Happy New Year and I am sick again

Well, tomorrow is New Year's Eve and I am sick with pneumonia again. So I can't even have a glass of wine to celebrate the occasion. Well, Joaquin bought some sparklers, and that is good enough for me.
I went to the doctor the one that I always go to here. Sad enough, he said that I frequent his hospital way too much and we have to do something else besides my usual western medicine. On top of the medicine cabinet that he provided for me, he sticks two silver pins in my ear without even giving me a proper warning, and tells me that I have to keep it in there for 10 days (acupuncture). And believe me, I am not exactly sitting around completely painless. He put one on the top part of me ear, as if I got a piercing. Supposedly this one is for my allergic reaction to the Philippines. And the other one in my inner ear which is to make my lungs stronger. This goes along with a triple times a day dose of Oolong tea with ginger. After 10 days, I have to get two more pins put in the other side. Sigh.
I really tried to prevent this. The minute I started to cough 3 weeks ago, I started drinking the tea with ginger and eating massive amounts of oranges. Then I ran out, and I thought I would be ok. I was so wrong. Maybe this method will cure me for good.

Merry Christmas!

Well, since Christmas is not yet over for us, I won't post about it yet. I do have to say that I had a really good birthday. I wanted it to be real quiet. I don't want people making a big deal about it, and I am already old. Joaquin took me to a romantic restaurant and we really enjoyed ourselves. We even got a videoke machine and we sang in our apartment. I am sure that our neighbors are really annoyed with us because they work the night shift and we were singing together during the day. I know that it sounds corny, but we love to sing now. Too bad, people in the states don't do videoke like here in the Philippines. It really is a lot of fun, especially when you know everyone else sings just as bad as you.

The true meaning of Christmas

You never really think about the true meaning of Christmas until you know you need to put aside all the presents and the trees. Then you stop going to the mall, and deal with the hustle of the Christmas rush. The traffic gets even worse even though more people walk than drive. So you give up on the whole ordeal, and you just want to stay home. Then you get to missing your family. You see all the children walking hand-in-hand with their parents. Even when they get yelled at, you secretly wish you could do that (not the yelling, but the being together part). Maybe the parents are yelling at them because they have no money, and the kids are begging for that new toy. And the parents realize that they need to work extra hard for those toys. But nothing beats the joy on their child's face when they get what they want.
People may mistake that for the true meaning of Christmas: getting what they want. But to a parent, the true meaning is that tiny bit of joy that they are able to provide even if it is for a split second a year.
So for all of you that have forgotten, the true meaning of Christmas. Brace yourself for this. Christmas: mass and Christ. The birth of Christ happened on some day, and people are even arguing it happened some time in the summer. The presents symbolizes the gifts given by the wise men, which actually never arrived until January 6. Technically, we shouldn't even open presents until then. The star on the tree is what they followed to find Jesus Christ.
Just like your birthday, and mine, we celebrate Christmas to celebrate a birth. And if it's not our own, then presents shouldn't even be an option. But the presents are there to make the end of the year a whole lot more special.
This year, I just wish everyone else to be happy. I hope that they get everything that they dreamed. I wish for our economy to get better. I wish for my dad's business to explode with exponential amounts of clients. I want my mom to take many vacations and to take a break from her hectic life. I wish for Kate to find the perfect job and maybe another xbox. I hope that Jesse and Yavon get a year full of wonderful vacations and maybe a brand new grill. I want Mom Kline to finally find that dream home that she has been secretly wanting her whole life. I really hope that the Jeff can finally settle himself and feel at ease. Maybe I can finally meet Nadia, and Rinah and Sky will welcome me with open arms. And for Joaquin, I want him to find everything he has hoped for in life, and find that inner peace (I mean this sincerely).
From me and Joaquin (my papabear), Merry Christmas to all and keep peace in your hearts.

Isolated Beaches

We started our semester break only a few days ago. We are only getting 10 days off, so if any of you are thinking we could of come home...impossible. We are still hanging on. We went to an isolated beach as an over night trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We were there this past January and we really enjoyed it then. And it's great to be able to hang out with our friends once again (we are not in the same sections anymore).
The girls basically laid out on the beach, trying NOT to get dark (with a crap load of sunblock), the guys ran around trying to kill a chicken and shoot guns at rocks. All I can say is that I am SOOO glad I am vegetarian. Even though, I probably would have at least caught the chicken. The first guy tried to shoot the chicken, and missed (20 pesos down the drain). Then they thought it would be clever to run after it with a stick. Eventually they gave up, after they became all sweaty. Wouldn't it have been easier, to catch the chicken with a fishing net (it was hanging really close to us), then taking care of business. We eventually just ate REALLY GIANT seafood.



We also discovered this weird looking crab. It swims like a turtle. If you put it on it's back, it immediately flips over using it's tail.




So all we did, was basically get drunk. Ok, I hate this new blogger format, so I am just going to post a bunch of pics...

Saturday Afternoon

Well, it's the end of the semester, and it has been really tough. The actual hands on work was the easy part, but the lecture was hard. And it wasn't hard in a sense of academics, more of terror teachers who purposely want you to fail. He would tell you that there is a quiz in one subject for the next day, then it would be a quiz on something totally different. It is absolutely impossible to keep up with it.
To occupy myself from the fact that I have not seen my family in over a year, I went ahead and started my own business. Basically, selling my own homemade organic spa products. I actually went and bought things like beeswax, almond oil, patchouli, virgin coconut oil, etc... Things came out really great and I have quite a business amongst my classmates and teachers. I am still trying to think of ways to expand. I even have my own website: www.saturdayafternoon.org
Of course, I am having my doubts. I am having problems with packaging. And majority of those problems can be solved when I go back home to the states. It has not really been that easy, but I like using my extra time in doing things like this.

Money

Was there ever a time where money was just a word and people had no idea what it meant? When money did not equal pain and suffering. Money is something that affects us all but to what extent? Yes, it's reality, but do we need a word to strike fear into our hearts? There are homeless animals, living in shelters, and just by a click of my finger they get .6 bowls of food. Yet, I still can not do that every day. So does that make me a bad person? Even when it's free, I can not give. Because of the time it will cause for me to check my email, and click on that purple little box.

And everyday a person argues about money and how we don't have any. But what happened to "it's only family that matters"? I still believe in that. It is only family. Right now I have 20 pesos to my name. I think I can buy 1 yakult. It doesn't really matter. I should be giving that 20 pesos to a homeless person on the street. Why? Because a year from now I will have everything, yet that homeless person still has nothing. Not even family. Without love, without family, you will always have nothing.

Many years ago, I met a woman in the States. She was an elderly woman coming into my father's clinic. She had no children or brothers and sisters. She truely had (maybe still has) nothing. She was about 85 years old and lived with a caretaker. When I looked into her eyes, and did her assessment, I saw in them the loneliness. I myself felt fear. Fear of the unknown and the emptiness. I didn't want to even talk to her too much more. I was thinking about my family and how lucky I am. That this will never happen to me...

But we should watch ourselves, because it can happen to anyone. And that is the point where no matter how much money you have, it only becomes a word.

Caution! Watch on your own risk, may be boring.

Our group had to make a movie for psych on type B Personalities. Her is wok and my part.

An Unblissful, yet again cell phone story.

I told myself that I should wait to post this story, especially after all the blog entries I wrote about my Philippine love (don't worry, it still has not changed). I sent this to the local newspaper and blog websites.
_________________________________________________________
Hello. I am a foreigner currently attending UB for nursing. I am already a 4th year student so I am not exactly new to this country. I try to keep a low profile and I keep a lot of Filipino friends. I also look very Filipino, but my Tagalog is not very good. I have my Filipino friends to get me by and help me when I need to buy things. And no offense to anyone, but it's hard to get a good deal as a foreigner. But that is not the reason for my story.
I have maintained the same cell phone for about 3 years now. Finally it gave up on me and I decided to just buy a new one. I have an extra one for emergencies and it is quite a reliable phone, but it does not have any features of technology e.g. camera, bluetooth. My old cell phone had every feature I could desire, personally.
I am extremely on budget so I asked around from my friends where I can buy a cheap phone. My friend said that she knew someone on General Luna. Against my better judgement, I thought “well what are the chances that I would get screwed”. This was a big “tatanga” for me. We went to the spot on General Luna, near the school where all these people were celling the cell phones. Her friend, unfortunately, was not there, and I was in quite a hurry for a phone. I had brought my old cell phone and my emergency phone as trade ins because I knew that I could not make much “tawad”.
We looked up and down the street, and a woman was selling a Nokia 5200 for 3500. I was on budget for 2500, so I tried to trade in my old phone. Ironically (you will realize later why), she would not take my old broken phone but she would take my trusty emergency nokia. Like a sucker, I took the deal, gave my phone, and paid 2300 pesos. I came home, extremely excited to fool around with my new phone with MP3 features, mini cards and all. I have never had anything like this and I barely treat myself to anything besides some clothes at the “ukay-ukay”. I did notice, however, that my Globe sim icon was not showing up, but the network was visible. And the network seemed to be terrible. I assumed it was my house, because even before my network wasn't that good, and I could live without the Globe icon. I charged my phone, then unplugged it just before I went to bed. I know that the quality of a Nokia battery is absolutely impeccable so I shouldn't need to charge it at least a few days (with constant MP3 use).
I woke up in the morning to an empty battery. I thought to myself, “this is strange, she gave me a brand new battery.” The phone would not even stay on. So I plugged it in, and it said it was charging. I waited, removed the charger, and it said full battery. All of a sudden, the phone claimed that the battery was empty and it turned off on me again. I knew that it had to be the phone. Well the woman had given me a 3 day warranty, and I asked another Filipino friend to join me to either get the phone fixed or make a trade.
When we got there, the woman was absent. There was a young man in the stall next to her, and he asked what was the problem. We explained the situation and he wanted to make a trade. The trades did have anything close to the phone that I had just purchased. And if I wanted those features, I would have to pay more. Now, this does not make any sense. I should receive something at least really close to equal in return. The phones he wanted to trade me, did not even have bluetooth, and that was my number one priority at the time. I then told him to just give me back my trade in, and the money I paid since they can not help me. Apparently, it was sold right away, like a thief in the night. I asked the young man when the woman would be back, and he informed me that she would be back the next day. I told him (which I think was my downfall) that I would return the next day.
After that, I went to a reputable cell phone repair shop because I figured if I can at least get this fixed I won't go through so much trouble. The man told me that the phone was completely unfix able. That the phone was taken from China, and the inside was burnt so no one would know and the phone will always turn off. There was nothing wrong with the battery or the electrical wiring inside. It simply would never work. Then he fixed my other broken phone for 100 pesos, and that is when an American (myself) will say “well isn't that a kick in the ass”.
The next day, absolutely furious, and this time with 2 Filipino friends, we marched back to the woman's shop. That is when I realized how “tanga” I really was and I lost this battle the minute I gave up my money. The woman's shop was completely boarded up and closed for business. The same “young man” from the stall next door claimed that he never knew her and that no one had any idea who she was. He is absolutely terrible at lying, because who works next to someone, is willing to do business for them (as in try to trade in a downgraded phone to me) but not know who they are?
I did not cry. I just stood there and thought to my self “siang”. I spent my budgeted money, so I only could eat what little food I had at my house, and basically walk everywhere until my next allowance. Now I can mention the ironic part. She would not buy my broken phone, when she just sold me a broken phone. She could have easily sold my broken phone to any other fool just like myself.
We tried to go the police, but they were not available. All we could do was file a complaint with the Barangay Captain. Maybe he did something, but I will not know. I gave up on it, and spent yet another budgeted allowance on a brand new 1 year warranty phone and am extremely happy, even though I am hungry.
Now I am not proud of what I am about to tell you. I told a friend of mine to go back there and try to sell the phone back to them but go to different stalls. Maybe I can get some money back. If they did it to me, I can try to do it right back. But I am sure God saw through my ill intentions, and to no avail, he could not sell it. They told him that they all know that serial number...
I am writing this , to inform you and whoever reads this of what goes on right under our nose. And I know that readers will think “well she is foreign, and what was she doing buying from there?” But the big question is how can we allow people to sell things there? How can we allow people to get screwed and we just call them “tanga”? And believe me, they didn't see a foreigner buying the phone. They saw Filipinos. This is just a major insult to your country (and I consider mine as well) and homeland. I am just hoping that enough people might read this and do something about it. Even if people never buy from them, at least my “tanga”ness was not sacrificed in vain. And like I said in the beginning, I knew my instincts said no but my heart said to give them a chance. They only proved that I need to always listen to my instincts.
_______________________________
The moral of the story is when you know it's wrong...it's wrong.

Please don't criticize me because of my Tagalog spelling, that's really annoying hehe.

A Real Update

As a bit of an update on our life, Joaquin delivered his first baby last week. He was so excited and he got a Nulligravida (medical term for first time mother). Better for him (experience wise) not so good for her. So the baby took a while to come out (as in 6 hours from the start of labor) and he was basically the person who REALLY delivered the baby. I was and still am so proud of him. I delivered my first baby over the summer, but I was only an Assist nurse. That basically means I am like the typewriting person in the court room. No real action, just paper work. And my baby's mother was already on her 4th child, so I barely got to see the baby come out (I was too busy writing down the stupid time). So, I am looking forward to when it is my turn.

They have been sending us to all different parts of the Philippines. Some parts are REAL hot, and you just want to sit in your room with two fans on you and pray that you get the afternoon or night shift. And other parts are REAL cold, and you still just want to sit in your room curled in a blanket and sleep. But I find it to be a good travel experience. During our off time, we visit local rivers, go hiking, go to the local beach or just shop at real cheap stores because we are students on budget.

Besides my new found vegetarianism since January, I have also started to do yoga every Sunday for exercise. And YES it is exercise with a full on workout. It is not the "Pilate" kind, it's called Hatha Yoga. It concentrates more on stress relief and different positions. But just holding those positions are enough to make your muscles scream the next day. My abs ARE getting stronger (this is really for my mother and Lola who think yoga does not work on my abs). I have also been practicing doing chin ups...well, not really, I pretty much just hang there for about 10 seconds. At first it was just 5, but now its 10 and i move my legs around for a bit to work on the abs...again. Which, btw, I am only doing for the members of my family who complained because I think "washboard" abs on women is kinda gross. Joaquin, on the other hand, puts me to shame with his 20 chin ups a day, and he does those push up clappy things. Oh, and we both lost about 40lbs since the last time anyone has seen us, and still working on a bit more.

Let me tell you, losing weight is no BIG picnic (in my opinion anyway). For example, we sleep on real hard beds when we go to duty. And I don't mean the USA standard firm mattress with box springs. I mean, we sleep on plywood or the floor. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, because I had so much extra padding in all my bony parts. But now, I have the worst sleep because my hips, butt, and shoulders would ache so bad. And then, on our way home from our last duty, our group shared a van (12 altogether including our clinical instructor and not the driver). With the "Filipino vans" you should be able to fit 4 Filipinos in the back seat (3 Americans). Naturally, Joaquin, myself and our friend Ray sit in the back seat. We assume that we need all the space, and it used to be a bit of a comfortable tight fit. But this time around, I kept getting flung all over the back seat and I could not sleep a wink. I had to squish my legs up on to the chair (a move I have not done since 1998) just to become somewhat comfortable. And still to this day, I keep thinking that I look one way and I expect to see that in the mirror. But, I am totally wrong and I get this awkward feeling that I am in the twilight zone. A person can develop a mental disorder this way. Not that I am complaining, or am going to try to gain it all back. HA! Just saying it's weird and needs getting used to. I would love to provide pics, but the battery charger for our AA batteries blew up (literally, by being put in 220volts) and it's not worth buying Philippine batteries. So, I am going to leave it all to your imagination.

A Philippine Joke that I Made Up

Use "Neighbor" in a sentence....


Ah, Neighbor mind!




Use "Jello" in a sentence...


Don't be Jello-s of me!

More things that I learned in Nursing

1. If you hear someone say outside your window "Ah Bebbo Bebbo!!!" It means:
a. Balut
b. Taho
c. Chicharron
d. Puto
> if they add "....ah Plastik!!" after a few minutes, they are just collecting your plastic bottles.

2. Good things do come in small packages...from the sari-sari store.

3. You can buy ANYTHING at the sari-sari store.

4. If you get the "Lavender scented Mosquito Coil" instead of the regular one, you are "Soshal". *The regular one costs 8 pesos and the Lavender one is 13 pesos.*

5. It's an OUTRAGE if the jeep raises their fare by 50 sentavos.

6. Giant Crazy Tarantulas, Scorpions, Cockroaches and other spiders DO EXIST...usually in your house.

7. If you see a naked person running in the street, just ignore it.

8. EVERYONE can sing.

9. If you feel like singing in a crowded elevator, just go ahead.

10. Even though the capacity on the elevator says max: 13, you can still fit 2 more. Filipinos are small! It can't possibly mean them.

11. Conformity really does get you more friends
*note* Individualism = "Maarte"

12. You eventually get used to the barking dogs and crowing roosters.

13. Halls = CANDY

14. You can individual wrap ANYTHING and sell it e.g. halls, mentos, cigarettes, etc.

15. Joaquin is a Filipino in a "white guy" outfit.

Things I learned in Nursing

1. The Philippines is Predictably UNPREDICTABLE
2. Keep candles in the right spots in the house so that if your lights go out during the night, you know how to find them.
3. Always keep a bucket of water in your house because no lights = no water = no flushable toilet.
4. Life is too short to care too much.
5. Joaquin and I are surprisingly probably the most adaptable people that we know.
6. You can still hand wash white uniforms, and they will still be white :)
7. There is a way to sit on the ground in a way where you are not touching the ground and its as if you are hanging in a mini hammock chair. And you can sit there all day long.
8. It's always good to keep a mini umbrella in your purse. It could rain or be too sunny...
9. How to get creases in a pair of pants that are so sharp that they still stay on the pants even after several washes.
10. You can keep white shoes white with toothpaste.
11. 50 pesos can stretch longer than 3 days.
12. How to individually pack clothes in case cockroaches manage to sneak inside your luggage.
13. Toiletries should go inside hard plastic containers so that they don't get wet in the shower.
14. You don't need a shower if you have a bucket and a pail.
15. You don't need a flushable toilet if you have a bucket and a pail.
16. How to easily injure yourself carrying Joaquin on your back while crawling on the floor.
17. How to NOT move passed an inch while carrying Joaquin on your back while crawling on the floor.
18. This is not the best country to be in if you are trapped in a burning building.
19. If you fail a student and you pass out on the ground, expect to still be in the same spot an hour later.
20. Chocolate still tastes great no matter what mood you are in.

BLS and more

What is BLS you may ask yourself? Basic Life Support. As in CPR and stuff. Last week, we had to go through our BLS training. And I have been saying all along that we should have been taught basic first aid and CPR. So when I heard we had to do this, I was quite excited about it...until I learned the truth.
Well, first of all, I pretty much already knew CPR and the Heimlich just from a CPR class I took before we moved to the Philippines. So, yes if you were choking and I just stood there, it's probably because I hate you....
CPR was day one, but after that, I thought we would learn other basic first aid...like putting on a bandaid if you get a minor cut, or using hydrogen peroxide...But nope, its not like that at all.
We were taught TRIAGE. And here, I thought they stopped teaching that to people in WWII. Well, I guess it's kinda nice to know that if my friend fractures a leg, I know how to tear up a shirt into a triangle, fold it into a bandage like strip, and bandage using the perfect square knot...all in less than a minute. It might not be the prettiest thing, but hopefully it would be effective. I would not really know because they demonstrated it to a class of 100 students in the middle of the room, with 30 different procedures, and not repeating one. Then they left us a alone to "practice" and basically teach ourselves.
I thought it might be cool to know these techniques, except now I don't remember any of them. Currently I am using the bandages (which we had to have made by a tailor within 24 hours) as my pot holder. Those pots are damn hot!
The other part of our training was EMERGENCY and RESCUE. I guess it sounds real cool, but when you think about it, it's quite ridiculous. They expect me, a person who can not even do an inch worth of a pull up, to run into a burning building, throw someone on my back and crawl out. Wouldn't I leave the fire stuff to...hmm I don't know...the firefighters?! If I saw a burning building, I would just stare at it, just wondering if everyone is ok. I might call the fire department, but there is no way in hell I am going to risk my own life inhaling a bunch of smoke, to "rescue" someone. Isn't it "women and children first"? Well Im a woman. I can help out with my pot holders...I mean bandages...if only I could remember which direction to fold the damn thing...


Oh well, I can just do CPR on the other guy.

It Works!

Alright, the link that didn't work before works now. You don't need a torrent downloader. You can download the file directly from here, you just need the free version of winzip. So you can click here to make money easy off the internet .

I know that it sounds unbelievable, but I make about $10 a month. I don't think that is too bad considering I am doing absolutely nothing but using my internet. Once you get more referrals, of course you make more money, but I didn't want to email this to my friends and family or they might think Im a freak hehe.

Other than that, not much going on. We just got back from a 6 day hospital duty. Joaquin was able to assist in a hysterectomy and saw lots of blood. Me? I mostly sat in a hot sweaty room with two fans blaring dreaming of ice cream and halo-halo. We alternated shifts, and he ended up getting the "lucky" days. I always thought it was funny that they would call a bunch of people needing surgery or bleeding all over the place as "lucky". In your final year, you find out that it's a dog eat dog world out there. Trying to obtain the necessary cases is a brutal process.

My group mates were a bunch of good sports. I managed to take a video of them without them knowing, just before going into the operating room. They are what makes duty all worth while.

And it all starts with Karen Murry

I have been contemplating on what to write here for a few days now. Really, this whole summer has basically been a complete bust. They keep telling us that "oh you have to be here in a few days" or "oh you don't get any time off this summer." Then we find out that we had ridiculous amounts of time. I really wanted to go home. We haven't been home in over a year now. And I went to the school several times to get a definite schedule so that we may plan our vacation. They just tell me that we are not going to have a vacation. Basically, our duty will end June 10 and we will start back June 14.
So, I pushed aside all thoughts in my head about going home. I prepared for the worst. Then I find out that our duty actually finished mid may because they messed up the scheduling yet again, and so I wasted perfectly good time to go home. But that is not the worst of it. They told us at the end of our duty that enrollment would be May 26. Joaquin and I were planning on going to Kalibo for a little vacation, but postponed it because of the enrollment date. When May 26 came around...no enrollment for 4th year. That is not until Jun 5. Basically, Joaquin and I have been sitting at home doing nothing ever since then. Then they also tell us that we need ANOTHER medical physical before duty. I knew I had one more time to look forward to pooping in an old film container...That I will have to take care of tomorrow. There is one thing that you can count on in the Philippines: The Philippines's unpredictability is so predictable.
On the other hand, there have been some interesting things that would pop up in our path and disturb our internet time. Just last weekend, a monk named Kelsang Tonglam came from Asia to do some Dharma talks at Bliss Cafe. So we attended a class on meditation on Saturday for a full day event. It was quite relaxing and productive. I have meditated myself a few times before, but this has been the most invigorating. I had somewhat of an out of body experience. Joaquin said that he realized it was the first time that he has ever meditated before.
We also discovered how much we love the good ole U S of A. We have been freaking out for a while about getting our passports renewed. It's a pretty difficult process considering we are out of the country and the school wouldn't even let us go home. I was told that we had to go to the US Embassy and that's all the way in Manila. Then Joaquin made a phone call. Within minutes, our passport "package" was sent to our door by Fed Ex and all we have to do is add the picture and fill out the info. If you had to renew a Philippine passport, that takes months to process and take care of.
Let me see...now with all this extra time that I seem to have on my hands, I decided to use it quite constructively. After I figured out how to make money online without doing anything at all, I started to work on my family tree. I became interested in this task last year, when we visited my Uncle Tim in New York. I realized that I actually do not know ANYTHING about my family. On both sides even. But it is best if I do research one side at a time. My mother's side will probably be a bit harder considering most of them are in the philippines, and would just require me to ask a lot of questions.
I began by downloading the program at www.myheritage.com. It works extremely well, but unfortunately with the amount of family that we have, it will cost about $35 a year to run it. So I decided to move the site over to Geocircles where I think it's even more private and completely free.
Well, there were new things that I have discovered that I will not get into yet again for the 80 millionth time after emailing them to every family member. But lets just say I have made quite an accomplishment. I was able to trace our family through my great grandmother all the way to the 1400s. Maybe even further, but I got a little tired. I am really trying to fill in these nagging gaps in our time lines and its extremely difficult. I am trying to get people to physically go to court houses to get information. Basically proof that people even existed.
When I do finally come home, a long overdue family reunion will be in order. I am hoping that this whole genealogy thing will bring us way closer together. I know that recently, I have been chatting with family members that I have not spoken to in years. I even found a new one in TX and we try to chat more often.

Ok, I just had to do this, but if anyone reading this is interested in making money online, a seriously doing absolutely nothing except leave your computer and internet on, click this link:

Make money ;)

I think I will add pics and stuff next time...not that we have any

The Philippines Boracay adventure

Here is a little run down of the 2008 Philippines trip for Pamcakes and Grandma Shirley.



1. They took a flight from LA to a short stop over in Guam.
Nothing special, just a "technical stop" assuming to fill up on gas. They didn't even deplane.

2. The same plane flew from Guam to Manila. We picked them up at 6:45am. They did not realize that they were on the same plane as Manny Pacquio. He is a famous boxer all over the world. They are even calling him a "National Hero" in this country. People here know him even better than the president (of the Philippines).

3. We took a short shuttle to the domestic airport.

4. Another short flight using Cebu Pacific (I will be complaining about this airline later in the blog) to my home province Kalibo, Aklan located on the island of Panay.

5. Then we took a 1.5 hour van ride to the end of the island, to Caticlan where there are boat ports to head on over to Boracay.

6. We proceded over to Boracay using a banca. A banca is a narrow motorized boat with outriggers. Makes capsizing nearly impossible.

7. Once on the island we took a short "tricycle" ride to my uncle's beach resort named the White House.




We finally were able to relax. Pamcakes and Grandma Shirley took their first untraveling breath laying down on a big fluffy white bed. We stayed on the island of Boracay for 4 nights and 5 days.

Our main form of transportation were the tricycles. Cars are too big to use all over the island. We tried to condense all of our adventures into this short week, including an hour long nap everyday. Everyone got massages on beach while drinking rum slushies.

We ate dinner in a mountain at a restaurant, one night, named Nami. I was worried about Grandma Shirley because it is quite a climb up a bunch of stairs, but she is a trooper. I'm the one who managed to leave with an injury...a splinter.

We also had dinner in a wonderful Indian restaurant and everyday we had a shake at Jonah's.

The day before we left, we took another banca on the water and went snorkeling. There we saw sea snakes (the guides assured me that they were not poisonous, which I know for a fact they are the most poisonous creatures in the world) and I saw a sea horse. Some of our snorkeling spots even had bats flying looking for insects on the beach.
The last night of our trip, my uncle threw a concert for one of his friends, and we all got drunk (except for Grandma of course). This was the perfect ending to our beach paradise.

So, now on our way to Baguio...the place where everything is completely opposite of our beach paradise.

1. We took a tricycle to the port again.

2. Took a banca back to Caticlan

3. Rented a van to Kalibo.

Now we stopped in Kalibo for a bit to visit my other uncle. Our flight was not scheduled until 8:30pm so we had time to relax...or so we thought.

My uncle decided to call up the airline at the airport (he owns the part of the airport in which our particular airline is renting) because he found it impossible that we had such a late flight. Come to find, he was right and our flight was bumped UP to 4:30pm. The time was now 3:30pm...

So we gathered our things, and got on the next tricycle to the airport to get the heck out of dodge. Once we got at the airport, I threw down a bunch of names and yelled at the airline for not at least getting in contact with us to let us know we were leaving 4 hours in advance..of course I didn't get anywhere.

4. Flight using Cebu Pacific (BOOOOO) to Manila. Then we waiting for about an hour to get a taxi to the bus station.

5. Taxi to bus station.

6. Bus to Baguio...after 7 hours.


We arrived in Baguio at 3 am, and were extremely tired. I got the sniffles from all the changes in climate. Ok, more to come in 5 more days.

Bliss Cafe!!

Ok, I made a Sims 2 movie about my favorite restaurant. Enjoy!

Karen Murry, it's time for a change.

Well school is about as good as it gets. Another year of bullshit just finished, and we still have one more year to go. What can we do. Well, I've been getting back in touch with my artistic self including drawings, paintings and cooking. I've discovered totally new ways to cook and completely vegetarian (but not vegan).

For an appetizer, we've got a Egg Salad Letuce wrap (for the Octo-Lavo in you).

The main course is a Peanut Tofu Soup which happens to be totally vegan...unless someone tells me that you can't use peanut butter...

And for desert, yummy Toasted Coconut Balls (also for the Octo-Lavo)
It's real hard to be completely vegan, especially in this country. I have managed to deal with eating only fish, milk and eggs (as my non vegan diet). When I walk into a party, hate to be the person who couldn't eat and got drunk too fast.
Art wise, I have been been using oil pastels a great deal. The vegetarian restaurant, Bliss Cafe her in Baguio that I go to is willing to put up a few of my pieces. So now it will be displayed there for a while. Joaquin made me a little portfolio which I shall be editing frequently.
The food is so excellent at Bliss, that we go there at least once a week. It has really helped me out a lot during my conversion to vegetarianism.

Oh Yeah,

I just realized what day I am posting this, hehe.

UB Fire and something to write about.

That's right. In every student's career as a ...student, we all have the same thought that goes through our minds: "What will we do if there is a major calamity?" Then you say, "this will never happen to us." Well, our worst nightmare came true...our school caught on fire. So it is my duty to give all the information that I may have to tell the public.

Joaquin and I woke up on Saturday morning to a beautiful day in Baguio City. The roosters were crowing as usual by our bedside. Life resumed as if it was a normal day. Joaquin was rushing around the room because he had to be at the school for a very important meeting. Today was "tuition increase day" and he had to become the voice of the students. The meeting was actually open to all, but I was feeling under the weather yet again. Quite frankly, I really did not want to go because I knew that the school did not really give two shits if we had a thing or two to say about the increase. The usual scenario would consist of me sitting in the crowd, pouty faced, saying my two cents, and then feeling degraded and unheard by the administration of the whole school. What was the point in stressing myself? Even Joaquin agreed with me, but as a "school leader" it was mandatory for him to attend. Lets just say this is Karma.

Joaquin left for the school and I started cooking. I was in the mood to make hummus. The process of softening up the chickpeas took forever to I surfed the internet and called my parents a few million times. But on the millionth time, they would get a disturbing phone call.

I received a text message close to noon from joaquin. I was sure it was him telling me to meet him at SM for a day at the supermarket because we are in dire need of coffee. Unfortunately it read "UB is on fire". My initial reaction was "yeah, im sure the students are running around freaking out about the tuition increase." Then I stared at my phone for a bit and pondered for a minute. Why would Joaquin text me something like that? He doesnt just make random metaphorical statements through texting. He can't stand texting for fear of improper communication.

I decided to call him to get the story straight, but the lines were down. For a split second I thought the worst and I began to freak out. But wok knows me very well, and he was the one who called me. "the B building is on fire, people are running around. Look outside, you might be able to see it." I just wanted him to come home so I told him to just come home as soon as he can. And no, you can not see the school from my house.

While I waited for him, I went downstairs to visit my Persian friends to tell them the grave news. The B building was mainly the dentistry building, and from what Joaquin was saying, it did not look too good. This quickly became horror day in Baguioland.

What do you do when you find out that your school is on fire? So many things crossed our minds.

• Was anyone hurt?
• Do we have class on monday?
• Do we have class at all?!!!
• Should we visit the site?
• Where do we go now that we don't have two buildings?
• is it arson?

You can't help but think, gee if only we had a few fire drills, or if UB didn't cut corners on construction. How does a fire that starts from one building travel through three buildings and to the roof into a blazing inferno in a span of 10 min?

I just know, my #1 concern was Joaquin. And he came home immediately. Im just happy that we are all safe.

Now here is something interesting. That morning, at about 10AM, I get a text saying "Ma'am so and so says we need to be in school today for class. Sorry that we told you that you did not have class." And I just said to myself "screw them. you can't just tell people that they have class and now they are 2 hours late" Then an hour later there is a fire that people will be talking about for years. It's Karma.

here is a great post on the whole scenerio from someone who can account it better at the Baguio Insider

What do you do when the internet goes down?

Joaquin was freaking out again, because the internet went down. I actually found out today that it was, for once, not the fault of the internet company. Joaquin has been "futzing" around with his new Operating System, and probably screwed up some connection some where...but anyway after all his kicking and screaming I finally fixed it. So I did something that I thought I would never do in my entire life...I organized my pictures on my computer....yes I was as equally shocked as you currently are now.
So since I have not been typing much with hospital duty and stupid group projects, I thought I would share a few things that I found in my Picture folders. Some of these things might be a bit shocking, so brace yourself.

Here is a bat video from when we visited Boracay.




This is what happens when you mix Manila heat with Redhorse... (this is not me, it's my cousin)
Teenage love gone weird...





Who the hell was taking this pic?






To be continued tomorrow, my internet is waaaaay too slow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!

Hello 2008. It's me, Karen. How will you treat me this year? What New Year's resolution shall I make? Well, I will make my usual "Im going to lose weight down to 120lbs". Last year that did not sound so realistic, but this year I think I can do it. In the past 2 months I already lost 10lbs. Eating during the holidays are not exactly helping me much, but I am only human.

For Christmas we went to Sagada again. We love it there. We went with a bunch of our Persian friends and my sister, Kate. We had so much fun, and did things that I can honestly say I have never done before. We went caving and trekking. Even though I was scared out of my mind, I still managed to keep my cool. There were several times where I could not keep my composure as a lady. I fell knee deep in mud, and almost lost my shoes while I swore up and down not only in English but Tagalog as well ( you always learn the bad words first). I tried to ignore the fact that there were visible snails in the mud and where there are snails, there are parasites.

I used to think to myself when I was younger that I was not afraid of heights. Then when we came to the Philippines, I realized that I am nautiously afraid of heights. There was a point as I was walking across the rice terraces, I became dizzy. I kept picturing myself sprawled out on top of a bed of cabbage, piercing my sides. Would I sink into the mud? Would the frogs and snakes get me? As I walked a bit faster, trying to maintain my balance, the cabbages became a blur and I started to lose focus. And once you lose focus, there is no "stop one second I need to rest". It was more like "Oh shit, keep going, there is no way back and if I fall that's it for me..." And I didn't exactly like the idea of my death being amongst the cabbage.

Or even when we were in the caves. 1. if i fell, its a VERY long way down 2. It would be so much trouble for everyone to find my limp body and haul it up to the road. So all that I could really do is watch my slippery steps, and ignore the dizziness. I do have to say, for someone who is afraid of heights, I am still up for the challenge.

When I wasn't crying in my head, I enjoyed every minute of it. I had everyone all around me who understood my situation and did not make me feel like the big baby that I really am. I was assured that snakes did not live in the caves and there was nothing to fear in the dark. Supposedly, snakes can not survive in Sagada because of the cold. I wonder if they placed that in the brochures...

I never really believed in ghosts until I moved here. As a child, I am constantly trying to tell myself that there is no such thing. That if I pray to God, then they will not exist and leave me alone. Well let me tell you, they do exist. And all we can do is pray to God...for their souls. But I am not afraid of them. Even if you can not see them 100% of the time, they are there. They might pay you a visit when you are most volnurable. The other night, my sister and I were staying at my cousins house in manila. I've had a few minor encounters so I am thinking Sagada might have opened up my third eye a bit. During our stay there, we shared one room. I was sleeping on the right twin bed and she was sleeping on the left of me. We fell asleep at about 3am because both of us were packing. At about 4 am, I was absolutely startled and awoken. I saw that my sister was tickling my elbow. I said "why are you doing that? you scared me and woke me up." She just shrugged her shoulders. At the time, I had to use the restroom so I went downstairs to relieve myself. By the time I came back up, my sister was fast asleep. So I crawled into bed and drifted away to la la land.

The next morning, I asked her why she would do that? She's 21, and tickling my elbow is something a child would do. She replied "I never did that". Then my cousin began to explain that the house was haunted and that a child ghost lived on the stairs. He just didn't tell us because he thought we would freak out. The child ghost already chased away 3 previous tenants. But since an altar of the Baby Jesus was placed at the stairs, he hasn't appeared.

Like I mentioned earlier, I think Sagada has opened my third eye more. And some people say that if you have one experience, you will forever have many more. Here in baguio, we have a hotel named the Diplomat Hotel. People will go there just for fun...ghost hunting. They think nothing of it. But out of all the people I know who went there, they all continously see ghosts everyday. My friend Carol went there, and now she sees them everywhere. She says that she doesnt like coming to our house because she saw a ghost in the building downstairs, and also at our neighbors house. I believe her too, because I myself have had my own creepy experiences in this house.