Mission: Shopping

We had gotten another week-long break because of Eid. That and since December was just around that meant another visit to Dubai for some serious shopping. In retrospect, my wife should be the one writing all this down given the subject matter... pero deadma .... best I got was a something of a mix between a smile and a frown. But I digress...

Everybody (in Oman) seemed to have the same idea. Left and right we saw people from Muscat in and around the malls of Dubai. The malls were packed and shopping was made more difficult . But as my wifey puts it, it had to be done and we all decidedly buckled down and went to it.

We went through our usual lineup of malls. We've actually gotten quite efficient in doing our Christmas shopping over the years. The shopping list for families, relatives and inaanak (godchildren) are quickly accomplished. The hard part about all this was not really what to get them - we gravitate to clothing stores mostly - but whether or not, they've gone through any major clothe-size changes. Deciding solely on the mental imprint of the last time you saw them can be quite disastrous. The shopping objective was not only Christmas shopping but also birthday party (for the little girl) shopping. She excitedly went through Ikea's offers of party hats, toys and bags for giveaways.

The meal breaks in between were just glorious moments. Woohoo, we get to sit down!! From our usual Ikea breakfast, to the Chowking siopao at iba pa feast for lunch. Visited CPK twice and tried out a newly-opened Friday's. The best meal, hands-down, was the gorging of a t-bone and a sirloin at The Butcher Shop & Grill. Really must visit that place again.

Was able to meet up with my cousin, whom I didn't know was in Dubai until some months ago. Last we met was about 6 years ago at our province in Tanjay, Negros Or. Good thing is his mag-ina (wife and son) just joined him recently so their Christmas will decidedly be much much better this year. He and his family seem to be liking their environment so I hope everything works out. Their living with his other cousin and they all seem to be doing quite well.

After about a hundred shopping bags and all that credit card swiping, we merrily declare mission was ACCOMPLISHED!!!

Lateblog: Birthday Chuckles!

First off, Happy Birthday to my dear wife!! While we weren't really able to plan something to celebrate, it was nonetheless a fun fun time.

Before I tell the story though, understand that the little girl is really bad at keeping surprises a secret.

The story starts off in a not-so-good note, a few days before her birthday. After an emergency check-up, we were advised by the doctor to take things slow and that she be on bed-rest for the next few days. (Baby's ok now and doctor gave the green light already so no worries) This gave me an excuse to do our weekly groceries by myself and try to get her a gift she's been eyeing. As I was sorting out the plan in my head, Vivian then declares, 'oohh I wanna go I wanna go'. There goes the plan, I thought.

Hoping for the best, Viv and I left the house and then I let her join-in on the plan - emphasizing to keep things quiet over and over and over again. We ended up buying three separate gifts. We got home, gifts hidden with the groceries, and Vivian came up to her mum and passed with flying colors. No 'knowing smiles', no 'uncontrollable giggling'... she was calm and perfect - nobody would know something was up.

The entire afternoon went without a hitch, but I could see in her eyes she was growing impatient with the plan - give all the gifts on her mum's birthday the following day. So I gave in, I told her ok let's give one gift now and still keep the other two a secret and give those the next day. As soon as it was agreed, she jumps up, grabs the gift and runs to her mum. She excitedly gave the gift and yells, happy birthday!!! and successfully surprises her mommy. Unfortunately, she didn't stop there, she continues on with a complete account of our day... from the shop to the groceries and to wrapping...and she led off with, 'oh yeah, we bought you three gifts but we're going to give it to you tomorrow, ok?' We all laughed our heads off for a good long while.

Fancy Dress Party '09

While thinking of how exactly I should blog this year's fancy dress, I got this idea of rifling through Halloween parties of past years. Reminiscing, Thess and I were laughing our heads off - it was indeed a treat - so, we'd thought we'd share them Halloween 04-08. (hit the flickr badge for more and look for the halloween sets)

This year the little girl came in with a simple Gryffindor robe (she decided to be a bit low-key this time) and pretended to be Hermione. Last year, all of the kids just stayed inside the disco hall but this year, there were lots of games held outside too. Upon arriving, she found her best friends and had a blast. Here are some of the snaps.

Parent Sharing

BSM recently cooked up a new program - Parent Sharing. Purpose is to provide parents a peek into their kids works so far this year. So, we got to spend about an hour inside Viv's classroom. Viv gave us a tour of her room, her schoolwork and her varied projects. The room was packed with excited parents and kids. With all the materials stuffed all around the class, it was indeed a very busy room. The short of it is, she's doing great in all of her subjects. She's always eager and inspired and Teacher Smales' feedback during a subsequent PTC was very very good. Feedback on the Parent Sharing thing was positive so I think this'll be a regular thing now. Keep it up Viv!

Digger on Ice!

Digger, the class puppy, gets to go home every week with one of the class' kids and they get to keep record of it on Digger's journal. We take Digger along our usual weekend ritual of eating out, groceries, shopping and as it happens, a birthday celebration!

Thanks to Ate Rachel for inviting Vivian to her birthday weekend celebration... on ice. The celebrant spent her afternoon with her close friends, and Vivian in tow, at the local ice rink. The big-little-girl excitedly put on her ice skates and hurriedly went on to the rink. After one round on the rink, she comes back with a face like she's about to hold a spider in her hands. After some time though, she bravely went back on the ice and after a few more rounds, had a respectable stance and a not-so-smooth jerky forward movement. That first round was so

far behind her and she was definitely having fun. Her last round she did all by her lonesome. She bravely pushes away from the wall, for the very first time. She was doing great...until she slips and falls. Sat there for a few seconds, looking at us from afar thinking of how to deal. She realizes the solution and starts crawling to the nearest wall...just as the official clangs on the gate, signaling the end of the skating. Zamboni comes out and does its job.

Amazon & Aramex

Tried for the first time ordering online while here in Oman. Back in Manila, I had Johnny Air who gave me my US Address for free and just charged me for shipping at low enough rates... low rates compared to here anyways. We took the plunge and subscribed to Aramex's Shop N Ship for a one-time fee of 17USD (discounted 50%) and got us an address in both US and UK. Ordered several books and a networking tool kit (for work) from Amazon UK and US and tried out the service.

The shipping time wasn't so bad. The fees were not as low I'd wanted them to be...the shipping of one book cost more than the book itself (boo!) The test wasn't so good though since the books came from different Amazon merchants so they arrived at my UK mailbox in separate shipments. So, naturally, Aramex shipped them across to Muscat in separate shipments also - I asked but they couldn't hold off on shipping to wait for all of them to come in at one time. Any case, the wife and I got our books safe and sound. The tool kit arrived at the office intact. I tried out the Amazon Prime option (note: the US and UK subscriptions are separate agreements ipso facto separate subscriptions costs) and I'd forgotten the one-month free trial was up and got automatically billed the yearly subscription. One can still cancel and get the refund but better to just unsubscribe right after the trial run...lessens the hassle. Might keep mine though... wonder how much it'll cost for the lens... :D

Oh Ondoy!

That Saturday, arrived at the office and I chanced upon a news feed... storm in Manila, streets flooded a bit more extreme than usual. I sms'd my mom and just asked how they were, in general, and just put in at the end that I heard another storm was up and about. My mom answers that yes there was and that our street was already flooded and water had already gotten inside the house - in her usual frantic-toned text (can't explain it, just that I know when my mom exudes panic on something as emotionless as an sms). Got a little bit more worried but then my mom does exaggerate sometimes so I casually replied asking had she meant it had gotten inside and up the garage already. My mom says no - it's inside the house already.

Panic! Next few hours since, I just kept trying and trying to call our house in Marikina City. No joy! My only thought was to try and give instructions on what they could do - ie turn off the mains/breakers, instruct them all to just stay at the second floor and such - sms was barely working. I tried calling my sister who was also stranded in Makati City by the floods. We both were trying to contact Marikina but voice calls were just impossible. Eventually, they turned off the electricity and my parents and two helpers settled up on the second floor for the night. My parents saw neighbors having to leave their homes. I kept praying that the rains stop soon otherwise, they'd have to start considering leaving our home as well.

The flood got up shoulder height inside our house before the rain stopped that Sunday morning and the water started receding. Our refrigerator toppled over including the washing machine. and TV. Everything inside and outside the house was covered in mud...thick thick mud. Hearing and seeing all the photos and updates that had circulated that time - we were just blessed and thankful that that was the extent of it for us. It could've been much much worse. Our families in other cities - Makati, Cavite, Pasig were also hit somehow but nothing that couldn't be fixed given time.

Growing up in Marikina, floods were plainly normal...and regular. I remember as a kid I'd seen black-top (asphalt) roads of Champagnat St. Marikina Heights lifted and thrown to the sides by floods and rains, as if they were carpet rugs. The house I grew up in had parquet flooring. I dreaded everytime the floods would come - not because I was afraid of the flood per se - but because I knew the pain-in-the-a** job I had after the flood had long gone, rugby back into place the flooring. After a few years, my parents decided we'd had enough of getting flooded and so we raised our flooring by about a foot and that flooring level held for a long time - storm after storm. After a few years, I had even raised the floor level further a few more feet when the new house had been built. So, much like every Marikeño, I had learned how to deal with the threat of floods from childhood. How to plan for in case it was a little more than expected, how to lessen the damage, and how to just simply 'be' around floods - how to drive around floods, how to wade around floods, things like that. Ondoy was humbling. I wanted to spare my parents the strain and aggravation we all felt when I was a kid during rainy season but all the planning and preparation was for naught. When nature wants to be heard, she gets heard.

To all our friends and families, thank you to all who helped out including those who tried and offered to contact my family for us. Those who offered and helped out after the storm, we deeply appreciate it. We pray that everybody continues to be safe and that everyone recovers quickly enough. When things settle down again, let's not forget and dismiss it as a fluke... make time to make new and better plans.

Stars and House Points for Green Gubrah

School started first week of September for BSM. Since then, we've all been too busy trying to keep up with whatever needs attention...including the blog. So, there'll be a flurry of posts in the next few days, hopefully, starting with this one. We're somewhat reaping the benefits of all that hard work...each and every one of us, including our big-little girl.

Fresh from summer break, on her first week of school, Vivian gets a star - certificate on the left is for her Good Manners token. Something about her graciously giving way to another. Last week, she excitedly showed her mum her double-house points for one of her school works (right). Great start baby!

Eid Break!

The holidays declared for Eid Al Fitr gave us almost a full week off. We planned that for most of that week, we'd just rest up in Muscat...but not before having a little bit of fun. We went back to Al Nahda, expectations high because we enjoyed our first visit so much.

The place was still great and we still enjoyed our stay a lot...but there were a few hiccups here and there. Had a small argument with the restaurant. The pool got too crowded during the late afternoons. The food was good but not as good as the last time. The pickup during checkout took more time than it should've (considering they kept reminding us to checkout otherwise we might get charged extra). Even thought the list seems long, the stay was still great overall. The little girl was just happy to be in the water with us and rode her bike whenever she could. Seeing the local version of the karitela (horse-drawn carriage) was a wonder for her - should probably try out the horse ride next visit. The wife spent time at the spa...and I got my massage (insert big smile here).

Lessons learned: don't go during Eid break or long holidays, they can't keep up with the volume of guests. Thursday dinner buffets (seafood) are the best... food the rest of the week is not as good. One day is too short, 2 days is too long.

Heely's

Bought the pair for the little girl sometime April (same time we bought the Wii). Few weeks in she'd be scared and quite tentative, since we didn't have much room to practice around the apartment, it took her a lot of time to get rolling. Getting to practice only during the weekends or when we'd be around the malls or hitching herself up to a grocery cart... slowly got confidence and she finally got it. Great job, V!