SOSE Open House

Its our exam week and I have been busying myself looking for reasons why the concept of reviewing for exams is not futile. 

Tomorrow afternoon, I'll fly to the capital city Manila to visit the

If you have read my previous entries, you might remember that I got into Ateneo's BS Health Sciences program. Ateneo is currently number one in my list. My mom and I will visit the school to be sure everything goes smoothly.

 See you there! 

Now in Jakarta

Be forgiving. I was busy having fun.

First things first, so we arrived at Singapore and we stayed there for three days. I have planned to bring my father to the Universal Studios but unfortunately, the tickets were sold out. December is a money pot for amusement parks. I have been to the Universal Studios last month and I wanted to go there again but I can get over it. My father was also enthusiastic about the park and he was disappointed. I hope he will dismiss it as another reason to return to Singapore.

So instead, I went to stores and shopped a little.

The Christmas sale at The Orchard Rd. was amazing but still my wallet couldn't catch up. =(

I also went to Bugis, a street market, and eyed on several beautiful stuff.

Singapore is such a haven for people who enjoy window shopping and walking in the warm sun, browsing through epic shelves of outstanding architecture. Its my second time here but in seemed that I still have a lot to see. Singapore is wonderful.

My flight off Singapore was late afternoon so Mother Earth treated us to a show.

So now I and my father are in Jakarta with my sister and wonderful niece so I couldn't be happier. I was also here last year and I'm so glad I could come back! Jakarta is such a colorful city.

Off to Singapore, then Jakarta

I will be flying off to Singapore tomorrow! Then from Singapore, I'll be in Jakarta to spend the Holiday Season with my wonderful sister and my cute niece.

The wind blowing my lips to a smile on top of VivoCity, a mall which size can swallow all
the malls here in Iloilo

I was in Singapore just last month and in some funny turns of fate I'll be back with my father (last time was with mother) to Singapore, the Asian country-city which disallow dust to roam around in public areas, where cleanliness is a mantra, where irritant-triggered asthmatics are truly free.

My tired phase smothering Christmas Orchard Road.

All photos were taken from last month.

Singapore, lah!

Written on the airport to Singapore:

I’m going to Singapore. Surprised? The chances of me actually taking this trip was brutally slimmed downed by the DOST-SEI exam that I should take this coming Sunday. We decided the DOST Scholarship was minimal compared to an untimely getaway to a nearby Asian city-country.

I will be returning early next week, the specific date depends on my mother/travel companion who is plotting to extend our stay in Singapore until the next millennium. For the meantime, let me sip some cheap brewed coffee on this local coffee shop WHILE I fascinate myself with visions of Singapore, the nearby Asian city-country. 

Now I'm in Singapore and I feel like I'm in some show. Singapore is too perfect to be true. I feel like I have been living in the garbage bins then suddenly, I take a dip in holy waters. It is not impossible for one to be racist and imagine Singaporeans sweeping every other hour because microbiology couldn't have sprouted from here. Seriously? A city with concrete sky ways, city-wide rail roads and an extremely diverse population can co-exist with tree-lined highways, serenity and hygiene?

My mother/travel companion and I road a skyline tree-top swing. The whole
time we were frozen with regret. "Who's idea was this?!?!?!"

A weekend away

Thanks to the barangay and SK elections, Monday was declared a holiday and I had a chance to visit my home almost a hundred kilometers away from the city. Its my first visit since the start of my senior year because I couldn't snatch ample time to visit the farmhouse.

We now have a  egg-laying chickens. They scare me a lot.

The egg on the right is your average. The one on the right is a mutant. Scary. We might be hatching Godzilla soon!

I had these hugging monkey dolls maybe since conception.They have Velcro straps so you can "un-hug" them if you like.

I finally moved on to the continuous inking system. I can't pay an additional 10 dollars every time I buy a new Epson cartridge for the whatever smart chip they installed on it! Like, are they scared their cartridges will rise up and kill their owners that they see a need for the chips to guard their ink?

Kruhay and a few other things

Last week, my internet became picky and would only work with my phone's WiFi. Just today it realized my only method of fixing things is by hitting them with stuff. I pounded my modem with my equally sized WiFi router and the next day, traumatized, they started cooperating with my laptop again. I do not suggest my method but I guess everyone should have tried it once.

Our school just spent two days on our Humanities Celebration which is held annually. On the first day, we had a mass and a film showing of "Pisay", complemented by a Pisay Diliman Batch 1986 (the batch that inspired the movie) speaker. After that, we had a lunchtime food festival and being engrossed by all the calories, I forgot to take my camera out of its bag. I don't have pictures but fragments of what I have eaten will surely stay in my system for a long time. After the lunch, just before sunset, the Humanities department prepared a concert of local artists. The theme was after all "rediscovering our local culture".

A school choir. The San Agustin "Troubadours"  who originally performed

the celebrated piece Kruhay. See it performed by the Madrigal Singers here.

 

Infamous composo singer "Pirot (extreme right)". He brought

along two kids (girl and boy right next to the heart) who sang a

playful song about love and patience.

The second day (a Saturday) was spent on visiting several places. We visited the Miag-ao Church which is magnificent inside and out. I have to note that two out of the three churches we visited had burial masses going on. Miag-ao Church was having one for a baby. :-(

 

Occasional vanity:

Taken seconds after I hopped off the bus. Look at the background. I can actually fall a fatal 25 feet to cobblestone and hardwood trees and I dared to flash a smile. 

I bought a Griffindor-inspired scarf from a traditional cloth making house we visited for 250 Pesos.

Zambonga (First 8 hours)

Photos from my quick trip to Zamboanga.

Awkward

I'm friggin brave. Dated: August 6, 2010

Soon, I will put up more photos on my Flickr and I would be giving out a link. Don't forget to subscribe to my blog posts (delivered by Google so no spam here). You can do that by filling in you email address on the box upper right of this site. Kiss kiss!

I'm back

For those who thought I might have died or suffered an incident that left me unable to write or access the internet, calm yourselves. I only rode a few planes to Zamboanga City, kissed a couple of faces, gained some weight and went back home. It was a 36 hour vacation to home base. My cousins and lola convinced my mother (who needed to go for reasons) that I come with her. Voila, I arrived as a gift in an over-sized Nike 'Just Do It' shirt. Just do it!

I snapped a couple of photos (350 plus actually), enjoyed two sleepless nights with my cousins, dined in an awe-inspiring football field sized hall and ate a couple of pasalubongs I helped bring. Bisocho. Yum.

At the Iloilo Airport elevator.

It was tiring but fun. I just arrived in Iloilo and I firmly detest the idea of birthplace vacations lasting less than one week. Trust me, it will leave you hanging.

I'm wondering if I should blog about the trip. Would anyone care anyway?

By the way, this is my 201st post and the photo above is the 130th photo in my blog album. How time flies. Tomorrow, I might need a walking stick already. We are all getting older each passing day. Isn't that scary?

CATS: Now and Forever

I am a giant fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the father or co-parent of Phantom of the Opera, Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat and of course, the classic Cats, among other masterpieces (like Jesus Christ Superstar:-). After I heard that the producers of this broadway hit will be putting up a limited run performance headed by Lea Salonga as Grizabella in CCP, I craved for Google.

Here is the first song of the musical featuring the DVD cast.

I did a little research and found information you will need if you want to watch the musical. 

Where: CCP Main Theater

When: July 24-August 8, 2010

Prices:  

Matinees: 

SAT(3:00PM) 

SUN(2:30PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 7,210/ 5,150/ 3,605/ 

2,060/ 1,030

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

Evenings: 

TUE(8:00PM) / WED(8:00PM) 

THU(8:00PM) / SUN(7:30PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 6,180/ 4,635/ 3,090/ 

1,545/ 772.50

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

Evenings: 

FRI(8:00PM) 

SAT(8:00PM) 

Ticket Prices:*

PhP 7,210/ 5,150/ 3,605/ 

2,060/ 1,030

View seatmap Downloadable/Printable PDF format

More info and online ticket sales here.

If you don't want to watch it, please try to convince yourself that you want to watch it. The chance to watch Cats doesn't come everyday or even every decade here in the Philippines. Its only proper to take advantage of this amazing opportunity to know all the Jellicles. Its pretty obvious I worship this musical.

I Went to Church !?!?!

For the first time in a long time, I went to church. My mother is a die-hard fan of religion so every time she is around, we need to go to church. Just to be clear, I am not against the church, I just don't go to church once every week.

The golden light emitted by the sun

during near sundown

For this week's Sunday, my mother decided we go to church late afternoon because the temperature is extremely hot. Walk around the city without protection and you will return home a big block of charcoal. The sun is just so extreme. So we waited for the cooler afternoon before flying off to churchland.

The city's church named Jaro Cathedral, was our church of the week. The church, although still under renovation, looks very beautiful and glamorous. Its like a mix of the antique and modern architecture. All these courtesy of the donations handed over to the church. Its amazing how much people are willing to give for religion, I hope they give the same attention to our nation. If we treat the state of being a Filipino as a religion, the Philippines will be a gold mine.

No giant cathedral will be complete without LCD

television sets to show lyrics and video feeds of

the proceeding mass. :-) Classy, eh?

This is only about 1/16 of the church.

After church, where I had to get squeezed sit between two strangers, I suggested we eat at Carlo's. Carlo's, according to the stories of my friends, is a fine restaurant. 

If you have heard from the news, Carlo's was bombed about two weeks ago. The picture below shows the exact point where the hand grenade landed(you can actually see the dent on the concrete lot caused by the explosion):

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Fancy Food Forecast

It is very ironic that in the previous article, I have stated my goals of living a good life and implementing a diet and a few days after, I will be blogging about my mortal enemy, food.

For the past few days, I have been bonded to Coffee Break at Nelly's Garden here in Iloilo, thanks to my good friend which is an addict of the unproductive sitting down. When she invites me to sit with her at the cafe, she means serious sitting, the likes of 3 or more hours of resting on a chair.

Plenty of chairs to

fill up!

I am not the laid back type of person. Moving is a need for me which stirs up another irony of why I'm a few sizes above prime. Back to the story, so we would sit there for like forever. I get bored a lot thats why I end up eating some 'panini', 'sans rival', 'frappe' etc.

They all taste good but why do all their names sound French? Its like gay language in wrestling. Why can't they be called 'tinapay na may palaman' or 'palaman sa gitna ng tinapay', and 'kalabang araw', even 'meringueng naligo sa whip cream at mani'. By that, product comprehension will be easier and people can easily expect what they are getting.

Why don't I build a cafe with the menu I just produced above? Reason: It would be stupid because one of the few reasons why these cafes exist is their ability to elaborate a person's ability in fancy food talk. Who doesn't want a friend who can translate 'basil salmone terrine' or 'pasta jeux tu amor' into human language?

While I was sitting down at Coffee Break, I had a vision. The cafes of today are cousins of the typical Filipino 'tindahan' where the youth spends most of their waking times doing nothing. Cafes are for young professionals that love to get attention but I couldn't deny the fact that there are some other people who consider cafes as a haven for reading or reviewing or doing other mental work. I know its a 'chillax', laid back place and I am a fan of caffeine, but why stay longer than 3 hours? Is economy the answer? I would understand if the 'tambay' that comes with purchase is actually a fraction of the price. I guess so because I can't tell you Coffee Break is cheap.

BTW: I know cafe is spelled with the other e with the curved line on top but your not the one typing and at the moment, I am not in the mood to look for French letters. And if by any chance you drop by Coffee Break, grab a Sans Rival bar and any cold drink with lots of caffeine. You will thank me. :-)

Failing at diet,

Warped Opinion

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How can you write Travel?

 

I suck at describing places. If I get the chance to visit the Great Wall of China and I have to put the feeling into words, expect this:

 

“The Great Wall of China is a beautiful place. Before, I visited places inside gates but now, I’m visiting the gates itself.”

It doesn’t give justice to the people who died building the great wall.

 

All I can do now is resort to showing photos that might bring interest. I have no time to upload all my photos to the internet and I did not go international to test upload speeds, I went here to enjoy (and I don’t enjoy speed testing and uploading).

 

 

 

Can you see the three scrape marks on this white whale’s skin? This MUST alert the curators at Ancol.

 

Oh. I wonder what monument they are trying to recreate this time.

 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas!

 

If you are kind enough, you can comment below to help me with writing about travels. :-)

Lost In Jakarta

After some tears in the immigration which could be until now doubtful over their approval of me leaving the country, I arrived in Jakarta December 19 12:15 AM with no flesh lost.

Indonesia (the country that capitalizes? Jakarta) is full of Indonesians. Indonesians look like us, diverse. But they only speak one language in contrast to our capability to speak numerous languages, depending on the waves of international tourism.

I’m having major problems with communication because almost all of them can’t speak English. They are limited to verbs which ironically, are rarely used. But who really cares? I’m the one who entered their nation so I have the responsibility to mold myself to be comfortable to the newer environment I have submitted myself into. And to those people who say learning English is key to national prosperity, visit Jakarta and let their gazillionaire investors kick your smart ass.

For the interest of a longer blog post in repayment for the several days of rest, let me share one encounter with my limited Indonesian vocabulary:

My sister always takes us to the mall. And they have approximately 12 malls here that when exaggerated, can cover up the whole Panay. All of their malls here make me wonder why the Mall of Asia even came close to being the biggest mall in the region which includes Indonesia. So I get to visit shops that contains sales ladies.

It happens that part of the job description of sales ladies here is approaching and speaking with the potential costumers. The sales lady or men would talk to me in fast, 25 words per second Indonesian. Of course I can’t understand them so I tell them I only speak English. Scared I might carry a disease from wherever I come from or worst, bad luck, they run away. Moral lesson? If you don’t want being ran away from, run away first.

Eyecandy: Central Philippine University

A mother tries to take a photo of her hyped daughter
in front of the tree

I had my Kinder 2 to Grade 6 in the Central Philippine University. And by the 7 school years I have inhabited the school, I came to notice all the traditions like the Teatro Enhinyero (which is a comic stage delight), University Day Celebrations and several more.

(all photos are copyrighted and can be only displayed here or in any site I give permission to)

Every Christmas time, CPU has the tradition to put up extravagant lights for everyone to see. It was their way of preparing for the birthday of our Saviour. Unfortunately though, because of the faltering economy, every display was less extravagant than the last. But its not the finished product that really counts, its the effort the people put into it. An still, its a beauty.

Alobijod Cove – October 23-24, 2009

The house on top of the rock (obviously)

Me and my 11 other classmates just had a trip to Alobijod Cove to reattach to nature and temporarily escape the hustles of a growing city and a science high school.

We met at our school, 3 o’clock in the afternoon and we arrived at the ferry port near the University of Iloilo at around 4 PM. We braved the waves which were 3 feet tall and 5 feet wide on average to arrive at the Jordan Port. I have to commend the port officials and crew who do their jobs. There is no ferry overloading and they all leave on time so the hassle is kept at the minimum.