Marco's a blue belter

Marco passed his Taekwondo promotion today, he is officially a blue belter.



Way to go Marco! I love you!

FILIPINO PRESS CLUB-UAE STATEMENT ON MAGUINDANAO MASSACRE

26 November 2009

We, the members of the Filipino Press Club–UAE, condemn in the strongest terms possible the brutal massacre on November 23, 2009 of 57 civilians, including women, lawyers and journalists, in Ampatuan town of Maguindanao province in the Philippines.

We join with the victims’ families in their time of mourning and hope the authorities will act without delay to give them justice.

We are one with the Filipino people in grieving for the fallen heroes on our country's darkest day in journalism.

We deeply ache for the senseless loss of our brothers and sisters in the profession in history’s largest single massacre of journalists ever.

This human disaster is a chilling reminder of how our country has become hostage to the triad of dynastic politics, graft and tribalism that feed off each other.

It is time to end the spiral of violence this triad has bred that has robbed our people of any hope for a brighter future.

We call on the Arroyo government to act with resolve and deal with these barbaric killings with great urgency.

The timing and determination the Manila government takes in bringing the murderers to account will be a test of the function -- or the dysfunction –- of the country’s democratic institutions.

We call on the Filipino people to muster the collective courage to root out this evil from our country.

We resolve that this evil act will not deter us from exercising our freedom of expression and of the press as many of our brothers and sisters in the profession have done against all odds.

Mabuhay ang Mamahayag na Pilipino!

Filipino Press Club-United Arab Emirates

Contact: Mariecar Jara-Puyod, President

Tel. +971-50-2091372

Leftover challenge

Today I put myself on house arrest. I've been told over and over again that I have to rest, so I decided not to go out. Not that it would help much, as when I'm home I tend to do more - have just done the laundry, a sketch, updated all my FB games and now catching up with friends (I know Gals, I should just turn off the computer!).

And I'm hungry.

Breakfast was my default buttered toast. And for a change, instead of my coffee lifeline, I switched to lemon and honey mint tea which I added with real lemon and honey. By 1pm I was hungry. There's more brown bread but I wanted something tastier to munch on. I only had a bagel for dinner last night and a yogurt for midnight snack.

And because I'm bored, I decided to ransack the ref and see what I can turn up with. (Note: this is a shared ref. I only have a handful of stuff in there.)


There's not much new stuff. Last I went to the grocery was Monday and I just bought plum and milk.

We had plenty of leftovers though.



Great chance to clean the ref at the same time.

1:56 pm. I pulled out the month-old adobo, 3-day old rice, gazillions-old chorizo, breathing-its-last bell pepper, catatonic carrot and old geezer baby carrots, a forgotten butter garlic 2-mushroom dish, an uninteresting overripe banana, a lone strawberry, and the plums I bought recently.

Not knowing whether the mushrooms had grown other relatives, I decided to chuck it out together with carrots that even wabbits would turn their noses up on. Chopped up some garlic and sauted everything, adding the rice last. Two pinches of ground pepper, a dash of salt and the fried rice is ready.



At the other pan, I reheated the adobo till the sauce dried up. It's Raq's cooking, a bit on the sour side not like the fantastic adobo by her mom but a good try (Raq's learning cooking in prep for her dream biz). I poured out the sauce and left it to dry up on its own over the pan.

That done I turned my attention to my drink. With so many goodness how old food being thrown together, I know I needed something fresh. I'm not one for overripe bananas so the solution is only a milk shake.



Add the lonesome strawberry for a little flavor and color, honey to sweeten, and of course ice and we're all set.

2:27 pm everything's ready. And I had my lunch.



Not the perfect fried rice or viand but not bad, not bad at all.

3:35 pm I finished the blog.

Now, I'm going to read Rose Madder.

Greek tragedy

I’ve been sick for the last week. Colds, sore throat – the usual, except it seems to be hanging on to me tightly this time. My body usually gets rids of these viruses within a day or two but this time round, it’s longer, it’s officially one week now and I still feel (and look) worse off.

While swimming in this fuzzy haze, the only good thing I was looking forward to was next week’s planned escapade to Athens. I’ve always wanted to visit Greece. As a kid, I have read most Greek mythologies years before it became required reading in school. In High School I took on the pseudonym Apollo whenever I entered drawing competitions.

I usually travel alone, if lucky with a friend, like my last European trip when Ena joined me. A number of our friends chided us that we did not even invite them – so when Ens and I was planning Greece, we invited everybody. The group came up to 11 people, all members of UPAA-UAE, and we were all very excited. It’s the first time we’ll be taking a group tour together. And with the Eid holidays coming, the timing was just perfect.

Until, in the midst of my hazy, sniffling misery, while in bed at home, I received a barrage of calls all expressing their extreme disappointment. ALL ELEVEN of us got DENIED for Greek visas.

The official reason ticked off in Love’s denial form was “the information submitted regarding justification of the purpose and conditions of the intended stay was not reliable”.

What? Can’t still figure it out. All of us have stable, good-paying jobs. We had our bookings and travel insurances. Six are first timers to Europe (one is a baby) while the rest had travelled to Canada, Switzerland, the UK as well as other European, Middle East and Asian countries.

And we all got denied.

We arranged for a courier service to collect our passports – so we're still in suspense as to what reason will be ticked of in each one's denial letter. But the bottom line is – this sucks! When you're denied a visa (though this is my first denial in Europe and I've been there twice before), you're left with that feeling that you're not “good” enough. That they think you're only applying because you want to look for a job there. Well excuse me, I'm not about to sacrifice the job I love just to go cleaning in the seat of ruined civilizations.

But now that I think about it, I may consider calling on those three lovely, vengeful ladies called Erinnyes, better known as the Furies, for the slight. That would be fun.

So, we have all crossed of Greece in our bucket lists. There are many other countries to see! Will not be recommending Greece to anyone and I highly doubt that the other 10 members of our group will have anything good to say about it any time soon.

Now we’re tying to get refunds for our hotel and flight bookings which we have all paid for. As of Ens' last update, we may be allowed to use it within a choice of four other destinations which includes Jordan. Well, I’ve also always wanted to see Petra (Remember Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail? It's that massive temple that was carved from the mountain - in my mind, there's a similar setting in one of Trudi Canavan's trilogy 'Age of the Five'). Anybody interested?

Oh but not until next year, I’m saving up my energy now for my annual vacation home. That's another ironic thing in this application, they do not believe we'll come back? Most of us already have plans of going back home for vacations, three of us have paid return tickets to the Philippines in December! Ayayay.

Oh loveable Philippines, who spurns not, I’ll see you soon again.

In the meantime, we will probably find ourselves enjoying the lovely coast of Fujairah or Oman over the Eid break instead.

Epictetus said, “What concerns me is not the way things are, but rather the way people think things are.”

How apt.

Sunset at the beach

One of the things I love about my work is that there are a few days that I can get off work early, like when I came from a press conference yesterday.

And one of the things I love about Dubai is that you're almost always five minutes away from the beach all the time.

So, after Bang & Olufsen revealed their new HDTV that hangs on your wall just like a painting (more about that later), I scooted off to the Jumeirah Open Beach to exercise. The timing was perfect, it was only a little after 5pm when I got there, the sun was a golden orb about to dip in the sea. It was just lovely. I wish I had a proper camera with me.




I joined the queue of health buffs and finished my bit of exercise in an hour's time. I did about 3.5km of walk/jog - mostly walking and panting.

Lovely about Dubai, they made a jogger's and biker's path snaking in tandem along the seaside, but they're a good distance away from the actual beach. So you can enjoy the nice fresh breeze as well as the rubberized path.

Sigh... I think I just had a little too much breeze. Weather is changing and the wind was a bit cold when I got there. Combine it with perspiration and there you go, my tonsils and throat were hurting by evening. So today, I feel a bit miserable. Maybe I'm allergic to exercise...

Loy krathong - letting go

Loy Krathong is a traditional Thai festival that usually falls in November (the full moon of the 12th month of the Thai lunar calendar.

Through the enthusiastic efforts of the Dusit Hotel Dubai, the festival was also celebrated here last October 29 (Oh yea, what a late post - I really have a lot of catching up to do!). It was an entertaining night with traditional music and food.

But what made the celebration special is the ritual of letting go which was also replicated here. 'Loi' means 'to float' and the 'krathong' means 'raft'. During the real festival, people will release beautiful handmade rafts into the river, to let go to their grudges and anger, to be able to start anew.


They also said we can make a wish before setting our rafts afloat.

So with banana trunks and flowers specially imported from Thailand and fashioned into elaborately-designed Loy Krathong festival rafts, we reflected on our grudges, and our hopes, and let them float on the water.




The rafts had a candle each in the middle, and they said, the longer the candle burns, the more your wish will come true.



I will not post my wish here... but I do hope they come true.

*pictures taken with phone cam

Thinking of home

Thinking of home means thinking of my vacation, thinking of the people I will meet, the shopping I need to do, the activities with my pampangkins, the food I want to eat.

I am always ticking off an imaginary list whenever I'm driving. It's mostly the time when my mind is free to wander.

Activities I want to do with my pampangkins:
1. Learn ice skating
2. Learn rollerblading
3. Camping

What I want to eat:
1. Kuya's sinigang na baka and chicken curry
2. Ninang's leche flan
3. Good Sheperd's Ube Yam
4. Bulalo and deep fried tawilis in Tagaytay
5. Danny's Grill's grilled squid
6. Sizzler rooftop's sisig (I wonder if it's still there)

Only a month and a few days to go! If I think of the time before my vacation then I wish I can speed it up, but if I think of the work I need to finish before that time then I want to slow it down. But accelerating it seems more fun!

Christmas in the air

It's that time of the year again, when I can forget for a few moments that I am in Dubai as I cruise along, windows down, the cool air touching my cheeks and hair blowing around my head.

The sun is shining straight down, blinding me. For a few seconds I am transported at the peak of the mountain. Cool air. Welcome sun. A freshness in the air.

I inhale deeply and miss home.

I drive on and the bowed, dust-covered foliage along the road reminds of the tall, ever green trees back home. I think of the grass that covers the ground. The sweat on my forehead as I look up, putting a foot forward to reach the top. Again, that fresh, leafy scent in the air.

My mind plays tricks. The playgrounds of my past appear around me. I look around and everything is familiar. People and places I've missed.

Christmas is just a few days away. My trip back home nearly here. But my heart is already there.

Direct donations to the Philippines

Just got a call from Albert Alba (UPAA-UAE), evidently, people are still calling his number to coordinate typhoon donations. The UPAA-UAE efforts to collect donations is now over. So, I'm going to take the mobile numbers down in earlier posts.

I am not aware of any more activities to collect donations. But you can still donate directly to organizations in the Philippines who will disseminate collection as they see fit, just click on the links below:

Unicef Philippines

Red Cross Philippines

Kapuso Foundation

ABS-CBS Foundation

Please consider financial donations. I know many are worried that if they donate money, it may not reach the intended recipients. But these are trustworthy organizations and we have to have faith. Consider too that there are a lot of logistics involved in sending goods: shipping costs more money and there are customs details that needs to be passed.