I need to get in the habit of taking more photos.  Unfortunately, this means not many pictures for most of my posts.  However, the Filipino people take enough photos I think to last a lifetime.  That isn’t me stereotyping anyone.  I saw it everywhere, but even my co-workers said that as well.  I actually think they said that while taking a group selfie.

Here is a picture booth style photo they were doing at the christmas party:

The Infor christmas party that the office in Manila throws every year puts any office party I have attended to shame.  TONS of food, concert, drinks, etc.  I will say they do have approximately 1500 employees here.

The food theme for this year’s party was street food.  Which I was excited about because of all of the deliciousness that was around.  The funny part was most of the street food I’ve had in the states but who cares because it’s delicious.

There was a separate vendor serving two holiday/christmas food items that they were excited about since it’s only around for one month out of the year.  It is called puto bumbong and bibingka.  I had the bumbong.  Both are made from rice but mine was made from purple rice cooked in a bamboo tube.  It had shaved coconut and brown sugar.

It was sticky and thick if I had to describe it, but I really liked it.

They also had a cart there serving “dirty ice cream”.  This is actually what they call it.  The three flavors that they were putting on the cones were mango, cheese, and ube.  (Looked cool – purple, yellow, and orange on a red-ish cone)

Ube – it was purple and I had no clue what it was until I googled later and found out it’s a purple yam.  Sounds weird but when in ice cream form its not bad.  I’m assuming because it’s loaded with sugar.

Cheese – yes it tasted like cheese.  I don’t know why I didn’t hate this.  I actually really liked it.  It first took me by surprise and then I just devoured it.

Mango – I think this speaks for itself.  Seriously, mango everything everywhere here and you won’t see me complaining at all.

Instead of using cow’s milk for the ice cream they use coconut milk.  It did taste a little different and I’d say its not nearly as thick and heavy.  I really enjoyed it.

The concert was first performed by some Infor employees which were actually really good.  The next two are very popular over in this area of the world.  They went nuts.  I remember the headliner band was called Sandwich.  For the life of me, I don’t remember anyone saying the name of the band before them (and kinda pictured below).

While the concert was going on they were serving scotch, whiskey, tequila, and San Miguel beer.  I think they were trying to help the event workers by ensuring no unused bottles or full kegs would be left behind.  Every time I turned around my beer was full again.  It was like a magical hops fairy floating around serving beer.  By the 6th or 7th (I lost count) I had to ditch my cup so no one would refill it.

They also had department lip sync and dance shows to win money and prizes.  Lots of raffles too for some really cool stuff like Macbook Pro’s, refrigerators, washer/dryers, etc. (I feel only I’d get excited about winning a home appliance)

In a nutshell that was the party.  It’s a good thing they were off work the next day because I was feeling it in the morning.