Subtle Subic

Subic Bay was my introduction to the Philippines. On reflection starting here gave me time to adjust. This was an introduction to the Philippine office environment, and a snapshot into what it is like to be living in the Philippines. By day I was busy into the depths of completing our Australian engagements. Only I was now doing this so from the office with my colleagues physically in the room. Finally I could just walk over and ask for their assistance and tell them the underlying background stories of clients as they called. It was an underrated joy to not have to wait for a weekly "Teams meeting". To see how they even had a food truck arrive daily at the office as an option for staff to purchase lunch as opposed to walking out to get food was interesting. In Australia we'd only associate food trucks with construction sites but to staff here this was their normal. The office was just a bit away from other places and I could see how in wet season this would mean staying dry, or in the hot dry season (as it was) staying out of the heat. 

In my time there we also had the opportunity to visit 2 other offices. The offices were hives of activity. All with different teams and functions. The theme of what is valuable in a Philippine office shine out. You must have large breakout areas, and it's preferred to have a pool table, and musical instruments.

By night we would meet with the key people of the office over dinner, and then also experience the activities the office manager. He was doing plenty to keep engagement with multitude of young professional staff, and to entertain the office visitors. These activities provided good opportunities to join faces and names beyond my regular team interactions. Amazing to see just how basketball could bring the staff together. However I admit my return to the court was short lived. I only lasted 10 minutes before a strained muscle had me signalling for a permanent substitution. Fortunately I had not been introduced as an international sporting star before stepping on court. My lack of game went unnoticed.

Subic Bay was also small enough and a safe place for me to experiment with catching a Jeepney. And well the Jeepneys here were as I found to be some of the most traditional looking in the country. Outside of rush hour there was less stress to just hop on into the back, ducking the head, and then shuffling up toward the driver on the seat to hand over the pesos for the fare. I didn't even feel pressure to try explain how far i was going. All I knew was this yellow one was going from one mall up to the bigger mall and the other way too. Enough for me. All I did was jump off when I saw others doing the same near to where I was going. I took the photos, and ticked the box, "on things to do in the Philippines".