Signed Blooms

 As a requirement for a Japanese tourist visa, I needed to get a bank certificate from BDO. To request for one is pretty easy.

In BDO, you need to get the certificate from the branch where you open your account. I know this is quite a hassle. Maybe that's why when you open an account, they require your home or office address to be near. The good thing is BDO has a separate line for this kind of transactions. I didn't even have to wait before I got assistance.

For BPI account holders, you can get a bank certificate in any of their branches. They don't have separate counters for this kind of requests though. You have to go to the normal queue which can be quite long especially during payout dates.

Just present your ID and pay for the processing fee. You also need to fill up the request form (asking for the purpose of the request, the addressee, etc.). Both BDO and BPI charge PHP 100.00 for processing a bank certificate. You can get the certificate straight from the printer on the same day.

Tips:

• List down the addressee details before you go to the bank. I was not aware that they will request for it. I thought it will just be the general and classic "To whom it may concern". I even had to google the address of the Japanese Embassy. Thankfully, I have data connection that time.
• Only transactions made the (banking) day before you requested for the bank certificate will reflect on your account balance. Be sure to make your deposit ahead of time.

In preparation for my 2017 trip to Osaka and Kyoto, I applied for a Japanese visa last December.

I already laid out my itinerary, booked the plane tickets and even bought a couple of winter coats few months back. If the Japanese embassy didn't approve my application, it would definitely be a waste of money and effort. I just thought then that why wouldn't they approve when I am surely going there as a tourist.

As of time of writing, applying for a tourist visa requires the following:

• Philippine passport (must have at least two blank pages)
• Visa application form
• Remember to put N/A to fields that are not applicable for you.
• Photo (must be pasted in the application form)
• must have a white background
• size: 2" x 2" or 4.5 cm x 4.5 cm
• Birth Certificate (must be issued within one year by NSO)
• Marriage Certificate (if married, must also be issued within one year)
• Daily Schedule in Japan
• Bank Certificate
• You don't have to worry too much about your transactions, only the total amount of your account(s) will be shown in the bank certificate.
• Don't know how to request for one? You may check this handy guide.
• Income Tax Return/BIR Form 2316 (original and photocopy)
• The agency just needs to see the original copy but they will return it back to you. It won't be forwarded to the embassy.

You need to submit the complete requirements to any travel agency accredited by the Japanese Embassy in the Philippines (complete list here). As of July 30, 2007 submitting an application directly to the embassy is no longer an option. I guess it's because verifying if the applicant has the complete requirements saves them a great deal of time (especially for other types of visa that requires a lot of supporting documents).

The visa itself is free but you have to pay a processing fee to the agency where you decided to submit your application. We chose Reli Tours & Travel Agency, because it offers the cheapest processing fee of PHP 950.00 for tourist visa. We applied to their branch located in Dusit Thani Hotel, Makati. They're agents there aren't the nicest though.

We submitted the requirements early on a Tuesday morning. We were told that they'll just gonna contact us if our passport our ready for pickup but we'll only know the result once we have it on hand. The next Friday, I received the text advisory. That afternoon, we went back to the agency and got our passport with approved visa!

Tips:

• If you're gonna submit your application to Reli Tours & Travel Agency, Dusit Thani branch, be there early. We picked up our passports in the afternoon and we're surprised by the long queue. Thankfully, those who are just there for pickup don't have to fall in line.
• As an addition to the requirements above, I think it'd be better to include your booking details as well. Of course, that is if you already booked your flight. I forgot to include mine but I think it would help.
• I read that the Japanese embassy usually process visa applications on a Wednesday. If that is true, you may want to submit your application on a Monday/Tuesday if you want to get your passport back within the week.

Good luck and have fun during your trip!

Paper Towns is the second John Green authored book that I’ve read. Well, I’m not really into his works anyway. I just read those that appealed to me.

This novel is pretty nice, well suited for teens. I just find it somehow disappointing as the story mainly revolves in the quest of finding Margo. Maybe I expected more than that. But still, it’s a good book. You’ll surely find your teen age self as one of the characters or maybe a combination of two.

It’s like a shout as to how young minds think and how those thoughts reflect the audacious but blinding reality.

I believe the reason this book is popular is because we all have these tiny voices inside of us wanting to be heard to let our own Margo-ness out.

The milk tea craze in Manila started a few years ago. Until now, it really is a very popular drink/dessert in the metro, especially for young people like me who are not that much fond of coffee.

From the tea-est to the milkiest, here are some of the popular milk tea fixes that have branches all over Manila.

Happy Lemon

Happy Lemon's might not be that of a big hit now compare to its earlier days but seriously who tasted a drink from their Rock Salt and Cheese series and wasn't delighted by it? A sip to that heavenly cheese cream always made my day. I just can't get enough of it that I always ask for extra.

Happy Lemon's Cocoa Rock Salt and Cheese with Black Pearl Sago and Bubble Waffle

The photo was way back last February when I got the pearl for free as part of their Valentine's promo. It was also the time when they just introduced the bubble waffle (inspired by the popular egg waffle in Hing Kong) on their menu.

If milk is not your thing, their Special Lemon Cooler (with QQ Jelly) is a must try too!

Dakasi

Dakasi offers sweeter milk tea versions in large portions. My sister is a fan but it's a bit too sweet for me. Their drinks are more on the milky side which I think is deliberately done to target the millenials.

Gong Cha

Chatime

Moon Leaf

Tokyo Bubble Milk Tea

Graduating at the age of 19 felt like I was being thrown to the world of adulthood so abruptly.



Few weeks after the commencement ceremony, my batchmates started going to work one by one. I was pressured to hurry up and get a job too, asap.

It took me two months to receive a job offer from a pretty decent company that provides above average salary for an entry-level position. Graduating with honors meant getting a much higher paying job than your batchmates–or I, at least, had to make up for that expectation.

My first day of work is also my last day as a teen. It's just so cliché that I wrapped up my teenage years with a confused, thrown-in-a-new-world self who felt all the difference of being in her twenties.

I can say it started well. I, together with other fresh grad new hires had to undergo training for like the first three months before doing "billable" work. The training rooms were just like classrooms with a smaller number of enrollees. The familiar feeling of studying and excelling comforted me for quite a while.

Things started to get boring just after a few weeks I started getting formal tasks. That time I realized how the nature of my job pisses me off. I so much hated their process. Despite of being good, even receiving bonuses, I can't feel any fulfillment. That's the point I told myself I can't grow here. I'll just get stuck with these robots who hide under the name of this giant, multinational company. Every morning I walk to work and catch my weary reflection in a corporate attire, I hear a little voice inside me saying this is so not you. You should be out somewhere else where you can explore new things, a place where you can be more happy at.

That winter I turned in my first resignation letter. It wasn't that hard as it seems. During my last day, I went out to dinner with my colleagues whom I already built a good relationship with, given that short period of time. They were actually the only reason I find it a bit sad to leave. The thing I could never forget that night is when one of them says I look brighter that time than she'd ever seen me.

But of course, I didn't want to end up on streets and disappoint the people who believe and support me. Before I resigned, I already accepted a new offer from a company I think I'll fit in.

It's been a bit more than a year since then and I can still say that I'm happy with my job. I love how I'm surrounded with intelligent, cool people. The atmosphere and culture is very similar to that of my university–passion-driven people whom you get intimidated to but also admire, friendly environment where you always feel welcome, and a home to learn more knowledge, to grow.

It felt so great to stop doing work for that shitty, compatible-only-with-IE application and start catching up with new technologies the ever-changing and innovating world of computing science has to offer!

Yes, I despised my first job but I can understand why people are hanging in there, especially those breadwinners who have family to support. Even though the pay is not that really high, especially if you started in an entry-level position, the company offers great benefits. I always joke that when I come to "pera-pera na lang" (work only for money) stage, I might come back there, demand a higher salary and just find happiness from other things aside from work.

But for young people like you (and me), let's not get stressed out with a job we don't like. Don't work just for the sake of it (or for money). You should learn from my mistake. Don't get pressured to get a job right away after grad. Also, failing a job application doesn't always mean your lesser competent than those who passed. It's either impressing others is just their thing or the job doesn't really suit you. You should never get upset because of that.

I do envy one of my friends who says she'll work for her company until her retirement. How happy she might be to be able to say that! I hope, someday, I can also tell myself that and be like "This is it! This is what I want to do. This is SO me. Dream job, indeed!". But not that I want to be an employee forever, ah.

Summer just kicks off here in Manila and it's been really hot for these past few weeks. T'is is indeed the perfect season for some coolers!

These questions are like haunting, right? Those are the first two questions Sophie got from a man named Alberto Knox. These are simple questions that become complicated the more you think about them. It’s like the more you try to find an answer the more you can’t think of a valid, concrete one.

Sophie's World is like my "all-people-on-earth-should-read" book. It was just the "perfect" book, well at least for me the first time I read it. (I was then a high school student, turning 15, like Sophie.)

Just imagine how Gaarder allows the reader to play an important role and be a part of the story. Oh, man! It's just amazing - asking yourself those haunting questions like Sophie did, and reading Sophie's story together with Hilde (in Hilde's world) while reading the latter's story at the same time in your own world—it's just insane! It's like you've become so eager to see what's written on the last three pages to end this whole craziness but you can't because you know Hilde feels the same way but she bears it, reading words after word, page after page, and you want to prove that you can bear with her and thus can do nothing but try to cease all the excitement you feel inside.

However, I think only those who love philosophy or at least once wonder about the mystery of life will bother to finish reading it. It's the kind of book that is very interesting for those who are into it but is very, very boring for those who are not.

I'm sure fans of Sophie's World think that those who read it but did not come to like this book are kind of odious. Haha. And I'm not excluding myself. It's like screw them 'cause they don't give a damn about life, Philo and stuff. Haha. But yeah, we have different interests and we should respect that. But still, it's just...hmm...a shame.

Well, after all it's my "all-people-on-earth-should-read" book. I'm sure you'll feel the same way for your own too.