icycles's Xanga

a 'cultural' sunday

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 10:54:52 GMT

the walls of this contenct - an intramuros walk by our marvelous tourguide Ivan, was by far one of the most enjoyable tours i've ever had. it was a refreshing look at our colorful history. i highly recommend it especially for people who hate history. taking this tour might change your mind

we started in the newly built bahay ng tsinoy. this picture below is a shot of the piedra de china that the chinese used to balance their ships on their way to the philippines. they also use it as a tombstone after a few years.

after the tsinoy house, we headed to san agustin church which composed most of the tour. there used to be two bell towers in the complex but only one survive to this day. the other one welcomes the visitors as you enter the church lobby.

one of my favorite part of the tour was the cemetery. it was also used as a concentration camp (if im not mistaken) during the japanese period. this is the place where the remains of national artist juan luna and historian teodoro agoncillo are found.

next, we headed outside to one of the earliest botanical gardens in the philippines. they are currently reconstructing it, but the remains of the original wall are still there.

this is our fabulous tour guide, Ivan, hard at work :)

the building on the right side is one of the faithful reconstructions based on the original design (external that is) but i forgot what is the name of the building.

these are more pictures inside the san agustin church.

i also loved the part when we went up the choir loft and saw the church itself. the ceilings were painted al fresco but it looked as if it was carved from stone or wood.

we went outside the church for the final leg of our tour. this picture is one of the 'rush' bahay na bato ordered by former first lady imelda marcos for her intramuros restoration project.

finally, we ended our tour at the walls of intramuros itself overlooking the old government buildings of manila.

next stop, binondo wok!

home visitation

Fri, 11 May 2007 10:48:06 GMT

i've been a part of the PH 229 program for the past three years as a teacher yet this was the first time i've ever visited my students' home. we "toured" the sta. mesa area. we started in near the santol area, continued to teresa then bacood and finally ended in the baltao/san juan area.

it was a recommended activity for all teachers who are a part of the program because you get to see first-hand how your students live on a daily basis. it's easy to speak about blessings, properity and provision to them. but seeing the conditions of their life makes me realize how important to make these lessons more tangible. the goal of compassion international is to release children from poverty in Jesus' name. i experienced first-hand the effectivity of the program and i became a part of it once again to help children encounter God the way i did. experiencing the home visitation program just made me realize the gravity of the work ahead and how much i am willing to be a part of it for a very long time :)

the journey to boracay

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:00:44 GMT

this wasn't my first time on boracay. i went there five years ago with my family as a side trip when we went to odiongan (yep, there is such a place in romblon). however, this is the first time i've there for more than two days and actually experience boracay. this was also my first time to experience the economy section of a ship. to say that it was a memorable experience would be quite an understatement...

it was part of our annual trip in compassion but any friends who are willing to join the trip with 20 other people are welcome. we were on a very limited budget so we can't travel first class. we took the very hip and clean (sarcastic) MBRS Virgin Mary line. it was tolerable, to say the least, in the economy section. but if you have a distinct hatred to be surrounded with feet while you sleep and eat, i suggest that you avoid this place like the plague. definitely not for the faint at heart we survived the first round of the trip by sitting on the deck and taking lots and lots of pictures of ourselves. what was that quote by al pacino, who played the devil, in the devil's advocate? vanity is definitely my favorite sin? tsk, tsk, tsk...

since we can't imagine eating surrounded by possibly unhygienic extremities, we searched for a cafeteria to eat our dinner. one such cafeteria transforms into a disco, complete with a dancing dj/waiter, at the stroke of 9PM. whoever thought that people on an overcrowded ship would have the energy and interest to get down and party definitely has a very weird imagination.

the rest of the night went on quietly. my friends, my sister and i managed to squeezed in and get a couple of hours of sleep. it was quite a feat considering that we were three people in one very hard bed. if one person moves to the left, everyone else has to move to the left. we were a very coordinated group morning finally came and we ate our breakfast in a more "fancy" cafeteria on the upper deck. we had a great view of the odiongan port and the island. needless to say, we were more excited to reach boracay than ever.

when we finally reached the caticlan port, there was another hour or so of enless people, pushing, shouting, sweating and hauling their bags to ride the ferry. the ferry was a mere 10-15 minute ride. we finally reached boracay after a very exhausting 12-15 hour journey.

i've always considered myself as a very laid-back person. i rarely fuss about anything and you can take me anywhere and i hardly complain. but i have to say, traveling economy class during the holy week season has made me change my opinion about myself.

"transition" weekend

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:53:07 GMT

"transition" was the word of the weekend. blame it all on heidi's knack for coining up terms or for using unusual words in a common way. but it a way, it did sum up our weekend getaway in zambales. it was a transition for us. it was our first ever planned weekend getaway. most of our former excursions were spur of the moment decision that miraculously pushed through. i remember one out of town trip where in lory literally woke up lei in the middle of the night to go to Baguio. That was how spontaneous we can be

to say that i had a fun weekend would be a grave understatement. we left early saturday morning and arrived in zambales around 9am. after spending an hour in the town market buying enough food to feed our insatiable hunger, we went to the resort expecting the worst. what can we say, mac said it was a hassle and we took it very literally. we were completely taken aback when we finally saw the accommodations though. it was very charming to say the least

we literally did nothing but be total beach bums for the rest of the weekend. we sat on the beach, stared on the horizon, slept, ate, swam, talked, sang and do everything all over again. one thing i've learned over this weekend is that women really do talk more than men. A LOT MORE. we woke up at 5am on sunday morning and instantly, and i mean instantly, the room was filled with incessant chatter. to quote heid, "wala man lang transition, gising na gising agad!" i've been with these girls for the past eight years now (gosh! i can't believe it's been that long! ) and yet the we never seem to ran out of things to talk about. it doesn't matter if we've discussed that topic a million times before, we can still discuss it and enjoy what we are discussing. weird huh? but i guess that is friendship.

one additional thing we did for the weekend was learn how to surf. yup, surfing in the waves, and not on the information highway i never imagined i would have the opportunity to do it in the near future. so when mac volunteered to give us free lessons, we were thrilled! hey, that was one faithgoal i checked on my list (learn a new skill). it wasn't as easy as what you see on tv; surfers made it look sooooo easy! but it was certainly just as fun we covered the basics theories of surfing first, how to stand, the different parts of the board (who knew it had parts?) and others. after practicing for a few minutes on how to stand on the board, we started hitting the waves.

fighting to stay on top of the board and actually standing on the board required a LOT of hard work. even paddling was difficult. a lot of upper body strength is required. and i never knew that those boards were sooo heavy. surfers carry it around like a purse and use it like a skateboard so i thought it was that light as well it wasn't as easy as what you see on tv; surfers made it look sooooo easy! but it was certainly just as fun. riding on the wave and feeling the wind on your face for just a second was worth all the bruises and scars i got i will definitely do it again!

It really was the perfect weekend that I’ve always wanted :D

*visit www.crystalbeach.com.ph for more information regarding the place we visited

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 06:00:39 GMT

Way back in 2005, my friends and i went crazy with her then new phone and decided to have a photo session in the ladies room of one of the oldest building in ortigas. what was our excuse for this madness? the lighting was good and we had nothing else to do :) i never had so much fun posing for the camera since then :)

bagong taon, bagong buhay

Sat, 06 Jan 2007 06:20:18 GMT

i can't believe its 2007. i never even realize it was Christmas until the actual day itself. there are so many things to do last year that i was just glad when vacation time finally arrived. but it has been a great year and i am looking forward to this one. i'm turning 25 this year so this should be fun aside from this, here are the other things that im expecting:

1. learn to drive - ive been saying this for the past three years but i haven't really done anything to make it happen.

2. financial breakthroughs for my family and me - need i say more?

3. get that 18 units for education! - okay maybe not the entire 18 units this year but at least six.

4. travel (here and abroad) - every time i travel, i just know i was born to see the world. so this year, i hope to see more of it. locally i want to see sagada (nitz, we better make this happen ), palawan, ilocos, bohol and camiguin (paging Tita Ritz ) . overseas, i guess i can start here in asia: hong kong, singapore, malaysia and thailand. i've had my passport stuck in the drawer for more than a year. i want to finally use it this time.

5. expand my social network - dont get me wrong, i love my friends and i there's really nothing wrong with them. i just want to meet new people and learn from them.

6. improve my skills as a teacher - this is my first formal year of teaching and i could say that i learned A LOT. next school year will be a better one for me. be more patient and love your kids more

7. learn to dance - i love what Antonio Banderas said in Take the Lead: "Do you want to dance? Then you were born to dance." I am definitely one of those people who are sooo bad in dancing I feel embarass even when I am dancing alone in my room. hope this year will finally change that.

8. be more health concious - it doesnt mean that i would diet every month and suddenly turn into a vegetarian. no way jose. i'll just be more careful and exercise more. more time for badminton, swimming and jogging.

9. breakthrough for my small group - i've written this down for the past two years and nothing's happening. i know that this is the year that we will finally see this happen.

10. some things are just too personal id rather keep it to myself.

enjoy 2007 people

Friday, December 01, 2006

Fri, 01 Dec 2006 10:11:03 GMT

i never thought i'd say it this soon but we are moving to a new place. actually, we're not quite sure where it will be. we just know that we are definitely moving.

when i was a kid, i use to envy other kids who move from one house to another. i thought it was so cool to live in different houses and travel to a different place. you get to transfer in a new school and meet new people. you just have the opportunity to start all over again. we lived in the same house for seventeen years so the grass on the other side was definitely looking greener to me. when i finally experienced the stress and chaos, i realized that i prefer the stability of living in one house.

for the past three days, i have looked at approximately fifteen houses here in our area. and yet, i don't think we already found the perfect place for our family so the hunt goes on...

Saturday, October 14, 2006

Sat, 14 Oct 2006 10:24:26 GMT

after seven months and seventeen days, i have finally updated my blog its been quite some time now so i have to get used to this stuff again.

i just finished my regular day at compassion and after three years of teaching these kids, i still love what i'm doing. teaching these kids made me realize that being a teacher is one of the best jobs in the world

maligayang kaarawan chloe ^^

Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:31:23 GMT

it was my sister's 4th birthday party last saturday and we had a blast we were on a (very) limited budget so we can only invite a certain number of people. (pasensya na mga kaibigan at bawal ako magimbita) it was still a lot of fun though, and im soooo glad we had that party. we discovered isaiah's "hidden talent", played silly parlor games, ate good old chicken joy and declared blessings to my dearest little sis. para sa pinakamakulit at pinakacute kong kapatid, kahit gaano ka kakulit ikaw pa din ang pinaka love namin

field trip sa pinakamamahal kong maynila ^^

Mon, 13 Feb 2006 05:26:36 GMT

i had quite a exhausting weekend. exhausting but im not complaining. in fact, i enjoyed it

it started last friday when i had to squeeze in three appointments all in the same night. i couldn't cancel anything so i had to find a way to make myself visible in a workers conference in Sta. Mesa, an LG meeting and a 'farewell' party in Ortigas. i thought i finally figured a way to attend all three until the conference went beyond my expected time and i didn't show up in my LG mtg (sorry about that jo, i tried ^^). the farewell party became some sort of reunion since my Korean friend decided that he will stay in the philippines instead. honestly, i find this situation quite ironic. thousands of filipinos are seeking better lives abroad while hundreds of foreigners are discovering the beauty of our islands everyday. do filipinos have less opportunities here or do we fail to see the greener pastures in our own fence?

saturday was our scheduled field trip for my students at compassion. i have 24 VERY active kids so i already expected them to be a handful. we visited four places: AFP museum, sunrise puppet show, fort santiago and the newly renovated manila zoo. to say that they were excited would be quite an understatement. they marveled at the planes and choppers at AFP, they sang and danced their hearts away at the puppet show (thanks to the impromptu dance number of the theme song ng bayan, Pinoy Ako lead by Captain Donato), they ran within the walls of fort santiago and greeted all the foreigners they encountered and finally, they played till they dropped in manila zoo. a child's innocence and their brutal honesty never fails to amaze me. they always look at things like they just saw it for the first time and they speak what's on their minds. they might have sucked all my energy last weekend running after them and reminding them of the rules but i will always love these kids. i don't care how stinky, or messy or noisy they get

*pictures to follow on my next entry