Archive for the ‘personal’ Category
Filed under events, personal
I got converted to the Belle de Jour way when a friend in Manila sent me a Belle de Jour planner last year as a random gift. I loved it from the moment I lifted it from the package. It was not like the other planners or organizers that I’ve had. It had an expense tracker, a birthday tracker, a menstrual tracker, and a vacation tracker, to name few. There was a quote for the week every week, and every month there was a theme and tips for the season.
But the best part was that it came with 36 discount coupons to different boutiques and coffee shops!
So when I heard that Belle de Jour was soon releasing the 2009 power planner, I reserved mine right away. Here it is now!
It’s a lot better than the 2008 planner, although that one was already love. I especially likee the cover design. It has more discount coupons, too! It has 60!
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Filed under art, personal
I went mural-painting with some people from the company some Saturdays ago, and these were the fruit of our labor.
You can find those murals at the Guizo Elementary School in Mandaue City. 
We didn’t get to work on the mural for the stage because there were few of us volunteers and we ran out of time. It was dark by the time we finished the second wall. We are going back there one of these days. I am just waiting for the call.
If there’s one admirable thing about my employer, it is how it cares for the community. We have outreach programs many times a year. We have two adopted public schools and one adopted Gawad Kalinga site. I’ve dug dirt for the foundation of the houses at the GK site, weighed kids to see if they are properly nourished, and made a clown of myself at children’s parties, among others. My employer pays for all of that though, we only do the work.
Filed under people, personal
It used to be that this big, old house had 12 merry girls living under its roof. Weekday nights were filled with conversation and laughter while we sit around the television and eat dinner in front of it. Oftentimes, in the middle of the night, someone would say she’s hungry, and we’d be happy to have an excuse to order burgers and fries and Coke and boxes of pizza.
Sometimes we would all just go out in our pambahay clothes to eat at the fastfood outlets that abound in this area of the city. Every time there is a birthday, or a promotion, or a regularization, or just about anything worth celebrating, we would hold a party, and because there were 12 of us, we would have at least one party a month. That excludes the big party at Christmas, the weekly official gatherings on Monday nights, and the random getaways.
Things have changed, though, in only a span of few months. There are only six of us now. The others have gotten married, eloped with the boyfriend, left to live with a sick father, or moved back to watch over the empty family home. Of the six of us still here, one is rarely here because her family lives just a town away, and two are always out with their boyfriends. (Should I just get a boyfriend, too? LOL). My roommate is also leaving in a week to prepare for the coming of her baby. It’s sad, but I’m also glad that she is keeping the baby.
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Filed under opinion, personal, rants
I find it weird whenever I am asked abroad if I have a degree, or if I ever went to school, or if we have this or that at home.
I just shrug it off, and answer the best way I can. I see no point in going into a long defense of who I am, where I went, or what I have seen of or done in this world. Sometimes they are surprised when I can converse well in English (Hello?).
No, I am not mad at all. And no, I don’t think the people I talked to were racists. It just makes me sad that the rest of the world still thinks of us as heathens, and this is probably our fault.
I was talking to someone (an American) awhile ago who told me a crazy story about a 20-year-old Filipina who was seriously considering a marriage proposal made on the phone by a 55-year-old American that she has never met.
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Filed under people, personal
One of the unlikely places to hear about the dreams and aspirations of random strangers is at the US embassy. There’s this lounge where you wait for the visa interview. On one side of the room is a line of booths where the consuls are. The consuls decide whether you can enter the United States. People try to look their best and arm themselves with the best English they have.
When your number is called, you go to a window, and then the consul grills you on the purpose of your visit, how long you would be staying there, when are you coming back. They also ask you details about your family, your properties, your finances, even your plans for the future.
Because the place is packed, and because sometimes the consuls probe that deep, visa applicants give details of their plans 40 years into the future. One woman the other day said she would manage a restaurant when she gets there, and hopes that that would be her financial investment. Another woman, who I understand is a social studies teacher, said she will share her knowledge when about different cultures, and said some things that an ambassador or a Miss Universe contestant would say.
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