#AnakNgDiyos 2018

TWENTY EIGHTEEN. HANDS DOWN. BEST YEAR EVER.

My year started off with my life-changing Z-lasik treatment at Shinagawa Ortigas, all expenses shouldered by DBP. Life has been in high definition since January, after 12 long years of wearing eyeglasses/contact lenses, with -5.25 and -4.75 refraction of my left and right eyes, respectively. Thanks to technology, I am now able to enjoy my fresh pair of eyes.

From fresh pair of eyes, to fresh air in Batanes. This year I finally decided to take on my first solo trip (yay, big girl moment!) to easily one of the most beautiful places here in the Philippines. Prior to actually arranging this trip, I was so hesitant. Is it safe? Is it something that I can pull off? How do I tell mom? Will I enjoy? Too many questions asked, answered by a single Philippine Airlines seat sale. And so I went there alone on Good Friday, feeling completely liberated.

How did I tell mom? Safe to say I needed to prepare all the trip details at hand, before casually telling her. Was it safe? It generally was, until my tour guide started sending me text messages at the end of Day 2 that threatened my safety especially as a solo girl traveler, speaking something about how his past relationship was some years ago, and that he was looking for something romantic. Creepy sh*t.

Is it something that I can pull off? Yes. Did I enjoy? Of course. Except for the creepy part, the whole experience was in fact very special. Surreal, even. Do I recommend traveling solo? Not really. Solo travel is overrated; for me, moments are best shared with friends and family. Which is exactly what I did on my trip to Bacolod with my mom in June, and to Davao (August) and Siargao (October/November) with DBP friends.

To cap off my 2018, it's kind of a big deal I spent the holidays with my parents in Europe! We traveled to 6 countries (7, if you include the Vatican) in 20 days, with a total of 23 hours of inter-country transfers by plane, bus or train, in crazy cold 13 to zero-degree Celsius weather at that. 

Highlights, among others, include: experiencing snow (for the first time!) in Chamonix-Mont Blanc (which by the way is in France but) via Switzerland, going to where my dad works, seeing the Eiffel Tower, dancing to This Is What Dreams Are Made Of inside the Roman Colosseum (read: childhood), and eating legit Belgian waffles, Swiss cheese fondue, French crepes, Dutch pancake, and Italian pizza, pasta and gelato. I even tried eating a portion of a cake with 0.4 grams of cannabis/marijuana in Amsterdam, where it is legal.

It was pretty tiring. There's just too many logistics involved, starting from the visa application (I cried when I got our visa haha) down to 36-hour roundtrip flights to and from Manila, as well as arranging the transfers and hotel accommodations. But it was all fun and worth it--imagine giving back to your parents not with material things, but with memorable experiences captured in beautiful pictures and exciting stories to tell. They hugged and thanked me during our last night and I could not be any happier. Our entire #Europe2018 trip was for the two of them after all, because they deserve the world and more.

Anything for EU. two! 

It's true at some point, I was already a little homesick and my energy is getting drained during the latter part of the trip. This has been the longest period  I've been out of the country; and the time difference with my friends in Manila is annoying my clingy self. Not to mention worrying about the unread emails and pending work on your office table when you get back. In short, I miss home.

My. Own. Home.

(Chills down my spine as I type this.)

House blessing. July 21, 2018.

We spent my birthday moving in to our new house, still in Malabon. The family had a simple dinner for the first time in this new place and it was my best birthday ever. Everything was worth the two-year wait from the time I signed up for the condo 'til the units were turned over for occupancy. (The concept of Delaying Gratification, always!) My heart is full, knowing I have put my money to good use. For the first time in 25 years, I have my own room, too! As this is my first house, I've been hands-on with the design, which I wanted to have a simple, minimalist look and light color scheme. Everything was exactly how I imagined it to be, and it has since been my comfortable, safe haven. I can't wait 'til my dad sets foot here, as well as my eldest sister who is now based in Australia.

Sometimes, though, I feel like a bedspacer in my own home -- waking up at five o'clock in the morning to prepare for work, driving 1-2 hours per way to and from the office, arriving between 9-10pm the earliest. This year also marks my first full year in my new work assignment, still with DBP, doing the same job, but under a different department (Middle Market) following the bankwide reorganization. The culture in the Head Office is waaaaay different than in the branches, where I used to be. The workload is waaaay more challenging and more fast-paced. Imagine going to Credit Committee presentations every month? Not to mention the adjustments you need to make considering the new setup, new bosses, new colleagues, and generally new working environment.

DBP Middle Market Department 2018

To this day I think I will never get used to this job, because different things happen everyday. You will be faced with unreasonable deadlines, rush accounts, complaining clients, denied loan approvals, stricter new policies, and so on. I would not have survived all these changes without the help and support of my mentors, both old and new. Hopefully my friends would agree that this transfer contributed a lot to my personal and career growth. You see, in my previous assignment, I was the youngest Account Officer (the baby AO so to speak) and things get handed to me sometimes. But now, I have to work extra hard handling more accounts than I handled in the RMC combined for 2.5 years. In short, I need to take my job more seriously this time, but still with a happy, playful disposition. Haha, I no longer break down everytime I have loan release, so that's kind of a good sign.

My transfer to Makati is an important coincidence for when I decided to finally pursue further studies as if my job in the bank is not stressful enough. I am currently on my first year as a part-time MBA student at the UP BGC campus. I know, I make crazy decisions, sometimes! Many pushed and supported me. Some people discouraged me. Do you really need to do this? And I'm like, why not. 

UP BGC MBA (Evening) Batch 2018 aka BMBE

This won't be easy, but I claim it will be worth it for sure. So far I am enjoying the experience and I love learning each day. Plus it's the most productive way of escaping rush hour traffic! What I like the most about this whole MBA thing is the new network of friends from literally wide range of industries like banking, engineering, consumer goods, real estate, pharmaceuticals, airlines, among others. We still have two more years to go, but I'm excited to finish this strong with the best MBA batch ever.  

Seriously, what a year.

It's hard to recall major setbacks this year when you are blessed with so many other things - except maybe for some "ano ba kasing buhay 'tong pinasok ko" mental breakdowns here and there, especially when work or school (or both at the same time, haha) become unreasonably stressful. Either it is the lasik treatment that made my outlook in life so much clearer and more positive, or this is peak maturity serving me well.

You can tell my life is completely different than it was last year: I'm not just a full-time DBP Account Officer, I'm also a part-time student, enjoying 20/16 vision, working in a new office, living in my own home. All of these I consider as my biggest blessings in 2018, truly #AnakNgDiyos.

This hashtag kept me going for the year. My daily alarm clock is labeled the same. It usually refers to things that happened which worked in my favor. I made a mistake of booking a 2D1N flight to Siargao, for example. But thanks to PAL's schedule change, I was able to rebook to a 4D3N stay for free. Or when it was raining so hard in Manila the entire time I was in Bacolod. Or when finding a parking slot in a mall is difficult, but then someone will leave just in time for me to take his/her slot. They're probably just coincidences, but it is in appreciating these little things that I recognize God is in the works in my life. 

You know what they say "when it rains, it pours"? Well, blessings poured so heavily this year I'm actually afraid everything will fall apart in 2019. Mostly I feel as if I don't deserve them, even when other people tell me otherwise. Not everyone is blessed to have his or her life figured out at 25 years old (I probably haven't at this point, I don't know), but I believe I am in the right direction. Thanks as well to my family and a few good old friends and new ones, for keeping me grounded.

It's going to be very difficult to top this year for sure, so 2019 has big shoes to fill. But like I always do and always will, I look forward to God's surprises and grace for me, year after year.

Overwhelmed and with a grateful heart,

KRTRT <3