The Jollibee-Like Hamburgers In Dream Inn Hotel and Restaurant

Not so long ago, I have come to realize that there are three variants of managers in my workplace: those who like to spend time mostly at home, those who hardly stay at home and those who cannot be classified as both.

I am more of the latter.

Having Fun Writing In One's Own Language

The opportunity to write using one's own language  decreases as one finds himself happily embracing a foreign language in the bosom of a foreign land.

I've started living in Port Moresby in 2011 and have not since written much anything with Tagalog except for the numerous simple words that I've typed in chatboxes when communicating with my friends and relatives.

With simpleness, I mean that it's something that anyone who's familiar with it can fairly understand although the composition of the words being used is of a literal "text-mode" form. 

Hypothetical conversation that involves common "text-mode" lexicon:

Kuya Jun: "oist!"

Me: "y kua!"

Kuya Jun: "Heypi bday!"

Me: "tnx. gift q!"

Drawing Sue Ramirez With Faber-Castell Classic Colour Pencil

In Papua New Guinea, an expat may find himself contemplating at some point in time about how his life closely resembles the saga of our solar system wherein the Earth is revolving around our sun in a circumscribed manner in which the strong gravitational pull of the sun keeps the earth from being swept away of its orbit. Let loose a bit and the Earth will find itself taking a path to uncertainty while infinitely sailing through the darkness of the ever expanding universe. Like a planet, depending on how one should put it, the life of an expat might take a spin only within the collective encasement of three familiar entities: the house, the office, and the shops.

A Barbecue Party In Port Moresby

The last few weeks in Port Moresby have been, as what most responsible media would call, intense. There has been a few standoffs between the authorities and students of UPNG. Like any other democratic country, it is a common knowledge that every once in a while, incongruity between the citizen and the government can become temporarily highlighted. As an armchair observer with no specializing degree in political science, I find myself to be fundamentally unfit to comment on such a delicate matter and it is best left to those who really breeze through the complexities of politics. 

However, my views stand still that in general, Papua Guinea is a peace-loving country.

But having preceded this post with such substance, I’m now having a hard time finding the right words to swiftly transition my ideas from the intricacies of governance into the joy of cooking barbecue in a Barbecue Party.  I guess it’s easier to begin with finding out what’s on the menu today? 

Filipino Foods You Can Cook In Papua New Guinea

A very little concern that most Filipinos have in mind when moving from Philippines to another country is food. Some will find it daunting to try foreign foods during the first day of stay while others take it as an exciting feat. 

I, myself, is a fan of eating unfamiliar recipes. It's nice to try them every once in a while. Initially, I was pondering on the thought that If I ever came here, I would have to say goodbye to Filipino foods. That was swiftly proven otherwise after making a few trips to various shops around here. Although what's readily available here were not as much as a neighborhood sari-sari store has, what one needs to have is just a wee bit of resourcefulness to come up with something close to pinoy recipes.

Rain In Port Moresby

Before my journey in Papua New Guinea has even begun, I had already looked its geographical location up on a globe as part of self-mind conditioning approach to leaving home for another country. It is located in an area just below the equator at around half the longitudinal line. 

Google says its exact coordinates are 6.1360° S, 143.9555° E.

If you take a ruler and measure out the distance between Port Moresby and the Equator, and use the same measurement to outline the space between the Equator and the Philippines, you will end up in areas around the Northern Mindanao. As a child, I have lived a couple of years in Cagayan De Oro. At around May to July, that place will receive a lot of rain throughout those times.

Life Goes On At POM

 “And when darkness dawns upon us all, fear not and stand tall, because only in darkness that light may appear bright and noticeable.” Said I.

And while I was composing this, I hastily asked my staff these through the LAN Messenger, “Dispela tupela kakaruk na rais, em hamas?” 

(Translation: This two-piece chicken and rice, how much?)

Faber Castell 48 Classic Colour Pencils + 2B Pencil & Sharpener

When I was three decades younger, I used to fill the backmost pages of my notebooks with sketches of just about anything I could draw.  I usually sketch in school and mostly during classes.  I know it wasn’t a good idea to begin with, but if you had a last name that began in letter "V" you'd end up being asked to sit at the back along with other children whose surnames started with y, u or z. Far from the teachers prying eyes, it was not long until I found myself filling up my notebooks with crayon sketches.

Fast forward to today’s era,  I notice a big leap in the development of art tools. Back then, I was fine with crayons and watercolors and they were an indispensable kiddie art tools. Now, we have oil-based and wax-based color pencils which can really color drawings more vividly and lively.

Papua New Guinea Trivia #1

Did you know that Cuscus is commonly found in Papua New Guinea?

Cuscus is a cute animal resembling that of either a monkey-like or possum in appearance. They vary in color but the most common I see in Port Moresby has a mixture of white, brown and orange fur. It is a marsupial and is a sub specie of possum but is considered distantly related to other species such as koalas, kangaroos and squirrels.

Saying Goodbyes

In every three years or so, the managers being in this company will either grow or shrink in numbers. While it has not evolved into a consistent trend yet, I believe that this phenomenal marvel will stay as an observable matter for a few years to come.

To offer a simple explanation as to why such a thing happens uncontrollably, I have devised a list from my lightly expressed yet debatable opinions under the guise of deliberately euphemised statements on a descending scale as follows:

Interesting Places around Port Moresby

Whenever I’m driving, my focus is only about three things: the road, the car that I’m driving and the people who may try a sprint across the road.  The places I pass by have less of my attention. Both eloquent and meaningless conversation carried out by passengers in the car are deliberately ignored, regardless. A passenger told me once that with my traits, I can be a locomotive driver. Seems to me like I have reached a milestone with my career in driving until a close friend of mine had said, “Hey, a train driver is usually alone in a driver’s compartment.”

Hi! My name is Glen Villar.

Foods to Eat at POM

What can be a more rhythmic question than asking what is there to eat? It’s possible that while there may be a lot of people like me who don’t bother much about coming up with this question in mind, our kind has only a miniscule part of the entirety to which all human beings are represented.

A little vague, isn’t it? Generally, my thoughts can become aimless and without sense when I’m hungry. As such, I notice that my grammar becomes a bit weird and my statements hold a tendency to digress from my main point.

But going back to my topic, if you have somehow, wondered about the foods we eat here in Port Moresby, here is a photo-list that I prepared for everyone.  I did my best and tried to remember each occurrence in its chronological order as possible.