Holy crap...that last post was long !!

12/27/08

Side note: I haven't done any of my homework, except for the meiosis study guide. I'm doomed if I don't finish at least half of it...which is likely. Oh well.


This one's a bit shorter cuz it was boring day..

On Saturday, we were at the hotel...bored. Then we went to SM Mall. We ate at Max's restaurant. I was not full, but somehow, I didn't have any appetite left at the end. I had chicken, pancit canton (kinda like Chinese noodles), mango juice and nilagang baka with rice. This is pancit canton and nilagang baka (boiled beef):




My dad wanted to watch the movie Iskul Bukol in the mall, but we couldn't find where it was. So went to the adjacent mall, Starmall, to find it. They were smaller, and didn't have the movie. So we just went grocery shopping in the mall. Yes, they're in the mall. After that, we went back to the hotel. My aunt and uncle came for a little bit. Then my cousin Kuya Mac came and got us. We watched Iskul Bukol. I gotta admit...it wasn't the best movie. Let's just say I was forced to keep myself awake. It had some funny parts...but it...wasn't....great. :( Then, Kuya Mac, my brother and I took a taxi cab back to Cainta and slept there for the next day. It was a somewhat uneventful day.

My cousin caught me:



Word/Phrase of the Day: Ano ka ba? = Literally, what are you? But it's like "what's the matter with you?" when you're annoyed. Used often...but of course, my cousins say, "I'm a person". So then they get more annoying :)

Apparently Bhoomi likes reading

Since Bhoomi likes to whine...I'm just gonna post one. It's the only I finished. I was going to do it in chronological order, but whatever. So here it is:

We've been going places...and staying there for a long time. And there's no free wireless in the hotel yet, or a gym so I'm going to die when I get back to track.
So you'll get bored if I write everything on one blog, so I'm splitting it up by day.

On Sunday, we went to Tagaytay and Mall of Asia. We were supposed to leave at 6:30 a.m., but you know...we run in Filipino time. That's later. My parents slept at the hotel the night before, while I slept at my grandparent's house in Cainta. My cousins were there too. My brother and my cousin Kuya Mac-mac stayed at my other cousin's house. My brother, cousina and parents all got there around 6:45 a.m. I woke up at 5:45 and took a shower. I knew we weren't leaving on time. No one was awake when I woke up except for my aunt and my Lola and Lolo. I had 5 cousins in the house...still sleeping. I found it amusing that they were still sleeping. Kulit kasi. They actually woke up at 6:30 a.m. and they wanted to take a shower. Yeah right...Only 3 of them did. I don't know...I think we left around 8. We're so good at time management. :)
We just went to Tagaytay to have a picnic because it's a "cold" place. It was probably mid-60's there. It was just windy, not really cold-cold. Awww...I forgot to take pictures of the mass load of food that we brought. :( There was a TON of people there, and it was Sunday. But it IS vacation. There's still a ton of people everywhere. On the way, I saw this hill mountain thing. They were pinapple fields. And there was SOO much pinapples for sale on the side of the road. Literally all of the sellers by the road were selling pineapples. Some were selling other fruits, but most were just selling pineapples. I wondered how they could sell pinapples elbow-to-elbow. Do they all have the same price since the person next to them is also selling pineapples? My parents bought pineapples on the way back. I hate pineapples....

In the picnic grove, the first thing that we did was eat, of course. Then we went on the cable car. Some of my relatives went on the zipline. I was scared for riding the zipline because I thought I would throw up while riding it. It was a zipline where you had to be on your stomach, like Superman.




We went to the viewing deck multiple times. We saw the Taal volcano. It was a volcano in the water. The mouth of the volcano was above the water, while the rest of it was underwater.

It wasn't really a clear view. I wanted to take a boat there, but the water was to wavy. By the way, everytime we walk to the viewing deck, someone would ask if we wanted to ride a horse. We probably got asked about 10 times. My cousins and I told them different things everytime. We said:

No, we already rode the horse.
No, why don't YOU ride the horse?
No hablo espanol.
We don't ride horses. (in english)
No, horses are smelly.

Yeah, so we didn't ride the horse. Only my boy cousins and my brother rode the horse. It was for an hour. It's expensive. I mean, it's only $3 or $4, but here it's already expensive. Naturally, my dad paid for it, as he likes to spend a lot. These are two of my kulit cousins...Erwin and Yuji(bert)

After we were done, we stopped by the Mall of Asia. I think it's the biggest mall in Asia. Malls here have everything. They have an ice skating rink, movie theater, exhibits, arcades, ride and even a church. We got there at night, and the church literally had people sitting outside. It was really packed. This is the church at night..




Me and my cousins Camille and Ate Mylene went around the mall while my little cousins went ice skating. None of them really knew how to ice skate, but it was okay. At least for an hour, they can't complain. :) It's annoying when they're loud and complaining. I scold them when they're being bad, and they stop because they don't know me well and they get scared. :D

Outside the mall...

Also, on this day, I found out why I have brain power and can remember things very well and experience deja vu all the time. It's because I had a convulsion when I was one year old. The only thing left is for me to see ghosts :) haha

Word/Phrase of the day: KULIT = naughty/annoying

For example: My cousins are so kulit. That's why I scold them...

I hope Bhoomi is happy ;)

And merry freakin' new year to everyone! It's so weird celebrating new year 13 hours ahead..New Year is for another day. Maybe i'll even post an insane video of firecrackers

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiitttt

I don't have much time today...but I will update this some time. There's a lot to tell ;)

BYE

Simbang Gabi - Midnight Mass

It's around 11:30 a.m. here. My and my brother both slept in Lola and Lolo's house again, while my parents slept back in the hotel. I like sleeping here better. :) Last night...what did I do last night? Nothing....I think...I don't remember. Oh, we just stayed in here, and then waited in the hotel for my cousin, Kuya Mac-mac. (We call everyone older (but not much older) than us "Kuya" meaning brother) He's like 25 or something, and he came from Dumaguete. Yeah, so I went to the simbang gabi, which could also be called Misa de Gallo. Putting Wikipedia links reminds me of Mr. K...
Anyways...I woke up around 3:30 and went to the mass. It starts aat 4:30, but my Lola likes to get there early cuz it gets so packed. We went to the chapel, which I remember was just a building with pews. Now, it looks like a real church. It's got the big crucifixion, a nativity scene, pews, choir, etc. I was surprised by the amount of people that went. So many people went that some had to stand outside the chapel. You can do that because it's not a closed building. It was a long mass. I noticed that the priest talks slow...no, not like slow. Okay, in America, you could say "There's nothing wrong with buying a new car" in like a second. The priest says, "Wala naman mali sa pagbili ng bagong coche." That takes 5 seconds. I don't know. It's hard to describe. It's kinda like what Mr. K described the south as. They're slow cuz it's hot in the South. We didn't buy food after the mass. My Lola doesn't feel the need to. Christmas is near, and there'll be lots of food :)
I'm in the house still...my cousin Kuya Mac-mac and JM (another JM..not the hotwheels JM) also slept over. My cousins are so funny together. They talk a lot, so I'm now used to speaking Tagalog to them. I don't really have to think about what I'm gonna say much. See? It all comes back naturally. haha :) They all went to the computer shop to play CounterStrike or whatever the game is called. So I get the laptop to myself.

ROOOOSTER

I got 5 or 6 hours of sleep! Yay! But the rooster woke me up. I think the rooster is confused....it's supposed to start making noise around 6...it started like around 4. I ate sopas (macaroni soup w/ carrots, chicken and hotdog..not the american hotdog but a different one). Yep...I actually have morning Internet time :)
My Lola woke up around 3 to attend Simbang Gabi (midnight mass) for Christmas. I don't know why, but people go to to that everday until Christmas. Anyways, my grandpa forgot me again. I was sleeping and my grandma says, "That's martin (my brother) and pops". And my Lolo says, "Oh...then who's the other one?" meaning me....oh well. Sorry for the "short" blog posts :) This one's a bit long. Oh and by the way, I uploaded facebook pictures. YAY!

Word/Phrase of the Day: Swerte ko na! - I'm so lucky!! said by Lolo, referring to his lottery ticket :)

1 Hour of....Sleepp....zzzzzz

Sorry for the abrupt ending. I had to get off without warning. Haha. So anyways...I can't really say much about today. Except we arrived at 1:36 a.m. and got to the hotel around 2:30 a.m. We got about an hour of sleep...I need to sleep...I'm so tired. BUT I did get to ride a tricycle today! Yay! But first, let me tell you about my nephew named JM (not really my nephew, but we're all immediately related, if it makes sense to you). We brought LOTS of toys...like matchboxes, barbie dolls and hot wheels. JM has a hotwheels thing, but he also wanted the other toys. He wanted the Transformers robot thing, the air hog,some Hot Wheels motorcyle and other stuff like that. His dad wanted to confuse him more, so he started telling JM what each toy does. Obviously, the kid, who doesn't have all that may toys, wants all the toys, but he can't have them all, so he had to decide between the variety of choices. He found it really difficult to decided which one he should get. But in the end, he made a very smart choice. He chose the set of 10 Hot Wheel cars. So in essence, he really got 10 things. Smart boy. It made me happy cuz it made him happy. I can't wait until Christmas! This whole trip was a surprise, so went to my mom's parents first. They were very surprised. But my grandpa, who is 82 years old and can't hear very well, is a bit off. He thinks he's 86 years old. He said that he'd been dreaming to see his grandchildren on Christmas. He's good at predicting and telling "fortunes" and stuff. So now we're going to spend Christmas with them. :) He actually recognized my brother, but not me. My dad was telling him it was me, but I guess my grandpa couldn't understand. He was looking at me and squinting, trying to see and recognize me. Finally, he says, "Oh! It's Pops! (my nickname)" I had to laugh because I felt bad that he didn't recognize me. My grandma wasn't as surprised, I guess, and it's all thanks to me. I didn't know that it was supposed to be a surprise, so a month before, I told two of my cousins via the wonderful internet that we were coming. When I found out I was supposed to keep it a secret, I told them that we weren't coming anymore since the tickets were way too expensive. My grandpa believed it, but was skeptical. So anyways, we were then off to my dad's side relatives. My grandma, who we call Inang, stared at my brother for a second, then she realized that it was my brother from America. She started crying...she was happy, not sad. :) We stayed there for a while, and I was starting to doze off. One of my aunts and her family decided to take me and my brother to her house. She also wanted to show us the baptism of her oldest daughter, Rhen, since my brother was apparently her godfather. (It was ten years ago, and it's a custom to have many godparents...like a dozen pairs) My brother didn't realize that he was a godfather, so yeah. Now he knows. My cousins were so cute. They talked to us, asking us random questions like where did I get my shoes. I heard caroling nearby, but we had to go before they could get to us. Maybe some other time. Oh, and we went to and from the house in a tricycle owned by one of my uncles. It was fun and breezy. I want to see my cousins on my mom's side. I'm closer to them than my dad's side. I don't know most of their names because there are so many of them. Anyways, if I counted right, which I probably didn't, I have 15 cousins on my mom's side. That's not even half of the number of cousins on my dad's side. But yeah, I'm excited. I didn't have the energy to take pictures today, so I apologize. :( Most of the interesting things I saw where on the road, and we were moving, so it wasn't really ideal to take pictures. I saw lots of big, festive parols. It was awesome. I want one to hang IN my room. Tonight, we're sleeping at my Lola and Lolo's house, where my Tita Winna and her son Erwin also lives. There are 3 cats in here
Thanks for at least looking at this blog so that I feel like someone's actually misses me :)) haha. It's so nice to have a snow day. It's good for you and me since I'll only really miss 6 days. Yay! Was the snow fluffy and nice? Did someone attempt to make a luge track? That's so fun to ride, but I haven't done it in a while.
What's going on in US? You got an update in track Himali? How bout you nikki..*cough*cough* :)
I love you all and I misses you
Word/Phrase of the Day: Ligaya - Happiness
I'm so full of ligaya because someone sent me a box of chocolates.
*I owe you one more: nakakasuka - nauseous-feeling-inducing (adj) yeahhh
The gravy covered spaghetti is nakakasuka.

13 Hours of Torture

Hi. So I don't really have a lot of time today because of stupid Internet usage restrictions....

I'm in Philippines now. If you're wondering, the flights were less than pleasant.

I should've known. There were signs...



Immediately, we had a problem when we arrived at Bradley. My brother, apparently, was the only one going to Nagoya for a stopover. So the lady person had to fix the tickets, only she did it wrong. My mom and dad were set to sit in the same seat, but we didn't notice the mistake. So we were all ready to board, and the person boarding us couldn't scan our tickets because of the error. We felt like idiots standing there, holding up the line of tired, sleep-deprived people, while the scanner person uttered..bad...words. That was the beginning. That preceded the series of unfortunate events.

1) Flight attendant who hates us and can't keep her thoughts to herself.
2) A broken plane wing that delayed our boarding in Detroit.
3) A broken plane that can't be fixed on time.
4) A new plane that needed cleaning and catering.
5) That added up to a 2 1/2 hour delay.
6) A Japanese lady (who was wearing an interesting outfit)who hates ME, or the world, since she threw her pillow at the ground. I picked it up, tapped her on the shoulder, and gave the pillow to her, thinking that she'd dropped it. She threw it back farther in the back of the plane.
7) A toothbrush that sucked and stung my gums.
8) Uncomfortable seats.
9) 13 grueling hours from Detroit to Japan.
10) Lots of standing around in Nagoya, Japan.
11) Tired me in the hotel.

There's probably more complaints from me, but like I said, I can't say it all.

I can't put up pictures now, but I will later. We stopped over at Japan, and Kim and Syeda and other Japan fanatic people would like to hear that. :)) I have some pictures...but they're not that great. Oh, and by the way, I was in the plane going to Japan and I heard "Flavor of Life" by Utada Hikaru (or something like that). I was excited!! Cuz I actually knew that song.