fun night

fireworks at our grade school's annual reunion three nights ago...

(first time to use the fireworks setting of my camera. not bad.)

shadow play

Before graduating from high school, our class made a pact of meeting every 28th of December. This is one of these days, and tonight we caught up with each other, took pictures and played with shadows. Here, we are spelling our Class' name. Can you guess what it is? :) Reunion night with high school classmates has always been fun. Hope I can meet with them again next year.

Picture courtesy of my classmate :)

Holiday Greetings!

Felices Pascua y Prospero Año Nuevo estaba aqui na Zamboanga! :)

Plaza Pershing, 1915

Zamboanga City

Every 28th of December, my high school friends usually meet for our annual reunion. Whether we may only be five or twenty, we take this time to catch up with each other and be grateful for the friendship we have kept alive since we were in high school. We also take this time to go around the city and enjoy the festive decors our city government has provided for its people. Wonderful, don't you think?

Kudos to my friend too, whom I later found out, is the head of the parks development in the city. She and her team really worked hard to bring this about. Galing!

 

mask

my nephew, the artist, made this one out of the cartons he found at my mom's store --

cool, isn't it? he even wore it on his way home :)

food and conversation

it's been two years since i've been home and the first thing my friend did was bring me to this new cafe at gov. camins road in the city called witchcraft. it's located on the second floor and is relatively a big place. there was a sizeable crowd (even saw a couple of acquaintances) but what surprised me here was that youngsters, whom i don't usually see in more well-known cafes in manila, also hang out here. i guess it is a good tambayan for them. the food all looked quite nice and the one that i ordered - crab something on croissant is lovely. i tasted my friends roast chicken salad and it was also very good. the cheesecake, although good already, good use a little more cream cheese? well, that is only my personal taste. another surprise also was the way they serve their lemonade - on a jar! i just saw one like it on a food show the other day! :)

i liked the place - the layout, the design, the food and the atmosphere, especially when they raise the blinds on the windows and you will see the open fields leading to the airport. what is a little bit disappointing is that the place is a little bit expensive (more like manila prices) for a small city. however, i didn't mind it much as i was having a great time catching up with the goings-on in town with my friend :)

reunion

Celebrating our Grade School's 3rd Annual Reunion tonight. Had to go early though to direct the setting up of our batch's tent. It's kinda big so hoping for a big turn-out and happy night ahead! :)

dinosaur on christmas day

"tita, tita, i will draw something for you," said my four-year old nephew ---

What a wonderful gift from a future master :)

Merry Christmas!

Happy Birthday, Jesus! :) 

Guess who came to give us some presents?! :)

christmas loot

I usually open my Christmas gifts on Christmas Day, even those received from the office. Whenever I go home this time of the year, I usually bring them with me. But this year was different. As I need to bring other stuff for my parents, I decided to open them in advance. And what great gifts are they! I am so happy to have received the stuff I need. I am just so grateful to have friends who know me so well :)

orange chocolate

 
Crack it and you've got orange-shape chocolate pieces! It even has orange bits in it. Yummy! What a Christmas treat to those who are already in Holiday mode in the office -- me! :)

oblation's star

This year, UP lost its "Pasko 20xx" lights for Christmas and instead, created a big star behind the Oblation. At night, it's a wonderful sight! This photo was taken after my friend and I watched the Handel's Messiah concert at the Abelardo Hall, which was just across the Quezon Hall. I couldn't show a picture of the concert itself but believe me, the music was heavenly and the community singing of Filipino Christmas carols was amazing. I hope they would have more like this in the future and I hope I'd get to attend all of their shows :)

lights show

There are so many activities during Christmas that one would really plan ahead where to go. Every December, I always try to fill my evenings with new things before I finally go home to my parent's house. This year was not really that different. Tonight, my friends who are available for the night and I went to the lights show at the Ayala Triangle. It was a long walk from the train station but we made it in time. The lights and music where fantastic that even the child of my friend had been enjoying it by dancing and clapping her heart out. The best part of it was the green "electro" light that my friend's husband, who is a seaman, said looked like an Aurora. Wow, imagine that! I finally saw an Aurora! :)

beckham bends it in pinas

So when it was announced that the Nepal game wasn't to be the Azkal's game for the year, I immediately looked for people who would join me in this last game. It is pretty exciting because the team would be playing against the LA Galaxy who has got David Beckham and Landon Donovan in the team. At the time of the announcement, the Galaxy was on their way to winning the MLS Cup (which they finally did). Following their victory, they embarked on the Asian Tour to promote the beautiful game and the Philippines was lucky enough to be hosting a part of their tour. Unfortunately for the fans though, the tickets were awfully expensive! If not for my bonus (which arrived early), I don't think I'd be able to go without feeling guilty about spending way too much for just one game! But come to think of it, the Azkal's first game early this year made me spend much more; but then again, it was my birthday so I guess I'll excuse myself from any guilt. Anyway, my sister was with me and we both enjoyed the trip immensely.

So anyway, back to the PH Azkals vs LA Galaxy game. The game was exciting, especially seeing live Beckham's beautiful goal! The crowd went crazy, but what was crazier was when Manny Pacquiao arrived and almost everybody's eyes went to the bleachers and chanted "Manny, Manny!" I guess that made Beckham stop for a while because later, when he left the field, we were informed that he passed on his jersey to Pacman (which Jinkee grabbed right away, I would assume). The game went back to normal and when all 90+ mins of the game was played, the Azkals lost (dismally), 6-1. Hey, but I had to applaud Phil's lone goal. It was amazing and we get to see it close because the goal was at our side of the bleachers!  :)