I’ve not heard much news from my beloved home country lately, but the most shocking mass murders of the Maguindanao massacre has not escaped me. It saddens me to think that this can happen in our country. This must have affected much the concerned families and the government as well. Though this may have occurred in a far-away remote place, still they are a part of us, being one as a Filipino.
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It’s all over the news (even here in Prague TV) – the Typhoon Ondoy that hit Philippines badly last week which left over 140 people dead, and displaced thousands more because of the floods.  Most of these people don’t have term life insurance to aid their families in times of crisis. I am glad that my mom and sister who are in Manila are safe in the place they’re staying. And also my dad who’s left in our house in Negros, which is very near the sea. But those who were affected by the typhoon and floods, need our immediate help. Thousands of peoples are in need of water, food, clothes and medicine. What’s worse is that while the nation is still struggling with the aftermath of Typhoon Ondoy, another storm is threatening to hit the country this week.

According to the news “The low pressure area is predicted to continue to approach the country, near Mindanao, on Wednesday and move toward central and northern Luzon by Friday.”

“Since it is still far out into the ocean, it is entirely possible that it could develop into a typhoon,” Director Prisco Nilo of Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration added.

If you want to help, you can send your donations here: Fund Drive for Typhoon Ondoy Victims or to any organizations accepting donations for the victims.  Let’s HELP!

Photo credits: Associated Press

I thought after all food-binging of the Christmas holidays I’ll finally be able to get back on restraining my eating habits this new year. But with only a few weeks remaining of my Philippine vacation, I know I’ll be stuffing myself with the foods I miss before I fly back to Europe where I will be deprived of these kinds of food again.

Who can resist this?

BananaQ sprinkled with sesame seeds!  Little C liked this a lot!

We specially requested Juv to cook it for our afternoon snacks.

It’s cooked from saba banana:

Puto kutsinta

Puto

My cravings for Filipino native delicacies were satiated last Saturday when mom held her yearly Christmas gift-giving with the indigent mothers near our place. She served them puto, puto kutsinta, pichi-pichi and bicho-bicho (and fruit juice to go with it). Yummm! Then she gave out gift bags which contained rice, canned goods and noodles. She also had a raffle of prizes to add to the fun. It wasn’t much but it sure made the mothers happy including mom. What matters most is the willingness of the heart to share. It was her way of sharing God’s bountiful blessings to our family. God bless her!

Bicho-bicho

Pichi-pichi

Cute names they’ve got!

Our Christmas tree.

Our December was jampacked with many family activities, mostly dining out (to eat the Filipino/Negrosanon food we’ve been missing) and shopping. My siblings and their family have been arriving (and leaving) one after another and dad was one busy driver, picking them up (and back) at the airport.  After Christmas day, my bro-in-law and nephew flew to Davao while bro #1 and his family returned to Cebu. One day after, my uncle and aunt together with my cousins and kids arrived from Mindanao.

Anyway, on Christmas Eve, the whole family (only M was lacking to complete the family) attended the Mass and when we got home, we partook our Noche Buena food and the gift-giving followed. It lasted until the wee hours of the morning because there were plenty of us! Poor little C; she wasn’t able to join us coz she was already asleep.  It was a happy moment to be with family again!  The last time we were together was last Christmas 2005 but it wasn’t a happy one because mom was sick then.

Random pics:

Happy faces!

The roasted pig a.k.a. lechon who traveled all the way from Cebu.

Little C bonding with her girl cousins.

Holiday greetings in Ilonggo…

as seen from the facade of the Provincial Capitol building of Negros Occidental.

Translation: (May you have a) merry Christmas and an abundant new year!

Photos taken by Aileen of Digital View Finder.

Yay! What else can I say? I know I have been neglecting this blog, I’ve been busy with gift shopping just like everyone else. Oh yes!  With more than 15 family members to prepare gifts for, the task of choosing what gifts to give them (men, women, adults and kids) was really time-consuming and tiring.  There is not a day in a week that my sis and I aren’t in the mall.

Ooooohh how time flies!  My brother and his wife from Thailand arrived tonight in Manila and will stay there till the 20th.  Tomorrow my sister and her family from Finland will be arriving already! But they’ll only be here for a day coz the next day, they will go to Boracay.  But it’s okay, they’ll be back anyway after 3-4 days.  I’m not sure how long is their vacation in the famous beach.

And talking about how time flies, M is celebrating his birthday today, again! hehehe Happy birthday hon.  Even if little C and I aren’t there to celebrate with you your special day, you know how much we love and miss you!

…comes a bright and sunny day! Today is a total opposite of the past days’ incessant downpour; it rained day and night you’d think there was a storm. Anyway, the rain’s short interlude gave us a few days of cooler days which was great. The month of December should be cooler compared to other months here in PH, but I don’t really feel the difference except at night. But because there’s a minor house maintenance going on, we’re more glad the sun has came back! The rainy days has stalled the work which was quite frustrating as we want the work to be finished this week.

Our internet connection at home has been acting up since last week that’s why I’m not in the mood to blog lately. Being used to the fast internet connection in Prague, it’s very annoying when the internet acts this way – here now, gone in a second; very unpredictable. The Globelines’ technicians already came here yesterday in the afternoon and fixed the problem but later in the evening, we experienced the same erratic connection all over again. Duh!

Today marks the second week of our arrival in the Philippines. We haven’t gone to any beach resorts or any points of interest in the country.  This isn’t a tour-all-around-the-country kind of vacation anyway but more of staying-at-home-to-relax kind of thing, NOT!  Hah!  I wish I get to relax really. Having an energetic toddler makes it impossible.  She has to be watched over more keenly than in Prague coz the house isn’t baby-friendly; there’s a long flight of stairs that she loves to climb, there’s a rock garden which she enjoys picking the stones from and many other things that she’s eyeing to discover and explore.  Thanks to my sis and parents, they sometimes stash little C away to play with her and I get to have a time for myself.  But lately she’s been clingy to me!  Getting a yaya is not an option for me coz I don’t really trust anybody else to take care of little C other than family members.

But, we’ve made several trips to the malls for our Christmas shopping and that’s just about the one deviation activity from my motherhood chores that I get to do. Oops, there’s dining out too whenever we go shopping. Anyway it will be only two weeks more till my other siblings and their family will arrive and it will be a party circus everyday at home with kids running, laughing and playing all over the house.  Little C will have many playmates then!

In the meantime, wherever you go around the city you will be greeted with houses, stores and buildings decked with colorful and bright decors and blinking Christmas lights such as this one:

The Chinatown Square in  Bacolod City.