Aryty Blog

This guest post is written by Noelle Hernandez, who is currently on break from the Philippines visiting her sister in New York City. She will be returning to Manila soon and we were fortunate to have her help us out at the Aryty booth during the PAFCOM Parade and Festival last weekend in Jersey City.

Hello to everyone reading this blog! My name is Noelle and nandito ako ngayon sa New York visiting my sister. How I met Nils and how I ended up hanging out with his team, helping them hand out fliers and balloons last Sunday, is too long a story to tell; but I’ll let you in on one thing, my Sunday was definitely a day well spent.

I mean, fiesta time sa New Jersey, ang galing diba?! The sun was out and the morning air was filled with the aroma of the tastiest Filipino dishes you can imagine, yung amoy na lagi mong malalanghap pag nagluluto si lola sa kusina back home. Kaya nakakamiss tuloy umuwi. The strip was filled with smiling faces and children running around with Aryty balloons tied to their wrists (we did such a great job handing those out!). Nakakatuwa talaga pag nakakakita ka ng mga Filipino families when they come together, everyone happy and laughing; but it was even better seeing that even non-Filipinos were enjoying pinoy culture just as much and that made me feel very proud. At saka meron palang parade with members of the community marching around in colorful maria claras and barong tagalogs, the younger girls strutting their stuff wearing their crowns and sash. ang ku-cute talaga at akakatuwa. Oh and lets not forget that we even had our very own Philippine Fiesta Idol! How cool is that? =)

I can’t say this enough, but it was really such a great day well spent! Fiestas are definitely part and parcel of Filipino culture. Through good times and bad times, fiestas will always be the tie that binds Filipino families, friends, and communities together. A celebration where we rejoice family and friendship, hindi mo na ngaminsan papansinin ang gastos para lang makapag-fiesta! haha! Pinoy na Pinoy! At para lang makasam mo yung iba mong barkada at kababayan.

Sharing this fiesta with Nils and his team made me realize at the day’s end that Aryty.com is actually celebrating a different kind of fiesta with us and for us where everybody can experience it everyday, touching base with our pinoy family and friends here and abroad through texting and even sending load. A single text can go a long way and, likewise, so can load!

The weather was perfect for Sunday’s PAFCOM parade and festival in Jersey City. Here a just a few of the pictures we have from the event. You can see lots more pictures of the PAFCOM parade and festival at www.aryty.com/flickr. Feel free to drop us your comments.

Congratulations to Francis Sison on producing a terrific event for Filipino’s to enjoy! All of us at Aryty look forward to attending next years event again!

Special thanks to Noelle Hernandez who pitched in to help us at Aryty during her visit from Manila!

This Sunday the Philippine-American Friendship Committee (PAFCOM) will be holding their annual parade and festival in Jersey City at Exchange Place. The parade will be starting at noon with exhibits open throughout the day and the Filipino Idol finals!

Look for the Aryty booth and make sure to get a free load for any prepaid Globe, Smart or Sun Cellular phone. Hope to see you there!

Learn about PAFCOM

People will blame low iPhone sales in the Philippines on the phone price but that’s won’t be the problem. The fact is most Filipinos find a way to afford something if they really want it. The problem lies in texting!

Filipinos are notorious for text. After all the Philippines is the text message capital of the world. Most Filipinos can and do text without looking at their phone. They can’t stop texting whether it’s while driving, sitting in class, standing at work or even scratching their back using their phone and texting at the same time!

You can’t text without looking at the phone using a touch screen! This is one of the reasons people in the Philippines prefer Nokia so much over the razor. It’s all about buttons and being able to feel the keys you are pressing. Hence the iPhone will be more i and less phone for the people that do actually buy one!

1 week away!

It didn’t look this big in the commercials

I took these pictures as I passed the Apple Store on Prince Street this morning. My sneaker head instincts told me to drop a chair and start the line to buy one next week. Then I remembered iPhone isn’t a limited pair of AF1′S. I can wait! haha

Just in case you didn’t notice we slipped a new feature into Aryty last week allowing you to send load automatically! Using our new Schedule a Load you can have load sent on a reoccurring basis each week, certain days every month or on a special occasion like a birthday.

Scheduling load saves you time from logging into your account to send load and also keeps you out of trouble from forgetting to send load as well! You can pick the day you want load delivered to your loved one and even choose the local time in the Philippines you want them to get it. It doesn’t get any easier to buy or send Globe, Smart or Sun load!

When I went to the Philippines a few weeks back I created schedules to make sure I was automatically loaded every few days and scheduled load to some friends as well. Giving load is the best way to boost your popularity in the Philippines! hahaha

To create a schedule just log into your account and look for the schedule load link in “My Account” section. If you have any questions or suggestions of ways to improve it please make sure to let us know.

Schedule a Load Now

Somthing to Crow About, a modern zarzuela will be showing in New York City at the La Mama Annex Theatre June 21st-24th.

This musical is about a “sabungero” (cockfight enthusiast) who was so enamoured with his cocks that he neglected his wife and his duties as a father and as family provider. The town’s local priest exhorts him to change his habits-but to no avail.

The story is based on the short story “My Brother’s Kiko’s Peculiar Chicken” by Dr. Alexander R Roces. Music was composed by Ferdie Dimatura and orchestratted by Nonoy Diestro. Choreography is by Joji Felix-Velarde and Enrico Labayen.

Something to Crow About

Aryty is a sponsor of the show in association with the Philippine Consulate General of New York. We thought it was a great way to show appreciation of Philippine culture and promote pride of Filipino heritage during a period when the Philippines celebrates their independence.

If you live in the greater New York area make sure to check out Something to Crow About at the La Mama Annex Theatre located on 74a East 4th Street. You can buy tickets online here or by calling the box office at (212) 475-7710.

Nothing was more popular at the Fiesta Filipina than April and Kathy, our beautiful Aryty Angels! Enjoy the Slide show.

Thanks for doing a great job Angels!

Lots of food, exhibits and Filipino fun at Fiesta Filipina in San Francisco last weekend. Aryty was definately in the house! Looking forward to next year!

We just got back to New York after spending the weekend in San Francisco at Fiesta Filipina. It was 2 amazing days of food, music and chatting with Aryty customers and friends who stopped by the Aryty booth to say hello. We also gave out Globe promos and free load for Filipinos living in the Bay Area to send to their loved ones in the Philippines.

We will be posting lots of pics and video from the event in the next day for you to check out or leave a comment. Here’s a few of the Aryty team.

Daniel with Kathy and April

Yoshiko-san trying to stay out of the sun!

Quick pic with the Aryty Angels

Salamat sa photos Liber!

I just arrived in San Francisco with some of the team for Fiesta Filipina 2007. The event will run June 16th and 17th at the Civic Center Plaza from 10am-6pm and is the largest Philippine Independence Day celebration in Northern California.

This is the second year Aryty has attended the Fiesta Filipina to let Filipinos know how easy it is to send Globe, Smart or Sun load to the Philippines. The weekend should be filled with great Filipino food, crafts and artistas performing from the Philippines! If you get a chance to come out make sure to stop by our booth and say Kamusta!

Nice to be back in San Francisco

Hope to see you there!

More on Fiesta Filipina 2007