Introducing... SORA kun!

Our sweet Okinawan friend, Natsumi san visited us at SAME office with her two months old precious baby... SORA kun! Oh Ahhh oooh my ... why are babies so cute?! He's still a baby but MOTE-MOTE (successful with girls!) DA YO!
SORA kun is trully charming and adorable!

We made it... we made it not!

Looook what i've found out today... the Jeepney Press copies for February issue arrived today at home... and I was surprised to see the Philippine NAKAMA group pictures during the last year Christmas Event and Utawit audition in Shizuoka featured at the snap shots column.Anyway... thanks to Irene Kaneko, publisher of Jeepney Press. (S'ya po ang may kinalaman ng lahat!) I've heard it's Jeepney Press 5th anniversary also... To Irene and the rest of the staff... Congratulations for the hard work and for the continuous support that you are rendering to all the Filipinos around Japan. MORE POWER!

Speaking of UTAWIT 2007... the semi-finals was held today at the Philippine Embassy Multi-purpose Hall in Tokyo. I was supposed to go with the group to cheer our three Shizuoka representatives but due to my scrambled sched... I did not made it! Liza was with them kaya panay na lang ang text namin ni tita Liza of what was happening around there! She said na magagaling daw talaga ang lahat!

(***pictures below are courtesy by Liza***)

↑The Executive Chairmen of UTAWIT, Sir Labat-- Rey Conferido and Ms. Irene Kaneko of Jeepney Press (Click picture for more photos)

↑Philippine NAKAMA representatives posing with the UTAWIT Execom, Sir Rey Conferido, Ma'am Lillibeth Pono and Olive. (Click picture for more photos)

Well... here's the result... I am very proud that Monaliza made it to top 10 for the final competition of Utawit to be held on April. Nakakapanghinayang si uncle Jo. Galing pa naman din sana n'ya... but he said... talaga namang marami ring magagaling. Anyway... basta... kuya Jo is still one of the best for us! What about Vida... uuuuhhhmmm... i've heard she did not made it too!
Anyway... OTSUKARESAMA DESHITA... and of course to Liza. Natapos rin (for the meantime!) ang KINCHOKAN blues namin!

SIFA 2007 International New Year's Party

I attended the SIFA's annual New Year's party that was held at the office of Awashima Shrine in Shimizu District with Liza and Belinda ...and we enjoyed it!
SIFA staff did a good job of hosting the party. It was well attended by friends from different countries like Chinese, Canadian, Nepal, Myanma, Brazilian, Indonesian, American, Filipinos like us and many more.
Thanks a lot to SIFA staff... for their good foods, exciting games and gifts, laughters and of course their warm receptions! Hurray to SIFA!

click here for more photos

Another great day!

Hello folks! Today was a fine day and I did had a wonderful day for many reasons! It started this morning when EGG facilatator, Ohashi san picked me up at home and we headed out to Shizuhata Chuu Elementary School wherein we had this lecture about Philippine culture. Thanks to the support of EGG staff, the cooperation of all the teachers and observers and the interest of the whole class... our lecture worked out well!

↓Greetings in Tagalog♪Sampung mga daliri♪↓I am actually teaching the basic balancing of the glass in Pandango sa Ilaw folkdance... I don't have any idea... what's the boy doing... hey boy...don't over react... ganbare!!! (LOL) ↓What's up with this crowd?!↓Let's take a closer look... a Jack stone game !↓Here's the boy who played best! So I gave him a set of Jack stone... Congratulations!↓Philippine snacks↓Masarap!?↓The amusing Grade 6 class 楽しかったよ!

After the class, Ohashi san treated me for lunch at a Japanese Restaurant. We enjoyed the delicious lunch as well as our conversations. I also promised Ohashi san that I'll gonna treat her for dinner at Philippine Restaurant next time before the end of February and hopefully... Kaneyama san, another friendly facilatator of EGG... can come with us... but I've heard she's a vegetarian f(^-^; !
Well... afterwards, I went at SAME to meet my other class and again I had a couple of laughs with Sugita san and Uno san while teaching them. Personally, I really like them... they are good listeners and likewise...I'm also learning from them especially with regards to JINSEI ... life! (^-^)d

As of now while blogging this... I am watching the Disneyland Story at Disney Channel. It's an old documentary film of Disneyland in Los Angeles during the 60's... it's quite amusing! No wonder why Disney is one of the most popular theme park in the world.

I better go now... I need to concentrate watching this one... happy week end guys! mwaaahhh!

Time Saving Tips

Points to ponder courtesy by The Tribune...

(^-^)b remember , "Time is gold"!

Time can be measured, therefore divided. Time is always passing, and it never returns. Time can be wasted, just as can materials, money, energy, talents.

Here are a few tips to save time:

Allocate your days and hours: To choose our time, to divide it intelligently is always to save it. Allocation often means forward planning that must be kept up strictly—but allow for the unexpected to crop up.

Do things in order: Fix the best order of doing things. You can then stick to it. Always settle in advance their order of urgency; leftover tasks steal part of tomorrow’s time.

Concentrate: So much of our wasted time can be directly traced to lack of concentration, inattention, following distractions and diversions.

Be Punctual: Be prompt. Far from taking up valuable time that seems better employed elsewhere, in fact, this advice invariably gets through more things more quickly than delaying.

Write things down: Not only does this help to imprint them on the memory, it also makes sure that things get done without delay.

Make time: Time can always be ‘made’ for the things that matter in life: work, love, cherish one’s family, seeing friends, pursuing deep interests, showing kindness, exercise, prayer. A person who has little or no time to spare is rarely very busy—or important. It’s always the so-called ‘busiest’ people who get the most work done.

Enjoy time: Yes, time is there to be enjoyed. Every day, come what may. The real secret is to treat time not merely as a friend, but as an old and valued friend.

YUBI (finger) Yoga Diet?!

...sounds interesting... desho?!
I happened to read this from the February issue of ESSE magazine. According to the article, Yubi Yoga has a dieting effect by helping to burn body fat!
Well...I know nothing about YOGA except it's a kind of meditations stuffs... but...I thought... why not give a try!
The instructions is very easy. Mochiron, all we need is patient and decipline to do the routine everyday in order to make this stuff effective!
So here's the basic step...
1. First, spread widely your both hands fingers. Relax your shoulders. In front of your chest, form your fingers like a pyramid shape by touching the tips of left and right fingers.
2. While doin the first step, breathe in deeply and breathe out slowly thru your nose. Repeat this thrice.
Well... that's it! In one day, we should do this set three times-- morning, noon and night. If we don't have any time... we can do the all the sets at once!
If you're interested... Ganbarimasho p(^-^)q

Little hi-tech device, the iPhone

iPhone demo

Apple, Inc. who introduced the Macintosh and iPod is now introducing their new mobile phone, iPod and internet communication in one device... the iPhone! Take note (^-^)b... iPhone is a gadget that has a widescreen with touch controls! It's really great isn't it?! HOSHII! HOSHII! HOSHIIIIII! o(^-^)o
This little hi-tech device will cost about $499 and this will be out in the market on June in America, few months later in Europe and this will be available in Asia on 2008! Ohhhhh... can't waiiiit! f(^_^;

Friendly Club

...is a group of friends at SENA welfare center who are studying and practicing English conversation... and starting today... I will handle this class as their substitute teacher. Well... it's our first day of teaching but I found them very friendly and interesting! I think... I am going to like this class!

Congrats Pamela!

My friend- Pamela just got her first born baby ! It’s a baby boy, named YUURI. He was born on December 24... the day before Christmas! He indeed looks great and cute!

YUURI- the little bundle of joyI visited the proud mom, Pamela and the cute baby boy to their home with Liza. Welcome to the world YUURI!Pam, congrats to your wonderful baby boy. I hope you have a great time being a mother. I know your hubby is very proud too!

Cheering goodies!

Wow! I just discovered lately that there are some snacks and goodies for rooting students preparing for their entrance exams... they called it JUKENSEI OUEN OKASHI! Some cheering words or goodluck phrases are written in the wrappers or boxes of the snacks. What a nice gimmick from the snacks or goddies company!

Sample of the said snacks and goodies! Some are gifts from Sachan's tutor and I bought some from the supermarket!

Sachan... we're all rooting for you! (pressure da ne?! whew!)

The Da Vince Code

Well, finally... I had the chance to collect and watch the DVD of Ron Howard's film...The Da Vince Code, a mystery movie about the discovery of a secret protected since the time of the Christ. It's pretty interesting and quite convincing! I also discovered that I do lack of knowledge about religious sects, history, scriptures and many more! Ha-ha-haaah!I understand that this is a fiction movie ... 'though it's a make-believe movie... after watching it... somehow... it bothered me about my Christianity...and a little confused about my being a Catholic f^_^... this movie really moves me huh!
No wonder why Dan Brown's The Da Vince Code novel became internationally bestseller and controversial as well as the movie---especially to the Christians!
Well... to my fellow Christians... if you still never happen to watch the movie... you better watch for it... as long as you have faith in HIM... it's worth watching anyway!

AI is cool!

ai ---story

ai ---believe

AI is sooooo cool! I love her voice... her style...and her music!

AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU!

Hello everyone! How was your New Year celebration?! Well... I spent my New Year with my family in a typical Japanese tradition. Not too bad! The first three days of the year is OSHOGATSU or the celebration for the New Year here in Japan . The first day was a typical gathering with my family...eating osechi, watching tv, strolling at Apita...and yes... sleeping a lot!

The next day... We went a visit to shrine... they called that visit as Hatsumode. Well, it's raining... I hope that means a blessing from up above! On the afternoon, I spent my time hanging with friends at Sarah's home. We did trully had a good time!

Then today... well... again, we had a looot of rest. I woke up very late with Sachan. Then we had a family date... and so on and so forth...

By the way... thanks to all of you guys who sent me greetings through text, mail, phone, card and NENGAJO! KORE KARA MO ... YOROSHIKU ONEGAISHIMASU!

HATSUMODE

A visit to Sengen Shrine in Shizuoka CityThey are buying OMAMORI--- a good luck charm!A Shrine to pray to pass the exam!

After making our offering, we prayed and make a wish!Writing and hanging her wish!Main entrance of the shrine The offeratory box at the entrance

Blessing ceremony for the amulets

We toss our offering into the offeratory box, pull the cord attached to the bell hanging from the rafter in front of the box, then clap our hands and pray.It's year of the boar!

Shops for OMAMORI

Many people try to draw their fortune for the year and after reading their fortune, they tied the paper with their fortune printed on it to the branch of the tree near the shrine... or tied it like shown in the photo...

Daruma

Sengen Street

New Year Gathering of friends at Sarah's home!

We shared some typical Pinoy dishes Yuta and Nao... what a cute smile! Bingo Game time!

The game seems getting hot... hoooot and eeeager to win the prize...worth 150 yen !!! LOL! I guess... I am lucky that day coz I won twice... and once again... like last year gathering...I got again the last grand play prize ... yeheeey! Below was my two lucky bingo cards! To my lucky cards...ARIGATOU and GOKOROSAMA DESHITA!!! mwhaaah! 'hoping you'll bring us luck the whole year through! We had fun... hoping we have fun the whole year! SHIN NEN AKEMASHITE OMEDETOU GOZAIMASU!

The kids original masks... galing di ba?

2007 is the YeAr of the PiG AnD BoAr

Here is the first piggy I encountered this year! A piglet at Jumbo Encho in Shimokawahara. Sooo cute!

Hello 2007!

The first sunrise of the year that woke me up!

A New Year cake in KADOMATSU style

OSECHI RYOURI, a special Japanese dish for New Year

OZONI, a hot soup that contains mochi

Family New Year gathering at home

Lucky: Ahh...gosh... I wish they never forget that I'm around!

Japanese flower arrangements... ahhh...don't expect too much folks... i'm just trying!

SHIMENAWA, one of Japanese New Year decoration, a sacred rope made of straw on which zig-zag strips of paper have been hung. This is placed above the front entrance in order to prevent "evil spirits" from entering the house.