Take me Home, Country Road...

I'm back!!! Ü

Whew, whatta topsy-turvy year...

Hit the road, Jack

Time check: 47 hours, 21 minutes

That's how much time there is left before I get back to Manila. It's remarkable how time has a habit of getting stuck on a clock tick here in Iloilo. I'd wager that it'd switch to quarta once I step off Centennial's tarmac Thursday though. And surely, much faster than I thought it would have been, I'm back south all over again.

Anyway, matagal pa 'yun (yehey!) so let's focus on the now. Now is the time when I just got off my first out-of-town business trip (as if Iloilo wasn't out-of-townish enough). Along with my predecessor (the KC specialist I'll be relieving next year), we left yesterday afternoon for Roxas City, Capiz. The original itinerary included a northwest-ward drive along coastal roads to nearby Aklan province. That part of the trip got cancelled, however, due to some (un)official business he needed to get back to in Iloilo. So we ended up staying in Roxas overnight only and then rushing back to home base this afternoon. Err, that's the reason I'm out in the malls early. I got the rest of the afternoon off today.

I didn't think the trip was worth it though. Bad roads, bland sights. I expected Roxas City to have some sort of Presidential grandeur that ought to make it a tourist destination. False impressions! Roxas is exactly like Lubao: neither presidential nor touristic. So much for my expectations. Even my companion remarked that Roxas didn't have the pretty faces that Kalibo has.

In any case, my predecessor was telling me that he'd like to "familiarize" me with the Boracay area before he left next year. But due to our (his and mine, dealt separately) hectic skeds in january, he was urging me during the trip kanina that I fly back here early. Now, that's when I reacted, like really reacted. I felt, like, crap. Here I am whining to myself, wanting to go home badly, and he's, what? He's advising me to fly back agad??? That's the most horrible idea I've heard in years! No way. No crappy way. Ever. I think he read my face pretty well. Kasi he was chuckling all the way back to Iloilo.

I wanna go home. Somebody FedEx™ me home, please.

Exiled!

Took a yellow card and got sent off to provincial oblivion.

In less than 24 hrs, we were packed, hauled, and flown into that marvelous beach paradise of the south, Iloilo. And right after touchdown and a few short, cultural (read:shocking) experiences, our sales management careers have been officially launched.

It's actually a bitter-sweet experience for me. First time to fly. First time to go over Mother Luzon's homely boundaries. I took a window seat so I could take in the view. And since it was the first one off Manila, I made sure I got the window seat so I'd be able to see how the sun breaks from 22,000 feet. But alas, it was not to be. Despite the planning, I failed to procure the correct side of the plane, so I ended up looking at Dawn's smiling face from the other end of the aisle. Bummer.

At the moment it's been 89 hours, 18 minutes and a couple of clock ticks since we've arrived here. It's been a very busy week: familiarization with the local business culture, meeting key and non-key personnel, taking in the terrain and dealing with your homesickness-inspired depression. Now I could feel for those expats that go bonkers overseas.

Next week, I'm checking out of the hotel. By that time I'd still have four more days to go before Christmas thankfully (and temporarily) ends our deportation. To make good use of that time, my predecessor has planned to take me up north to Capiz and Aklan (sidestepping aswang-infested Antique) before backtracking down south. Admittedly, the short timeframe will not be enough for me to get a firm grasp of my (-ehem-) whole domain, so I would just have to do my own sight-seeing next year (Boracay is actually on top of the list Ü).

I'm still a little shocked I'm so far away from home. Thank goodness for short internet breaks like these. Now I know why it's those little, seemingly-insignificant things you enjoy at home that matter the most to you... it's because these are the only things you miss when you're not there.

Skinned by Kimberly, Filleted by Clark

Two days from now, it’s either in or out.

A week of grueling, reality-in-your-face training has ended and now I’ll be informed if the whole trip was worth all the trouble. From the very first call to service. The unconventional exams. Hotel interviews. The foreigner consultants. Embarrassing moments. Glorious split seconds. Our training group started on a legal holiday and ended on a Yoyong-induced one. If there ever was a bang at the finish line we would surely have missed it, harassed and pooped as we were.

For one whole week, we fussed over diversified business and training objectives. Expectations were high, so we worked doubly hard to achieve them. We logged distances that would put Mabuhay Miles out of business, no one opting to stop, each wanting to push his or her body to the point of exhaustion so that, when we finally slept at the end of the day, there would be no regrets, no nasty dreams.

But the dreams came anyway.

During boot camp, I’d even wonder if our assigned trainor was actually Sgt. Slaughter-in-disguise. My partner would've disagreed: he looked more like Col. Mustafa. But he was okay.

Reading about sales though was very different from actualizing it. Selling really really is, a very, very stressful career. And I'd usually ask myself why I never took the "stress" part of the job description more seriously. Pero at times I’d force my wandering mind back from such self-defeating thoughts and into reality. It was bleak enough.

Boot camp's over, for now. I wonder what's next?