Sunday, November 18, 2007

SNOW! SNOW! SNOW!

WHOOOAAAA! Today November 18, 2007 I saw a real snow. It started around 7pm. I went to my favorite chinese takeaway to get my dinner and it was raining. As I was walking back to my B & B I noticed something. Its not all rain. SNOW! At first I got scared because it was really cold already and having snow would just make things a lot worst for me but my excitement has overtaken the coldness.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

APPLE BOBBING WITH MY FOSTER FAMILY

Last October 31, Carl and his family invited me to celebrate "APPLE BOBBIN" in their house. So whats "APPLE BOBBIN"? Let me give you a headstart "In this game, water is filled in a tub or basin and apples are put in the water. Apples are less dense than water and it is owing to this fact that apples keep floating at the surface of water. The game consists of grabbing the floating apples with teeth, without using hands. And it is believed that the first person that succeeds in catching the apple would be the next one to marry. How far this game is helpful in deciding the future is unknown, but definitely it provides a platform to the people, to come together and celebrate the festivity of Halloween.".

We left the office at around 5pm and reached Carl's house at around 510pm. Their house was all dressed up. We were greeted by Sam and Harry all dressed-up for the occasion.




At first, I didnt know that it was such a big event for Helen but after seeing all her preparations I wanted to applaud Helen for such a great night. She invited both their parents John and Elain and Chistine and Allan. She prepared Corned Beef Stew for Dinner.



Saturday, October 27, 2007

OCTOBER 20, THE BIG LONDON TRIP PART 1

This was the day that I was really looking forward to my trip to LONDON. The day that I learned from Sir Piet that I am UK bound this year, I really told myself that I will go to LONDON by hook or by crook. hahahahah and I did. I was really excited.

Friday night I prepared all my stuff. I double checked it just to make sure. I went to bed at around 9pm and woke up at around 430am...hehehe. I am realy that excited thats why I woke up early. I listened first to Rice Brooks and did some streching. Took a bath and by 630am I was heading to the bus station. Allan gave me a sandwich for me to take. We had a long talk Friday night regarding the things that we needed to do the next morning.

Walking down to the town center on a normal Saturday afternoon would take me probably around 10mins Max but that morning was a different story. It was very cold. I think the temperature was between 1 and 5 degrees..whoaaaa. It took me 30mins to get to the bus station at the town center. The bus will be leaving at exactly 7:05am and I arrived there exactly 7AM wow! I almost missed my bus to Leicester(pronounce as LESTAH!). The time travel from Hinckley to Leicester is 45mins. It was a very good trip without any hassles or anything. We arrived at the Margaret Bus Station in Leicester at exactly 750am. wow! From Margaret Bus Station I will have to take another Bus to London. Time travel 2:45mins.

The bus going to LONDON was late by almost twenty minutes. NATIONAL EXPRESS needed to provide another bus because there were lots of people waiting and already got the ticket to LONDON. The bus that I got in was the express one meaning no stop straight ahead to LONDON. This is good! I told myself. hehehehe.. I fell asleep during the first hour of the trip until the sun showed up. hehehehe. I ate the sandwich that Allan gave me and I must say it was very delicious. From then on I never got to sleep and I just enjoyed whatever was there to look at. Again the bus ride was going very well. By 1145 I arrived at Victoria Bus Station London. I just noticed that the other bus which had lots of stopovers was alredy there. What happened there? hahahahahaha.

In LONDON I will meet up with my SECRET FRIEND. SECRET because it doesnt want to be known not YET but soon yes. I decided to use IT to describe my SECRET FRIEND just not to give away any clue...hahahahahahahahaha. At the VICTORIA Bus Station I went to this booth to top-up my cellphone and bought my LONDON BUS TOUR and my LONDON EYE TICKET, the very reason why I want to go to LONDON. hehehe.. IT and I decided to meet up at the LONDON EYE..wow! I was really excited. Finally I can smell and breath LONDON.

Guess what the first thing that passed by me, A DEMONSTRATION. hahahaha..People were demonstrating against me being in LONDON..hahahahahaha. It was a demonstration for BURMA something. hehehehe.. I didnt have time for that at the moment. I really want to enjoy my LONDON TRIP. I walked a few meters and with the help of the local police I was able to get to the LONDON BUS TOUR. I paid 22pounds for this tour. The bus goes around WHOLE OF LONDON. Theres a tour guide that tells story about the place like history et all. I was so overhelmed with what Im seeing and hearing from the tour guide. I will really enjoy LONDON because guess what? They have STARBUCKS in very corner. hahahahahahahaha.



OCTBER 16, SICK!

This was the second time that I got sick here. The first time happened when I was just 3 days old here. The weather really is creeping on me. From the normal 30degrees down to 1degree..whoaaaa... I think I was really tired from the previous week because of all the things I did. hehehehe.. I need to get well really fast because I have a trip on October 20 to LONDON.....

CHICKEN ADOBO NIGHT WITH MY FOSTER FAMILY, OCTOBER 14

Finally, last October 14 I cooked CHICKEN ADOBO for my foster family. Me cooking adobo for my foster family was supposedly schedule October 7 but because I got so tired that Sunday I decided to postpone until October 14. I really want to make this CHICKEN ADOBO something that my foster family will truly enjoy to somehow give thanks to all their generosity and kindness.

About half past two in the afternoon when Carl and Sam picked me up and we proceeded to Morrison to buy the ingredients for my CHICKEN ADOBO. I got 1 whole chicken, 2 Bottles of Soy Sauce, Bay Leaf, Onion, Garlic, Peppercorn, Basmati Rice and Vinegar. I was very worried about the vinegar and soy sauce not blending well because its a bit different to what I am accustomed to.hehehehehehe. After we sorted everything we proceeded to Carl's house and relax a bit. I started preparing everything again around 530pm.

I started peeling and pounding the garlic, diced the onion which made me cry hahahahahaha. I chopped the chicken to tiny bits because the supermarket doesnt have the service where you can ask to chop it off. I heated the pan put a little vegetable oil and sauteed the garlic and onion. I then put the chicken to fry it a little bit then I put peppercorn. After 10mins I put equal amounts of vinegar and soyce. Everything was started to come together now. I tasted it and asked Helen to also taste it. I decided to add more soyce sauce. I let it boiled for a couple of minutes then I put the last ingredient the BAY LEAF. While I was doing all of this Carl and Helen were on my back and I can see that they were both hoping that I knew what I was doing..hahahahahahaha. I then cooked the rice. I did it my way. I washed the rice twice then watered it. I used my fingers to measure how much water I needed to put in. I tried explaining this to Helen but I believed she got more confused when I explained it to her. Hahahahaha. One thing I learned that night was that BASMATI RICE is like BROWN RICE you must not put equal amount of water. The water should be twice the rice. I got lucky that I was able to fix the rice and it turned out well.

Time for the verdict, I must say I am a little confident about my CHICKEN ADOBO because I think i got lucky with Soy Sauce and vinegar they blended really well. My CHICKEN ADOBO also smelled good...I believe that when the sense of smell is satisfied the sense of taste is not too far away. Helen gave me a plate that is very Chinese looking where I put the CHICKEN ADOBO AND another plate for the rice. Then we started our dinner at around 630pm.. I took a deep breath and really hoping that my foster family will like it at least to eat it. hehehehehehe..Yes! I thank GOD they loved it even SAM ate a lot that night. We almost consumed everything and they really showed some interests in cooking CHICKEN ADOBO on their own. YEHEY! Mission Accomplished!

Another great night with my foster family. Thanks again guys you just dont know how happy and blessed I am knowing all of you. God bless!





October 11 A Night with the Collins

Its been a long time since my last blog and so many things to blog about. Let me introduce to you first another person who is always very nice to me, Nick Collins. Nick is the ERP Planning Manager. He takes care of APS. He's married and has two lovely daughters. Nick has always been good to me. Whenever Carl can't fetch me from my B & B Nick will always be ready to pick me up and I am very grateful for that.

Last October 11, Thursday Nick invited me for a dinner to his house and I agreed. We left the office quite late that day and proceeded to Somerfield Supermarket because Carl needed to buy something. NIck's house is somewhere near that supermarket.

It was about 8PM when I arrived at Nick's house. He gladly welcomed me to his home and introduced me to his lovely daughters, Elizabeth, 11 and Jennifer, 9. I must say Nick's daughter are well behaved. I had a little chat with Nick and the toured me around his house. I learned that most of the stuffs they have is his creation. He gave me a homemade wine made out of blackcurrant. It was very nice. He still have I think 8 bottles waiting to age.

For our dinner Nick we had Pork Casserole for the main course and Apple pudding. The food was great. After dinner we sat to their living room and lit the fireplace. They are using wood for the fireplace which is not so common now in UK because everybody is using electricity or something. hehehehehehehe. While having our conversation, Jennifer walked by with her Violin and played a piece she just learned and I really enjoyed it. Thanks Jennifer! About 10PM Nick's wife Diana arrived. She is an instructor for mentally challenge individual. She is very accommodating and fun to talk to. Well maybe she knows how to handle people like me Mentally challenge..hahahahaha..

It was a great night. Again, Thanks Nick for all your help and generosity to me. God Bless your family.




Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Kuya Ron and Hermione : Revisited

I just want to share again with you photos of my lovely cats. They were both now in heavens. I dont want to go again to the details of how and why they died. It makes me cry still sic. If you want to know Kuya Ron's and Mamay's Story click the link.

This is Hermione my first ever Himalayan cat. I thought her how to use the bed and the pillow. hehehehehe. She's very intelligent. I remembered I put her to bed one time before I left for office and ever since then she owned the bed. Nobody can sleep there because she will get mad. I really missed her kiss. It used to wake me up every morning plus her nightly massage. Oh well dont wanna be sentimental about it anymore. hehehehehe





One of Kuya Ron's and Hermione's lovely pictures. Hehehehehehe..

Thursday, October 4, 2007

ANOTHER NIGHT WITH MY FOSTER FAMILY

Yes, I spent another night with my foster family last night. Carl and I played badminton again, and I lost again 2-1....hehehehehe... Carl said I invited myself over because we were supposed to play by 9pm but when he picked me up I already brought my trainers and badminton clothes. hehehehe. It was another wonderful night. I really felt at home at their house and for the first time I was able to enter their beautiful living room. Normally we spent our time at the kitchen. Harry was sick last night. He catched colds. Hope he'll get well soon. We had good meal last night. I liked the parsnip ( I hope i got this one correctly) a lot and the baked potato. We had Marks and Spencer Pie. Its like buko pie but made of beef. Very delicious! After our meal Helen gave me some truffles. It was very yummy! hehehehehe...We rested at the living room until 9PM. Watched a couple of shows from the telly. By 830PM Carl and I were on our way to the leisure center. It was a good game. We really sweated out. Till next Tuesday Mate! I hope to get even with you..hehehehe..THANKS AGAIN FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING!





Sunday, September 30, 2007

The Humanitarian In Me

This blog is a little special for me. I went to ASDA today because I ran out of my EVIAN MINERAL WATER and to have my dinner there. I had a very sumptuous dinner Tuna and Sweetcorn with Potato Jacket but out of my hunger I forgot to take pictures. Stupid me again hahahahaha. At dinner time, I had bottled water for my drink. While eating something caught my attention in the bottle water. It says something like this "50p of this Bottled Water will help to build pump in Africa." I know that water is so precious in Africa, that I was deeply affected but what I read. Since I am really going to buy bottled water I think I can do my little share on this. So after my dinner instead of getting my usual Evian Waters I opted to buy Thirsty Planet Pure Still Water. And it taste good...Hehehehehehe...

Friday, September 28, 2007

A SPECIAL GIFT

Monday, September 24, 2007. Start of a new week for me. As usual Carl picked me up at around 830am. I opened the boot (trunk) and put my bag in it like I always do. I noticed something in the boot but didnt care to ask Carl. Before we proceeded to office in Nutts Lane we dropped by at Hammonds Harrow Brook Office to have Carl's carphone fixed. We stayed at Harrow Brook's for almost 20mins. I saw someone interesting but didnt have the courage to take picture..hehehehe next time I saw her I will...



After our brief stay in Harrow Brooks we proceeded to the office. As we were walking down Carl told me If i saw something in the boot and I agreed then he told me the SURPRISE of the day. It was a gift from SAMUEL JOHN REYNOLDS-BREEZE aka SAM --I really dont get it why parents would punish their children by giving them so many names why not make it their nick names instead of having their children to write it for all eternity...hahahahahaha--. I didnt recognize because it was so different when I saw it yesterday (Sunday after the SKYDOME Sam started painting it). I was really touched. The box looked good. Nice work for a 4-year old kid. Thanks Matey!





SKYDOME AND ASDA ON A SUPER SUNDAY

Last Sunday, September 23, 2007 Again, my foster family invited me to see a new place TAMWORTH. Carl called me 9AM in the morning and asked me if i want to join. I didnt hesistate to come because my back is already aching from sleeping. You see there are two things I usually do on a weekends -- sleep and more sleep..hahahaahahaha. The thought of doing something and seeing a new place is a very welcome change. Its a 20mins drive from the B & B to TAMWORTH. I hope i got the spelling correctly. This is the farthest that I went to in UK...hehehehe.

We first stopped to SKY DOME. After missing the place for 3x times because Carl kept driving,hehehehehe, we reached the place. SKY DOME is a famous recreation area in TAMWORTH. SKY DOME is a CAVERNOUS place. It has a SKIING loop if thats what they all it. It is also a very busy place. When we got there there were A LOT of people already enjoy skiing. It was the COLDEST place i'd ever been to thanks to my fleece I survived it. hehehe. We only stayed in the SKIING AREA for 2 mins...hahahahahahahaha



Aside from SKYDOME being a COOK place, what I loved about the place is that I saw again my favorite store...STARBUCKS! wow! THIS IS MY LUCKY MONTH.hehehehehe..Helen told me that it was the FIRST she had a STARBUCKS! wow! I had Chocolate Hazelnut Cappucino and Helen had Chocolate Cappucino and 1 slice of Chocolate cake. I had a bad stomach afterwards..TOO EARLY for CHOCOLATE..We stayed in SKYDOME for almost TWO HOURS..Carl and Helen are planning to celebrate SAM'S 5th birthday in December here at SKYDOME.






After the SKYDOME we went to my FAVORITE supermarket ASDA...I forgot to take pictures of ASDA..stupid me...hehehehehe. We bought CHICKEN for our dinner. After shopping at ASDA we went home. It was almost 2pm and we hadn't have our DINNER..All of us were really starving. Carl roasted the chicken, roasted potatoes and boiled some carrots and pars-- Whats that again Carl the white vegetable? It was a very good dinner. THANKS again FOSTER FAMILY for a well-spent SUNDAY.

Weekend At Ansley, UK , September 9 2007

This is a very long overdue blog..hehehe.. Yes, correct it happened last September 9, 2007 a Sunday. Carl and his family invited me again to come and see the festivities at a place called Ansley were Carl grew up. Ansley is like San Pablo, Laguna in terms of distance to Quezon City but we only drove their for less than 20mins. No traffic at all. Ahh traffic is a different story.

Anyways, Carl's Mom Christine invited us to see their newly renovated church. She said that there will be some marching band, MORRIS WOMEN DANCERS and some stuffs for kids like games etc. Carl, Helen, Sam and Harrison picked me up at around 9am and by 930am we were at the place. We arrived early to Ansley. The mass was not yet over when we got there. We waited outside the chapel until the mass was over. After that we were called for some tea. While were inside the chapel the MARCHING BAND started playing. I think they are called the marching band because they are MARCHING. hahahahaha.I thought they played only four notes all in all..hahahaha Check out the pictures of the marching band and tell me what you think..heheheheheh





After the Marching Band left to march around town we wer called again to have the dinner. They prepared a COLD BUFFET. It was god but COLD..hahahaha. After that good meal the Priest spoke a little bit how the event came to be blah blah blah...hehehehehe..We proceeded to a nearby house, I forgot what they call it but this is where the Priest lives. Their for the first time I saw an APPLE TREE, a GREEN APPLE TREE.



The place was also the venue for KIDS GAMES. At first I thought Its gonna be another boring games for KIDZ but I was surprised I enjoyed watching the KIDZ playing. The most that I enjoyed was the game The SUN is SHINING where somebody has to say something about color and exchange places. Example The SUN is SHINING all who are wearing RED SHIRTS. Then those who wear red shirts need to exchange places. And there was this one command that I truly enjoyed...The SUN is SHINING all with BLUE EYES...and they all MOVED AROUND...I was like WTF! All of them HAVE BLUE EYES..hahahahahaha. Then I remembered I was in UK..Oh well...I realy enjoyed this part of the day..




Finally the highlight of the affair has finally arrived MORRIS WOMENS DANCERS. According to WIKEPIDA A morris dance is a form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers. Implements such as sticks, swords, tobacco pipes, and handkerchiefs may also be wielded by the dancers.


I thought this is really exciting MORRIS WOMENS DANCERS. This was the highlights of the whole affair. My expectations were really high on this one..Hehehe...But ....Just check out the photos and judge for yourself.....They actually danced and moved and hit each other no not each other's body but the sticks. Its like ARNIS.




It was a very long day for us. After the festivities in the church we went to Carl's ancestral house and spend a couple of hours. Afterwards we proceeded to Helen's parents John and Elaine - I hope I got that right. Like Helen, her parents were so accommodating. They just got back from a weekend vacation. I took pictures of John and Ellain but unfortunately it was blurry. I need to take their pictures.

After a very long day, we headed back to Carl's and Helen's house and ordered from Cantonese Takeaway for our dinner/lunch. Now Im confused..hehehehehe. I learned that Helen doesn't like shrimp but I persuaded her somehow to try it...heheheheh...It was a very long day but very memorable. All the memories came rushing back to me as I write this blog as if it only happens days ago but it's been almost a month. Thanks again Helen and Carl, my foster family here in UK...CHEERS MATES!




PS.

Thanks Helen for reading my blog and correcting your parents name. Sorry for that blunder.