Mickie Goes

Category: Mickie Goes Places

Working in Baguio

September 18th, 2023

While this is an adventure, I’m actually here to work. I need to on board our new associates. So after getting settled, I was ready to dig in!

I got into Baguio Tuesday afternoon, and they weren’t expecting me in the office until Wednesday. But after taking a nap, I was ready to find out what this was all about and decided to just pop into the office and see what’s up.

I guess I should mention that I, and the team I’ll be training, will be working North American hours. Baguio is 12 hours ahead so I will be working 9:00 PM – 6:00 AM. Which is why I was ready to head to work after getting in at 3:30 in the afternoon. I should also mention MRI isn’t actually licensed in the Philippines yet, so we’re contracting with a company called ThoughtFocus to get us up and running.

There’s two ThoughtFocus offices in Baguio and on my first day, I showed up at the wrong one. Of course. Here’s the story:

Like I said they weren’t expecting me, but I just thought I’d pop in for an hour or two then go crash at the hotel. I went down to the lobby and who do I see but my driver from earlier, just hanging out. At first I thought he was just available for the hotel guest, but it turns out he was waiting for me. He asked me if I was busy and I told him I was going to work, but he wanted to introduce me to his daughter who was also just hanging out in the lobby with her son. He tells me she runs a Virtual Assistance company and wants to work for me!

I’m like, ‘I have no control over that, we’re working with ThoughtFocus’ so he offers to drive me over there anyway. Creepy, no? (told you he did not have a happy ending).

Of course, it’s the wrong office. And they were not expecting me at either office until tomorrow so at this point they just assume I’m a moron and not only call a cab but put someone else in the cab with me to make sure I get to where I need to be.

Nice first impression, no?

ANYWAY —-

The office I’ll be working from is actually just down the street from my hotel. It’s about a three minute walk once I knew where I was going

This is the building I’ll be working (and eventually be reporting) from

The floor looks surprising similar

Solon? Is that you?

And just like everything else here, it’s the same, but different

Someone messed up and gave me the corner suite. I ain’t gonna complain

Don’t you dare ever confuse me with an Executive

But the view’s not so bad either

They welcomed me with lunch. And while I’m extremely appreciative and not one to judge, especially since I’m the outsider, I’m not sure I’m down for chicken gizzards at 2:00 am

We’ll work up to it! Everyone here is so welcoming and kind, I’m already excited to be working with them!
Getting to Baguio

September 17th, 2023

August 21, 2023

20 hours – Cleveland – NYC – Seoul – Manila

I left on Sunday morning at 6:00 am. I landed in Manila at 10:30 Monday night. I don’t know when Sunday turned into Monday.

TBH, the entire experience was overwhelming. The NYC to Seoul was 15 hours (I think?). All I know is when you fly Korea Air, even the safety videos are in K-POP

From Seoul, I flew into Manila and got in at 10:30 Monday night. I have no concept of when Sunday became Monday. I essentially lost two days, it was very disconcerting.

Everything online said you had to fill out a health form and get a QR code three days before arriving. (They’ve been really strict in the Philippines about COVID.) I had been trying to fill it out, but had been unable to log into the website and just figured ‘well, I’ll deal with it when I get there’, but it made me anxious the entire flight. Turns out, no one cared! Waved me right through customs – I had been worried about nothing! Next, I changed my money and $300 turned into P18,000 Philippine pesos. Felt like I was living like a housewife, lol

MRI had arranged for me to spend the night in Manila before the final leg to Baguio. The next morning, my driver was picking me up at 10:00, but I thought I’d check out the local sites a little before I headed up the mountain, and start to get a flavor of the culture I’d be spending the next three months in.

I found:

McDonald’s

7 Eleven

and Starbucks

At the Starbucks, I did discover this ‘coffee jelly’. Its like little coffee jello shots at the bottom of your frap. Not a fan

The Starbucks menu looked familiar but then I decided to get weird

Just because you can put a drink in jello doesn’t mean you can put jello in a drink

There were a lot of random kittens roaming around but the Passport Health place where I got my shots warned me against interacting with animals – if I got bit or scratched I’d have to go home right away. I guess they don’t have rabies treatment here? So anyway – hi kitties, don’t come near me!

Who knew doom would look so cute?

The Manila Hilton is the best Hilton I’ve ever stayed at. It had a dog park with an amazing message

We could all stand to just pause once in a while

And a pool with a swim up bar that opened at 10:00 am. I need to get back here

Every Hilton should take note. In fact, every hotel should just have a swim up bar that opens at 10:00 am

But alas my driver also showed up at 10:00 am so I didn’t have time to check it out.

Leaving Manila looked at lot like when you leave Manhattan and head to JFK. In fact, I wondered if those lost two days had just been a fever dream spent in Terminal 5

But then we got out of the city and headed north. We could have been driving through Ohio and Indiana for all the farms we passed. The same except different

Rice paddies

Mangoes and bananas

Sugar cane. They have to burn the fields before they harvest them to drive out the snakes

Random cows along the way. I had my driver yelling Moo! at them. He had no idea why

Halfway around the world and there’s still the equivalent of orange barrels screwing up traffic

My first glimpse of what is eventually going to be my home for the next three months

We drive along the highway for about 2 1/2 hours, then exited at a rest stop. I paid 20 pesos to pee

20 pesos also got me a roll of toilet paper that I had to return when I exited the stall

Let me just pause here to comment on the bidet situation. For 20 pesos I got toilet paper AND a bidet. The airports had bidets. The plane had bidets. America, you need to step up your bidet game

Definitely not the worst rest stop I’ve been to

After we left the highway we headed up the mountain. Three hours and sometimes it got a little scary. I’m never going to complain about the drive through PA again.

Along the way, there were shops and stands beside the road, carved into and sometimes just hanging off the side of the mountain

We’re definitely in the clouds at this point

Then it starts raining. Little did I know this would be my life

Now we’re above buildings

We passed a bunch of furniture stands along the way. I asked my driver about it and he said it’s from them cutting down the mahogany trees to expand the roads. The locals use the wood to make beautiful furniture. It’s super cheap to purchase here but expensive to ship home

Oh by the way, here’s my driver that got me to Baguio safe and sound

Don’t fall in love with him – it doesn’t end well

By 3:30, we arrived. The LeFern Hotel – home sweet home for the next two weeks (before I transfer to my final landing place)
Mickie Goes to Baguio

September 2nd, 2023

So I’ve found my self in the city of Baguio, which is in the Cordillera mountains, in the province of Benguet, in the country of the Philippines. I know, crazy right?

I got here August 21, 2023 and I’ll be here until November 1, 2023. My company, MRI Software, is expanding its footprint into the Asian/Pacific (APAC) region, and for some unknown reason, they though it would be a good idea to include me in on the project.

I’ve been sharing my experience with friends and family via text, but the wifi connections get dicey sometimes, and I’ve found myself copying and pasting the same message in several chats, so I thought this could be a good place to just share my experience for anyone who’s interested (even if it just my one-eyed cat Louie).