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!