wawi's day

mami and wawi visited us for a week last feb 16 to 23. when was the last time we've been complete like this? i think that would be 2010 during our wedding.

feb 18 was wawi's birthday. we had dinner at din tai fung (the default dinner place hehehe). everybody was happy. :)

wawi is now 27. life had been a little tough on him. i remember praying that if only other people could bear the hardship of other people, then i volunteer to take all the pain. parang anak ko na yang batang yan. but life doesn't work that way. each person is buffed to his/her perfection. each person has a different "perfect state".

when he was still young, i was his tutor. i even signed his assignment notebook! we would wake up early to study for his periodic exams. i read each page to him... he would fall asleep. he passed the exams anyway.

wawi is a carbon copy of papa - physically and everything that's inside. papa is very much alive :) (and i am the girl version hehehe)

wawi, may you find your perfect state and may you enjoy the process of finding it. life is good! God is good!

happy vday

valentine's day. kuya, april, tita, keyla, and i had a group date at the peach garden in pasir ris. thanks for adopting me :) i spent the day with people i love :) masarap ang meal. (overpriced) lechong kawali. hehehe!

and i got flowers from the huzbund. maraming salamat! ayun ang teddy bear inangkin na ng ibang bata dyan :p

the layover

last january, philip, mike's best man, migrated to new zealand to study. on the way there, there was a one-day layover in singapore. mike asked me if philip could stay here for the night. of course, dear. :)

the press release was that philip will go here alone, and that i will take him to the merlion area for a quick tour before his flight to new zealand. while mike was so sweet to brew up a wonderful surprise, i somehow sensed that he will show up on my doorstep :)

and my pagfifeeling was right. there they were waiting outside our door at around 2am that friday. :) sorry, love! dapat pala nagpanggap akong nagulat. hehehe pero the gesture was appreciated 1000%

the next day, we took philip to the main spots here in sg.

we realized this is our first pic at the merlion. pic courtesy of philip, the best man.

sige makiki tourist mode muna kami with philip. the esplanade area...

one of the many bridges...

love this green wall!

the united colors of benetton...

art work in a tunnel...

clark quay at day - minus the lights, loud music, crowd...

the fort canning park...

an empty bus with philip...

and then we rushed to the airport to bring philip a step closer to his dreams.

it was an interesting tour. the weather cooperated. maybe it cooperated a little too much. hehehe. it didn't rain, but boy was it sunny outside. we walked a lot, but nobody really complained. good good :)

dear philip, may your bold step bear fruits. may you get what you want and need. may you be a fighter and survivor. may you be united one day to the woman you love. may life treat you kind, but not spoil you. all the best!

dear mike, thank you for the surprise. :) loved it. i want more of that. hihihi. may we find ourselves closer to our dreams each day... wherever that may be.

fiesta

3rd week of january marks the feast of sto. nino. i have very good memories of the fiesta. during fiesta, the entire barangay is closed for vehicles. there is only one traffic and that is human traffic bwahahaha! from morning 'til night, sige lang sa kalalakad ang mga tao na di ko rin alam kung san galing and san papunta! :)))

kahit walang pera ang mga tao, all homes will open their doors for visitors. there was a time we invited mami's work colleagues. heto na. nag brown out. ang mami, shinowcase na ako to play the piano. hahahaha! what can i do? anak lang ako. sige play the piano with a heavy heart. gawin ba akong intermission number dahil nag brown out? kulit! :)))

outside, streets compete for the banderitas contest. i am proud to say that i have helped a couple of times in making the decors. we never won though. :)) winning is not important. so said the loser. bwahahaha!

madaling araw pa lang, nanggigising na ang mosiko. they pass by the street every hour or so. when we hear the music, everybody runs in panic mode, "andyan na mosiko!" all eyes are glued at the legs of the majorettes. but my eyes are fixed on the tubas. how mighty they look and how powerful the players' lungs are!

there was the karakol, it's a procession of passionate people carrying statues of the infant jesus while dancing with all their might. there are two things here. man makes infant jesus dance AND infant jesus makes man dance. the surge of passion, energy, and faith always makes me cry.

there was serenata in front of the main chapel at night. cool wind blowing, a band serenading you, sinong mag-aakalang nasa barangay sto. nino ka? hehehe. love it!

mami sent the pics below from the 2013 fiesta. first two pics are from the karakol. just seeing them gives me goosebumps. i wonder why i've never joined this in the entire 27 yrs of my life.

the pic with the girls dancing is called the bati-bati (sayaw ng pagbati [as in greetings]), and this is done during easter. i could see now that they dance for the fiesta as well. ehem, i was once a bati-bati girl. during the, ehem, olden days (ca 1989), our dresses were pure dainty white. my hair was in a pusod, my face was espasolish, and i danced with all my might, even if dancing is not my forte :p

how i miss fiesta in sto. nino!!! someday i'll be home again!

the fantastic five

it all started last year. noel, an ex-officemate, was visiting singapore and he invited us (jan, ajit, vijay, and me) for dinner. it was an odd mix, really. 2 pinays, 2 indians, 1 brit. we have nothing in common but work. then the dinner happened. actually, the wine happened. hehehe. what started with "how's the weather?" talks ended with compulsary sharing about your lovelife. sharing with almost strangers? nothing could be more liberating. hahahaha.

after a year, noel visited singapore again. that was last january. we had another dinner - the same group of groovy people hahaha! we established the fact that we could do this every year, the five of us. this time, we had drinks at one altitude (pic below) and then dinner at sam's curry in dempsey hill. the night was concluded with ice cream in holland village.

folks, this could be our yearly thing. :) the grooveeeeey group. wassup?! :))))

three months today

three months ago, i joined this new company in tanjong pagar. i had anxieties moving out because i loved my old office, i loved my old work, i loved my co-workers. i guess that's what happens when you start mixing emotions in the workplace. you tend to build your comfort zone in a "paradise" that you invented. and you tend to use the word "love" a little too much than normal. :p

so now i am a 3 month old baby in this new company. i am happy to be building new relationships. i have lunch with an all fil group. lunch is always light and happy. we just laugh and make fun of every little thing. i really am blessed to be with happy people. it dates back to spi days - God always surrounds me with cheerful people :)

the working environment is very different this time. before, i am used to just chatting or calling my teammates. i am the lone team member in singapore, while the rest of the team is in zur. now, we are all in a room and electronic chatting becomes obsolete. live chatting is the in thing here! hehehe! at first, i was grasping for space and silence, but i guess i am not that old. i could still learn new tricks, you see :)

i also thought that it would be impossible to hear mass on days of obligation. last ash wednesday, we all heard mass at the singapore chinese orchestra, which is just across the street! love moves in mysterious ways :)

so... i just have 2 conveniences that i miss:
- that you could go to and from work without getting soaked when it rains. city hall mrt is magically linked to suntec. tanjong pagar isn't linked in any way to our new office building. bringing an umbrella is mandatory :p
- that you could go shopping anytime! sale ba kamo? you need to buy ingredients for dinner? you need pampa byowti? hehe you want it, you get it! hehehe! in the new work area, the nearest is 7-11 and there's still the rain you have to fight in bad days!

here's my view...

turi beach :)

we went to turi beach, indonesia for our post anniversary celebration. it's just a 30 min ferry ride from the tanah merah ferry terminal so why not? :)

this was our game plan: take 8am trip on a friday and do an early check in instead of the usual 2pm check in. they would be lenient since guests start flocking in on saturday mornings. and the plan worked :)

we arrived at the ferry terminal at around 6am, which was very oa sa aga. we learned that counters open at around 7am. so we had quite a time to kill at the deserted terminal.

at around 8am, we boarded the ferry and said our temporary goodbyes to sg. side note: i wonder why there were many elderly passengers. as in! i was confused for a while if we were on the right vessel. looked like a group tour for the groovy lolos and lolas :) back to regular programming, i loved the mangroves on the bay of nongsa, id.

we arrived at 8am local time (they are behind by 1 hr), and they generously granted our request for early checkin.

we loved the simple, maaliwalas room! comfy bed, a big mirror on the wall, resting chairs, big bathroom, balcony, and a view of the pool and the sea (that's semi obstructed by the roofs of the other cottages, but i'm not complaining). special mention goes to the overhead shower that is just divine :) i have to do this because from where i came from in pasir ris st 21, our shower sucks with very low water pressure.

we learned our lesson well when we went to bintan last year. food was over priced and even failed to impress someone like me who could eat grass if i have to hehe. this time, we thought of bringing a ton of sandwiches for merienda and packed lunch - our favorite lumpiang mami and rice. the dilemma was: there was no microwave. on that day, innovation was reborn! we reheated our food in any way possible. we could say we had one of the best meals of our lives in the balcony with our fave food and our view. even the ants agreed and celebrated with us!

after stuffing our tummies with good stuff, it was swimming time! the weather was perfect! we had a light rain in the morning, but later that day, the sun said hello and we had our cold, perfect swim.

in the afternoon, we roamed around the place and found good spots. we noticed they have lots of statues and icons. this is coming from the perspective of someone who doesn't know any background: i think the statues are a bit scary with big eyes and uninviting stares.

we also had a much needed massage in their couple room. 1.5 hours of pure massage bliss :)

for dinner, we went to the buffet restaurant. food was ok. not great, but ok :) naks. entertainment was provided by a local band. we were specially impressed by ate's rendition of whitney's "i will always love you". pasado! naks.

breakfast buffet was ok too. i got just a little bit of almost every dish. so i could taste them all. bongga diba?

we found out that they have another pool that's being renovated. sayang :) maybe one day we'll come back.

then it was time to go... we loved this short holiday!!!