I had like $90 that was January I guess of this year. I never really do SEO stuff or any optimization thing because again, this just served as my plain diary.
February Stuff : The Wants I Need
Long vacation leaves were approved for James and mine’s supposedly Surigao tour however, we need to cancel it out due to bad weather and work schedule conflict. So, I got the chance to roam around a couple of malls in the city and, unfortunately I swept some cash off and rarely, I have the guts to share what I had purchased.
I went to SM City Cebu first and went straight to Surplus store. I buy shirts here and I bought another one, it's a Pink-branded blue blouse with LOVE PINK label in the front part. It was good for Php 199 only!
Forty Five Months
If there’s one thing that never gets missed in every occasion, then that is FOOD!
And since last Wednesday, May 24, 2012, James and I celebrated our three years and nine months relationship, we took time over cooking and eating all by ourselves. This is not an anniversary celebration; this is just how we do appreciate every month of love. Though we both have works that day, we made sure we can give each other time to celebrate true love.
We had set it to be during lunch and we set for just one single recipe, Chicken adobo, my favorite. I am a loser when it comes to cooking yet a winner at eating but so glad James is on my back to get the cooking part. Teehee.
And since I can’t do the cooking, I then bought the ingredients myself and here’s how they were when mixed.
Ago-Cacay Butihen Clan First Grand Reunion - Day 2
From my former posts, I had informed you about our family's grand reunion from my mother's side and I had showed to you the presentations of each family. This post today will cater the activities during it's second day.
It was a funny sporty day for all of us because the second day was all about fun and games. In the morning, all the kids participated in there kiddie fun games leaded by Ate Ruth and Jesiel.
It was a funny sporty day for all of us because the second day was all about fun and games. In the morning, all the kids participated in there kiddie fun games leaded by Ate Ruth and Jesiel.
In the afternoon, we had sports: basketball and volleyball. It was really fun fun fun because almost all of the ladies don't know how to play volleyball. Here were some of the funny photos taken during the game which was exciting as well because instead of just two game sets we had three, this just say that there was a tight game play.
Here are just some of the hundreds of photos from our volleyball game:
Ago-Cacay Grand Reunion
Have you ever been involve in family reunions? I can say I am blessed in a way because I am a part of a clan who gives the family a great importance. I can see a glimpse of the past where our family had a reunion in Alicia, Bohol and of which our grandparents named Ago and Cacay were still both alive. My elder cousins said our last family reunion was on 1993, I was still five that time and so the only thing I can remember was that I played with the other cousins.
Time passed by, everyone have been very busy with each others lives and so we never had the chance to cater another reunion. And so, when I was in grade five, my grandpa died and in fourth year high school, my grandma died as well. Then their first born followed when I was in college.
I was surprised and at the same time happy when Ate Aida, the eldest of all the grandchildren posted our first grand reunion on facebook. And the rest was history, God had used facebook to be a medium so every family from all the parts of the Philippines and even the world may know about the awaited event.
It was also a coincidence because the venue happened to be exactly the same as my brother Steven's wedding place. The event started in the 14th of April, 2011 up to the 16th.
Time passed by, everyone have been very busy with each others lives and so we never had the chance to cater another reunion. And so, when I was in grade five, my grandpa died and in fourth year high school, my grandma died as well. Then their first born followed when I was in college.
I was surprised and at the same time happy when Ate Aida, the eldest of all the grandchildren posted our first grand reunion on facebook. And the rest was history, God had used facebook to be a medium so every family from all the parts of the Philippines and even the world may know about the awaited event.
It was also a coincidence because the venue happened to be exactly the same as my brother Steven's wedding place. The event started in the 14th of April, 2011 up to the 16th.
Beltran-Baylon Nuptials
Marriage is a ghastly public confession of a strictly private intention. ~Ian Hay
Definitely, the statement above tells us why a union of two individuals ends in wedding bells. Our eldest brother, Steven had just experienced one last April 12, 2011. I have been telling you about their wedding in my older posts. I was even more excited than them. And so that very day marked the start of their journey as husband and wife.
I will be not be telling you about how the wedding went because everyone knows how a normal Christian wedding goes, instead I will be sharing photos during the matrimony proper and as well as the reception. I'll be starting with the events before the wedding:
I will be not be telling you about how the wedding went because everyone knows how a normal Christian wedding goes, instead I will be sharing photos during the matrimony proper and as well as the reception. I'll be starting with the events before the wedding:
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| the bride's bouquet |
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| the bride's gown |
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| some of the entourage' dresses... bride's maids' and maid of honor's |
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| the groom's stuff: tuxedo, shoes and etc. |
Brand new "About ME"
If you haven't noticed, I have changed my About the author page, instead of the profile info, I created a jpeg photo, a few edits and just few words there, a general information about me and the site.
Basically, I created this blog in exchange to the previous blog which have been closed by blogger because of some issues. The posts here are all composed and created by my own and I myself had experienced. So, there could be contents that you won't like or ideas that you disagree with, just take it easy because it is simply my own way of expressing my experiences and thoughts. So just chill, if you want me to know, then comment out. Alright?
Basically, I created this blog in exchange to the previous blog which have been closed by blogger because of some issues. The posts here are all composed and created by my own and I myself had experienced. So, there could be contents that you won't like or ideas that you disagree with, just take it easy because it is simply my own way of expressing my experiences and thoughts. So just chill, if you want me to know, then comment out. Alright?
About the tag, it looks like a tag though..hehe I used Adobe Photoshop for this, I used some brushes, I mean almost 80% of the page is made of brushes, I also used the pen tool for the curves and added some effects on the texts. The font that I used here is "starry night" which I have downloaded from a free site. I also added a deco brush that marks the end of the sentence.
I was planning to change this part here even before but I didn't have the luxury of time to do so, fortunately, one morning I woke up and was encouraged to start it and here is the good thing here, I was also able to finish it the same day. Yepey!
My.SSS - online access
After one year, one month and eight days of being employed, I have come across on checking on those deductions that I has been seeing on my payslip. Striking me is SSS which stands for Social Security System. Looking at the amount, I could still remember how I was able to get my SS number. It was quite a hassle but the experience was worth it, sometimes we need to be stressed out to learn how to do this. I just had an existing issue with my account since the lady at the counter have found out that there was a problem with my middle name. On my NSO birth ceritificate, instead of Butihen, it was Butihan. The lady advised me to use the one that the certificate reflects. Up until now, I don't know what to do with it. Maybe I'll work with this problem later on. As for now, I need to create my online SSS account so I can track my contributions.
I talked to Janet, my colleague and she told me how to do it and what website to log in to. She also had given me my employer's SS number so I was good to go. I was excited though so I registered on my station, I wasn't able to wait for 6:00am and use my own computer. Since sss.gov.ph was accessible, then I went on and created it. Click here for the direct link.
So I filled all information needed. SS Number, complere name, birthday, mother's maiden name, address, contact number, email address and preferred username and in my case since I have an employer, I needed to also enter it's SS number. But say you are self-employed or voluntary or non-working spouse or maybe an overseas contract worker, then you need to provide any SBR NO. found on the RSS Receipt Form of SSS paid at least six months prior to the current data. You just need to enter the captcha code, accept terns and conditions and you are good to go. An email will be sent to you providing you with the password.
After all has been done, just log in to check your contributions. Click here for the log in page.
As for my case, I have received the confirmation email after half an hour. The password was given on the email and as soon as you sign in, you will be prompted to change the system generated password to your preferred one.
Once logged in, I clicked on the online inquiry then click the first menu and navigate to actual premiums so I can view my monthly contributions. And here is it:
As you can see at the top right, my maiden name is incorrect, hope I can have this one changed soon.
*Thanks to Janet Filosopo for helping me out.
Happy Anniversary Wave 60!
Just celebrated my first year here in Sykes Asia Inc. So happy to be working in a technical account since fluentness of the foreign language is not a necessity though it is important. I love my wavemates, I love our bond and I also love the respect we show to each other. Originally, we were 20 as a full wave, as of now, we are only nine left. Two of us were transferred to a different team but we still keep in touch through gmail or outlook.
Just to mention, if I could still remember, my wave mates were Kevin Pulvera, the first one to resign the very first night we took calls for the main reason that his customers were much more knowledgeable than him. I could not remember who were the next to resign or to go on AWOL but we had Nikolai, forgot his last name, I believe he is still studying today, we had EJ, Houer Baduel, this guy is really unique, I could not forget his line when he asked the customer "Sir, can I hold you?" instead of "Can I place you on hold, Sir?", good thing that was just when we were doing our rehearsal with a teammate and not with an actual customer. Next was Voj De Guzman, this was the sleepy head of the group, this is primarily because he was still going to school at STI in the morning and works at night, one instant where in I could not forget him was when he was documenting his call and suddenly, I just noticed there was a continuous beep by a keyboard, looking back since I was just seating beside his station, I found out he was actually sleeping. His document page was already full o letter 'A'. We also had the fashionista gal, Tina. I could not forget her star tattoos around her waist. She is sexy and the reason she resigned was because of family problems. Next was Jeansen Dianne Torre, a Boholana like me, she went on absent without leave, she was sick that time and was not able to call in for two days, she was then shy to go back to work and just let it be that way. We had Louella Jane as well, we call her Lae. She was so fond of this Korean guy named Heartbreaker, I am not sure but it sounded like that. I just love his shoes anyway, hehe. She was the one who gives us updates about the group of Sandara, the 21 girls. Next was Aya, a very outrageous lad, I believe she was the most experienced wave mate I knew. She had worked in Convergys, in a callcenter in manila and one in IT Park as well. She was also a Prodigal daughter and just like me, she was a daddy's girl. I believe she is now in Manila working as a callcenter agent still. We also had Mark from Tellecare, he was a bisexual and was a kind of a "mahangin". Well, I just let him be like that when we were seatmates and I thank him, I really learned many things about the job. We had John as well, a registered nurse from Cebu Doctors' University. He also had worked in Convergys before and he need to resign because his granny was ill and he needed to attend her. On facebook, I had found out that he was a music lover, cool side of him. We had Dyreen, Ilongga, she was so cute that you will be surprised when you ask her her age. The first time we met, I thought she was 17 or 18 but found out she was already 26 and is married. Shocking really, it looked like I am older than her. The special thing about her was that she has been into a relationship for five or seven years, I guess but ended up breaking with that guy and then got married with another guy whom she has been for seven months only. Super!! I would not forget Mercy as well, also a Boholana. She was the Miss Friendship of the group because she had earned a lot of friends on the floor. She had a great crush on this guy named Alberto and we would always tease her about him. Well, she had a bad experience though and was the reason why she had to leave the account. But, as I can see, she is happy and contented with her work today. We had Bern Angulo as well, the small but terrible licensed engineer of the team. We get along so well with this man, he has a girlfriend who is also a Boholana so we talk much about her and Bohol. He was a cool guy, he had been a top agent and was good in taking calls for me. The reason why he resigned was because of the financial side. Well, as of now, he is with Convergys already and supporting Windows 7 account.
So those were the teammates who went on their ways, so the persons left are, yours truly, Tanya Mae Pinili, Daryl Gapor, Reggy Sultan, Kyle Magallano, Malvin Kim Diaz, Evan Marie Penzon and Loreto Gaerlan. Happy Anniversary guys! Way to go... Looking forward to more years together!!!
Just to mention, if I could still remember, my wave mates were Kevin Pulvera, the first one to resign the very first night we took calls for the main reason that his customers were much more knowledgeable than him. I could not remember who were the next to resign or to go on AWOL but we had Nikolai, forgot his last name, I believe he is still studying today, we had EJ, Houer Baduel, this guy is really unique, I could not forget his line when he asked the customer "Sir, can I hold you?" instead of "Can I place you on hold, Sir?", good thing that was just when we were doing our rehearsal with a teammate and not with an actual customer. Next was Voj De Guzman, this was the sleepy head of the group, this is primarily because he was still going to school at STI in the morning and works at night, one instant where in I could not forget him was when he was documenting his call and suddenly, I just noticed there was a continuous beep by a keyboard, looking back since I was just seating beside his station, I found out he was actually sleeping. His document page was already full o letter 'A'. We also had the fashionista gal, Tina. I could not forget her star tattoos around her waist. She is sexy and the reason she resigned was because of family problems. Next was Jeansen Dianne Torre, a Boholana like me, she went on absent without leave, she was sick that time and was not able to call in for two days, she was then shy to go back to work and just let it be that way. We had Louella Jane as well, we call her Lae. She was so fond of this Korean guy named Heartbreaker, I am not sure but it sounded like that. I just love his shoes anyway, hehe. She was the one who gives us updates about the group of Sandara, the 21 girls. Next was Aya, a very outrageous lad, I believe she was the most experienced wave mate I knew. She had worked in Convergys, in a callcenter in manila and one in IT Park as well. She was also a Prodigal daughter and just like me, she was a daddy's girl. I believe she is now in Manila working as a callcenter agent still. We also had Mark from Tellecare, he was a bisexual and was a kind of a "mahangin". Well, I just let him be like that when we were seatmates and I thank him, I really learned many things about the job. We had John as well, a registered nurse from Cebu Doctors' University. He also had worked in Convergys before and he need to resign because his granny was ill and he needed to attend her. On facebook, I had found out that he was a music lover, cool side of him. We had Dyreen, Ilongga, she was so cute that you will be surprised when you ask her her age. The first time we met, I thought she was 17 or 18 but found out she was already 26 and is married. Shocking really, it looked like I am older than her. The special thing about her was that she has been into a relationship for five or seven years, I guess but ended up breaking with that guy and then got married with another guy whom she has been for seven months only. Super!! I would not forget Mercy as well, also a Boholana. She was the Miss Friendship of the group because she had earned a lot of friends on the floor. She had a great crush on this guy named Alberto and we would always tease her about him. Well, she had a bad experience though and was the reason why she had to leave the account. But, as I can see, she is happy and contented with her work today. We had Bern Angulo as well, the small but terrible licensed engineer of the team. We get along so well with this man, he has a girlfriend who is also a Boholana so we talk much about her and Bohol. He was a cool guy, he had been a top agent and was good in taking calls for me. The reason why he resigned was because of the financial side. Well, as of now, he is with Convergys already and supporting Windows 7 account.
So those were the teammates who went on their ways, so the persons left are, yours truly, Tanya Mae Pinili, Daryl Gapor, Reggy Sultan, Kyle Magallano, Malvin Kim Diaz, Evan Marie Penzon and Loreto Gaerlan. Happy Anniversary guys! Way to go... Looking forward to more years together!!!
Here is our first picture as a whole wave:
Team Building Day 2
As promised, I will be updating you with the things that we have done during the second day of our team building at El Paradiso Resort Alcoy, Cebu.
As for the second day, we started it with a good breakfast and we had fun with our games. We played "Pinoy Henyo" which was taken from the noontime show of GMA 7, Eat Bulaga. It was a funny game actually and we also played Charades which is really common to outings like this. Team Michelle won the two games, supposedly, there were prizes given but we already ate them before arriving at the resort, so we ended up swimming though. The sea was alluring but the itchy thing is still there. We went to a deeper part where the ramp was located, the boys had fun jumping over and diving to the sea. I was able to get there by swimming but most of the girls were not, as a solution, they rented the paddle boat which cost them Php 100 an hour. They were able to reached the ramp part but they did not get out of the paddle boat, instead they returned to the shallow portion. I also rode on the boat, in fact, we tried going to the much deeper part but the boat was so slow that in which I had thought it was better to swim by yourself, haha.
After the sea adventure, we also went to the pool, this time, we opted to just stay in the kiddie pool since the bigger one was like sort of dirty. Good thing though was the gentleman who maintains the pool cleaned it and also increased the water in the kiddie pool, it was like jacuzzi that time. Daryl also massaged some of us, he was good with that actually, we also exchanged conversations until it reached the topic of "waxing the private parts." Funny it seems but there are really people out there who do that. Well, going back we got out of the pool when the time was already one in the afternoon and we need to eat our lunch. As usual, our food was really good. There were fried fish, grilled beef and fish, there was calamaris, my all time favorite and also chicken curie.
Unfortunately, we were only allowed to stay up to 2:00 in the afternoon. So after lunch, we packed our things and bid goodbye. We had picture taking of course before we left. There was a funny stuff when we went out, there was a lettering at the wall of the resort, here it is:
So much about that... Well, if you want to view our team building pictures, just visit my windowslive skydrive here: http://cid-1a84b61dc951543c.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/El%20Paradiso
If you want to visit the place, here are some of their information:
EL Paradiso, Guiwang, Alcoy, 6023 Cebu Philippines
Local phone number: 032-483 9065 / 032-483 9069
Philippine Cellphone: 09082815290
International Cellphone: 00-49-15154935476
Philippine Cellphone: 09082815290
International Cellphone: 00-49-15154935476
Email: datacom24@web.de
Team Building location changed: Alcoy Everyone?
Three days before the team building, the location was changed due to some safety problems. Instead of spending it in Bantayan Island, ( :'-( huhu Bantayan ohh bantayan!) we decided to spend it in Alcoy, Cebu. The problem with Bantayan is there are rumors that the place is not safe since election is coming up and the NPAs are active right now, they said the place has been listed as a danger zone in times of election. Well, we will not be risking ourselves of course just because the place is nice.
Anyways, moving forward, we still don't know the final resort where we will be spending the two days and one night event. We were thinking in Bodos Bamboo Bar, where there are pools also aside from the beach. Here are pictures of the place:
Here are there rooms:
I heard the room rates were low, that's quite nice. And before I forget, the place is a wifi hotspot! I will be bringing with me my laptop so I can update you guys!
You can try and check this:
