Maluenda

He's my elementary classmate. I think he must be years older than me coz mga ulitawo na gud na sila Salposial ug Alex Cruan when we were in Grade 6. I only heard from him again in 2013 diay but nagsamok2 jud in late 2014. Naas military na daw sija ron, sundalo. Ingnan jud ko dayon ni Ingko Lopoz nga lisud ng sundalo kay dagha'g asawa. Mao. I had managed to forget him these past few years. But somehow napugos kog kontak niya coz our fellow elem classmate and my cousin, si Jojo Mantahinay asked for his number man. Saun! Moinsist lagi siya nga dugay ra sila nagbuwag sa iyang asawa. Unya kung buwag lang ug walay legal separation, xempre minjo gihapon sija. Ajaw pagjama2 diha Dong oi. Liwat raba nija ilang anak. Morag teenager na. Kita mn kos FB before. Cge jia you to us all!

JCs

I met two JCs in SG in 2005. They represent Green and Blue. Let me describe them here: JC1 is Green. I met him at the Computer Centre bus stop. Apparently isang grupo sila na nag-aaral sa NUS. He was the one who told me to get a SG number na. Coz I was holding on to my SUN plan mn from the Philippines. He's a former ECE instructor at DLSU. He now works in Prulife Singapore. He called me man diay in Christmas 2006 when he came home and we were chatting on YM when I was here in Philippines. But when I came back to SG in Jan 2008, nauwaw kos ako gipangsulti. He even met me at the Church of St Teresa near Tanjong Pagar. Right now, he's active sa Singles for Christ didto. One friend said bading sya. I dunno, di mn cguro. All the best! JC2 is Blue. I remember very well that magbutang sya'g jacket in his seat sa NUS Library Reading Area. That way nako siya napansin. And we were formally introduced by a common friend on 23 Sept 2005, day after I came back to SG after I snuck home during the study break. Good friends mn gud silas Ateneo ni friend. He eventually became my confidante when I was having a really hard time in NUS. But somehow I felt that he tried to bring me to his church, born-again mn siya, mao iwas2 ko niya. Right now, he's an accomplished academic. Winner pa gani of the National Scientist award. Di na nako siya mareach jud. All the best din to us always! I keep my hopes up. Pit Senyor everyone!

Netherlands

This is the first country outside of Philippines that I stepped foot in. Always and forever n mn cguro ako love affair with this low-lying country. Jia you Doki. Start the new year with your hopes bright up! ;) Almost every province na cguro pud in Holland I've been to: 1. Utrecht - for Mette and Fanneke's dinner. They're Dutch students I met at USC immediately before I left for ISS 2. Nijmegen - Marije's place before. She studied at KUN man. 3. Enschede - to visit fellow Filipino scholars in ITC 4. Amsterdam - do I need to say why people go to A'dam for? Hahah. 5. Rotterdam - you know... the masses of Father Jovic where we'd get to tag along 6. Arnhem - for our Holy Week retreat with Fr. Jovic, Madon and Any at Oosterbeek 7. Dordrecht - our drop off point for the Lourdes-Fatima pilgrimage 8. Gouda - for the Xmas tree lighting ceremony 9. Zoetermeer - for our despedida before returning to Phils. 10. Rijswijk - where I bought my printer. kabaguod tawn ko ato 11. Delft - for our 1st outing as a batch and for so many trips thereafter 12. Groningen and Friesland for the NUFFIC tour - kami ni Madon ang kauban ato, Achara was there too 13. Keukenhof - for the ISS summer outing 14. Heemstede -Fanneke's hometown - went there with Madon 15. Maastricht - our stepping point for the Germany-Austria trip ;) 16. Zaanse Schans in Zaandam - a well-preserved Dutch village. This was our culminating activity for our week-long introduction to life in the Netherlands 17. Bennekom - for our class field trip 18. Voorburg - I think this is the location of the Refugee Center where Any took on the lead after Ben White and Gitta Morag Zeeland na lang ang wa pa naho maadto. Naa didto ang ilang big storm surge project. Hup Holland Hup!

Lola Senciang's Old House

Every now and then maapil jud sa ako damgo ang old house ni Lola Senciang nga naay hagdan sa atubangan then morag naay part nga ubos then kusina then hagdan padung sa pasung. Unsa to ako damgo last night? Morag diha daw contest nya morag di ko pwede mojoin. Baw unsa to oi. Basta ang dating, tinimbang ka ngunit kulang. Heheh. Cge lng gud Doki. Everything's gonna be okay lagi. Trust God in everything. Amen!

New Year 2018

I have a robbery star daw this year so not necessarily a lucky year for me. Cge lang Doki, keep your hopes up lang gud. Ginoo ra mn jud nakahibaw sa tanan. God bless us always! Maybe it's a good way to lay out some plans coz new year na mn jud. Gusto nako bayran ang NUS this year if maabot na ako kwarta pambayad. So that after that, makabisita na ko didto pohon. Gusto pud ko bisita PP in summer pohon. Coz di na ko tagdon ni Nicolas mn gud. Jia you Doki sa mga plano.

Choices

Life is truly a matter of choices.. La lng, sad lng ko when my brother would have to leave to work abroad again. Laju mn gud kaju cja kay seaman man. But trust God lng mi kanunay for things to go fine.. Makasulti na raba ug 'Nanay' ug 'Tatay' si Baby Patrick mao mas painful if molakaw cja. But ana mn ang life lagi. We make choices and would have to live with those choices. Jia you to us always! I remember that I met their ship M/V Atlantic Spirit in Amsterdam in April 2001. Udto pa ko niadto but gabii na mn sila nakadunggo. I was able to get inside their ship. Car ship mn to. Naay elevator ila barko. Then we bothered our parents by calling them. Morag 3am n mn cguro tos Pinas. Kadyot ra pud kaju ko didto. Nisakay ko pagawas atos sakyanan sa supplies. When I came back to the Hague, I called home again. 7am na, namahaw na gud si Melin ato. I sent him the Phillips CD player this time ug chocolates that I bought cumulative in KonMar. Gihinay2an daw niya'g kaon kay di mn to usual chocolates found in RP. When I was in Singapore in 2005, nagkita pud mis Lucky Plaza. I accompanied them around and ako sila gihatod sa Port of Singapore. La n lng ko pabayara sa taxi kay nakahibaw mn si Uncle nga one month pa lng kos SG ato. Hay memories! We need them as reminders every now and then. Good night!

Christmas 2017

My Christmas 2017 just whizzed by. It started with burying Ate Cecil Abarquez on Dec 20. Then Dec 21 I went to Tagbilaran for a few hours. Dec 22 was bagjo then Dec 23 I went to Cawayanan. Dec 24 we just went to mass and didn't go ila Dodong. Init mn gud kaju nya gihangga si JM. Gidad-an lng mi nila Ate Ica. Then bay ra mi pag Dec 25. Nagluto mi isda nila Ate Ica for lunch. Dec 26 didto mi ila Tiyo Edgar for Ate's 40th day. Then Dec 27 didto mi ila Dodong n pud. Dec 28 down na ko. Nagpahilot ko Nang Lucy. Dec 29 pahuway and Dec 30 I came back to Cebu. Diri na ko Cebu mag new year pohon. Jia you Doki. Things will be alright! ;)

Christian

He must be truly special. How can you ever forget someone that you went to mass with while you were only wearing shorts? And I distinctly remember Bishop Nicholas Chia then saying 'bless the young couples who are here with us this afternoon'. Hahah, saun n mn tawn na oi?! In order to ask for my age he asked me in what year I graduated. I think he made a double take when I said 1996. Heheh.. We had dinner in Clementi Central after that mass on 24 September 2005 which was actually the late Sir Eche's bday.. But he was also the reason why I went to mass 2x during Easter 2006. Coz iya ta lagi kuno ko iintroduce sa iya gf then who was visiting SG that time. Paita lagi ato oi! He once told me on the email that 'mahirap ang pinagdadaanan mo but nakikita kong di ka sumusuko.' Salamat ng marami. 30 yrs old ka man, mukha ka pa ring mas bata kaya ok lng. He was one of my support group when I was having such a hard time in NUS. Mao di ra pud nako sya diha2 dayon malimtan. Merry Christmas to u and ur family in SG, Xtian. God bless!

Holland

My good friend Harry O once told me that the first country you go to outside of your own would be truly memorable. It is Holland for me or formally, the Netherlands. And indeed my first trip outside of Philippines to Holland in 2000-2001 was very memorable. I got a scholarship or fellowship then from the Netherlands Ministry of Development Cooperation in order to pursue a Master's degree at the Institute of Social Studies (ISS) in The Hague. There were 8 of us Filipinos in our batch but only 7 of us left together via Malaysia Airlines on 2 September 2000. Niuna na mn didtos Europe si Fr. Jovic Lobrigo of Legazpi, Albay. He had a Ford Foundation scholarship mn pud. Since it was my first trip outside the country, I learned A LOT from that experience. I was able to visit some places also during study breaks or holidays from school. Unfortunately my father died in October of the next year so I had to go home for 2 weeks to bury him and join my family in their grief. Then I had to fly back to Holland again to finish my thesis and graduate from the program. Gibisita pud diay ko ato ni Manang Bebie, my first cousin who is in Liverpool. Shortly after that she got married to Rod Reyes, also a Filipino in Liverpool. I was able to visit quite many places in Holland too. I made it to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Utrecht, Nijmegen, Enschede, Friesland and Groningen, Giethoorn, Maastricht, Dordrecht, Voorburg, Gouda, Zoetermeer, Keukenhof, Heemstede. I love Holland. I really do. Thank you Lord for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I would forever be a Dutch ambassador of goodwill. Hup Holland Hup! ;)

Itomon: Ben Mbala

Lately nabalik ako memories with my itomon admirers in Holland with the entry of DLSU into the UAAP Season 80 Men's Basketball Finals. Taga Cameroun mn gud siya. Taga Cameroun baja pud tos Poufon. But at least gwapo si Big Ben kaysa nija. Haha, pastilan. Itomon jud ba ako minyuan, Pinoy o puti? Maglibog jud bitaw ko Lord. Please help me decide. Amen. Update on Ben Mbala: He is signed up by a football club in France. From DLSU he went to Mexico man unta for a basketball contract with Fuerza Regia. But maybe his contract was bought out. All the best!

UAAP Season 80: Go for Great Finals, ADMU vs DLSU

DLSU lost to ADMU in the game 3 this afternoon sa Men's Basketball Finals. ADMU ang champions. They were coached by TAB Baldwin. Defending champions ang DLSU actually. Naa sila Ben Mbala, Kib Montalbo, Aljun Melecio ug Ricci Rivero didto. Underdog mn ta ang ADMU, challengers sila. But cguro they were the better or hungrier team. Coz naghabol mn jud nila ang DLSU. Everytime DLSU would come close or try to break away, itsahan mn nila ug 3pts. Cge lng DLSU, better luck next time. U all put up a very good fight. Nothing to be ashamed about. U're still my team! ;)

Biboy's Scouting

Ganahan mn jud si Biboy ug events sa scouting. Fortunately this time nakaapil xas 6th ASEAN Scouting Jamboree sa Tagum City. One week pud sila didto. Ang amo cousins especially si Tata maoy nagkabuang ug itoy2 kung asa sila aron magkita lagi. Then last NOv 30 sa gabii nagkita ra jud sila. Nakagawas kuno sila Biboy from 8-10pm. Morag didto silas new house ni Ging2 sa Tagum. Ingat sa pag-uli, Boy. Thank God for this wonderful opportunity. Sa sunod na pud. Jia you!

December 2, 2017

Twas a regular class day namo yday sa SU in Dumaguete City. Niabsent ko coz I had my monthly period. Nimeet daw si Dr Indab sa 1030-1200 class nya 4-6pm ang amo klase kang Dr Rivera. I would love SU grad school na jud ani. Jia you Doki!