Thinking of granting someone's wish for Christmas?

Here are some ways on how to do just that:

1.  Pray for those affected by Typhoon Yolanda.

 

FINANCIAL

 

2.  Go to any remittance counter in Lucky Plaza and tell them that you want to send donations for Typhoon Yolanda victims.  They have the account numbers of major organizations in the Philippines who provide relief operations.  As part of their public service, they will waive the remittance fee for you.  Don't know which one to pick?  I usually go to iRemit at the third floor (03-69) and donate to Red Cross.  Other credible organizations are the GMA Kapuso Foundation and ABS-CBN Sagip Kapamilya.  These are foundations of two big networks in the Philippines so you can be assured that your money will go to the right beneficiaries.

 

3.  A bit cash-strapped? Hmmm...it wouldn't hurt to skip that cup of starbucks/coffee bean/more-expensive-than-average coffee that you usually have, wouldn't it?  Or maybe drop that one cute blouse or dress that you're getting to reward yourself for a hard day's work. Or maybe delay buying that high-tech gadget that you have been saving up for. Buy it one month later and use a portion of the money instead to give hope.  Dilly-dallying whether to go for that vacation?  Dilly-dally no more...go some other time.  Go to Lucky Plaza instead and refer to #1 :)

 

4. Help is underway for people in areas where there has been a lot of coverage like Samar, particularly Tacloban. Video footages will scare you, tear your heart apart, and make you cry. But there are also some areas, especially far-flung, where help couldn't go as fast as they should. One example is Coron in Palawan. If you want to help them, coordinate with CoronWonders on Facebook. My sister also saw that SavePhilipineSeas is focusing their efforts on Malapascua in Cebu.

 

IN KIND

 

5.  You have a lot of old clothes that you want to give away?  The people of Samar, Leyte, Cebu, Palawan (and other provinces that were hit by the typhoon) would be more than happy to have some of yours. Send them to these people.  Ask LBC, Jolly-box, A-freight (and other shipment companies) if they could ship them for you for free.  LBC did it last time.  Some friends, McRhon Banderlipe and Bubbles Asor, are organizing an in-kind donation activity so you could also drop your clothes and blankets at their place. Please call them and Im sure they would be happy for your call.

 

6. (Manila-based) How many mobile phones have you had?  A lot, im sure.  If they are no longer working and you dont know what to do with your chargers, head over to the National Institute of Physics at UP Diliman at room F105 and donate your old, broken chargers to our guys at the UP Physics Association.  They will convert these to portable chargers which they will send to the victims.

 

TIME AND SERVICES

 

7.  Counselling.  I was watching a You Tube clip of news report from Love Anover and Jiggy Manigad who were hiding at a Cathedral when the storm struck.  Love was crying when she was recounting her experience. And she is a journalist who is used to extra-ordinary situations.  So imagine the trauma that ordinary people went through after that 300kph storm (the fastest that F1 racers can go here in Singapore is 200+kph so imagine the kind of wind brought by the typhoon was).  Now, i dont know how could this be organized.  But if you are a psychologist or you know a group of psychologists or counsellors who provide post-traumatic counselling, maybe you could get in touch with Red Cross and ask how you can offer your services to them for a couple of days or weeks? 

 

8. Volunteer.

• Singapore Red Cross . They need people to man donation booths and call center.  Call them at 6664 0539 or 6664 0500.
• GK Singapore They cant handle the volume of calls.  Contact Claire Pascua at 9179 8603 or cpascua@gk1world.com

9.  Other ways of helping can be found here:

•  Rappler
•       Singapore Red Cross
•       Habitat for Humanity - for home building. There is also a link where you can create your own fund-raising page in support for the Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) vitctims.

 

10.  Pat yourself on the back for giving concrete help and sowing seeds of hope to those who are in need.

May you have a good Christmas! J

 

 

 

 

To document

collection of writing pads

I dont remember how many journals I have had.  These are my collections so far, all gifts from my friends.  They know me so well. 

The first one is a gift from a colleague who became one of my closest friends.  She gave it to me when I left work.

The second to the left is the latest, a gift for my birthday. 

The red one is a present from Japan.

The fourth one, with the love and peace writings is the thickest and the one im currently using.  It's been with me for 2 years now but Ive written on barely half of its pages.  It's a gift from my best friend when I decided to leave the country for good. 

The fifth one has been with me for two years too. A Christmas gift from a special person. It's supposed to be a planner but I've turned it into a journal as well.

One day, Im gonna fill all your pages with stories. Someday...

Pagdiriwang

I had a long day yesterday so I woke up today still a bit sleepy.  But it’s my birthday so I was psyche-ing myself to be up and about because this is a special day.  Surprisingly, this year, I didn’t have birthday blues to speak of.  Despite the lack in some aspects,  I have reached this age (I sound like a middle-aged person) without experiencing any major setback in life and for that, I am utterly grateful. 

Birthday greetings came in via email, whatsapp, facebook and yes, text message which was quite nostalgic J

At work, the two guys asked me if we could have lunch early today and since I was hungry, I said yes.  So we had lunch at 11am.  We sat at the staff area, chatting while eating.  After finishing our meal, they brought out what was in the plastic bag that they were carrying: a bottle of wine and a cake!  And since there was no knife in the canteen, I used Jakob’s “balisong” to cut my cake! Hilarious! 

So we stayed at the canteen until about 1230, drinking wine and eating cake. I don’t know if alcohol consumption is allowed in the university but we didn’t mind.  Some people who were passing by were smiling at the sight of the wine on the table but I guess the cake obviously explained what was happening. 

In the afternoon, I had my greetings from Kulasa and Bugoy.  Kulasa sang so softly in contrast to Bugoy’s screaming singing. 

At about 4, we went to the staff lounge to chill.  Theresa wasn’t able to join us for lunch so we had coffee with her instead. 

Went home before 6 to prepare the lumpia for dinner.

Dinner was spent with sister and some friends. My sister organized games to complete the fun.   The last of the guests left at 12. And we stayed up for tea and cake.

It was a looong and happy day. 

What's for coffee break today?

noodles and crystal dumplings

 I missed out on a lot of coffee breaks because I was out for a couple of weeks and for the past two Fridays that Im here, it's either I was busy or still full from the fruits that I usually eat in the morning.  Today, I just went out of curiosity.  Yes, I was curious about what they are going to serve today

Thankful

Today, I vow to become more thankful to God because indeed, there is a lot to be thankful for.

Lake Mountain

This is Lake Mountain Day.

I woke up early today at 3am and wasn't able to go back to sleep peacefully.  As I have written in my previous post, the heater was very noisy.

So at 7, I said my morning prayers, turned on the TV and had a shower.  After dressing up, I checked out.  It turned out, there were a lot of campers who stayed overnight in the area.  And that includes children.  It might have been a very cold night for them.

Ang sarap picturan ng mga bagay-bagay.  Jologs na jologs lang ang peg ko.

As I was heading down to the nearby grocery to buy some bread for breakfast, I passed by the community area where the farmers were setting up their stalls.  I chatted a bit with the old lady who was selling plants and flowers.  She comes here almost every Sunday.  I said hi and good morning to the other stall owners.  It feels great to be greeted back with enthusiasm! One of the things I like about Australians is how they easily say thank you and how are you.  It seems so natural for them.  No awkward moment at all.

So I grabbed some roll and meat pie from the grocery and had a bite while sitting on a bench outside, watching the farmers.  I wouldn't have mind staying there for an hour but after just a few minutes of waiting, Ate and Andrew arrived.

The drive up to the mountain was quick.  Maybe just about 30 minutes.  The road was winding so it kind of made me feel nauseous. But the scenery was amazing!

We knew we were near the place when we saw patches of snow along the road.  I kinda had an idea that the snow in Lake Mountain was machine-made after I checked out their website but I didn't expect that everything was like that.  So when we reached the area, voila! It's a snow-covered slope!  Kung ang mga tiga-rito nagsisiksikan sa Siloso beach for a bit of swimming and sunbathing, kami naman nakikipagsiksikan sa isang maliit na lugar para makapaglaro sa snow.  Kanya-kanyang kaignorantehan lang talaga :D

Preparation for playing in the snow was not very fun. We had to wear snow boots and layers of clothing.  I had thermal underpants, jeans and snow pants.  And I had thermal long sleeves, plus my jacket, and the parka.  Plus the boots were heavy.  And with the snow gloves on, it was difficult to move my fingers for my camera's shutter.

But tobogganing was fun!  All of the kids in the area were having fun!  Eric and Gabby were enjoying it too! After playing for about an hour or more, we headed back to the cafe to grab some snacks.  And then another session of tobogganing again.

Eric was the first to give up.  Gabby was crying because she didn't want to leave yet.

On our way back, Ate and I went to the farmer's market where I bought lemongrass soap.  We also grabbed something for dinner.  We bought meat for steak which we thought was beef but turned out to be pork.  So we had pan-grilled pork chop instead.  This time I stayed with them at Maryton B&B.

My pagsisiga  ng kahoy skills were put to test. 

In the afternoon, we had a walk in the area.  They had fat chicken, just like what we had before in the province.  They also had a fish pond and different sorts of lovely plants and trees.  And the cafeteria was very nice!  I just could't stop myself from taking so many photos.  Everything was sooo beautiful!

The restaurant that I fell in love with :) sigh...

I can stay here for the entire afternoon :)

 After dinner, we went to the other cottage to have a chat with Andrew's friends and their families.  The two couples both had a daughter each, about the same age as Eric.  They seem nice.  Both mums have stopped working too.  Seems like it's the practice here.  Mums usually sacrifice their careers to look after the kids.  They just go back once the kids go to school.  Seems like a good plan.

This holiday is making me appreciate that life is good and there is a lot to be thankful for.  The beauty of nature.  The serenity that nature brings.  The warmth of friends and families.  A lot of things to be thankful to God for :)

Marysville, Victoria

Today, we drove an hour to Marysville, sort of a base town for Lake Mountain which we are going to visit tomorrow.

I enjoyed the drive, seeing a bit of the Australian countryside.  It looks a bit similar to New Zealand.  The cows are healthy and sheeps have thick wool. We saw a lot of wineries too! I learned that one of them was was the famous Yarra Valley.

Marysville is a small and sleepy town.  Almost similar to Devonport except that it is not an island.  The town proper itself has just a few shops!  I saw two shops that rents out/sells snow clothings and accessories, and toboggan and ski equipment.  We rented our stuff at Crosscountry Ski Hire.  The adult package which consists of overpants, boots and toboggan costs $21.  We bought snow gloves for $5 a pair.  We also bought an entry ticket for $41 per car (max of 8 passengers), which is cheaper since the ticket at the entrance costs $51 and way way cheaper if you compare it to the snow bus which costs about $30 per passenger.

I stayed at Marysville Caravan and Holiday park for tonight.  For $60, I had my own room, toilet, fridge, TV, microwave and tea and toast making facilities.  And the bed had a bed warmer.  There's a few family cabin in the area.  Some families even opted to stay in their tents.   It might have been a cold night for them.

The warmer worked. I was sweating by the middle of the night.  But the air conditioner/heater was noisy!  It automatically shuts down and turns on when it reaches a certain temperature.  And the noise that it makes would really wake you up!  In the end, I just switched it off to and I was glad that this tropical kid survived the cold night with just a bed warmer.