Czeched!

(Un)officially silent

2009-01-24T21:43:00.006+01:00

Isn't it obvious, the title? I just have to write it here, to (un)officially declare that I might or might not be back to writing for a long time.

I have been silent for over a month, a first since I started this blog. There's no explanation other than the fact that I just don't want to write.

I'm back to reading this time. When I was constantly updating this blog, I was shoving books on shelves, banishing them to oblivion. I guess it's the other way around now. Now that I'm back to reading, it's the writing that has to be silent for an indefinite period of time.

Or maybe this isn't the only reason why this page's been so quiet. I'm also bored with blogspot. I wanted to give this page a new skin, a complete makeover so to speak, but I just don't want to spend time going through the process.

Oh, I'm hopeless when it comes to patience. It's never been my virtue-- not that I'm claiming to have some, haha.

Yeah, so it's me and the books these days, and music, too. I got a cool Walkman from Santa last Christmas so now I'm obssessed in filling its gigabytes to full capacity with my favorite music.

Enough blabbing. Whenever I'll feel the urge to blab and write some blahs again, I think I'll do it on my multiply account. Catch you there.

High. Busy. Duh

2008-12-02T18:51:00.004+01:00

I'll write more after December 10. It's our big day at school-- Christmas play, projects, party with the parents all happening in one day. One week to go before the Day, I hardly have the time to pluck my eyebrows.

These days I bring home things to do for school. This drive to excel and this quest for perfection can be one's enemy. I just hate half-baked stuff. Everything has to be well done. The downside is I work myself to exhaustion.

To chill, I plug my headset and listen to music. Below is one song that always gives me a natural high.

Then I look at the table and see a pile of papers waiting for my attention. The high naturally descends and completely dissipates to oblivion.

Duh.

Resurrected

2008-11-17T17:37:00.004+01:00

Hello world!

I'm still alive, just sooo lazy and really have nothing interesting to write about.

And my life these days is pretty much uninteresting, too. I go to work, I go to my Czech lesson, I see my friends now and then. It's pretty much the usual round-running-cycle-continual stuff.

Who could have thought equanimity can be boring? Well, it can, but I'm not complaining. That's basically why I've been absent here in blogosphere for so long-- because I have nothing to rant or complain about. I've been busy counting my blessings, hehe.

Anywho..

We have been scouring Prague for a flat for my sister. It's actually an interesting experience. You get to meet a lot of people, different people, and I mean different in every sense of the word. Come to think of it, flat hunting can probably be a way to improve someone's social life. I mean, if your social life is pretty much nonexistent, why not?

Expats.cz is a place for whatever you want to hunt in Prague. It's where I found my job. So now I'm lurking there so often hoping that we could find a flat for my sister. There are a lot of people advertizing for a flat-share and these people, ladies and gentlemen, can be very interesting.

How interesting? I'll probably save it for another post since it's a long tale to tell. I'm signing off now. Got a lesson to plan and a loooooong Czech homework to do.

Mysterious neighbor/s

2008-10-20T14:41:00.003+02:00

We've moved into our new flat more than a year ago and I still haven't had the honor to see our neighbor/s' face, not even his/her/their/its shadow. At first I thought this particular unit was empty. I didn't even give it a single thought, but lately it started to become a mystery. I mean yeah, it's normal not to know your neighbors here. We didn't know them in our previous flat even when we lived there for two years. I wouldn't find it queer not seeing our new neighbors now if only; (a) the blinds weren't always down and (b) the lights weren't on every night.

With the lights on every night only means someone must be living there, but why are the blinds always down, as in day in, day out down? Even now when our laptop says 3:05 pm CET, his/her/their/ its blinds are strangely down.

Agoraphobic? Nah, that only means someone who's afraid to leave the house, and not someone who seems to be extremely afraid of daylight.

Calling Buffy. Maybe she has a job to do here?

Or maybe our neighbor is just another Boo Radley and I'm acting like another Scout Finch. With that said, I might as well take it, this whole thing about blinds and lights, as it is and mind my own business.

Toes, trek and Samaria

2008-10-12T09:46:00.007+02:00

The pain in my big toes continues. I mean, seriously, it's been ages since Crete and my toes still have a hangover, big time. If you're interested to know the whole story, check out my multiply.

This morning the pain on my right big toe woke me up. Waitaminute, it's the left which has been such a pain, and now the other one is joining the wagon? Darnit, sometimes I wish the nails would just fall off so I could finally look at my shoes without feeling a tiny bit of dread. That's just the start. The main dreadful event is when I put on my shoes and walk on them---and in autumn when the temperature outside is getting chilly, there's just no way to bail out from shoes or boots.

This is Samaria National Park in Crete, Greece, home of really gorgeous gorges. I say you haven't been to Crete if you haven't trekked here.

A and I trekked for 6 hours, covering about 16 kilometers. It was mostly going downhill so the combination of wrong pair of shoes and not so short nails made my big toenails slowly die a very un-natural and painful death.

I remember I was near tears when we reached this part of the park. The pain was just so nagging it was too much to bear especially when I knew there was about six kilometers more to go. Still I stood there for a full minute forgetting about my toes, forgetting about the long and painful way ahead, and just being in the moment. I even managed to snap a picture of A.

It was beautiful there. So untouched and so tranquil. The only sound you'd hear is that of the stream's. I would still go there even if I knew I would kill my toes in the process.

So now two months after Samaria, I still walk with a bad bad baaaad limp and with a facial expression that seems like I'm suffering from chronic constipation. I wonder if it will ever end.

Fall

2008-10-04T13:59:00.003+02:00

I just can't write. I don't want to write. My brains refuse to dictate words for my fingers to type. I'm hitting the phase when I just don't want to write anything. The funny part is, what am I doing here now?

One month since the schoolyear began and I'm hitting low point. I'm bored. There's nothing new at school anymore. I guess I shouldn't be saying that, it's only been a month since work started but seriously, I find myself constantly searching for a way to spice up my days just so I would have a reason to ignore boredom. Sometimes I think of my paycheck on the 15th. It's my first as a headteacher and it's kinda exciting but other than that, it's getting more and more difficult to get up in the morning.

Maybe it's just autumn. Maybe it's just hormones. I'm usually the most positive person you'll ever meet on earth, that is, except these days.

So I guess it's just autumn. It usually has this kind of effect on me. I'll let my emotions slide now and then but I know I need to get a grip on them soon, otherwise it would be self-indulgence, just a wasted way to indulge myself.

What's up?

2008-09-23T17:02:00.002+02:00

I've been so swamped lately. There's my Czech lesson that's keeping me busy twice a week. It's been what, centuries since I took up something? The reverse role in the classroom is kinda strange for me. Not being in charge makes me feel somewhat helpless.

I chose it this way. If I had a private lesson, I could and I know I would, cancel the lesson whenever the little devil whispers at me to just chill at home or go somewhere else. I also wouldn't be pushed to learn. I mean, I couldn't care less if my teacher would find me slow, but being in a class, with ten other people who might think I'm hopeless, makes it too much for my ego to take. I gotta fear embarassment in order to learn.

I feel like I kid. I often kick my cohorts' feet whenever our teacher would ask me something and I didn't know the answer. Same with them. One guy from Turkey would poke my back with his pen whenever his brains refuse to switch to Czech. My life, ladies and gentlemen, is like this every Monday and Wednesday.

Speaking of brain-switching, my sister has been here in Prague since last week. Now I converse to someone in Surigaonon on daily basis. I don't mind, it's actually nice, but when I have to talk to husband in English then talk to sister in Surigaonon at the same time while I try to finish my Czech homework, I just get so mentally constipated.

So if you wont see me here often, blame it on constipation.

One fine day in Prague

2008-09-14T10:20:00.005+02:00

We went rowing in Vltava one fine summer day here in Prague. I think it was two weekends ago when A and I decided to play tourists.

New teachers at school would often come to ask me about the best places in town to wine and dine, to explore, to visit. Most often than not they come out empty-handed. You tend to ignore what the place offers when you live there. Such was, and I'm afraid still is, how it is with me and Prague.

You can find lots of boats (row) for rent especially near Charles Bridge. They are for 150kč/ hour. A warm day on a weekend usually means waiting for a while for one to be available. Now when it seems fall has come to kick the summer out, you probably wont have to wait at all.

Our conversation was just me asking where we were going. A said "to Karlovy Lazne," which is a popular discoteque in Prague. It's one of the buildings before (from the Old Town) Charles Bridge.

Sometimes I stop in my tracks when I walk in Prague's center. I still get amazed at how picturesque this city is, but I'm also guilty of ignoring its beauty now and then.

Busy. Crazy.

2008-09-08T22:44:00.010+02:00

Teacher by day, student by night---that's me these days. Yup, I've been having Czech lessons since last week.

It's great, I'm enjoying it so far. The language is so complicated but I'm not in a hurry to learn everything right away. One word at a time and I'll get there someday. At least now it's starting to make sense how the words change like a chameleon.

My classmates are mostly Asians. Three Vietnamese, three Chinese, one Korean. Judging by the accent, one is American, and judging by the looks, one is maybe from Spain or Portugal. One Chinese girl doesn't speak a single English and doesn't understand Czech at all. She cried on the first day --she didn't understand when the teacher asked her to fill up a form, you know, just for her to write her complete name and address. I thought that was it for her, that she wont be coming back, but she's still hanging around. I admire her courage.

So now the words are all jumbled up in my head. Czech will be my fifth language (well, two are considered dialects but still they're participants in the chaos that's been going on there). I wonder which one will have to go. I have this feeling my Tagalog will get worse when my Czech will get better. Oh well, I've never been really fluent in Tagalog but still I don't wanna lose it.

A few weeks ago it took me more than a minute to remember "bacon." I was like "slanina, anglicka slanina.....darn it, what is it called in English!" For a while I panicked. Help, I'm losing my English! Then I rememembered the word but this paranoia just wont go away. Now I try to translate words in my head in five languages, just to make sure I still have a grip on them. I am like " cat-kočka-pusa-iring-miya. Dog-pes-aso-iro-ido..."

*Sigh.*

Welcome to my world.

Crete, Greece: Misiria-Platanes

2008-08-31T17:21:00.011+02:00

My first impressions of Crete were: the ocean was electric blue, it was so dry and hot, and it looked similar to Mactan island in Cebu. Later I realized it was no way near like Mactan, but two things were right; it was hooot and the ocean's blueness is something that would set Crete apart from all the beaches I have been to.

We stayed in a place called Misiria. I'm not so sure but I think it's part of Rethymno, a big city in Crete. We wanted a quiet place where we can soak up the sun, embrace the sights and sounds, without having to trip from and bump into a lot of people doing just the same. We were very lucky. The hotel and its location provided us everything we ever wanted for a holiday.

There is no nightlife in Misiria but there's plenty in Platanes which is 5-10 minutes walk from the hotel. It's also a lot busier than the former. Bars, restaurants and cafes are open till the wee hours of the morning. We usually took our lunch there. Grilled swordfish was our pick of the week. If you're into hardcore partying, Rethymno is about 10 minutes by taxi, 20 minutes by bus.

The hotel from the back garden. I totally recommend May Hotel for everyone who's thinking of going to Crete. It's super clean, plus the fact that Nikos and Maria, the owners themselves, are working in the front desk. Requests for anything like early breakfast, late pick up, whatever reasonable thing you want to make your stay pleasant, they will give it to you without questions asked.

The beach in Misiria was a delight, not because it was exceptional, but because it wasn't packed with near naked bodies. I don't like crowd, period. I'm too particular about my personal space so it was a joy to have that there.

For someone who grew up and lived most of her life a mere five minutes away from the Pacific Ocean, it is very ironic that I can't really swim. I don't know, the sea was always there so I didn't really care about it much and about learning to swim. I wish I did, though. The sea in Crete required a bit of swimming skill so I didn't linger much there.

The beach. Couldn't find a single shell there, which reminds me to google out the reason for the lack of them in Misiria and Platanes. The waves were kinda big on our first day. I chickened out from swimming

In some parts of Crete like near Spinalonga island, the beaches were sandy. The water was also calm and crystal clear. I have a thing about crystal clear waters. When I swim, I need to have a clear view of my feet. If not, I'd rather take a shower at home.

I wanted to post lots of pictures here but I think blogspot is possessed. I'm seriously contemplating moving to multiply for good. Anywho, just click below for the pics of this trip:

Crete, Greece: Misiria/Platanes

I would surely want to go back to Greece. Maybe not in Crete but in one of the other islands there. Santorini, Thassos, Corfu... the list just goes on and on....

Busy

2008-08-26T19:45:00.003+02:00

I know I know, I'm super delayed with my Greece post. I've just been so swamped since yesterday so hopefully by the end of this week I'll find time to get back to writing long posts. It's been like running, running, and chasing time since I got back at work yesterday. I wish I still had another month of paid holiday! Just a thought-- are there schools that give teachers three months of paid summer vacation?? Email me if you do know one so I could send my CV asap!

Sigh.

I'm back at work.... Make that a double sigh.

At least I'm happy about our new teacher. He seems to know what he's getting himself into. I'm getting good vibes so we're off to a good start.

Good vibes. Good start. Hope it will be a good year just like it was, and maybe even better.

Back

2008-08-20T20:06:00.001+02:00

We're back from Crete after one week of absolute sun and fun. It was scorchingly hot hot hot there were four things I couldn't live and leave the airconditioned room without; hat, shades, sunscreen and a bottle of water.

It was a phenomenal week. This part of Greece was a beauty. The beaches were nice, clean, and thank God, not littered with half-naked bodies all over the place. The Greeks, like the place, were very warm and always had a smile ready for anyone. The service at the hotel where we stayed was a ten-- I absolutely recommend it to everyone.

Will post pictures and stories soon. I need to snooze for now. Zzzzz..

To Greece

2008-08-12T07:24:00.003+02:00

Apollo, Adonis, Achilles. Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis -- guys, I'll see you soon!

Yup, we're off to Crete, the biggest island of Greece in the Mediterranean. I. am. so. excited!

More ramblings

2008-07-28T19:34:00.004+02:00

I've realized I like Multiply. You can have your blog, vids, pics, friends, all in one, so I decided to create my own virtual hangout there. If I wouldn't be writing much here, it's because I'm happily stuck somewhere.

No worries, I wont foresake this blog. This is my first, my oldest and I wrote a lot of memorable experiences here. I'll still be updating this now and then.

Speaking of updates, the universe probably heard my plea for the weather to be warm in Prague. It's been really summery here since the other day. Hope it will last for long, until I get back to work at least. It's not so much to ask for, universe, is it? Keeping my fingers crossed.

Yesterday we went northeast to marvel at the amazing, overwhelming sandstone rock formations in Adršpach. It's about 160 km from Prague. I can't believe at why I haven't heard of this place before when I'm still virtually a tourist in this country. The sights that met me there are totally spectacular. I'll post about the trip when I'm not feeling lethargic anymore, but of course you can view the pics in my multiply.

Oh, why am I lethargic? I'm a bit drugged, I guess. The annoying cyst on my neck got inflamed that it had to be removed this morning. Yay, finally. I mean, it had to be inflamed before I would have the drive and the courage to have it incised. Tsk tsk.

Hormonal

2008-07-25T08:17:00.005+02:00

I am very hormonal these days. Prague's shi**y weather isn't helping. It has been cold and rainy since the start of July so it's not doing any good to my sour mood. I have been dreaming of sun and sea since last year but I guess I have to put this dream on hold.

It's the perfect time for sun and fun, at least somewhere far from Prague. I still have one month of holiday left. The beaches are just at our fingertips, but something in the family came up that going to indulge ourselves in a well-deserved holiday by the sea seems wrong.

What am I going to do for a month in this horrible weather? This, among some other things, is what makes me very hor-mo-nal.

Bratislava

2008-07-23T08:17:00.008+02:00

It's the capital city of the Slovak Republic. We were there last Sunday. It's small, it looked smaller than Brno, CZ's second largest city.

Here's a vid taken at "Obchodna Ulica" (rough translation: Business St.). I was surprised at how quiet it was, how only a few shops were open and only a few people were around. It really gave a Sunday feeling-- you know, lazy and quiet-- something you'll never experience in Prague's center.

Ooops, sorry for the shaking effect. I was walking when I took the vid. Not a very smart idea.

Another vid taken at the city's main square.

I wish Prague was as quiet, not teeming with tourists all year round. But Prague is beautiful, and beauty is almost always meant to be shared.

Few days in Paradise

2008-07-21T19:25:00.012+02:00

They call it "Slovenský Raj" or Slovak Paradise. It is a mountain range in the Slovak Republic known for its waterfalls, deep ravines and a huge, very impressive ice cave. It is wild, untamed-- a perfect place to commune with nature.

The road to Paradise is long and winding. It is a back-aching, gas-spending 9-hour drive from Prague.

When I asked A why it's called such, his answer made sense; It's maybe because it's the closest a place could get to the paradise Adam and Eve once inhabited-- natural, unspoiled, simply beautiful.

A few days there made me experience not just the hits but also the misses. Nothing is perfect, not even in Paradise. Let's start with the hits:

1. The place itself. It's awesome. The ravines, the crisp fresh air, the clear clear streams, everything is awesome. Make sure your boots are made for walking as you will surely walk a lot. Not just walk but climb those steep hills and rocky mountains. The view from the top of those rocky mountains will surely give you a feeling of natural high.

It was raining hard the day we arrived so the next day the trails were slippery. Thank goodness my Adidas, though made for tennis, held on.

Tourists I saw were mostly from neighboring countries. How it stayed under the Western radar is beyond me.

2. The Dobšinská Ladová Jaskyňa (Dobsinska Ice Cave) is exceptional. Whatever I'll say about it may not give justification to the place so I'll leave it to your imagination. I'll just say it's certainly worth a visit and that I have never seen anything like it. However, how tourism there is handled is for me not a hit but a clear miss.

MISSED ME

I'm not a fussy traveler. I get easily pleased, but this time I just can't help being irked at some things I experienced there.

1. The hotel service. It wasn't the Ritz so of course I wasn't expecting top-notch service. We stayed in Cingov Hotel which charged us 1,500sk/night. Not high-end but not low-class, either. Then there was this 90sk parking fee per day, 150sk if you eat breakfast and surprise surprise, when we received the bill we realized we got charged an extra 30sk for "bathroom tax."

Okay, let's get this straight. Shouldn't hotels provide free parking for their customers? What happend to good ol' customer service?

Bathroom tax? I haven't heard anything this ridiculous before. Is this an EU/Schengen shenanigan or is it simply a Slovakian thing? Yes, it's just 30sk but the whole idea makes me silently scream WTF. (What's The Fuss, children. I'm a preschool teacher here.)

2. At the Ice Cave, the entrance fee is 200sk per person. It was A who bought the tickets so I didn't know they charge another 300sk extra for taking pictures inside. A also said he wasn't asked or told about it. I snapped one and was immediately asked by the guide if I had the ticket for it. Boy, was I pissed to death. No, make it livid. One from not knowing I had to pay extra and two for the fact that you had to pay extra. I mean 200sk is not cheap for a 20-minute tour. On top of that, the guide spoke Slovak so I didn't understand one darn thing.

Of course it's their language and whenever they want to use it is their prerogative. Point is, shouldn't you be given the choice if you wanted an English tour or not? Shouldn't you be asked or told at least? Nobody said anything at the ticket counter. The guide fired away in ratatatatat Slovak and most of us, the Germans, the Polish, the Hungarians, and of course, one livid Filipina that is me, were lost in our own translations.

That's not the end of it all. I was badly in need for a toilet but boy oh boy, the toilet available was one hell of a kind, pun intended. It definitely deserves a separate post in this blog.

3. The road directions. Or simply the absence of them in some parts of the country. Take this as an example; you see a crossroad ahead and you don't see a single sign where the roads will lead. You cross your fingers and turn left and voila, 100 meters later you will see the sign. Lucky you if you wanted to go that way. What if not? Then you would cuss and swear, cuss and swear. I swore so much there that I was afraid the ground would open and swallow me whole. If you're a Catholic, I'm sure you'd get my drift...

Another problem wasn't the absence of sign but its presence. On our way to Stratena from Cingov, there was a fork which said Stratena to the left and Poprad to the right. We went left only to find out 15 minutes later a NO ENTRY sign for motor vehicles. Bummer.

That's not all. I'll rant some more. Sometimes you would find a fork which has a sign to the left but not to the right. The greatest mystery of all was our map indicated there should be a big road to the left before Dobsina from the cave that would lead us to Spisska Nova Ves then back to Cingov. Nada. There was only one small road and the sign said a name of a small village's. Either the road directions malfunctioned again or the publishers just made up the road and the towns along it.

"Hala, posing Inday kay panagsa ra ni..." At Tomasovsky Vyhlad after an hour of walking and climbing the slippery trail. Of course I struck a pose as a way of proclaiming "Heya all! I came, I slipped, I conquered!"

For more pictures of this trip, please click HERE.

Each travel experience gives you something to cherish or to forget. The Slovakian trip gave me one thing I'll keep-- the picture of Paradise in my mind. I'll even cherish the experiences I just ranted above because I realized I can really laugh at my own misfortunes and misadventures, and that alone made the Slovakian trip quite unique.

Fruit dumplings

2008-07-16T07:45:00.007+02:00

When you say dumplings, the first thing that comes up your mind is those small rolls of meat wrapped in super thin dough, served dim-sum style-- that is, if you're Asian like me. Certainly dumplings in Asia aren't sweet and they are usually steamed, not boiled. Well, not in CZ. Here, dumplings can be sweet and yes, they are boiled-- and the filling is not of meat but of fruits.

They call it "ovocné knedlíky" or fruit dumplings. They usually make this in summer when the fruits are aplenty. That's exactly what I did after coming home with baskets of them from my in-laws' garden a few weekends ago. I used raspberries and strawberries for the filling.

OVOCNÉ KNEDLÍKY

Dough:

1/2 kg. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
3/4 sachet dry yeast ( 3/4 small fresh yeast)
a handful of crystal sugar
250 ml milk

- Mix everything with a wooden spoon. Add flour if too sticky. Let stand for 45 minutes.
- Knead and let stand for another 45 minutes.

Punch dough and knead for a few minutes. Flatten a small amount and put about 5 raspberries ( about 2 sliced big strawberries) in the middle. Sprinkle fruits with powdered sugar before wrapping them with the dough.

You can wrap them in a way that would make them look nicer than the ones in the pic above. I was just in a hurry to finish making them. Excuses, excuses. :)

Next step is to boil a pot half- full of water. Put dumplings in boiling water for 3 minutes then turn them over and boil for another 3 minutes.

Your dumplings are now ready for eating! For toppings, Czechs usually shred ginger cake and mix them with powdered sugar. Melted butter is almost always present in every meal, including this one. Yes my dears, this is considered a meal here, not a snack.

Me? I call it a snack. And since I'm just getting Czeched, I don't follow the usual way of eating it with shredded ginger cake. I usually eat it with cottage cheese. It's actually up to you what you want for toppings. Let me know if you come up with something really yummy.

Tak, dobrou chut!

Note: Makes about 10-12 dumplings. Thanks to Mamka for the recipe.

The cook and I

2008-07-13T17:18:00.010+02:00

Přichovice is where I was last week. It's up in the highlands of CZ very near the Polish border. What was I doing there, having sun and fun? Far from it. I was there as one of the teachers/nannies/mothers of 21 kids ages 4-10 for our school's annual summer camp. How I retained my sanity is beyond me.

Actually, it wasn't so bad. Kids can be really hilarious. What's more, they don't know that they are. Everything they do is purely innocent or spontaneous, without any intention to hurt or to deceive someone. In a world of wasted lives, being with them is very refreshing.

DRUNK COOK

On our fourth night there, the cook got drunk. He was this sixty-ish man who had been giving me odd looks since the first meal was over. That night his tongue got loose and my suspicion was confirmed. He came upstairs giving a speech on how he was annoyed at me for not eating much of the food he prepared. He was very unhappy that I didn't like his cooking, and that not eating well is not good for the body.

I had to grope for words in Czech to explain to him I love the meals but the portions were just too big for me to finish. "Jsem malá, mám malý žaludek ," ( I'm small, I have a small stomach.) was my plea for a truce. He was having none of it.

Fine. There's just no instant remedy for bruised egos.

Then he changed tactics. From lecturing, he was now on to cajoling. He was like-- "What do you want me to cook tomorrow? Do you want rice? I'll cook something special for you just so you would eat everything." I said I'm eating, I love the food here, just give me smaller portions, but he was in la-la land that there was just no way of hitting the point.

The next day he was back at giving me odd looks. I have no doubt he was glad to see me board the bus this afternoon. Finally we can both get on with our lives.

Macro mania

2008-07-04T21:11:00.011+02:00

I have this thing for macro photography. I like it when a subject is captured in details. Whenever I have our digicam with me, I'm like a woman possessed, snapping away randomly. When it's time to upload the pics, of course you'll find several of them in macro shots.

Here are some taken last weekend:

The cherries were all ripe at my in-laws' garden. I'm not so crazy about cherries but the ones above were very succulent, thus very irresistible, even for me.

Of course, the strawberries were ripe as well, not to mention the raspberries and currants and blueberries. Last weekend was like a smorgasbord of summer fruits for me. I stuffed myself with strawberries after strawberries that I ended up having a bloated stomach full of water and gas. Ugh, the gas. You just touch my stomach and some place down there would right away go pffffttt...

Yey, my calamansi is resurrected from the dead! It appeared hopeless for several months that I was actually contemplating euthanasia. This shot was taken by A. Guess I'm not the only one afflicted with macro fever.

Another one of A's macro shots. I really love this one, the colors and the details. This is one of the flowers I received from my students. A took several pics of the flowers but this is my most favorite.

Ok, this is it for now. I'm hungry looking at those strawberries. Oh yeah, we still have a lot of them in the fridge so I better fix myself some smoothies. Yum!

Thin is in?

2008-07-01T16:39:00.010+02:00

Two years ago I chatted with my friends from PI. I think there were five of them scattered around the islands. We were on conference. They haven't seen me for over a year at the time so naturally they asked me to send them a latest picture of myself. So I did.

Two of them said I gained a lot of weight. Translation: I was fat. I said it couldn't be so bad since I think I only gained a kilo. They insisted I gained a lot, that my cheeks made me look like a blowfish, that I was no longer as slim as they remembered.

I'm 156 cm and at that time weighing 46 kilos. How can I be fat?

And how can we women be so paranoid about our weight, myself included? That chat made me literally run for a weighing scale. It made me change my diet and lost three kilos. Now on hindsight, I couldn't believe at myself for falling prey to society's wiles.

Who started this idea that to be beautiful is to be thin? Years and years ago all the images of gods and goddesses were fat, so when did society start dictating that thin is aesthetically better than otherwise? Beauty is always subjective yet for most women, thin is in.

I'm surrounded with women who are eternally dieting. I mean, it's their business, it's their body, but when do you draw the line? I think it's when you stop eating what and when you should, and when you constantly berate yourself for eating what you think you shouldn't.

From the words of Paulo Coelho with minor modification, " Forget about getting thin. You can do all the exercise you want, punish yourself as much as you want, but you will still have only two choices-- either stop living or get fat."

Me? I think I'll live.

Sunscreen

2008-06-24T18:50:00.004+02:00

There are so many names for it; sunblock, sun cream, sunscreen-- your choice. It's my must-have in summer. I just can't do without my Bioderma SPF 50.

There's also another sunscreen that I really really like. It's this:

I'm sure you know that Baz Luhrmann is the voice behind this, but do you know the pen behind it? According to Wiki, it was Mary Schmich, a columnist of The Chicago Tribune, who wrote it in her column. In 1998 she published her column as a book titled "Wear Sunscreen." A year later she gave permission to Baz Luhrmann to release this as a song in which it is read word for word.

I wish I could write like that. Dream on. :)

I like this part best:

"Don't waste your time on jealousy; sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and in the end, it is only with yourself." Amen!

Click here for the complete lyrics. It's worth reading. Trust me on the sunscreen.

Note: Thanks to maximoox for the vid.

On spring allergies

2008-06-15T20:13:00.003+02:00

This year I have the worst bouts of spring allergies. I can't count how many boxes of Kleenex I've consumed since April for my super runny nose and super teary eyes. I'm sure I'm single-handedly killing the forest.

My doctor prescribed Livostin nasal spray and eyedrops. No effect. My eyes were still very itchy and watery. My nose was falling apart from constant blowing. Then there was this box of tablets he prescribed that I didn't want to take at first. The box had been sitting in our cupboard for a week before I finally decided to pop one. Well, I'm simply paranoid about drugs.

It's called Aerius. Now why didn't I throw away my paranoia sooner? It's certainly helping me. I still sneeze now and then, my eyes are still sometimes itchy, I still have to blow my nose occasionally, but I do feel like a normal person again.

The baker

2008-06-13T22:52:00.006+02:00

Time is a constant challenge for me now that the school year is about to end. There's a special party we're throwing for the graduating kids next Wednesday, there's another camp I'll be going to with the kids in the second week of July which requires me to finish my lesson plan asap, there are plans to prepare for the next school year.......All these are crammed between now and next week. These and the fact that next school year means more responsibilities for me (hint, hint. :) don't really give me time to even pluck my eyebrows.

But I make time to bake. Last night I just wanted to try my luck in baking "Medovník" or honey cake. Mamka lent me the recipe a few months ago and I've been itching to make it myself. Yes, it's borrowed so that means I can't publish it here or I might get excommunicated.

Medovnik is basically layering the dough and cream. I finished baking at almost 11pm. It took more than an hour for the cream to cool. Note to self: I'll prepare the cream first next time. I was about to call it a night when A asked me if I mixed the crumbs for the topping with cocoa. Darnit! I thought I would fall asleep with a big smile of contentment. Bummer. Still my first try was a success. The cake tastes good. I actually like it better than the commercial one. The latter is too sweet.

Life never ceases to amaze me. A year ago the mere sight of a wooden spoon still scared the living daylights out of me. Now I can finally put on my hat and proclaim myself a baker. :)

Summer scare

2008-06-09T17:55:00.008+02:00

I say summer is absolutely, hands down, without any doubt, my favorite season. I like spring, too. After the gloom of winter, it's like a manna from heaven...but the allergies it gives me are certainly not. I love autumn, the combination of romance and melancholia it gives in the air, but I dread the coming of the winter so that spoils autumn for me. So yeah, the time of flip-flops and super light clothing is what I look forward to every year. Not to mention that summer also means a two-month paid holiday for me.

But there's one thing about summer that I so dread. It's not the burning sun, no matter how many freckles it adds on my face, SPF 100 notwithstanding. It's not the suffocating heat even if it reaches 40C. It's.... drums rolling.... the attack of smelly armpits.

Seriously, they smell. By "they" I mean those people here who have a terrible falling out with the innocent shower.

I'm not generalizing. Some do smell good no matter what time of the year it is. Thing is, a lot of the shower haters occupy those little space in the metro and trams that you'd rather share with the shower lovers. When I'm unfortunate enough to be in this situation, I often hold my breath until I'm about to pass out from the lack of oxygen.

Shower haters are one thing, Poison/ Eternity/ Boss lovers are another. Combine these two and you'll get one formidable smell that doesn't just make you sneeze but will surely give you a splitting migraine that lasts till the end of summer.

How can you possibly not love to take a shower? Or to bathe? Fine, maybe you don't have to do it everyday like I do, but seriously, what is there not to like about soap and water? They wont kill you, and the more you stay away from them, chances are, you'll soon kill the person standing next to you.