BACK!

Just finished my news release for the 8th TIICTD Cluster Meeting of BIMP-EAGA, the event that brought me to Palawan.

It was one of the toughest topic I had to write about. Even if I spent three to four days sitting down in various working group meetings, even if I took pictures of the slide presentations, I still cannot fully consolidate all the topics discussed. My major problem is, after all the reports, I still cannot identify the final output of the activity. Well, I'll be receiving feedback days from now. I just hope it's not that bad, to make them regret their decision for sending me there.

Despite my anxieties before the trip, I ended up still grateful and relieved. First,  gave me chance to bond with four of my officemates, who I never interacted with while we were at the office. Second, I had an almost 5-star experience in the hotel where we were staying. It's the newest hotel in Puerto Princesa, and is considered to be the "5-star hotel" there. New as it is, the service is also in its start-up stage, which spells INEFFICIENT. But I really saw the efforts of the people there to be as polite as they can be to compromise the bad service. 

Talking to the delegates felt like Rarejob all over again. Contrary to my perception, they are actually very friendly, and are even comfortable sharing some of the personal details of their lives with other people. I actually dread the part when they start talking about technical things about the forum, because it means I'd have to pretend I know what they are talking about. But, as usual,  bluffed my way out, again. It's somehow refreshing to be able to see the human side of these business executives, handling their respective lucrative jobs.

The Chairman of the Cluster shared that he has been traveling for two weeks straight, and he just wants to go home, go nowhere. And I thought: "Wow, the Chairman yearns for some bumming session, too." I've also talked to a Malaysian guy, from the Ministry of Transport.  We were also able to agree that we don't necessarily need to love a degree to finish it. There was one night when I sneaked out from a dinner event, because I badly wanted to explore Palawan already. While I was in their "tiangge" I saw one of the participants there (almost didn't recognize her in her casual wear). I smiled and asked why she didn't attend the dinner. She said: "Nah, we're too tired, we want to go shopping instead." Yeahright. Wish I could call my errand as "shopping", too.

Well, these simple encounters inspired me. The world can be connected in so many ways. Differences are close to nothing if everyone starts a conversation with friendship and kindness in mind. In fact, effective intercultural communication need not always be about breaking the barriers, sometimes it could simply be forgetting that there are barriers.

Nothing beats spontaneous and honest conversations with (nice) strangers, one of the things I love about travelling!