dinner out in madrid

went out last night with the girls --- emma and bea. friends sila ni alba (yung project manager na pinalitan ko). nakakatuwa sila kasi very friendly talaga. emma is upbeat and positive. bea is very nice... kahit na minsan, nahihirapan siyang mag-english, kinakausap pa rin niya ako. she's always smiling and is very sweet. well, akala ko kaming tatlo lang ang lalabas pero sinama nila si alberto. alberto is one of their teammates. nung umpisa, di niya ako kinakausap. siguro, hindi rin sanay mag-english. medyo awkward kasi siya yung naging driver namin tapos ako yung pinaupo nila sa front seat. we went to this place near islas filipinas, which is near emma's house. nakita ko nga yung istatwa ni rizal so sabi ko, i have to take a picture. nun lang nila nalaman na si rizal yung national hero ng pinas.

anyway, we went to this restaurant called alcaravea and the food was great! :) ang nakakatuwa, aside from the chopito (parang calamares pero baby cuttlefish ang gamit), puro bago yung mga kinain ko. may parang lumpia na may seafood sa loob tapos tomato marmalade yung sauce. then there was tuna with fresh tomatoes (and i don't usually like fresh tomatoes but these were really good), and then 7 kinds of mushrooms with eggs. syempre, yung chopito. and white wine. kami lang girls actually ang umubos ng isang bote ng white wine. hehehe! and again, i am not a big fan of wines pero ok yung pinili ni emma. :)

the conversation started with us noticing that the waiter was very animated with talking to bea. and to think, si emma yung madalas dun. sabi nga nila, kahit daw ako e nakapansin and to think na wala akong naintindihan sa sinabi nung waiter. then albert started telling me about bea and diego, na gusto daw ni diego si bea, which bea vehemently denied. hahaha... so nakisakay lang ako. sabi ko, itatanong ko ke diego para straight from the source. basically, dun umikot yung conversation namin... ke bea. sabi ko nga, baka si albert, may gusto din ke bea kaya niya laging tinutukso sa iba. saka kasi, lagi daw siya binu-bully ni bea. e kung di niya type si bea, papa-bully ba siya? hehehe... just my two cents. sa panunukso namin ke bea, tinanong nila kung meron daw bang tsismis sa pinas. basta ang sabi ko lang, mahal ng mga girls si pablo. hehehe... :) sabi ko kay bea, masanay na siya sa pagiging center of attention. sabi ko, e anong magagawa mo, maganda ka? hehehe... :D

anyway, i really had fun with the dinner. nakakatuwa kasi effort talaga sila to make me feel welcome here. totoo pala ang sabi ni jaime... i will love it here in madrid. :)

madrid weekend

it was my first weekend in madrid and i was alone. don't get me wrong, wala naman akong reklamo. there are good points in being alone in a new place. wala akong kelangang intindihing iba... kung kelan ko gustong umalis, ok lang. kung saan ko gustong pumunta, ok lang din. although, there are also some not-so-good points... like, mahirap kumuha ng picture mag-isa. either nagmumukha akong ewan kumuha ng picture ko or kakapalan ko ang mukha ko para mag-request sa ibang tao na kuhanan ako ng picture. care naman ng ibang tao sa picture na kukunin nila para sa akin diba? (audrey, i miss youuuuu!!!) lonely din umikot mag-isa... wala kang kukuwentuhan o wala kang kasama kumain.

marami akong napuntahan sa weekend ko sa madrid... first stop, templo de debod. the temple is dedicated to the gods amon and isis and was donated to spain by the egyptian government. sayang lang, hindi na ako nakapasok kasi maaga nagsasarado yung temple. next stop was plaza de espana. on my way to the sabatini gardens, nadaanan ko din yung senate building. i liked the gardens kasi kita mo yung palacio real sa tabi. dati daw dito nakatira yung mga monarchs pero di na ngayon. ginagamit na lang for official ceremonies. pwede din atang pumasok kaya lang, hindi na rin ako nakapasok sa loob. so picture na lang sa labas. sa tapat ng palacio real is plaza de oriente. katabi naman niya yung catedral de la almudena. sakto naman na pagpasok ko, nagsisimula na yung misa. so nagsimba na ako. syempre, espanyol yung salita. at least, na-gets ko kung ano yung gospel, for a change. after ng misa, naglakad-lakad pa ako ng konti tapos umabot ako sa plaza de la villa at sa plaza mayor. kahit na late na, marami pa ring tao sa plaza mayor. dun na ako nag-dinner, sa museo del jamon. naisip ko, since kilala ang spain sa hamon, might as well yun ang kainin ko. bumili ako ng bocadillo de jamon (basically, french bread na may palaman na hamon) saka paella de embotido (chorizo, 2 klase ng ham at keso). akala ko, di ako maso-sobrahan sa ham pero ang dami kasi kaya medyo nagsawa ako. hehehehe...

next day, marami akong planong puntahan. yun lang, pagdating ko sa parque retiro, wala na daw battery yung camera ko!!! so bumalik pa ulet ako sa hotel para mag-charge ulet (chinarge ko naman yung battery ko nung gabi). anyway, nung feeling ko may charge na ulet yung camera ko, bumalik ako dun. unang photo op ko is sa puerta de alcala. tapos pumunta na ako sa parque retiro. in fairness, maganda talaga yung park kasi ang daming pwedeng picture-an. ang daming fountains, statues, tapos meron pang lake. tapos sa loob ng park, andun din yung museo nacional centro de arte reina sofia (wooosh, ang haba!) saka yung palacio de cristal. nung pauwi, dumaan ako sa puerta del sol saka balik ulet sa plaza mayor.

marami pa akong gustong puntahan... sana next weekend, pwede pa. :)

ay ewan

nakaka-dismayang isipin na merong mga tao na kayang ipagpalit ang tama dahil lang sa pera. i don't want to seem holier-than-thou and i may be clueless to their reasons or i just never went through what they're undergoing. i may be too sheltered or protected in my life to understand. and i can't meld the idea that someone who's supposed to know better and you're supposed to look up to would be the one to do that. hay... di ko talaga maintindihan. o baka ayaw ko lang siyang intindihin.

i'm back

ok, so it's been some time now since i last put up a post. it's been busy but i know that's not an excuse.

so what's been happening to me?
- went home after my three-month stint in france
- was assigned to an australia project but did not push through
- took on another project based in australia when one of my teammates resigned
- was asked to help out another project for the site CMMI certification
- took on a new project based in jeddah and will be flying to spain

on the personal side,
- met with the tsongers and planned for a euro-trip (di ko lang sure kung tutuloy talaga ito)
- karla gave birth to yuan patrick, i am an aunt for the third time. :)
- carmel, our friend from cincinnati, came to visit
- met with ginia, jwo and rona - gels in manila reunion
- we had our company sportsfest - we're back-to-back champions in bowling and our tower is hailed overall champion! :)
- met with ariel for coffee, catching up
- faye went to the US for her first business trip. woohooo!!!
- tower planning session and offsite in nasugbu!
- krizzie and rolan's wedding in nasugbu!
- fitting for myn and lloyd's wedding
- oliver's 3rd birthday! :)
- yuan's baptism and sofia's 3rd birthday! :)
- tsongers get-together for rose's birthday
- videoke and celebration dinner with stip, lex, rogel and shane
- benedict's first birthday!

i'll try to post more in the coming days, weeks and months.