We're Back!

It had been an experience after all these years to come home. Three and a half weeks for me was not long enough. I wish I could have stayed three and a half months. Next time, Kelly will try to come with us. The trip back was uneventful and unfortunately we were not upgraded for any of our flights. Katharine complained but I was happier that way since I can see her the whole time we flew. Till next time!!

We were beat after 25 hours of travelling. Whew!!

We're almost outta here!

As I write this, we are a few hours away from flying back to the States. I'm sad about leaving 'home' on this side of the globe though look forward to coming home Stateside. It has been a fantastic trip particularly being with my family especially with the goose seeing her grandparents and meeting her aunts, uncles, and cousins face-to-face. Seeing them on Skype ever so often just does not compare to being with them these last three weeks. I do hope we get to fly back soon; and with Kelly in the future. I will miss my friends who I caught up with this time but am advised to open a Facebook page since I appear to be the only one left without one. They apparently have been keeping up with each other through there.

Mom and Dad took us out to lunch today at a place called Fely J.'s which is a Filipino restaurant with a modern ambiance. If you happen to go there, order the "Sekreto ni Maria" - a suman (rice cake) dessert with mango slices and a cream sauce. Its great! Sorry, no pic - we ate it before I could take one. Pictured at right is an appetizer called 'crab tofu'; crab on top of tofu cakes with veggies and a light sauce. This one's ewcellent as well.





Kelly requested I take pics and videos of our house so all of you can see what it looks like. Below was taken from across the street. (The gardener I think was off this day..)

And here is what it looks like inside the fence..

(Uh oh.. I can't figure out how to link the movies for now so I'll come back and complete this section after a couple of days.)


Here's Michael Jackson practicing in our vestibule..





I will certainly miss Luigi who the goose and I have become fond of. I tease him when I see Lolay (grandma) and tell him that 'she's my lolay!'. He comes and tries to fend me off of mom to claim her as his. What a character!





This is my aunt, Ining. She's mom's baby sister.


Last night's pics: Of course I'll miss everybody too

Happy Birthday Timmy!

Today is Timmy's 11th birthday! Happy b-day big boy! When I got up and went outside he was already there with most of the family. I don't know if they woke him up singing happy birthday but we surely missed it if we did. His celebration dinner was at Shakey's and everybody had a great time. Pizza, spaghetti, chicken strips, etc. Had a cake waiting for him when we got back to the house.






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Boyz nite out: Manny O, Demy A, and Robert O. Its nice to see the guys again!



Was able to drive by my alma mater yesterday. We were short on time and was only able to stop at the front to take a couple of pics. It was lunchtime and the front was getting busy. I'll plan better in the future when I visit again.



When the goose wasn't feeling well yesterday, I went and did errands with Uli and Lysia. He went to work (2 hours visiting the building) then off to lunch. They took me to Macapagal Blvd. where there's a fresh fish market. You picked the item/s you want and they'll cook it and serve it to you. I was too enthralled by the whole thing that all i could do was take one picture of the prawns we ordered. It was served with garlic and sweet chili sauce. It was great!

The goose has a slight temperature

Not sure what's causing the slight temperature but Katharine had a slight temp and was feeling melancholy for the last two days. Mom and my sister Eline (Tita Honey) were took over motherly duties from me and took care of her by giving her medicine, bringing food to the bedroom, and even helping her take a shower.

Today was a holiday to commemorate the passing of former president Cory Aquino. She was responsible for 'People Power' and eventually toppled the Marcos dictatorship. All businesses and schools were closed today.

We took this opportunity to take the kids ice skating.

Food: Desserts, Fruits I've missed...

'Taho' is a soy-based dessert. It has the consistency of yogurt; served with gulaman pearls and vanilla syrup. (I have a vendor who comes to the house to deliver this daily.)

'Halo-halo' is a dessert where several pieces of fruits are served over crushed ice, a scoop of ice cream or flan on top and evaporated milk.


'Palitaw' is a rice-based dessert molded as a paste at first and cooked in boiling water. The term palitaw means 'to float'. During cooking, the dessert is at the bottom of the pan and floats to the top when cooked. It is served with coconut flakes and sprinkled with brown sugar. (The green leaves you see here are banana leaves that are used to separate each piece.)

Severe thunderstorms slow us down!!

It has been raining off and on for the last 3 days now but today has been the worst of all 3. As I type this, it is raining cats and dogs out there steadily for the last hour. Yesterday, the internet was down and the service we use informed us that they were experiencing a nationwide problem. It had taken about 30 hours to restore.


Eline and Uli (with kids) took us to lunch yesterday and I asked if we could visit our grandparents graves. I was too young to remember my grandfather but experience my grandmother till I left home back in '86. One of my regrets in life was that I never got to say goodbye to her. I had the opportunity back in '91 but decided not to wake her up the day I was leaving because it was 4am. A year later, she died and I immediately felt the pain and sorrow of missing her. All these years I've prepared myself for the day I visit her grave and apologize to her. What I could not prepare for was the flood of emotion as I stood infront of her grave. I miss her so much!


Would you like to know what driving is like this part of the world? Check these videos out. Tricycles, jeepneys, pedestrians: all own the road. One more thing, when you drive.. you always seem to have the right of way!











Hey N, you'll never guess what my mom does during her spare time...