3 things that i did for the first time September 6, 2009
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traveled halfway across the globe alone
a two-week international assignment meant that i had to endure the 23-hour travel time from manila to lexington, KY by myself. having gone through the whole ordeal once before, my dread over traveling alone eclipsed my excitement of visiting the US again. but except for feeling sick and tired during the 11-hour flight from nagoya to detroit, the whole trip was not as bad as i had expected. at least i did not arrive in lexington totally wiped out. i welcomed any conversation that came my way – from chatty pinay teachers to burly old australian businessmen – just to avoid cotton-mouth. long flights will never be on the top of my list of fun things to do, but i came to know that travelling alone is kind of an adventure by itself.
the tunnel at detroit airport - the lights and music concert 
that's 11 hours of being stuck in the middle seat for you.
tried out white water rafting
friends from work invited me to go white-water rafting at Cumberland Falls, Corbin. We were four people from four different countries in one car, so conversation was interesting (to say the least) i think i did pretty well going over the Class3 Rapids. at least i didn’t fall off and got swept away i wasn’t able to bring the camera with me on the raft, so i have zero pictures of the ride. all i have to remember everything by is the sound of southern drawl permanently stuck in my head and a semi-serious back injury from all those rowing (sports injury: another first for me hehehe )
sheltowee trace outfitters - the rafting place (www.ky-rafting.com). the sign says "if you're smoking in here..you had better be on fire!"
cumberland falls - the "little niagara" of KY. we rowed as close as we could to the falls. photo taken from the sheltowee website.
malaysia, philippines, usa, nigeria
sunshine on my shoulder
jumped 15-feet off a huge rock straight into icy cold water
on the trip downstream we all stopped at a nice diving site called “jump rock”. the plunge looked like death to me but if i chickened out i would surely never hear the end of it from my officemates. i was so scared, my knees were quaking. a nice lady saw how terrified i was and offered to jump off the rock with me. i took her up on her offer, closed my eyes, and screamed all the way down. i hit the icy water a second later. it was so fun, i got up and did it again
beached November 15, 2008
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last weekend we rounded our lexington guests, took them out on a boat and treated them to a lil fun and sun, cebuano-style.
chat. with our fearless TL and mentor.
bonggah! with des.
frenzy! the fishes were all over the crumbs we fed them.
swimfan. breathing through the snorkel took some getting to used to but i eventually got the hang of it.
cast aways. we got on a small boat and rowed towards olanggo island..
stranded. …we ended up poking around sea critters near the shore instead.
sunkissed. *mwah!*
i’m a bowler babeh June 2, 2008
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before leaving for home, the whole family stopped by mall of asia to get lost in a sea of shoppers, tambays, and artistas all wanting to escape the sizzling summer heat. andrew wanted to go bowling and being the sports-enthusiasts that we are, ate and i reluctantly gave in.
my bowling philosophy is pretty straight-forward. pick the bowling ball with the lowest number, that means it’s the lightest and it won’t pull your arm from the sockets if you use it. walk up to the lane, drop the ball and hope that it will just roll away in a straight line, because then it’s possible to knock some pins over.
bowlers. that’s mama texting away in the background.
strike! see the banne bowling technique in action. i swear it works sometimes.
final score. my sister and i finally caught on to the fact that the reason why andrew invited us was so he could beat us down to a bloody pulp.
things to do in san pablo city – part 3 June 2, 2008
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5. see the lake. ask a local to show you around.
6. get drunk.
my tito’s wife’s daughter and her husband owns a neat little resto-bar right in front of the lake. it’s called “fat larie’s” and they serve the best potato crisps ever. they also have live bands. the placed is always packed and it’s open until the wee hours of the morning.
more san pablo pictures at my sister’s picassa
things to do in san pablo city – part 2 June 2, 2008
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flores de mayo is big in san pablo. we got there just in time to see the festivities.
the flowers of may. the girls were pretty but the gowns weren’t exactly haute couture (which is perfectly fine with me, for the record)
pink is the color of passion. i love love love the color of this girl’s dress! it looks like something out of my girlhood stationery days! yum!
angel of mine. super cute!
santa cruzers. homies waiting for the parade.
celebrity sightings. jao mapa and jordan herrera. jao mapa has been…period. and i don’t even know who jordan herrera is. but, and my friends could testify to this, i easily get star-struck around celebrities. we were inside a jeep once when we saw gma pass by in a van. i stuck my head outside the window, waved, and hollered “gma!!” enthusiastically. my friends in the jeep scooted as far away from me as possible. but in fairness, gma waved back at me. another time while attending the davide rally in fuente, cory aquino was leading the prayer and i kept tugging at gladys and saying “glad..si tita cory!” (notice how i was calling her “tita” all of a sudden). and once we saw caridad sanchez in ayala. gladys and i screeched to a halt when we saw her right in front of us. i breathlessly whispered her name, “caridad…”. she looked confused and then she hurried away from us. hahaha.
things to do in san pablo city – part 1 June 2, 2008
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last weekend i learned two new things about my father: 1) he split his lip while helping his cousin. the cousin was hammering something on a board that my father was holding up. the hammer head suddenly came flying off and hit my father in the lip. i asked him if he cried. he said he didn’t, but he said “ang sakeeeet!!” he showed me the scar from that misadventure. 2.) he failed his latin subjects but managed to squeak by because his teacher was “mabait”.
2. go swimming.
my tita has a friend who owns a nice little swimming place.
especially for dru. with amboy andrew.
sisterettes. ate wanted to try the karaoke but someone else beat us to it. we took pictures of ourselves instead.
cover girl. if you really know me, you would know why i’m wearing what i’m wearing. bwahahaha.
nipa hot. the cottages have screens. beaches in cebu, for your action.
3. go dancing.
palmera’s. on our first night there we had dinner at palmera’s, a resort-inspired garden restaurant complete with a gazebo and live band.
dance! boogie wahnderlaaand!
do that conga. our mini conga line.
kapamilya. in ascending or descending order.
cisco April 22, 2008
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the nicest thing about visiting san francisco is getting to spend time with family. i spent two days with my papa’s sister (tita eva) and her family. and another two days with my mama’s brother (uncle d) who i haven’t seen since birth. i now totally understand why they chose to make san francisco their home. the city is beautiful and the weather is lovely.
golden gate. with my tita eva and cousin andrew. i feel like i’m with movie stars.
fisherman’s wharf. that’s alcatraz in the background.
san francisco in the the spring. spring flowers in downtown san francisco. nice ako tshirt sa? it says “san francisco” 
tanggero. wine-tasting at napa. i got drunk after six shots. but the bartender said i was “maganda” (after he asked to see identification because he thought i looked fifteen. ngak!)
v. sattui winery. with my uncle d.
golden gate park. with john
flower girl. hehehehe
i left my heart… you haven’t been to san francisco if you didn’t get to ride one of them cable cars
dc talk April 22, 2008
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i was able to catch the cherry blossom festival at washington dc. i was pretty sure i’d run into obama there, or obama girl at the very least i spent the weekend with cebu people walking around, sight-seeing, and (of course) taking pictures.
that famous house. you know, the white one?
four scores and seven years ago. at the lincoln memorial. so “national treasure”, yes?
state capitol. i think the state capitol is prettier than the white house, but that’s just me.
sakura! i love love love the cherry blossoms!
checkout my picassa for more dc pics.
all the pretty horses March 17, 2008
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since lexington is the horse capital of the world, you can’t go for a few miles without ever seeing a horse ranch. we stopped by this ranch on our way to elizabethtown and took pictures of them purty horses.
where have all the cowboys gone? horses are smelly everywhere.
seabiscuits. once when we were driving to my boss’s house for chinese new year dinner, i saw a bunch of horses grazing. i got excited and told des to look out the window at the horses. then my boss said “those are not horses, those are cows”. waaaaaaaaaaaaa! mga baka diay to! ka minus!!!!
castle so high. this castle was under construction, so i couldn’t take a nice picture.
country road take me home. nice spring day to go out and visit horses and castles.
elizabethtown March 17, 2008
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here are some pictures of our little trip to elizabethtown (yes the actual place from that kirsten dunst/orlando bloom movie). we spent most of the time in freeman lake park, a very pretty picnic place.
swan lake. the park had a huge lake with a lot of ducks and swan-like creatures. (i’m not sure if they were swans. more like geese probably) if i look fat, it’s because of the sweater.
tree with bench. very pretty, yes?
swing out sister. with a view of the lake and a gazebo on the background. the half smile-half grimace of pain is because of the cold.
a little sumn’ sumn’. i kept waiting for the swan-like things/geese to form a heart with their necks.
rickety old house. lincoln ancestral home.
o christmas tree. i can’t get over the fact that christmas trees just grow everywhere here.
o blair witch tree. scary looking tree.
