Pasko sa Pinas

I arrived in the Philippines exactly on Christmas day. When we landed I started to get emotional when they played "I'll be coming home for Christmas", it brought me to the state of confusion once again. I am in the Philippines to spend my holidays with my family and I am so thankful coz I got this opportunity to spend it with them...i may say, it is one of the few good effects of recession--most offices in Singapore encouraged their employees to go on vacation leave this holidays for the reason of cost cutting.

I know everyone's excited about my arrival, at least my presence would somehow fill the absence of my mother who will spend her christmas in US again. Since I arrived on Christmas day, we didn't make it to the traditional Christmas day celebration on my mother's side in Mindoro where we would spend the whole day at my tito's beach resort, details on how we celebrate it is written on Kiko's site. He didn't make it as well for he is in UK now. Anyway, we spent the day at my tito ned's house in Tondo. First time in my life to celebrate Christmas with my Ordenes' family, because we usually would celebrate with them during new years and this time it's different again. Grabe andami talaga nabago ngayong 2008, well i learned that we should always be prepared for changes, though it would mean pain and heartaches..sometimes we just need to get used to it, as long as we don't cause any harm to others we will have a blessed life. me and yuan

my pamangkins in tondo with yuan

my nephew albey and my tita luding

It's time everyone flies

It has been one of my habits to check air fares and promotions of different airlines almost every other day. As a matter of fact I got all my tickets back here by promotion. Before I left SG on the night of 24th, my housemates were browsing for air fare and promotions thru the website for there will be a long holiday in Sg on January for Chinese New Year and everybody's planning a holiday of their own. We all got excited and surprised when we came along the Cebu Pacific's zero fair promotion-- a round trip ticket to Singapore for $30 sgd only, all taxes and fares in.When I arrived here in Manila on the 25th, I immediately informed my family about the promotion and the first who got so excited was tatay. He has all the means to travel even as far Europe and US for he has the money, he'd been to some countries in Asia but not Singapore and he would prefer to travel only if it's free like to attend seminar overseas or if somebody would pay for his expenses... he is frugal errr thrifty?(whatever). He didn't stop bugging me about booking his ticket immediately when he heard about the promo, he was afraid that all seats would be taken and he wouldn't be able to make it to the end date. So I booked his ticket online for one week Singapore experience and got it for only 940.00PHP. Then after I booked my sister Lala, her husband Pen and yuan for an earlier visit to Singapore. It is also our birthday treat to yuan for his 8th birthday. The original plan was Hongkong Disneyland but to take advantage of the promotion we decided to postpone the Disneyland trip for the summer maybe. Rain is not going with them because she has work and she's been in Singapore already.

So I got my tatay, ate lala, pen and yuan booked for Singapore on February, all tickets were confirmed for less than 5,000.00 PHP, imagine that! So much cheaper than flying back to Dipolog or Cagayan de Oro. The best deal I had from Cebu Pacific.The story didn't stop on me booking for my family's ticket; late in the afternoon I got hold of Jay over the net and informed him about the promotion, he could not believe that an airline would offer such cheap air fare, last message I got from him was "mura nga kung 940.00 per pax".

Thirty minutes after I logged out, I got a call from Nates, he was asking if I can book his whole family online for Singapore. I didn't know that after I chatted with Jay he called his family and asked them to take advantage of the promotion and take a vacation to Singapore, he would be paying for the trip... I got so excited about the idea...it means that I would be expecting my cousins, and my family in February, all of the tickets were confirmed already so the next thing to do is to plan everything ahead. Though It would be hectic, I wouldn't mind at all, I cannot wait for this adventure.

caricature of the mountaineers

This was drawn by Danny Racelis a.k.a. popony of the PSG Mountaineers, one of the best Pinoy Architects here in Singapore. I found it so cute and can't help but to post here in my blog.

FYI he made this in a dash kasi baka mahuli daw ni boss.Nice one popony!

PinoySG Mountaineers Christmas Party

December 6, 2008

We decided to celebrate the party earlier than usual at Pasir Ris Park. It was triple celebration because of my birthday, jb & marivic’s 10^th year anniversary and of course our group’s Christmas Party. With tents set up beside the sea and a barbecue pit reserved exclusively for the mountaineers, we had a really wacky and hilarious celebration. We had a lot of food and drinks, all were pinoy dish. The highlight was the gift giving—rather than doing it the usual way we decided to make it different, we called it gift grabbing! The idea was either to open a gift or to grab someone else’s gift. Once you open a gift, your chance of grabbing will be forfeited, but a gift can only be grabbed twice. And it proved how sports were we…hahahha walang nagalit kasi walang choice. Though the first gift I opened was grabbed away, I am thankful for the bags(organizer) I received which will be useful for traveling or on our next climb.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

reunited with GOD

Whilst everybody’s enjoying the spirit of Christmas and Holidays, I am currently in a state of despair and misery…and the hardest part of it is to pretend happy, to feel strong when I know I’m not and to endure the pain which is slowly killing me everyday. My friends here in Singapore are very supportive, they comfort me most of the times and I am very thankful of that but sad that I have to keep the situation from my best friends, good friends and my family. Do not ask me please…. Just wait for me on Christmas. I was weeping for days, I was so confused and had no hope at all. I couldn’t find answers to my questions even if I stay all night lying in bed thinking of what has been happening and why it is happening. I was literally lost.

Since Tuesday, I have been reading posts from the mountaineers on our Yahoo groups about the Simbang Gabi here in Singapore. For whatever reason, I just woke up from my 2-hour sleep yesterday wanting to go to church. I’ve never attended the Catholic mass for 3 years but yesterday I felt the urge to hear the Gospel and ask for God's forgiveness.

So I was at Christ the King Church last night with thousands of Filipinos celebrating the holy mass. It was a magical experience… my heart was pumping hard when I entered the church, though crowded, I felt I was given a special space, and when the choir started singing Christmas carol, I burst into tears. From the beginning until the end, I was asking forgiveness from God while my tears were overflowing my eyes.

It felt good to be back in HIS arms again. I may not be totally healed now but soon I will be ok and will be a better person. Life is good, Praise the Lord!

Gunung Panti Friendship Climb

This is long overdue. I was supposed to write about our climb immediately after embarking from Malaysia but I couldn't find the time to do so; I’ve been so busy.

Friendship Climb @ Gunung Panti, Kota Tinggi Malaysia

The sole purpose of the climb was to raise funds and to extend our help to the Globe Adventure Club in the Philippines on their medical mission for our Aeta brothers and sisters. They coordinated with the Bundokeros Adventure Club and had our team, the PSG Mountaineering club, invited. The support was overwhelming and it united all the Filipino climbers here in Singapore, as well as those from Malaysia. For a registration fee of $20, we were given souvenir shirts, a one of a kind climb experience, and the chance to extend our help to the Aetas back home.

The call time was 6.30 am at Kranji MRT Station, the BAC hired a Malaysian bus which brought us directly to Kota Tinggi, Malaysia. An almost two hour travel including the queue in both Singapore immigration and Malaysian immigration, hmm... not bad. Upon reaching Kota Tinggi bus terminal we took a teksi (taxi) to the jump-off point where we were met by the Filipino climbers from Kuala Lumpur. We also had an early lunch there. After 30 minutes we were all set, we started the supposed two-hour trek to the summit of Gunung Panti, but it took me three hours or more hehhehe, no practice and physical preparation…as usual, the hard-headed me. Fortunately, the sweepers were Caloy, Olan and the drummer of DeadMacoys whose name slipped my memory. I tested and tried their patience and I appreciate it.


Anyway, aside from the experience of being sucked by two lematiks (leech) for the first time, the highlight of the climb was the giant rock which I had to hurdle to reach the summit. It was the most dangerous part of the climb, imagine yourself in a giant slippery rock situated at the edge of the mountain and one wrong move will bring you to your final destination. And I am proud to say I survived! I did it!

After setting up the tents, unpacking our things, and a short siesta, we all waited for the breathtaking view of the sunset. It was amazing! The sound of the wind blowing into the trees was like background music while we were watching the sun kissing the beautiful mountains of Malaysia


When the moon showed up, the socials started, everybody gathered and we all bonded. T’was a night of laughter and cheers!


It’s two-way, going to the summit is an option and going down is mandatory. So at around 10:30 am we were already trekking down the mountains . We took a different route down, and after 4 hours of trekking, only did our lead and sweeper realize that we were on the wrong way down. What should have been 2-3 hours of trekking down became 7 hours, without food and without water. Good thing it rained so we were not really that dehydrated.

Thanks to the hard work of the members of BAC who really tried everything to trace the trail. I admire them for their stamina and endurance--good job guys!

At last we were able to reach our destination at around 7pm. By 11pm we were home again, tired but fulfilled. The Gunung Panti Friendship climb is an experience worth all the time and effort.

Salamat po!

Finally after 6 days, it's my turn to thank all of those who remembered my 30th birthday:

Yuan- i miss you too and I love you so much!
Tatay and Nanay- salamat sa buhay
Ate Lala-thanks for my multiply's profile
Rain - dude, where's my gift?
Bong - rock on!
My cousins nates, kaye and agie
Freebayanpinoy- stay being aware.
My flatmates: Arvin,Ruel,Henry,Echo,Dennis,Jp,Claire and Corie-salamat sa paghanda.
PSG Mountaineers: Mabuhay tayong lahat!
Ali Boi
Kuya Obet de lemos
Lyka Argana
Helen Acosta- miss yah gal.
Kuya Ley and ate Amy-thanks for the effort.
Bhea Ramos
Eric
Yehlen Leido
Jhong Melendrez
Edy Bernardo- miss na rin kita, parang wala ka sa SG
Ton-ton
Ruschelle Verendia
Ram Aventurado
Vanessa Ventura-Espinar
Telki- I miss you too!
Aura Krishna Villena
Tita Armie Mercado
Joseph Lising
Ruby Anna V. Tolentino
Rache Ferrer
Caloy of Bundokeros- kahit di ka maniwala na bday ko weheheh
Olan of DeadMacoys and Bundokeros-salamat pare
Christina Andrew
Cecelia Tan
Rhaman Khaswan

And lastly I would like to thank Fanny Serrano for my hair and Make-up and Rene Salud for my gown :)

another year older

In one hour i'll be turning 30 and will start a new path of my perplexed labyrinth. It will be my first birthday away from my family, not literally alone but I feel so melancholic. Sometimes I want to ask the world, why the hell am here? Is this really what I want to do? And or have I done something prudent in the past 29 years of my life? Pardon me for being so melodramatic but I have to vent. I feel so alone.

No matter what will happen on my 30^th birthday, I don’t think it will be a happy one….it’ll just be a Birthday!

Good thing there are comic strips of Cathy over the web to browse and read... at least something to cheer me up!