It's been 3 years.
9 years ago
Saturday, December 31, 2005
IA and me spent the afternoon poem reading. after that, my nanay taught me how to cook kare-kare without having to use ready-mix sauces. grabe, labor of love din pala yun because you have to toast and grind the peanuts and rice pa! after some time, i was able to prepare a sumptuous kare-kare! yey!!! i will surprise my hubby by preparing one went i get back.
the new year celebration has been quite lonely this year. i miss my kuya boboy. =( if he was just here, he won't let the family celebrate the new year to each his own as what happened. i watched the fireworks from outside and gave my hubby a call as i knew that he was quite lonely as well being alone. good thing, my choirmate Chris invited him to go out and be with his friends to spend the new year with them.
Friday, December 30, 2005
went out again with my sister and her family and treat them out to lunch in Gerry's Grill. nakakatuwa si IA... she was able to figure out that i have no money yet having a plastic card can pay for the bills. i have baked mussels for lunch. been craving so much for it and finally have what my tastebuds longed for! =)
right after lunch, i met up with Lea and gave her the perfume and camera from her brother who was also in UAE. we also met up with Tina and her whole family: Onin, my inaanak Guila and the little Gabby. we ate at Italiannis in Glorietta. Lea separated from us right after snack and the rest of us went to Baywalk in Manila to watch the concluding fireworks display. we also got to watch presentations of some stand-up comedians as well as Blackjack, a singer. everyone had a blast of good laugh! i really enjoyed the night despite all the expenses. ouch!!! haha. my hubby called up and scolded me for still being out, way past midnight. i was able to come home at 2 AM, alone and very edgy. i am not used to this feeling that someone's 'bout to rob you or something. i promise not to stay out so late again, with or without my hubby checking up on me. 0:)
Wednesday, December 28, 2005
it was my first time to go out. i met up with hershey's mom in SM Bicutan to give the "pasalubong" of hershey to her kids. after which, my mom together with my sister and her family went shopping for groceries. the cost of the items struck me hard. grabe, ang mamahal!!! i could almost imagine that if my hubby is with me, all he would say was everything seemed like it has some gold inside!!! our grocery for a week cost me 4,500 pesos! para na akong may tindahan nun ah! btw, i also bought Mr. Bean VCD's for my hubby. i know he will like it. he's an avid fan. haha.
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
my sister, IA, AJ and me went somewhere in Manila to purchase our tickets to Hong Kong. it was AJ who drove the van and unfortunately, some policemen and "its" ("its" kasi nde sila tao..haha) cohorts tricked us into passing to a one-way traffic lane and caught us on-guard. damn! napamaskuhan pa kami to the last minute! tsk...tsk...
on our way home, we passed by the new church along the reclamation area in Pasay, called The Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish. it looked like a rather big church from the outside. however, when we got inside, the church is just perfect for weddings. what turned me off though was the wall color of mint green. i don't think it suits the church's "old" style. also, i don't have the THIS IS IT feeling when i got there. para bang, the church was just so grand for the simple wedding that we have in mind. so SOJ was erased from our list. haha.
the towering church - as viewed from outside
the church in mint green-colored walls
me and IA outside the church side door decorated in christmas spirit
Monday, December 26, 2005
James, the pinoy who helped me, was also on the same flight as i am. he became an instant travel buddy since he was so helpful and approachable. our plane left Dubai at 1:25 AM. for the first time in all of my travels, i seated at the seat located at the middle part of the plane. good thing, it was still on an aisle seat and the pinoys i was seated beside with don't even disturbed me in my sleep. :p they weren't as approachable as James, but at least they weren't pains in the butt. hehe.
the food were so-so. doesn't Cathay change their menu quarterly or yearly at least? nakakasawa na kaya???!! if they want their customers to fly in their planes, they should at least provide some variety in their menu. yeah, there were 2 choices... but if i travel yearly, it means i will encounter the same airline food, every other year. yaiks! now, i am having second thoughts about this airmiles thingy.
after eating at around 2:00 AM, everyone took their good night sleep including me. it was sooo discomforting!! my back aches because of the crouching, my butt aches because of too much seating time, my legs... aahhh... however, due to tiredness and lack of sleep, i managed to snatched a few deep hours of sleep. i was still feeling so drowsy when the flight attendants started to roll down the aisles to distribute breakfast at 7 AM!!! ang aga pa kaya??!!! but then, i came to understand that we were just an hour before reaching our destination that was why they have to let us have our meals that early.
we reached Hong Kong at about 8 AM in my watch, which was sometime past 12 PM local time. we had a 2-hr stop-over and continued the trip around 2:30 PM. we were able to encounter some air packets on air and had some technical problems when the plane landed in Manila airport. we were able to get off the plane a quarter before 5 PM. it was my hubby's uncle nestor and cousin obet, who picked me up at the airport.
Sunday, December 25, 2005
merry christmas!!!
i wasn't to join GFC for the Lebanese Christmas Carolling since i had to make last minute errands for my big brother. right after attending to credit card payments of my brother, i went home and did the laundry so that marvin would not have so much clutter to fix when i am gone.
hershey came over for her and sheryl's padala for their families in the phils. i have fixed all my belongings around 5:00 PM. i prepared adobo from chicken liver and balunbalunan (i forgot the english term for this, hihi). it wasn't as tasty as the ones i made before maybe because it was rushly done. but then, i don't want to leave home without food for my hubby. we ate our last dinner together and right after, he accompanied me to Cathay's shuttle bus in Liwa street.
the bus left abu dhabi at exactly 8:45 PM but then, we were able to reach Dubai airport around 11 PM already. it was a long trip since the driver had to make an unnecessary stop in a gasoline station in between the two emirates. kainis nga eh! i don't like checking in with less than 3 hours at my hand. it lessens my chances to get the best seat in an economy class ticket kasi, hehe. i met eva and she gave me her padala for her sister. i had to hand carry it because there wasn't any space left in my luggage plus it contains something fragile (glass).
my luggage was such a pain! it's sooo heavy! good thing, a pinoy helped with it when i had to carry it on the conveyor that will go through the xray machine. it also gave me worries of excessive baggage weight because padala's almost made 3/4 of all my baggage. thank God, i was spared! yun nga lang, because of too much worrying, i failed to specify the seat that i prefer to the airline personnel who issued the ticket. dang! i wonder where i am to be seated...
Saturday, December 24, 2005
i prepared siomai and stuffed squid for our christmas dinner. it will be our official christmas dinner together as husband and wife and i wanted it to be special. right after the christmas eve mass, we went home and had our dinner. the siomai that i was supposed to make turned into a fried dumpling while my stuffed squid turned into stuffed squid with veggies. haha. enough about being special.... anyway, we were able to have quiet little dinner and went to bed peacefully and thankful for the year that passed.
Friday, December 23, 2005
it was early morning when my sister called up and told me that she wasnt able to acquire tickets for out hongkong trip. she sounded so upset of the way travel agencies in the philippines failed to make it easy on her. with that, i got upset as well and told her to just buy an airline ticket without hotel reservation of whatsoever and i will take care of the place to stay instead.
i was able to booked online a hostel and got the place for almost half the price of the available 3-star hotels. anyway, we just needed a place to stay so i opted to choose a hostel. i just relied on my gut feeling that i have chosen properly though. however, at the back of my mind, i was still worried as this was my first time to do an online transaction. also, i do hope my parents won't be too disappointed with my decisions. anyway, i will be the one paying so they can't do anything about it. haha. my sister finally had a peace of mind when she learned that i finally settled her worries.
i alloted the afternoon cleaning up the house. during which, i discovered marvin's employment contract stating something different from what he told me. i really felt betrayed. when he came home, he noticed my indifference. i really had a heavy cry as i felt i was being lied to again. but then, hindi nya ako tinigilan not until i told him what's causing my sadness. galit kasi talaga ako. he explained naman. i do hope and relying that he's telling me the truth this time. he hasn't lied technically, but then not letting me see the contract nor telling me what it says constitutes concealing some information, which i really, really don't like. we were able to patch things up and he promised not to do it again.
Thursday, December 22, 2005
this was my last carolling stint with gfc. we went out and sung christmas carols for two different indian families. there were some "palpak" again but then we had fun laughing at those mistakes. the Christmas Alphabet really gives us a hard time than the Hallelujah. so ironic noh??!!! it was fun when you sing because you like singing and not of seeing it as a responsibility. furthermore, not being of the same race did not hinder us to enjoy and share the happiness of the christmas season in a foreign land.
Friday, December 16, 2005
after a night of singing stint in a hotel, the God's Flock Choir graced another gathering with the SerCo people. i dunno what's the complete company name basta, this is bro. jun's employer! =) anyway, the host of the party and most of its guests were expatriates. mostly brits although the wife of the host is chinese.
the carol singing was held on the villa's rooftop. the guests loved our performance and they have high praises for everyone. we sang Hallelujah twice. peborit yata nila ito, hehe. last year, this was the most requested song as well by this crowd.
on this same gathering, i met again this young, kind-hearted american lady (i confirmed that she was from Wisconsin, USA) who took the photo of us during one of the wedding ceremonies we sang for, some weeks back. we had a long chat about how she loves to hear us sing, that she likes the slanting cut of our dress, about her dog named twinkle, etc. still, i wasn't to get her name. tsk...tsk... ano ba yan, how rude of me! i hope our paths cross again sometime. eventhough i have missed to get this good soul's name, i am thankful i gained one good friend from soprano.
yep, arlene and me belong to the same group (soprano) but missed out to bond and talk. however, we were able to catch up on the lost opportunity of friendship and became closer than before even if it were the last few days of her stay with GFC. she'll be leaving the UAE for good to get married in the philippines. with just a day of being close, i have proven that she can keep promises and opens up honestly.
arlene and mai
as with what transpired between me and arlene, i therefore resolve that i would open up myself to my other choirmates starting 2006. hmm... sounds like a New Year's resolution, eh... well, i will first start off with those that i like to be friends with. =) perhaps, i could also work on the people shown below. hehe.
mai, jovy, edna and florence
Thursday, December 15, 2005
today marks the first carolling engagement of God's Flock Choir for 2005 Christmas season. our meeting was at the lobby of the Al Maha Rotana Hotel at 5:30PM and the show started at exactly 6:00PM. Al Maha Rotana Hotel have been GFC's avid fan for years -- inviting the group to sing for their clients during the holidays. this invitation has been a tradition for both the hoteliers as well as the choir.
we wore our barong at saya uniform. we had busied ourselves with picture-taking before and after the event. as usual, mga hayok kami sa kodak-an eh! haha. Me-ann, Mai and Hazel
funny thing though was, last year, soprano got slip-off with the Hallelujah song. for this year, we had another slip-off with the medley that included the Little Drummer Boy Song. what's so frustrating was, i was one of those who committted the mistake. patay na naman kay bro. jun! hehe.
despite some glitches, the day still turned out good for everyone, including me! =) since i am one of those who just loves pictures, i also took the opportunity for some nice remembrance of how the day was. yeah right, excuse... excuse... hahaha.
as always, i never get tired of Christmas trees... =)
(and this time around, a photo beside the biscuit house. no kidding, this is an edible house!)
Friday, December 09, 2005
this is the big night! after weeks of practice, tension and sore throats... we finally got to sing our special christmas pieces in St. Joseph's Parish, Abu Dhabi's Christmas Bazaar 2005. the bazaar was a whole day affair, full of games, food stalls, souvenir booths and program shared by catholics of different nationalities. God's Flock Choir formally closed the event around 8:00PM with three songs: A Christmas Praise, Pamaskong Paanyaya, and Hallelujah.
.....A Christmas Praise has an upbeat tempo with some rap-like portions. we had put in so much effort learning and practicing this song as it was too fast. non-traditional, very modern but still a beautiful song!
.....Pamaskong Paanyaya is a lively song dedicated to the filipino community. the El Shaddai group helped us by rendering an interpretative liturgical dance while we sing.
.....Hallelujah is the majestic song that caters to all races and even angels! perhaps, this was the pamatay of all choir songs. hehe. magkanda-bali-bali kasi litid namin dito eh! hihi.
God's Flock Choir's presentation showcased the talents of four voices (alto, bass, soprano and tenor) honed by determination and camaraderie. the choir members wore traditional filipino dresses -- the boys wore barong while the girls wore modern saya. ang gaganda namin, grabe!! hahaha.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
today was the second day of eid and we have no work since yesterday until Sunday. my hubby and me went to Marina Mall for some stroll. they were different painted camels on display. nakakatuwa! i hope i can someday ride in one. next year papatusin ko na talaga yung camel ride sa carnival... hehe.
colorful camels on parade!
;;
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