Our supervisor/editorial assistant Ina finally contacted us last Wednesday to inform us of an event the next day(!) that we can cover for Bluprint and Lifestyle Asia. According to the email we're supposed to cover two events, something in SMX Convention Center and Manila F.A.M.E. International at World Trade Center. I had no idea what those events are, but figured they were most likely related to our line of work. The plan was I'll take the Biochem quiz and then leave after. BUUUUT, my good professor did not allow me to leave class; worse, we never had the quiz. Hay nako lang talaga. I was forced to leave Katipunan an hour later than planned forcing me to miss the SMX event.
After two LRT/MRT rides and a cab, I reached MOA after almost two hours of commuting. Lesson learned: avoid MRT Cubao station as much as possible and don't go down at Ayala station. Hayayay the stress of commuting. So after a late lunch, we took a cab to World Trade.
WOW. The whole setting inside World Trade was nothing like I've seen before. Different stalls lined with different kinds of furniture and homeware. For almost 3 hours, we were walking and distributing copies of the publisher's magazines to the stalls. Trying to convince the owners to agree on us taking a picture of the magazine dispayed on one of their furniture was one of the hardest things to do. They looked at us like we were kids sent by some mogul whose business was to copy other people's designs. Thank God we were with a known lifestyle writer who practically knew all the exhibitors.
Aside from handing out magazines, we were also tasked to interview some of the exhibitors and come up with an article describing some of the companies. I realize these companies or designers are all exporters, catering to people from Europe, North America, and Asia. We saw Caucasians and Asians walking with strollers on one hand as they go from stall to stall, probably making a purchase. And from the looks of it, these buyers are not just common-man buyers; these are bigtime buyers who would actually spend money just to go the Philippines and buy a tea set or a coffee table or a tassel for their homes. O_O Crazy, this event was for the rich, and I was lucky enough to at least have the chance to see the designs before they were posted in the companies' websites.
Here I realize how big the world really is, that it doesn't just revolve in my own little world or in the world of the people I know. There are so many people out there, richer than anyone else I know probably, who can spend on the littlest things for reasons I don't know. But aside from that, I realized how creative Filipinos are. We have to be really proud of this exporting business that many Filipinos are engaging in because for me, it's one of the best ways that a Filipino can show the world what he's got.
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