I love my home country Philippines. I do. Sometimes though it irritates me how things work there. Just like, for example, the postal service.

I sent my family in the Philippines a Christmas card a month ago and they still have not received it. I can understand that it was maybe busy because of the holiday but does it really take a month to send a card? I hope someone did not steal my card because I did not put any cash in there. It is sad that people steal mails there. It is embarrassing actually.

My husband recently installed new shower heads at my mother-in-law's house. That is one of the few things around the house he can do well and quickly (although this time he left a bite mark on the shower neck in the master bath, lol). It got me to thinking about my life in the Philippines where our life was simple and our shower heads were wide mouth buckets with water in them, at least until we had running water installed in the house much later in my life.

I guess you could define buckets as low pressure shower heads. They are not as easy on the eyes as the shower heads I have linked to, but they are effective none the less. You are able to get yourself clean in a very inefficient way unlike the modern low pressure shower heads that allow you to clean your self in an environmentally conscience way. Although you don’t get that cold rush of soapy water massaging the top of your feet like you do with buckets.

When I was young washing at the local well, or in my family's wash room, I would have never dreamed of something like handheld shower heads being in my home. Yet, I actually experienced the joy of a handheld shower head when I was married in Hawaii. The control this gives you over water is absolutely amazing. No more soapy arm pits. You can direct and control the flow of water however you want. Of all modern shower heads, these are the closest I can find to a bucket.

Oh the joy of showering. It is one of the few times that I can be alone with my thoughts. It does not matter to me if I am under a high or low pressure shower head or if I am using a handheld shower head as long as I am alone and in a soothing/relaxing me moment.

The Bb. Pilipinas World Czarina Catherine Gatbonton is now competing in China for the Miss World 2010 title. I did not like this girl at first but she grew on me. She is really beautiful. I hope she will do well in this competition. She did not make the Beach Beauty fast track which really made me sad for days but I still have hopes for her to get the crown. I pray that she wins it all. She deserves it.

Good luck Czarina! Make the Filipinos around the world proud!

I am so excited. Do you know about Magicjack? You only pay $19 something a year for the service. You can call any US and Canada phone numbers for free. I am going to bring this magicjack unit to the Philippines for my family to use so they can call me or vice versa anytime and unlimited. There is also a voicemail feature. It is awesome!

I have a lot of plans that have been bothering me. I guess I think things a lot even though they are still far from reality. I just love to think in advance. Part of it is because I am an introvert person.

Here are the things in my mind recently:

My son and I in the Philippines - When I visit my family with my son who has a nut allergy, is it going to be hard for my son to eat there? If he'd have a bad allergic reaction, do the hospitals in the city know how to deal with it? Nut allergy is so rare in the Philippines, I believe. I only heard of it here in US.

My bestfriend plans to visit us - my bestfriend is planning to visit us here in Colorado Springs. I am worried that there won't be enough space for her in our house. We only have 2 bedrooms at this time because our basement is still unfinished. She does not care but I like her to be comfortable as much as possible and staying in a hotel won't do any good. It will be too expensive.

Have a finished basement - Am I thinking too much about money? I am always thinking about working overtime at work so I can save money to finish our basement. Would it be too much for me and my family?

Am I getting a sloppy mother? - I am getting lazy. I guess I am just stressed out from working too much. My son is a handful too.

I don't know why I am thinking too much. I had to say sorry again to my husband today because I acted like a monkey (he said jokingly). I have to slow down...slow down...slow down...meditate maybe.

This is embarassing. Anyway, I did not travel that much when I was in the Philippines. All I had to do was stay at home, go to school and stay in the city where I live. We are not rich so I spent most of my time in our bario (community).

My Lakbayan grade is D!

How much of the Philippines have you visited? Find out at Lakbayan!

Created by Eugene Villar.

My grade is D. I cannot believe it. LOL! Thank you for the tag sis Maridee. She is a traveler.


Who got tagged: FilipinoInCanada, My Life My World, Ate Liz




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After seeing my picture and reading my profile, I would assume that you know you are reading a Filipina's blog. Are you a foreigner and dating with Filipina online? If yes, you might want to consider reading this post.

These are the top ten things that my husband experienced while visiting me in the Philippines:

1. Sweating while sitting and staring at the roosters....it is very humid.
2. Shocked, nervous and sweating while riding a taxi in Manila...road lanes and traffic signs are just decorations, U-turns can be done while in the right lane, and swerving from left to right and from right to left is okay because being in front of a heavy traffic is important.
3. Filipino airplanes are not for foreigners...space was not big enough for a tall man like him.
4. Learning the first Filipino culture the first day we met...took the Filipino inlaws' hands and place the back of their hands onto his forehead as a sign of respect.
5. Feeling like a celebrity and changing his name into "Joe" for an unknown reason...neighbors were staring at him while walking with me at the park and neighbor's kids were visiting the house a lot to see the white guy. Also, some people called him Joe. He wondered why they did.
6. Filipino food was awesome. He ate chicken adobo a lot.
7. Fresh fruits were available for a very low price...sometimes free. It made him go to the bathroom often because of fresh watermelons.
8. Taking a bath was not really a bath. He had to pour water to himself to have a soothing manual shower.
9. Few funny questions...why does Jollibee have 2 security guards with guns? Why is your spaghetti sweet and cold?
10. Seeing more puckering lips to give directions and more "psssssttt" to get somebody's attention.

Filipino culture is cute and unique which is why I miss my country. I bet he misses the Philippines, too.


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Have you visited this beautiful country? This is my country and I am proud of it. Check out these famous locations:


Boracay:

Boracay is a tropical island located approximately 315km (200 miles) south of Manila and 2km off the northwest tip of the island of Panay in the Western Visayas region of the Philippines. It is one of the country's most popular tourist destinations. The island comprises the barangays of Manoc-Manoc, Balabag, and Yapak (3 of the 17 barangays which make up the municipality of Malay), and is under the administrative control of the Philippine Tourism Authority in coordination with the Provincial Government of Aklan.


Banaue Rice Terraces:


The Banaue Rice Terraces (Tagalog: Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banaue) are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 feet) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces.

Bohol Island and it's famous hills

Bohol Island is the main island of Bohol Province in the Visayas. It lies southeast from Cebu Island across Cebu Strait (in some references called Bohol Strait) and southwest from Leyte Island, separated by the Camotes Sea and Canigao Channel. Bohol is also located north of Mindanao with Bohol Sea between them.

With a land area of 3269 km² and a coastline 261 km long, Bohol is the tenth largest island of the Philippines. The main island is surrounded by about 70 smaller islands, the largest of which are Panglao Island facing Tagbilaran City in the southwest and Lapining Island in the northeast.


Those are the top famous locations that you can visit in the Philippines. They are wonderful, believe me.



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