Remembering Loved Ones

Today November 1 all saints' day, we remember "men of good will" saints, great ones and forgotten ones, who have died through the ages. And tomorrow, all souls day, we remember all the souls of our departed loved ones, friends, relatives, and all restless souls. Families visit graves with bunches of flowers and in church the names of the dead may be read out on requests.



Last thursday, we visited the grave of my mother at Everlasting Memorial Park and bring some flowers. For my other loved ones, i lighted a candle and pray for the eternal repose of their souls.

I was surprised yesterday that SM malls had halloween program for kids and to all customers.

Home, At Last

Finally i'm back in the blogosphere after a few days of hiatus. Our flight last sunday was a smooth one. We don't encounter any problem with our luggage though we do have stopover in Kuwait and Bangkok. My children picked us up at the airport. We were also able to meet one of the contractor for our house the next day.

Cool Mom with the McDonalds staff at Kuwait International Airport

The first days of our stay here in my nativeland were spent stuffing the house with our kitchen and other personal needs. Our rented house now looks nicer and Dirk was able to complete our office needs.

Below and above is our rented house which is now 95% furnished, four days going from one malls to another to buy stuff for the house.


our elephant-size bed

our kitchen

Since Dirk was not yet familiar with the way of driving here, we hire a driver to be familiar with streets and metro traffic. Now, Dirk can drive on his own and getting used to traffic situation.

Lunch and dinner the past days were at the shopping mall and restaurants. The other day, my visiting brother in law from the US also invited us to have lunch with them. He proudly showed us his big christmas tree imported from US which already reach the ceiling of their house.


Indeed, our fews days here were all actions and our body slowly recovering from jetlag and time difference. Today, is the first time that i cooked for Dirk, he liked very much the fried tilapia and lapu lapu. I enjoyed very much buying and bargaining in the market which i was not able to do for a long time. Theres really no place like home.

Just ignore the size, when easts meets west, size doesnt matter and what is important is the happiness that we have.

My Best Friends

I consider the sisters joy and madam jo not only as my colleague but my best of friends. We're together through sadness and happiness, sickness and in health and hopefully till our last breath. Our friendship was tried and tested through the times, through thick and thin. Our respective lives are an open book to each other and we're transparent to each others feelings.

We work with system, complementing each other and at the end of a tiring day, savoring the freshness of the air outside of work. We're just like real sisters enjoying and coping up with the problems of life. We have lots of things in common being educators and we respect, trust and understand each other.

Yesterday is our last bonding moments that we eat again at our favorite italian restaurant ordering the same food in the same spot. joy and me even browsed around the city just for some more bonding moments. As i'm going to have a long vacation in the Philippines, i'm going to miss them terribly.

My Kaputt Foot

Today is not my day. While working in the hotel, i fall down on the stairs. My right foot twisted while slowly falling down and its really painful. At first, i did not pay attention to the pain, we even have lunch at chinese restaurant. Later in the afternoon, the swelling began and the pain progress. It's hard to walk anymore so i decided to see our family doctor. The doctor advised me to go the hospital for foot x-ray. Thanks God, there's no broken bones, only the ligaments are affected.

Lunch at Indian Restaurant

We're supposed to have lunch at our favorite chinese restaurant but it's full of hungry customers and its self-service only for today. The waiter and the waitress did not showed up so you need to give your order in the counter, get your order and pay there also.

So we decided to try the sereena palace, a cozy indian restaurant located just in front of the chinese restaurant. We were surprised that the foods tastes good though its a little bit spicy. Dirk bowed not to eat anymore at any indian restaurant bacause of our unpleasant experience in Boracay´indian cuisine. It was expensive and we're not able to eat the food because its over spicy.

The restaurant also sells some girly stuff from India.

A Day with Friends

Though the weather is not nice, i was still able to see some of my friends in the city. I have lunch with madam jo at Gugglhupf restaurant where we eat german foods.

Then i met my "ninang analyn", the shopping queen where she bought 2 boots and other beauty stuff. Her place is probably like a clothes shoppe, she never wear twice her blouses and dresses.

Dinner is at Agnes place where we eat chopsuey and adobong baboy.

At night, siony arrived to bring her balikbayan box. Her son Rainer is now 14 months old.

Sister's Act, Mother Reacts

My children are on semestral break which gives them the opportunity to bond with each other. For the past months, my girls were busy with their own activities. Rosebelle, my mini-me, is busy taking care of the house and making sermon to her siblings. She is also in charge of everything making her the shock absorber of all the problems in the family. She's also the one doing all the paper works and other processes related to our future house construction.

Aizza and Astrid, both college students is also doing some share in the household chores. When Rosebelle is running for an errand, astrid took the center stage of taking care of the house while aizza manage the family's small computer shop.

Arianne on the other hand is the family's medical adviser. She works at mercury drug and she's the one suggesting what medicine to take before consulting the doctor. So far, the girls are doing their respective chores well.

Thousand miles away, cool tiger mom sometimes reacts by making sermons as well, reminding them that life is hard and they should save on electricity, water, cut costs, should study hard. avoiding unnecessary trips to save on gasoline, etc..etc.etc..etc....