Maligayang Pasko sa Inyong Lahat!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We're going home in 5 days! Yahooooooooooo!

CHRISTMASES ARE THE HARDEST TIME

This is already my third Christmas in Australia but this is the first time that I have felt the "Miss Kita Kung Christmas" feeling.

My first Christmas, I guess I was still feeling quite numb, and still quite bewildered I guess, so although I felt sad that year, I was not yearning for a Pinoy Christmas.

My second Christmas, Mom, Pop and Gogi were here, so there was no "Ang Disyembre ko ay malungkot" in the air. It was great -- we did all the usual stuff - we baked Abu's Christmas cookies on their first few days here. They brought the Christmas CDs that we used to listen to in our youth. Mom made lasagna for Noche Buena. It was just great.

And now, my third Christmas, here I am fighting off the Christmas blues. I think a lot of it also has to do with the fact that we are going home soon, but not soon enough. We won't be spending Christmas in Manila, but I guess if you think about it, December 25 isn't the actual day Christ was born. It was just a date designated by the church, right? Or whatever. Christmas is in the heart. Sabi nga nila, "araw-araw ay magiging Pasko lagi" or something to that effect.

But I am so glad to be going home. It is really time to go home. Time to face some of my demons. Time to face my angels as well. Time for a reality check. Now is the time for me to see where I really belong and where I want to go.

In the meantime....

Ang Disyembre ko ay malungkot....
pagka't miss kita...

Paskong sasapit di ko mapigil ang mangulila.....
Boo hoo hoo hooo!!!!!!

ha! Tama nang senti trip! Can't wait to go home!

STUFF

So many things happening of late.

Next Saturday, Edge and I will have our interview for citizenship. We were very surprised to get a call only 2 days after lodging our application. We lodged it online on Saturday, then got a call Monday morning. It seems Immigration has only recently decided to have Saturday interviews and we were lucky enough to get invited to attend one of these. So now we have to practice speaking "proper English" and we have to memorize the rights and privileges of an Australian citizen.

What is keeping us going right now is the thought of spending 4 weeks in Manila! Zip-a-dee-doo-dah! Yipeeeee! Whoooopeeeee! By a stroke of luck, I have just discovered that my high school barkada will all be in Manila at the same time as me! We were 4 in our barkada, and we live in 3 different continents. I am so glad I decided to come home, otherwise, I would have been the only one absent, and they might talk about me the whole time!!!

Gotta keep looking at the bright side of life.....

YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY...BABY!

Someone forwarded this to me. It is an article from HOUSEKEEPING MONTHLY dated 13 May 1955.

THE GOOD WIFE'S GUIDE

* Have dinner ready. Plan ahead, even the night before, to have a delicious meal ready, on time for his return. This is a way of letting him know that you have been thinking of him and are concerned about his needs. Most men are hungry when they come home and the prospect of a good meal is part of the warm welcome needed.

(okay, that's not too bad....)

* Prepare yourself. Take 15 mintues to rest so you'll be refreshed when he arrives. Touch up your make-up, put a ribbon in your hair and be fresh-looking. He has just been with a lot of work-weary people.

(If I face my husband with a ribbon in my hair he will laugh!

* Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and ONE OF YOUR DUTIES IS TO PROVIDE IT.

Just a LITTLE gay, you say?

* Over the cooler months of the year you should prepare and light a fire for him to unwind by. Your husband will feel he has reached a haven of reset and order, and it will give him a lift too. After all, CATERING FOR HIS COMFORT WILL PROVIDE YOU WITH IMMENSE PEROSNAL SATISFACTION.

* Prepare the children. Take a few minutes to wash the children's hands and faces, comb their hair and if necessary, change their clothes. They are little treasures and he would like to see them playing the part. Minimise all noise. At the time of his arrival, eliminate all noise of the washer, dryer or vacuum. Try to encourage the children to be quiet.

Shades of Captain Von Trapp prior to Fraulein Maria's arrival!

* Greet him with a warm smile and show sincerity in your desire to please him.

* Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first -- remember, HIS TOPICS OF CONVERSATION ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOURS.

I'm glad I was born when I as born.

* Make the evening his. Never complain if he comes home late or goes out to dinner, or other places of entertainment without you. Instead, try to understand his world of strain and pressure and his very real need to be at home and relax.

* Don't complain if he's late home for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through that day.

Oh the hardships of being a male!

* Arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice.

Hokey na ba 'to, dar-leng?

* Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO QUESTION HIM.

* A good wife always knows her place.

I am therefore not a good wife, and proud of it!

(Your Love's Put Me at the) TOP OF THE WORLD

If you go back and read my very first entry on my blog in March 2005, you will read there that Edge and I planned to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the occasion of our 10th wedding anniversary. I also said that climbing the bridge was one of the things I just HAD to do before I die. Well, we have done just that!

There were several times when I was deciding against doing the climb, not because I was scared to, but because it was a bit expensive, and I thought Edge was not that into it. I figured this was a pretty expensive thing to do for something you are not into. But Edge said he was game, and that we should do it. I also thought to myself, hey, it's your 10th year anniversary, live a little! Besides, Papa was here to take care of the boys while Edge and I went off to conquer the bridge, and Edge and I both found ourselves not having to go to work today, so what else could we ask for?





As you can see from the pictures, we had to wear these shapeless outfits that had lots of straps to attach numerous things to. We had to strap on caps, shades, our radio sets (for the tour guide's commentary), and, believe it or not, scuncis! I had to remove my own scunci, and wear their scunci, which was strapped to my outfit. Of course, their scunci was tiny and could not hold my hair tightly, which annoyed me for a little while, but I quickly recovered. We put on belts which had these little metal balls that attached to cables along the way. Although they were supposed to ensure our safety, I think it was more of a deterrent for us to wander off to places we had no business being anyway. Edge and I decided not to wear caps because a) we did not want to have hat hair and b) we did not want to cast a shadow on our faces when we had our picture taken!

The climb was not scary at all. If you look at the shape of the Harbour Bridge, the arc is not intimidating at all. It was a very leisurely climb, except for the first part where we had to climb up 3 sets of ladders that were almost at 90 degrees angles, and 3 sets of ladders at the same angle on our way back. Because of my asthma, and I guess my lack of a fitness regimen in my life, I was out of breath after climbing those ladders and I had to stop every so often to recover. Luckily, the pace was very relaxed as we were encouraged to savor the fresh air, appreciate the views and all the majesty of the Sydney Harbour.

It was simply breath-taking! (My breath was literally taken away too, but for different reasons already stated above! Hahaha!) Edge and I stood 300 feet above sea level and gazed at the Opera House, thinking, two years ago, we stood there and declared that we would climb this Bridge. At that time, it seemed like such a daunting task, but here we were, doing it. Two years ago, it seemed like a luxury because it costs quite a bit, but here we were, staring back at the place where we made that promise to ourselves. For me, the Bridge, MY Bridge, will serve as a reminder to me, that dreams are possible, and that money is meant to be spent on achieving those dreams. I do not want to let money ever get in the way of doing things that my family or I want to do.

When our guide declared that we had to start the trek down, Edge said he did not want to go down yet. I had mixed feelings. I loved the view, I loved just being up there, but my legs were wobbly and I was feeling very weak (I think it was because it was my 2nd day of "that time of the month" and because it was already 2:00 pm and we had not had our lunch) I just wanted to sit down. I felt like all my energy had been drained from me and I was running on the last minutes of my battery.

Don't get me wrong. It was all worth it! Worth the fatigue, worth the inconvenience of having my hair flying all over the place, worth every cent that we spent. But I seriously did not have much energy left for anything else after that, even after eating a heavy meal at Wagamama. We walked around the city a bit, but I was too tired even to do my favorite past time of shopping-shopping. And on the train, I slept.

On our first anniversary, Edge and I celebrated it at Enchanted Kingdom. I remember riding the ferris wheel, and when we were on the top, we looked out at the houses in the newly built subdivisions across the park. We asked ourselves, will we ever be able to afford one of those? We even visited the display homes that day just to see those houses we saw from the top of the ferris wheel. We fell in love with one moderately sized house, which to our dismay, cost P2.8 million. This is another one of our dreams, to buy our own house. And not just any house, but a nice one. Edge wants a pool. I want a nice kitchen. And a back yard for the children to play in. And yes, this is an expense that I'm willing to pay. No doubt about it. So, I think it is not too bad that 10 years later, although we still don't have that house that we were dreaming of, it is a definite possibility should we decide to stick it out here.

On my Multiply account, I joked that now that I had conquered the Bridge, I could now go home to Manila. But I just realized, there is still another Bridge for me to conquer, and that is to get that dream house that we want.

Could be.....who knows......?
It's only just out of reach
Down the block, on a beach
Under a tree
I got a feeling there's a miracle due
Gonna come true
Coming to me!

Who knows indeed!

GOD IS TRULY THE GREATEST ARTIST

I find that when I take pictures, I like to do as little with it as possible. I like to be unobtrusive and just catch that moment in time, without anyone knowing about it. I like to catch the light as it filters through the flower's petals. I guess you could say that I just like to record the masterpieces of the Greatest Artist of all.

At the Floriade festival in Canberra, there was so much of God's artwork all around. I kept gasping in awe with each turn I took. There were a million possible shots to take. There were many other photographers around as well, some with SLRs, DSLRs, instamatic cameras, camera phones, video cameras. It was simply beautiful.

I would like to share a few of the 300 pictures I took at the Floriade. Take a look at what took my breath away that day.

These are my personal favorites:

I have so many more pictures that I wish I could post but I realize that it would bore many of you to tears. But for those of you who want to see more of the Floriade and our trip to Canberra, you can check out my Multiply site.

God is great! God is good.

GANITO KAMI NOON, PAANO NA KAMI NGAYON? or something to that effect....

Two years ago today, we boarded an airplane and took a trip that changed our lives forever. In my previous entry I talked about the things that we have achieved this past year, but I thought it would be fun to have a visual display of the physical changes that each of us has undergone in the two years we have been here. So, are you all set to spot the differences?

Luis, in Manila, on September 25, 2004 the afternoon we left Manila. He was supposed to change into something less baduy, but in the last minute rush of things, he ended up wearing THIS outfit to the airport!



This is Luis today. The sunshine boy. He has grown so tall, has consistently filled up his cheeks, but not to the point of obesity. He has BIG FEET!



This is Diego, taken 2 days after we arrived in Sydney. We are on a train to Penrith, going there to apply for Medicare. He was a tiny little thing then, reed thin and extremely shy.



This is Diego, taken a few weeks ago. He is still payat, but his cheeks have filled up. I'd like to think his demeanor is more confident than 2 years ago. No longer extremely shy, just shy. But just as handsome as ever!



OK. This is me two years ago, many pounds lighter, etc. etc. etc.




These are me, 2 years later. Hair is much longer, eyebrows much less bushy, yes, a few (?) pounds heavier, and starting to be a bit daring...showing a bit of cleavage!



This is Edge, taken on the day we arrived in Sydney Airport.



Ummm....I don't see much difference...are you sure this was taken 2 years later?




These are the brothers. Picture on the left was taken at NAIA while we were waiting for our flight. The second one was taken a few days after we arrived, they were having one of their fights, which was actually a sign of the stress they were feeling over living in a totally new place where they did not know anyone. Wait...are you talking about the kids, or the parents? (I just love the one on the right! I love their expressions!)



This is them today, best buds, worst enemies. They just love playing together. I really believe they will grow up to be best friends. (Ang gagwapo ng mga anak ko!)



And...to end this photo essay, I finish with a picture of me and Edge. I don't think we look much older, but I sort of get the sense that we are more mature ( yes, I got all that from the picture!) We are happy, content to be together.

(I hope we still look good next year....I hope I don't put on more pounds!!!!!! AAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!! And life goes on.....)