Interesting location for the 5th SoSa call today: next to the fish specialties fridge in a storage room on the 4th floor of the SAP Arena Mannheim. But it worked!
Did some packing over the week-end. Took a picture because I liked the colors. Has anyone ever done packing by colors? Just wondering. And no, I'm not gonna take all of it with me. And in case you may ask yourselves secretly if I'm a chocoholic or mosquitophob or both - I won't be telling!
Just learned about all three of them last week. And really curious about the pronunciations and usage. Taglish is a mixture of Tagalog, a language spoken by ca. 26 mio Filipinos one of the 120-180 languages of the Philippines (number varying on how you define language), and English. The cool thing is (you can tell how working for a language department leaves its mark...) that the Filipinos consider their Tagalog-based national language "Filipino" as a very open concept, with the official mandate to "further develop, enrich and evlolve" on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. Even Spanish and Arabic are mentioned as auxiliary languages in the constitution. So borrowing and code-switching seems to be the thing. Seems to make it easier to learn the language. I think I'll go for English and mix in some Tagalog and Spanish and see if this works... There are about 180 words on my list already. Want to check it out?
And just in case you got the hang of it or need more information:
Online dictionaries: 1) http://www.tagalog-dictionary.com/ 2) http://tagalog.pinoydictionary.com/ 3) http://tagalogphrases.com/audio-sample/ (Phrases - top of the list the one phrase I'm most likely to use in daily life: "You weigh at least forty kilos." ) Learning resources: http://learn-tagalog.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tagalog_language Second blog in a week... I'm really raising the bar now.
On the week-end I had a closer look at the other organizations we'll be working for (which got a bit sidelined after initially learning about SEF) and I have to admit they are all pretty cool, without exception. Glad I didn't have to choose. Here they are: Jörg, Michelle and Yasar for Microventures, Inc (www.hapinoy.com): Hapinoy (Filipinos call themselves Pinoy) is supporting women micro entrepreneurs who own and run sari-sari Stores. These are small neighborhood retail shops that are run by women micro entrepreneurs from their homes. The goal is to empower women to successfully run and grow their businesses through education, access to capital and new business ideas. The assignment will be to map out key processes within Hapinoy’s Mobile Financial Services operations, and recommend an operations management tool/system. Vince, Sindhu and Dirk-Jan for MessyBessy Cleaners, Inc (www.messybessy.com): MessyBessy Cleaners provide formal education, on-the-job-training and personal development program to disadvantaged (formerly trafficked, abused, impoverished) young adults. It's a for-profit enterprise that manufactures, wholesales and retails all-natural household and personal care products. The goal for each young adult is to graduate with a college diploma, and to obtain a secure job of his or her choice. The task will be to map out key supply chain processes, identify inefficiencies, and recommend a roadmap for the adoption of a new system, as the company has a growh rate of 30% per year. Vineet, Priscilla and Caroline for Rags2Riches, Inc. (www.rags2riches.ph): R2R is a for-profit social business enterprise, which is committed to improving the quality of life of Filipino community artisans from poor areas in the country. It creates eco-ethical fashion and home accessories out of upcycled scrap cloth, organic materials and indigenous fabrics, and by working with artisans living in the poor communities across the country. The goal is to provide an integrated and sustainable livelihood platform to communities who desire to increase their incomes, gain access to social services, access to education, and build a roadmap for them and their families to get out from poverty. The assignment will be about helping to develop an internalization strategy. Wonder how we will be working together and how many synergies we will detect across the companies. Internationalization strategy makes me think of crowd translation of online webstores, for example. In any case, I definitely want to do some grocery-shopping in a sari-sari (hope there are some in the business district Makati where our apartments are located). MessyBessy has by far the coolest name and logo - sounds so much like a company I could be founding... And regarding the fabrics from R2R - I might need a bigger suitcase... Finally, the 4 SAP Social Sabbatical projects in Manila for team Manila Tao are out: Alex, Nadine and the Pyxera team have been sheding light on the assignments and assignees and I'm truly excited with my project and my co-assignees: Jamie from Lake Mary and Simon from Dublin and I will be working for the SEF (Solar Energy Foundation) and the program L4E (Lights for Eduction), headed by Jaime Ayala. Lots of abbreviations already, makes one feel like home immediately...;-) https://www.facebook.com/solarenergiePH http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaime_Ayala_(entrepreneur) I heard of this "liter of light" project before; seems a Philippine social enterpreneur has come up with it. Not sure if it's related to SEF - but we'll find out for sure! |