Archive for May, 2007

On the way home inside the car when I took this photo. Does he look comfy on that bike?

I rather think it’s cool!

Sometimes when the weather is good, group of bikers ride the highways to show off their vintage

motorbikes and hopefully I’d be able to get a glimpse, even make photos of them.

WARNING: according to a dear commenter/friend Ronnie (Ymir), this mp3 is draggiiiing :hehe:

[audio:3.mp3]

irrelevant / digressive /tangential

rambling nga sabi eh! :belat:

and no, walang kumikiliti sa wetpu ko…..i was just freakin’ happy today, that’s all! also this is my first attempt in ‘podcasting’ walang pintasan ha!

Note: just click the thumbnails for larger images.

This was my first ever adventure/vacation with ’strangers’ . Why ’strangers’? Because she1, she2 and I only met online, chatted online, exchanged e-mails, done the usual internet buddy stuff yaddy yadda. Sure we’ve seen each other’s faces but only on pictures, webcams..that’s it. Meeting someone in person makes a whole lot of difference.

Cheerfully saying that after spending days with them, these ladies are no longer just strangers to me.

She1 and I talked about meeting up in Greece last year but unfortunately, it didn’t happen due to some circumstances. But she1 really needed a vacation so when she finally got the chance, she changed her itinerary and decided to come to Holland instead and visit its neighbouring countries. UK was the last leg of her tour. With she1’s constant “sige na tekla, ’sama ka na sa UK” (c’mon thess, join me in UK), one day I finally gave in since gusto ko din makapamasyal at makapag-shopping, window shopping lang ha. She2 , whom I met via she1 was joining the UK trip as well.

Thus this was the start of my adventure/vacation with strangers-no-more.

She1 arrived first in Holland on April 12. I was of course excited cge na nga, excited na cos I was about to finally meet my skype blah blah yakkity yakkita daldal friend. Plane has touched down minutes earlier than scheduled but she was nowhere to be found. I was watching her big red suitcase (I knew it was hers cos I saw a picture of it before) going ’round and ’round the belt at Schiphol Airport but the owner was nowhere in sight (later I learned that she followed a bunch of japanese who were also naliligaw at the airport, juicekoh! :crazy: ) While waiting, I saw one of my favorite british cooks probably waiting for his ride. I wanted to ask him if I could take a photo together but changed my mind since I was afraid I’d miss she1 when she turns up. tsk tsk, isinakripisyo ko nga naman oh *lol*. But to make a long story short, I finally saw her collecting her suitcase and pointed to her the door leading outside. Uy ha, beauty ang tita, magkamukha kami! was my first impression ang umangal, sasapukin koh! Took her home, showed her her room and there she jumped and jumped like a little kid. She was so happy to see me. kasi nga magkamukha kami, natural beauty! mwahahaha

Second day, she2 arrived from Switzerland, picked her up from the train station and we proceeded to the lukaret’s mansion. There shes 1 & 2 stayed until monday evening. That was where they enjoyed the great german wursts, museums, Rijn (Rhein) trip and of course plenty of blah blahs .

Tuesday we went to Antwerpen, Belgium. There we went to Ruben’s Huis (museum) sat in the terrace and had lunch, window shopped, visited the famous Antwerp Cathedral, sung to she2 my Charlie’s song (she2 gamely obliged and spin around jus like Charlie whenever he hears this song) and took lots of photo.

Antwerpen Cathedral …. my most favorite part of the day was this—->belgian waffles!! <—Roger, a kababayan selling the waffles ‘wish I had his job, he he.

The following day we visited Kinderdijk, that’s a small village near my place where Circa1740, 19 windmills were built…at present they are still in good condition & functioning.

We also went to Madurodam (miniature cities of Holland in display, a popular tourist attraction) just like them, it was my first time to visit the park. Of course photos here and there were taken.

Such as this—->

or this where 2 burukas mimicking she2’s famous pose

or this when I so wanted to touch the baby seagull who was calling for its mum

finally, mum regurgitating itsy bitsy foodsy for baby

Between these short tourist trips, she 1 and she 2 also helped around the house, see the following images as proof

<—-Ellen cooking sinangag

<—-Syempre si Sofie ba, papatalo? :cute:

note: may the last 2 images serve as warning to fellow bloggers who wish to stay @ my place during their holland visit. you will be required to clean the house, wash the car, do the ironing and laundry as well. :hehe: :peace:
their last 2 days in Holland was spent in Amsterdam where they met with 2 other bloggers from UK and France (both pinays.)

UP next: Trip to Bath, UK (that includes Stonehenge, Avebury, Coltswold ,Tetbury and She1’s 13th bday )

Instead af blogging about my recent vacation (I still need to resize the photos), I decided to write this. You’ll see why if you continue to read.

Today, back in 1979 when my mum was supposed to meet up with a house seller when the latter suddenly announced that she’s changed her mind and decided not to sell the house my mum had her eyes on. That was in the afternoon, banks were already closed. Since my mum withdrew the payment for the house (as per requested by the house seller, ‘payment in cash’) she was stuck with the amount for 2 days (May 2 was holiday in the Philippines.) Plan was to deposit the money on the 3rd.

Since May 2nd, the following day was a holiday like I said, the whole family (except for my grandma, grandpa and an aunt) decided to spend the day on the beach just outside Manila. I clearly remember that day because it started out pretty exciting for us kids. Until I became nervous just before lunch time that when my mother saw me on my own by the shore and not joining my siblings playing in the water, she then asked why I wasn’t playing, I answered: ‘there’s something going on, I’m scared’.

I became quiet and did not enjoy the rest of the day anymore.

It was time to go back home and in the vehicle, I saw a black cat crossing the street that I became more agitated (you know, the tale of the jinxed-black-cat? ) I was pretty alert the entire journey back home, probably since I wasn’t really exhausted from playing.

We then reached the street leading to our apartment. It was dark, jammed with people mainly uzis (usiseros/usiseras), firetrucks and firefighters.

We had nothing to come home to. Just a pile of black ash, muddy wet ash. Barrickading the lot where the apartment used to stand were people from the barangay hall to keep the looters away. Especially requested by my grandma when she heard shouts during the fire: “sa kuarto ng seaman, sa kuarto ng seaman!” (“inside the seaman’s bedroom”) My father was a known seaman in our area back then, ‘was earning okay. But he was away during the fire.

I couldn’t entirely undestand what was going on because it was overwhelmingly chaotic and dark, it was like a scene from a movie. Though I knew it was huge when I saw my mum silently crying (seldom seen her cry) and kept whispering about the cash in her bedroom. Indeed, when we entered the space where her bedroom was, some firefighters pointed out a pile of cash neatly on top of each other, half burnt. Worthless. And almost all our childhood memories were gone except for few pictures which I keep close to me up to present…made copies of them.

Ah…..maybe because I’m a bit under the weather that’s why this unjolly entry. But May 1 & 2 are dates I could never ever forget. By the way, it was an arson case.

priceless picture of me with my siblings

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up entry, lotsa happy thoughts, my vacation!