Rey's Blog

Apag Marangle

2009-07-05T20:31:00.007+08:00

I haven't seen it before so I figured I'll watch Bruce Willis in Live Free or Die Hard, the 2007 movie and fourth in the Die Hard franchise. It's actually an excellent movie with pretty cool special effects. Babel was on last night on cable but since I have the DVD, I figured I can just watch it here in my home theater. I picked out some of my favorite scenes because I just watched it recently, can't remember if it was in California or Japan. I never get tired of watching this movie.

And since the King of Pop just passed away recently, I just had to watch his Greatest Hits Video History. I'm surprised to see Wesley Snipes on Bad and Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson on a John Singleton directed Egyptian fantasy music video Remember the Time.

Yesterday, I got a text message from friend Alan saying he and his wife Neneng will treat us for lunch if we're available. So of course I said, "Sure!" They picked us up before noon and they took us to this restaurant in Bacolor called Apag Marangle located on the Olongapo-Gapan Highway. We've seen this restaurant before on our way to and from Guagua but we haven't bothered pulling over to actually eat there. They said they had lunch here before on their way home from Subic.

When we went to Laguna, March of last year, Manny and Chi, friends of Pareng Vir took us to a restaurant in Los Banos called Kamayan sa Palaisdaan. Apag Marangle and Kamayan have the same theme but the bahay kubos of the latter are actually on rafts floating on the ponds.

Apag Marangle's menu consist of mostly typical Capampangan dishes. I ordered some crispy mole crickets (kamaru) and they're actually pretty good, much better than the usual dish it's served. Can you say EXOTIC?

I also ordered pinakbet and Neneng and Alan ordered pork and chicken asado as well as some liyampo which is basically fried pork belly.

Before we finished lunch, the owner dropped by our kubo and asked us how it was and we told her it's actually pretty good. After such favorable comment, we were immediately given discount cards - just business cards really, with the owner's initials. The only problem was the heat and the humidity. They created artificial rain on the roof of the kubos but that helped very little.

Alan and Neneng went on vacation in the US recently and they told us all about their trip and we told them of our trip and somehow the weather was forgotten with such good company. Alan couldn't stop talking about the hospitable and extremely warm reception they experienced courtesy of our fellow JASHSians on the East Coast (Ras, Gene, Angel, Arthur and Lito) and California (my LA group led by Ed Sale).

Incidentally, our house guests, Cong Paing and Atching Let gathered their stuff and moved out yesterday to go to her sister's place in Dolores. They went ahead and re-bought the property they used to own from her sister in the UK and I think they started cleaning the place out before fully renovating it.

Next week, Donna's cousin Boy Dizon and his wife Remy along with daughter MaryJo are going to be here on vacation as well.

Unveiling of Governors' Portraits

2009-07-01T22:37:00.005+08:00

Back in May, when we left for the US, my brother Rafael (whom I affectionately call Cong Paing or Cong Raf, depending on the company) got commissioned to paint Pampanga governors' portraits. He's already done some several years ago and he was also tasked to restore those existing ones. He had to extend his stay to show some of his paintings at the Capitol. After finishing almost all of the portraits, he fell off a chair here and slightly injured his right elbow. His wife got so worried that she told him to go back to the US to have it examined. Fortunately, there was no serious injury aside from severe bruises to his arm around the elbow area.

When we came back last month, I got a frantic call from the capitol and I was told there will be an official unveiling ceremony June 30th and he MUST be there as the artist to deliver a short message about his works. Furthermore, he still needs to finish the one portrait that's missing from the lot.

In the mean time, he gave me a special power of attorney (SPA) to act in his behalf during the after-the-fact bidding process at the provincial capitol.

Long story short - he and his wife came the weekend before the ceremony with the finished portrait of the one governor and a new portrait of Gov. Ed Panlilio.

We arrived the day of the unveiling around 3 o'clock Tuesday afternoon. I took my brother Naring from Masamat. We went straight to the provincial tourism office and seated right out of the office were Cong Paing, Atching Let, Andy Ramos and cousin Gil Mallari - another artist. I think Gil went out for a smoke when I took this picture.

We headed on out to the main capitol building at around 3:30 to register. When we got seated, another brother, Romy and his wife came. A minute before the ceremony started brother Orling arrived. So yes, all the Maniago brothers were present for this historical event.

The provincial choir started the program with the National Anthem, Himnong Capampangan and Ama Namin (Our Father).

After a short welcome speech by Vice Gov. Yeng Guiao, everyone was ushered upstairs for the formal unveiling.

A short biography was read of each governor while the portraits were shown one by one. It was pretty dramatic the way the portraits were unveiled. They invited relatives of the former governors to unveil the portraits and in the case of Gov. Estelito Mendoza, he himself showed up.

The staff of CKS (Center for Kapampangan Studies) were in full force: Erlinda Cruz, Myra, Arwin Lingat. Robby Tantingco can't get out of a meeting at HAU, however and didn't make it.

All through the ceremony, members of the press were taking all kinds of pictures, interviewing people here and there. Our friends Ruston Banal and girlfriend Rona Manalac were there as well, taking pictures.

Here is Cong Paing being interviewed by a reporter from ABS/CBN Pampanga.

Here is Cong Paing's message/poem entitled "Pawaga".

And here he is reading the biography of Gov. Ed Panlilio before they unveiled his portrait.

Gov Panlilio and Vice Gov Guiao presented him a certificate of appreciation. Afterwards, the governor delivered his closing speech and then we went to the Executive hall for some hors d'oeuvres and refreshments.

Since they didn't serve rice at the reception, a wee bit later we had to go to Dulang restaurant for some much needed rice meals.

DVD Movies, etc.

2009-06-30T10:52:00.006+08:00

My favorite room in the house is my music room, aka Entertainment room, aka home theater, aka Karaoke room, etc. In a couple of years, I've collected a number of DVD movies most of which I bought used or previously viewed from rental outlets whenever we go to the States. Some, I've inherited from Eph's collection when he switched from DVD to Blue Ray. Dan and Reg have also given me a couple of discs. Donna has also purchased a few from "dealers" (wink-wink) here around the area as well.

With the volume turned up so high, it's great to watch concert videos here. It's as if one's on the front row watching Arnel Pineda of Journey belting out their greatest hits.

When Pareng James and Mareng Celia came over on vacation from Hawaii, he noticed my collection and has mentioned that the swap meet at the Honolulu Stadium provides a good source of previously owned DVDs. So of course I gave him a list of the ones I want to have and as soon as they got back he prepared a package for me and sent them through his brother who went on vacation here recently. Not sure but I think he may still be here. Thanks a lot Pars, didn't realize you sent me that many. The last time we went to California last May, I also bought me a few more. I had to order me an extra DVD rack to fit everything. I now have a total of four racks.

We've been busy lately because Cong Paing and his wife Ate Let are back for the unveiling this afternoon of the Pampanga governors portraits that he was commissioned to do. But this past weekend I've started watching some of the movies I recently got, Nacho Libre (pretty funny Jack Black movie), among others but Pan's Labyrinth stands out. This is a 2006 film by renowned Mexican film maker Guillermo del Toro set in the 1940's during the reign of Spain's Franco. Little Spanish actress Ivana Baquero was really good in it. Great movie although a tad bit violent.

It's My Turn

2009-06-27T02:38:00.003+08:00

Note: Spoiler Alert
When you click on a movie link, be careful especially if it directs you to Wikipedia.com. This site usually tells the whole story. If you haven't seen the movie, DO NOT, I repeat, do not click on the Wikipedia movie link.

Yes, Donna's feeling much better. Me, however, well let me tell you my experience...
We watched the movie Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen the other day in one of the SM Clark theaters. I think it was the movie's first day and the theater was full so we ended up sitting on the 4th row. Big mistake. I would have enjoyed the movie more if we were seated at the back. That's the good news. The bad news?

Well, several years ago, we went and watched something (forgot what) at an IMAX theater. I came out of there feeling woozy. The same thing happened to me, only this time it was much worse. When I got home I was so sick I drank like a half a can of Diet 7Up to, hopefully, settle my stomach. Second big mistake of the day. I remember when I was really young we used to chew on and drink the juice of sugar cane. After a while you feel the liquid sloshing around in your stomach. But that was in a good way. This time the 7Up was sloshing around in my stomach IN A REALLY BAD WAY. I haven't felt this way since I was a sailor on the USS White Plains, in the middle of a storm.

Without going into sordid detail, I felt a little better after I tossed the 7Up. I was so sick, I skipped dinner. Yes, that's how sick I was because I never skip food, period!

Watching Denzel and John Travolta in their remake of Taking of Pelham 123 was a much better experience. The movie has been showing for a while so when we went, we sat way at the back, right below the projection box, to be exact.

I've always thought John Travolta plays a better bad guy.

Leda and her brood are coming tonight and are sleeping over and then tomorrow morning Cong Paing and Atching Let are coming from the US.

We're going to be busy!!

RIP
Michael Jackson

The Tale of the Latondans

2009-06-24T20:12:00.005+08:00

The other morning, I woke up to walk Indo out. In the past, whenever I go out to the garage and start to put on my shoes, he starts barking, anxious to walk out. This time he was quiet and he went back sniffing the van. I called him and he finally came over so I can leash him. I noticed he was limping a bit. It seems he's favoring his right front leg. He's just a bit under 10 years old. I pray it's not arthritis. I haven't walked him since because of the rain.

Donna gave me a scare the other night. She had a bout with the "up and down", sitting on the toilet and up-chucking. She had the same case a few years back when she went on vacation here. She got hospitalized after she arrived in the US. A couple of years ago, (or was that last year?) she had the same thing happened to her and our comadre, Dr. Santos had to make a special house call to check her out.

So yes she has a history. She's feeling better although she hasn't been eating full meals yet. Her diet consists of Sky Flakes and bananas.

Speaking of bananas, our latondans have been ripening on a much rapid rate than anticipated. So now I have to figure out a way on how to give them away. It'll be such a waste if they get spoiled from being too ripe. Between me and Donna, there's no way we can eat all of them.

One of my favorites here is the buko (young coconut) carved out from its shell.

I usually just eat it chilled then drink the juice. But today, Donna had this bright idea of putting it in a blender with milk and ice cubes. Result? Drink of the gods! Oh, yeah!!

Philippine Arrival June '09

2009-06-21T23:20:00.006+08:00

When we arrived here Saturday, June 13, Indo was so happy to see us, jumping and barking as if saying,

“Hey, you guys, where have you been?”

“I miss you so much!”

“It’s been a long time since I went walking! I’m getting tired of scattering my doo-doo all over the yard.”

“Come here and let me rub myself all over your legs for a minute.”

Indo’s video here.

As most Filipinos will tell you, there are two seasons here in the Philippines – wet and dry. It’s muddy, and rainy and muggy half of the year starting June and it’s hot and humid and dusty on another half. Well, that’s a bit of an extreme. We do have an in between sort of weather here during November through February, the mildest being late January and early February. So for those of you who’re planning on going on vacation, keep that in mind.

Anyway, the first few days when we arrived was a bit busy trying to straighten out the stuff from our luggage, making phone calls to make sure the things we brought for other people are distributed. And it was only raining during late afternoon and the night. The first day I was able to walk Indo was Monday morning and he basically doo-dooed three times! I felt so sorry for him. It’s as if he’s been holding it since we got here.

For the last few days it’s been raining off and on during the day and nights as well..

Donnie and Tess Yturralde

He was a former shipmate in Japan on the USS White Plains. Both are from Mabalacat, Pampanga. He and his wife Tess lived in the apartment unit above us at the Moriya Mansions in Yokosuka. I remember, he had a brother, Gener. He was also a sailor and was working part time back then at the base Navy Exchange. Donnie got off the ship before I did but he got transferred to shore duty at the NSD on base and when we passed by Yokosuka one last time on our way from vacation in the Philippines to my new duty station at NAS New Orleans during the late 70’s, we had the chance to stay with them for a couple of days. Donna told me Donnie and Tess extended her quite a bit of assistance when our ship got underway and I left her with two little babies. She remembers Donnie always tinkering with his yellow Ford Pinto and when it’s time to pick up Tess from Chase Manhattan on base where she works, the dang thing wouldn’t start!

When I got out of the service after New Orleans, we still had some contact with them, so much so that we visited them in their place in Vallejo, California where Donnie got transferred after Yokosuka. I think Donnie was already an SK1 by that time. A couple more Christmas cards after that and we’ve totally lost contact and I’ve been trying to look for them ever since. Someone mentioned that he got transferred to Guam.

The other night, Donna sent me a text message from the casino in Balibago and she said she was seated next to someone at the slot machines who resembled Tess so much that she asked her if her name was Tess.

The lady replied, “No, she’s my older sister. But how do you know her?” It turned out the lady’s name was Josie and that’s how she and Donna started a conversation. Josie and her husband, a former sailor himself, are in town because her mom passed away recently. They were stationed twice in Yokosuka as well. She even worked for the base MWR and our best friend Mary, who was an MWR financial supervisor, became her boss at one time. She had some explosive news for us. Gener has passed away and Donnie and Tess divorced a long time ago. Donnie retired from the Navy and is now living in Guam with a wife and a 20 year old kid and Tess resides in Fresno with her husband and an adopted kid. Josie promised Donna she’ll give our contact info to Tess the next time they talk.

Whenever I drive out, we leash Indo to the bench otherwise he'll go out and it's a bear to try and catch him. We did this even when we were living in Norwalk. Anyway, the other day, I called him and tied him to the bench, opened the gate, got in the van and started to drive out when I heard a thud. It was raining hard the night before and I drove over some flooded streets so I thought it was the brakes which got wet and somehow disengaged, thus the sound. But when I drove out, there was this metallic dragging sound that I couldn't figure out. So I stopped, got out and tried to look for whatever was creating the sound hoping there was nothing wrong with the van. The first thing I noticed - the bench where Indo was tied to was not where it used to be. I went around and found out he dragged it (probably running after a cat) towards the other side of the garage and broke its cast iron leg in the process. I don't know if I can get it welded, if not, well we'll just have to buy as a new bench.

I was surprised that we arrived from our vacation and the bananas in our backyard were still up on the tree albeit a bit bigger than when we left last April.

Yesterday, Ramiro, the gentleman who cuts our grass, harvested it for me. Two of the fruits were already starting to ripen to the point where they were busting out. I had to cut one out and throw it away because flies were all over it.

Here they are hanging on one of our bathrooms' sliding door frame waiting for them to fully ripen.

By the way, Eph got a new tattoo on his forearm in honor of his late son Elijah. It reads the same, right side up and upside down. Isn't that cool?

This is in addition to the one around his arm that says "maniago".

Last night, we attended the 18th birthday party of Rochelle. She's the daughter of one of our walking buddies here in Greenfields, Bong Dungao and his wife Recy. It was held in a function hall between Nepo Mart and Villa Theresa called Uni-Chef. Some of our neighbors and other walking buddies were in attendance; Bong Naguit and wife Rosalie, Jojo Naguit and wife Mymy, Mr. and Mrs. Joe Velez. She was beautiful in her gown. Bong Dungao's serenade of his daughter with Joshua Kadison's Beautiful in my Eyes was pretty cool. Sorry folks, forgot my camera - no pics.

Sayonara

2009-06-12T05:37:00.004+08:00

It's been a short two weeks in Yokosuka. I'll miss my sushi from Livin, the trips to Liquor Port and Seven Eleven, the ice cream at the Mini Stop, the cramped Moriya Mansion, our walks towards the beach, Manami's family and especially Manami and Reggie.

Reggie got home last night after putting in about ten hours at work. He started with, "Guys, we need to talk about tomorrow." He didn't find out until yesterday that he's able to take the day off today. And so of course it's too late to rent a car. Our luggage will not fit in the Airtrek, so we let him off the hook by saying it's ok if we take the train.

We didn't realize that it's not cheap to take the train either so what we ended up doing this morning was taking a cab to the train station at seven for the 7:28 train and having them accompany us till the Yokohama station.

I guess that time of the morning is the 'rush hour' on trains - can you say SARDINES?

After several stops, it took us around 45 minutes to get to Yokohama. We said our goodbyes before the train came. They helped us board the JR Narita Express (NEX) at around 8:30 and we took it from there. It wasn't too bad because after a couple of stops, the NEX dumps everyone right at the Narita airport and from her phone call last night, Manami had already found out that the EVA Air counter is located in Terminal 1. There are several luggage carts available at the train station.

At exactly 9:58, we were wheeling our luggage out into Terminal 1. The precision of train schedules in Japan is unbelievable. In my rush, I forgot my hat in the train, by the way.

I had a little incident at the security coming out of the station. I inserted my ticket, assumed the gate will open so I just pushed it open with my cart. A train cop had to tell Donna who's following me that she had to insert both Yokosuka/Yokohama and NEX tickets for the gate to open. Not sure if that was the reason but on our way up the escalator to the departures terminal of the airport, a couple of cops ran after us and said they needed to check our passports. They were both pretty nice though, asked us a few questions, took some notes and let us go.

All we had this morning with Reggie and Manami was toast and egg so when we arrived at the airport we were ready to eat again. I wouldn't have minded having sushi but it was terribly expensive so we ended up having some Chinese instead.

After the meal, we headed towards the EVA counter, waited a few minutes and checked-in. We were first in line, by the way. And yet it seems like we were the last to finish checking in because of our situation. We got questioned again on our extended stay in the Philippines since we're US passport holders. Donna had to explain to them it's allowed because we were born in the Philippines but they had to make sure by painstakingly looking it up in their manual. Donna asked them about our in-transit status in Taipei but they didn't know too much about it saying our having a confirmation number should be good enough. And then they almost wouldn't let us check in 3 pcs of luggage totaling 60 kg saying it's a Pacific flight but Donna argued we originally came from the US and Japan was basically just a long stop over of some sort for us. Somehow she convinced them.

The meals they served on the flight were pretty cool, literally. At least mine was. I chose fish and it came in a seemingly gift wrapped box.

Donna had the boring chicken. :-)

I'm happy cause I was able to finish the movie Departures. Rent it Reg, it's a good one. You can understand Japanese anyway so it doesn't matter if the DVD rental doesn't have any English subtitles.

We arrived here at Taoyuan Airport on schedule and a gentleman with our names on a white board was waiting for us by the EVA counter.

Donna had a heck of a time explaining to them that her credit card should have been charged for our room already. But she ended up paying $85 at the counter and we finally got out of there after almost half an hour of discussion.

We found out that the Evergreen is an in-transit hotel owned by EVA Airlines and it's actually located in the terminal building so we didn't even have to go out of the airport and it's here that I'm posting this right now. We already have our wake up call tomorrow for our 9 am flight to Manila. Ok, I'll have to go now so we can have dinner.

We arrived at the Taoyuan International at around 5 pm so after checking in and dinner, we had plenty of time to walk around the terminal checking out the various displays.

June 13, 2009
Finally, here's our plane to Manila!!

Japan '09 - Misc part 4

2009-06-11T10:03:00.002+08:00

It's a bit embarassing to admit but we're a family of snorers. Reggie almost always sleeps before everyone, whenever his back touches something - a couch, the floor, a futon - he's knocked out. That's why we can hear him snore and usually Donna follows suit and she snores and then it's me. According to Manami we all have our own unique 'sound'. Apparently, I have my lips flapping around when I exhale, to the amusement of everybody when Manami told us. Surprisingly, she does not snore.

Yes, this is how small their apartment is over here.

Yesterday, after Reggie has unwound a bit, we walked towards the Yokosuka Chuo train station where we were supposed to meet Manami's parents, Masukazu and Tamiko. When we arrived at Gonta restaurant, they were already waiting for us.

The first thing I noticed when we got seated at the table was a peanut in each place setting. Donna and I were wondering if we were supposed to eat it, how come there's only one. Then Manami explained it's there as a chopstick rest but it can still be eaten later.

Dinner was great as usual and the Karaoke session afterwards was even better.

Both Manami's parents sang a couple of Japanese songs and her Mom did a fairly decent version of a Carpenters song although she spoke very little English. Manami sang a Japanese song as well. I'm surprised I was able to sing in spite of my cough which hasn't completely gone away. Two glasses of iced tea helped cool down my throat in between Bed of Roses and Faithfully. Of course, Donna did her ohako (favorite Karaoke song) Top of the World and Torn Between Two Lovers.

A little before nine, we had to call it a night and said goodbye to Masuchan and Tamichan - they have to work in the morning. We walked with them towards the train station and bid our Sayonara promising to see each other again in the future.

Karaoke was a bit short so Reggie got a hold of his old friends Ryo and his wife Minako. I met them during my last visit in Japan in 2006.

After Manami's parents have gone into the train station, the four of us walked towards town and we went to a basement venue with Karaoke booths. Ryo and Minako were already there waiting. They remembered me from 2006. After paying for one hour, we headed to our booth. Luckily the drinks were free and I ordered my usual iced tea. It felt great to be able to sing again. Reggie just had to hear me sing Nowhere Man again with Ryo singing harmony. Ryo didn't disappoint with Billy Joel's Honesty and like Minachan, he spoke a couple of English words. He also backed Reggie up with Woman. Here is Manami singing the song "Sayonara No Mukougawa" with Ryo. It didn't feel like it but the phone rang, the front desk telling us it's been an hour so I had Reggie ask for another half hour extension.

With the half hour extension over, we had the prerequisite group pictures and the 10 minute goodbyes.

When we got home, Donna opened up the goodbye presento from Tamichan - more souvenir sembei.

Japan '09 - Misc Part 3

2009-06-09T10:57:00.012+08:00

When we lived here in the late 70's, there was no five-minute-walk to Livin, no Liquor Port down the corner and no Seven Eleven across the street. Nowadays it's so convenient with these stores so close to Moriya Mansion. But yesterday, my housemates got all sushi'd out so they ordered some Chinese. I found it a bit strange that the food got delivered in its own china.

Manami said if we leave the dishes out the door, they will be picked up in a day or so not unlike room service. And talk about food delivery, we ordered pizza a couple of days ago. It wasn't cheap but it was the greatest thin crusted pizza I've had in a while.

Remember I mentioned how good watermelon is around here albeit a tad expensive? Well, we were at the Livin grocery today and I thought I'd take a few pictures as proof. Here are some watermelons and just to give you an idea, the current exchange rate is 94 yen for every dollar. So these watermelons are roughly over $14 EACH! And that's like 700 pesos. Heck, they sell three watermelons for 100 pesos in the Philippines!

Go check out these peaches, a whopping $7.50 each.

So those of you living in the good ol' US of A, stop whining and be thankful with what you've got!

I almost forgot to mention, however, there are certain times of the day in Livin (like lunch and around 8 pm) that sushi and some tempura get to be on sale.

I sent my niece Jack an eMail a couple of days ago to try to make arrangements for Carding to pick us up from the airport this Saturday and today I received her reply saying that he's been notified. Thanks, Jack.

And talk about eMail, I was chatting with Sherwin yesterday and he sent me a link on the brand new website to his travel agency. Pardon the shameless plug but take a peek at Kairos Travel for your travel and touring needs.

Now I'm not sure if it was the cough syrup with codeine or the Vicks on the soles of my feet but I'm actually feeling much better. I had like a total of 3 cough attacks today.

WooHoo! Karaoke, here I come!

I'm not quite sure what got into Donna but she's been cooking like crazy over here. And she's been showing Manami how to cook all these Filipino dishes: adobo, arroz caldo, paradadas, nilaga, bistig, etc. Tomorrow, she's planning on cooking sinigang and bulalo. I think it was mostly Manami who cooked the adobo we brought to Mio's house last Sunday.

We haven't had the chance to go inside the base to do our laundry so I've done a couple of loads up here and have been hanging up our clothes outside to dry.

As soon as Reggie got home from work this afternoon, we went to an Ikea like furniture store called Nitori and they showed us the furnitures they ordered for their new place in Sasebo. They've also been eyeing these cool lamps that surprisingly are made in the Philippines which we probably could get for a much cheaper price back home.

Tomorrow we have another (and maybe the last) dinner date with Manami's parents. And perhaps Karaoke later, if I'm lucky?

Japan '09 - Misc Part 2

2009-06-08T17:42:00.002+08:00

I developed this cough before we left California last month. My allergies got worse and it became a cold. I was a bit nervous at the Narita airport while we were filling out those paperwork regarding the Swine Flu, afraid that I'll break out into a coughing fit and end up being quarantined.

Well, it hasn't gone away. In fact, for some reason it got worse yesterday. After dinner last night, we dropped by Livin because Reggie and Manami ordered some drapes and rug and they got me a bottle of cough syrup with codeine. Let's get high!!

A while back I read this article on line about some home remedies and one of them was rubbing Vicks vaporub ointment on the soles of the feet, put on socks before going to sleep to get rid of whooping cough and such. So guess what, Manami has a small bottle of Vicks and I had Donna do it to my feet. Lo and behold I slept mostly through the night and didn't cough again till I woke up this morning.

If I can get rid of it by Thursday, I'll be ok. I don't want to get quarantined in Taipei and we're spending Friday night there. Yikes - I'll cross my fingers. I'll have to wait till we get home for Karaoke I guess.

Today, Reggie's friend picked up their sofa. They've started cleaning the apartment a bit. Donna is helping them pack their shoes right now.

Japan - Day Ten

2009-06-07T12:32:00.005+08:00

Yesterday, Manami made a couple of phone calls and found out there'll be a ten o'clock mass at nearby Mikasa Catholic Church today.

At almost nine this morning we got up to get ready for church. Donna and I started walking at around 9:30 towards church. It's been a while so there were a couple of moments there where we were a bit disoriented but fortunately we found the church right on time.

In 2006 when friend Nasty took me to Baguio, I went to church where the mass was celebrated purely in Ilocano and when we were in Europe, the few times we went to church outside the base in Rota, it was said in Spanish. Although it's celebrated in different languages, the Catholic mass ritual is basically the same all over the world.

So today it was no different although it was in Japanese. A nice lady noticed our predicament and handed us a pamphlet of the Sunday Missal in Japanese (Kanji), Japanese in Roman letters, English and Latin. I was even able to follow some of the songs in Japanese. Here is the Profession of Faith (The Creed) in Japanese.

When we arrived home Manami informed us that the movers have delivered the packing boxes for their move to Sasebo so we started boxing up some of the stuff they have around the house.

Wedding Dinner - Part 2

A little bit after four, Manami's cousin Mio came and picked us up for dinner at their house. Mio's dad, Yoshitaka is Manami's uncle, her mom's brother. When we arrived, Manami's parents, brother and his family were already there. Reggie had to work really early this morning so he's able to take off early enough and he joined us for dinner a bit later.

Here's Mio at the back along with Hana and Manami while seated in front from left to right is Mio's mom Mieko, her dad Yoshitaka Takahashi and Reggie.

Mio's mom Mieko prepared so much food as well. It's as if they were expecting 50 guests!

I think Reggie's lucky with Manami's extended family who're all so good to him and love him so much and treat him as family.

Saying goodbye was kind of tough since this'll probably be the last time we'll see them since we're leaving Friday.

Japan '09 - Misc Part 1

2009-06-04T11:12:00.019+08:00

I had my first exciting Japanese adventure all by myself today. Donna was fixing lunch but found out we won't have enough so I got tasked into going to Liquor Port, the corner store to get a can of corned beef.

So of course I asked Manami what to do. She told me to ask, "Corned beef ari masuka?" which means "Do you have corned beef?" And I'm proud to say I know how to say "Excuse me" (Sumima sen which gets shortened to Sima sen).

The first clerk I asked "Sima sen corned beef ari masuka?" gave me a reply, "Corn beefu?". Suffice it to say that my trip was a success!

Manami has been complaining to Reggie that since we arrived, her stomach is always full and she feels stuffed all the time. Reg told her she doesn't have to eat everytime we eat but I guess she likes to see us eat so she always eats with us. Like tonight, we went back to the ramen shop, Tajima Ya, for dinner and we came out of there with our bellies full of yummy noodles.

Reg's DSL is pretty fast that's why I've been hogging his laptop whenever we're home and it's given me plenty of time to update my blog and surf the Web. I've been a fan of YouTube.com for a couple of years now and I've watched Arnel Pineda playing with his band The Zoo, before he got recruited by Neal Schon. During my YouTube surfing, I've encountered quite a bit of videos that have since become my favorites.

1. fargenbastich - here's a guy who plays strictly by ear and he has a fairly decent singing voice. He sings a slew of Beatles songs, and a bunch of songs by classic rockers from Boston to Rush to Eagles, among others.

2. Jerry C - he's a young Chinese guy who created a rock arrangement of Pachelbel 's classical composition of Canon in D Major sometimes used as a wedding march. There's now possibly hundreds of other guys who plays his arrangement and modified it a bit to fit their own style.

3. Sungha Jung - there's all kinds of guitar protege on YouTube but I think this Korean teenager stands out with his solo guitar playing.

And speaking of YouTube, I've been bragging to people on how fluent Reggie is now at Japanese, it's unbelievable, and here is a sample of what I'm talking about.

He started working again since Thursday so we haven't been doing much. Donna and I have gone out a couple of mornings and walked towards the beach and dropped by Livin a couple of times.

We didn't walk this morning because: a) it was raining and, b) for some reason we're able to watch a live broadcast of the first game between the Lakers and the Magic on cable wherein the former just smothered the latter with a whopping 100 over 75.

We've also been watching a lot of DVDs and movies on cable: Michael Moore's Sicko, The Prestige, Robin Hood, Juno, a two disc DVD Japanese movie called Always and a number of other movies some of which I've already seen before but are still cool to watch again.

Reggie and Manami have contacted a couple of movers for quotes and they've decided to go with one charging them $2100 to move their household and their car from Yokosuka to Sasebo. Their stuff will be picked up on June 18 and they'll fly to Sasebo around June 22. I think Reggie's last day at Chili's Yokosuka is June 21. The movers are delivering packing boxes to the apartment tomorrow or Sunday so we can start boxing some of their stuff up.

Along the same lines, we have been sleeping here in their apartment and it's a bit cramped. Nido sent me an eMail asking, "So are you sleeping in boxes?" The answer is no, we're not. We're sleeping on a couple of futons in the kitchen and they're sleeping on futons in the living room.

And talk about eMails, our travel agent Tita sent me an eMail and said she's received confirmation on our hotel reservation in Taipei for our flight layover on June 12. Come to think of it, we'll only be staying here for a week and then we'll be home.

Japan - Day Five, Enoshima Island

2009-06-02T18:22:00.010+08:00

For some reason, jet lag this time wasn't too bad. I think we slept well enough during our first night and didn't wake up at dawn like usual probably due to the really long and turbulent flight from the US.

We woke up before lunch today to get ready for our trip to Enoshima Island. Around noon before we got to the island, we had lunch at Natural Table buffet by Kamakura Beach. I think Robert and Mary have taken us here during one of our previous visits.

ENOSHIMA ISLAND

We've been to several tourist spots when Robert and Mary lived here but somehow we've never been to Enoshima Island. It's connected by a bridge from Kamakura and the views are a photographer's mecca. Fortunately, the weather fully cooperated.

We climbed up three flights of stairs and an escalator to the top of the hill. We then rode the elevator towards the top of Enoshima (Temboudai) Observation lighthouse.

As per Japanese tradition, before going up to the shrine, devotees are made to wash their hands and rinse their mouths as a form of cleansing.

There are several shops selling food and souvenirs. We tried the tako sembei, which is basically octopus in batter pressed dry and cooked and turns out to taste like octopus flavored rice cracker.

We also took quite a few pictures in the island's gorgeous botanical gardens.

Towards the top of the hill, there's a huge tree which serves as a wishing well (wishing tree? ema in Japanese) where people hang up little boards with wishes written on them. So of course, I had to hang one of my own wishing the newlyweds a happy and prosperous life. Reggie put up one of theirs too.

There's also this huge ring (chi gaya) where we noticed people go through a few times over. Manami explained it as a way of atonement - one trip through for every offense.

For some reason, there are several cats all over the area.

Japan - Day Four, The Wedding

2009-06-01T15:15:00.009+08:00

We woke up early to get ready for the big day. Reggie broke out the iron and the ironing board so our shirts can be ironed. When we arrived at the city hall, Manami was already there waiting. It took us over an hour for them to finish the whole thing, filling and straightening out all necessary paperwork.

We found out a Japanese civil wedding is way different from US or even Philippine civil weddings. There was no judge or mayor present. It's basically between the bride, the groom and any city hall clerk available.

Everyone's starved by the time they finished. The newly married couple took us to this sushi restaurant named Sushi Ro with three (or was it four?) conveyors always turning with plates of sushi. It was basically a sensory overload for me. I was in sushi (hog) heaven! When we were done, I had 14, count them FOURTEEN, empty plates in front of me!

I even had me a piece of whale bacon, can you believe it?

In the afternoon we took a train ride to meet Manami's parents who're treating us for dinner at Anzuno Hana restaurant with a seven course meal. When we got off the station, we found her parents already waiting for us. We walked a bit to get to the restaurant. It was one of those fancy Japanese restaurant complete with privacy walls and all. The food was great, for me anyway. Donna couldn't handle the sashimi so Reggie and I split her share.

Reggie and Manami put on the platinum wedding rings on each other after we finished dinner with toasts, best wishes and congratulations from the proud and happy parents.

We all rode on the same train back home but Manami's parents got off on the first stop.
Although we've had dessert, we had to do the inevitable stop at the neighborhood ice cream shop.

Japan - Day Three

2009-05-31T08:09:00.010+08:00

Reggie took off fairly early this morning to have his car washed. At around 9:30 he was downstairs and we were ready to go. He dropped us off outside the gate and then we went inside and he acquired some passes for us. We then went and drove around the base, took a few pictures till it's time for him to drop us off to church for the 11 am mass.

The restaurant is located where the old Seaside Club was and it's considered to be the biggest of the Chili's in the world. We had a nice lunch of soup and salad not wanting to fill up because of the early dinner with Manami's family. Reggie introduced us to everyone including his boss Dave, an Ivy Leaguer from an affluent Taiwanese family.

We went back to Moriya afterwards and kicked back for a little bit. A few minutes after we headed on out towards Manami's parents' home. After some really warm greetings, we went inside and we immediately felt at home despite the obvious language barrier. With Manami and her sister-in- Michiko translating, it didn't pose any problem whatsoever. I was able to practice my extremely limited Nippongo of "Haji ne maste!", thanks to Manami, which translates to "Nice to meet you".

They then started taking out Manami's Mom's spread of sashimi, huge balls of rice, etc. I think they've been forewarned of my fondness to Japanese cuisine.

We brought our leftover chicken adobo that Donna cooked the day before and it turned out to be a great hit with everyone. Manami's brother liked it so much he almost finished the whole dish!

BEFORE

AFTER

For dessert we had a huge tray of fruit and these fish looking thingies with sweet beans inside called taiyaki. The way Michiko explained it is that their name resembles 'celebrate' so anytime there's a gathering to celebrate something - in this case Manami and Reg's upcoming wedding, they're served for dessert.

Donna got a necklace for a presento from Manami's Mom Tamiya and we got some rice crackers with 'Congratulations' on one big one and 'Reggie' and 'Manami' on two smaller ones.

After some group picture taking, we bid goodbye promising to see each other for dinner tomorrow after the wedding. Manami had to stay behind saying at the wedding day, it's tradition for a bride to come from the home she grew up in. She'll have to meet us at the Yokosuka city hall tomorrow.

Below is the whole family: seated from left to right, Manami's Mom Tamiko with baby Ayumi on her lap, Manami, Donna, Rey, Manami's Dad Masukazu, standing from left to right, Manami's sister-in-law Michiko, daughter Hana, Manami's brother Yasuyuki and Reggie.

But before going home, we dropped by this ice cream shop and I thought it's weird that one of the dishes in the menu is called halo-halo, a mixture of sweet stuff in shaved ice. Sounds familiar?

Japan - Day Two

2009-05-30T06:44:00.005+08:00

Reggie got home from work at almost midnight last night. Manami fixed him a quick dinner, he scarfed it down, and slept afterwards while watching some movie on cable.

Donna and I woke up early this morning. She went back to sleep, but I couldn't so I updated my blog. Reggie woke up around 9 and got ready for work. When he left, the three of us went to Livin to pick up some lunch. They have all kinds of sushi and sashimi in bento boxes. Donna also got some chicken to cook adobo for dinner.

After lunch we went out and walked around downtown Yokosuka. We went to the familiar department stores Seiyu and Saikaya.

I mentioned I started watching the Japanese movie Departures on the plane but didn't get to finish it. Manami has heard of it and said we may rent the DVD later. It's about a cellist who lost his job when the Tokyo orchestra he was playing in got dissolved and he got hired in as an undertaker after moving into his rural ancestral home.

Japan - Day One

2009-05-29T17:42:00.011+08:00

At a little past 9 Dan took us to the airport after a delicious dinner of chicken tinola, the last dish cooked by Donna in La Mirada. Dan crammed our suitcases in his rental Avenger. We ended up taking one large, one medium and one small suitcases with a backpack for a carry on. I try not to think how we're going to lug around these 4 pieces of luggage in the trains.

Our check in process at the EVA Air counter went perfectly smooth. The flight from LAX to Taipei was another story however. We encountered air turbulence for almost an hour with the Boeing 777-300 tossing and turning as if we're on Six Flags Magic Mountain's Viper. Donna and I got sick enough to skip and turn down our last flight meal. I'm surprised she didn't toss her previous meal. I guess the motion sickness pill she took before boarding helped a bit. The flight was long enough though that I was still able to watch Paul Blart - Mall Cop, The Reader, Milk and the end of that Japanese movie K-20 which I didn't get to finish on our way to California last time. We got hungry when we arrived in Taipei so we had us some nice and hot chicken noodle soup. The flight from Taipei to Narita was much smoother.

Since we came from the US, we had to fill out extra paperwork for the Narita quarantine area regarding the Swine Flu breakout. Manami was already waiting outside customs after we picked up our luggage from the conveyor.

I've been worrying about our luggage but it really wasn't too bad. The first train from Narita to Funabashi had a section for luggage storage and the trains to Aoto and Yokosuka stations had room enough for us to sit down with our luggage in front of us. At around 5:45 pm, we arrived in Yokosuka, then took a cab to their apartment at Moriya Mansion.

After kicking back a few minutes - carrying the suitcases up to the 4th floor was a bear, we walked down to nearby Tajima Ya Restaurant and had our first fill of authentic Japanese ramen.

Eph's Pre Birthday Bash

2009-05-28T05:55:00.005+08:00

Eph's 32nd birthday will be on Friday the 29th but since Donna and I are leaving early Thursday morning and have to check in Wednesday night it was decided that we'll be celebrating early by having dinner at Ten Ten Restaurant on Pioneer in Artesia.

Emy couldn't make it because she was working and Nido was sleeping because he's going to work but everyone else was there: Jun and Rose, Dan, Genessee and friend Joon, Romar, Rachel and of course the celebrant, Eph. We had quite a bit of leftover, Dan probably wouldn't have to eat out for the next few days.

After dinner Mareng Malou and our god son Jarvie met us outside the restaurant. We're surprised on how big Jarvie has grown. I guess he should be, because he's now a junior at Whitney. Mareng Malou sent her regards to Reggie and Manami with an envelope for their upcoming wedding.

Japan Trip - Part 3

2009-05-28T02:47:00.003+08:00

We got a call this morning from EVA Air. They changed our Narita to Taipei flight on June 12 for an earlier one. They further informed us that we cannot stay overnight at the Taipei terminal. You see, originally we were supposed to arrive there from Narita at around 10 at night of June 12 but our flight to Manila won't be till the next morning. But they told us there's a curfew in the terminal. So right now our agent is trying to book us a reservation for a night's stay at a nearby hotel.

I was chatting with Reggie on AIM and he said his boss, who's from Taiwan, would pick us up if he's there but he'll likely be in Sasebo at the time. Oh well..

..and the saga continues.

Japan Trip - Part 2

2009-05-24T00:00:00.005+08:00

I've told people that in my experience where in I've had problems which felt as if the whole world was on my shoulders but in the end, things always work out somehow. As evidenced per my last blog, Donna and I were starting to lose sleep over the issue of our booking confirmations. However, the day after I posted that blog, a rep from EVA Air called first thing in the morning saying our flights have all been confirmed!

Truth be told, I don't really have any right to complain what with all the blessings that we continuously receive. We had the cool chance to retire at age 53, we're now in California and we'll be leaving for Japan tomorrow!

Is that cool or what??

We're checking in tomorrow Wednesday night since our flight will be at around 1 am Thursday morning. We'll be arriving in Taipei on Friday morning of the 29th and we'll be in Narita at around 1 pm. Manami should be waiting for us at the airport. Reggie couldn't be there, he had to work. We'll end up riding the train that's why we're trying our best to travel light as much as we can. Donna had already packed two door-to-door boxes so we don't have to lug all kinds of luggage around and pay so much for storage at the Narita airport. Yes, Donna, bless her heart, as usual is packing for the both of us. This time I sort of have an excuse. My allergies turned to a severe chest cold and I was miserable during our last night in Las Vegas. Oh, didn't I mention we were in Las Vegas for the Memorial Day weekend? There were a lot of people taking advantage of the long weekend in spite of the on going economic crisis. We had the chance to watch Terminator - Salvation at the movie theaters at the Orleans. The only downside with our Las Vegas stay - Donna's team, the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets by a lot!

So, yes our luggage and accommodation issues are just really minor things at this time. Reggie was saying the apartment is packed with stuff so there might not be enough room for us but I figured how hard is it to make room for us. We're not that big!

By the way, another catch to our trip - we have a really long layover in Taipei before our flight to Manila on June 13. We'll arrive in Taipei on the night of June 12 but our flight to Manila won't be till 9 the next morning. When we were in Europe we spent the night at the Madrid airport TWICE! So we figured, hey no biggie, Taipei should be no different.

I guess I'll have to post Eph's pre-birthday dinner blog and pictures when we get to Japan.

JAPAN, HERE WE COME!

Japan Trip - Part 1

2009-05-21T23:54:00.001+08:00

My stress level is on an all time high right now. Let me paint you a quick scenario.

When we arrived here last month, we tried to have our travel agent arrange for our trip to Japan then back to the Philippines. Reg and Manami has scheduled their wedding on June 1st. So we had our agent book us for a flight from LAX to Japan on May 28 which is ONE WEEK from now. The problem was that Northwest is too expensive and JAL don't have any round trip tickets available for one year. But she said EVA Air does have flights to Tokyo. The catch - we have to stop over in Taipei first. So we said ok, that's fine and then we'll fly back to the Philippines from Japan via Taipei again. And here is where it gets sticky. She's having a hard time getting confirmations for the Taipei-Japan and Japan-Taipei legs of the trip. A few days ago the Taipei-Japan got confirmed but we're still on a waiting list for the Japan-Taipei. Now you know why I'm sort of stressed. We've looked at possible options and Plan Bs, one of which is to fly to Japan then wait there. This way we at least would be there for the wedding. The other option is to fly straight to the Philippines and then get round trip tickets from the Philippines to Japan. Either way, we'll be spending more money than we can afford.

We talked with Reggie this morning and he suggested a plan C of some sort - fly to Japan at a much later date and go with them to Sasebo. This will be great for them. We can help them move and arrange stuff in their new apartment. The problem with that is: a) we will miss their June 1st wedding which Reggie by the way doesn't think is a big deal since it's just a civil wedding; b) our agent totally forbade us to travel to Japan in June, there are some outrageously expensive summer fares.

..and the teleserye continues!

Various Happenings - US '09

2009-05-21T11:35:00.000+08:00

Thank goodness for the Internet! As you can guess, one major way for me to alleviate my boredom is going on line. Thanks to friend Deo Co as well, since he saved my WD external drive and digicam, I'm able to access and upload my pictures into Flickr.com which then allowed me to download them into my blogs. And I'm almost caught up! Woo Hoo!!

I've also been trying to get caught up with all my eMails, chatting with everyone on line through YM and Facebook. A certain niece of mine had some really, deeply personal stuff that she brought up with me and I think it was a huge load off her chest. I'm honored and grateful that she chose me as "the only person I can talk with about these things."

Eph picked us up yesterday from La Mirada and we went to visit Elijah together. We then went and got us some El Pollo Loco for dinner at their place in Long Beach. They were watching the first game between the Lakers and the Nuggets while I was blogging. The Lakers won, by the way, in a really close game. I think they were only up by one point.

Speaking of Elijah, since we got here, Donna and I have made it a point to try and visit his grave site everyday at Forest Lawn in Cypress. We figured since we pray the rosary every night, we might as well do it while we're over there. I feel that it's helped us a lot deal with our grief and continuous healing. One of the days we missed was when we got there around 6:30 pm not realizing the gate to the grounds closes daily at 6. So now we see to it that, if we're here, we leave the house by 5:30.

The beautiful bronze grave marker that Rach and Eph specially ordered has been installed. They went and waxed it recently and when we visited we always wipe the water spots off it from the regular grounds irrigation by Forest Lawn.

We've also seen a few movies while we're here. The first one I watched was Hugh Jackman's Wolverine. The critics didn't care for it too much but I liked it. I've stopped listening to critics a while back. Star Trek was great! Like I noted over on Facebook, I'm not a Trekkie but this one was good and I think it'll be one of those movies that'll be really cool to watch in my home theater. I thought Angels and Demons was better than The Da Vinci Code. It's plot was a little easier to follow. And Donna kept on hitting me with her elbows whenever she recognizes a scene in Rome that we've visited when we were there in 2007. We took Emy with us when we watched the chic movie Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.

We're going to be in Las Vegas this weekend so who knows what we're going to be watching next. Terminator maybe? Night at the Museum, perhaps?

My birthday and our anniversary was pretty quiet this year with a dinner at CPK. Everyone came including Dan's friend Sue. Nido ended up picking the tab I think because, according to him "It was my birthday on April 26."

For Mother's Day we had dinner over at Rach's parents' home in Norwalk. The Moms got some presents from Rachel.

Whenever we come over here, Donna takes it upon herself to tackle some kind of project around the house. I think, the first time she helped Nido with painting some of the interior walls of the house and last year, it's the retaining wall by the street outside their lawn. I'm really surprised that no one has tagged it with any graffiti.

When we got here, Emy was on medical leave due to her recent gall bladder surgery. And she told us we have to help her and Nido clean out their garage. I'm sorry I don't have a before-and-after picture. Just trust me when I say that Nido can now park his Camry in it whereas before you can't even park a Matchbox car in it!!

Several days ago, someone hit the Avalon while it was parked on the street of the apartment where Dan lives. It was a hit and run so the insurance has to cover it.

It was towed to a body shop recommended by the insurance. Dan is currently driving a white Dodge Avenger, one of those American generic small cars mostly found in fleets of rental car companies.

Unfortunately the Avalon got hit in such a way that the axle and perhaps even the chassis was damaged. The repair estimate the body shop gave the insurance was more than the value of the car, bought in 2000 with a little less than 120,000 miles. The obvious result - the insurance declared the car a total wreck. So now we're in the process of trying to decide what to do with the money they'll give us which is hardly enough to buy a decent used car and nowhere near enough to buy a new car.

Last Sunday May 17 was a pretty hectic day for us. After church we immediately headed to a hotel in Pomona to attend Arcel's Mom's (Imang Mer) 75th birthday. Donna was one of the major sponsors during Arcel and Evelyn's wedding several years ago. They have their daughter Nicki and twins AJ and CJ. Nicki is now a pretty 16 year old and the twins have grown so big we hardly recognized them.

We had to eat and run out of there because we had a scheduled meeting with our JASHS Class '70 USA group at 2 pm in Nestor and Daisy's place in La Mirada. It was good to see my ever active LA group: Ed and Odette, Bert, Elaine with hubby Gene, Rey and Josie with son Ryan, Alice and EJ, Boy and Remy and Maryjo. Imelda and Dan came a bit later. There was a lot of food although we agreed it will only be for meryenda. Daisy prepared some delicious fresh lumpia and Odette brought her scrumptious sampelut!

I reported about the classroom we're adopting at PHS. We also talked about the coming 40th Anniversary celebration in 2010. As previously voted on, we all agreed that we'll have it on Saturday, February 6, 2010. We were able to sell all the PHS Sentenaryu Souvenir Programs that we brought. It's too bad we weren't able to take all 15 with us because each book weighs 4 lbs so we had to leave 5 behind. Boy and Remy are going on vacation in the Philippines next month so his copy will be waiting at our house. Ed took Mon's two copies, 1 for him and 1 for his mother-in-law, Mrs. Santos. By the way, we'll be visiting Mon at their place on Friday evening.

I don't know what came over me but the only picture I took was of Josie's grandson EJ!

My god daughter Stacy (Nestor and Glo's daughter) had a work related trip to Palm Springs the day after so she booked her flight one day early to see us. Emy picked up some fish tacos and we had dinner here at home.

Various Happenings '09 - Philippines Part 2

2009-05-20T14:19:00.005+08:00

The first week of March, Jack's friend Remy was talking to me and said she couldn't figure out what to give her for her birthday on March 11. During our brainstorming it was agreed that she'll surprise her with a birthday dinner at Fortune's, a famous Chinese restaurant in San Fernando. I don't remember now what ruse Jack's husband Jake told her but I guess it worked since she was pretty surprised when she came in. I did tell you Jake married her in a civil wedding recently didn't I? They're scheduled to have a church wedding in December.

Edmund and Donna used to work together at Davita Dialysis. He retired in the Philippines as well, a year or so after she did. We got a call from him from Angeles City. He's in town and is scouting for rice distributors. He deals in rice from Cagayan and he was asking Donna if she's interested to be one. She politely declined and invited him for lunch instead. Here he is when he visited March 14.

Former San Jose-Panlumacan Elementary School classmate Erlinda Simeon went on vacation in the Philippines from Italy because her mother was ill. She's married to an Italian gentleman. By the way, she's Albon's aunt - his Dad's sister. A lot of us haven't seen her in a while so I figured I'll organize a get-together. It was agreed that we'll do it March 28 in Greenfields. They brought a bunch of food, we had lunch and they sang Karaoke. It was quite an enjoyable reunion. Most of the people who attended the reunion last year came but this time they were able to invite Isidro Salalila, who's on a work break from the Middle East and Carmelita (forgot her last name), one of the twins.

We also talked about helping out the school somewhat. A week or so later I talked with the principal and he was requesting help in getting the walkway from the school's gate paved. He said they have to put sandbags on it during the rainy season for the kids to walk on. I told him I'll see what I can do which reminds me, I have to contact former classmates from abroad and solicit some funds.

Cong Paing and Atching Let went on vacation in the Philippines last month. They're still over there right now actually. I had to borrow Atching Pie's pick up truck to pick them up from the airport because they came on a Tuesday and the Innova is banned to be driven on Tuesdays in Manila. We dropped off a bunch of their luggage in their condo in Pasay. We then went to our house in Greenfields. He's in the Philippines on business and to finish the portraits of Pampanga's former Governors, among other things. He went with me during one of my morning walks and he got all hyped up upon seeing all the tropical fruits in people's yards and around the neighborhood. He took a bunch of pictures and said he'll paint some of them. I don't know whether he's done any yet. See if you'll be able to identify all of them below.

We took them on a 'piligrimage' to the Monasterio. Incidentally, Alyce's Mom passed away so she and her daughter Jane came from London. The funeral was over so we took them with us to the Monasterio. Alyce has told Jane about the previous trip with us when we went with Pareng James and Mareng Sella. We dropped by the Shrine in Capas as well.

As you know, Cong Paing and I are advocates of the Capampangan language and are both members of the Internet org ANASI, short for Academya ning Amanung Sisuan International. Fellow advocates from Sasmuan Tony Pena, Carlos Castro and his niece Maritess Mercado Evangelista (great grand daughter of the great Capampangan poet Don Monico Mercado) one of the newest recruit in the fold, visited Cong Paing and they entertained each other with some Capampangan poetry readings some of which I video taped but has yet to upload into YouTube.

Doret’s daughters Ann and April both graduated from nursing at the Angeles University on March 21 and he celebrated with a dinner at Fortune's in Balibago. Of course most of the Greenfields Joggers Club were invited.

On April 5, we went to Mike and Ayrin's place in Dau for dinner. His oldest daughter Nicole graduated from elementary and it was also a despedida for him. He left sometime later to go back to QE2 as a merchant sailor.

Various Happenings '09 - Philippines Part 1

2009-05-17T15:25:00.016+08:00

When we arrived back home last February, we found our euphorbias infested with bugs chomping away on the leaves. Here are the nasty looking critters.

We immediately ran to Ace Hardware in the mall and picked up some chemicals to control them. I mixed it up with water as soon as we got home and sprayed the worms and I think it was pretty effective, haven't seen anymore after that.

I also noticed the threads on one of the faucets that I hook the water hose on to were missing and there's no way I can water the lawn on that side of the yard this way.

So I went and bought a replacement faucet. While I was unscrewing the old faucet, it broke off with the threaded piece still in the PVC on the wall. I had to use an old screw driver to take it off. After it came off I just screwed the new faucet onto the PVC. Success! I'm going to be a handyman yet!

When Donna bought the paint for the house at Home Depot in 2006, she was told that Behr was her best bet because it withstands weather with high humidity. So that's what she got but for some reason there's a section at the back of our house where the paint seemed to have faded. Last year, she got 4 gallons of the stuff and she started painting the outside of the house.

Later on she also painted the posts as well as the front metal fence. I told her to hire someone to do it, especially the fence since it's going to involve some detailed work but her stubborn streak won out in that argument.

Last year Emy and Nido took us to China Town in downtown LA. They bought these strange looking fruits called cherimoya. They tasted like a cross of guwayabano and atis back home. I even brought several seeds with me to try and grow them in the Philippines. There were already three of them that sprouted some leaves right before we left. Doret gave us a few anunas fruits and these are similar to atis except they have less seeds. Then it dawned on me that they resemble cherimoyas the most. Sorry, don't have pictures of cherimoyas - they are not cheap! But here are the anunas fruits below.

On February 6, my niece Jane and her husband Jake visited us in Greenfields along with their new baby daughter as well as grand niece Fel (big with child) and husband Albon and Jane's sister Ivy.

Former high school classmate Bert Franco and wife Merlyn had the housewarming for the house they had built at nearby Lakeshore last February. It was a two story structure with a small swimming pool at the back. Sitting right next to the lake, it's on a prime location in the subdivision.

The day after, February 8 was Leda's b'day so we headed on out to Muntinglupa to celebrate it with her.

Can you tell why we have such a hard time losing weight over there in spite of the daily morning walks?

Anyway, I've told you I got rid of the decorative banana variety I planted at the back of the house because it was growing wild on me. They have a nice and cute pink blossom but they don't really bear any fruits.

Doret gave me a shoot of his latundan variety and I planted it where the decorative variety was. Latundan is a common table banana and it looked like this when I planted it last year.

Its ripe fruits look like these.

When we came back from the US this year it has really grown with shoots of its own and lo and behold - a huge blossom!

After a few weeks the fruits started sprouting and much later I had to cut off the blossoms to make room for the fruits to grow.

They weren't quite ripe yet when we left last April. Doret was teasing me since we're gone, he'll harvest them for us and will tell us how sweet they were when we come back!

On February 25 we had Father Sito celebrate mass at the house for Elijah's 40th day. During the mass I sang the two songs that I sang during Elijah's funeral service in Forest Lawn last January. I totally lost it while I was reading Eph's letter. Father Sito told me afterwards, "I didn't think you'll be able to finish it."

We had some food catered and Donna invited friends and relatives to join us for lunch after the mass.

Jess (James) Mamangun

2009-05-17T14:32:00.011+08:00

I once read that swimming may very well be the best workout but not everyone has access to a swimming pool so the next best thing is bicycling but then again not everyone owns a bike. So I've decided that walking IS BY FAR the best workout because all one practically needs is a decent pair of legs!

I'm psyched cause I walked again last Saturday and one time around the part and two times around the lake are basically equal to my 4K walk (roughly one hour) around Greenfields. Lucky me, no allergy symptoms afterwards.

Anyway, back to the blog at hand.
In December of '75, I and Jesus (James) Mamangun (one of us three Kapampangans, I believe) plus 20 or so Navy (Subic Bay) recruits flew from Clark Air Force Bay to San Francisco International airport. We stayed a day or so over at Treasure Island connecting the Bay Bridge. Later on we flew to the Naval Recruit Training Center in San Diego. I failed the swim test so I got assigned to company 334 while James and the rest of the swim test passers went to company 333. We parted ways after boot camp and got stationed to different destinations.

After my three year stint as an SK (that's storekeeper for you landlubbers) at the USS White Plains homeported in Yokosuka, Japan (where Reggie would be born), I got transferred to NAS New Orleans. Eph and Reg were barely toddlers then. All of a sudden, here comes Mess Specialist Third Class (MS3 or was he an MS2 by then?) Mamangun, his wife Sella, daughter Michelle and a baby on the way. Jeremy was born in New Orleans got Christened and I was one of the godfathers.

Thirty months in New Orleans and I was ready to get out of the service while Pareng James received orders to report to a ship in San Diego. We drove in our Toyota Corolla hatchback, towing a U Haul from New Orleans to San Diego. With four adults and four kids cooped up in the small car, a few friends warned us not to do it saying we won't be talking to each other by the time we get to San Diego. We didn't listen of course. The drive took us three days and we arrived in San Diego closer than when we left New Orleans.

Life went on with me as a civilian working for Goodrich while Pareng James continued and would put in a total of 30 years in the Navy retiring in Hawaii as an E9 - MSMC (Master Chief Petty Officer) the highest rank to be had as an enlisted. Unfortunately he got diagnosed with an early stage of prostate cancer which, thank goodness, is now in remission and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) which necessitates for him to breath with the help of an oxygen tank when engaging in semi strenuous activities. That's the bad news. The good news - due to his ailments, he receives all kinds of benefits in addition to his Navy pension.

Michelle is now married and newly pregnant and has gotten a degree in social work while our godson Jeremy is a full fledged RN.

Pare, I took the liberty of borrowing your pictures for my blog.

Last March, Pareng James and Mareng Sella visited us in Sindalan. By the way, I found out that friend and former high school class mate Tonette Magtoto Gomez is Mareng Sella's first cousin. Pareng James hooked up with several of their former elementary and high school classmates in Minalin and had several reunions one of which was held at the Bale Capampangan restaurant in Dolores after which they proceeded to our house and had an enjoyable Karaoke session.

We took them all over the place: several trips to Minalin, the Monasterio de Tarlac in the town of San Jose, The National Shrine in Capas, Subic, Candaba and we even took them to have some halo-halo at Jurado's in Arayat. Friend and classmate Alyce Violeta Vazquez was in the country at the time to attend to her ill mother and to give herself a break, we took her with us to the Monasterio.

Pareng James was able to play kwaho with Donna and Leda when my sister-in-law visited one day.

They stayed with us most of the days they were in the Philippines which gave us a chance to reminisce on the good old days in the Navy. Pareng James told us so many stories that by the time they left for Hawaii, it's as if I never got out of the service!