Back to Hospital

Yesterday, dirk was not feeling well, he had stomach cramps and the pain continued till midnight. He was not able to watch the championship football match between Germany and Spain because he is lying in bed. At 1:30 AM, i suggested that i should drive him to the hospital and he agreed. In the emergency room, medical tests was conducted and concluded that there's pain because of inflamed appendix.

Before he was wheeled to the operating room for appendectomy, he told me to drive home and catch some sleep. I only have one hour of sleep and proceeded to work in the hotel because of full bookings. Dirk was not in his bed when i returned to the hospital, he's undergoing computer tomography on his stomach. They had an impression that there's something wrong with the diagnosis and the pain might probably come from his gastro intestinal system.

But the operation had already been done and i can't bear to see dirk in pain that i even have bouts of nervous attack, because of my fear seeing blood. He had three operations in a span of one month, its horrible. They could have just observed and monitored him for a few days before they operated on him or pain relievers might work as well.

Pinoy's Pride

Manny Pacquiao made history as the first asian to win 4th world title in 4 different weight classes, flyweight, super bantamweight, super featherweight and lightweight. He knocked out David Diaz, an american in the 9th round to become the first filipino new world boxing council lightweight champion. He once again showed the quality of excellence of a Filipino at his best. He said that he's going to donate some of his winning money to the typhoon victims, he's really very humble and generous.


Manny's victory at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas (Photo by Reuters)

Tonight is the Night

AFP Photo

In the Euro 2008 Football Finals, Spain won the title 1-0 against my second home Germany. The German national team exerted lots of effort and really tried their very best. Spain's colonization of the Philippines for 333 years (1565-1898)left 20,000 spanish words in Philippine vocabulary.

Dinner at Schloss Staufenberg

Yesterday, our family friends from Limburg arrived for a visit. They are Dirk's closest friends which started way back during their Markant days. We're together in some of our trip to Elsass and Riveauville, France before and they're really a nice family. Sometimes, we visited them at their home and vice versa.

Bebel, Klaus and me, Elsass, France trip in 2003, take note of my short hair

Together with Dirk, they tried Guggelhof Restaurant for lunch while i dined with my friends in the nearby chinese restaurant, but i am with them when we had our dinner at Staufenberg Castle in Durbach.

Dirk with the Lützig Family

The Castle's specialties are Flammkuchen, Cheese and Salads, typical German foods

A mouth-watering varieties of cheese

Bebel and me in the Schloss

Summer in Germany

First the Football Update- Spain defeated Russia 3-0 in last night's football match so its Germany versus Spain for the Finals on sunday.

Germany is really beautiful in all seasons but summer of course is a favorite time for vacations, the kids are out of school and the weather is generally warm. But there are times that there are rains and it sometimes get very hot and humid. Hundreds of outdoor cafes, ice cream stalls and beer gardens are open for the season.

Today, after our lunch in the chinese restaurant where i ordered my favorite crispy duck, we then proceed to the adjacent coffee/ice cream shop for our dessert.

I have two Ice, the left and the right

Germany Reach Finals

The game last night between Germany and Turkey was indeed a nerve-wracking. Thanks God my second home reached the finals of the European Championship after defeating Turkey 3-2. Hats off to Turkey for playing a great game. The play was even interrupted by a series of blackout or loss of coverage due to technical problem. The German national team will play either Spain or Russia in Vienna, Austria on sunday.

Philip Lahm scores the last minute goal that sends Germany to Finals (Photo by AP)

The Ortenauer awaiting the game to start in the big screen, the football mania is really everywhere

While the Germans and Filipinos here are still overwhelmed with the victory in the last night's game against Turkey, life goes on for a few days while waiting for the spectacular finals on sunday . Today, i have my hair cut at Hair Express in Offenburg. I even met some of my close friends and one of them is on the way to motherhood, a wish come true after a long wait and it happen in GOD's time.

Germany vs Turkey in Euro 2008 (Football) Semis

The first of the Euro 2008 semi-finals will take place in Basel, Switzerland this evening with Germany playing against Turkey. Turkey, however are facing major crisis ahead of the game because some of the players are either injured or suspended. The German national team are all too aware of Turkey's never-say-die spirit, but who knows, the ball is round.

Feast of St. John the Baptist and Manila Day

Every town in the world named St. John today celebrates the feast of St. John the Baptist. In the Philippines, a predominantly catholic country, the annual celebration is met with the traditional playful dousing and sprinkling of water even to strangers to remind them of their baptism.

Manila, the capital of the Philippines is also celebrating its 437th year. The city is very close to my heart not only because it is my birthplace but also it is the place where me and my siblings were raised and educated. I even worked in Manila for 15 years, so i'm really a certified manilena.


Meeting of the Minds

We have a strange weather today, it rained hard in the morning but in the afternoon the sun shines again. We agree to meet carmen in the ice cream/coffee shop, then our other friends also showed up, so we just sit together and enjoy the nice weather.

Miracle Baby

Giving birth prematurely is a traumatic event, culminating in a nerve-wracking and overwhelming ordeal for the mother and the family as well. My friend Mary delivered her preemie Jasmine in the Philippines three months earlier because of pregnancy complications.

Jasmine is a perfect name for Mary's bundle of hope and joy, now at 3 months old

She weighed only 650 grams at birth and imagine what her little body went through as she began her fight to survive in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). She spent two weeks of her life in Davao private hospital and was fetched by German doctors for further treatment and care. Hurray for Filipino doctors who took care of her at birth and the German specialists who monitored her development and evaluated her to be in good health.

Mary and daughter Jasmine

Little Jasmine with mary's friends Lalaine and Gwen

Jasmine with soon-to-be playmates

Summertime

Its now summer here in Germany and today the temperature rise to 32 degress. Most of the kids are now enjoying swimming and other outdoor activities. Its also time to invite friends for coffee and grill in the terrace or garden.

Kaffee trinken at Elena's terrace

Enjoying lunch with friends

While we're experiencing nice weather, a powerful typhoon battered the Philippines over the weekend, killing hundreds of people and the death toll can increase sharply after a ferry carrying more than 700 passengers and crew members capsized off a province south of manila.

Photo courtesy of GMA News TV

Thanks God my children are all safe after signal number 3 hit our place with only minor damage but there's still no electricity, water and telephone connection

Filipino Priests on Tour

Today i attended a small get-together cum mini concert of the three visiting priests from the Diocese of Urdaneta, Pangasinan. Their love and passion for music has brought them together and form this pop-gospel group called PADI ( local term for priest).They're going to travel around Germany for a month to spread the word of God through their inspirational music. They all have a very nice voice and we really enjoy their songs.

They're going to conduct series of concert and musicals to raise funds for various church projects. It's really an enjoyable event because the 3 priests, Fr. Jetz, Fr. Franklin and Fr. Igor also showed their funny side.

The Singing Priests

Me with Fr. Franklin, Fr. Jetz and friends

The girls enjoyed their dance lesson from Fr. Jetz

Euro 2008- Germany reach Semi-Finals

It was a wonderful moments for all the Germans and the Filipino communities here in Germany when they beat Portugal 3:2 in yesterday's football quarterfinal game. The national team will still have a rough road ahead of them when they played in the semi-finals either against Croatia or Turkey.


Happy Birthday Madam Jo

Our colleague and friend Josephine celebrated her birthday yesterday in the hotel where we work. We fondly called her Madam Jo because she's a teacher back home at Notre Dame in General Santos City.

Breakfast in the hotel

Our lunch of meat and knodel with white sauce

The birthday girl with her sister and our dessert of waffel and apple cake with vannila ice cream in the city

My Basel Adventure

Yesterday's Fr. Suarez healing mass in Basel, Switzerland was my very first experience. Since we live in Offenburg, we need to take the train going to Freiburg where we met the other group. While waiting for the bus that will take us to Basel, we still have time for coffee and talking with our kababayans. It was a very smooth trip with no hassles at all especially in the Swiss-German border where normally they check the passport one by one. We also prayed the rosary led by the organizer, Ate Perla, on the way to Basel.

Offenburg train station

Photo session inside the Freiburg train station

Enjoying the sun at Coffee Shop

Our bus

Fr. Suarez Healing Mass- Basel, Switzerland

Today, we did attend a healing mass in Basel, Switzerland officiated by Fr. Fernando Suarez together with Fr. Luis Collantes, a family friend. He is a Filipino-Canadian priest who attracted thousand of followers worldwide with his healing power.

My Healing Experience

For me, it was indeed a wonderful spiritual experience. Fr. Suarez starts with a mass, with a general healing after the homily and after the mass comes the individual healing. He touches each and everyone of us presents for the healing. He is so blessed with the gift of healing that almost everyone he touches including me "rests in the spirit". It was an overwhelming feeling when the holy spirits enter my body, just a calming force as i lay there on the floor and felt so peaceful.

All priests are healers, but some others are given by the holy spirit charism of healing for the purpose of building up church communities and strengthening the faith of the people.

Unlike in Bonn,Germany where there are at least 2000 attendees, the Basel crowd was smaller in number. The advantage is that Fr. Suarez was able to attend to all of us and even have time for photo session.

Me in front of the Church

My Hair Edition

The hair is the woman's crowning glory. I remember my late mother cutting my hair when i was still a little girl in which she start from my ear as baseline reaching the other ear, its really horrible, my hair is just like a coconut husk.

I used to have long hair in high school but due to allergy on my neck, i have to go to the parlor to have it cut shorter that's why when i arrived here in Germany 7 years ago, i'm sporting a short hair. The advantage is its easy to maintain and you use less shampoo and conditioner.

But when my neck allergy was cured, i decided that i should return to my usual long hair. Its really a long process till i reach my hair now.

The advantage of long hair are the versatility of so many styles offered

I think falling hair is one of women's biggest problem. In today's stressful world of all works and no play, we found ourselves looking in the floor tiles, sink, beds and on our clothes, hair that has left home, our scalp. hair loss is typically normal especially in the fall months. Everyone loses between 40-120 strands a day depending on how much hair you have, your age and your hair growth cycle. The common causes are seasonality, diet, aging, illness and intense stress.

So if you have problem with your hair, cover it (just a joke- the one with the hands down is me, picture taken in Dubai). Whether short hair, long hair or no hair at all, what is important is our inner self.

The French Connection

We're living near the French border and it took us only half an hour to go to France. Twice a year, we drive to Strassbourg to buy our water supply at Auchan where i also buy fresh shrimps, fish, rice and other stuff that are not available here like my Lipton Tea. The water is more cheaper there compared to the price of bottled mineral water here in Germany. The French people alsc come to Germany twice a month to shop for their foods and other house needs at discount stores because its more cheaper here.

Carrying 150 bottles of water is no joke

Dirk loading our 250 liters of water

A day is not complete without me posing at Esprit store

Euro 2008, Football Update
Germany lose against Croatia 2:1 on their last game, and tonight the national team of Germany is playing against Austria, a do-or-die game, the good news is the team won against the opponent 1:0, the germans are really happy, now reaching the quarterfinals and will play against Portugal

Good business for football memorabilia