There and back again

No.it’s not Bilbo Baggins’ book I’m gonna write about (for all you Lord of the Rings fans out there, that is).

It’s about a week before my family and I once again board the airplane bound for Taiwan for another 2-or-so months away. Yup, it’s time to spend my birthday away from home again. And possibly, Matt’s 5th birthday as well!

Nina’s concerned about all the stuff we have to pack – which is a lot, and I really don’t blame her. I’m scared of just even thinking about it!

Two months and a couple of days in the hotel… we survived the same ordeal last year when we left for Taiwan on the 27th of July and only had the chance to come back on the 11th of October! I had a 90-day visa, but had to have Matt’s and Nina’s visas renewed due to the unexpected delay of the project there.

Now, the second ‘project’ will start on the 9th of Feb – that’s when we leave too.

We had fun in Taiwan, on our first and second visits. Now, our third one, it’s almost like a provisnce we regularly go to. A place to come away from it all and experience a different culture and trying to find new experiences each time.

We’re scheduled for another one near in the second half of the year, so this may not be the last trip there.

Here are some pics I’d like to share from those past experiences:

Taipei Zoo - Matt’s free until he’s 6 years old!

… and here’s what Nina and Matt liked very much about the place:
Butterflies and Beetles!

Here’s our place of refuge - The Church of Mary, Taoyuan, Taiwan

What makes this place fun are the Pinoys who congregate here every Sunday to celebrate Mass – and the Filipino priest who hosts it! The liveliness of the Filipino Community in Taoyuan is addicting. And you can feel the love of God in the Filipinos around.

And who could miss this landmark when you’re in Taipei?

Taipei 101

At Night…

And the view from above…

Things will change this time around, but it’s all work related.

Nina and Matt will be homeschooling in the hotel again.

With a lot of prayers, I hope we make it through again.

Queen of my Heart

It’s the first Valentine’s day I’ve spent away from Nina ever since we met. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!

Why should some [evil] machinations conspire to separate us…

Anyway, hon, this gift for you is true:

You are truly the Queen of my Heart.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Future Home – Riverfront Residences, Pasig (Part 1-The Story)

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the LORD…”

About half a year ago, Nina and I saw this flyer about a 5-storey condominium complex in Pasig. It was right smack where we were planning to live – halfway between my work and the Ateneo, where we plan Matt to go to school in the future. It had nice floor plans. I particularly liked it that every unit had a balcony.

A balcony! I always wanted us to have a condo unit with a balcony. I typically imagine lazy afternoons just putting up your feet on a chair, the calm winds blowing through, me having a book to read or just plain lounging around with Nina and Matt by my side, themselves enjoying the afternoon at the balcony. And of course, the view! (Well, the unit has to be well-situated for that.)

But early on, we though that that place was inaccessible – where you need to have a car since it would be far off from public transportation. And back then, I didn’t think I’d be able to afford the down payment.

So, whenever we would see the same flyer, I’d just kid about it and be excited and just dream that we find a similar property when finances would be manageable.

“…plans for your welfare…”

December 2007 entered so unexpectedly. Everything was in a rush! But, there was good news to be had for the Christmas season. My mom in Australia decided to give me a little financial boost. This paved the way for me and Nina to think whether to buy a car or to look for our own little place.

We were so sold into getting a new car for our little family to move around the city more freely when…

“…not for woe…”

It’s funny how God chooses to speak to you through other people. We were at a business lunch meeting at a restaurant near the Domestic Airport when I got to discuss plans with a young father (who happened to be a schoolmate, but belonged to a much younger batch).I asked him if he was also thinking of getting his own car. He said no, and that his priorities are to get his family their own place (they live with parents like me and my family.

Nina was right all along. She had also been expressing her frustration in living in her mom’s house for long and that we needed our own place so that we have control over everything in the house. Besides, a car’s value would only diminish through time, and it will be a source of regular expenses due to maintenance and gasoline.

But where do we go from here?…

“…Plans to give you a future…”

God also chose to guide us in a chance encounter between Nina and our would-be agent, Jhen. Nina and Matt were about to go home from a trip to SM Sucat when they saw the small selling space of DMCI Homes. Jhen was also about to leave, but decided to stay, or for some reason, was kept from leaving about an hour earlier. There, Nina saw Riverfront Residences, the condo community we were drooling over for months and almost gave up on!

The clincher? Remember we thought it to be inaccessible? Nina asked about it from Jhen and Jhen said that right outside the gate, a jeepney passes by! Turns out this jeep will lead you towards the main road where you can ride up to Quiapo! I can take it to ride the MRT at Shaw station or take a cab at C-5.

That chance encounter turned into a tripping on a Saturday, just after our wedding anniversary.

“…full of hope. – Jer 29:11″

Needless to say, we liked what we saw:

We reserved a 2-bedroom unit on the third floor of the Rhine* Building, with a balcony looking out into the narrow space between 2 buildings and glimpses the clubhouse and amenities area.

*all the buildings are named after rivers, funny how our unit turned out to be in the building of a German river!

And we trust DMCI Homes in the way that they’ve packaged and presented this community. In this development, they expect families to live in all the units, not merely rented out for investment. So we knew then and there that this will be a family-friendly place.

On our way back from the tripping to the site (looking for an ATM to pay the reservation fee because it IS selling like hotcakes!), we saw the verse on top of the gate of Rizal High School:

“For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe! Plans to give you a future full of hope. – Jeremiah 29:11″

We knew God is calling us out of our Egypt and into a Promised Land!

(that’s why we can never get a unit in the Nile building… wink wink)

Packaged Memories

Every trip, Nina makes sure I don’t get lonely by giving me a piece of her beautiful creations. I’m going to start a trend now. Everywhere I’m going, I’ll take a picture of her creations, her gifts. Here’s a ‘baseline’. These are all the cards, pictures, and all other things that Nina gave me to be close to home:

Love you, Hon! Thank you for all these gifts. I always look at them and remind myself that I need to get finish the work cleanly so that I can go home quickly.

Miss you and Matt. I’m coming home soon…

Parenting XP: R is for Reindeer, B is for Bell, T is for Turtles!

He insisted that T is for ‘Turtle dude’ (“That’s Dada!”) and his son, Squirt! (“That’s me, Matt-Matt!”)

I can’t believe our little boy is going to school already!

And with school comes homeworks. We’ve had three encounters with letters, each letter taught to their toddler class roughly once a week. Nina says there are new classmates for Matt to play and learn with.

Their usual assignment is to come up with five pictures for a certain letter.

The teacher returned the ‘Reindeer’ since she teaches it as ‘Deer’. Matt was absent because of a cold when ‘B’ was taught. And we just finished having fun with the letter T!

Parenting XP: First Day of School and Fatherhood

June is, before Father’s Day became so popular and commercial, always – always – the start of school. It was a time of dread for all students. I was one of those kids who would have a queasy feeling in the stomach upon waking up on the first day of school. As I grew older, I asked my friend and bus mate this insane line of thought: “Who invented school anyway?” followed by “If I had a time machine, wouldn’t it be nice to get rid of the person who invented school so that in the future, where we are now, there wouldn’t be any school?”. Always. (hmm… so that explains my inclination these days to sci-fi and fantasy…). I could never recall a schoolyear when I actually looked forward to.

Now, the roles are reversed. I’m a father of a three-year-and-two-month old boy who decided, together with my lovely wife, to enroll our son to toddler school. The feelings too are reversed. We were shopping for school supplies and clothes for Matt the other day and we bought him his black shoes and rubber shoes. Both Nina and I marveled at how he has grown – from a fragile baby I was afraid of holding the first time we came home from the hospital. Now, he’s all grown up , trotting about in his new rubber shoes yesterday as the whole family (all three of us) went on to celebrate Father’s Day at The Old Spaghetti House in Makati.

He loves his new Mickey Mouse footgear. And it was he who noticed that the Mickey icon on his shoes looked angry. So whenever he would refer to his shoes, he would say “Mickey Mouse… arrgh.” with matching growl, and a smile and laugh after his parents join the fun. (Jeez… I could still remember the feeling of having my very own Mighty Kid shoes when I was in grade one or two, after everybody would have them and the fad was dying out.) But that was about the only thing exciting for me whenever June would arrive (unfortunately) – buying new stuff for school.

I guess my son and I shared the same feeling about going to school. His first day last week was spent crying over his mommy leaving him behind in a room full of strangers. His second day was also spent crying. Today, I’ve learned from Nina that his crying was intermittent, and that he actually listened to today’s lesson (The letter R). We always encourage him to like school – and I find myself contradicting my initial feelings and stand about the subject. I chose to spend the night with Matt reviewing him of his lessons and we both figured which words began with ‘R’. I dunno if I’m putting pressure on him, but I do strive to make our play and learn time fun. Maybe tomorrow, he’ll be OK. I know he will be.

A funny thing that Matt said today was narrated by Nina, when they were going to school today. Matt didn’t like his black shoes so much as his rubber shoes. But my wife eventually got them on his feet. It’s about noon time when Matt’s classes start. When they walk outside the house, they would usually run to the shadows of trees until they reach the gate of the subdivision. This time, since it was Matt’s first time to wear black shoes, when Nina asked him to run to the shadows of the trees, he said “Can’t run. Too big. (points to his shoes). Buy new one.”

Hearing that made my day, and strengthened my resolve to make Matt’s schooling days enjoyable.

———-

Footnote: I guess the road on from here would find me in more contradicting situations. That’s what fatherhood is, I guess. Knowing where you came from so that you can point your child to the direction that would be less troublesome for them to reach their fullest potential.

I do not want to put too much academic pressure on him, even if the outside world does expect it. I’d rather he discover his true gift, and ask God to polish it and refine it. Diamonds are made from the most intense pressures and temperatures. They can now be created artificially. But the most beautiful of diamonds and gems – and the most precious – are those that are polished from the rough, strewn from the crucible of nature, and fashioned by the hands of God.

Things That Get Me Excited

Summer’s definitely over - sternly reminded by that raging thunderstorm that hit Parañaque last night. It’s been only 6 days since I arrived and it feels like I’ve never quite recovered my strength yet. Now, I’ve found some quiet time at the computer and gave this entry a brief thought after surfing the net. Here are some things I found that put a smile on my face and got my nerves tingly. So, after an exhaustive business trip outside the country, its good to sit back, relax, and try to find a dash of excitement to rev up for the days ahead.

Finances > Asian Monetary Integration > Think ACEs

When the Asian Financial Crisis struck, I was a third year college. Everyday, I would look at the newspaper, find the Business Section, and see our Peso fair against the Dollar… and the Thai Baht. I remember that the Peso and the Baht began almost on equal footing when the crisis started. But sadly, the Peso was left behind, or rather, harder to fall, than the Baht. That’s when i got interested in financial markets – but my interest was limited to the stock exchange figures and the currency exchange.

I never quite got a hold of how the details of the market index worked, and only theslightest idea of what influences the exchange rates and how it will affect us, but then the next big thing to happen came at the turn of the century – the formation of the European Union and the emergence of the Euro. As a (forced) traveller, you will really appreciate the ease to consumers the single European currency provides.

This post from Patrick’s blog points to an article about the possibility of a financial and monetary integration here in Asia. Imagine having just one currency, going to Hong Kong or Singapore, and buying there hassle-free. No need to worry about commission fees or low exchange rates. There are many pros and cons to this, but I do hope to see it in my lifetime. A currency at par with the mighty Euro and Dollar.

AMU? ACU? Just as I commented, I prefer ACEs. Check out this brief wiki regarding the subject.

There will be a lot of prerequisites for this to happen. And if it does, a lot more for us to qualify for it (think of the would-be (I think they are already) EU states of Romania, Bulgaria, or even Turkey and the demands for them to meet priior to integration within the EU – including market conditions for the Euro).

Technology > Microsoft Surfaces > The Days of Star Trek Has Arrived!

Image from Microsoft Surface website: www.micrsoft.com/surface

If you’re a trekkie (or trekker, like I am – and yes, there is a difference!) remember the ‘pool table’ on the Engineering Deck of the Starship Enterprise-D of Capt. jean-Luc Picard? Yes, Geordi’s toy table. Well, thanks to Top Dog’s post, view that same technlogy today on Microsoft’s site! 

Image from Microsoft Surface website: www.microsoft.com/surface

Enter the Microsoft Surface. Utilizing technology first popularized by Steve Jobs’ introduction of the Apple iPhone, MS Surface uses multi-touch technology to bring a richer user interface experience. This will be a revolution. Draw. Paint. Expand. Digital Jukebox. Share. Send. Wow!

The days of the ubiquitous computers has arrived…

Gaming > Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword Expansion > Expansion? More Like Civ 4.5!

For those Civ fanatics out there. you’re probably counting the days when this expansion will finally hit the market. If you’re not a Civ fan yet, then perhaps the details to this expansion on this CivFanatics.com post!

Box art from 2K Games
Aside from 10 new civilizations, more additional leaders, there’s a lot of new concepts injected into the game – corporations, spies, random events and many more! Better read the Info Center to get into the details.

What I’m looking forward to are the Scenarios! I’ll definitely want to try the Final Frontier scenario – a space-type Civ game (Star Trek, anyone?). And there are Historical Scenarios to whet my appetite such as Charlemagne’s Conquests and World War II.

With the release of Beyond the Sword, it will change how expansion packs are developed. Civ IV has proved to be a very modable game and the modders community has been given the ample recognition by the inclusion of not 1, but 2 full game mods in the pack. It’s halfway to the next level of Civilization – and it’s becoming more ‘real’ than ever.

This is A MUST for strategy gamers.

Scrapbooking > Nina’s New Layouts > WOW!

I’m a die-hard fan of my wife. And with these fantastic layouts, should there be any questions why? Combining her layouting skills and wisdom for words, her layouts are truly magnificent works of art!

I just love how she combines all the colors and details with the pictures and personalizes it with her journaling. Do check out her works and more in her blog.

The Future > A Car and a House > …Wishin’ and Hopin’

It’s hard to save up, but yes, I do hope that one day my family will have our own car and house. This is what wakes me up every weekday and brave the drudgery of work. I hope to take a step forward in at least one of these 2 dreams by year end.

Parenting XP: The Case of the Missing Cookies

When was the last time you listened to your kids? 

Last Wednesday, while I was hurrying to get ready for work, my three year old son woke up. My usual routine for these types of contingencies is to let the little kid feed on his ‘mamam’ (milk) and leave him quietly while he watches his favorite shows on Disney Playhouse. This sometimes happens a lot that I know I may be running late for work if the third Pocoyo is on.

But this time, since he was up much earlier, and Nina and I have a growing concern about his scarce diet, I decided to leave him breakfast before I left for work. I prepared a small tupperware container of 2 Chips Ahoy, 3 of the new Spanish Cookies with Cookie Monster in the wrapper (which, it turned out that Matt liked), and 2 Stikkos. It isn’t the most healthy breakfast, I know, but when I left him with the tupperware, happily munching on the smaller, Cookie Monster cookies while watching the TV as the intro to the 3rd Pocoyo started to play… (needless to say, I was 5 minutes late for work).

When I was at work and talked to my wife when she woke up, I asked about the container of breakfast treats I left the kid.

“What food?” She asked. I told her I left the small container on the bed with Matt. She said that it might be there, only that she didn’t seem to notice it. She thanked me for leaving food for the baby.

I returned from work early, and was still wondering how much food young Matthew was able to gobble down. I asked Nina again where the leftover food was, and she said she didn’t see the container I left. Hmmm…. NOw that’s strange.

Where can a three-year-old put the container of food without his mom ever finding it?

I checked the bed and under it, thinking that there might be crumbs and food all over the floor. Nope. Not there. Maybe he left it in the other room. Nope. Nada.

I finally decided to ask the kid. “Matt, where did you put your food?”

“Throw it. Down there.” He pointed to the window of the room, near the bed.

Impossible, I said. But could the kid actually do it – throw down the food from the window?

I went down stairs to check. And true enough, there at the back of the house, was the tupperware on the ground upsidedown. a piece of a stikko can still be seen on the wet ground. I was mad.

I was going upstairs and told Nina what I saw. She couldn’t believe it too. Matt was playing in our bedroom when I asked him why he threw the food down.

“No!” was the only thing he said. I asked him again. ”Matt-Matt, Why did you throw down your food!” I was angry, my voice was becoming louder and deeper, scaring the poor boy.

“NO!” He went to hi mommy for protection. I asked a third time.

“Feed the cats!” Matt said.

I was dumbfounded. He actually had a reason why he threw down his food! We have stray cats  that have become residents of this Ballesteros abode (the house and lot is my mother-in-law’s). We occassionally feed them with what leftover food we have. And this, Matt always sees and likes coz he can scare out the cats. We always tell him not to do so and leave the cats to feed.

So, how do you react to this kind of situation?

By now, Matt was crying since he knows I’m angry at what he did. Little did he know that there and then, I was sorry for my actions. My heart melted with every tear he shed.

I picked him up, said sorry, and told him that if he wants to feed the cats, he should tell mommy so that mommy could do it for him and he can watch. “It’s OK.” He continued his cry. I hugged him and looked at my wife, who was laughing at this ‘classic’ moment in our parenting life.

If only I asked earlier why he did it. Kids do make sense. If only us parents would listen to their reasons then maybe we can look at the world in their eyes and finally understand them a little more. 

Three Years Young

April 3 – that’s when our ‘baby’ turned three! Yes, he’s no longer a baby. He’s growing up to become a little boy. Matt never ceases to amaze Nina and me with new words he’s just picked up from Playhouse Disney. What’s surprising is, he knows how to use them!The first time he knew the word ‘again’, we somehow knew that he’d be very makulit. And yes, he has been…

I managed to buy him a birthday cake the day before. It’s the traditional chocolate cake from Red Ribbon (Mmmmm….mmmm), with a ‘3′ candle on top. So when I got off from work early (thanks to the understanding of my superiors although I wished i could have taken the day off), we had a short photoshoot with his birthday cake before having some fun.

We had a simple celebration at Mall of Asia, at his favorite tambayan – TimeZone. He wanted to ‘roll the ball (bowling)e ball (basketball)’. Here he is in action….

And he had fun banging the heads of the mice at this game…

After that, we discovered that he loves the four-cheese pizza baguette at Delifrance, so we headed over there to treat him. The boy just loves cheese!

We also decided to visit Toy Kingdom and get him something to play with. He wanted a golf club set again (we jsut bought him a set the weekend before as a birthday present). But, Nina found Matt something interesting to play with. It’s a pachinko-like game but instead of chips,there are balls. It’s like a pinball too, and Matt is always interested whenever I play the Lord of the Rings pinball at Time Zone.

We went home earlier than usual. It seems that it was time well spent since we didn’t feel that there was so little time going around the huge mall. It was time well spent in having fun.

…. Oh and when we got home, we had our fill of cake and ice cream! (it wouldn’t be a complete birthday celebration without those).

Home…

It always breaks my heart to leave on official business. And leaving last week was probably the most heart wrenching experiaence for me so far.

Matt was awake when I had to leave for the airport and he cried when both Nina and I told him i had to go to ‘work’. The young kid is bright and I know he’d expect me to be home again soon. But when I leave for another country, that just doesn’t happen.

Nina has had to bear the sad news of a son of a fellow scrapbooker who just passed away. And I know it scared us both. The little angel is about Matt’s age. It just brought us to think of how life is so fragile and that if it’s time to go back to the Father, it’s time. Now, it’s been magnified since I’m going on a week-long trip and she’ll be left alone doing all the house chores AND taking care of Matt.

For me, I don’t think I was prepared to leave. Not after the fun times us three had when we last visited SM Mall of Asia and discovered teh TimeZone at the back. Matt had a fun time playing bowling and basketball. And I’m going to miss that when I’m away.

Of course, it didn’t help when Michael Buble’s song played on the in-flight radio….

———- 

“Home”

Another summer day
Has come and gone away
In Paris and Rome
But I wanna go home Mmmmmmmm

Maybe surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
I just wanna go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

And I’ve been keeping all the letters that I wrote to you
Each one a line or two
“I’m fine baby, how are you?”
Well I would send them but I know that it’s just not enough
My words were cold and flat
And you deserve more than that Another aeroplane
Another sunny place
I’m lucky I know
But I wanna go home
Mmmm, I’ve got to go home

Let me go home
I’m just too far from where you are
I wanna come home

And I feel just like I’m living someone else’s life
It’s like I just stepped outside
When everything was going right
And I know just why you could not
Come along with me
‘Cause this was not your dream
But you always believed in me

Another winter day has come
And gone away
In even Paris and Rome
And I wanna go home
Let me go home

And I’m surrounded by
A million people I
Still feel all alone
Oh, let me go home
Oh, I miss you, you know

Let me go home
I’ve had my run
Baby, I’m done
I gotta go home
Let me go home
It will all be all right
I’ll be home tonight
I’m coming back home

———-

WAAAAAAHHHHH!!!

———-

You know what’s sweet? Nina managed to make me a “Travelling Kit” – a small tin box filled with stuff that she made – pictures of us as a family, quotes, her thoughts on how she loves me and how much they will miss me when I’m out there. She made it for me about a day before I left and it has brought me comfort on those lonely nights when I think about them, how they’re doing, and if they ever miss me that much.

In essence, it’s Love – boxed up and ready for viewing and remembering whenever I need it. Thank you so much, Hon.