Year End Review 2007

Usually at this time of the year, I do my end-of-the-year survey, but let's do something different to spice things a bit.

It was a banner year. If I could put everything that happened this year and put it in a bottle so I could display it on a shelf forever, I would.

There were a couple of not-so-happy moments (when I decided not to renew my WV contract and when I initially didn't get my current position), but everything else was awesome. I don't know whether I've gone through so much in the past two years that I was much stronger at handling things so nothing was ever "bad" or truly only good things came my way this year. Regardless, I might have to call 2007 as my best year ever (so far).

And because this year was also the year when I came back to the US, I have to talk about my self-imposed exile and have *ahem closure on the experience.

I sort of still hear some negative comments from family regarding my having gone back to the Philippines to work. But for me, I don't have any regrets and I don't think I'll ever have regrets regarding that journey. It was great, I learned a lot, and it allowed me to have a new perspective on the world. Simply put, the experience was priceless.

Work
I'm thankful that I ended up working for W0rld Visi0n. There was a point in time when I was trying to decide between P&G and WV. I can totally see how my working experience would've been so different if I ended up at P&G instead, or any other workplace in the Philippines.

Working with an international scope thrilled me. I loved how I interacted with people all over the world and had a chance to see them all in person. I loved how things that I worked on were shipped all over the world. I loved how I built my City Mug collection by working for WV...just kidding. HeHe. I want to do this again.

I'm very thankful for having the officemates that I had. They became both family and friends. They were always there for me when my friends weren't. I don't think there was even one day when I dreaded to go to work because I knew I had people to biatch to about work at work. :)

Travel
Like I said before, I'm proud of myself for not being a chicken and doing what I had wanted to do since day one. From Luzon and all the way to Mindanao, traveled I did. I have very fond memories riding public transportation with Lillian to get to Vigan/Laoag/Pagudpud/Bagiuo/Manila. Good times. Thanks also to Pen and Raissa who were true friends, supporting me to make this Wow Philippines endeavor a reality by getting their family members involved. HaHa! No, seriously, I felt the love, yo! ;P

I also can't believe I traveled all over SE Asia alone, but I really did. Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Macau, and Hong Kong, oh my. Looking back, my solo trip signified that my self-confidence was truly back in its right place. It's that whole "I'm ready to take over the world" kind of mentality. Hear me roar!

All the glory goes to God on this one though because at every single country, I really felt that he was looking out for me. There were so many ways the trip could've gone wrong, but whenever there was an issue, He always presented me with a solution right away. It was amazing to experience that in addition to seeing all the amazing things in each country.

So, the big question was always if the grass was greener on the other side. My answer would have to be: as long as the grass is green, I'm fine. Wouldn't it suck if your grass was brown?