NEWS BITES ON A RAINY DAY

ulan
Originally uploaded by msgorgeous.

It’s a dreary Thursday today. It was raining so hard when we woke up, and the wind was quite strong, (for Sydney standards). I had to take Diego to school on foot, since Edge had taken the car to office (oh yes, and I don’t have a license yet!). Now that would have been fine, but then I also had to lug Luis along (since we don’t have yayas here!) (Duls! I miss you!). So Diego was late (again) for school today because we had to wait for the rain to stop. Of course, that didn’t happen but we went anyway at 9:30 am when the rain was reduced to a drizzle. When Luis and I got back home, our raincoats were soaking wet! Planning and logistics are so complicated here in Australia when you have kids!

Good news for us! We finally have a microwave! Christine and Philip gave us their old one, which is still in very fine condition. Edge and I are now microwave-crazy! Everything is much simpler now. Edge can heat his water for coffee in just 1 minute, Diego and I can cook our oatmeal in 90 seconds, we just pop in ham and hotdog and whatever else for breakfast, and best of all, reheating leftovers is a breeze! Whenever we are in the grocery, we can now look at all those dishes that are microwaveable. (Of course you can cook them on a stovetop, but really, life is much simpler when you have a microwave – especially when you don’t have people to cook for you). Thank you to the Berridges! You have made life much more bearable for us!

Tomorrow is Diego’s last day of school for Term 2 (parang second quarter), which means he has two weeks of vacation again, then it’s back to school on July 18. What do I do with him for two weeks??!! The good thing is, when Diego is alone (meaning, without his sidekick, Luis), he is very easy to take care of. I can even ask him to help me with household chores. In fact, his job at home is to set the dinner table. Anyway, there is a scheduled teachers’ strike tomorrow. The circular from the school said that classes will start at 11:15 am, but as I have observed is the Aussie way, it wasn’t stated as clearly as that. I had to go to the School Office today to ask what exactly the circular meant. The secretary told me that many students would not be coming in tomorrow anyway, since it is the last day of school, and all they will do is play games anyway. So she said, it was my decision if I wanted Diego to come in tomorrow or not. In other words, Wag mo nang papasukin! Poproblemahin lang naming iyan bukas!

I had my last pot session yesterday (Wednesday, 29 June) and Diego will have his on Saturday. (OK, it’s actually pottery, OK?) I have been so impatient with my class because they don’t really teach you anything, and it takes them forever to put your stuff in the kiln. I had my first session 10 weeks ago, and up to now, my very first project isn’t finished yet! I have glazed only two projects but they still need to go back into the kiln for a second firing. I have lots of stuff in the kiln right now and they tell me they will be ready for glazing by tomorrow. I may just drop by with Diego tomorrow, after we bring Luis to daycare. It’s funny here. Extra-curricular activities like these go on break when the schools go on break too. Shouldn’t these activities be around precisely when the kids are out of school? Minsan, ang labo talaga ng mga Aussie! Next term, Diego will try trampolining!

Why? Because he’s got too many clay Pokemon creatures in the kiln and I don’t have any more space to display them!

Edge has learned a new skill! He has learned the art of dying hair! He did a fine job with my hair, dying it an incandescent red. Actually, we agreed to share the bottle (siyempre, Pinoy, tipid!), but I didn’t do a very good job on his hair. Now, his hair just looks normal, with very faint streaks of light red when the light hits his hair. Mine is a bright red (compared to his), and he was the one who really wanted the incandescent red. Hiyang-hiya ako sa kanya! Anyway, Edge says that he now has a new career! Hair colorist!

PLEASE GOD!

Give me somebody to dance with
Give me somebody to show
Help me wake up in the morning to find
I have somewhere exciting to go

To have something that I can believe in
To have someone to be
Use me, choose me!

I really need this job
Please God I need this job
I've got to get this job!

-from A CHORUS LINE

It's been 4 weeks since my interview. They told me they'd get back to me in 4-6 weeks. I practically crawled my way to 4 weeks, I can't wait 2 weeks more! The suspense is killing me! My life has been on hold for the past 9 months. I have been in limbo, neither here nor there. It has brought me to the depths of depression and to the brink of insanity. I am also on the verge of incurable and irreversible laziness! No! That can't happen to workaholic obsessive compulsive me! No way! I have to get this job, because if I don't, I don't know of any other job that I can get.

I really need this job
Please God I need this job
I've got to get this job!

AUTUMN IN SYDNEY

MY BEAUTIFUL BOY

diego 1
Originally uploaded by msgorgeous.

I can't get over how handsome my son is. Sometimes I find myself staring at him in awe -- how did I get to have such a handsome boy? The first time I laid eyes on him in the delivery room, the first thought that crossed my mind was, "My baby is so handsome!" His skin was so white and his lips were so red. Much like Snow White! (How appropriate, because my titos and titas tell me that when I was around 4 years old, I insisted that everyone call me Snow White!)

My boy is growing up so fast. He is now 6 years old, and he tells me that he has a girl classmate who has been chasing after him, trying to kiss him. Oh no, this is the start. It's a good thing Diego is suplado. That should delay things a bit....


Until then, he says that I am the number one girl in his life (his Lola Mei is number two). I am so in love with my boy!

A VISIT WITH THE BERRIDGE FAMILY

Before Saying Goodbye
Originally uploaded by msgorgeous.

Today, 23 June 2005, it was our turn to visit the Berridges. They live in Allawah, near Sydney Airport, so it took us about an hour to get to their house. We had fun just talking about nothing in particular. We brought a pasta dish that Dadat Mutuc gave me some years back and Strawberry Cheesecake. Little did I know that Christine also prepared a pasta dish -- boing-bo-bo-boing noodles with bolognese sauce!

In the picture are Luis (my youngest son), Edge, Christine, David (Christine's 6 month old baby), Philip (Christine's husband) and Mary Jean (Christine's 2 year old daughter)

ME AND CHRISTINE, TOGETHER AGAIN!

Me and Christine Gonzales-Berridge
Originally uploaded by msgorgeous.

After 8 months in Australia, Christine and I finally saw each other face to face! We had talked on the phone quite a few times but we never got around to seeing each other. One reason was that she was having a difficult pregnancy and was ordered by her doctor to stay in bed.

Last January, she gave birth to David, her second, full term! Look at her picture, she doesn't look like she just gave birth! This was taken at my house last month, when she, her husband and children visited me at my house.

Tomorrow, June 23, it is the Gutierrezes' turn to visit the Berridges. I will post our pictures sometime after.

(Note : Christine was my co-teacher at Xavier. We became close because I used to ride home with her when I used to live in Loyola Heights.)

MISSING XAVIER

I honestly don't miss the Philippines. I don't miss my house in New Manila, I don't miss Power Plant. I don't miss the traffic. (I do miss Divisoria when I see the outrageous prices of clothes and other things here in Sydney!) But what I do miss terribly is Xavier.

I've been here for almost nine months now, and 75% of my dreams involved the Xavier building, my students, or my colleagues and friends at Xavier. In some dreams, I am back to work for a while, in others I am just passing through. But in all those dreams, I am happy to be there. Almost every day, I check the website, just to see what's going on. So I am very much updated about new appointments, new developments, etc. I even have an inkling of which of my students is undergoing a crisis, who is sick, who needs prayers. I am aware when there are no classes -- be it due to typhoon, public holiday, PTC, SGA, FDA, or whatever other reason. Isn't it obvious, I miss it so much?

The other day, Edge put on the VCD of the A-day celebration where he, Rey Aude, Jay Perez, Vanni Marte, and Alex Santos performed Mr. Suave. I felt a pinch in my heart because I knew that I couldn't just get up and go to the MPC. I can't just pick up the phone and call up my friends. I don't have that camaraderie that I found in Xavier.

Seeing the MPC made me recall the fun times I had with my Grade 6 students in their Bukas Palad nights, and when they went to Grade 7, their Ignatian Nights. I think that experience served as a bond for me and my other Grade 6 teammates. I was in Xavier for 10 years, but it was in that year that I made REALLY good friends, the kind I felt would last even across the miles. It also deepened my spiritual life and helped make me closer to God. I didn't know that the recollection's objectives were also applicable to the facilitators, and not only the participants. That was the best time of my teaching life.

I love chatting with my students on YM. I guess it makes me feel good to know that they still know me, and still care to talk to me. I die a little everytime one of them asks me when I am coming home.

I am not in a hurry to go home. I don't really need to go home, because my family just visited me a few months ago and they will all be back in December. There are a few people I would like to see again, but it does not cause me any heartache. But a month ago, I was reading an e-mail from Baby Sison-Simpliciano, who used to teach in Xavier and now lives in Melbourne. In it, she said that she was going to Manila at the end of May and that she would probably visit Xavier. Again, I felt that pinch in my heart. She tried to make me jealous by telling me she would have lots of Lapid's chicharon and Jollibee Chicken Joy with gravy, but what made me jealous was that she would get to go to Xavier.

When I do go home, I have a list of things I must do.

10. have a day of shopping in Divisoria

9. schedule a day at the parlor -- haircut, dye, pedicure, manicure, the works!

8. eat sisig at Congo Grille (I had a craving for that specific sisig the other day)

7. watch movies every night even if we have to pay

6. drink lots of calamansi juice -- enough to tide me over until the next time I come home

5. shop (again) at Bench, specially for underwear!

4. eat lots and lots and lots of Eva's cooking (turbo chicken, friend chicken, chicken curry, bok bok bok bok...)

3. visit Xavier High School (all my students would be high school by then)

2. visit Xavier Grade School faculty -- see all my friends!

1. party...party...party....with my Xavier friends

I MISS XAVIER! ! ! Need I say more?

BACK AGAIN

I haven't written anything in almost 3 months! I had lost interest but here I am again. Well, as of now, there are only 2 other people out there who know of this blog's existence so I guess I never felt any pressure to add anything to this. Besides, I don't really know yet what I want this blog to be. If I let this become my online journal, oh my gosh! Never mind. Just want to keep this up for now.