Some candid shots taken on our trip to Bohol a couple of months back. It's simply breath-taking.
A replica of the blood-compact ceremony between the islanders and the Spanish settlers. 
This church is said to be 400 years old.
My Ari trying to touch the tarsiers, the smallest monkey in the world.
The long Loboc River.
The humurous side of Mother Nature.
This is the man-made forest.
Sun-kissed family!
The beach at low-tide
I never thought I would be hit that hard but I was. Influenza was brutal. Four long days of feeling miserable and sick was the last thing in my list to welcome 2007. And to make matters worst, my son also had the colds and was running a fever all the time. Instead of feeling hopeless and act on my misery, ARI and I really had a good time. We shared our sickbed so we held hands most of the time. I told him a lot of stories. We checked each others temperatures or simply cuddled together. Strangely enough, we let the old year passed and welcomed 2007 without any complains. Jon deserved all the credits for taking excellent care of us. Hats off for you, TART!
A few more sleeps and the year is going to close. And yes, sleep is what I think my family is about to do. While everywhere else, it's the sound of cymbals and gongs to welcome the New Year, in Seoul, it is very quiet. Most likely, Koreans prefer to spend this one-day holiday at home since the weather has really been a threat lately.
To usher the Year 2007 in, my family is going to make astronomical changes. Firstly, we are moving back to the Philippines, the home country. It's been 10 years now that I have lived in South Korea. And these two countries are extremely different in many ways. I don't know how quick and how well would I be able to adjust to this new phase in Life.
A new job opportunity has hastened our decisions to go back home. The offer is quite attractive and to think that I would be HOME, I could never think of any other better deal. But this also means that I might be in the office all the day and that I am sure would take a lot of getting used to. I have been comfortable with things as they are right now, a part-time job from home and the opportunity to be with my son 24/7.
But things can't be the same, I must realize that.
This also could be a the best chance for my Husband to pursue his interest in Cooking. He plans to enter the cooking school as soon as everything is settled. I am very proud and confident that he would be successful . If there is someone who would succeed in this field, that person would be my Husband. Actually, I gained a permanent 5-kilogram weight after I married him. It's ironic but I am happy.
My son will get to know my folks, his grandparents. They are very excited to see him very soon. They are just the best parents in the world for me. Truly, I am grateful to them. And I believe my son will be blessed in knowing them.
I will just have to figure my way around these changes. All I know for now is that I could smuggle my son into my office for an hour during working hours. My job is not that demanding or hectic I suppose. And since I am going to be manager, I guess I can get away with some things. Because not seeing him for long stretch of time is going to drive me crazy.
I have a lot of things that I will miss about 2006 but I can't be more excited for 2007 to come.
I woke up chilled. I have always thought that I would be cold-free this whole winter time until today. My throat hurts and my chest heaves in pain when I cough. Ugh! I am feeling so miserable.
I got a call from my elder sister who is in the Philippines. She has been suffering from an unexplained illness. Different doctors have given their views and medications were prescribed. Still she found no relief. We thought it was Depression. However, knowing my sister, that will be the last kind illness that would inflict her.
She is an upbeat person. She loves to have fun. She cracks all the funny jokes. She just has this sunny personlity so it's hard to imagine that my sister gets depressed.
Yesterday, my Aunt brought her to a herbal Doctor. One look at the palm of her hand, this man asked my sister if she had a grocery store. She nodded to reply. And the man continued that some man had perform some sort of voodoo on her.
This event happened half a year ago. This man owed my sister 25$. My sister asked him to pay her. He got mad and raised hell in the neighborhood. My sister was scared to death. A few weeks later she started to change.
I am worried, very worried. She needs 200$ to get cured by the herbal doctor. And 200$ is a big amount in my country. Today they went to see him but they have no money with them. I hope they can go back by Monday.
If there was a university where I could major in motherhood I would have gone there and learned. If there was a compass or any sort of gadget that would help me navigate the ocean of parenthood I could have bought a roomful. Seriously, it is no easy task.
I read several books in search for guidelines in child-rearing and to give me a sense of framework. They have been very handy yet at times like many others I had to rely on "by-guess" and "by-golly"! That's why the clear fact still remains... a lot of unintentional mistakes have been passed on from generation to generation.
All along I was cradling these notions on my son's upbringing. Since ARI eats all kinds of vegetable and is not very much interested on sweets...since he learned his alphabet few months before he turned two...since he can run from our house all the way to the Han riverside...I thought he was in the proper direction of positive growth. I thought it was good enough.
Until I have started reading the book " YOUR CHILD'S SELF-ESTEEM" . It's the greatest book ever written. I learned that self-esteem is the overall judgement of himself. It is his attitude toward himself and that the feeling of self-worth forms the core of his personality and determines how he fares in life.
I am only half-way through the book but I already see my role in a different light. It's like a beautiful new window has just been opened to me. I feel more confident, relaxed and much more understanding.
Since fire fascinates my son just like cars, trains and buses, I thought it would be a good opportunity for me to teach him about its dangers as well as its good uses. I was not surprised when I realized he was taking everything in eagerly. He was able to answer my check-up questions later on.
This activity was a lot of action for him. He sported this big-boy semblance and I looked at him proudly. I showed him a couple of times on how to whisk the melted crayon on to the paper and quickly he followed suit. Actually, I learned this way back in my elementary years. Now that I am able to pass this on to my son, I feel really good about it.
Things you will need:
a white piece of paper (a cardboard will be better)
waxed crayons
lighted candle
How to:
Place the crayon over the burning candle. Hold it until it starts to melt then whisk it on to the paper. Observe caution.
Enjoy!
Our house was bare. No Christmas decorations could be found anywhere. The reason for this is not because we are anti-Christmas but because we are moving back home soon. All our things except for a few furniture have been shipped to the Philippines already. This was our last Christmas in SEOUL.
We didn't allow that to dampen our Christmas mood. On Christmas eve, we battled the cold when we went downtown to see the huge array of Christmas lights. Fronting the Seoul Government Office building was a gigantic replica of a Crown. It was also covered with multi-colored lights. It was simply breathtaking.
Ari's getting busy with chopsticks. He laboured quietly and undisturbed. He was determined to succeed in picking up the tangerines. I thought we wouldn't be able to eat all these fruits but I could see the the bottom of the box already. A Korean friend brought us this present a couple of days ago. Here in Korea, it's polite to give fruits as presents.
Home-Schooling is doing us a lot of good. I am able to guide Ari's early learning process and witness his remarkable improvements. It's amazing how much he is capable of doing things on his own. We are both enjoying it. Although I get frustrated at times when he doesn't pay attention, but I think I have learned to develop more patience. I'll just have to remind myself that he is only THREE. Here is the boat he made today. Of course I am very proud too. In fact I am his number one FAN!
Topic: Transportation
Materials: construction paper(triangle)
Glue/Tape
Box
Any stick or a piece of card board.
How To:
Cut the Box. Paste the construction paper onto the stick. This is the sail. Paste the base of the stick to the side of the box.
Recently, I read about the Korean-American guy, James KIM who suffered such a tragic death while looking for help when his family was stranded in the wilderness in the Oregon area. I was much saddened after reading the article. I could picture him, dragging his already numbed feet one after the other with such a great determination to rescue his family. I wondered how he felt while lying in the middle of nowhere not knowing if he could see his family again much less than finding help for them. Did he feel he was a failure? In his last moments James Kim did not have any certainty whether his family would be rescued. But I guess, that same Faith that propelled him to walk those long miles unhindered by the circumstances had probably given him all the Hope.
God bless your family James. You truly are one of the greatest fathers I have privileged to have known. May your kids grow in the same Faith as yours. May in their weakness, they find courage in your memory. You are a Hero.
My son always tries to buy time as my husband and I tuck him to bed. He's just turned 3 years old. Even though we have not trained him at an early stage to sleep by himself, the change was not a major event in my family. It only took a whole day of talking about it and everything else followed smoothly. Now my husband and I can spend a longer quality time. There's a catch to this though! He'd get a star sticker that he'd put himself on a special page found on the refrigerator door. By the time this gets full he'd get something nice. It could be a toy or something from the arts and crafts section. You may call it bribery!
Tonight, as usual, he'd ask for more big hugs and big kisses before I left the room. But tonight was a little different. He clung to me tightly and said:
I have to be up as early as 5:50 AM everyday. Obviously this is againts my will. I would have loved to stay in bed for a couple of hours more with my blanket tucked under my chin.
For the past several years I have taken a part- time job which requires me to be up at such unholy hours and retire to bed usually beyond 1:00 AM on regular workdays. Over the years, I have not gotten myself accustomed to this schedule specially in the morning. I can't tell you how much I've looked forward to weekends.
I dunno how many weblog sites I have registered to. Perhaps too many to count! I can't seem to be comfortable with any one of them. So what happened was I would post here and there. My blogs are scattered around the Internet world. I felt like a fly with a red wagging butt. ("murag langaw Pulag Lubot" as my dialect would put it!) And I am tired of being that. So now I am trying to do away with indecision and make myself stick with this one. (I hope so.)
I have quite a few reasons for "having been everywhere". Firstly, I was quite excited that my blogs would be read by my group of friends and at the same time anxious of their criticisms. Although some have claimed to have enjoyed reading my blogs, yet there are others who remain quite and that put me in the dark. Another reason is that I have always loved to write however I have got no basic knowledge about writing other than pouring the contents of my heart and mind. Finally, I am not an English Native Speaker, therefore my expressions may be affected culturally.
With this site I hope to achieve some sort of anonymity (though you may check my profile). I hope to be judged not according to grammatical errors or expressions but according to my thoughts and feelings.
