Kwentong Kengkay

Agosto 25, 2008

Reservation Stress

Filed under: Done That,Expat Blahs,Girls' High — kengkay @ 10:34 umaga

Okay, okay, we’re back from our one week vacation in Mallorca, Spain. And yet, am talking about stress?

Well, let me tell you — the vacation was great. Viva Cala Mesquida Aparthotel is a kid-friendly hotel. The place of Cala Mesquida is a quiet corner of Mallorca. The service and the amenities in the hotel are wonderful and food and drinks are overflowing, the whole day and almost the whole night, too.

What really bothered me is the reservation. Nope, we are booked and confirmed at the hotel; our flight, though late, is okay. The reservation I am talking about is finding enough lounge chairs for us four around the swimming pool area.

And that is where the real stress begins. Early in the morning. One must wake up at 8 am to have the best place under the sun — complete with lounge chairs enough for the family and enough parasol so that it wont be too hot under the sun.

There are ways to reserve the lounge chairs — placing your towels over them or leaving some reading materials or any personal objects on the lounge chairs. When I realized what was happening, it made me really laugh. It’s really a race every morning! Well, I dont have a problem about that, my husband and the kids were always ready to race with them :)

But at Viva Cala Mesquida, they have rules about reserving lounge chairs. When the lifeguard comes, he would look around and leave notices on the reserved lounge chairs when it looks like they are not really occupied. In that notice, the lifeguard would give you 40 minutes to occupy your places. If the alloted time arrives and the chairs are still unoccuppied? Well, he would collect all the personal items and stack them near his corner.

Imagine the shock of some people on finding their ‘reservations’ being occupied by someone else and more shock when they have to search for their personal items? Well, you wouldnt know what to expect. Sometimes some people wouldnt even know that their things were already taken away — slow reaction — not after a few hours! And others? They would shout and rummage around, disturbing the mass of people lounging around. I dont know if someone had already went as far as reporting their loss to the police.

But we never get any notices, I am proud to brag about that. Why? Because we dont really stay away from our place unless it is time to eat or to pee :) That means, we stayed mostly in and around the pool so dont ask me why I am so brown! As for those people who reserve and leave their chairs for a long, long time? I dont know why they do that…

Agosto 14, 2008

Oh vacation time

Filed under: Around Us,Expat Blahs,Girls' High — kengkay @ 5:44 umaga

It was a last minute decision, our one week vacation.

After the stress of the past week, we definitely needed a break. Where to go? We planned to drive to Garda Sea in Italy, to rent an apartment there. But my husband checked the weather forecast in that area, hmmm, rain? Nope, we dont want to spend a week holed up in an apartment.

So he checked for Tunesia. Saying, when everything would be added (gasoline, rent, food, etc), we could afford to fly to Tunesia and stay in an all inclusive resort and it would be definitely warmer there. We checked. No more available flights to Tunesia. After all, it is still summer vacation here in Germany in some parts of Europe.

The travel agent recommended Mallorca, Spain. You know what my image of Mallorca is? Ballerman and Ibiza – meaning, party, alcohol and noise. But when I looked into the website of the resort, well, it is actually located in the north side of Mallorca. With it’s own private beach, animation for kids, wellness facilities, etc; plus we are getting an all inclusive package. And we are flying!

Instead of getting the car ready, though we had it inspected already and I started stacking up on snacks and toys for the five-hour drive; I am only preparing for our luggages this time. And what does IC say when she saw two luggages only? ‘Mama, we should bring more bags,’ she said she dont want to come back anymore! That says how the kids saw our past weeks :(

So here’s a tip: if you think you could be paying for the same vacation price for an all inclusive package; why not check the possibilities first? And here are tips on how to find cheaper airplane fares.

I have also ticked my list of things to do before going for a vacation. Before I realized, I needed a new list — simply because, it is summer time and there’s enough to do in the garden!

Agosto 10, 2008

It’s our 7th year

Filed under: Girls' High,Top Dates — kengkay @ 1:26 hapon

Today we celebrated our 7th year anniversary as a married couple.

My husband woke me up with a kiss, giving me a rose. MC and IC marched in our bedroom with flowers, too; MC recited a short poem that she just made up right at that very moment :)

And then off for our big lunch date. The kids insisted on me putting on my wedding dress and MC even took time to find my wedding ‘shoes’. I gave in. The dress fits me but my husband protested as he dont plan to look so ‘fine’. So instead of my wedding dress, I asked the kids to chose another ‘nice’ dress; the girls wore they best dresses, too.

Where did we go? To the restaurant/hotel where we held our reception seven years ago. This has been a tradition that we would try to follow for as long as we can.

And what was that wedding dress?

Here is my story.

wedding gownI was already four months pregnant when I got married. We cannot marry so fast because of the billions of paperworks needed in Germany — I have collected two thick folders holding all the papers necessary to marry. And not to mention those documents translated from English into German.

For everything to move faster, I decided to fly back home to closely monitor the paper works and also because, I wanted to say goodbye to my family and friends in the Philippines and in Bangkok. I know getting married is a big step, and my choice husband would bring me too far away from all the people and places that used to mean home to me. I simply wanted to have the chance to walk one more time to my old world so that I could easily welcome the new one.

Plus, I have always wanted to get married in a nice Philippine-made wedding gown. I already know what I wanted, a babydoll dress, so short to be sexy but fit enough to complement my growing stomach. Actually, being pregnant made me feel so sexy that I am ready to experiment with my wedding dress. But I wanted it to be made of indigenouos ethnic materials such as pina or jusi.

Piña fabric is hand woven from pineapple leaves and has a natural ivory color (although it can be dyed). On the other hand, when banana fibers is mixed with silk, the fabric is called jusi.

And marrying in a far away foreign land made me want to show off what I am. I wanted to represent the Philippine woman. Especially since most of our guests, including my future husband, doesnt even know the Philippines!

It was luck that a very good friend, who also arrived from the US, got to meet with me to help me choose my wedding gown. Since he’s a great dresser, I trust his judgement. We met at Rustan’s Shangrila and went through their boutique and immediately found what I wanted in Filipinian section.

I got to try on two jusi dresses from Dita Sandico Ong, both baby doll dresses; it was a real fun and funny experience because my friend, who’s gay — acted like he’s my mom; complete with sentimental gestures, fake tears and loads of ooohs and aaahhhhs. He made all the sales ladies laugh as he insisted on wanting fit some Filipiniana gowns, too! Well, of course, he only tried on the wonderful shawls; he simply cant resist and he’s making me and the people around us laugh, so it’s a welcome side show. I really had fun and would not have shopping for my wedding dress any other way.

Although I know that the Dita Sandico Ong babydoll dress is the right one; we nevertheless searched Patis Tesoro’s boutique for any possible wedding gown ‘candidates’; they have some pretty terno’s but you see, I have already fallen in love with the first dress and there’s no more changing my mind.

my bridal gown

My wedding dress is then a sleeveless babydoll from Dita Sandico Ong made of jusi. It is fitted on the bust and accented by small fine translucent beads around the bust areas. It has a flowing skirt silhouette that introduces some welcome butterfly kisses to my bulging stomache. The shawl is also made of mixed ethic materials with fine beads, too.

I wore my dress with a light colored stockings and a light colored pair of shoes. I also asked my husband to buy a beige or light colored suit despite the fact that almost all formal wedding here has the groom in dark suits. Of course he fitted them, as I tried on my wedding dress. I guess I never really thought about that old superstition that if you tried on your wedding gown, it would not push through because from then on, the preparation went without a hitch.

And oh, we also asked the guest to come in light colored attires. I wanted the wedding to have happy colors and not the dull dark ones.

I was real proud of my wedding dress. I was real proud that I got to introduce my heritage by the simple act of choosing a Philippine-made wedding gown. That made me more a happy bride, feeling like my family’s there with me.

Next, am going to talk about my second wedding dress. Oh yeah, we did got married in Manila, too!

This was first posted here.

Agosto 8, 2008

MC’s Last Day in Kindergarten

Filed under: Girls' High,Kindergarten Notes — kengkay @ 7:04 hapon

She entered kindergarten early 2004 and late 2008, she said goodbye as she would be going to school after the summer break.

Yes, today was her last night in kindergarten. It is a big day for us. Papa took a leave from the office as he wanted to bring MC to kindergarten for the last time.

The only thing is, IC’s feverish. Thus I stayed home to tend to IC and Papa took MC to kindergarten. I wanted to share this day, too — but IC needed me so I gave the Papa the chance to have the day.

I already told MC that she would need to pack all her things as she would not be coming back to kindergarten after the summer break: her gym things, her rain jacket, her rubber boots, her pair of house shoes and whatever she’s got inside her kindergarten drawer. She’s already finished passing around her friendship book — most of her friends and most of the teachers have already left their marks in the book for her. That friendship book is a great souvenir!

She’s got her kindergarten folder — enlosed inside were almost all of her artworks and crafts done from 2004 to 2008. There were also some photos especially those times when she celebrated her birthdays in kindergarten. It was funny when she opened it. For she couldnt believe she used to draw such ‘kriddle kraddles’ only :)

MC and IC curious about the kindergarten folder

Oh there a lot of things I need to share about her preschool days in kindergarten — soon :)

I asked her tonight how she felt leaving kindergarten; she simply shrugged her shoulder and said, ‘I dont know. I think I would be coming back to kindergarten as IC is still there.’

Well, she is right, of course :) Although she cant hide that proud tilt of her head, and that smile that says, ‘I am going to school.’

Agosto 6, 2008

Hurra, der opa ist da!

Filed under: Close to Me,Girls' High,My Girls Talk — kengkay @ 6:17 hapon

Hurray, the opa is back home!
Look at the happy faces of oma and opa. I took this photo this evening. It’s as if nothing major happened. And I am glad everything seems to be well. I am sure oma and opa is really happy to be together again; and we are ecstatic that they are together again.

But let me tell you first about yesterday.

MC was a happly but little bit offended yesterday when she heard that opa’s coming home today. It turned out that papa promised to bring her to the hospital for a visit.

Since we were not really sure if kids are allowed to visit that ward, we didnt really asked. I for one, havent even visited him; since I was sick the whole time that opa was in the hospital. And though we talked to him on the phone, a visit would be something else.

On an impulse, I asked my husband to call and ask if the kids are acome. When the answer was yes; we picked my husband at the train station and drove to the hospital. And here are some photos to share:
To be frank with you, I was really amazed that opa is up on his feet. He’s really fit and in a good mood. In fact, I wouldnt know we are visiting him in a hospital after a major surgery; and he showed me where it was and the cut was really huge — if not for the smell and the beds! He’s raring to go home.
Let me let you, he was operated on last Thursday only. And here I am, with my sickness that caught me that very same day, still making me a bit tipsy most of the times. I should be really ashamed of myself. In fact, opa asked me first if I am okay! What an amazing recovery for our 87 year old opa!

I guess it helps that opa is a very active man, being old doesnt stop him from cultivating his own huge garden of fruits and vegetables. He is always on his hands and feet, doing something. Always busy. And he does love to go on holidays driving with the oma; meeting some of his soldier friends.

And of course, having his love of his life, the oma; holding his hands all through out all their journeys in life is a big factor in creating a happy and healthy life for him. Plus of course, the grandchildren who make him feel younger and his children who hopefully, could provide him some of his extra needs :)

Thank you very much for all those who prayed for our family. God bless us all.

P.S. Noticed the girls’ are with face paintings; they had a party in kindergarten today!

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