~ milenyo ~

I am writing this from the comforts of a hotel room somewhere here in Makati. After two grueling days in the heat, dark, cold food, lukewarm water, noisy highway & neighbors, inefficient condo guards, low batt mobile phone, dead landline and the uneasy feeling, thanks to my mom I can get some good sleep and warm meals - at least for tonight. I just hope that electricity will be back in our place tomorrow, as mentioned in the news.

As many of you experienced or heard (depends on which part of the globe you are in), the Philippines was visited by one of the strongest typhoons in 11 years! Strong rain and winds are usual occurrences here in Pinas, but this one was so unique. It really battered Metro Manila, crippling the central business district of the country.

Luckily, DepEd made a good decision by calling off Thursday classes by announcing it Wednesday night. Unfortunately for some corporate slaves, they have to endure swaying buildings, torturous commute and dilly-dallying management who cannot decide when to call off work (usually, it happens when almost all employees are already in the workplace and would have a harder time going home!).

I am jumping sequences of events but I hope you get my drift...

To continue... I woke up Thursday morning with no electricity. My cousin texted me not to go out anymore as she knew that I was scheduled to do some bank errands. After briefly talking with JL and Jenjen over the phone (good for them that they left for NY a day early, ahead of Milenyo!), I looked through my window and was surprised to see wind and rain starting to build up. At around 1130am, the wind changed direction and furious Milenyo arrived! I saw through the window strong winds hurling debris, branches, rooftops and orange cones. Vehicles in the skyway where either stopping or backing up with no definite direction to go. I was almost anticipating seeing cars being carried by the wind (I guess I watch too much tv...). I felt I was in the middle of the typhoon's eye that I backed out and closed the blinds, fearing that some things might be hurled towards me. Another cause of worry was that Daddy was unreachable. He went to work early in the morning but with the sudden downpour, all roads where almost closed or unpassable. Amidst poor phone signal, I managed to contact him and learn that he was taking shelter somewhere waiting for the rain to stop before continuing his drive home. I think it was almost 6pm when he managed to get home.

I texted some friends, wishing that they were somewhere safe and warm. Some answered that they were still in the office (safer than to be in the streets) while the others were in the comforts of their homes. Fortunately, all family and friends are safe. And Milenyo, like he arrived, suddenly has passed.

Towards evening, I found myself alone in the dark. The condo suddenly felt so lonely especially that a day before, it was a chaos having my siblings with me. Nothing else to do and with a fervent hope that electricity comes back to normal, I forced myself to sleep. It was not a good one. I woke up from time to time to check my surroundings (I had to leave open the windows just to let some air in) and to fan myself.

The next morning, it seems that nothing happened. It was not sunny but there was no rain. I got dressed so that I can do my bank errands. That was when I saw personally the evidences of the previous day. Debris and uprooted trees were all over the streets. The nearby mall's facade was "shredded" in pieces. Some banks were offline, while others were closed. Blackout still crippled the Metro. Noontime, I desperately needed to recharge my phone's batt so I went to a nearby coffeeshop that was operational because of a genset. I guess others have the same thoughts so there were no available sockets left. Making a wild guess, I went to school. The hallway was dark but it was open...and there were several outlets free!! I plugged and waited for the charging to finish while trying to start my term paper due this coming week. After four hours, school was closing for the day so I had to pack up and go home. I decided to pass by the nearby mall to connect to the internet (wifi, school's connection was not working) to send some work emails, but the coffeeshop was still crowded. So, I just decided to get some food to cover lunch and dinner, and went home. Again, I found myself in the dark. It was another loooong night...

This morning, I was looking forward to my morning class. By 7am, I was already prepared to go to school - hot breakfast, airconditioned rooms, outlets to recharge phone and laptop. But I know that I cannot bear another dark and warm night at home. After getting the go signal from Mommy, during class breaks, I called several inns and hotels but all were fully booked. I was starting to lose hope, especially after checking in with the condo's lobby guard about the power status. No definite time of electricity resumption and no hotel room. After class and after lunch with a classmate, one of my events' contacts texted me that she reserved a room for me but I have to guarantee it asap. After a call, I was all set to go home to get my stuff. I still checked again with the guard but all they can offer me was their standard answer of "no advise from Meralco yet." So, with my school stuff and change of clothes, I left the condo. And so, the beginning of this entry...

********

The typhoon gave me some sad realities...well, I guess that's my luck for now. I don't blame anybody nor have any grudges (heartaches, maybe). I'll be fine.

********

Again, thanks, Mommy...thanks for making me feel "at home."

Jet Lag

After getting in at JFK around 8PM last wednesday night, I dragged myself back to work the following morning. Wrong move but I had to catch up with work.

My sisters have given you the stories about the trip... family, food and fun. Two weeks (ok, 11 days to be exact) flew by so fast but was enough to give me jet lag of memories.

Telling stories about my trip doesn't give justice to the vacation. You just have to be there to experience the laughter and bond that was shared.

Today may be my second day back at work but my body and mind is still on its last few days of vacation. I still wish I was in Manila even with all storm and the blackout.

The Eleven-Day Vacation

the past eleven days has been one of the memorable ones. i tried to journal each day of my trip in manila, but words just simply escapes me. moments are hard to put into words, you have to be there to fully get the gist of things. either that, or we come home exhausted to our bones that our brains just refuses to function properly. but i'm gonna try and share with you some of the highlights of the trip. the first day: after breakfast from siningag express delivered in (around $10), horacio and my brother's fix appointment, a light lunch at itallianis and tips 'n toes (while horacio was getting a massage), we headed to apeh's house in magallanes to celebrate his and cherlene's birthday (a small celebration). ally rendered a solo performance of "happy birthday" song in chinese. after the candle melted almost all the way through because the kids can't get enough of blowing the candles, we had a piece of our cake. the second day: we had lunch at my dad's place in malate. we had shrimps, sinigang na baboy, and crabs (all prepared by auntie fe) and for dessert we all had (except for horacio) an orange twin popsies. since jackie couldn't finish the whole thing (...) she had a bite from each of our twin popsies. then we headed out to mall of asia (the largest mall in the Philippines). on a sunday plus the thre-day sale that they are having, the mall was jampacked. humidity was all we felt. we decided to cool ourselves at coffee bean and tea leaf. after jackie complaints about the chocolate cake not being good, she still kept having it until they were almost none left. then the whole family once again met up for dinner at hai (which apeh co-owns). it was a chaos with the kids running around with each of their nannies on their tail. it was still good, the kids (and adults) quieted down and remained on their seats when the food came. okay, so we really weren't quiet... so what, we're a big family and we communicate with each other and enjoy the company. third day: did some errands with horacio and had my $12 dollar (teeth) cleaning - pretty cheap right? but it was really good cleaning. had lunch at jollibee and had my fix of two piece chicken joy - no other place can make those chicken and gravy! later that day, we took jackie out in search of her red dress and ended up having it custom made for Php3,000 (which is around $60!), still pretty cheap, but for philippine standards - i don't think so. then with jackie on hand, we went out with benjie and mel for dinner at national's sports bar. he gave me copies of the second season of lost, all of desperate houswives. it was fun hanging out with those who don't have qualms about who's gonna be there and the like. seeing mel again was just like seeing a really old friend. i'm glad that we were able to see each other ever for a couple of hours. the fourth day: a whirlwind trip to iloilo. as soon as manong junior (our driver who we have known since we were still in grade school) picked us up from the airport, we headed to the supermarket to buy groceries for our grandmother. then we headed out to breakthrough for lunch with the family. lola (grandma) barely remembers me, but as soon as she did, her eyes started to well up once more. i haven't seen my grandma nor been to iloilo for almost ten years. it was nice going back again, seeing my grandma once more. although she isn't what she to be anymore, it's kinda good. she and horacio started conversing in spanish. the questions and statements were told more than ten times. she went home tired yet happy. i don't know if she remembers me being there or not, nonetheless, it was still good seeing her again. after few more chores, and having chicken inasal for dinner, we went to manong paulo's place in mandurriao and crashed for a couple hours, then we left for boracay at around 2 in the morning. fifth through seventh day: lazy days in boracay. after having a heavy beakfast, shake after shake... i think my tummy gave in. i woke up from a catnap with a really bad tummy ache and couldn't really hold down anything. that didn't stop me though from eating some more and enjoy the sun. we went island hopping and snorkling, had our massage by the beach, played in the water, attempted to build sandcastle, laid down on the sand bar, had couple drinks at night. it was good being able to go on a vacation again with the family, i'm so glad that dad was there with us. it had been a while. as soon as we came back from boracay and picking up jackie's red dress (which was custom made), there was yet another dinner at magallanes, it was sa-ko's birthday. this time all of my dad's sister were there. i haven't seen my three aunts for years. eighth day: went to starbucks for breakfast and had chowking delivered in for lunch (sweet and sour pork, braised beef, kangkong with shrimp paste and spring rolls just for hoario and i) and for a stayed in for the most part of the day due to exhaustion. later that day, we went to cafe breton had some crepes then headed for tips 'n toes while horacio had another masage. had dinner with achi at cafe meditteranean and tired to look for ding dongs. went to mandarin hotel disappointed and desperate for ding dongs, fell asleep at aroud 9:30pm, whil achi and ahiya did some lasst minute prep for apeh's big celebration the next day (mixed with few dramas that i, once again, missed).

ninth day: the reason for the trip - apeh's 60th birthday celebration at mandarin hotel. i must say, after experiencing a number of this kind of celebration in our family, this is the most organizzed one. there were no additional tables requested at the last minute, the kids behaved in their kiddie table and the people attended the party paid attention to the program that was prepared. eyes welled up with achi pearlie's speech for her dad, ally sang the beauty and the beast theme song - acappela! the photo presentation for apeh, and the neverending picture taking. the party (or should i say, pictorial?) ended at around 4pm, left the hotel at 4:30. went out to dinner with dad at around 7pm.

tenth day: exhaustion kicks in. we forced ourselves out of the door for our 1pm appointment at fix salon. had (buffet) lunch at jollibee wherein we ordered two orders of two piece burger steak, three orders of two piece chicken joy, an order of spaghetti with one piece chicken, another order or spaghetti, crispy pork chops and a large fries - it was just the four of us. after our fix appointment, we went home and rested for a couple of hours then we headed to magallanes to celebrate ally's fourth birthday. after the birthday celebration, achie pearlie dropped us off at max brenner and we had cup of chocolate with achi's firends. it was a hilarious night. the place was almost empty with two other customers inside, we filled up the place with boisterous laughters (actually it was mostly just achi and ria!).

eleventh day: cabs and cab drivers from hell. went to taguig (where the final product of beach walk slippers are), traffic was horrendous - we were stuck at the same place for at least an hour. our cab driver wasn't too happy, neither were we. left the factory with ONE white, wedge flip flops (was hoping for at least three!). dad took us to ongpin (chinatown) for lunch at one of those restaurants that fancy is not part of the dictionary but have really great food. achi had the urge to buy lau hu chi (that's acrhie comics for the chinese people!), by the way, none of us can read chinese but we grew up with this and laughed with it just by looking at the pictures. we took a cab to greenbelt - with the humidity, the cab didn't have the proper aircondition, as soon as we stepped out of the cab, we were all dehydrated. we did some last minute errands - buying all the dried mangoes, ding dongs, lengua de leche, pili nuts, adobo peanuts and chichacorn, cds abnd vcds, and books (had the inclination to read noli me tangere and el filibusterismo!). once again, took a cab home - cab driver was mister grumpy. he was muttering complaints under his breath the whole entire cab ride. oh well. after dropping all of the stuff home, we headed out once again to have dinner (our despedida dinner) with the entire family at dencio's. after dinner, achi pearlie took us to starbucks for some coffee. came home, packed all our stuff in records time.

the vacation as one of a kind. i am so happy that i decided to go to manila and attend apeh's birthday celebration. now that i am back in new york, back to reality. i already miss the entire family, the craziness each time we all have gatherings, the kids running around, spending time with them, seeing relatives once more, the thirty-minute goodbyes before heading home.

"families are like fudge, mostly sweet with some nuts."

~ shhhh & zzzzz ~

As I write this, JL and Jenjen (with Horacio) are on their way back to the Big Apple.

After 11 days of pure sibling adventures, the condo is back at its quiet and clutter-free. No more obstacle course of airbed, luggage, clothes and others!.

I am too tired and sleepy to write a full-length, detailed story...maybe tomorrow :) For now, here's a preview of what we have been up to for the past 11 days:

• Food!!!!!!!!!!
• Iloilo merry-go-round
• Shakes, sand and massage in Boracay
• Cab rides and character drivers
• Tips 'n Toes + Fix Salon
• Starbucks and Coffee Bean
• Jollibee buffet
• Family primetime (we have drama, comedy and action!)
• Mommy anecdotes
• Red-letter day
• Tons of photos (okay, we are camwhores!)

Finally...

Yes, the long awaited vacation is finally here. This is blog is being written around 6:45AM Manila Time, my third morning in Manila and I find myself waking up after two long days of family, food and laughter. I am wide awake to my surprise.

A little bit of summary before I continue....

Arrived in Manila at around 11PM (Friday) after what we felt was the shortest 16 hour flight. On demand video on board plus the old time favorite, Bi Bim Bap (Korean Spiced Rice) made the time just fly (pun inteded! I try.).

Saturday started with an $8 breakfast at Sinangag Express. Haircut at Fix. Lunch at Itallianis. Tips and Toes in the afternoon. A few bites of Jollibee via food delivery. Dinner at Magallanes that ended at around 11PM.

Sunday started quite slow but ended with a bang, literally. After my sister's conference call with a company in HK, we marched ourselves towards Malate for a simple lunch of Sinigang na Baboy (Pork Sour Soup) and steamed shrimps. We were full by 2 PM. After which we got a call for dinner plans at Hai (Apeh's 1 of 3 restaurants that he co owns at the Mall of Asia.) The bang that I was referring to was the fireworks display just in front of the restaurant jsut before dinner started.

Dinner was so much fun. Kids running all over the place and adults being told where to sit. It was chaotic with 6 kids under the age of 6 with their own yaya's (nanny) and 22 adults. That number with a couple of families MIA. My dad's twin sister just arrived and the stories on our table were loud and were always ended with boistorous laughter. I can't put justice into writing the events that transpired during dinner, but what I can tell you is there's "E-max" in the Mall (an inside joke amongst the family).

We were all complaining about being tired and sick after a long humid day of eating and going around in a crowded mall. You'd assume we'd hit the sack rigth... but no. The three of us found ourselves in bed chatting up about who's who and who's not up until 2:30AM. Details of which I couldn't possibly write in this blog... but people close to us would know the general topics of discussion.

More on the saga of Pinas Vacation 2006... hopefully, we could update this while we find ourselves under the sun in Boracay.

~ letting go ~

Tonight, I attended my first class for the 2nd term. When I enlisted for this subject, all I had to take into consideration was the schedule and if it fits my major/specialization. I already psyched myself that this will be another full load term (read my previous post).

Wednesday classes is Global Trade. My professor is of German roots and blood but with a Filipino heart. He has been residing in the Philippines for the past 22 years (he speaks Tagalog, as well!) and even took up his masters from the other school (toot! toot!). In between discussing the course outline and requirements, we had a glimpse of his sense of humor. I became more relaxed and tried to quiet the voices in my head - they kept on reminding me of the class' workload!

The professor mentioned before our "halftime" break, that the rest of the class session will be allotted to a guest speaker who will come with his (our professor's) wife and youngest daughter. It was something unusual on the first day of classes but then, this is grad school and an elective class, I guess, anything goes.

The speaker, aside from a practitioner in the business industry, was someone from the ministry. He spoke from the heart. Yes, he did talked about leadership, about work ethics, about our roles in our respective companies, in our country and in the world. But what he emphasized the most on is about our faith.

He ended his talk with a prayer, a personal prayer. I was starting to feel something different. He then turned to the class and asked who wanted to come up front and be personally prayed over. There were hesitations. Nobody stood up. As we looked at each other, two of my classmates who were seated with me in the first row stood up. After the pray over, he asked my classmates what made them decide to be the first to go up front. Their answer struck me. We just need to acknowledge His presence in our lives.

I stood up and asked to be prayed over. He told me to just let go.

I have started to let go. I am letting go all my hurts, pains, selfishness, worries and ghosts of the past. This will take time and will not be an easy journey but I know I have taken the first step.

After three years in grad school, this is one class day I will never forget.

~ family ties ~

Last Sunday, as I joined my cousins in browsing old albums and looking for photos to complete a video that they are doing for their dad's 60th birthday, I found this picture! I am the goofy one behind JL (if I get behind JL now, I won't be seen at all as he towers over me!), while Jenjen is the little baby carried by our grandmother. Most likely, this was taken during one of our relatives' birthday since we were in red. Actually, there were still lots and I'll get them one of these days for posterity's sake. I bet, Jenjen would be ecstatic to see some of her baby photos!

Our little sister, Jackie, starts her countdown till her Ahya and Di-chi arrive for our uncle's party. As it is being given by his children on his honor, all of them (including me who is the designated organizer/planner in the family) are hands on and busy with the preparations. Amidst guest lists, invites, menu, hunt for red dresses and other logistics, I hope this party will go on without a hitch starting today! Stress and pressure always run high whenever we have this get togethers, be it for 20 family members or 200 guests!

I am enjoying "me time" for the past few days. I got my much needed rest (or so...), finished a book, arranged school stuff, did a bit of spring cleaning (threw out 5 full trashbags, i had fun shredding scrap paper!), completed two needleworks and had my fill of Desperate Houswives' Season 2. Now, if I can only get myself to fix my closets :)

This is the calm before the storm.

School starts again this coming week. Today is my last tgif since I have classes on Saturdays. Classes next term equates to at least two term papers a week, 8 different professors and balancing time with managing stress in between projects/events. I am almost near the finish line, I can and I will manage the endure final laps.

But of course, I can't wait for my sibs to get here...we have a full-packed 11 days, including a Boracay trip. It sounds stressful but this is good stress. I welcome this anytime as long as I get to spend time with those two in the photo! (Mom, you better make true your promise about next year!)

i'm alive!

i know i haven't been posting into this blog account lately... i just don't know what to say, all i could think of lately has been food - hence the cooking and downloading of recipes from food network, goya and rice selects.

anyways, with our trip to manila around the corner, i can't believe we'd be leaving new york and it's nasty weather next week!!! i wish it would rain here and be cold. i know, it's a mean thing to say, but i couldn't help it.

it's funny, my sister sent us the itinerary for the two weeks that we would be in manila and i'm telling you it's mad crazy!! it somehow seems like it's not a vacation at all (well, except for the days that we would be in boracay). i can't wait though, especially during my uncle's birthday celebration and our few hours in iloilo. having to go to dinner and fill have reservation wherein they have to close a section in the restaurant - just like my despidad dinner at heaven and eggs.

few days to go!!!!

Ber Months

Finally, September!

Philippines have been known to celebrate Christmas the longest. No matter how poor the country is, everybody gets into that happy and joyous feeling. However, we do pause for awhile during All Saints and All Souls day.

Since our family is made up for around 12 uncles and aunts from both sides of our families, you can only imagine the number of cousins, nephews and nieces running around during family gatherings, and we are never short of these.

Imagine, exchanging gifts during Christmas! It's like Divisoria during the early morning rush hour. You'd see kids running around, ripping boxes everywhere. It is a must during our Christmas gift giving time that everybody gets trash bags to keep all gifts in it and to tidy up all the wrappers, ribbons and boxes.

The best part of this gift giving, it doesn't matter what it is. Just the fact that they wrapped up something for you is already a great deal. Last Christmas I did enjoy those hoodies, mugs, books and even those chino shirts.