I’m missing the Philippines at the moment. It’s not as bad as before. When I’m homesick like I am now, I listen to songs from my CD collection of Filipino artists. At the moment, I’m listening to Sharon Cuneta (eeeppp!).

My other Filipino fix includes emailing my Filipino friends and family, chatting with them or eating pinoy chichirya like Chippy and V-Cut (if they’re available from the Asian store).

Or I go online to visit www.pep.ph or listen to DZBB.

Argghhh. I don’t know how to get rid of the blues. I think there’s a point that you get tired of being a foreigner in a foreign land.

Don’t get me wrong. I love being in New Zealand. I love that it’s traffic & pollution free and that the crime rate is one of the lowest in the world. I love that even as foreigner, I am given opportunities career-wise that I never have to feel like a second-class citizen.

But I hate not having any sense of history in this country. I hate not bumping into friends I went to school with. I hate not being able to wear summer clothes all year long.

I hate not being able to see my parents at a drop of a hat. When I’m feeling bad or worried or scared, I like going to my parents’ house and sleeping in the bed I grew up in and my parents cooking my favourite dishes. I like being treated like a child when I’m in my parents’ home. It sometimes gets tiring being an adult, it gets tired having to be practical and responsible all the time.

The other day, I woke up crying because the dream (or nightmare) was so vivid. In my dream, my mother died. I couldn’t breathe in my dream. I remember hugging my mother tightly and asking her not to die. I will miss her so much. Please don’t die. It hurts that I can’t just jump into my car and drive to my parents’ place to see if she’s there.

I hate, I hate…perhaps it’s such a strong word. Hate is not what I feel but I don’t know how else I could express what I am feeling at the moment. Because there are so many things to love about NZ as well. And I know that if I leave NZ for good, I will miss it too just like the time I missed it when I was in Manila for 2 weeks in June.

For those living outside the Philippines…do you feel the same way I do? Is it me who’s like this? Can you tell me that you’re perfectly happy where you are and you don’t wish to go back to the Philippines if you could?

How do you fix the homesickness? How do you fix the loneliness?

Say what? Have you ‘twittered’ yet? Or have you ‘plurked’ yet?

You know when a fad’s use has grown to epidemic proportions when the seemingly simple nouns or titles are used as ‘verbs’ similar to have you ‘blogged’ or ‘texted’ about that yet?

Do I like Twitter? or Plurk? No I don’t. I haven’t used them yet but I’ve seen them being used by others and I feel like every little thing is now being shared on the web. I suppose it’s not literally everything but I feel that sometimes it is.

It’s quite intrusive….methinks like your online life is taking over every aspect of your life….you can’t get away from the Internet without having to share that you just had coffee or that you are off to bed now or whatever.

but hey others swear by them so to each his or her own.

Who knows I may be a convert soon but in the short term, I can’t see that happening!

Tweet!

It’s been months since my last post. I wonder if anyone’s still out there reading my blog? Perhaps I should shut it down

Well, to make up for past sins, I thought I’d share with you MrG’s version of our 7th wedding anniversary celebration. The Husband emails his parents once a week to update them of the weekly goings-on in our lives and for the week of our anniversary (07/07), this is what he had to say.

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary, so for a change I planned something myself (not common I am told) and I even went the whole hog and booked a romantic cottage at Akaroa for a night over the weekend. I did all this while Christine was away and hoped to earn lots of brownie points.

Saturday dawned reasonably clear although we had experienced some bitterly cold weather over the last few days and even some snow on the Port Hills. I listened to the weather forecast on the radio and they warned of blizzard type conditions arriving about 10am with gale force southerly winds and snow to near sea level!! And guess what, at 10am it arrived!!

We had arranged to drop Bea off at Katherine’s after an early lunch, which we did, even though it was snowing heavily!. The snow and gale force winds were out in force as we drove out through Halswell and on to Little River. The snow cleared before that and we stopped at Little River for a coffee. While there we noticed quite a few people turning up and then we heard that the road to Akaroa was closed due to snow! Oh well, so we just took longer with our coffee.

When we drove up the road to the check point, we were informed that it was open to cars with chains and 4wds, so off we went. Quite a lot of snow, but quite slushy on the road, so no problem. By the time we got to Akaroa it was very dark even though it was only mid afternoon as it was so stormy. The sea was coming up over the road in places and the winds were very strong with driving rain hail and snow, not quite wedding anniversary weather really. We followed the directions up a gravel road behind Akaroa to our cottage which looked more like something from a horror movie with driving rain and the wind howling down the gully. No problem to me of course but someone else was a little apprehensive. Once inside (the key was left in the door), someone else discovered there was no TV!!!.

Things went downhill from there for a while, especially as it wasn’t exactly tropical with a couple of small column heaters and an open fire place. Not to be perturbed, the colonial spirit in me rose to the occasion and I got the fire going and dashed back and forwards in the rain and hail to ensure we had a good supply of wood by the front door. The cottage was really very nice but would have been better in Summer as the extreme weather made the most of any gaps and created numerous drafts.

No TV was still a problem (sore point) so we set off to Akaroa in search of board games or whatever we could find at the local store. They had DVD’s for hire, but as I was reminded, we had nothing to play them on.(someone had intended to bring a laptop but I had scoffed at the idea coz this was our anniversary and computers were banned).

Akaroa resembled a ghost town in the midst of killer storm, with sea spray whipping up along the road and all but one restaurant closed. Couldn’t find any board games, so made do with a few magazines and food , before having a nice evening meal at the Italian pizza restaurant. The service was superb (we were the only ones there!) and the food very pleasant. Quite romantic really while the storm raged outside. So we stretched the meal out as long as we could before heading back up the unlit road through the dark wet bush to our cottage. Hail pelted down just as we arrived which set the scene quite nicely. I had the open fire roaring best I could but it was hard to beat the drafts, which came through from the bathroom area. Still it wasn’t that cold ( someone else frequently contradicted my opinion on this however).

So after reading the women’s magazines (I just looked at the pictures) it was time for bed, and fortunately a good electric blanket andwarm quilt. Needless to say the skimpy nightie stayed in the suitcase and was replace by good old winceyette PJ’s. Oh well could have been worse (I think). Of course I was up regularly keeping the fire going, without complaint. During the night the wind blew and the rain pelted down. The little creek beside the cottage was roaring and every now and then we could hear the wind coming down the gully like a train, very romantic. By morning the worst of the weather had gone and the cottage looked a lot better in a little sunshine (some else even said so) and without the strong winds it was less drafty and quite quaint. This time when we headed into Akaroa a few more places were open and we had a hearty brunch before heading home.

Quite an eventful wedding anniversary really but I have been given a few pointers on what to remember next time I organise a romantic getaway.

1: TV
2: Warmth
3: Modern Luxury.

That’s all for now, I need to feed the horse and fix a wheel on the dray before milking the cow.

Love S and C

I so love my Macbook and the iLife ‘08 bundle is a lifesaver! I created this slideshow for the husband’s 50th birthday bash on Saturday, 29 March.

Apologies for my basic skills…It took me a few sleepless nights of watching Mac online tutorials to come up with this!

Happy Birthday love! Here’s to the next 50 years!

Love you!

Sometime in June, I’d hear the voice over announcement of the flight attendant saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, you’ve just landed in NAIA.”

I can’t wait.

But this time, it’s going to be a short trip. I think.

Hope to catch up with some of you!

My nephew, Nathaniel “Nathan” delos Reyes Panganiban at one month. We’re still not sure if he looks like his mum (my sister) or his Dad (my BIL) but my Dad seems to think that little Nathan takes after his 2 lolo’s! Haha

It’s nice to have a baby boy for a change The family has had girls and now it’s time to bring in the grandboy!

I’m sorry if this blog lacks the update that it deserves. So much has been happening in my life offline that I can’t seem to find hours in the day to update you guys but I will. Soon. Lots of updates. Really good ones.

To those who asked if they can add me to their blogroll, yes, that’s fine as long as you don’t add my full name when you do so.

Me xx

They came

They saw (can you spot them in the boat?)

and they conquered! Bea taking a photo of them with her new digicam. We’re in some mountain top somewhere. Dang, we’ve seen so many mountains, I’ve lost count!

Our (my sister, myself and our families) lives have changed since my parents arrived. I’ve been here more than 6 years and in that time, I have learned to do things on my own. I’ve learned to manage my own house hold. I grew up in more ways than one.

Having my parents here took more adjustment than I anticipated. It’s weird having to give up the rights to my kingdom, to my kitchen with my Mom being…y’know, my Mom….she’s so used to taking care of us, of cooking and cleaning for us that she just assumed that it’s the same when she got here. That took some adjustment for me.

They’ve been here a month and a bit now and in that time, we’ve shown them some of the most beautiful places in the South Island of New Zealand. They’ve experienced so many things they never thought they’d experience. I’m really glad they’re here to experience our life.

They’ve also seen our everyday life too. My parents are living ’separate lives’ at the moment. With my Dad looking after Bea over the summer school holidays while the Husband and I are at work and my Mom looking after my sister who’s about ready to pop the little bubba next month (can’t wait!). So the senior love birds see each other during the day when my Dad and Bea bus in to town to hang out with them.

There’s a down side to havin’ my parents here. I think I’m gaining more weight! Arrggghh. All that home cookin’, man! Not good! Yeah, life is good.

More stories next time.

Inspired by Ali’s Collected Quotes, I have started my own collection of my favourite quotes whether they be from movies, popular personalities or straight from the bumper stickers! I’ll include them in this page and hopefully grow them. If you have a quote that you like, feel free to submit them to me and I’ll post them on the Quotes page.

As a teenager, I used to collect (yes, collect) soppy greeting cards. I’d go to the book store and spend all my time in the cards section looking for the soppiest greeting card I could find and buy it. I used to have a suitcase full of greeting cards for every occasion and mood. It was at the time when I was at the height of exchanging letters and notes with my girl friends in school.

Did you remember that time? Did you ever go through that phase? Of spending most of your time with your best friend/s in school then when you get home, you’d talk to them for hours on the phone and STILL manage to exchange letters on a daily basis! My gawd, I was such a sucker for those things. Weird eh?

Oh, thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post. I had a whopping 5 comments on that post. So popular! Tee hee. Good to know that I’m not the only one in this world who had that one who got away…..

This was forwarded to me by a friend and somehow, the words struck a chord in my heart. Made me remember someone I have long buried in the deep recesses of my mind. Made me think about him again. *Sigh*

And to answer your unspoken question, no, it’s not him. It’s not Bea’s biological father. He was NEVER the one that got away.

In your life, you’ll make note of a lot of
people. Ones with whom you shared something
special, ones who will always mean something.
There’s the one you first kissed, the one you
first loved, the one you lost your virginity to,
the one you put on a pedestal, the one you’re
with… and the one that got away.

Who is the one that got away? I guess it’s that
person with who everything was great, everything
was perfect, but the timing was just wrong.
There was no fault in the person, there was no
flaw in the chemistry, but the cards just didn’t
fall the right way, I suppose.

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, we have lost another cat. Bea’s one…again! This is her 3rd cat she’s lost.

First was Kayla whom the Husband run over with his SUV.
The second one, Pickles whom we lost recently when he got squashed under our remote garage door
and third time unlucky was PJ (Pickles Jr) that we lost last night as he got run over by the Husband’s truck.

These cats have no sense of danger at all. When we arrive from work, they’re always there to meet us running head on to our vehicles and we knew it was just a matter of time before they kick the bucket. We just didn’t realise it’d be this early for PJ who’s only about 12 weeks old!

So we got home from the movies to find PJ dead. Good thing Bea and my Mum were with me in the car and the Husband and my Dad were in the other so Bea didn’t have to witness PJ going spastic as the truck’s tyre rolled on his head. It was just pure luck that I decided to make a detour to the supermarket before going home so the Husband had time to clear up the mess before Bea got home.

Predictably, Bea was devastated and it took quite a while for us to calm her down. Being an only child, the cat was her ‘playmate’ and they had a lot of good times together. We are not sure yet if we are going to get another one as I don’t think we can take another loss!

Bea asked ‘why does it always happen to me?’ I don’t know, my darling, I don’t know. It was pretty hard on the Husband too as I saw him last night trying very hard not to cry too. As for me, I had no more tears left to cry for our pets. I just went straight to bed and stared at the ceiling trying not to miss our beloved cat.

The cute thing about the whole thing was when J (Bea’s current puppy love) found out that her cat died, he and his Mum dropped in a present for her — a dog soft toy and a card (the card is sealed so don’t know what it says!). Isn’t that the sweetest thing ever? J rang to invite Bea to the pools today. Yes, they are trying to get to know each other better.

They may have graduated from primary school but they are keeping in touch with frequent phone calls over the school’s summer holidays! They are going to the same intermediate school next year so I think the romance will carry on unless of course, Bea’s eye is caught by someone else!

dyusme, give me strength. She’s only 10 and boys are already a-flocking! Hala!