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A work in progress

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Lipat bahay?

Nitong mga nakaraang araw, hindi ko maintindihan kung anong nangyayari dito sa blog ko. Ako lang ba o pansin nyo din? Biglang naging bold letters kasi itong mga post ko. Madalas, ang hirap mag upload ng posts. Ah basta, ang gulo ng blogger. Siguro kasi may beta version na sila?

Hmm... mukhang mapipilitan akong maglipat ng bahay talaga. Hindi ko alam kung pansamantala lang ito o lilipat na talaga ako. Sana madalaw nyo ako dito.

Hanggang sa muli!

Posted by nikki:: 10/26/2006 02:10:00 AM
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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Let the first prize roll!

Sometimes I think I was a Chinese princess in my previous life. I find that I easily adapt to anything Chinese (from their food to their tons of traditions). Graduating from a school at the University Belt where lots of Tsinoys (colloquial term for members of the Filipino Chinese community) study, I was exposed to how the Tsinoys live. Having been trained at a Chinese hospital, I was exposed not only to their traditions but also to their language. Di ba Ahia Kenji? It is not surprising therefore that I celebrate two New Years and the Mooncake Festival.

The Chinese celebrate the Mooncake festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month marking the end of the harvest season when the moon is at its brightest and fullest. The origin of this festival have several versions. Here in the Philippines, the Tsinoys celebrate it as a thanksgiving for the family's abundant "harvest". Families get together and burn incense sticks at the Buddhist temples then have a feast thereafter. The mooncake of course is a must in the celebration. These mooncakes are also given to relatives and friends for abundance and to foster better ties. Tsinoys also play a game of 6 dices - the dices are thrown in a bowl and the more fours you get, the higher the prize. Some lucky combinations also get prizes. Traditionally, the prizes they give away are mooncakes but to make things more exciting, families give money or gifts.

This year, the Mooncake Festival fell on October 6. Although I got several mooncakes from friends, we have yet to celebrate it this coming Wednesday at the hospital. I am looking forward to playing the dice game (and the eating part syempre) but I am so not looking forward to the prizes I will be taking home with me after the celebration. I have never been very good at "taking chances" and I do not think I will ever be good at it so I won't delude myself into believing that I will be taking home the biggest prize. I will be going there prepared of course - with a plastic bag. Who knows, maybe I can collect a dozen of Coke in cans. Ugghhh!









Posted by nikki:: 10/24/2006 01:09:00 AM
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Friday, October 13, 2006

Lika, spell tayo!

Are you a good speller? Find out here ...

Be careful in answering, if you think you're a spelling bee champion, this game just might prove you wrong.

Posted by nikki:: 10/13/2006 02:40:00 PM
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Friday, October 06, 2006

Keeps me going...





Posted by nikki:: 10/06/2006 01:19:00 PM
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Sunday, October 01, 2006

Milenyo - THE Storm of the Year

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In my years of living in Metro Manila, Milenyo is the first storm ever to directly hit the City. I didn't even know there was a storm coming when I got home last Wednesday. I think I got used to having rains in the afternoons so it wasn't a big deal driving under pouring rain that day. The news that night said the storm was travelling fast and had winds of 130 kph and that it was expected to hit Metro Manila Thursday afternoon. Students were rejoicing because suspension of classes was announced early (I am glad people in the government was responsible and sensible enough to be semi-prepared this time).

I woke up at 6 am Thursday with the wind howling but with little rain pouring. By 6:30 am, the power went out. From inside our house, everything looked calm but by 12 noon, leaves and tree limbs were everywhere. By 1 pm, the wind was blowing so hard that a part of our house's gutter landed on the garage roof. By 2 pm, the wind stopped howling, there was only a drizzle but debris was everywhere. By 3 pm, everybody was hungry so my brother, his family and I went out to buy snacks and candles. We were shocked by what we saw - tree limbs were scattered everywhere, a mango tree uprooted, the McDonald's sign 20 feet above now lay in pieces on the ground, acacia trees falling over 2 cars and a Meralco post blocking the main street of our village. People took advantage of the situation by collecting money from motorists passing by while another cuts fallen trees.

The sun was shining brightly the next day belying the fact that only hours before, a storm directly hit Manila leaving the whole city in shambles and sans electricity. Like most people that day, we decided to go to the mall to cool off. We went as far as Market! Market! in Taguig only to find the mall in semi-darkness because they too do not have electricity. One side of the mall's facade was missing some cement, billboards were ripped, their carpark was flooded with water and the landscape of the whole area was destroyed. There was no traffic light and several billboards toppling over blocked some roads hence traffic was heavy despite it being a "holiday". Even EDSA was not spared of the destruction. On the homefront, we still had to go the long way if we wanted to leave our houses because the Meralco post that toppled was still lying there untouched. We went to bed last night with one hand fanning ourselves.

BUT the gods must've been listening to our laments so at about 2 am Friday, our power lines were restored. As of the moment, some areas are still powerless &/or phoneless and a lot of debris still has to be cleaned. The good news is things are slowly getting done and in a day or two, everything will be back to normal again.


*Above photo was taken along EDSA Guadalupe.



UPDATE:

Thanks to Sonnie and basang panaginip for the extensive search they must have done to compile blog posts on Milenyo.



Posted by nikki:: 10/01/2006 02:21:00 AM
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