March 31

banana chocolate chip muffins which mom brought home

NCP Take 3 - Day 2

It's mango season!

Falalalala lala la la!

chilled ripe Philippine mangoes :9

the next best thing to waking up next to Ronjie on a weekend morning ♥

chocolate lava cake

Brought this home yesterday from the office-

chocolate lava cake from S&R

NCP Take 2 - Day 14. Mom & Rocky finished the cake in under 5 minutes!

Sarah McLachlan's 'World on Fire'

(text copied off www.lyrics007.com)

Hearts are worn in these dark ages
You're not alone in this story's pages
Night has fallen amongst the living and the dying
And I try to hold it in, yeah I try to hold it in

The world's on fire and
It's more than I can handle
I'll tap into the water
(I try to pull my ship)
I try to bring more
More than I can handle
(Bring it to the table)
Bring what I am able

I watch the heavens and I find a calling
Something I can do to change this moment
Stay close to me while the sky is falling
Don't wanna be left alone, don't wanna be alone

Hearts break, hearts mend
Love still hurts
Visions clash, planes crash
Still there's talk of
Saving souls, still the cold
Is closing in on us

We part the veil on our killer sun
Stray from the straight line on this short run
The more we take, the less we become
A fortune of one that means less for some

pasalubongs!

Pasalubongs received the past week =)

My officemate Phoebe went on a week-long vacation to visit her hometown in the South. She passed by our Surigao and Butuan branches and brought these back for us.

oatmeal thins & meringue from our Butuan-J.C. Aquino Branch

Assorted biscuits from Ms. Peachy's Hong Kong trip:

cute panda biscuit

Pretty ponytailer and souvenir pen from Korea

from Kert

Rocky got me instant coffee when he went to Vietnam for a business trip. I don't drink coffee anymore so I'll just be giving this to my officemates. :)

Happy Saturday! :)

Remembering Pow

It's Pow's 3rd Death Anniversary today. He was our first dog, and he was very much loved. And is still missed. *sigh*

Hello, Pow & Knut! (& Ling Ling too!) We miss you. *telepathic greeting from girl on earth to doggie & polar bear (& panda) in animal heaven* (Yikes! I'm talking to dead animals! :D)

Mutts 110308

Pugad Baboy today

sunroof in a jeepney

in one of the jeepneys traversing the Cubao-Quiapo route through Aurora Blvd.

Only in the Philippines! :)

paper plane workshop

Paper Plane Workshop with Yoshinori Nishihara

sponsored by the Japan Foundation

February 27, 2011

Shangri-La Plaza Mall

sensei

The photo I took of the planes I made is missing! I'm not sure if I accidentally deleted it or if it got deleted during the camera to computer transfer process. :( Here instead is a photo of one of the planes sensei made and gave out as souvenirs to the workshop attendees.

cool, huh?

For those interested in making paper planes, Mr. Nishihara has a book. It was being sold for Php50 during the workshop. I'm not sure where you can buy it now, maybe you can call the Japan Foundation at 8116155 to 58.

Blog backlog!

Haven't posted in many weeks, was going through some period of sadness or something like that. Anyway, I'm okay now. :) I have around 3 blog posts coming up. :D

Everyone's been writing about last week's earthquake and tsunami (and now also the radiation problem) in Japan. Makikisali rin ako! :)

Last Friday, March 11, I was having late lunch in the office when I receive an SMS from Ronjie which went something like (deleted the actual message already): "EARTHQUAKE! 7.9! The strongest they've experienced here!" I texted back, asked how they were there, etc. He got out of the building after the earthquake, and now he and everyone else were back inside, things were back to normal. Okay, good to know. :) Exhaled already. I left the office for a while to go to the bank, a couple of people texted (even a tita from the Middle East and a friend from L.A.) asking how the husband was - the earthquake in Japan was in the news. Told them that I was in touch with him and assured them that he was fine. When I got back, I found my officemates in front of the TV watching CNN - footage of a tsunami in Japan. More people were already texting, all asking about Ronjie. I got worried at this point and tried calling his mobile numbers but couldn't get through. Also tried calling him via Globe Muzta number but no answer. *panic mode on* Thankfully, after maybe 20 minutes, I get a message from him, sorry he missed my calls, he went out for a while to get some air because he was nauseous from all the aftershocks. Mobile networks were down so we talked via Globe Muzta. It was just relieving to know that he's far from the earthquake epicenter and the tsunami-affected area... he's around 400km away. Phew! (By the way, earthquake magnitude reading was increased to 8.9 that day. Now it's a 9.0.)

The next couple of days, people were still texting me, worried. I, on the other hand, wasn't really worried because hubby reassured me that he was fine and that things were also fine there, except for his school/office's temporary closure because of the rotating blackouts. He was also very far from the nuclear power plant. The media sometimes exaggerates news and some are just really paranoid. A couple of foreigners he works with went home to their home countries, but he sees no reason to leave too. As of today, the nuclear problem is still a problem (and a growing one as each day passes) but things are still okay anyway. There are still so many things to be thankful for. One thing I'm thankful for is that I get to see and talk to my beloved daily, despite the rotating brownouts and all. (Though I'd be more thankful if we could be physically together already. So many people want to leave Japan considering its state now, ako lang yata yung gustong pumunta na dun. *Patience, Mara, patience.*) Another thing I'm thankful for is all our family, friends, and loved ones. I want to help the tsunami and earthquake victims but I don't really know how. So I just decided not to add to the paranoia and negative energy going around. (In the local scene, there's news about the flashfloods in Leyte. I think I'll be able to help more concretely here.) Let's continue our prayers for Japan. :)

Going off-topic, to close this entry, here are photos from lunch at Passion, a Chinese restaurant in Resorts World a few weeks ago.

iced green tea

sweet and sour pork - I like that it has dragonfruit

sharksfin soup :'(

I hope I don't see any of these again. Save the sharks!

P.S. See this blog for a more first-hand account of the Japan earthquake and nuclear problem experience: http://gaijinhousewifeinjapan.blogspot.com/ (Again, I'm very thankful that Ronjie lives in a prefecture far away from all the gulo.)

P.P.S. Congratulations to the new lawyers!

P.P.P.S. Dinner tonight is pork sinigang, which I helped prepare. (I peeled the gabi and cut the vegetables. Sa susunod, ako na yung magluluto!) :D Naaamoy ko na! It's calling me to the dinner table! :9