Event: Thaipusam 2018

Hi Everyone, I'm here with a post from my friend today, if you remember her from my last post, Fort Canning Park (Annabelle) 

It was valentines season in 2016 when I arrived here in Singapore. 

Two years had passed and I’m still lost in the city.

I spend my free days at home looking at the ceiling (literally) and browsing fb posts repeatedly. I never had the courage to explore different places alone.

Gladly, my friend Jaly come along. We agreed on doing things in just a glimpse and making it happen the soonest time, unexpectedly. 

One of the exciting things we planned to do is to witness different events being celebrated here in SG.

First event that we have witnessed together is the Thaipusam celebration. It's a festival celebrated by the Tamil community on the full moon in the Tamil month. This 2018, it was celebrated on the 31st of January. 

I was mesmerised seeing the devotees with their Kavadi.

Below are some photos we have taken.

The Ritual

The Kavadi-bearers

The Kavadi-bearer with two container at both ends may contain rice,milk or other articles that the devotee  vowed to offer.

Some devotees pierce their tongues with skewers.

Stay tuned for more upcoming events!

Cheers!

-MEA

Publisher: Unknown - 6:51 PM

Event: 10th Megabrands Sale

Hello everybody!

Today, I'd like to talk about an event I went to a few days ago. It as this big sale event located at the 5th floor of Megamall Building B. Products were up for grabs with up to 70% discount. There were tons of brands that were part of the sale. I was very excited to see what items I could buy. Here are some of the photos I took from the event.

LoveHopeFaith

This booth caught my attention because they were selling items for charity. I believe they were donating 50% of the net proceeds to various beneficiaries of LoveHopeFaith. They are cancer fighters and Sta. Lusia, which is the home of sexually abused children.

They are selling cheap shirts and watches that looks really nice. The shirts designs are simple and the watches looks hip.

They were also selling chocolates! Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the donation and rosary box on the left. the rule is, if you donate any amount, you can take a rosary. My friend and I couldn't help but donate.

Soapyliciously Fabulous

This next booth is a booth that looked very appetizing. Appetizing, because at first I thought they were selling food, but I found out they were actually selling soaps. They offered it at cheap prices. The soaps smelled really nice as well.

They are also selling in a weekend market called Greenfield. I'll be checking it out though and I'll share my experiences with you guys. If all goes well, I can go by next week.

Albert Sumague

My last photo shows my favorite stall from the event. This is Alberto Sumague and his products. I first encountered the brand from the last Global Pinoy Bazaar [check out my post here]. This brand is also the main reason we went to the event. They are selling inexpensive shoes and bags that are stylish, very durable and comfy to wear [shoes]. He was nice enough to pose for a photo.

P.S. My next post will talk about products from Mr. Sumague's store

Thanks for reading!
Hugs,
-J Publisher: Unknown - 6:29 PM

Event | Food: Make my Magnum

Yesterday, I promised I will be doing another post in connection with the Great British Festival. Well, here it is! The Make your Own Magnum Booth at the Food Section of the The G.B.F. 

I was pretty stoked when I saw this booth. I have a sweet tooth and I've always enjoyed eating Magnum Ice Cream. I also love customizing my food. This was like the perfect booth for me at the event. 

Basically, you'd have to pick out what 3 toppings you like, if you'd like it to be dipped in chocolate or white chocolate and if you want either chocolate or white chocolate for the drizzle.

There were a lot of toppings to choose from. I was a little baffled as to what I wanted for my Magnum. I have a limited number of choices, but I felt like I wanted to make the perfect combination. I have to say though, the girl who made mine was a little rude. I remember asking her if we could also have drizzle because the two ladies in front of us have drizzle on theirs. She then tells me, "Wait - Just Wait"[I'm unsure if she also said something about waiting for my turn]. I normally wouldn't be offended by that, but her tone as she said it to me wasn't really very nice. I remember telling her "Thank you" instead of apologizing because I don't believe I've done anything wrong. I just asked because it might be a choice, whether we want drizzle or not. In my opinion, it was a little disrespectful. Say what you want, but I didn't think asking if we could also have that option was a bad thing. I usually ask staff or employees from different establishments questions, but I was always answered politely. Isn't that part of their training? In my opinion, even if a customer asks a "stupid" question [especially if it was asked politely], then the employees should answer in a polite manner. I just thought the situation could have been handled differently. My experience was honestly tarnished because of this.  I honestly thought her tone, [the way she spoke to me] was a little rude.  As we all know, Customer service is an important factor when operating the business.

Anyway, let's go back to talking about the product itself. My toppings were the almonds, pistachios and the golden nuggets. It was then dipped in chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate. It was really good! The almonds, chocolate and pistachios were really nice together. The only thing I would change is the gold nuggets. I guess it just wasn't the perfect combination. My Magnum was great nevertheless.

This next one is also really good. This is the better combination of the two. The toppings were almonds, pistachios and quezo de bola. The cheese contrasted the sweetness of the white chocolate. If they have another booth like this, I'll probably try these toppings but dipped in chocolate and drizzled with white chocolate.

Overall, it was a pretty good experience. I did not enjoy the service, but the product was amazing. I'll probably try it out again. Hopefully by then the staff would be different. I'd recommend this to everyone who enjoy customizing their food. You can get this for 100 pesos. It's not too expensive just because the ones they do have in stores are priced at 55 - 60 pesos? I thought adding that additional 40-45 pesos was worth the experience. 

P.S. I didn't write about their female employee because I want her fired or anything, I just wanted to write the whole experience. The service was part of the experience. I guess I'd also like this to serve as a reminder that different people have different reactions and perception regarding tone, facial expressions and use of words. I felt a little disrespected. That's it.

Anyway, enough of that! Thanks for reading! 

Do you have a dog? Is he/she picky with food? Stay tuned for my next post. I'll be talking about a canned dog food my picky toy poodle loves. I'll have it posted either tonight or tomorrow. 

Hugs

~J

Publisher: Unknown - 6:41 PM

Event: Great British Festival

Hiya!

I recently saw a poster advertising the Great British Festival on Facebook. I was instantly interested, even though my schedule was quite packed. I decided to go there on it's final day which was March 1, 2015. There were a LOT of booths in the event and I had great fun roaming around. This is my first time going to this event and I intend on going to more in the future! These are just some of the photos I took. 

There were several types of company booths in the event, some were about tourism, education, trade exhibits, sports and food. My favorite would have to be Lush [obviously!]. If you didn't know, or if you are new here, I am a big lushie! I enjoy trying out their different products.

Lush was actually offering the chance to make your own bubble bar. I wasn't able to avail it though. Anyway, these were the items they were offering at their table[?]. I was also informed that they had several new items in the store, although I wasn't able to go there yet.

This car was on display for Pru Life UK. I'm not exactly sure why use a car, but here it is nevertheless.

This next photo shows part of the main stage and part of the food section.

This next few photos I got from Wolf & Fox. This is the first time I've heard of them, but their food looked so good!

Lastly, I'd like to share my event "passport" which served as my raffle ticket for the trip to the UK raffle prize. Unfortunately I lost.

On the up side, I was able to see Gerard Salonga conduct the ABS CBN Phil Harmonic Orchestra. They've played several songs I enjoyed and ones I didn't even know existed. It was an amazing hour long concert. Thank you Gerard and The Phil Harmonic Orchestra for the wonderful music played.

Thanks for Reading! I have another post which is connected to this one. That one is focused on Magnum! Kindly stay tuned. I'll have it up tomorrow. 

Hugs 

~J

Publisher: Unknown - 8:15 AM

Yabang Pinoy 10th Global Pinoy Bazaar Part 1

Hello everyone!

I'd like to share a little something about an event I went to a few days ago. I wasn't able to blog about it sooner because I was stuck with schoolwork. It has been extremely busy and I had to do it before I blogged. With that said, I may not be able to blog for a week or two. Although, I will try to put up posts whenever I get a little time off. I actually still have tons of products, food, and recipes to share, but I really do lack the time to make the posts. 

Anyway, right now, I'd like to talk about an event that happened last August 22 - 24 2014. It was basically a bazaar that showcased Filipino brands. It is an event that promotes supporting our Filipino made products. According to one of the posters for the event, It is "A celebration of Filipino art and design, music, travel, fashion, food, home and technology." It was the first time I've heard of it and it was only my professor told us to go there. 

I am the type of person who doesn't usually buy Filipino products. I am not gonna lie, I am used to buying and wanting products from foreign countries. It's not that I think all foreign products are better, I guess I was just not aware of the brands that came from our/this country. I was not aware of how great these products were. Going to this bazaar was an eye-opening experience. I was in awe. I am very impressed of how creative they were. To be honest, a lot of the items there looked like global products. These stuff usually aren't found in malls and in big department stores and I usually buy my stuff there. While thinking about it, I also wondered how many Filipinos were like me. How many others don't know about how wonderful our products are. I'm guessing a lot. I don't see them, so I don't know about them. I was both happy and shocked to find out about it. I felt proud of my race.

The entrance was worth 100 Philippine pesos. It also came with a raffle, although I don't know what the prizes were. Anyway, I paid the fee and went inside. I came an hour or so later to look around the stall found in the lobby. I was able to receive a few different newspapers. I also looked at this table with "guest list" written on it. There were a few laptops on top of the table facing me, and I decided to ask what it was about. They said they had a list for bloggers and I said I was one. I registered not knowing what it was. I thought they would keep a look out for my blog when I post about the event. I found out bloggers can get in for free. Basically, I had no idea that happened. I asked if I can get the 100 back then, if that was so and they said to ask someone that handled the accounting. I talked to the person who sold me the ticket and she gave me back the 1 hundred and said she wouldn't remove me from the raffle. She was so nice! I was able to buy another item inside because of it. First time I got in for free because I blogged. I started this blog because of my love for sharing, not for perks it can give me. To the people from Yabang Pinoy, I greatly appreciate it.

Next I'd like to focus on the venue and the companies that were included.So, this is where the event was held. It only had the ground floor but it had tons of stalls inside.  There were tons of different types of companies that showcased their creativity and talent through their products.

 Most of the food stalls were outside. The ones inside did not need to cook their food. Being a foodie, I wanted to try everything, but of course I won't be able to. My grandmother, my brother and I decided to buy one of each from the gourmet food stalls mostly because it had rice and we were to have lunch. I will be making a review for the ones we bought in the next posts.

I would like to end part 1 of this post here because I will be talking about the companies that I thought stood out. I have gathered business cards from them and will be featuring their items in part 2 which will be out this week. I decided to post a few reviews on items I bought from the stalls inside. I will be posting more along with part 2. It's taking some time because I'm adding details and contact information for each stall. All the stalls were good but I will be featuring my favorites. 

I will be updating this with the link for part 2 soon. 

Yabang Pinoy FB Page: Yabang Pinoy

Yabang Pinoy Website: www.yabangpinoy.com

Global Pinoy Bazaar FB Page: Global Pinoy Bazaar

Note: To all my international readers. I apologize if there are a lot of posts that may not apply to you. I will be back to posting about items that may be bought internationally soon. Thank you for your patience. Publisher: Unknown - 8:19 AM

Event: LeBran Dance Party All In!

Hello Everyone!

I attended a dance party back in May 30, 2014. I am only able to share it with you today because I was editing my blog template.

According to LeBran's website, "Le Bran is a unique dance fitness routine that utilizes movements from popular Latin dances and translates the same into body kinetics which delivers long lasting fitness benefits in mind and body. It is pioneered in the Philippines by Mr. Brando Balmedina, who has been conferred the title Fellowship in Latin American dances by the United Kingdom Alliance of Professional Teachers of Dancing."



Basically, I see it as a fun way to exercise. They created an event where people could party and exercise at the same time. I was quite curious as to how the event works. Most parties involve a lot of dancing, but this one incorporates it with exercise. I had no idea how it will work because I haven't even tried LeBran before. I have previously tried Aerobic Dancing and I didn't really like it.

Let's Start with the Cons:

1. Slow Start~Entrance: I reached the place a few minutes before it started. There was already a line of people trying to register for the event. I'd say there were 7-12 people ahead of me and they were taking quite some time to register. People were cramming the front desk and it took them quite a while to find their names. I wasn't even on the list.

2. Miscommunication between guests and hosts: I didn't like how I wasn't properly briefed about the free photo booth and where the baggage counter was. The people at the front desk were supposed to inform me that the photo booth near the entrance was free. also, I've been listening to other groups of people as the hosts were giving instructions on where the baggage counter was and from what I heard, a lot of people, including me did not understand where exactly the counter was. Perhaps I was a bit too focused on studying everything going on. I don't know. But, I wish there were clearer instructions and information given as the event went on. There were other minor instruction and information problems as the event progressed.

3. Uninteresting Start: Once I saw the main room where we'll be "partying" and people barely interacted with each other. I saw a couple of groups that just sat there and stared the main screen that showed repeating advertisements. I'd have to say how I had a few yawns myself.

4. No Free Water: When the tickets were being sold, we were told that there would be free water. No free water was given, but a tea company whose name I failed to understand gave away free tea. The host said that it was supposed to help when trying to lose weight. It was an ideal drink if you are on diet. I was a bit intrigued and tried to get a cup.

5. One Dispenser: There was only one dispenser for the drinks. There were a lot of people. You do the math; the tea area was congested. There was no line. People tried to cut in everywhere. It was basically chaos. Also, the empty cups were beside the dispenser, which made things worse. People were grabbing and pushing everywhere. I really dislike such situations, but I didn't bring water. I was also really thirsty. From where I was, nothing was done to try and fix the situation. The people were left to fight over whose hand would be able to get tea first.

6. Overpriced Water: Once I got back to my seat, I found out water was being sold. Not only that, they were selling it for 30 pesos each. It's overpriced for a bottle of water. I would think they'd lower the price to try and compensate for the whole "free water" incident. I'd choose the cold water compared to the free tea though.

7. Missing Staff: The moment I went looking for a waiter, so I could buy a bottle, they were gone. I tried to look around, but they can't be found. I decided to roam around. I found two of them on the other side of the wall that surrounded the dance floor, having a nice chat. In my opinion, they should be roaming around, looking for people who'd like to buy something.

8. Lack of Brochures: I tried asking a lady situated in the front desk for a brochure. She called a young usherette to help me out. The usherette brought me beside the stage to ask for a brochure. The guy said that they didn't have one and to return later because he would have someone get one for me. I returned before I left the event and they still didn't have one. If I was a potential customer, they probably lost me.

Was I a bit harsh? I was just being frank. Let's move on to the pros.

1. Friendly Ushers: I wanted to take note of how friendly and accommodating the ushers were.

The girl wearing the blue skirt is the one who assisted me. I failed to ask her name, but whoever you are, Thank you.

2. Good Venue: The venue basically looked like a mix of a club and a dance studio. I wish I could have worn neon colored clothes. I wore black, grey and white. To my defense, it would be easier to hide my sweat. As I mentioned earlier, I had no idea how the event would go, especially since it was the first time I'd try Le Bran. The whole "party" while exercising was a bit foreign to me, but Le Bran did a great job in combining the two ideas.


3. Good Music: I have to point out how I liked the song choices. Their playlist was fun and upbeat without being too annoying for my taste. I listen to a lot of party music whenever I need to get a bit of energy and there were a lot of mixes that I've never heard of before. Did they have someone remix it? I don't know, but I like it.

4. Several Raffle Prizes: I like winning free stuff. Who doesn't? I never win at raffles, but they're a good way to keep the crowd quiet and listen to the winning numbers. They gave away Le Bran gift certificates and merchandise.

5. Superior Dancers: There were these amazing dancers who moved gracefully. I enjoyed watching them perform dances I could never do. I believe they had the technical skill on point. They were able to match the beat. I don't like watching people dance off-rhythm. I also noticed how most, if not all, displayed this confidence that just radiates a certain intensity.

6. Interesting Dances: Back when I tried Aerobic dancing, the moves were all pretty basic and you'd probably get bored pretty quick. I enjoyed the variety of dance styles they exhibited. Everyone would be able to find at least one dance style they'd like. I don't exactly have the best hand-feet coordination, but I was able to follow a lot of the dances they prepared.

7. Different Set of Dancers: I wanted to put this in a different number because I thought it was important to have different set of dancers every time they changed the dance style. It allowed the dancers to showcase their specialty and it would allow other dancers to rest and retain energy. I'd like to point out how I liked that they have dancers in the crowd. Not everyone would be able to see the stage clearly and it helped that we had people to follow nearby.

8. Short Water Breaks: It wasn't too short that we couldn't catch our breathes. It wasn't too long that I'd lose the energy and motivation to continue. I hated the long water breaks from aerobic dancing because I'd lose the adrenaline and feel tiredness creep into me.

9. Consistent Staff Energy: If I notice that the hosts and dancers start to get tired and talk with a little less energy, then I'd probably notice the same thing happen to me. You get what you give, and the staff were able to consistently fill the room with their energy. It worked out well. I left the event still pumping with adrenaline and music blaring in my ears.

10. It's for a Great Cause: LeBran has scholars. The money customers pay them, allows the company to support their scholars. I believe that education is very important and that every child should have the chance to go to school. Life is hard. It's even harder when you're financially unstable. I salute LeBran for this remarkable action.

Conclusion: Basically, I enjoyed it.
Do I recommend it? Yes I do. I had fun and exercised at the same time.

Will I go to another one of their events? 70% yes. I'd like to think they would work out the kinks next time. Also, I'm not sure when they'd have their next event and if I would be able to catch the news.

Will I go to their exercise sessions? Whenever I have the time, I would. They offer free sessions near the Makati City Hall.

Recommendations:
Event: I hope they would be able to plan and organize the event better next time. The idea has a lot of potential, but it lacked proper execution.
Dance/Exercise: Keep doing what you're doing. I loved the dance routines.

Links
Website: http://www.lebrandfx.com.ph/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LebranDFX
Twitter: @lebrandfx
Email: shapeup@lebrandfx.com.ph
Mobile: (+63) 917 502 4677
             (+63) 917 655 5246
             (+63) 916 401 1490

They didn't have brochures during the event, so they sent it to me via email.
I would like to thank Ms. Cadlum for taking the time to send me the brochures via email.

Note: If you noticed, the cons were all from the event organization. I have no qualms about the dance routines. I thought they were fun.

Event: Philippines Publisher: Unknown - 6:17 PM