My Musings on Jews in the Philippines

Hi, there ! It’s me , Renxkyoko Iglesias.

My previous post was a bit intense, huh, and I’m sure I  had offended a few readers.  I couldn’t help it, though.  I was  on  edge , and so was everybody else here in the US.  Although I was careful  with the words I used so as not to offend anyone,  I might have inadvertently  used some hurtful words.    I  did try my best to be politically correct, and , believe me, it was no mean feat. I was angry.  It was easier to just lash out, and be like this —-> bleep, bleep, bleep,  asdfghjk !  But  then I’d regret it forever.  Nothing comes out well with words said in the heat of the moment.

My family had a very interesting  topic of conversation over dinner  last night.  My brother who lives in San Francisco told us that he saw a documentary film about the history of Jews in the Philippines . The documentary was shown in San Francisco to commemorate the  unveiling of the second marker in Israel in honor of  Philippines -Israel friendship. This is actually the second marker. The first one is a monument  that was built  at the Holocaust Memorial Park located  outside of Tel Aviv.

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Philippine flag is shown. That’s a huge monument , isn’t it?

There’s an interesting story  behind these two memorial markers. First off, a bit of Philippine history.  The US colonized the Philippines in 1898 ( after defeating Spain  during the Spanish-American war ) . In 1935, the US turned over governance of the country  to a Filipino, Pres. Manuel Luis Quezon , with an American overseer , Commisioner McNutt. The Philippines  became  the Commonwealth of the Philippines.  Full independence was given on July 4, 1945 after it was liberated from the Japanese. In the 1930′s , we all know , of course , what went on in Germany.  The German Jews all wanted to leave  but there were very few countries that wanted to take them in by the thousands.

Now here’s the most interesting part…….

The Philippine government had decided to take in Jewish refugees ( in fact, the Philippines was one of  very few countries, including the USA , that took in refugees, and the only one in Asia ) during a poker game in 1938 ,, with players  Commisioner McNutt, Pres. Quezon,  General Douglas McArthur,  Gen. Dwight Einsenhower (  Gen, Eisenhower  became US President , but that time, he was just Gen. McArthur’ second in command  of the US Army in the Philippines. ), and an American- Jewish businessman living in the country named Frieder.  While playing poker,  Pres. Quezon decided right there and then, to take in Jewish refugees. Eisenhower  suggested 100, 000 visas should be issued.  Pres. Quezon immediately  issued 10,000 visas  to German Jews. It wasn’t only to German Jews that  visas were given.  Jews who were already in Asia and those from the Middle East, mostly from Turkey,  were allowed to come in.  Jewish immigartion stopped  when Japan invaded the Philippines.

Pres. Quezon

.A synagogue in Manila, later destroyed  during WW2.

.A new synagogue in Manila, Philippines.

Photo above were German refugees having a party in Marikina , where they were settled temporarily. The land was Pres. Quezon’s  property. ( Sorry I stole this photo from somewhere. Please don’t sue me.)

It’s weird that the matter of life and death  was decided during a poker game.  However, this was not the only time  the Philippine government had helped the Jewish people.  In 1947. the Philippines  ” delivered the  most crucial and deciding vote “ at the United Nations ‘ resolution to create a state of Israel.  The Philippines was also the only  Asian country to recognize Israel as a state.  As a footnote….. there were  Philippine officials then who had a few misgivings about allowing  so many Jews into the country . That was understandable because the country was totally Catholic.  Pres. Quezon angrily told them,  ” The Jews gave us Jesus Christ” ! ! ! Pres. Quezon was a hot-tempered man.  It was said that he would often use the gavel and yell , Puneta ! ! ( pronounced poon-ye-ta ) at Filipino officials. The word means literally masturbation, but it’s actually a generic all -purpose swear word.  Filipinos swear in Spanish. But I digress.

Majority of the Jews later  immigrated to Israel and the US after the war.  Some remained and became prominent businessmen. ( If you’re a Filipino reader of this post, I don’t know if you’re aware of the Ysmaels, Kahns, Menzis, Guthriers, Levy’s etc,. … appliance manufacturer, owns jewelry stores such as La Estrella del Norte, A&W,  Alhambra, Manila Stock Exchange, etc. They are all Jewish )

Well, that’s the history. I’m not surprised  then why Israel erected a huge monument in honor of  the  Philippines’ humanitarian efforts .

On a personal note……. and another bit of Philippine history.

The first European to step on Philippine soil was Ferdinand Magellan in 1521. He also died there. Spain colonized the country for almost 400 years , and named it in honor of King Philip II.  ( So now you know why it’s Philippines, ha ha ) In Europe at that time , there was a Catholic Inquisition that went on. In Spain, Catholics,  Jews and Muslims lived in harmony before the Spanish monarchy started The Inquisition in the 1590′s.  Muslims and Spanish Jews were either forced to convert or leave Spain.  Some of those who left went to the Philippines.  However, they still couldn’t practice their religion since the Philippines was now entirely Catholic. Practicing  Judaism  was punishable by death.  My mother was born in a remote town , about 200 miles from Manila. Although it was a remote town, there was a high concentration of Spaniards who lived there.  The town’s church is one of the oldest in the Philippines, and there’s a Spanish fort with cannons, to protect the town from Chinese pirates.

.San Diego  de Alcala Church

San Diego fort

Now I wrote above  that this story was something personal. We had an extremely  interesting discussion about  this over dinner and after dinner.  It might shed light  on some strange stuff that my mother had often  heard from her grandparents when she was just a kid.  *  Don’t let anyone know you’re a Jew.” It was always said randomly, and to a kid, it  was  really strange, and didn’t make sense.  I mentioned  above the Turkish Jews  who immigrated to the Philippines.  My mother thought back about  the unusually  large number of Turks in their remote town. In fact , right across from their house were the homes of  two Turkish families, the Adads.  The people there called them Turkos.  She remembers them very well because she had a humungous crush on one of them.  And by the way, Pres. Quezon  came from the same place.  The whole province was later named after him… Quezon Province.

Ha ! Conspiracy theory?  Anyway, won’t it be great to trace my genealogy ?  My mother’s side, of course. My father’s is pretty straightforward. We know where  his grandfather  came from… Sta. Maria la Nueva, Segovia, Spain. I wrote about him here (   Barcelona, Part 16). My grandmother even went there to Segovia to meet her relatives.  So, there’s nothing mysterious about that.  But, the idea of  possible Jewish roots  is almost unbelievable. Could it be….. ?  No, I don’t think so. It’s inconceivable. ……………..  It’s funny that 2 random people on 2 different occassions had asked me if I was Palestinian.  Huh ? Why were they  so specific about the place?   And just last week, I was asked by a customer  if  I was Persian . What ? Again?  ( My manager is a nice  Persian lady )  I’m Asian, people !

So, okay, I know  this post is  boring.  If you are  still reading at this point , thank you.

My next post will be my tour of Amboise and Bourdeux in France. Promise.

PEACE  ! ! !

Philippine Honorifics and Culture 101

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Hello ! Renxkyoko Iglesias here. * waves *

Today is Good Friday. For Catholics, it’s Fasting and Abstinence aka meatless day. Catholics used to actually fast the whole day ( no eating the whole day ) but I guess no one follows this tradition anymore. But It’s still meatless day today , so, yeah, we’re having fish for dinner. ( which is nothing special, come to think of it. In our household, we eat fish all the time ) In fact, we don’t eat meat for 3 days during the Holy Week; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Black Saturday.

I live in a liberal household that is, at the same time, very much steeped in religious and cultural traditions that are very Filipino. We’ve retained what is good, and does not harm others. Such as ?, you ask. Well, the whole family attend the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass, after which we have dinner , a midnight dinner we call Noche Buena. And like most Asians, we use honorifics even here in the US. In fact, the use of honorifics in Philippine culture is mandatory. Not using a honorific is rude and disrespectful

and reveals to others that said person has not been taught good manners and right conduct by the parents. For example, young people do not use the singular pronoun YOU in addressing a much older person or one with a higher “status” . It has nothing to do with subservience, bondage and inequality. It simply conveys respect. This is similar to addressing a judge ” Your honor “, instead of YOU.

The Philippine word that is equal in meaning and usage in the English lamguage of the word YOU is the singular pronoun IKAW. (pronounced ee-kaw ) IKAW is used only to address a person younger, same age, slightly older, or someone of similar or lower level in status. Otherwise, the plural pronoun of YOU or IKAW , which is KAYO, ( pronounced kah-yoh )is used. There’s no equivalent plural pronoun for YOU in the English language. In other words, English speakers use YOU to speak to a 5 year old kid and to a 90 year old aunt.

Philippine conversations are also interpersed with the word PO when speaking to an older person , and someone of much higher status.  They don’t say directly NO to an older person. ( HINDI is No in Philippine language ). They say HINDI PO.

I know it’s a bit disconcerting that I seem to give undue emphasis on social status. It may seem like that, but it’s not , really. There’s no institutionalized caste system in the Philippines, although I have to admit, albeit reluctantly, to the ever-present class system …..but, it exists all over the world, doesn’t it, even here in the US . As they say, the rich are different from you and me. That said, age still takes precedence over status. A 30 year old manager will never use Ikaw ( singular YOU ) when speaking to a 60 year old company janitor. He will also use “po” and use some honorific title like “Manong ” before the name, as a sign of respect for his age. It’s similar to Mister, but not quite. There’s a tad more respect in Philippine honorific. I myself use honorific titles on my elders. I call my older brother KUYA Bert and my older sister ATE Jenny, or just Kuya and Ate . ( pronounced Koo-ya and Ah-teh , meaning, older brother, older sister ). Funny thing is, last night, my sister’s boyfriend ( a white guy ) just hollered ” Ren, your Ate is calling you.” Ha ha . He used the term correctly. The use of the term gives it more authority, and that means, I have to do her bidding , pronto. Of course I ignored it, he he. I was watching something interesting on TV. You know, I will teach my future kids to call their older siblings Ate and Kuya, and teach them this sweet traditional  Philippine gesture, too ———–>

And my kid will then say, ” Mano po, Lola.” ( Your) hand, Grandma …….and it will be so cute  even if my American kid will pronounce it as ” Manow pow, Lowla.”

In South Korea, older brother is Oppa and older sister is Onee-chan ( not sure… I think that’s Japanese ).., Speaking of which, what is that  idiot pres. of North Korea , Kim Jing Un thinking, with his bellicose threats and saber rattlings, by declaring a “state of war”  againts South Korea and threatening the US with nuclear missiles?  Does he know what our  B-2 Stealth bombers  can do, and that  60% of  US military forces are now  being  deployed  to the Pacific?  Does he know South Korea can obliterate them with their K-Pop boy bands, Gungnam style?  Pfffft !

I’m blabbering . Guess  I have to say bye now. .  My next post  is my tour of France.

PS…. I’m having second thoughts on this post. I find it such a total snooze.  But this is not random.  My  Ate Jenny ‘s BF  even wants me to call him Kuya.  Aaaarrgh. I cringe.

Bye . Stay cool.  France tour is next. * clicks Publish *

My European Travel Pt. 17, Madrid, Spain

Hola ! Como estas ?

Oh, that reminds me that in the Philippines where I came from, the common greeting is Comusta.  I can’t help but talk about the Philippines, too, when it comes to Spain.  Much of  the Philippines’ written history is closely intertwined with Spain, almost 400 years , that is,  and in fact, the country was named  after King Philip II. Oh, and while I’m at it,  do you know that the Philippines  was the only ” colony” the US ever had? American historians so far have refused to refer to it as  ” colonized ” , and they weren’t wrong because the US  that time did not use that term either. They were more comfortable using ” annexed”, and the “war” that  lasted 2 years  and left hundeds of thousands of Filipinos dead  was ironically called Pacification Campaign. ” Pacification” didn’t have anything to do with Pacific Ocean where Las Islas Filipinas are located.  Well, this is just a bit of historical trivia for the benefit of  us  American insulares.

Moving on…..

Madrid, Spain……..  I assume everyone knows about Madrid.  There’s really nothing  I can add that you cannot find on Google.  There’s just one  thing  for you to ponder….. have you ever wondered how the history of the world would have  turned out if  the King or Queen of Spain didn’t finance  the explorations  of Amerigo Vespucci, Christopher Columbus, and Ferdinand  Magellan ?

” The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain, la di da …. “  Spain is second to Switzerland as far as land  elevation is concerned.  The plain in the song from the musical My fair Lady is incorrect. The rain in Spain falls mainly in the northern mountains. Most of the plain in Spain   are, in fact,  elevated , some of which are, surprisingly,  almost desert- like. They call it Black Desert … the land is not colored black, but the vegetation is sparse and looks dark, not green. I’m mentioning this boring topography because Spain’s  scenery  is in stark contrast to , let’s say Switzerland’s, which is mountaineous ,green, and idyllic. We travelled thru such scenery  in Spain for hours.

Outside of central Madrid is the area with modern buildings.

..Actually, very little of medieval structures in Madrid survived.  That is quite surprising because Spain was an imperial power since  the 1400′s.  The reason  could be because the Moslems ruled most of Spain for 800 years, (  thus, no medieval structures ) until they were driven out by the Crusaders and small Christian communities in Spain that were spared of Muslim domination.  The Reconquista  ( Reconquest )  of Muslim strongholds in Andalucia, Granada , and Cordoba in 1492 marked the end of Muslim rule in Spain. As an aside, the world famous Flamenco dance is of Moorish origin.

A walking tour of Madrid

.Above is the area where Muslims, Jews, and Christians lived in harmony. It was  like a Jewish / Muslim Quarter .

Above is the pedestrian shopping area.

.The pictures below is the center of Madrid.  It;s called  Plaza de la Puerta del Sol.  Gateway of the Sun..  This is the place where Madrilenos congregate  on any occasion.  The statue of the man on the horse is Tio Pepe. Uncle Pepe.  Funny that I actually have a Tio Pepe. Tio Pepe  is Spain’s version of U. S. ‘s Uncle Sam, or maybe Uncle John?

Below picture is just across from the picture above.

..Above is a stone slab, in the center of  the   plaza, supposedly “ the point where all distances are measured.” This is the center of Spain. All roads radiate from this point. It’s Km. Zero

Europeans are so passionate about soccer.  We were actually in Spain during the Championship game between Spain and Italy.  Our driver, Torino, was Italian, and our tour manager, Ruben, was a Spaniard.  They had a heated argument on our way to Madrid, then did not speak to each other  the whole day. Torino abandoned us the next day, and Ruben franrically looked for another driver. Torino came back  the next day. How childish, those two. Oh, Spain won.

Below is the Plaza Mayor, courtesy of Wikipedia.

In case you haven’t noticed, the paintings in the building below are of naked people.

There;s a person in there… must be a little kid.

Below is Madrid’s City Hall.

.After  our tour of madrid, we had  dinner  near Plaza Mayor (  Optional dinner at $35 each ). Below is the place where we had dinner of tapa, etc. and bottomless Sangria. ( drink all you can ) Sangria is a wine punch , and is named after  blood, or sangre, due to its dark red color. The place is like a dungeon, dark, and cramped, but the ambiance is nice.

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..There’s the tapa and some cheese on the table. Tapa means to cover, but tapa as food means appetizers or snacks.  In other words, the cheese is also a tapa.  At first, Mom and I  got a little confused.  You see, tapa in the Philippines is a common dish for breakfast , but it is solely  thinly sliced beef, and eaten with fried rice and fried egg. The beef is marinated in vinegar or lemon juice  and spices, then air dried.  Here in the US, we can buy already thinly sliced beef from groceries selling Philippine stuff, and the beef is called tapadera.  The tapa is  also an appetizer  in the Philippines.

.Look, 2 pitchers of Sangria on our table.

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.Happy hour ! Good job, Sangria, good job.

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Wasted ? Nope, it’s a dungeon, so there are iron clamps (?) on the walls. Ahahaha.

By the way,  I’d like to apologize for my flippant  and rather insensitive statement re assault weapons, on my previous post.   ” I need an assault weapon that can fire off 100 rounds of ammunition without reloading” , freakin’ zombies.” , was what I wrote .I am for gun control, especially assault weapons.  Assault weapons are used in battlefield, war, and zombie invasion,  otherwise, they should be locked up in the armory.  If you’re an American, you know what I mean.

This is all for now.  Toledo , Spain is next.

Que tengas un buen dia. Have a good day. PEACE !

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Happy 2013 ! Random Thoughts and Foodie

May you all have a prosperous and fruitful 2013 !

Hello ! Renxkyoko Iglesias here.

My European tour made 2012  quite an eventful year , and I’m glad I get to share it with you.  It was also quite an experience to be given an opportunity to help re-elect Pres. Obama.  My sister and I and several  thousand  Californians went as far as Nevada, Iowa, Colorado, and Wisconsin  as part of Pres. Obama’ s ground campaign.  ( Just Reno for me, though… specifically Washoe County, the poor part of  Nevada , totally Republican, dirt roads, trailer parks, all white * don’t they know they will be thrown under the bus by Romney, he he he, someone on a truck yelled Eff you at us , it was scary…… Anyway,  it was difficult ,  but we managed to turn  Nevada into a   Blue state.  ) But then, if not for those 2 above, 2012 would be same-o, same-o… school, work, home, study, check out if there are any manga updates of my favorite shojou romance, daydream or rant, sleep, go to school again… yep, story of my life. I must have sinned in my past life.

Well, we all got a love letter from WordPress, right?  My stats are modest, but I ‘m happy . I  get a fair amount of comments, and to me, that’s more important.   To be honest, I don’t know if those who click LIKE  really like my post. He he he…. One time, I was online when I heard a ping on my Messenger.  That means, there was  a reader who just clicked LIKE. But surprise, surprise, I heard 4 pings , one after another,  in 3 seconds duration.  Gotcha ! lol ! !  The blogger couldn’t have read my post in 3 seconds flat, could he/she?   As for me, rest assured I read your post word for word. This is also the reason why I have 5,471 unread emails , to date. I don’t delete. I read all, but……. my fellow bloggers, I cannot cope anymore. I have 50 subscriptions, and each day that I don’t get to open my email folder adds  about 200 emails.  I kid you not.

According to WordPress, I  had 24 posts in 2012.  That’s 2 a month.  And the blogger with the most comments is 35andupcynicismonhold.  What is most interesting  is the post that got the most number of views …… it also  got the most number of comments, 139 I think?  WordPress also says that it has the most ” staying power”.  I posted All About Nothing , as usual in February, 2012, and believe it or not, I still get  at least 10 views a day from that post for almost a year now. WordPress didn’t give the total number of views, but I’m sure it must be in the thousands already. Happy Valentine’s Day comes second.  OMgosh, I was so pathetic here ! !  Well, I’m still pathetic.

There is one  post in 2011 and one in 2010 that also got tons of views.  I mean, I still get so many views from these old posts.  WordPress suggests I  should consider  writing about these topics again.  Uhm, not really, except  this one….. HAPPY NEW YEAR, 2012 ! ! !  I like the foodie post myself.  When I reread this, I was surprised to see the paella and the empanada that I cooked that year.  Yeah, I cooked those ! Here are  the pictures…..

Paella

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.Empanada….. by the way, I made a mistake with the dough. I used a fluffy dough.  It was store dough, ready made…. I don’t know how to make a dough, haha. I’m intimidated.

Empanada dough should look like this.

.I mentioned these two because the best food I had eaten by far  in Europe were Spanish empanadas and the paella in Spain, Both are very common foods in the Philippines.  In the Philippines, Paella is sometimes called Arroz a la Valenciana. Philippine dishes are basically of Spanish origin.  The Philippines was under Spanish rule for almost 400 years, so the similar palate shouldn’t come as a surprise….. for example, Filipinos eat pig’s blood too. In Spain, it’s called Morcilla.  I had Morcilla in Burgos and it was good. The blood sausage in London wasn’t that good though. Well, I love pig’s blood.  It’s one of my favorite Filipino dish.  It’s an acquired taste, so don’t hate, lol.  I’ll talk about this soon. (  Filipino stores here in the US sell pig’s blood  )

Below are some photos of our New Year spread. Not much this year, though. It was just family, all 6 of us.

Hmmmm, I notice the program on TV… it was The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.  Eh. We were watching  a political talk show  during  New Year’s Day lunch.

Noodles

Stewed beef we call Pochero. It’s made of beef, cabbage, garbanzos, long, green beans, potatoes, garlic, onions, tomato sauce.

Lumpia… just ground pork and shrimps, watercress, carrots, etc, wrapped in egg wrapper, then fried… eaten with sweet – sour sauce.  The one on the right is roast pork dip made up of soy sauce, vinegar and  fried tofu.

Roasted spare ribs, we call Lechon.  This one will  give us a massive coronary, but it tastes  so good, especially the crunchy skin. Oh, my. . The dip is the one with tofu, but I prefer liver sauce. You can see the liver sauce bottle in the pic.

The one above is one of my favorite desserts.  It’s  pandan flavoured agar-agar ( similar to Jello) and lychees . Pandan essence comes from the leaves of Pandanus plant, which is very common in SouthEast Asia.  Sometimes, we add pandan leaves when cooking rice to give that great aroma. ( The leaves are sold in Asian stores here in the US. )

Fruit salad…. A mainstay Philippine dessert.  It’s just a mixture of fruit cocktail,  cream,  nata de coco, and sweetened palm fruits. The last two are  “ must “ingredients  in any Philippine fruit salad. Nata de coco is Spanish for cream of coconut.  According to Wikipedia, nata is a chewy, translucent  jelly-like product produced by fermentation of coconut water by Acetobacter xylinus, a bacteria introduced into coconut water, the fermentation of which produces this jelly -like substance.  The process originated in the Philippines.

Cubed colored nata gels. The white nata has the original color. Nata  is very, very delicious.  There is also nata de pina….. cream of pineapple.

Above is fish with sweet sour sauce . We call the dish Escabeche. Escabeche is Spanish for pickled… the fish is not really pickled, just covered with vinegar- sugar sauce and soy sauce.

We call the juice Sago Cooler. It’s made up of caramel ( boiled brown sugar with banana essence or almond essence ) and sago pearls.

We use a tall glass with long teaspoon to scoop out the sago pearls. Guys, you should try this. It’s very good, If there’s no sago at the Asian store near you, you can float  gelatin, jello, or whatever. Be sure to add banana or almond essence, that’s all.

By the way, you can see 2 more desserts with the Sago Cooler photos.  The black colored dish is Biko, some sort of rice cake. Mom used deep purple rice, almost black rice. ( we also use white, sweet , glutinous rice, available at Asian stores… it’s different from regular rice). The other dish in the photo , the one in red dish is cassava cake. Cassava or yuca comes from the root and do you know it’s one of the most dangerous food in the world, if not prepared properly?  lol

UBE,  ( pronounced  oo- beh )or purple yam, one of the Philippines’ favorite dessert. It’s used as ice cream flavor, in cakes, bread fillings, or as is, like the photo above.  It’s a mixture of condensed milk, butter and grated yam.  We use the Philippine variety, because the purple yam grown in other countries does not have the desired taste and consistency. In fact , that ube in the photo isn’t the real thing, and Mom got so pissed that she almost threw it away. It got saved when we added a Philippine variety that we found in the freezer. The store where we bought it ran out of ube and what we found were purple yams from another country, which we suspected were not really purple yam, just ordinary yam with purple food coloring. It was gooey and tasted weird.

Aaaargh, holiday food ! !  It ‘s always a problem to lose weight after pigging out on all that goodness.

I definitely won’t fit into my newly acquired  Runway dress shown below.

I need to exercise again.

To be honest, I want to make another WP account that will have food and fashion as my theme. Or , another account  where I can write about animes and mangas. (   I know, I know !  I  confess ! I’m an anime manga fan. Don’t hate ! )

So, anyway,  I’m almost done with my European travelogue.  Spain and France  are next.  Paris  was our last stop. From there , we flew back to good ol’ US of A. \

This is all for now. Barcelona and Madrid are next in my travelogue !  Good day to all and Peace ! !

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Break -ups

Come here, Ren….. * whispers*  Don’t give excuses anymore.  Everyone knows you’re one lazy blogger. “

So, what have I been doing the past few weeks ? Well, I’m almost done packing for my European tour. The tour agency has  given us our tour kits, pic below…..

.The tour organizer of Grand European tour is Cosmos. I’m sure you’re wondering why I included that green , plastic water dipper/ scoop  in the picture .  Well, Mooselicker wrote in his really funny  post about brown streaks in his underwear. Bahahahaha  !  That’s  funny coz I also talked about this stuff  on my blog not once, but two times.  I know, I’m gross. ……… There’s a joke circulating on the Internet  about Philippine habits and culture/ One such habit is keeping a water dipper. /scoop Filipinos call “tabo” , in the toilet, like that one in the pic above. I don’t think I need to explain what that thing is for. ………. Okay, I will.  After doing the business, we step into the tub or shower room and wash our butt with the sweetest- smelling soap. You don’t think the smell’s gonna come off even if we use one whole roll of toilet paper, do you?  Funny thing is, though we do  have tabo in our toilet, that green one was given to us by my cousin ( the relative who visited us ) . lol. She actually brought 2 from the Philippines. She thought we didn’t have  one here in the US she could use.  Aaargh, I don’t know where this topic is going. Anyhow, to make the story short, the green tabo is coming with us to Europe. Hey, we’re not country bumpkins…… just a tad  fastidious in the hygiene department.  Or maybe it’s just a culture thing….. the tabo, I mean.

We’re leaving on the 17th, this month at 6: 55 PM and arrive in London at 1 PM,  June 18. I’m sure that’s London time.  Our hotel is located at Bayswater Rd., directly opposite Hyde Park and  Kensington Gardens, and a  mere 5 minute walk to Notting Hill. I’ve been hearing about these places since forever, so I’m really excited  to be there. Wow, just 12 more days from now.  Woooo ! !  * happy dance *

Meanwhile………

My Mom got a call from the Philippines, from my Aunt who’s touring with us in  Europe ( we’ll meet up in London ). She informed us a cousin is getting married in December.( My cousin is our next door neighbor too in the Philippines ) . We thought it was about time… she’s 26  now , and she has been in a relationship for almost 4 years , anyway.. She and her then  fiance entertained me when I was there , took me out to dinners, etc.  so we were surprised when my aunt said she was marrying a different guy.  Huh ?  So what happened?  HE CHEATED , that was what   happened . My cousin and her boyfriend were co-workers, so I don’t know why she never noticed that he was acting weird.  She saw “them” together in December, 2011, broke up with him,  got another BF after a few months, and now they’re getting married after just a few months of being together. Darn ! I smell REBOUND ! ! I think she’s  making a big mistake, marrying another guy while she’s still hurting.  But , my heart goes out to her. We were told that  after the break-up, she just cried  for weeks, didn’t go to work, refused to eat, was hospitalized……. the shock was too much for her.   I don’t understand. My cousin is sooo pretty and sweet and nice.

* ponders*

Men are  natural cheaters. Don’t hate me but that’s  what I think.  If they can, they will. It’s a given.

I have another story that’s as heart-breaking as this one. Except that, the cheater was my  guy cousin.  He and his long time GF were getting married too, already got an apartment,  and lived together.  Unfortunately, my cousin was a good-looking guy and had many women crushing on him at his workplace. There was a co-worker who was so into him that even though she knew he had a fiancee  and was soon to marry, she came on to him without any care., until , one day, he succumbed to her constant seduction and one date with her got her pregnant . He and his fiancee broke up, of course, stupid guy ! I wonder what his fiancee felt when he told her about it.  Oh, Lord .  I cannot imagine the pain and hurt.

* shakes fist in air *

* picks up a placard *  DIE ! ! !

Slapping is not enough. But,   I don’t know what else to think . I really feel bad for my cousin  and her family.  We’re very close to them. They are not only our neighbors/relatives, but her older brother came here to the US to study and lived with us for 4 years . He was like a real brother to me.  When he graduated, he went back to the Philippines….. 2 years after, he died, at the age of 25.  He was playing basketball, and collapsed, just like that.  He literally dropped dead. By the way,  do you know my cousin was with her Mom when they saw her then  fiance with another girl?  Dafaq !  I feel like driving a jackhammer into this guy’s  skull. May his teeth ache forever. If nothing bad happens to him, then there’s no justice in this world.

* sigh *

Do I hate cheaters! I think Pres. Clinton is the only cheater that I don’t hate. What was Monica Lewinsky thinking when she did THAT? ” Wow !  I, Monica Lewinsky , am doing THIS to the most powerful man on earth ! “

Last year,  I wrote a story that I intended to submit to a Japanese publisher of graphic novels ( mangas ).  Problem was, I couldn’t draw to save my soul.  So, I’m saving up to pay someone  draw for me.  I have everything set up, including the script, what to put in the panels, etc.

The theme of the story is love and revenge.  It’s rather depressing, so depressing I’m sure most readers will drop it ( just  like me,….. I drop heart-breaking stories ) but  it has a very happy, satisfying ending.  It’s about 2 sweethearts who love each other very much. The main girl has a best friend . What she doesn’t know is that the best friend is head over heels in love too with the BF. The best friend though is the childhood friend and neighbor of the BF, so , this girl  always comes up with an excuse to come to the BF’s house. I ‘m sure you know what happens. What is so sad about the situation is that the BF really loves his GF, but , as much as I hate it,  I rationalize his infidelity  due to his age, ( he’s 18 ) with testosterone at maximum peak.  His GF is sweet and virginal.  I know this is cliche. In this story, though, the devil is in the details.  The revenge for this betrayal will make the reader stand up and applaud.

No, not that kind of revenge.  I wrote in all my hatred in the story.

This is all for now. This post is really weird.  Anyways, PEACE ! !

.

HAPPY NEW YEAR ! 2012 !!!!!

Hello ! Hey , HAPPY NEW YEAR ! !

Gosh, here I go again, apologizing for neglecting my blog. I can’t make school as my excuse this time coz  I’m on vacation.  (=_=) # Well, first off,  I ‘ve been given longer hours at work, and that’s good.  I need the dough for school and my European trip this summer.  Oh, I’ve written about my Euro trip , right?  Five months to go. When I first wrote about it, it was 8 months to go. Time does fly, doesn’t it?  So, how was everyone’s Christmas ? This year, my family’s Christmas celebration was pretty quiet. There weren’t any guests, just us family. As per family tradition, we went to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. ( Midnight Mass was at 11 PM ) Then after the Mass, we had a simple midnight dinner we call  Noche Buena ( or is it  called Media Noche ? ) . It was just hot chicken /rice porridge and ensaimada ( bread , also called brioche ). It’s melt in your mouth Philippine  bread, topped with butter , sugar and  shredded Edam cheese. We call Edam cheese Queso de Bola.

———————

(=.=)

I started writing this on Dec. 31, 2011. It’s now Jan. 5, 2012. I feel so guilty abandoning my blog like this, but I promise to write more often this year. Make that my New Year’s Resolution.  I’ve been busy doing things that I won’t be able to do anymore  when school opens in 3 weeks……. like hanging out with friends, going to parties, playing video games , and reading mangas. Gosh, I haven’t even read Eragon yet.

So, where was I ?

Oh, yeah, my  holiday activities….. Well, Christmas dinner was just family. We didn’t have guests this year ( that is, if I even consider my Sis’ BF and BFF ” guests “. They’re like family already… this year, he was in San Diego with his Dad, and BFF was in Ohio with her grandma ) . There wasn’t much food compared to last year.

This year…….

As usual, we had eggrolls( lumpia ) and  caldereta ( beef  stew), ham, paella ( Spanish rice ), galantina ( fancy name for chicken loaf ), roast pork, sauteed mushrooms with veggies, and desserts. I’m proud to say I made the paella, my first time to cook that.

Paella

Another view of the spread

Galantina and sauteed mushrooms

Desserts ( leche flan, cassava cake, fruit salad , cheesecakes, chocolate cakes, pastries, and muffins ) The small pastries have sweetened coconut in them. In the Philippines, they are called pan de coco.

Cheesecake and chocolate cake ( bought from Costco)………. Oh, by the way, do you see that thing , on upper right hand of the pic above ?  It’s Afghan bread….. it’s flat and it’s 3 feet long, and tastes better than regular sliced bread. And do you see the one on the left? That’s pineapple sweet bread. Sooo good.

So, that’s it, our Christmas day meal.

I was planning to post pics of our New Year’s Day celebration on a separate post but I guess it’s too late now. Anyway,  we didn’t prepare much this year.

So, do I love cooking? Well, I did cook most of the food  seen in the photos, especially the paella, but I can’t say I love cooking.  When my mother was diagnosed with Diabetes and high blood pressure, my sister and I had to take charge of household duties.  Cooking is not a rocket science, anyways, and I’m lucky Mom has tons of recipes that have  already been taste -tasted and rated 5 stars.  You see, before my family immigrated here to the US, Mom had a thriving catering business in the Philippines. Three days before we immigrated to the US, Mom  still managed to cater  for 300 people. It was a convention…….. catering was AM snacks, lunch, Pm snacks, and dinner. I still remember that. It was rather chaotic at our house, so many people coming and going, preparing food. The whole place was like an assembly line.

Now, our New year’s day feast: There was less food on the table. That was okay though. At least we didn’t have to pig out and eat the same food for 3 days.

Almost the same thing . We had  noodles ( pancit ) instead of paella, roast pork ( I love the roast pork, with all that crunchy skin goodness ! Ugh ! So unhealthy ! ) and I made empanada ( meat turnovers )and turrones. ( wrapped fried banana ). We also had mini quiches and wanton soup.

Empanada ( meat turnover…. sauteed ground chicken with potatoes and raisins )

Turrones ( wrapped banana then fried….. it also has brown sugar and jack fruit in it ).

Mini quiches and OMG, that cake ! It’s called Fruit Basket and the taste was sublime ! Ah, but it was a $ 36 – cake, so I ‘m sure the baker saw to it it was worth the price.

Wonton soup ( I made this )\

Ahahaha ! Here’s a horrible random pic of me on New year’s Day. I didn’t get to sleep at all. I got home at 3 AM  from a New Year’s Day party , then cooked and baked the whole morning  for our New Year’s lunch. .,  I looked like a hag in this pic and intentionally picked my nose when Mom took the picture. Bleh. Good thing it’s blurry.

So, what did you guys get for Christmas ? I got a a pair of gold hoop earrings and necklace with my birthstone, and a Wii video dance game JUST DANCE 3  from my parents, a gorgeous leather jacket from my brother, and a nice sweater from sis. My best friend gave a me a nice pair of earrings too. Wow ! I just love Just Dance 3. It’s like having a fun exercise and at the same time,  learning awesome dance moves. There’s another one, Michael Jackson Experience, that I’m going to buy , too. Although they say the dance routine is really difficult to follow. Ha ! I’m sure it is.

Well, to be honest, talking about so much food and material gifts makes me a bit uncomfortable. This is not the real spirit of Christmas, you know. There are millions of children who are starving and suffering  at this very moment. I feel kind of guilty……………  Oh, my, this reminds me again of the story The Little Match Girl.  ~.~  But what can I do ? I just want them to know that amidst this merriment and celebration, I stop and think about them…… that , at least there’s one in this world who has not forgotten .  The truth is, not everyone is happy this Christmas.  Mom;s favorite first cousin died on Dec. 24. She literally died in the arms of her husband while waiting for the ambulance. At first, she was clinging to him, then she went limp. It was so sad.  Then my sister’s ex- boyfriend died from brain tumor on Dec.15.  I heard my sister sobbing in the bathroom . When she got out, she was holding the glass cell phone stand that he gave her and her eyes were really swollen.  It was really a sad story between him and my sister.  In fact, when he was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago, it was only my sister , aside from his family, that he told about his condition.  Well, it was  a short bittersweet relationship , and he told her she was the only girl  he ever loved but he was glad that she broke up with him , because 6 months after the break -up, he was diagnosed with cancer. Oh, man, my tears are falling now. There’s another sad  story I’d like to talk about, but I  don’t want to feel any  sadder than what I’m feeling at the moment.

Oh, I got 3 more Versatile Blogger Award…. one from Koopa , Viv, and trjensen…. my 7th, 8th, and 9th awards. I’ll acknowledge this on my next post. I really gotta publish this now.

This is all for now. PEACE . And be happy !

Serenade again and other random thoughts

Hello !  That handwritten signature makes it more personal, don’t you think so ?  I’m going to make that my intro from now on.

Oh, gosh, I don’t even know where to start. First off,  it’s Nov.21  today.  Hmmmm, a significant day for me.  Last night  the family had dinner at our favorite Chinese – Filipino restaurant, after which we went to watch a movie ” A Very Harold and Kumar 3 D Christmas ” . As usual, it’s about the misadventures of 2 idiots, Harold ( a Chinese investment banker ) and Kumar ( a medical student Asian Indian ) . I’ve watched the other 2 H and K movies.  I know not everyone appreciates the humour, but I get it and love it.  Oh, in fact, I had a   zombie overload this week.  For the first time, a Friday with no work and school! ! I got to watch the first season of Walking Dead ( loved it ! ) and the last Harry Potter movie. Of course I didn’t just sit in the couch and did nothing but watched…. …I made my free time more productive by ironing clothes as I watched the movies.  And while taking a break from all these zombies and ironing, I did the laundry.  Then before I went to bed, I managed to read and finish  a 200 page book  , The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.  ( Uhm , supposedly a book  recommended  for Thomas Pynchon beginners )  Thomas Pynchon received a National Book Award and he was  regular contender fot Nobel Prize in Literature.  Seriously, this book……….@___@….. I know I’m shallow, and all that, but not totally stupid, you know ?  but, to be honest,  I didn’t know what I just read.  Well, it’s about the main character , a woman, who’ s  investigating or trying to get proofs that Trystero, a private mail delivery company  exists and is trying to dominate the world. She sees its logo everywhere, even under a bush. While investigating, she meets people who are even more weird and paranoid than her. There seems to be no resolution, the story ends, just like that, no hee, no haa . WTH !  I don’t get it.  You know what, I don’t care if  he’s a literary giant, I didn’t enjoy reading  his book. Period.  And  that’s what’s important, right ? To enjoy a book ?

 I just bought the last book of Eragon series, Inheritance. My sister is reading it first…. ooooh, I can’t wait to read it. It’s awesome !  Now, this is what I consider good read, LOL.

It seems my post on serenades generated a lot of interest.  I wish I could add some more info about it, although one commented that it is probably of Spanish influence. I’m sure it is. The Philippines was under Spain from 1521 t0 1898, so  I assume  majority of its customs and traditions are  Spanish in origin.    The country is the odd man out in Asia, they say.  90% Catholics,  with customs and traditions that  are more similar to Spain and Mexico rather than its asian neighbors.  Asians , for example are aloof and non- demonstrative, but in the Philippines, they hug and kiss when they greet relatives and friends. Filipinos are a boisterous lot. 

So, okay the serenades…. nothing much there…. except one anecdote from Dad. When he was 17 or so, he had a friend who was crushing on this one girl ( he mentioned the name of the girl, because, later on, Dad was the one who crushed on her… but that’s another story, he he he ). Another friend  suggested they serenade this girl, and so they did. But before that, they had a drinking party first, then, around 10 PM, they got around to serenade the girl. But they were so drunk the song they sang sounded horrible. And instead of the girl coming out to talk to them, it was the father and a brother who came out, and they even let the dog out.  So, the guys said sorry and hastily retreated, then ran off . The dog chased them off the property. LOL  Oh, another one….. one guy  serenaded solo, but used a boombox instead, and played a tape recorded song. I don’t know if the girl opened the window. Ahahaha.   Oh, here’s another  image of  serenade.

Take note of the grandpa  behind her. He looks annoyed. Anyways, if the couple have mutual feelings,  the girl will let the guy or guys , if it’s a group, to come into the house. Maybe they will be served hot coffee or whatever is available…. meanwhile, the family will be lurking in the shadows, listening in to the conversations ,  and when it’s time for them to leave, the grumpiest in the family, the grandma, will spread a sleeping  mat on the living room floor. That means, she’s going to sleep, right there, and it’s time for the guys to go.  And the girl of course will blush and get embarassed… Grandma ?  That;s the movie on my mind.

About the girl my Dad’s friend serenaded…….. The friend gave up on her. Years later, it was Dad who crushed on her. It was also the same time Mom had met Dad. Well, suffice it to say, Mom turned out to be the evil rival…. if this was a manga story, LOL !  Wanna know the story ?  Post a comment and let me know.

I wrote on the post, ” My Vehicle was Stolen” that I was cited for not stopping at a STOP sign. So, the court appearance was on Nov. 15.  Dad came with me, and told me to plead NOT GUILTY. So I stood before the judge and he asked ” How do you plead? ” I said Not guilty. I was asked to take a seat again. I waited for the clerk of court to call me back, … waited for 1 1/2 hours, then she called me and said I should come back on Dec 12, present evidences why I think I’m not guilty, blah, blah…. At that point, I was already at my limit. It was a hopeless case. Everybody else just pled guilty and paid the fine. So I told her I’d change my plea to Guilty. So the judge called me again, and said “ Ms. Iglesias, you’d like to change your plea, so how do you plead,” I said  “Guilty, Sir. “  ” So, the sentence is either community service or fine of $ 236.00 “  ” I’ d like to pay the fine, sir. “  So, that’s it, my court saga.  Ugh. Lousy experience. I swear, Traffic court is California’s money machine.  There goes 1/4  of my monthly wages.

There you go. The picture is making an L sign.  I am a LOSER.  LOL !

Oh, hey ! Thanksgiving Day on Thursday ! HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY ! !

Uhm, here are some random pics ….

Street at  my school.  I just love Fall colours !

And that’s moi going to school…. busy texting…..

 

And this next one… I painted this using colored pencils.

This is all for now ! ! Good day to all ! !  PEACE !

Courtship and serenade

Hello, Renxkyoko Iglesias musing here!

Eight days have passed…………. time to post again.  Meh. As usual, I’m hitting a blank wall. 

I just checked out my email folder, with almost 2,000 read emails . I deleted around 500. Going through the mails, I suddenly felt a wave of nostalgia and sadness wash over me when I read a series of emails between a certain person and myself.  He was my one-sided  love.

 But  the unrequited love is not the reason why I felt sad. The reason is more dire than that. I have a question….. what is the mathermatical probability that out of the population of 4 billion men, the guy that you happen to like has a terminal illness ? He  turned 20 this September. He was diagnosed when he was just 18 years old.  This is really true. “ Hey, Dreamsending, I guess you now have an idea who he is.” ( Dreamsending is my co-author here on Renxkyoko’s space )

So, what else can I talk about ?  Well, I bought a blu-ray of the movie The Strangers, ( recommended by a blogger )and the first season of Walking Dead. ( recommended by 3 bloggers ) I don’t think I can watch the movies this week. I have exams coming next week. As usual, crunch time.

It’s been a rather boring week.  Seriously, I really have nothing to talk about.  It seems everything is …. lifeless. Everyday  it’ s school, work, home…….and I guess this happens to be one of my “off” days . I really feel lethargic, and I just want to curl up in bed and sleep . 

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Hi, again ! I wrote the above 4 days ago. Today is Veteran’s Day, so there’s no school, although  I went to work from 1 PM to 7 . And there wasn’t much happening there, either. My boss gave me another $ 150 gift certificate, though.  My third one !   Also, I deleted/erased most of what I had written above about this guy. . I thought they were most inappropriate.  My problem with him seemed so puny compared to his own personal problem, so I felt I had no right whatsoever to  feel  hurt. I mean, his situation is mind- blowing. I can’t even imagine what he’s feeling now.   Last I heard from him, there was remission. I hope it stays that way.  So young ……….

So…..

My mom got a call from the Philippines,  from my aunt, Mom’s sister. She told my Mom that a cousin, (  their first cousin ) had asked my aunt to call Mom, so that Mom could call a nephew ( who’s in the Philippines, too , and who’s actually my Dad’s nephew, the son of his sister) and ask him what his real intentions are regarding Mom’s first cousin’s daughter, who happens to be the nephew’s girlfriend.  ( Are you still with me?  LOL )……… maybe a diagram is in order. 

Mom——> First cousin——–> daughter Cathy

Dad——-> Sister———> son Don

Cathy <——- hearts ——–> Don

Backround story:  It was when  Mom and I went to the Philippines last year  on vacation that Don and Cathy were introduced at a family reunion.  Cathy is a 30 year old doctor, single, and  really quite pretty. Don is a 35 year old lawyer, single, and never even had a girlfriend. So, they liked each other, and just had a first year anniversary of their relationship last August.  But, here’s the thing…. it seems Cathy wants to get married, but  doesn’t want to bring up the subject of marriage to Don.  Mom is not sure if  Cathy knows about her Mom’s call to my Mom, but  Mom’s  assuming she does, so Mom calls Don. For fun, this is more or less, Mom’s and Don’s conversation:

Mom :  Don, don’t tell Cathy I talked to you about this, but Cathy’s Mom called and told me to sound you off about Cathy’s desire to get married.

Don :  Aunty,  I know what  Cathy feels, but, I have just started my own law firm, and right now, I can barely pay the rent and my secretary’s salary. My savings are fast disappearing. I don’t think I can afford to have a family now.

Mom:  Don, Cathy is a doctor. She’s doing okay financially. She knows you’re in a bind now,  yet, she still wants to get married  to you..

Don: That’s exactly the reason why I don’t want to get married yet. I should be the one to support her, to bring home the bacon.

Mom: Don, you’re 35. How long will it take you to build a steady clientle, 5 years, 10 years? You’ll be 40 by then, and Cathy will be 35. She doesn’t want that.  She’s willing to share the burden with you, as a wife.

Don:   That’s what she thinks now…. but, I’m sure there are going to be money problems… and marital fights…… that’s inevitable….. and I don’t want that to happen to us.

Mom:    Don, you don’t have to marry her now….. all you have to do is make the relationship official…. give her a ring, get engaged… that’s all for now…. and then both of you decide when to get married.

Don :  Alright, alright. Aunty, I love you, but please don’t think I’m doing this because you asked me to. I’m doing this of my own free will and because  I love her, okay? 

Mom : Alright ! But please don’t get married before our Euro trip next year. We want to attend the wedding ! ! !

 Of course I embellished the conversation a little bit, but it’s more or less 80% accurate. I was the Third wheel on their first few dates !  And  I witnessed the awkwardness of 2 grown adults. I couldn’t believe it. Or was it a culture thing?  Mom says  in the rural areas in the Philippines, a man has to serve the family of the girl he’s courting.  Like, chopping  firewood for cooking?  Oh, and there’s this tradition of serenading the girl  !  They say the guy serenades the girl at night, under the moonlight, and if the girl likes him back, she will open the window and listen, but if she doesn’t like him, the window will not be opened.  And if the guy can’t sing, he hires a professional singer.  Wow! Just imagine the scene…. a guy singing a haunting love song, accompanied by a guitar, and the girl looking out the window, with a lovely smile on her face, awwww !  I wonder if this tradition still exists.  Mom says it still does, coz she was serenaded once by a young, poor farmer when she stayed at a small barrio for one month  for her on the job training when she was in college. She siad it was embarassing and awkward., like, did the guy really think that would work? LOL

Edited to include a pic of Philipine tradition of Serenade:

I have a question, though…. do you think my Mom crossed the line by  ” urging”  my cousin Don to get engaged to Cathy?  Well, actually, it was Cathy’s mother who wanted Mom to do that. This isn’t what we call a shotgun wedding , is it ? Shotgun weddings are for pregnant ladies, and Cathy isn’t.

Anyways, I hope Philippine guys continue with this sweet tradition of courtship, serenade and all. It’s awesome. Over here in the US,  wham, bam, thank you , Ma’m  is the thing.

Well, this is all for now. Good day to all !  Oh, wait, before I go, there’s this Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao who’s gonna have a bout with a Mexican boxer Marquez tonight on HBO’s Pay Per View. You bet we’re going to watch. And some guests are coming, including my sister’s boyfriend’s cousins. ( A bunch of white guys, haha ) Last time the cousins were here, BF and one cousin almost had their own boxing match at the backyard.  It seemed the cousin favored the other boxer. And, they had beers too many.

Alright, gotta go….. I’ll bake cupcakes ! ! Bye for now !

My Vehicle was stolen

Hello!

Renxkyoko Iglesias here .

*red-faced*

Okay. * takes a deep breath * So, I was rather harsh on men, as one annoyed guy friend pointed it out to me. I was generalizing, I admit, and I’d like to apologize for that. I  apologize only for generalizing, mind you. Other than that, I stand by what I said. But don’t hate me. I’m really a nice girl. q(^o^)p Muaaaah to all my readers then, including guys. Oh , especially those guys who have been  offended.  * grins sheepishly*  Oh, and I don’t hate men,  just the as*holes. I do like the bishies.  \(^___^)/ Well, check out this pic, ladies.

The image above is from the manga THE ONE, an ongoing series that I ’ve been reading for 2 years.  Those two guys are twins ! As if one isn’t enough, lol ! These mangakas ( authors ) are so sly, drawing such pretty boys to draw ( pun intended ) lonely, homely girls  out of their holes, making them dream that someday, a knight in shining armor will sweep them off their feet ( and unrealistically looking like that, to boot), and together , they will ride into the sunset, to live happily ever after.

 ” Erm, girls, come over here…not to poop on your cake , dears, not to piss on your bonfires, dears,  not to rain on your parade, dears “….. *smacks each and everyone of them *…. IT’S  NOT GONNA HAPPEN ! ! WAKE UP! !

Actually, I’m talking to myself.

I have to smack myself for being such a manga fangirl. I guess I need to get a life or something. Hahaha ! Oh, by the way, do you know that  out of 3 books that are published in Japan, , 1 is a manga ? And  do you know that  books  frequently borrowed at US libraries are mangas? Otherwise, books in public libraries are just there, sitting in shelves , gathering dust, with no activity at all… Heck. What does THAT say about  today’s youth’s reading habits? So, okay, I’m guilty. But I read real books too. You’d be surprised if you’d see my collection of books.  ( You were surprised  to see my  collection of mangas, right? )See, I used to be a voracious reader. I even read the obituaries. But,  I don’t read much these days… I mean , real books…. I have Chemistry, Microbiology, Math and other college textbooks  to contend with.

Geez,  I almost forgot….. the title of this post is “My vehicle was stolen.”

On my previous blog, I wrote I was a bit depressed. You see, that night, the family van was stolen. I went to work that night and used the van . I got off at 10 PM, but before that, I got a call from a friend and he asked if I wanted to hang out with him after work. So, I said okay but only for a few minutes just to return something  as I had  work early the next day. So I drove to his house, parked , and just left my purse in the van . After 30 minutes or so, I left and darn, the van was gone. So my friend and I frantically drove around hoping to find the van abandoned somewhere. Fail ! But of course. We came  home, woke up dad at 3 AM, started calling credit card companies, the police, etc. My purse had everything in it… license, credit card, keys to the house and goodness knows what else is in  there ( good thing I got my still unpaid new iphone ),,, and that was a new purse too, the one I bought when Mom and I went shopping .( I wrote about that too, ( ^o^)# )…………………………….So, anyhow, I had a previous promise to drive 4 bratty middle schoolers to the ballpark  2 days after. ( Don’t ask .) The ballpark was at the downtown area.  Traffic condition at that place is the worst… one way, do not enter signs are all over. Since I wasn’t familiar with that place, I got lost, drove aimlessly for 40 minutes at 5 miles/per hour, then got pulled over by a cop, given a citation for not stopping at a Stop sign, and now, have to go to court on Nov.15. Citation is $220. WHAT ELSE CAN HAPPEN TO ME ON TOP OF THAT? Next day, I got a call from the bank. Apparently my credit card was used to buy gas 2x and stuff at 7-11, worth a total of $250. Then 2 days ago, we got a call from a cop. The van was found abandoned at a gas station and towed away. Towing fee …$250 which I volunteered to pay and dad accepted . T.T   The van was chop chopped., rendered useless. So now we have to buy another, a good used one coz we can’t afford to buy a new one. (We still  have that duplex on our beach property to build, right? I wrote about that too. ) I volunteered to hand over my lifetime savings of $2,000… good thing Dad didn’t accept. What a relief.  * sighs * Maybe I didn’t pray in my past life, huh.  Oh, and good thing my friend volunteered to become my chauffer. His car, of course… I just pay for the gas. I guess he feels guilty . After all, our vehicle was stolen at his place, AND, if he didn’t call me to come over, then THIS wouldn’t have happened.  >.<  Oh, but I do appreciate and am  really grateful for what he’s doing for me. My place of work is a good 35 minutes from our house, after all. And he’s not even a boy friend. He’s my  boy best friend. Uhm, well, maybe 3 years ago, he wished he was, but, we both realized it wouldn’t be a good thing. He was a Muslim… a  Muslim from Chekoslovakia. From Bosnia, to be exact….. a blond, blue -eyed Muslim. And I’m Catholic. ….. never the twain shall meet.  Right?   Oh, well.  They say if we lose something, another will always come to take its place. That’s the rule   of  the universe. Maybe I’ll win a lotto. I have to remember to buy a ticket.  I just know something good will come up. I can feel it in my bones.

Oh, and another thing……….. I just reread the previous log. That part where , out of the blue, I wrote about my sister’s BF’s new hair “do” ? That looked exteremly random, but actually, it wasn’t. I was talking about cheating men, and the first person that I thought of was my sis’ BF. Yep, he cheated on sis. But , that day, he came over sporting that new “do” , and that was what I wrote about. He he he… okay, that was really random.  (^o^)  Never mind.

*sighs*

Aaaargh, Bummer. School opens on the 29th…. * gets up to look at the calendar*    ! ! ! ! !  It’s this coming Monday ! ! !  Hah! Wish me luck, folks.  Back to the saltmines ! ! !

  I’ll do my best and go for the win !

This is all for now. Good day and PEACE!

I’m Feeling Chatty Today

Hey, it’s me, renxkyoko iglesias !

It’s been a while , I know, but I have 2 jobs, and it’s been stressing me out. I mean , the second job at the clothing store has been stressing me out, that’s what.  It isn’t like Abercrombie or Forever 21 ( where I buy most of my clothes) where people can afford to  buy on impulse. We do get walk- in customers but they don’t really buy… they  just check out the stuff, look at the tags, and off they go. I don’t blame them. Ordinary t- shirts are over a hundred bucks each. WTH ! I wouldn’t buy, either. So, you ask, where do we get the sales from? From ” clients”, that’s where…. they come in with appointments… they either call to make an appointment, or we call , to inform regular rich customers about our new deals.  So, the phone calls that I make are actually the ones  that stress me out. I  have to make them come out of their mansions,  show them our stuff, and make the sale. Have I made a sale since the 2 weeks I’ve been working there ? Yes, I have, about $ 5,ooo worth. I should be ecstatic, but I’m not. Another month of this and I swear, all my hair will fall out, or I’ll  have a premature gray hair. Sheesh, this job is not for me. Seriously.  Good  thing I still have my day job at Baskin and Robbins.  Once school starts , I’m out of  BCBGMAXAZRIA.  Yep,that’s the name of the store. Quite a mouthful, isn’t it?

Oh, hey, in my previous post, I said we had a beach  property in Boracay Island in the Philippines. We just heard news that  a star-studded NBA teams ( like Kobe, etc. ) are in the Philippines , and  they are all now in Boracay ! !  We tell mom,”See ? You really need to do this , Mom !   ! !  We should be in business,  pronto! ” My aunt, who is   single, ( Mom’s sister ) is sharing with the  expenses ( property is from my mother’s side ) , and she’ll be here stateside  in August (  will go on Alaska cruise with relatives). I’m most interested in this coz my aunt promised to give  me her share of the property, so, yeah, it’s totally vested interest on my part. * grins sheepishly*  Good thing my siblings are not interested in Boracay… too far, they say. Although, I think my sister is interested in the property in Bagiu, a mountain resort in the Philippines. Meh. I’ve seen the place… not interested… place is too crowded with tourists. here’s a picture of our vacation house there, and we plan to rent it out too. So, my Filipino readers, check it out… Contact me next summer….. sorry, I’m talking business here, hehehe… Whatever it takes, you know, haha.. I’d holler for a dollar.. Kidding !

It’s a row of townhouses, at the mountain top, and there’s a million dollar view of the mountains from the verandah.

 

The townhouse is hanging for dear life at the side of the mountain, and the pictures above are the views from the verandah. The place is really nice.  Oh , and that ‘s me in Bagiu, at  BenCab museum.  Heh, I really look like a high school girl in person… Hmmm, and gained a lot of weight too. All we ever did there was eat.

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**********************************

So, aside fom my 2 jobs, what else have I been doing ?  Reading mangas, that’s what.  Well, just  two…. and , actually, they are not Japanese….they are Korean manhwas. I really love the two stories, but the English translations on Manga Fox ( free online ) are soo slow in coming, like every 3 months for just one freaking chapter,  that I have to search for raws of the mahnwas ( raws are those published in original language  ) and  satisfy  myself with just looking at the pictures. I found a Vietnamese site. It seems Vietnam is also publishing  mangas and manhwas, but in Vietnamese of course. … the title of the manhwa is ” The Boy Who Will Sell a Kiss for 5000 Won”. ( 5000 won + $5.00 ) .  The story is cute…and here’s the story so far,……….  during lunchtime, the handsome main guy hangs out at  the school rooftop and waits for any girl who wants to get kissed by him, something like a minute for 5000 won, and a little more if the girl wants to extend the kiss. Ha ha ha !  The main  girl is angry coz her BFF goes there to get kissed, and spends so much money for it. So main girll goes there too to take pics and show them to the principal , but instead gets kissed, too. The main guy asks for payment , yadiya. The main girl gets dazzled by the first kiss ( note to self: I wouldn’t mind paying $500 to get kissed by Andrew Garfield… whooo ! ), and later, falls in love with the guy. She pursues him , then  finally confesses, but gets rejected…. says he’s not interested at all. So , like the girls she despises, she goes to the rooftop and pays, too. She is of course depressed by the turn of events, but then , one day, she hears some guys talking about her… ” Isn’t that the girl who confessed to Soo Hyun… I heard she was so easy and willing  he almost did it with her, right there at the rooftop  ” Main girl gets angry, confronts the guy at the cafeteria, slaps him and hits him several times, and gets slapped back so hard she falls to the ground. Here are some scenes from the story… Oh, the drama!!!    By the way, this is Korean, not Japanese, so read from left to right.

It is a scandalous situation, so girl goes home very late  at night, gets soaked  in the rain, runs a fever the next day… main guy learns about it fom a friend who’s the boy friend of the girl’s sister . Main guy feels guilty , skips class, and goes to visit the girl…… well, that’s it… that’s the last of the English version.  So, anyways, I looked at the Vienamese raws ( completed ) and yay, happy ending !  Anmd this is how I understood the story from the raws…..   the main girl  finally  gives up on the guy…. she gets introduced to the sister’s boyfriend’s pal, they get together…. meanwhile, this new guy happens to be the main guy’s childhood friend , or maybe a cousin, I don’t know,  and one day, they see him at a club and she gets introduced to the main guy. Awkward !  Main guy starts to get jealous, yadiya, so the story continues…. one day, new guy sees main guy and girl kissing. He is shocked but pretends not to have seen them… a sad situation for the new guy coz it seems he’s so in love with the girl and I reckon he already knows the two have a history.  A confrontation means a resolution, and that means, he’s going to lose out on the main guy. So, he avoids the issue.. ( just my opinion … if I were him, I would freakin’ kill them , lol ) And there’s this scene where the main guy sees the new guy waiting for him at his house, and they talk  and it looks like the new guy is crying. (  Oh, that is so sad ! ) Later on in the story, main guy and girl get together.  Now, here’s the thing…. there’s a scene at the rooftop where the main guy is kissing another girl and the main girl wittnesses  that, and it looks like they break up…… . and there;s this scene  where the main guy is showing the new girl what looks like birth control pills. And looking at that, I was like, ”  Noooooooooooo ! ! !  This can’t be happening ! I am so gonna drop this manhwa ! What the F!#$% is that ! ! ” And there’s this scene where the main girl and the main guy’s roommate ( the doctor at the school’s  infirmary ) get drunk together, and end up sleeping together. ( When I saw that, my jaw dropped to the ground, and I thought  , it’s over! !  but then, there’s the happy ending, so , what the heck is going on ! )   I was so desperate to know , so I used Google Translate, and folks, it sux Big time. I painstakingly translated word for word, but not a thing made sense, so I just tried stringing  the words together  especially  the key words , and this is what I figure really happened…. main guy and main girl do not see each other for 3 days , so main girl starts looking for him,,, they meet up, and main guy’s excuse is he ‘s in  the toilet during lunchtime  cause he’s suffering from constipation ! ( I read the word in the translation, lol ), so main girl buys the medicine, and the doctor friend tells her he always goes to the rooftop during lunchtime, and girl tells him that can’t be, he’s constipated and maybe he’s in the toilet again ( she ‘s worried coz she knows that’s where the main guy does  his kissing business ) , but goes along  with the doctor to look for him, anyway… then bam ! they see him with a girl kissing….. she drops the medicine, and main guy tries to run after her, but the other girl holds him  back and confesses too… There’s a side story about this other girl .( apparently she’s got kissing phobia  and friends of hers tell main guy to help her get over that … WTF ! ) This other girl falls for him, too, and confesses,  he rejects her, and goes to the main girl’s house, and waits for her to come home ( outside ) , but main girl goes out with the doctor and  both get drunk… she sleeps at doctor’s house ( both together in bed, but they didn’t do IT ) , so she goes home in the morning and finds the main guy at the gate…….main guy tries to explain but girl won’t listen…  they  break up, and even tells main guy she has slept with his friend as her parting words…… To make the story short, a lot of drama happens, but main guy does stuff so he can get back with main girl, ( he really loves her ) and they do get back together, and get married… the last scene is the couple picking up their kindergarten son, and the main guy is saying ” what have I done to deserve this kid “! And wife tells him ” KARMA!  ( The teacher at the son’s school is complaining their son is selling kisses for 10 won. End of story/

LOL pardon me for being so chatty today.  I didn’t get to sleep at all for 3 days or so. I’ve been translating, and it does  take me hours to  translate a few chapters.  In fact, a friend saw me online at 1 AM and messaged me, ” What are you doing at this hour”? and I messaged back ,” what are young doing at this hour . It’s 4 AM over there. “  He says he likes the peace and quiet.. He’s in Canada.

I guess I should cut back on manga reading. Well, actually I have cut back , what with my 2 jobs and all. And we’ve been busy too preparing for my aunt’s arrival.  By the way, I read mangas free online, but I do support the authors and publishers by buying the books. I’m not a freebie.  Except, Korean manhwas are not published in English. Too bad. Here’s a pic of our manga books.

 So, I say bye for now… Be cool and stay  cool. PEACE !

Just my thoughts

Hi, there!

It’s me, Renxkyoko Iglesias !

I’ve been busy. But it’s been 8 days since my last post, so I have to post something. Post-a-week is such a pain.  I really have nothing to say. I don’t want to talk about my new job, either. I guess scooping ice cream at Baskin and Robbins turns out to be more exciting. It’s summer, and  people like to buy ice cream more than new outfits. That’s all I’m saying.

So, what else…….

Since it’s summer, I’d like to seduce you with pictures of one of the loveliest beaches in the world….. Boracay Island in the Philippines. Well, first off, the Philippines is made up of 7,100 islands, right smack in the Pacific Ocean ( I think) , so you can just imagine the many wonderful beautiful beaches there. And of course, I’m featuring Boracay because we have a property there, and this year, after the rainy season, construction of a duplex will start, and we’re going to rent it out to tourists. So, yeah, this serves as a promotion too for our business, ahahaha ! And I know I have many Filipino readers, so guys, if  we can get it done before summer 2o12, and you rent it through WordPress I can give you discount. lol  I’m not kidding , though. By the way, our property is not beachfront, it’s about a 5 minute walk from the beach but it’s not a problem  coz the beachfront is owned by my grandma and is a private property.  So here are some pictures……..

That’s the private beach.

But you can find other great accomodations, of course, like these…..

 

Needless to say, it’s more expensive here. Ours will be so much cheaper.  There’s nothing much to say yet, but you bet I’m going to promote it to the hilt when it gets done, including the furnishings.

Ah ! I’ve rejoined the party scene. And it’s about time too.

 And I usually go with my pals Olga, Tanya and Ali. And I don’t feel like the third wheel anymore. I can get as much fun being the single one. Boyfriends do tend to cramp one’s style.

However, I’ve been a hermit far too long it’s become embarassing. I mean, people have been asking me , hey, how come you don’t have a boyfriend, yadiyadiya,…. meh, what can I say ? How do I respond to that ?

 

 I used  to shrug off such questions, but lately, I’ve become defensive and uncomfortable. *looks in the mirror*  Uhm, I don’t think I’m unattractive.

 Guys crush on me too. So, what’s wrong with me? I’m a zombie?  I don’t think so. I swoon too and go KYAAAA when I see a good-looking guy. And occassionally, I have perverted  thoughts too, ahaha !  j/k    …… By the way, in mangas, when a character gets excited, he/she gets a nosebleed…….like so….

Dang! LMAO ! …….. * ponders*  Do nesebleeds actually happen? I mean, capillaries exploding or something ? o.Oa

 …………… I think I’ve been reading too many romantic Japanese mangas for so long that I’ve actually formed an ” ideal” whatnot  on how the guy should look like, how romance should start, and now, I even have this crazy notion that I should be the one to look  for my partner, to pursue,  then confess my feelings.

 

Japanese girls do that in real time and I think that makes sense.  Do you know in Japanese culture, it’s the girl who gives a gift ( usually chocolates) on Valentine’s Day  to the guy she likes, then 30 days after, on the day they call White Day, the guy  gives   a gift to the girl he likes back?   I guess the waiting would be quite stressful to the girl. Eh, and humiliating too if she wasn’t liked back.  Just the same, I prefer this over the “waiting for some random guy to like me first.” What if  I had to wait til kingdom come? 

 Do you think  women should be honest with their feelings , as well?  * By the way, read from right to left…………..

I’m sure guys like to be flattered and pursued.  The probability that the guy will respond positively to a girl’s honest declaration of love is almost 100%  if  it meets the following conditions : 1. He doesn’t have a girlfriend    2. The girl is pleasant-looking enough  ( or with above average physical attributes ),  3. The girl is  not an airhead  ( well, to me, being dumb is a turn-off…. ) 4. good personality ( nice ) Good personality comes last coz, whether we like it or not, it’s not the  thing that gets noticed first.  Hah! I’m sure I’ll get a lot of comments here. 

LOL !  That’s why I love reading comedy mangas, too. I didn’t know the Japanese have a great sense of humor.  I burst out laughing all the time, and my family think I’ve gone crazy.

( sigh ) 

Don’t think I’m such a frivolous airhead with nothing on my mind but fantasy.   I can  solve problems in differential equations, balance chemical reactions, discuss health care reform in detail, volunteered in some politician’s presidential campaign ( telephone brigade where I got yelled at and cursed, and assigned  to  post on political fora of rival candidate and …..got banned) I’m a card bearing  Democrat who give monetary contributions to political campaigns, have never watched Glee, watch only Military Channel, Science, National Geographic, Current, Crime, CNN and SyFy, prefer classic rock, went to a school for the gifted, blah, blah ………well, that’s me in a nutshell. ………….. Oh, I’ve got some serious issues too.

well, this is all for now, folks.  To fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! !

TIME OUT!!

Spring Break!!!!!! YES!

and ….

Time out from distressing news from Japan and Libya.

Here are some TV commercials from the Philippines, for your amusement.

McDonalds!   A few facts: PhP ( pesos ) 25 = $ 0.45  // $1.00 = PhP 45.00    It’s a girls’ night-out, but , they’re ”broke”, they don’t have money, I think.

McDonald’s is undisputably the most popular thing in the world, from here to Timbuctoo, but in the Philippines, it isn’t. There’s a more popular hamburger joint over there….. JOLIBEE…… and , funnily enough, McDonald’s has acknowledged it, as shown in the picture. Ahahaha! Only in the Philippines !  And hurrah for Truth in Advertising !

 When I was in the Philippines last summer, we went to McDonald’s ( They say McDo over there ) and yeah, taste was the same, it was pure beef, no compromise there, and that’s a good thing, but Jolibee’s , they say, is much tastier because of the additives, such as chopped onions , garlic and , I swear, I could taste celery and mustard in the beef. And, Jolibee also sells combo meals like teriyaki chicken/rice, beef mushroom in gravy/rice, and they are so delicious and cheap, 39 pesos ( $ .90 ).  McDo has McChicken and McSpaghetti .

I wish I had taken a photo of the menu list . That combo of spaghetti and chicken  is $1.19. Cheap. A dollar goes a long way over there.

Here are some more TV commercials…. KFC , Coke , Tide Detergent

Tide commercial where a woman is handwashing clothes and listening to a daytime radio drama .

It’s spring, but what the heck ! I haven’t seen the sun for weeks , it’s raining hailstones,  my fingers are frozen,  and our heater is not working !! We’ve been waiting for the repair guy to fix the heater, and I hope he comes soon.  I’m freezing to death here.  Oh, and yesterday, I was at the grocery and saw a couple of guys scanning the veggie section with what looked like a Geiger counter?  The Geiger counter detects radiation, right? Now , why would they do that in California ? And, I heard the counter making that click click click sound as the veggies were being scanned.  I wonder what that sound means….. I bought a bunch of spinach and cabbage, anyways….

This is all for now. Have a good day.

Domino theory, from Vietnam to the Middle East

 

—— Today, Feb. 22,  is the 25th anniversary when two of the Philippines’ Dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ top honchos, the Secretary of  Defense, Juan Ponce Enrile, and the Deputy Chief of Staff , Gen. Fidel Ramos, withdrew their support for Marcos and barricaded themselves at the army headquarters at Camp Crame with a handful of soldiers loyal to them, and  the Cardinal of the Catholic Church called for the people to get out of their homes and block any movement of troops that Marcos might send to arrest the two who defected. Initially, there were just a few people who heeded the call ( including my parents). They did not trust Ramos and Enrile, but , it was an opportunity too great to ignore. It was nightime, and too dangerous to go out, nevertheless, a few braves ones did. They barricaded a part of a major highway leading to Camp Crame with their vehicles . There were only a few hundreds who were there that first night, but by daylight thousands arrived, and by then , it was already too late for Marcos to make a move. Tanks and thousands of soldiers arrived soon but they were blocked by hundreds of thousands of human barricade. ( My parents said it was Marcos’ mistake not to have made a move that night. There were so few of them barricading   the gates of Camp Crame. They could have been  dispersed so easily with just a few bursts of tear gases, and gunfire . =_=  )  Marcos went on TV to speak to the people, but he was cut off. Instructions to the protesters on where to go, what to do were made through Radio Veritas ( owned by the Catholic Church ) and Radio Bandido ( radio station taken over by a group of nuns and a celebrity ). By the 3rd day, the number of people swelled to millions, and on Feb. 26, Marcos was spirited out of the Presidential Palace ( by helicopters courtesy of US pilots based at Clark Air Base, then the biggest US military base outside of US.), taken to Clark, then to Guam, and finally Hawaii, where he died 3 years after.

So, why am I talking again about this People Power Revolution in the Philippines ?  This event in the Philippines is  eerily similar to what’s going on in the Middle East.  Authoritarian governments should learn that their power cannot last forever, Something is bound to snap  and something like this will inevitably happen when people finally withdraw their consent.   

Another similarity is the domino effect that follows . What is the domino theory? Fearing the spread of communism during the 1950′s, Pres. Dwight Eisenhower was the first one to put forth the idea that if one country came into the influence of communism, neighboring countries would potentially follow. The country he was referring to back then was French Indochina ( which  comprised of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos ). The VietMinh, a communist army from the north,  had already taken over North Vietnam after it defeated the French, the latter withdrawing and handing over governance to South Vietnam. Both sides wanted  reunification, but could not agree on what kind of government a united Vietnam would follow. Hence, the Vietnam war.    To make the long history short, though Vietnam , Cambodia, Laos and Burma had somehow followed the domino effect, communism did not spread into other neighboring countries like Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.  The fear that all South Asian countries would turn communist and  only a few countries ( Philippines, Japan, Australia ) would remain   as first line of defense againts the spread of communism did not materialize. Note: There was heavy US military presence in Japan and the Philippines, ( Subic Naval Base and Clark Air base in the Philippines, the largest military bases outside of the US )

Question :  Did the People Power have any influence on other countries burdened by similar authoritarian regimes ? People from other countries were ” inspired ” to imitate what happened in the Philippines.  It did , in a way, follow the Domino theory. South Korea, Pakistan, Burma ( brutally suppressed), Indonesia, Tiannamen Square in China, ( brutally supressed), Romania,  Berlin Wall, Russia… people took to the streets and managed to topple down their governments, all this happened  in a matter of 3 years.

Depending on an individual’s perspective, this domino theory has , again, reared its ugly head.  Tunisia was the first to be knocked over, followed by Egypt, now Libya. After the euphoria of a successful ” revolution ” in Tunisia and Egypt  dies down, what will happen next? Who follows next? Another dictator more vicious than the last one? A theocracy ? A government that will ban women from getting a tan?

Just musing…. PEACE!

BEST NEW YEAR’s EVE IS IN THE PHILIPPINES

New Year’s Eve celebration in the Philippines is the best in the world, second to none. Each Filipino household prepares sumptous midnight meals they call Media Noche ( Christmas midnight meal is called Noche Buena ), and this tradition comes from their beliefs or superstition that dinner tables laden with food will stay that way all throughout the whole year.  And Filipinos welcome the new year with a loud bang, literally. Here’s how………. I urge you to click and watch each video . Each video shows only 1/10 of what is really going on there. You have to be there to feel and to believe the awesomeness of how Filipinos celebrate the coming of new year. It’s not a pocket size, corporate sponsored fireworks display. It’s every Filipino household ‘s fireworks show. Listen to the sounds of NEW YEAR IN THE PHILIPPINES!

This one here….. Dad says this is the one that makes a lot of noise, not the fireworks display. It’s called Judas’ belt, and it’s expensive. He says he could afford to buy just 2 belts, and the rest would be triangulos ( triangle-shaped firecrackers that are as loud as the judas belt and are lit individually with a candle and tossed on the street ) By the way, firecrackers are not illegal in the Philippines, though thousands lose a finger or two every year. (^_^);;   The government cannot do a thing about it. It’s tradition.

So, here it is…. the noise on the ground, at GROUND ZERO, and it’s just on one short street…. multiply that by thousands of street s all over the city….. go figure….

2010, bye, New Year 2011, hello!

 2010 is over, goodbye, I hate to see you go, but I, more or less, had a good time, thank you.  So, hello, New Year 2011 ! I hope this new year will have something better for me. Not that 2010 was a bad one… it was , in fact , a good one. I went to the Philippines this summer , met new friends and relatives, had my 15 minutes of fame at Jason Derulo’s concert,  went to see Usher’s concert too.

So, how was my Christmas ? Well, it was rather stressful. Christmas eve, my mother and I went shopping for ingredients. We left at 10 AM. I forgot to eat breakfast, ( and I ate very little dinner the night before, like 4 spoonfuls of something ) and grocery shopping went past lunchtime, so , at around  2 PM, I almost fainted, right there at the grocery aisle. Good thing Mom was with me. I sat down on the floor and mom had my head down between my legs until I recovered.  There was a Chow King nearby, ate something there, but i just threw up  and made a mess of it in the car.  Anyway, once home, we buckled down and started cooking. I made the maja blancaleche flan , and wrapped the bananas and the lumpia ( pork eggroll ) for frying the next day.  Then , the family attended the Midnight Mass, at 10 PM. We got home at 12 midnight, ate the traditional hot rice porridge we call  ” arroz caldo “, and though we went to bed at almost 2 AM, we still hoped we could wake up at 5 AM to resume cooking. But I  guess we were all so tired  we overslept . Mom was the first to wake up at 9 AM !!!!  It was supposed to be a Christmas lunch and we had at least 7 guests coming over.  The stress was tremendous, and  at 11 AM we figured we wouldn’t be able to get everything done by lunchtime, so my sister started calling the guests ( her friends actually ) and moved lunch to  a later hour like 2 PM.  They nevertheless came much later, at 3 PM . The Christmas lunch became a Christmas supper.  They had a good time, emptied 3 bottles of champagne,  and actually left at 1 AM ( this morning ) . Here are some pictures of our Christmas dinner. Not shown in the pictures are leche flan, maja blanca, the teramisu cake and the pretty fruit centerpiece  that I made. There just wasn’t enough space on the table. We put them on the kitchen counter.

 

 

 

 

My mother and sister miss the Philippinie Christmas tradition.  Midnight mass there is really held at midnight.  Christmas in the Philippines is one of the longest in the world. From Dec. 16  to the 24 th, Filipinos attend a 4 AM Mass, called ” misa de gallo”,  the so-called mass at ” cock’s crow “, a 9- day novena of Masses.  Before 4 AM, church bells ring everywhere, and brass bands parade down the street to wake the people up for the misa de gallo. ( I remember the brass bands…. their music was loud, lol )

On Christmas eve, Filipinos prepare for the Midnight mass and midnight meals after the Mass they call Noche Buena 

We used to observe  this Filipino tradition of Noche Buena, a sumptous meal right after the Midnight Mass, here in the US but It’s not practiced here , even among Catholics.  So, we discarded it 6 years ago and opted for a  lunch or dinner  on Christmas Day.

We opened our gifts after lunch . I got a Kodak digital camera from sis and cash from my parents and brother.  I wished for a PS3, but I guess I’ll have to save for it.

Well, this is all for now. Happy New year everyone ! ! Peace !!!!