Such An Eventful First Month of 2024

And just like that, January 2024 is done.

The first 36 days of 2024 were eventful. A summary of the first month of 2024:

• My family and I went on our first family holiday since we (our daughter and I) arrived in New Zealand. Our daughter loved swimming; she swam at the Maruia River, in a paddling pool in the middle of the city, and in the thermal pools at Hanmer Springs. Yes, she is a water baby.

• I learned a few new recipes in cooking and baking. I have yet to perfect them, but the food was edible.

• Oh! I got an extremely short haircut! The shortest haircut I have ever had. I am contemplating whether I should write a separate post about this. Hmmm...

• In my New Year's Day post, I mentioned that I was looking forward to opportunities soon. The opportunity I was referring to was employment. I sent my application for the Teacher Aide role at my daughter's school last December 2023. On the 11th of January, I was interviewed and accepted for the role on the same day. As of writing, I am officially employed as a Teacher Aide.

• I also mentioned in my New Year's Day post that we will move to a different farm. Well, I have an update on that too. My family will no longer be moving because my husband will be moving up the ranks. My husband will be the only one from their current dairy farm team staying and managing the farm. This is good news for me, as my employment at the school won't be cut short. I was worried about moving because I would have to look for another job after recently accepting one. But now that we are no longer moving, it is a relief that I will be working at the school a little longer.

There are hiccups and frustrations amid the good updates, but at the end of the day, these are my small successes moving forward.

And that is all the update for the first days of 2024. I am looking forward to sharing more stories in the future.

Ciao~

company outing

last weekend, we had our company summer outing at the subic bay yatch club. the ride from the office to the venue seemed longer than the way back. (^_^) anyways, the room was superb. made me feel like keigo atobe. the beds were huge, the bathroom was huge! we had a walk in closet, sink area, powder area, toilet area, shower area and... hold it... a jacuzzi! yes! you heard it right! we had a jacuzzi! i didn't use it till our second night though.

anyways, upon arrival, we checked in our rooms and we had a rest. we then had karaoke at the bar, had dinner and went for a night swim at the pool. (^_^) the next day, we had breakfast and went to the tree top adventure ride. after that, we set sail on a yatch for about an hour. lastly, we had our dinner in a semi-formal attire. (^_^) the next day was free time. what did i do? i had a swim on the pool! (^_^) the ride home seemed faster than i had expected.

overall, i enjoyed the experience. (^_^) photos here.

happy 12th birthday ryo!

our brother ryo tuned 12! (^_^)

friday, we just had a simple cake and pancit.

the big celebration was the next day.

there was a swimming party and the guests were ryo's friends from the condominium,

his friends from fairview,

and his friends from perya. (^_^)

they had games and lots giveaways.

judging from their happy faces and really tired bodies at the end of the day,

i would say they all enjoyed it. (^_^)

i too enjoyed the swimming and the food. (^_~)

family trip

hello everyone! sorry i was not able to blog immediately about our trip. it took some time before i could upload all the photos and i have been quite busy... sleeping that is (^_~) since we arrived, except for today, i fixed the condo. (^_^) anyways, here are the details of our family trip. (^_^)

to naga and day 1
the adventure of this family trip started when we rode the bicol express train from manila to naga city, camarines sur. it was our first time to ride this specific train and it was our first time to ride in a sleepers coach. the travel time was approximately 12 hours, but supposed to be it was only for 10 hours. we didn't mind the long travel time because we were enjoying the experience of sleeping and eating in the train. (^_~) oh, i almost forgot, by chance, señor jaime fabregas was on the same coach with us, only on a different sleepers chair/bed. anyways, when we arrived at naga, we ate breakfast at jollibee. then we visited the san francisco church. after our church visit we rode a taxi to pasacao, camarines sur. there we stayed for a night. when we arrived at the resort, we got our room and immediately prepared for the agenda for that day. we rode a boat to an island and swam there. when you look at the pictures closely, the foot of the island is not a beach. it's actually black rocks immediately meeting the sea. i was really amazed! after about an hour of swimming we went back to the resort for our lunch, which was prepared with freshly caught seafood. delicious! we had about 15 minutes of rest then we headed to our next destination, the suminabang cave, via boat. we saw stalactite and stalagmite formations. after that we went to another part of an island and we had our second round of swimming. the sand at the second venue was yellowish and we saw these amazing colored stones. we were there for quite a time before we decided to call it a day and return to the resort. it was still a little early for dinner so we had snacks, bread and whatever leftovers we had during the train ride. i had a bottle of tanduay ice while my parents had beer. my brother still wanted to swim so i accompanied him at the beach which was just a few steps from our resort. come dinner time, we had this large shrimp. yes! a large shrimp! it was the best dinner that we had. and that was the end of day 1.

day 2
we had our simple breakfast, leftover from the train ride, and then we got a taxi back to naga city. on our way, we passed by an old church, the st. joseph the worker church. we said our prayers, looked around then we continued our travel. we attended mass at the naga cathedral. after the mass, we started looking around the church. after that we went to our hotel, golden leaf hotel. though my parents did not like the fact that we were on the fourth floor, they still liked the balcony. (^_~) special mention, the doves beside the balcony. anyways, we then walked around to find souvenirs. after that we had our lunch at the mall. again, the food was delicious! despite the commercial place, the food tasted quite authentic and fresh. after our meal, we went to the supermarket to buy some food to eat during our church visits that afternoon. we passed by the hotel to drop off some things then we rode the tricycle to the our lady of peñafrancia basilica. the church was huge and there were beautiful colored glass designs. we went behind the altar and wiped the statue of the our lady of peñafrancia, and prayed for a few minutes. after the basilica, we then went to the our lady of peñafrancia church, it was the original church of the our lady of peñafrancia. the church was smaller but still beautiful. after visiting the church, we visited the cemetery behind the old church. we took pictures of the designs of the tombstones. you rarely see these designs on the present tombstones. we finished early with our church visits so we decided to take a taxi to another church which was at the other town. we visited an old church, the bombon church and the leaning tower of bombon, the bell tower of the said church. it's not clear on the pictures but the tower was really leaning on it's side. you really have a feeling that it was about to fall. after we said our prayers, we looked around, then went back to the hotel. we rested for some time before we went out for dinner. the dinner was our father's birthday dinner so we ate at a japanese restaurant. oh, his birthday was the next day but we decided to have the birthday dinner that night because the next night, we would be traveling back to manila. anyways, for dinner, we had shabu-shabu and okonomiyaki. really delicious! it did not taste commercial like the japanese food here in manila. the japanese food really tasted authentic. it was such a great meal! after eating we headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for our last day at naga city.

day 3 and departure from naga
for our last day, we only had one agenda, to visit the museo del seminario conciliar de nueva caceres. the museum is beside the cathedral. it featured memorabilia of prominent bishops from the town, ecclesiastical vessels and artifacts, paintings and archaeological finds like burial jars and chinese wares. after the tour, we had some rest at a small shop near the area. we then headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and to prepare out things for the trip back to manila. while we were fixing our things, we noticed that it was raining. we were really lucky to finish all our visits before it started to rain. (^_^) before we left, i took a last picture of the view from the balcony, the isarog mountain. (^_^) we did not go straight to the train station since it was still too early for our train, so we went to the mall to buy food for our trip and to each early dinner. after about two hours, we went to the train station. luckily we were able to get tickets for the sleepers bad/room. we once again took our own beds, ate some and slept the whole trip. we arrived at manila after 12 hours.

my family spent most of the day sleeping when we arrived. but for me, i had a different agenda.

please see next post. (^_^)V

oh! by the way, did you all notice that i was wearing dresses the while trip? (^_~)

night swimming

last tuesday, we went night swimming because we were invited to the birthday celebration of our uncle.

we went to jed's island resort.

the resort was huge and wide.

unfortunately, it was not maintained well.

the pools were huge but there were also so many dead insects on the pool, plus the water on the pool had to much chlorine that it hurt my eyes.

i simply tried my best to enjoy the swimming opportunity that i had.

my sister and i stayed at the pool for a long time.

we started around 8pm and we got out of the pool at around 3am the next morning.

we rested for about 4 hours and when i woke up, my eyes were sore and feeling a little irritated.

thankfully, this did not last for a long time.

we went back home around 11am and slept the whole afternoon away.

we were sooooooo tired!

swimming with my household (sfc)

yesterday, i went swimming with my household at pacific waves resort, bulacan. (^_^)

attendees are ate jen, che-che, jenette, lara, divine and me.

this was the first swimming of summer. (^_^)V

we had great fun!

got tanned!

and very dead tired when i got home. (>_<)

pictures here! (^_^)

building blocks

building blocks is fun!

z = zukki, a = araki, t = taito (^_^)

made from my brother's building blocks. (^_^)

by the way,

i went swimming again today!

two days in a row,

i love it! (^_^)

swimming!

yes! it's friday and i went swimming. (^_^)

this is because i don't have no classes today. (^_~)

my eyes are really red, i'm tired and very sleepy.

but hey, despite the tired feeling,

i still love swimming! (^_^)

swimming!

went swimming again!! (^_^)

i hope i could do this every weekend.

it would really be good exercise for me. (^_^)

swimming!

saturday morning,

my brother ryo asked me to go swimming with him.

being the sister that i am,

and with my liking to swim,

i agreed to swim with him.

the water was freezing cold~

of course, that did not stop me nor ryo!

warm up, gradual increase in activity and adaptation did the work. (^_~)

the feeling after the swim was great!

i hope i could still do this next week. (~_~)

swimming!

yes!

after so many months,

i was able to go swimming!

due to the proximity of a swimming pool from our house

and due to my inavailabilty,

i have not been able to go swimming for months!

i was so happy and excited that i didn't mind the very cold pool. (~_~)

swimming party

last night was the christmas party of our "seigaku group" (^_^)

our event  organizer (aka momo-senpai)  decided that we go for night swimming for our christmas party.

though it was a very cold and slightly rainy night,

we managed to enjoy the occasion. (^_^)

we had the annual kris kringle and we had lots of food!

as for the swimming,

they only went for a swim once though as they were already tired.

as for me, i went twice. (^_^)

i attempted to go for the third time but it was already too cold and there were too many drunk men around the pool around that time.

i just went back to our cottage and had a talk with aion (boyfriend of momo-senpai) till 5am.

we shared the food that was left between the 6 of us (tezuka, momo, taka-san, eiji, aion and me) and left the place around 6am.

i really enjoyed it! (^_^)

unfortunately, two of our "members" were not able to attend.

my dear fuji-senpai who is now living in new jersey, america,

and oishi who was busy with work matters.

sorry no pictures again. m(_ _)m

family reunion at laguna

last sunday,

we went to laguna for a family reunion with out distant relatives from my mother's side.

it was an overnight stay at a small resort.

i took advantage of the opportunity to take a swim.

so practically 80% of the time we were at the resort, i was swimming.

even late at night, almost 1am,

i was swimming at the pool while two of my cousins were drinking liquor near the pool.

i later joined them in drinking but still in the pool (sitting by the stairs submerged in the pool)

the next day,

just 5 minutes after waking up,

i was once again submerged in the pool. (^_~)

i love the water!

i was really thankful for the reunion because i got to meet more family members and i was able to swim for sooooooo long.

(^_~)

pictures~

desperate

i desperately need to loosen up...

seriously dance, as in DANCE!

sweat it all out!

no hesitations!

freely move and express!

if not that, a SWIM!

i don't care about form!

as long as i can feel the water against my skin!

the fast heartbeat!

the gasp for air!

desperate!

that's what,

I'M DESPERATE!

swimming at toni's condo

i went for a swim at my toni's condo. (^_^)V

she is my classmate from med school.

i was so excited when i heard that i can swim at her place. (o^_^o)

add to that, her condo unit is awesome!

it's our (me and rei's) dream condo unit for all the right and wrong reasons (>_<)

this is a view of the pool from her condo unit window.

toni did not swim though,

she just accompanied me,

sat by the poolside and she was reviewing for our quiz tomorrow.

we later had dinner at mang inasal and had an interesting chat while eating. (~_~)

till next time toni, and thank you very much. (^_~)

swimming!

minna~

hehehehe~

i was not able to blog last night like i promised. (>_<)

anyways, yesterday,

i went for a swim at the condominium near our house. (~_~)

after two weeks!

yosha!

i hope i can go again next week

tired but happy

the agenda for today was swimming and and attempt to make ramen.

after a month, i was able to go for a swim. yosh! (^_^)

though it was only for an hour,

i felt i was able to loosen up.

next was the ramen,

i would say it was a fail

(that is why there is no link/picture of it)

but towards the end of my making of ramen,

i realized what were my mistakes so next time,

i hope i can perfect it. (^_^)

since i still had extra dough from the ramen making,

i used it to make the lasagna noodles for our dinner.

according to my siblings it was delicious.

so i guess that was a success (^_^)

though i still have lots more to work on,

next time i hope i can perfect the dish.

(^_^)

oh! an extra, rei gave me chocolate soy milk today.

おいしい!

swimming!

saturday and sunday.

two consecutive days of swimming. (~_~)

saturday, me and my siblings went for a swim on an indoor pool near our house.

sunday, my mom woke me up to tell me that we are going to swim at Club Manila East.

i was very amazed and very excited (^_^)

here are the pictures.

we were all so excited, we actually forgot to put on lotion.

and now, everyone, even our helper, has sun burn (>_<) my sun burn!

ja~

abra trip - holy week

minna~

finally! here is the entry about our one week stay at our province, Abra.

during our stay in the province,

we didn't go out of our house much.

the space in our garden and the treehouse was enough for us to keep ourselves entertained.

add to that, even though we have known and have been living in a gallery,

me and my siblings always saw something interesting in our house/gallery.

(~_~)

add to that,

the mango trees in the garden was bearing fruit,

so we literally got our own food from around us. (~_~)

we went our for a walk around the small town on our first day,

just so we can say hi to those we know.

i'm not bragging or anything,

but our family is very known in our province.

despite that,

we try to be discreet and that is why people are amazed when we introduce ourselves.

anyways, during our short walk,

rei and i visited our church and the Holy Ghost School.

the Holy Ghost School was the first of the Holy Spirit Schools here in the Philippines.

rei and i studied in one of the Holy Spirit Schools here in manila.

moving on...

the other reasons for us to go out of our house was for a procession or when we needed to buy something.

holy tuesday,

we joined the Stations of the Cross procession our plaza.

maundy thursday,

we were already preparing the Santo Inchero (the dead Jesus Christ) for the friday evening procession.

on the evening of thursday,

we also joined a procession.

during such processions,

there is this structure they call "abong-abong" which we pass through along the way.

this structure is made of bamboo and coconut leaves.

it is decorated with fruits, cloth, paintings or other materials.

inside it is a tableau depicting scenes from the gospels,

specifically scenes during the last supper until the death of Jesus.

good friday,

everyone was busy preparing the Santo Inchero.

preparing the food to be served for the musikeros,

for those who will prayed,

for those who helped pull the Santo Inchero

and for those who visited the Santo Inchero at our house.

this day was also the Kissing of the Feet of Jesus.

it is during this time that it is said that Jesus has died.

after the Kissing of the Feet was the evening procession with the Santo Inchero.

for the whole evening,

there were prayers until dawn of black saturday.

black saturday,

we visited the grave of my grandmother in Villa Padua.

Villa Padua is a family property in the mountains of Abra.

this villa is dedicated to St. Anthony of Padua.

during our visit,

we went up the Stairway to Heaven in our villa.

there is supposed to be 100 steps to the top of the mountain.

this was conceptualize by my grandfather.

later that afternoon,

we went to a different part of our province for a cool swim at a natural spring.

it was a really cooling way to beat the heat.

easter sunday,

rei and i woke up early to watch the "sabet",

it is a reenactment of the meeting between mother and son,

Mother Mary and her risen son Jesus Christ.

after that was the easter mass.

we rushed for breakfast because we were scheduled to leave for manila after the mass.

the trip was very warm and windy,

tiring and exhausting,

but that itself is part of the whole trip.

i am very thankful for the one week we had in Abra,

and for the safety of our trip to and fro Abra.

(~_~)

pictures:

abra trip

holy week
----------@----------
during my stay in the province,

there were times wherein i had an experience that i thought i should have their separate entry.

the over-all title for these four entries is

"agsao ti rabii" (the evening speaks)

• cold summer nights
• the help
• faith
• Georgina

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COUNTDOWN: 4 DAYS!

whatta day!

this day started a bit sad for me.

i thought i lost my cellular phone and the atm card of my father.

i was so distraught.

as i was randomly looking around the house.

i saw a yellow can.

i had a feeling that i placed something there yesterday.

when i opened it, to my great surprise, i saw the things that i thought i lost.

i was so relieved. (~_~)

after realizing that i was already out of trouble,

i rushed to the indoor pool in the condominium near our house.

my siblings were already there*.

i swam for about three hours! (~_~)

my eyes were a little red after the swim. (~_^)

close-up.

the day ended fairly well.

(~_~)

thank you Lord. +
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COUNTDOWN: 28 DAYS!