Twenty Four til 4

I'm 24. Just finished my masters degree. Lived in Sydney for a year. Yep, my life's been pretty awesome.


i like reflecting every time i celebrate my birthday. i dont know why, but i like doing it. i try to remember what i've done for the past year, if i've actually done something right... if ive learned from my failures, if ive done any stupid or embarassing things, if ive done some FIRSTS.

to sum it all up, i wanted to make a list of all the things ive done this year that most definitely shaped the year for me, so here it is:

1. November 2010 (technically not part of my 24th year, but it has a vital role. haha): learned that i passed to 3 universities in Australia

2. December 2010: Papa agreed to pay for my tuition to study International Studies at the University of Sydney

3. January 2011: quit both my jobs and started preparing for Sydney

4. February 2011: left Manila and arrived in Sydney, Australia! YIPEE!

5. March 2011: uni started, lots of readings. learned the aussie culture. met a lot of different people and are now called my FOREIGN FRIENDS. haha i love you all!

6. April 2011: went to NEW ZEALAND and did some firsts: skydiving and bungy jumping (thank you tita ana and wedo for accommodating me). started my spiritual journey with some fellow residents in IH.

7. May 2011: so happy that Papa, Mama, Ate, Kuya, Lola, Kuya Mik, and Marla went to to AUSTRALIA to visit. we went to GOLDCOAST for some cousin bonding and to CANBERRA for some family-loving vacation

8. June 2011: semester 1 just finished. took a breather from the different kind of study. and im happy that i passed my classes.

9. July 2011: first time to feel WINTER. haha went to MELBOURNE and saw some penguins and met islanders from EVERYWHERE during the Asia Pacific Youth Conference. oh my WOLF PACK! : ) good times. got another FIRST: did some crazy beach swims and poker games.

10. August 2011: semester 2 has been starting, glad to know that ive adjusted to the uniwork set up. and happy to be back at the International House with my lady friends - Ellen, Kjersti, Yuka, Annette and Laura. also ran my first international marathon: city2surf, without training. i died the next day.

11. September and October 2011: nothing extraordinary happened, all i know was that i went to a lot of events, drank a lot of wine, did a lot of school work, and did the newsletter and yearbook for IH. it was stressful, but it was good.

12. November 2011: final weeks of uni, packing and unpacking my stuff to bring home. said good bye to a lot of people. left IH on the 20th, and boy was i sad. good memories in that place. went to HOME BAR (first and last time to do that).

a lot of things happened in a year's time. i DO NOT REGRET anything. ive enjoyed my stay here in Sydney, ive met a lot of people throughout the year, and most of them, i know, i have connected and will see again. a lot of people to thank and a lot of memories to remember.

and as i celebrated my 24th birthday with some friends for drinks, i think its safe to safe that ive done a pretty good job in celebrating my FIRST BIRTHDAY AWAY FROM HOME. : )

PS. i will never drink too many of everything anymore. going home at 4am and waking up dizzy with a very acidic stomach is not a good feeling. BUT, i still feel like im 20. haha

SURPRISE!

tonight, we had our secret santa/ december babies party in the rooftop.

BUT, they also surprised me with a scrapbook full of memories and i just want to share the poem that they made for me:

we once met a girl from Manila,
who grew up with maids in a villa,
through all the good times,
and bottles of wine,
we found she was more like Gozilla.


THANK YOU GUYS SOOOO MUCH! i truly appreciate it!

Quality Time

Ive never been that kind of person who was shy. i can pretty much find a group of people who i can instantly click with and enjoy myself with. i was pretty lucky that by the 3rd week of living here in Sydney, i found those people. we are very much like my "barkada" in Poveda.

all of us are very six different individuals, all coming from different parts of the world. we grew up in different cultures, believe in different things, but in some weird reason, all of us just get along well. and today, i wanted to spend the whole day with them. although Yuka failed to wake up for our Glebe Market trip this morning, she caught up with us in the rooftop for wine and some never-hav-i-ever moments... and maybe the last of it for the year.

if you're wondering if im going to miss them, i would be lying if i said i wouldnt. Annette, Kjersti, Yuka, Laura, and Ellen are my girls. they are the people who ive spent most of my time with living here in Sydney, they are the people who i tell my secrets to, they are the people who i run to when im bored or in trouble, and they are not just my friends, but my family. : )

its hard to believe that within a year, ive opened up with a hipster from Sweden, a sucker for weird movies and pork from Singapore, a very kind and gullible girl from Orange, a nature-lover and a blessed (you know what you're blessed of) from Norway, and our very own easy-to-laugh-easy-to-get-drunk future vet from Japan. i love all of them and i love how we all get along even if our opinions clash or our conversations get so intense. i love how we compliment each other in the weirdest ways and how we take care of each other when one or two people need to puke. haha

oh the good times we've had. but yes, im honestly sad that im leaving, BUT i am also very excited that we will all meet in our own little countries one day. (we can now crossout ORANGE from our list). But yeah, having this perfect Saturday was truly a day that i will cherish. especially when we were at the rooftop. and nobody, and i mean NOBODY, will ever know what we did or talked about tonight. oh the good times. let's keep it coming.

Starting my Summer Right

For the past five days that I’ve spent my summer here in Australia, I was able to:

1. go to Coogee Beach with my Friend Shay

2. cook cupcakes (with no measuring cups whatsoever) with Kjersti, which where delicious according to our bias friends, Ellen, Yuka, and Annette. haha we were able to make two batches of cupcakes. the first one were cappuccino cupcakes with peppermint cream on top, and the second
one were choco-pepermint cupcakes with peppermint cream on top.

3. cook Filipino food—without any help from mama or yaya—that tasted like I’ve been cooking for years. i cooked binagoongan and Tanco cooked adobo. YUM.

4. manage to make a “The top 10 by 10 years” deal with Josef. i must win this trip. with my plus one. hahaha in 2021.

5. and to have the courage to pack up (well, starting to) all my LIFE here in Australia in 2.5 balikbayan boxes. its amazing how much crap ive created within a span of 10 months. haha


6. drink wine at the rooftop and not thinking about any school work.

7. billed out my coins for the year and managed to get $259 out of it. hahaha : )

life is pretty good. and summer is just starting...

What I'm Thinking about RIGHT now

as i forced myself to relax and stay under the sun today, it seems like the weather is telling me to go home and study. like it was telling me that i didnt deserve the beach, just yet.

my last exam EVER as a postgrad student is on Tuesday, November 8. am i done studying? NO. have i studied well? SO SO. for the past five days, ive been procastinating more on the things i want to do when i get home list than actually reading a whole book of theoies. i know im not done yet, but i cant help but think of the things i can and want to do when im done.

anyway, i will study tomorrow. i promise.

back to this list that ive been reciting in my head for the past week, today, my lsit is about what fruits i miss and would want to eat when i get back. and here's the list:

1. star apple
2. BANANA-- all varieties
3. mango-- green and yellow
4. rambutan
5. lansones
6. mangosteen
7. duhat-- with asin
8. papaya
9. langka
10. pomelo


ugh. i can taste it.

i mean, dont get me wrong, having grapes and strawberries everyday is quite nice, but the fact that im allergic to both (only in australia) makes me miss tropical fruits more.

and, i think i wont be eating apples and oranges, except if its mandarin, anytime soon.

Ending the Year with Mario and Luigi

Last Friday, October 28, it was our last foundation day dinner and IHMA disco. i was a little bit sad knowing that the end is near. but, it was also the day when we launched our yearbook. my baby for the past 5 weeks... the journey was over and that night was the night where everybody would see what i have created.

we had are normal cocktails at the wool room, and annette and i presented a short speech about our creation and made ellen sing her OH IH song to everyone. thank you ellen for doing it even though your throat was throbbing. then, we gave out 25 copies that night. i was very happy with their reaction because they were totally amazed by what we did. someone even said, "its the BEST yearbook of IH!" i practically melted when i heard that.

anyway, it was a good thing that our dinner was amaze-balls cause i was super hungry. jessica, our director, said thanks to everyone and so did the IHMA execs, tanco, su-wen, and renee. it's weird how they acknowledge all your hard work for the year, but i gladly accepted the gifts that they gave me. hahaha as dinner ended, we all went back to our rooms and started dressing up for our last IHMA disco which was also our Halloween party. annette and i dressed up as mario and luigi (girl versions). we had the matching hat, mustache and gloves. we even added mushrooms to our accessories. what we didnt have was the overalls, clearly, we did not want to wast money on something we will not wear EVER in public. haha so we just called ourselves Maria and Luisa with a mustache. we danced with pikachu, pirates, snow white, a witch, sexy secretary, french maid,superman, batman, wonder woman... and the list goes on. overall, it was a good end of the year party. : )

Are you the next fighter pilot?

Ellen and I took advantage of the free fairy floss in Uni the other day, and this lady came up to see and asked if we wanted to try the flight simulator thing the next day. of course, we didnt even hesitate.

so when the day came, we woke up early (we were scheduled at 9AM), ate our breakfast, and went to the area in full confidence. and hey, we even got free sunnies. anyway, ellen was first, and she failed to leave and land, while i managed to leave the airport, it seems like we both weren't the next fighter pilot. BUT, we were both able to turn our jets like we were showing off our skills and that was good enough. anyway, it didnt matter cause it was an awesome experience and we could both cross that out in our things-that-we-want-to-do list.

THE END.

Food Festival

last night, my friends and i went to the food festival in Hyde Park. we wanted to go because it was Chinese, Malaysian, Thai, Singaporean, and Vietnamese food and nothing else. when we entered the par, i was quite overwhelmed with what i saw. a gazillion tents (exaggerated of course) full of different cuisines along with its tantalizing smell made me drool all over the place. of course, with that kind of event, their were also a lot of people lining up just to be able to buy those delicious meals. annette and i were too hungry to line up and wait, so thought we'd go to places that were good enough and had a not-so-long line with it.

i managed to get some sesame balls, yum cha, and garlic prawns -- BUT WITHOUT RICE -- and ate them all satisfyingly as i sit on the grass. everybody had felt the baboy reflex so we all deicded to walk back home. it was a good 40 minute walk that we all enjoyed. and as i type this, i dont really regret waking up with hives all over my body. it was a good break from IH meals after all and the food was good enough to feel like i was back home.

thank you jonathan choo for taking the liberty to bring your camera.

(with me were Mike, Adam, Bo An, Jonathan and Annette)

YAYA

Yayas are not just maids.


i was watching "The Help" with my cousin the other day, and i cried like crazy. yes, im not ashamed to admit it. haha i highly recommend that you watch it, especially if you have a maid who took care of you since you were born.

anyway, i know how much my yaya takes care of me and i hope she knows how much i value you her. recently, the maid of my cousin got some bad news back in the Philippines. her mom died. its hard because you dont really know what to do. both my cousins seem to be lost right now. and why? even though our yayas are not blood related to us, they're not just maids to us, they're family. they were there when we first took our steps, took care of us when we were sick, watched us til we slept, attended all our birthday parties, and took photos with us during graduations. my yaya has been there for me since i was born and until today. and when her father died, i felt like i was going to die. i was as sad and depressed as she was.

so back to my story.

right now, my cousins are depressed cause they're yaya is sad. and now that their yaya is feeling that way, they're taking care of her.

as for my yaya, she was the only one who cried when i left for Australia. she is the only person who i talk to via skype who cries every time we see each other. and i bet that when i come back, she will be the only one in shock and surprised and will cry again.

HOOTERS

As my regular Tuesday finishes, Mr. Tatts del carmen invited me for dinner. and of course i said yes. its funny cause today my family will also be having a dinner out for Lola to celebrate her 80th birthday. so i guess its good that im also out celebrating.


anyway, as my family meets the president, i meet tatts. as the family enters the chinese restaurant and is warmly greeted by chinese music, i am welcomed with a bunch of sexy ladies who is gathered by the sweet rock music. as my family eats their savory sweet and sour pork, fried rice, and duck, i eat my oily but delicious cheese sticks and burger.


ooohhhhh what a difference my life could be if i was back home in Manila. haha but, its not like i can complain. : )


3 more months and ill be home, but at the mean time, i kinda want to appreciate the boobs and the burgers.


thank you mr del carmen, we shall commit to our promises for next year. : )

Mind RESEARCH

For the past 2 weeks, i ve volunteered myself for a mind research. i dont exactly know if i could share this since its a scientific research and i should labelled as patient X, but what the heck, ive got nothing to hide anyway.

the research was about anti depressants and how it affects the heart by adding some stress. it was basically a 3-hour wait and some feelings surveys to fill out. BUT, the only best part of it was when they did the EEG and stuck those random things in my head so that the electrodes could pass or something.


the experience was amazing and i got a free movie ticket after. and apparently, the researcher mentioned the my head was "interesting" and that i was going to live long cause i was HEALTHY. : )

NOT UPDATING

My cousin and i were talking inside the car and she suddenly asked, "have you been updating your blog?"

my eyes widened and i said NOOOOOOO!

i completely forgot that i had this blog, but then again, what would i write about?

i guess that's the thing, thing's are only exciting in the start, but when things become getting comfortable, it feels like its a routine already and i just feel that this is my home. im not saying that the Philippines is not my home, but for now, this is.


i can't even believe that semester 2 is almost ending. its the mid semester week already , so im pretty busy making my my papers and studying for this mid semester exam. also, now that i've won the publications position, editing and researching for the yearbook and the newsletter pretty much fills in my time. now, events become tasks that im suppose to report on. although i dont regret the position and im still having fun. no doubt about that. like last Sunday, we went out to play laser tag. so that was fun, then last friday, it was the dessert fair and my friends and i served sticky day pudding. we didnt win, but it was all goo. i could only taste the green tea smoothie cause the rest of the desserts were egg and berry based. hahaha

also, im proud to say that i havent been drinking and going out to party. only because im being kuripot and like i said, there's not a lot of free time to spend.

i cant wait to go home though, but im also sad that im leaving.

City2Surf

OMG!

i ran a 14km fun run yesterday, and it was AMAZING!


my first international race ever, and it felt so good running with about 80, 000 strangers. and now that all sections of my body hurt, im semi regretting why i ran most of that 14 km. hahaha i don't know if it was the adrenaline or if it was the crowd telling me to run with them, either way, i ran it in 1:45 minutes, which i think is pretty good knowing that i haven't ran a distance like that since i left manila last february.


the only thing i hate about it was that i didnt bring money. bondi beach smelled like it was steak. and i wasnt able to get that steak. i hated every bit of it. hahaha so in the end, i went straight to the bus line (it took me forever) and went home.

WINNER!

ran for publications officer, and i WON! yipee!


oh, and last week, we had our first foundation day dinner and disco for the semester. i dressed up as a captain planeteer cause it was a 90s themed party, and to top it all of, i was only at the party for 5 minutes. and if you're wondering why i left for the 90s party, let's just say that events of the night before made me feel sick. oh vodka.

From Little Things, Big Things Grow

i've decided that i would just share to you the article that I wrote for the IH magazine since it practically summarizes my whole experience (well, the good and clean fun side of it anyway)

so here it goes:

Last July 18 to 24, 2011, over 130 delegates from 17 countries participated in the Asia Pacific Youth Conference (APYC) in Philip Islands, Melbourne. 

The week was jam packed with quiet time and sharing, storytelling, workshops, cultural night, night market and a lot more. And in that week, none of us expected it to the way it would be. The conference focused on personal transformation, the mantra: to be a good leader, you should understand and appreciate yourself. So, that’s what we did. 

Every morning, we started with self-reflection during quiet time and we would share our thoughts with our family groups. After that, we would all gather in the meeting room and have our plenary sessions to fully understand the four values of Initiatives of Change (IofC)—Love, Unselfishness, Purity, and Patience—wherein there would be different speakers that would help us understand the values. Then, we would go to our workshops (that we personally chose) that would help develop our understanding in different areas, as for me, I chose family development, wherein we had to create a three-generation family tree and share family stories that shaped who we are today. After that, we would go back to our family groups and share our stories by showing a timeline of our lives from birth to the present day. Honestly, at first I thought it was a pretty hard thing to do, whatever your story may be, because for me, these were people whom I just met, and so for sharing and trusting them with my life problems was a little bit too confusing. But now, as I write this, I feel this bond with them, knowing that even for a short while, I knew these people as to who they really were and I felt honored that they shared these stories to me and as they listened to my story as well. 

But then of course, the conference wasn’t always serious. First of, we always had 30-minute tea breaks between sessions, so that we could all somehow reach and speak to all the delegates. Second, every after dinner, we would have what they called cultural night, where each country could share something about their country. I was the one who represented the Philippines, and so I shared a little bit of fun facts about my country and ended up being a “makata” for the night. “Makata” in english means public speaker. Why? Well, I can’t sing and I can’t dance, so I decided that it would be best if I just read them a famous Filipino poem about the youth. We also had the night market, where people can have their own stall and sell some of their products. Last but not the least, every night we would go down the beach and spend more time together—sharing, learning, and enjoying each and everybody’s company.

We also had a day to tour Philip Islands, which I think was a good breather from the conference because we all got to hang around without thinking of being late to our workshops or anything like that. And even though it was raining so hard that day, that did not stop us from going to the Koala Reserve, the farm, and the penguin parade. The experience was price less as many of us have not seen a koala or penguins before. Also, having a day with my new friends made the connection and bond even deeper.

And if you ask me what my favorite and most unbearable part of this whole experience was? I would say, “love the Open Space activity, hate the last day.” The open space activity enabled each person to choose a topic that s/he wanted to discuss for an hour, and if people wanted to discuss about your topic, they would just go to your table and talk openly about their ideas and experiences. I chose the topic “group dynamics for better trust” where I met the most awesome person (and now my new mentor), Mr. James McIvor and got to talk to different people about love, alcohol, and saving the world. As for the last day, well, how can you say good-bye to 100 people knowing that you might not see them anymore? How can you say good-bye to the people whom you got to share and listen to our most deepest and heartfelt stories with? How can you say good-bye to the people you started loving and appreciating?

As I am finishing this article, I start singing the phrase, “from little things, big things grow!” that the Australian delegation sang during cultural night. It truly does summarize the weeklong conference for everybody. These people and their stories, truly made me appreciate who I am, what I have, and have inspired me to be the leader that I want to become.

Ohh-wesome Orange

After semester 1 ended, i moved back to Mosman, where my relatives live, for the winter break. and now that im at the middle of my coldest summer ever experience, i haven't done anything, BUT.... run.

you see, 9 weeks ago, i've decided to join the 14km city to surf fun run this coming August, assuming that i was as fit as i left Manila. well, i havent been really running or doing any form of exercise ever since i arrived from New Zealand. Anyway, as the break started, i have been trying to run so that i can somehow finish the fun run. so yeah, running and just literally being a bum.

except for the fact that i went to the countryside of Australia for the weekend. a town called ORANGE. my friends and i (from IH) stayed over at Laura Hayman's home. (Thank you Hayman family for adopting 5 silly girls over the weekend). 

even though it was a 3 hour train ride and a 2 hour bus ride from Sydney, it was all worth it. we ended up seeing all sorts of things around Orange and watched the miniseries of Pride and Prejudice, screamed Mr. Darcy's name the whole time and watched other Colin Firth movies. haha Annette cooked bacon for the first time, had a lunch picnic at the park, and went up to the highest mountain. we also met Laura's brother who looked like Ron Weasley and made him say, "Bloody Hell!" haha we also went to a vineyard, while they had their first wine tasting, i was a very good... watcher, because i might get an allergic attack from it. 

but the best and most memorable part of the trip was when we did tons of failed jump shots after our picnic and people just started climbing trees, and only the scandinavians were able to do it. Yuka, my japanese friend, tried but failed and ended up hanging on a branch with her butt sticking out. haha it was super funny! 

 SO YEAH, IT WAS AN OH-WESOME ORANGE EXPERIENCE! : )

more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.241072095904681.68874.100000056774910

Semester 1: CHECK!

after two long weeks of reading journals and books, late nights, and more breaks than any person could have, i finally finished my last assessment for semester 1!

im so happy that its over. : )

now, what to do for winter break? hahaha

SKYPEdatessss

Because my semester is ending, this would be the perfect time to share this:

i've been officially living here in Australia for the past 4 months... yes , i know its hasnt been THAT long yet, but if you have a really awesome family and wild friends back home, you'd really start missing your it after like three days. But yeah, my point-- i miss the Philippines ALL the time. well, not all the time, maybe when i see pictures of my friends (especially summer pictures) hanging around, drinking and laughing OR when i get to talk to my family DURING Sunday lunches and they tell me what they're having... chewing while talking to me. ugh.

i just always wish that i was home at that moment.


ANYWAY, this first semester really changed me, although im still not sure if it changed me for the better. haha but i do know that i've become very independent compared to when i was in college. i cant even believe that i can iron and wash my own clothes... and cook. now i just have to learn how to drive...

BACK TO MY POINT. what i really wanted to say was that missing all these "happenings" back home and wishing to be there really sucked, but SKYPE helped me survive. and this is why i love technology in general. it makes living abroad easier to deal with. because even though im not physically present, i still get to see my friends and see what my family's eating. and for now, that will do.

so for all the people that i've been skyping with, you're pretty much here. and im super thankful that you had the time to go and update me with your lives, and as for the ones who i havent had a skypedate with (you know who you are), im still waiting.

note: i would like to mention that i did not get to take pictures of my other skypedates. (with stacy, dave,  and josef)

City Lights

We all wanted to see the vivid light show one night, so we decided to headout and enjoy the scenery. the vivid light show's concept is to basically light up famous buildings around the city and be amazed with it. but before that, we ate at the lowenbrau for sausages and booze. the B met the Mrs. P for the first time too, but that's not a story that im suppose to tell.

So, back to my story. we didnt really get to see all of it just cause kuya lex was too lazy to walk too far, but then again, we saw the opera house and got to enjoy the coolest light shows anyway-- the shadow light thing and the painting the building thing. haha but yeah, it was really fun.

enough blabbing and just enjoy the photos

if you want to see more pictures, just go here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.228324587179432.66793.100000056774910

and the video of kuya lex and i painting the building: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=228353250509899&comments

Its gonna be June tomorrow

tomorrow will be june and if i was in the philippines it would only mean one thing: school. but now that im here in sydney, its the other way around. my first semester finishes by the second week of June, and by that time i'll be spending a month long of doing nothing.

but anyway, i dont want to talk about that. it gonna be june tomorrow, and i was like, man, i have to blog about my May trips. so here goes...

a week before my family left, we hit Canberra and Blue Mountains.

Canberra. oh canberra. what can i say about canberra? well, its really really small. i dont want to say its boring, cause Questacon was amazinggggg! but, it was somewhat sad. or like if i were to move there by myself, id be sad. anyway, we went to the parliament house (old and new), war memorial-- that took us the whole afternoon, mint factory where my brother made his own coin, black mountain where we went to this kinda like their sydney tower but more dangerous cause it didnt have a glass wall to protect you, and questacon, the funniest and most magical place in Canberra.

well, as for the blue mountains-- i didnt go. i was too tired and too lazy. so i pretended to be sick (which i kinda was) and stayed home to watch a movie in the city. hahahaha so when my dad found out about it, he bought me a key chain that said "Drama Queen." hahahahaha i deserved that key chain.



anyway, i dont want to describe the place or the experience, cause its one of those things that you have to go to to be able to really understand what im talking about, but i do have visuals to share to you. so enjoy! : )


more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.224400917571799.65210.100000056774910

Cold is Gold

Where have I been?

Well, i've been out and about ever since my family arrived last May 9. yup! ALL of them... Papa (with his security), Mama, Ate, Kuya... and Lola... and Marla... and Kuya Mik. we're all cramped up in one house, which i think is pretty amazing. haha

anyway, last weekend we, all the cousins, decided to go to gold coast for some cousin-downtime-bonding. and because we were merely relying on our own money, we decided to be as cheap-ass as we could. so we reserved the cheapest tickets and the cheapest room available = backpackers accommodation, meaning $39 dollars a night/ person.

let me tell you about being cheap when it comes to travelling, YOU GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR. so dont expect anything glamorous or expensive, because you wont get anything from that.

first of all, we missed our flight. okay, thats not because we bought cheap tickets, but because some psycho guy threatened to bomb the harbour bridge and so he ended up closing the bridge and made a 30-minute drive to 2 hours. we were late, but we had the chance to rebook it during traffic. so no worries. but we almost missed our re-booked flights... as in we were literally running inside the airport to reach our flight.

so as we got to gold coast, we rode a taxi and met the friendliest driver ever (Thanks Manong Chris!), reached our hostel and got our keys. and as we opened the door... we all had this nasty face. WHY? because the room REALLY SMELLED LIKE FEET. seriously, smell your feet now and just imagine it being 10times stronger than yours and its the scent of a room. THATS OUR ROOM. we couldnt complain. it was cheap. the only good part of it was that we had our own beds. but yeah, lesson learned. no more cheap-ass hostels. id rather pay twice as much.

the only scary part of the story was that we had to sleep there for 3 nights, and we all ended up being okay with it. i mean, yeah, we totally bought a deodorizer and sprayed it EVERYWHERE, EVERYDAY. but everytime we would leave and come back, we would smell the gross scent, but when we're already in the room, we wouldnt even smell the feet anymore. OMG. now that i think about it, that waas super gross.

anyway, enough about the room. for 4 days that we were there, we ended up going to a theme park and rode all the scary rides, fed some kangaroos, ate subway sandwiches all the time, walked around the city and bought stuff, went to the Ripley's museum, did that slingshot ride and screamed our lungs out (a video to prove it), tried to go to the beach and sunbathe (but we couldn't cause it was too cold and windy), played putahan, and just enjoyed ourselves even if.

so, if you guys plan to go to gold coast, dont go at this time. i mean if you want to experience the wild and crazy and hot kind of gold coast, this wouldnt be the time, but then again, if youre with good company, it doesnt really matter.

Palladian Cup 2011- solo drama

when i got back from New Zealand, it was pretty much a hell for me. why? well, because i had this wonderful week long that i didnt want to get out from... and cause i knew that i had a paper due on wednesday and the palladian cup on thursday.

I dont want to blog about my New Zealand trip just cause the pictures can describe the whole experience. so if you do want to see what I did in NZ just check out the links below:

day 1: christchurch
day 2-3: milford sound
day 4: glenorchy
all the days in queenstown
bungee experience
skydiving experience


So let's go back to Sydney.

Yesterday, I represented the House for the Palladian Cup. the Palladian Cup is an inter-college (dorm) competition with different categories, and it happens throughout the semester. yesterday was the solo drama category, and I was one of the representatives for our house.

I chose the character Ursula from the Little Mermaid, and can i just tell you that out of all the presentations,  i was actually the odd man out. the rest of the contestants did so well (but i did too), but yeah, hell, SOLO DRAMA nga talaga. hahahaha BUT, i dont care. i did my best, had an amazong costume-- did those tentacles by myself, looked butt ugly and creepy. so yeah, all good.

anyway, i didnt win, and the winners deserved it. one guy even composed his own thing, and it was amazing, i thought he would win it (he was second).

and of course, i wouldnt deprive you from not seeing what my presentation. blogging wouldnt suffice it, right? hahaha so enjoy my once-a-year-i-will-never-do-this-again act. : ) enjoy it while it last and while im still open for panlalait. : ) hahaha

ohhhhh! and yes, that's my hair... ALL OF IT.

here's the link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=219542578057633&comments

WEEK of Unforgettable Memories

This week, I call it as my pre-easter break. HA!

I was pretty lucky that my last week before the break had no assignments due while most of the people here in my dorm had their sleepless nights for essays to finish, group works to finalize, and exams to pass or fail.


i started my monday night/ tuesday early morning to surprise Sy, one of my good friends here in the house, because it was her birthday. she didnt know anything until we actually screamed, SURPRISE!!!!!!! ellen and kjersti even sang there norwegian happy birthday song (and its not the happy birthday tune with norwegian language in it, okay) and we all wore red lipstick and kissed her face. it was pretty awesome and funny.

tuesday night, went out with Joanna and her unimates friends to play some trivia night at the Rose Hotel. we lost, but we weren't last. it was pretty hard knowing that we were all international students, girls, and late for the game, so yeah, sports questions failed us, any australian questions failed us, and music questions were too... australian to, so yeah. scoring a 62 over a 100 was good enough.

wednesday was reading day, BUT i got a package. so that was good.

thursday night was the VetSoc Cruise party. i brought my friend Dilshan with me, together with the girls (Annette, Yuka, Sy, Ellen, Kjersti, and Laura). half of us were so excited because it was our very first cruise party. yeah, we were in a bigass boat drinking and partying. i finally saw the opera house (after 2.5 months here) and went under the harbour bridge, and just really, the view was amazing. I even saw the skyscrapers all lit, it was BEAUTIFUL!

and at the end of it all, we ate tons of pizza, drank 4 glasses of wine, my friend Dilshan and Laura hooked up, Kjersti met this random guy, Sy got drunk, Yuka almost lost her shoes, Annette made out with Kjersti, Ellen made out with Laura, saw a random guy only wearing a SOCK on his penis, and I... well, I was AMAZED. SERIOUSLY. haha

Friday, woke up really early to go the Easter show with Mish, Tom and her family.

I wanted to ride the crazy, stomach churning, rides that they had, but it was too expensive. But, i did however, see a lot of those country stuff that i would usually see in ESPN. like those log competitions... YEAH i did! one team had an 11-second delay and still won the challenge. it was so fast!

then i also saw those cake decorations thing... they were good. one actually looked like REAL flowers. there was also that creepy baby cake and that cool pho- bowled noodle cake. i also saw a frowning porcelain baby doll and a dool with a gender.

The easter show was great because you can do and see so much. Mish said it was a cross between country festival and an amusement park. it was a good way of describing it. i ate tons of free food from the food area. saw a lot of different artworks from wood crafts to oil painting. There were also animal farms from chickens to horses, but i only saw the horses and the dogs, cause i'll just die if i inhale those fleece. there was also a tent for women's fashion, which i failed to enter because i was running out of time. But yeah, its worth going to.

Oh! and the most amazing part of this day was i got to eat fairy floss (cotton candy) and bought the most amazing hat ever!

more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/?set=a.216005561744668.59148.100000056774910

and the best part of this day was, I got back just in time to tryout for the Palladian Cup: Solo Drama, and i got in! i will be representing my house for the inter-dorm competition-- solo drama. i will be doing Ursula from the Little Mermaid. more about that later...

and today, Saturday, guess where i'm going?

answer: NEW ZEALAND! off the to the land of the hobbits and bungee jumpingggggggggAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

Dreams Do Come True

i woke up this morning and did my usual stuff, but today it was different.

i got an email from the One Young World Summit, a summit that i applied to last January and completely thought that i did not get accepted. but today, they sent an email to me CONFIRMING that i am one of the delegates for this summit.

IM SO HAPPY!

did i tell you that the summit will be in Zurich, Switzerland? YEAH! its gonna be in Zurich, Switzerland.

now, i just need the the money. hmph. time to beg. : )

One EMERGENCY Morning

And yet once again i find my self waking up in an unfamiliar way. i hate having to have so much allergies. it really really sucks.

at around 3:00 am, i found myself waking up cause i had to go to the bathroom. i really didnt notice anything cause for the past week now, my allergies started to show, so it was quite normal that i felt itchy. but when i was about to wash my hands, i found myself looking at a stranger.

a fat-lipped, bloated-face woman was looking at me. and i was like, WTH? THIS IS WEIRD AND SCARY!

to give you an imaginary picture of it, you know the movie of Will Smith, Hitch? that scene where he was cooking and he ate something and all fo a sudden his face got al screwed? well, that was how i looked like too, but just really worse that it was all over my body, neck, thighs, and face.


so i tried to calm down, hoped that it wouldnt get worse, and after about an hour of putting ice, i gave up and called the senior resident to help me out. (Thank you Daniel for helping me out) at this time, i felt like it was going to spread inside my mouth, and in which case could be very dangerous cause it could constrict my breathing.

anyway, i was also pretty lucky that one of the residents was awake to go with me, Shayn, you are an awesome person! thank you for being with a stranger rather than doing your assignment. hahaha

so we took a cab going to the emergency room, did some paper work, and finally got into this drabby white gown and waited for the nurses to hook me up some strong medication. she did the normal things and of course, she had to take my blood. she couldnt find a vein and tried it twice until she finally gave up and made the doctor do it. (Thank goodness!)

this is how it happened:

nurse: i cant find a vein

me: well, cause it shy

nurse: no, really i cant find one... oh here it is. [starts putting the needle inside, stops, and realizes she cant find and started moving the needle] wow! you really have tough skin.

me: [in my mind i was saying: taena babae, pagito talaga di mo pa tanggaling susuntukin na kita]

nurse: im so sorry, i just couldnt find one, maybe we should try the other arm.

and so she did.

me: [pointed a vein that she can poke] how about this one?

nurse: [checks it out and inserts the needle] im so sorry mate, you really have tough skin and your vein keeps on moving [starts moving the needle in and out]

me: that's cause im asian! [in my mind, pota! masakit ha. pwede tanggalin mo na? taenaaaaaaaaa!]


its a good thing she gave up after the second one cause if she failed thrice i wouldve really said something mean. the doctor came and she did it in one go.

so yeah, after about 4 hours of tests and steroid injections, they made me go home. left the hospital when the sun was up. and now, every lump of rash is gone. thank you very much!

What did you do tonight?

 it was a great ladies week for me.  

my friends and i (people in the house) decided that we should all pick a night wehre we could all dress up and look pretty and have dinner somewhere that's no where near cafeteria food. so we went out last wednesday, we went to this place called Rubyos-- it was a very pretty place to dine in, the kind where our parents take us for special occasions. and so we sat, even tried to pretend that one of my friend's was celebrating her birthday just so we could have a free birthday cake or something, but no matter how hard we try to exaggerate our conversation about her birthday, the waitress seems to be deaf. hahaha

anyway, it was all good. we had a great night, had some cocktails, delicious food, and a very expensive dinner. but it was all worth it. every penny of it! hahaha the funny thing was we ended up having dessert at Coldrock for some donut ice cream (YUM!) and two of my friends were still hungry so they bought a pizza on our way home. 

then of course we thought, why end the night so early if we could extend it? we drank some more at the house. GOOD TIMES! : )

then thursday, spent the day watching red ridinghood with my cousin and her best friend. man that movie was sooo bad. "I could eat you up!" like really, swear, a children's book to that? gosh. plus the fact that i spilled my drink in the cinema. 

BUT, no worries.

after watching the movie we decided to go to Newtown for dinner and reach the happy hour for some drinks. the good thing about this was that i found MY drinking place. you know how you feel at home in a certain restaurant or a bar, well, this is THE place for me. felt like i was in college again... IC's bar. : ) GOOD TIMES! hahaha 

after drinking a very strong mango daquiri, we ate indian food for dinner. it was actually really good. it was, in fact, the first time that i had indian food. seriously. i dont know why though, since we usually eat spicy stuff... but then again, the Philippines is known for having different kinds of cuisines, but not really indian, more like persian. diba?

after all this, im starting to miss... to miss... filipino food. adaobo, bulalo, tapa, longanisa, tuyo.. TAHO! ugh. i miss home food. period.