TRAVEL JP: DAY 1

So who's excited? Raise your hand (yipee!)

So our call time is 6 in the morning. Arrived hour before at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport with my mum, dad and the love of my life. All the participants were group based on the area were they gonna stay in different prefecture of JP. Me and my other classmates were luckily part of one group, the GROUP E Chiba, Japan wearing pink as our team color.

In our pre-departure orientation at PIA Office, each of us were assigned to pick a partner that will be our buddy in our entire journey. So meet mine, Kimson Albert Valdez my classmate. My pretty buddy, love you always muche!

Okay. The #SelfieQueen'sSelfieOnAPlane :D

Departure time: 9:00am, Manila Philippines

Fading in, fading out on the edge of paradise.

Lunch :)

Touchdown JP :) #TEAMPINK

Arrived past 3 in the afternoon at the Narita International Airport. The cold outside was not a joke. #JapanFeels

Almost an hour trip to our second stop. Hotel Emion, our home for 5 consecutive days.

Merikurisumasu! Greetings from the huge christmas tree on our hotel ground.

Meet my roomates. #FirstDinnerInJP

That's all for today :) Perfect view from our room's balcony. Oyasuminasai JP 

TRAVELJP: The Start of the Beginning

This is it! My first blog about my nine-days-well-spent in Japan. Konichiwa! So before I start, I just wanna share my experience on how blessed I was to be part of the program. And also, I'll give you guys some background about the JENESYS 2.0 Mass Media 7th Batch.

Japan -East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths (JENESYS) is a program planned to promote potential interests towards Japan within the young generation. It is a project advanced by Japanese Government and was announced by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to increase visitors to Japan as well as to facilitate global understanding on Japanese values and daily living.

JICE (Japan International Cooperation Center) was the one in charge in conducting the programme and of course, with the cooperation of other Japanese governments. With their motto "Share knowledge and experience. For our world, for the future", links "Japan's technology, knowledge and experience". You can also visit their page http://sv2.jice.org/jenesys/e/ for more information and for you guys to catch up their other events.

Let the story telling begin. :)

Me and my JENESYS story can be compared to the quotation " If you love somebody (something), let them go. If they return, they were always yours". Cheezy right? Laughs. But I can prove that its true. Last April 2014, I heard from my theater director that the first batch of Jenesys will be held. So I tried the fastest way to complete all the requirements like passports, letters, certificates and others. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to make it on the deadline because of my passport schedule. I feel so disappointed on that time. I cried. Honestly. It feels like, mygad! I just let the opportunity wave in front of me without grabbing it. Still, I continued processing my passport. Hoping that someday, I can use it.

September 2014. AGAIN. I heard a news from my classmates that some of them were qualified to be part of the next batch of Jenesys. And I was like, where the hell on earth am I when the registration was still open? How come I was not inform? Actually I am, but the deadline was over. I cried. AGAIN. Told myself that maybe, I was not meant to be part of it.  Let go. Let it go.

I wish I wish *insert magical sound effects here* TADA!!! The next batch of JENESYS FOR REAL! Because it became mainstream in our room and in our college, all of the broadcasting student were inform about the opening of Jenesys 2.0 Mass Media Programme. And because all of my papers and materials were all set, it was just a click away to Japan. *HOPING AND PRAYING* Week  after, I received an email saying that i have qualified the pre-screening and will proceed to the interview. My heart jumped like I won in a lotto game. So I did my best in the interview. Blessed by the Almighty God, I became part of JENESYS 2.0 Mass Media Program Batch 7. Here's the thing. If you really love something, you can let it go. And if it was destined to you, It will come back to find you. 

Thank you for reading my first story telling on my TRAVELJP. I will post my Day 1 to Day 9 adventure next time so please stay connected :)

#TRAVELJP:TheStartOfTheBeginning

#WHENINJAPAN

Page 1 of 365 Volume 2015

        

                First day, first month, first blog. Hi there everyone. Happy new year! How's your day guys? Hope that you've spent the day well and make the most out of it. Cause I did! :) So far, this is the not-so-boring-new-year to me. Even though fireworks and firecrackers are not as many as last year, the dark sky was filled with colorful lights saying that the raindrops will never affect the nights celebration (cause its raining in our place).

                 My family and I went to church past seven and then get busy in the next hours in cooking and preparing stuffs. Then 12 midnight came. The 2014 in the calendar on my phone is now 2015. The time in my homescreen is now 00:00 with the date 01-01-15. HAPPY NEW YEAR! In 5 months from now, I'll be one of the graduates of PUP and I'll be turning twenteen. My golly, good thing I'm still sixteen-looking. Haha. Four months from now, me and my behalf will be celebrating our 2nd year! (Cheers!)

After eating (burp) I checked my facebook account and then greetings are everywhere. Past 1am, I'm getting ready to sleep but then a guy came into our room asking "tulog ka na?" And I was like, "why are you here? .... so early?" Haha. Because I'm expecting him but not as early as 1am. I thought he'll came past 8 in the morning of January 1. These are on of the nights that will never die. <3.

            We ate a lot, we talked a lot, we laugh a lot. I cleaned his face with eskinol (that I used to do to him). We take a look on our "remembrance thingy", remembering the dates, the places and what we really did. Its a fun thing! We slept together, sharing pillows, blankets, hugs and kisses. What a lovely 2015 to start with. :)

          I really enjoyed writing the first page of my 2015. Spending time with my family and loved one, laughing on one joke, singing with one song, dancing in one music, breathing in one air. Hoping and praying that I can overcome whatever bullshits and hardshits that this year will bring. :) Happy 1st day of 2015 loves!

    Come one let's sing! These are the days we won't regret. These are the days we won't forget. These are the days we've been waiting for. On days like these who could ask for more? xoxo

Konichiwa Japan!

Photo Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/visitjapan2010

By January 2015, I'll be posting my experiences in visiting Japan, made possible by Japan International Cooperation Center (JICE) through their program, Jenesys 2.0 Mass Media Program. Watashi wa totemo kōfun shite imasu :D

Qualcomm and Hapinoy Team up for the Female Entrepreneurs in the Philippines

 Qualcomm Incorporated, through its Qualcomm® Wireless Reach™ initiative, formed a partneship Hapinoy, a Filipino-based social enterprise that has developed programs for small, neighborhood  retail  stores in the Philippines, run by women microentrepreneurs from their homes. Quite often these microentrepreneurs mothers – or Nanays – who engage in this microbusiness in order to generate additional income and provide financial services to their communities.

MANTOSH MALHOTRA

Senior Director, Business Development Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

Through the collaboration, micro-business owners are supplied with mobile literacy training, access to capital via microfinance institutions (MFIs), and technology through mobile money operators and technology developers.

 Around the globe, 2.5 billion people lack access to financial services such as banks and credit cards, making it difficult for them to make payments and transfer money1. The Hapinoy Mobile Money Hub project supports micro-entrepreneurs who own and operate mostly home-based stores, known as sari-sari stores. Since its inception, 3,000 of these store owners in the Philippines, mostly mothers have been trained by this program.

The Hapinoy project began with a focus on educating these micro-business owners on how they can  use mobile technology to expand their business. Collaborating with Qualcomm Wireless Reach, Smart, MasterCard and Grameen Foundation, Hapinoy sari-sari owners are able to use dual-sim smart phones powered by Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 200 processors to access mobile financial services such as mobile money, remittances, and bill and loan payments.

            Hapinoy with its Co-Founder and President , Mark Ruiz  strated this enterprise earlier in 2007 with the vision of sustainably uplifting the lives of those at the base of the pyramid by empowering Nanays to become more effective micro-entrepreneurs, with the goal of eventually harnessing the store network to provide communities access to high impact products. Since inception, the program has trained and partnered with 3,000 amazing Nanay micro-entrepreneurs.

In 2013, the Hapinoy Mobile Money Hub project introduced mobile financial literacy to Hapinoy storeowners. The mobile literacy program helped entrepreneurs view a mobile phone as more than a communication tool – they now understand the business value in owning a smartphone and acquiring a mobile wallet. For these communities, this advanced wireless solution not only increases traffic and revenue for the sari-sari stores, but it also contributes to community growth and allows these Mobile Money Hubs to serve as potential branches for banks, MFIs and other remittance providers.

Mobile technology has the power to change the way we communicate, and interact. It has the power to connect anyone to anything and everyone. And for Hapinoy, it has the power to positively impact the lives of millions of Filipinos. Hapinoy sees mobile technology as the key to continuously empowering Nanay micro-entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. With the connectivity that mobile technology brings, various high impact initiatives, such as financial services can now be made available in the country’s largest distribution channel which is the sari-sari store network. This means that more than ever, financial inclusion is closer to becoming reality for more and more Filipinos.

With this vision, the Hapinoy Sari-Sari Store Program aims not just to train individual store owners, but to create a COMMUNITY OF NANAYS from different parts of the Philippines empowered to run and grow their own sustainable businesses and to build a NETWORK OF STORES capable of providing communities access to financial services and other high impact products through the power of mobile technology.

  

People behind the success of QuallComm and Hapinoy partnership – 3^rd from the left, Mr. Mark Ruiz, 3^rd from the right, Ms. Pia Roman , Head of Inclusive Finance Advocacy Staff, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the three Nanays of Hapinoy; Nanay Estela L. De Villa, Nanay Leilani M. Rebong and Nanay Belen F. Jiminez

It’s Because of Them

In our generation, it’s not that often that we see a deep mother and child relationship. Well, maybe a child and Smart phones relationship will do. But not as the old time that we spend and make lots of memories with our parents.

Nobody knows who or what to blame why most of the teenagers now have that power to get easily rid to their parents which tends them to feel disrespected. It seems like it is very easy for the teens to get out of the house and shout for whatever hard feelings they had on that particular scenario. But what’s the epic scene is that, you, we, every one of us will come to the point that we’ll realized that we need our parent. Indeed, we need them very bad.

Parents are not just parent

From the very beginning that we started to breathe here on earth, they become our protector. Our very first doctor, teacher and guidance councilor. They became our feet when we started to walk, they became our mouth when we started to talk and they became our eyes when started to grow.

In every successful man, there’s always a parent who help them to climb up and reach for the success that they dreamed. Even before we start to build our goals, our parents were the one who gives us the knowledge and ideas on what we want to be in the future.

Forever is For Real with Them

We have 2,000 plus friends in our social media world, but maybe it will not reach a hundred plus when we started counting who among them are our real friends. In that hundred plus people, half of it were concerned, half of it were not. And in that range of people, we cannot easily tell who we can trust. But one thing is for sure, your parents are one of them.

Yes, we will be in a relationship wherein we can really feel that we are complete. Wherein you will hear  promises that you guys will be in forever. But if it’s really not meant to be, that promise will be a memory. Unlike with our parents, even though we do not literally hear promises of forever with them, they just do it. From the very start, up until the end. When all else fail, they never will. When your boyfriends or girlfriends screw up with you, your parents will be there to fix you. Even if we get mad to them for many times, they are still there. Willing to listen and still accepting all your flaws and imperfections. They are the one who loves us unconditionally.

Listen and Accept Them

We teenagers usually get annoyed when our parents enter our social life. Especially when they prohibit us for the things that we want to do. When they get mad, many bad thoughts are starting to play in our minds followed by make faces.  But let’s just think, why are they doing that? Parents don’t want anything to harm us, they won’t allow no one to hurt us and they always know what’s the best for us. That answers it all. They invested on us for so long and they don’t want that to be useless.  If they’re getting mad, listen. If they continue to talk and talk and talk, listen. They are just people, same as you. Let them honor their emotions. They will not do that if you’ve done the first wrong move. If you think that they’re not getting your point, talk to them as calm as you can. Because if you still insist on want you want, conversation will never end. You’ll end up losing. Upset. Mad.

Above all, respect them. It’s because of them why you are here. It’s their responsibility to give us the whole world. And our responsibility to respect, love and took care of the world that they built for us.

                                                                                                

Challenge Philippines Triathlon launches new international race

Yellow Cab Pizza takes title sponsorship

Challenge Philippines, the third Asian event of the globally expanding Challenge Family series of events, is expanding its brand footprint with the announcement of a new race set on June 14 next year—Challenge CamSur after  a successful leg last February in Subic Bay and Bataan.

Last 29th of July, Challenge Philippines successfully launched the event and Yellow Cab Pizza takes title sponsorship. Aside from giving triathletes their ultimate racing experience, the Yellow Cab Challenge Philippines will help boost the country’s tourism, generating millions of dollars in revenue.

Second place Michael Murphy talks to champion Matt Burton who finished the race with a recorded time of four hours, 26 minutes, and 53 seconds in pursuit of his 1st place share of the US$ 50, 000 Pro prize purse.  

The new title sponsorship with Yellow Cab Co. for Challenge Philippines and Challenge Camsur, with an initial term of 3 years, will begin immediately. The famous pizza chain has been a long-time supporter of triathlon by supporting its own team, Team Yellow Cab, and many sport development programs, including its support of Challenge Philippines in 2014 as an official partner.

The most recent Challenge Philippines in Subic Bay and Bataan showcased over 729 athletes from 38 countries. Triathletes from different walks of life, including two crown princess of Bahrain, competed in the inaugural race. The race’s broadcast coverage reached over 82 counties worldwide showcasing Philippines as the most desired lifestyle and sports destination.

Challenge Family, owner of the global triathlon series of long and half distance races, is known worldwide for giving the most iconic and beautiful race locations. This is exemplified with the announcement of the new Challenge CamSur.

And David Voth, CEO of Leverage Sports Asia and chairman of Challenge Philippines Race said,  “We are honored to welcome Challenge CamSur as part of the Challenge Philippine’s Family of races. Camsur has a rich tradition and legacy in the sport of Philippine triathlons… With the passion and warmth always evident from the people of Camarines Sur supporting our athletes, it’s just amazing.”

CamSurGov. Miguel Luis Villafuerte supported the upcoming event and he quoted, “We in the province of CamSurare proud to be part of the Challenge Family Global Series and we are looking forward to host the CamSur Challenge triathlon next year as a banner event of Challenge Philippines,”

Villafuerte pointed out that Camsur holds a unique draw when it comes to hosting such international sporting events.

Anna Stroh, event director of Challenge Philippines and Challenge CamSur said: "Giving our athletes an opportunity to compete at highest levels, in awell-organized, safe, and beautiful destinations, is our primary goal.”            

Challenge Philippines Triathlon in Subic Bay and Bataan and Challenge CamSur will be held on Feb. 21 and June 14, respectively.

After registration, all athletes will get the chance to win a year-round season pass to select Challenge Family races including a coveted race kit to Challenge Roth in 2015. The promotion will run for a limited time only. Athletes may register and join through http://bit.ly/30YearsOfRoth.