Well, well, well. Baka magtampo ka at wala kang eulogy like the mader, so don't worry, I'm making one for you, too, Papots!
One more year and you'll get dual citizenship with lotsa benefits which we all know you will be happy to use all the time (knowing how kuripot you are HAHAHAHA)! But for the meantime, enjoy the last line of 5 year you have before you enter the seniors' club! From where Robin and I, we want to greet you the happiest birthday! Even though you're kill joy as you went to Quezon to work until Saturday, we still want you to know that your life is celebrated in this part of the world. We are both glad to have a Papots like you. We might not be messaging as much as like Mamots, I know that when you get the time to go online, you always make chika about many things and give pieces of advise. And yes, I'm happiest when you take my side when I tell you something frustrating about my life. hahahaha.. So, again, a blessed birthday to you! So let's get to the main reason of this write up, and that is to tell you my message once you go to the happiest place we could ever be, heaven. Death is inevitable so we wouldn't know God will take you, so lemme give you my advance speech. Unknown to many:
Well, these are just some of the things that are unknown to you that obviously you have an idea now. So let's go to the things known to many and all.
Papa, there are so many things that you have taught us that I am proud to say that it was you who showed and told us. Yes, there were times when you said, "Gawin ninyo ang sinasabi ko pero wag nyong gayahin ang ginagawa ko" but I can only remember the good and wonderful things we've learned from you. I'm thankful to God for giving us the best father we could ever had. I was teasing Robin on how easy his life was coz he was never bullied by you or he didn't have to go through your tests before we got married. hahaha. But I also told him that you're always ready to make him suffer when things don't turn out the way they wanted for their youngest baby girl. hahaha (just kidding Sweetheart). I love you, Papots. Always keep your self safe especially when driving your motorbike and be healthier (don't eat too much fatty food or you'll surely have high blood in seconds). Continue to seek God. You are always in our prayers. Sending you virtual hugs and kisses.
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Salamat sa free time! Muli na naman ako makakapagbahagi ng aking mga saloobin na sana ay maka-relate ang iba sa inyo,
WARNING: Mahaba-habang basahin ito! Obviously, alam naman ng nakararami na ako ay asawa ng isang dayuhan na mula sa India. Sa tatlong taon naming pagasasama, marami na kaming napagdaanan na maaring napagdaanan na ng iba o mapapagdaanan pa lang. Mga masasayang karanasan at hindi mawawala ang mga kainamang di pagkakaunawaan. Nais kong ibahagi ang mga karanasan ko bilang asawa ng dayuhan. Marami ang nagsabi sa akin na, "Ang lakas ng loob mo." "Ang bilis mo naman maka-adjust!" "Ang galing mo naman magluto ng Indian food." Actually, hindi ko naman kaya lahat ng iyon kung hindi dahil kay Lord at sa mga tao na dinala Niya sa aking buhay---at sympre isa na duon ang aking mapag-mahal na asawa. So simulan na natin ang mga pagsubok na aking hinarap at patuloy na hinaharap, sa susunod na blog ko ang mga bonggang blessings at positive sides, okay? hehehe... Unahin natin ang mga kultura at tradisyon na tunay ka namang makakapag-bigay ng culture shock sa mga taong hindi prepared. Tandaan, kapag magaasawa ng dayuhan, paniguradong iba ang kanilang kultura, ang orientation ng kanilang pamilya at ang kanilang outlook sa buhay.
Ang isa pang pagsubok na dumating sa akin personally, ay ang pag-tira ng aking mga byenan sa aming magasawa. Nagdadalawang isip akong i-share dito ang pagsubok na ito, ngunit sa aking pagmumuni-muni, ito ay makakatulong sa akin at sa kung sino man ang dumadanas ng parehong pagkakataon. Backgrounder muna tayo. Walang sariling bahay ang mga byenan ko. Rumerenta lang sila eversince pero napagaral nila lahat ang kanilang 3 anak at nakabili ng mga kailangan nila sa mga nagdaang dekada ng kanilang buhay.
At ang isang pag-subok pa na nais kong ibahagi ay ang pagiging dayuhang babae na katulad ko. Bilang babae (local man o foreigner, napakarami ng hindi pagkakapantay-pantay (just like what I mentioned earlier), marami ang dapat na sunding mga unspoken rules and regulations lalo na kapag ika'y nakatira sa isang bansa na gaya ng India. At bilang dayuhan naman, dapat makipagsabayan sa mga locals.
Marami pang mga pag-subok ngunit ito ang major-major ones (ika nga ni Madam Venus Raj). At for sure meron pang mega-mega ones na dadating kasi we have a lifetime to face them. Pero ang isa sa bongga kong pinagpapasalamat ay ang presensya ng Diyos sa akin, sa aming mag-asawa, at kahit sa buhay namin kasama ang aking mga byenan. Maraming di pagkakaunawaan, pero anjan ang biyaya ng Panginoon upang kami ay tulungan, baguhin, at maging the best that we can be. Itutuloy sa susunod na kabanata para sa mga bonggang pangyayari naman bilang Asawa ng Dayuhan.... Oh no! My Mom isn't dead. In fact today, October 17th, she turns a whooping number big 56! Four more years, you can have dual citizenship! Filipino and Senior Citizen. hahaha Happy birthday to our Mama, Mamots or Mothergoose for me, Tr. Venus to CCAians, Ma'am Venus to her students and colleagues in previous schools, Ka Benos to our neighbors, Bing to my Papa or grandparents, Lola to her grandchildren, Tita to our friends and cousins, Manang to younger siblings and relatives....whatever we call her, I know one thing for sure---she is the greatest mother we could ever have. So why the title? It's one obvious fact that my Mom is very vocal about meeting our Creator anytime soon. We don't know when will it be. Maybe God will give her 44 more years to reach her centenary and the government can give her Php 100,000; or maybe it could be few months from now. We don't know. But there's this specific thing we are 100%s sure of: she will go to heaven and have an eternal life because she received Jesus Christ when she was younger and from that time, God has turned her life to a great and blessed one. It wasn't perfect as one would always want a life to be, but hers was one of the greatest real life story I could attest to. So, I've realized, why wait to tell the dead person about how he/she became a great part of our lives, if we can tell it to them while they're alive and kicking. So Mamots, here is my eulogy for you. I hate you.... Yes, you heard it right. I hate you for being "YOU" when it comes to many things.
I hate you but I love you even more.... Now that I'm all grown-up and married, I realized that all the things I have hated about you are the ones that made who I am right now. I may not yet be the person I could be right now, but I know I am raised by someone the best way she can, someone I call Mama.
So Mothergoose, I thank God for giving us a mother like you. No, I won't be crying too much when God brings you home. I would be laughing so much because of the funny stories that 6 of us will tell about you. For the meantime, let me send you virtual hugs and kisses, cakes and spaghetti over there while you are checking exam papers at this hour of the day. hahaha Since God has given you another year, let's celebrate His goodness and faithfulness in your life. I pray for more blessed years to you. I pray you'll travel more with Papa in many places not just in Philippines but around the world. I pray that you'll have more free movies to watch using your PWD card. I pray you'll get to take care of your half-Filipino, half-Indian grandchild sooner or later. I pray you'll have more students to teach and parents to encourage. I pray that you'll have more flowers to plant and fruits to harvest. I pray your fatty liver will not be there anymore. I pray you'll get more sleep and use lesser Facebook in the middle of the night. I pray for God to continue showing His glory to you. I love you Mamots. Maligayang bati sa iyong kaarawan! Thank God for long weekends!
Goa has been one of the places in India I've been asking about from my husband. And finally, with God's provision, we were able to plan the trip and book transportation (via Redbus.in) and accommodation (vis booking.com) online. The prices were quite higher than the normal ones, well it's because it's a long weekend holiday for whole India. So, I guess, it's just fair enough. Prep up Time. On Friday morning, I woke up with a sore throat--thanks to the Videoke Sing app. ☺So I gotta do all the things I knew to feel better because I know it might lead to something worse. We were both thankful that the sun was up because it has been raining for the past few days in Hyderabad. And yes, even in Goa, the forecast says the next coming days will have thunderstorms. TOINKS! While Robin was working from home that day, I started packing our things and I tried my best to pack LIGHT! And I guess I did a good job with it, that even my husband asked why am I only bringing only few clothes. hahaha! I guess I gotta learn more how to pack light in the next travels. Expect the unexpected. So after checking the lights, gas, water, doors for the 2nd and 3rd time, we went to our bus pick up point. Our supposedly pick up time was at 8:15 p.m. Along with several passengers going to places like Mumbai, Pune, Kerala, and Goa, we patiently waited for each bus to come and pick us up. ABAAA! It's almost 9pm and still, our bus (from DHANUNJAYA TRAVELS) hasn't arrived. Then a message from Redbus.com was received that our bus was stuck in traffic so it'll arrive in 45 minutes. What choice did we have but just to stand there in an abandoned part of a fire station without lights and seats to rest. The bus finally reached around 10:30ish pm. And to our surprise! It was NOT the main bus that we were supposed to take going to Goa. (tumbling much!) It's a bus of different group of passengers and they had to bring us to Miyapur where our bus went straight after being stuck in traffic also in Gachibowli. It was almost 12midnight when we started our journey to Goa. They wasted our 4 hours so obviously we expected that we'll reach our destination 4 hour late, too. ZZZZZzzzzzz time! On travels, I'm a person who LOOOVES TO SLEEP. Whether it's on a car, jeep, bus, plane, boat! As long as the thing is moving, expect to see me sleeping; as my husband said it, I have CARCOLEPSY. (Oh yeas, there's such word that he really made an effort to research on) hahaha. So morning of Saturday came, and we were like in a place in Karnataka at around 10 a.m. That was the time we were supposed to reach Goa; however, due to the driver's incompetence of knowing the roads and the stopover places, we were still around 4 hour away from Goa (as per the other passenger). What to do?! Sleep, eat, sleep, eat, talk, look outside, repeat. And we drove through this thick, luscious green, wildlife sanctuary of Mhadei. It was a long and winding road, that's why it added more hours before we reach Goa. Finally, we reached Mapusa, Goa at around 5:30 p.m. -MY GOLLY! We travelled for around 20 hours!!! We decided that we will never again book Dhanunjaya Travels. NEVAH. GOArgeous here we GO. We gotta leave the bad vibes and enjoy the place. Thank God, it wasn't raining when we reached there, however the weather was gloomy and surely thunderstorms were expected. Anyway, we reached Santonio Resorts. Hmmmmm... I somehow liked the 5 small wooden cabins. They actually prepared our cabin since 11am but since the bus was late, we were not able to enjoy the early check-in perks. (sadness) After shaking off the dizziness from the travel and freshening up, we rented a scooter (which is more advisable than using public transpos) for us to go to places we wanted. One of the major problems we usually fight over with is choosing where to eat. HAHAHA. It's just great to have apps to tell where is the best place to go and the Google map to know how far it is from us. We first tried to go to Thalassa but it was being used for a private function, then we decided to go to Baga beach--and OHH MYY. It seemed like that the half of the population of India was there. (exage! hahaha) It's like all of the people in Goa had the same idea of going to the same place. Cars, scooters, big bikes, small buses, vans, etc---they were all going there. In the end, we had to just go back to our place and finally decided to eat in Sakana, a Japanese resto. It's more of a laid back place, peaceful, lesser people and I think, I'll give the food 5.5 out of 10. We were so tired to go around in the evening so we just went back and snoozed off again and snored all the way. ahahaha. GOAmorning again. The thunderstorm and cold weather woke us up in the Sunday morning. I got out and sat outside while Robin was still snoring :D. I was praying that God will stop the rain so we can go out and see the places. And thankfully, He answered! Santonio staff joyfully offered free breakfast meal (which wasn't in our package). So we ate and went to Chapora Fort. And guess what, I drove the scooter going there! Thanks to my husband's trust and support! We were able to reach there safe and sound. It's like 5 min drive from our resort. Chapora Fort is one of the famous places, as they say, where Amir Khan shot one of his movies; also it was the fort used when Portuguese invaded this part of India. From the top, we were able to see the Arabian Sea, but thanks to thick, grey clouds, we were not able to see Mr. Sun and the beauty of the waters. Afterwards, we decided to go to Curlie's place. Again, I was a bit more confident to drive the scooter, this time, I wore the helmet (because my Papa will kill us! hahaha). We were going to take the not so wide main road, and then I saw policemen! I panicked that even though Robin told to just GO, I was shaking and that was the ticket to making the policeman whistle to us and question us. I was sooo scared so while Robin talked with him, I was praying to God so much. Thankfully, he let us get away from it. We can't help but just laugh and somehow tease each other about it. (Facepalm for me!) First time to drive and I got caught. Driving without license in a foreign country. (I think Papa will just have to laugh with us and say, I told you so.) Anyway, we reached Curlie's and finally, VitaminSEA, I missed you! The offwhite and fine sand was very relaxing. There were not too many people in that part of the beach, however, the water was not very inviting. It was a bit polluted with all the dead fish from the fishing boats, both plastic and glass bottles, food wrappers, and other plastic enemy of the nature. I just felt sad. I was hoping that this part of the country would be a little be more clean and saved by both tourists and local people. What gave me hope was that part where there were rocks and the water was kinda clear and we can sit and enjoy the time. Lunch time was sumptuous in Curlie's as we had this huge grilled red snapper and some other food. We were just stuffed and started to feel sleepy, but we can't just sleep and let this day pass without seeing the other places. Later that day, we finally got to see the Baga beach. Going there was easier compared to the night before, probably because of the overcasting clouds. Still, it didn't stop the people enjoy the water sports and hang out by the shore. One thing I loved most was the HHWWPSSP with my husband and just talk about the people we meet. It's just an amazing feeling to sit and talk about anything we can. Then we took off before the rain poured and went to the nearby Fat Fish resto. We laughed at some things, watched the cricket match between India and Australia, patiently waited for our steak and double chocolate cake. The rain was not stopping so we had to brave the raindrops and thankfully, we arrived to our cabin safely. We then once again retired for the day. Thank You, Lord. Last day.....maybe.... Monday evening was our scheduled trip back to reality. So we had to laze a little bit more and enjoy the shows on T.V. Once packing was over, we once again drove around to see other places. See things to buy but I wasn't feeling well again, I didn't have the urge to shop anything. haaayss..The only thing I want is our bed back in Hyderabad, but, I gotta wait for another day for that. We bid goodbye to Santonio around 2:30pm and took a cab going to Panjim since that's where the bus station was. Since we had enough time, we went to the mall to pass the time and by 7:30pm we were ready to get on the bus. For me, the fever was suddenly trying to get the best of me. I'm just thankful that my husband was there to take care of me and see to it that I feel warm. HOWEVER! When the bus of Aditya from Limra Travels (also booked from Redbus.in) started to make this terrible noise from the back part. We were sitting right on the top of the back wheels. And oh, the suspension was not working. Imagine the roller coaster ride? Not just like that, add the idea of riding a running elephant and suddenly it falls flat. Our whole butt, back, stomach, head, EVERYTHING, hurt! But for me, I guess I was just too sick to complain anymore but all the passengers were pissed off with the services of the travel agency. Epic Ending for GOArgeous trip, Robin was supposed to go back to work on Tuesday morning because we expected that we'll reach Hyderabad around 9am. But hey, I woke up at 8:30am and we were still 400ish kilometers from Hyderabad. It turned out that the bus cannot drive for more than 30kph!! Tumbling sabay cartwheel na ako! So my husband had to take another leave that day. And this Aditya bus and Limra Travels didn't even offer anything to compensate for their defective bus and services. So instead of us letting them drive us to Hyderabad with that speed that will probably make us reach the city the next day, all the passengers decided to book for cabs by group to lessen the expenses that each one will shoulder. Thank God, He provided for cars for all of us and also financially. We all just wanted to get back home after that unfortunate mishap with the bus, AGAIN. So, we WILL NEVER AGAIN BOOK, ADITYA/LIMRA, NEVAH, TOO. Home Sweet Home ❤❤❤ Though tremendous rainfall came to Hyderabad, thanks be to God for keeping our house safe. We were thankful that even though we experienced some misfortunes during our trip, there were still a lot of wonderful memories to remember and brilliant lessons learned to take note. There's always no place like home, but what I realized was, Robin is my home, now. So wherever he is, I'm at home. To the next vacation we'll have, looking forward for that already. But first, gotta work and save again. hahaha. Coz that's how it works! Maybe, in Philipines? We'll see.... Thank God for long weekends! Season is changing.
Crisp leaves are gone. Frozen crystals are falling, Make souls lost and numb. The pictures I only can see, Thoughts I only can hear. They all long to leave me, Let them known to someone dear. Season is changing, Hostile breeze turns to another. Colors starts exploding, Wonderful things will uncover. The words I want to speak, Feelings I can't contain. One by one they sneak, Burst to something I can't explain. Season is changing, The chills I thought will last long. The sun is already smiling, Now makes me warm and strong. My heart will continue to beat, This breath will keep on and on. Seasons changing will repeat, My inner strength will be my weapon. -original by Czshevinah Hae Alejandro-Lazarus, 2017 THOSE WERE THE DAYS
As far as I can remember, when me and my older sister, Pie, were younger, we already wrote the ideal man that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives with. And on that list, I put, I want a Filipino husband, can be from different country but NOT a foreigner. I just had this idea that Filipinos are the best when it comes to relationship--blame it to the Gimik and Tabing Ilog days and to movies where Rico Yan and Patrick Garcia starred. Add up the cute crushes that I had in grade school days. Until you meet your first love that didn't last. Well that was another story of my life that I learned so much and made me a better woman that I am right now. And there were the ones that came and stayed for a while, those who just passed by, and those who stayed but never knew what they wanted in life. And so, I let go the idea of searching and told myself to let the Author of my life write the best love story for me. EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED Let me fast track every thing---as you can see from my last post about my Serendipity moment last 2013---now I'm married to my happiest accident, or I'd rather call it now, my greatest blessing by far! The list that I made when I was younger didn't really match to what God has given me. I expected for someone who will come from same culture that I grew up with, same language I speak, maybe someone who looks like Lee Min Ho, with the smile of Piolo Pascual, and abs of Chris Hemsworth (grabe lang ha, ipino-Photoshop ata ang gusto kong mapangasawa) but no, no, no; always expect the unexpected with God. But I can tell you, expect the best from Him. We are now married for 17 months and we are both looking forward to celebrating decades of love and friendship. For now, we're just enjoying every moment of it. There are some surprise imperfections but we learned to love it already alongside wonderful and great things. EVERYTHING IS DIFFERENT, BUT ALL IS JUST THE SAME So, people are wondering, how is it to be married to a foreigner? I can say, it's totally different in so many levels but ironically, it's just the same when you marry someone from your own country. Filipinos would usually think that when you are marrying a foreigner, you are just after the money, you want to live in greener pastures, or because of their genes that you can become the stage mom of your kids when they grow up 'coz they are potential artists, models, or beauty queens back in the country in the future years. But I think for most of us, it's LOVE. nakanaman! pumapagibig ngayong Abril! Why is it different then?
So how is it the same, then? Plain and simple. You are married to a human being. You are both a different individual with amazing characters and handful of faulty behaviours. No matter what nationality or province in the Philippines he/she is from, what food they are familiar with, what traditions or cultures they have, or whether it's a conservative or liberal neighbourhood--the important thing is, you a re both gonna make everything work out; for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer,in sickness or in health, till death you both part- you stick together, no matter what. A Filipino couple takes turn in house chores, we do to. You both enjoy a date in the park, we love it, too. You argue in small and big things, oh, we surely do. You forgive and love each other more, we definitely do, too. To Filipinos who are married to a foreign spouse, I believe we are all amazing in the paths we have chosen and brave enough to embrace the huge changes that we are going through. I know we are one of the world's greatest lovers, don't you think so? Go ahead ask your spouses, for sure they'll say yes! If not, NAMAN! POKNATAN AT KUTUSAN NA YAN! ❤❤❤❤❤ Agle baar tak! Freshly brewed Vietnamese coffee and Indian dates for breakfast.
Preparing the lessons today for my pupils is over. Updating accounts receivable is done. And my morning phone call to my happy accident just ended. It's over a year since I came across to this person they called boring and scary. December 2013: I booked my flight to New Delhi expecting nothing more but to see my friend get married and get awed by the grandeur of Taj Mahal. Nothing more, nothing less. SO when my friend fetched me from the airport and telling me on the way what's gonna happen, I said, "Ok." Then she told me about her fiance's brother that is a scientist. And that's what made me interested. It was my dream to meet one! Someone that looks like nerdy and too smart with all those sciences and whatever! But when we reached the house, the scientist looked like a normal person and was just watching a sports channel. Duh! He wasn't the one I expected. And came the wedding preparations and the wedding itself. I loved every single detail of it: last minute buying of groom's suit, relaxing in Starbucks, getting make-up done in a parlor (really, seriously??? hahaha), doing my own make-up, attending the wedding, being the maid of honor for the first time, new culture, new traditions, food, people, and the cold weather! And the company of my partner- the bestman, who apparently the not-so-boring-not-really-looking-scientist. Day after the wedding came the more exciting part: see the Taj Mahal! I'm gonna see one of the places in my travel bucket list! Three hours of bus ride and I was very anxious to see this place. Being fun loving, I wanted to get jump shots inside this immense mausoleum that's considered as one of the seven wonders of the world. I was just few steps away from the main building itself when I took the most epic jump shot in my life! 1, 2, 3 jump! click! And my bag was gone! My bag with my passport, cash and cards, I.D.s, and my make-up was taken by somebody! I cried---for 10 minutes and got over it. My reaction wasn't mine. My heart was prepared by God. I didn't worry, because I know everything happened for a reason. The following day, I spent the whole day processing my travel document to go home the next day with this very gentle human being- my partner, the bestman, who I found interesting and okay---good-looking. Getting all those requirements didn't turn out to be tiring, instead, it became an amazing day! Saying good byes and all, I got on my plane and was thankful I'm going to home and experiencing all those things in a foreign land. I went home and got back to work and did the same thing. But something was different. That good-looking bestman was missed. Days and months passed by, became good Viber-friends and we can't just be satisfied with phone calls. Thank God for the Skype! We saw each other like, every single day talking anything under the sun, moon, and stars! We were both growing in love with each other. My unfortunate events in New Delhi wasn't that bad at all! Losing all the material things brought me to find something even more important and wonderful: an answered prayer that I plan to keep for the rest of my life. December 2014, I got back to India, and spent the most surprising vacation and one of the most amazing, I must say! The bestman, not-so-boring-not-really-looking-scientist, good-looking company turned out to be the most wonderful unexpected blessing that God has given me. He is my happiest accident. So here I am, full from the pizza and fries that I made for the dinner. Listening to Hillsong and writing my newest blog in connection from my past and present. Six years have passed, and every time me and the people around me remember things, we can't just help but make fun out of it. But let me tell you, it took a lot of time, people and prayers for me to be who and what I am right now. I was broken. Literally. Figuratively. It was painful. That's the only thing I can remember. Never have I imagined in my life that I'll be experiencing that. Yet, it happened, unexpectedly. Eventually, I forgave. "Forgiveness isn't forgetting because we cannot simply forget painful memories. But there is better than forgetting, it's REMEMBERING but not feeling the pain anymore." (Ptr. Alex Katigbak) I forgave without bitterness. After all, forgiveness isn't something we do for other people, we do it for ourselves. I got fixed. Slowly but surely. I stumbled. Crawled and got up again. A friend asked me, "Do you regret it?" I said, "Not at all. He made me stand up. He made me stronger. And he made me brave by forgiving him." Another one asked me, "How did you do it?" Simple. I looked up on how God has forgiven me and lifted everything up to Him." Yes, I was broken, but I'm not destroyed. I got fixed, and oh I tell you, my life today has never been better with all God's blessings in my life. - |
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