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.

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..

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!