Giligan's Island @ Ayala Terraces

Friends have all things in common. Plato

Last week one of my classmates in college went here in Cebu City to have a short vacation together with his wife. And so, I texted all our other classmates that are already based here to meet him and dine together. Despite of our busy schedule we still manage to arrive at the given restaurant although some of us came up late but it doesn't matter as long as we'll see each other again. We decided to dine at Giligan's Island located at the The Terraces of Ayala Center. The restaurant interior is so-so and it doesn't have an appeal to me, we talked about the Giligan's at Tagaytay, Manila about their famous Salpicao dish and that's the reason why we choose that restaurant. While waiting for the others to arrive we began to order our food, and guess what to our dismay their popular dish the Salpicao is not available what!?ok, then I choose the sizzling gambas the waiter said it's not available, mixed seafood it's available but it doesn't have a shrimp,ok so I ordered grilled bangus belly it's still not available what!?so I ordered Sinuglaw and so I asked the waiter all your seafood dishes is not available?and then he answered "no ma'am, some were available" and so I told him "so, you want us to guess your available dishes?"and so I thought this is such a disaster. And when I ordered my drinks I asked for their pineapple juice it's not available,ok, orange juice it's available but it was mixed with mango what!?why putting it on the menu as orange juice alone?another disaster and so to be safe I ordered mineral water duh! Such a waste of time ordering and then, it's not available. Next, my classmates ordered, sizzling salmon not available so they ordered sizzling squid, sizzling bangus belly it's not available,so they ordered sauteed Imbao clam shells, grilled tuna belly it's not available so they ordered the mixed seafood without the shrimp. We just burst our laughter every time the waiter would say "it's not available" and tell our classmates "wrong guess again", and so here comes our ordered let's start with my sizzling chicken sisig well, it's not sizzling and the taste is bland, sinuglaw is so-so, sizzling squid what!? it's not sizzling and it looks like a sauteed squid, sauteed Imbao clams it's not hot and so,we just said to ourselves "if you microwave our order please do it properly it's not really hot it's just came fresh from their cooler"; and other dishes came out. Out of all that dishes only the  mixed seafood taste average the rest of the dish a two thumbs down for me. The service is also a thumbs down imagine, you have to call their attention just to follow-up your other orders cause if you don't do that they will eventually forget about it just like my mineral water OMG! this is really a bad dining experience for all of us. We just felt ok when the band started singing thus, we felt lively again.

It's such a perfect reunion if it was not ruined by the restaurant and the food we ate. It's an al-fresco dining restaurant located at The Terraces of Ayala so you would really expect that the food and the service is excellent! We do expect that dinner would cost us "an arm and a leg" but it doesn't matter as long as the food was great but then, with this experience it really matter because the food and the service is a total thumbs down!

Planning a Class Reunion

First year college (Environmental Science Activities)

The essence of nostalgia is an awareness that what has been will never be again.

As years passed by we long to be updated with our friends and close colleagues life simply because we don't want to break the bond with them. And one of the hundred things to do it is to organize a reunion. The keys for creating a great and memorable reunion lies in the planning stage and that's what I did. Here are some tips of planning:
1. Begin the planning stage months before the agreed date. Communicate with them through e-mails and even facebook.
    In our case I'm the one whose making all the plans and I started planning it 7 months before the agreed date so, to simplify it all I'd used the famous social network which is the facebook it really did help to communicate all my classmates.. Just send them a message and after a few minutes their responses will flood your inbox.

2. Use any search engines to locate some good places in your alma mater place that can cater your planned reunion.Put your chosen places in the thread message so that your classmates can comment on it. After you made an agreement you can make a call to that place for information about reservation policies.
     I did a lot of research when it comes to a place because many new establishments were now added in my alma mater place and I'm glad I did because were able to choose a good one. Do not assume that a certain place will always be the same because it will always strive for more success.

3. After the place was chosen you can now proceed to the reunion itinerary. It's the whole plan of your reunion; you should always consider the place where your other classmates will come from, their schedules of vacation,place to stay-in,and especially individual finances.And this is the time you made an agreement of the reunion date.
    Some of my classmates will come all the way from Luzon and Visayas going to Mindanao where our alma mater is located. So, our itinerary includes a whole day of arrival until late afternoon and  I'd set an all classmates dinner on our agreed place.And when the day came I can't really explain the feeling to be with them again after how many years of not seeing each other personally and I can say that our feelings were mutual. After the teary-eyed greetings, hugs, and our trademark classmates handshake (we made one when we were just in college) we ate our sumptuous dinner. Then we headed to a new karaoke place and had a never-ending conversations. The next day our itinerary includes school visit in the morning and beach outing in the afternoon. During dinner time we agreed to dine at the place where we love most, eating the famous spicy beef recipe near the seaside (it's the place where we spent most of our time during our college days,dine there after the tiresome overnights and after some of the dreadful exams).Truly, that place will always be in our hearts.

 School visit.

Arrival @ beach.

 Visiting the newly established mall before dinner.

4. After the itinerary was polished the next thing to be done is the invitation and if you want a reunion t-shirt.You can make an invitation and send it via e-mail in different areas where your classmates are located. They can print it and distribute it to others with the same place with them;you can also sent an invitation to your former professors and they will be glad to be invited.

Our reunion t-shirt designed by my boyfriend.

5. Have an overview of all the agreed plans and polished it. When all was set prepare yourself for a great reunion ahead.

The planning stage was crucial but the result was great if you put an effort to a certain thing surely it will give you a reward. And I can say that taking actions and being in-charge is not an easy task sometimes you'll get discouraged because your schedule will not meet but I can assure you that nothing is impossible if you are determined to do it. And of course with the help of our God through prayers.