Cyclone

A FEW days ago, we experienced a powerful cyclone here in the region. It was really devastating. It's not that we're not familiar with nature's wrath as this - living in the Philippines will make you ready for very strong typhoons and storms - but still, pictures shown on the TV surprised us. The cyclone, they say, was the strongest ever to hit the region in more than 30 years. As we have seen from the damages it left to the coastal areas of Oman, the UAE, and Iran, it really was very very strong.

It was a good thing we're living in a region far from where the typhoon struck. We just experienced a little rain, with a little above normal winds during the two days that the storm lashed out in the coastal areas. We were fortunate indeed, that we were spared from the wrath of that powerful storm.

I almost forgot that June 6 was the day the kids start going to school again. Well, it was the day the cyclone unleashed its power in the region. It was during the latter part of the day that I remembered, and thus, I asked how the school went through a text message. Well, the kids said, everything went fine. River and Rain are attending school from 7:00 am to 3:00 pm, while Ash, being still at the prep school, is only having a schedule of two hours - from 1:00 to 3:00 pm. The kids are enthusiastic. After two months of vacation, they will see their friends in the school and meet their teachers once again. Their mom is equally enthusiastic, asking the kids who their teachers are, as well as their advisors. (She is preparing for early gifts, maybe :D )

In three to four weeks time, we'll have our vacation and we'll see them once again. Can't wait for that to happen...

Poison

Alice and I did not get a good night sleep yesterday because of the news that our two boys were rushed to the hospital late last night. The culprit, food poisoning. Yesterday was the 25th wedding anniversary of Kuya Pepe and Ate Thelma. Kuya Pepe is one of Alice's brothers, and is the third in her family. For their 25th anniversary, they decided they will renew their vows and wed again (we're hoping we could do that also). Anyways, my mother, who attended the occasion, said it was a very successful activity and everybody (re: Alice's clan) was there. From our family, my three children -River, Rain, and Ash, my parents, and my sister Marian and her family attended the occasion. Everybody had a good time they said, especially the kids who ate lots of food. They went home at around 7:30 in the evening tired but happy.

And so we thought that the occasion was successful indeed.

At around 8:30 pm local time (12:30 am in the Philippines), while watching TV, I received a text message from dad asking me to call him quickly for an urgent development. Before I could call, my brother-in-law Bryan called me to tell the news that River is in the hospital, and they are about to bring Ash too due to continuous vomitting. I also learned that my mother, my other brother-in-law, Elmer, and his two sons are already there for the same reason. Both I and Alice started to get scared.

We decided to call Alice's family to check further. There, they narrated that some of the family's members are also already in the hospital suffering the same sickness. They were food poisoned.

Talking to my father later gave us some sense of relief. He intimated that River, Ash, my mother and the others, although still vomitting from time to time, are all already stable and are recuperating from the ordeal. He told us not to worry too much anymore, even joking that it's a good thing he and my sister Marian were spared so that they can take care of the others. He said that we don't have to worry about our little girl, Rain, since she was not affected also and is currently sleeping soundly at home.

Though the situation had already become somewhat stable, we still had apprehensions which resulted in not able to sleep comfortably the whole night. Very early this morning, my mother called to say they are well and resting. I called River to check on his condition and he said he feels fine already, and had taken his breakfast. Ash is still asleep when I called so I did not bother waking him up. It will be better for him to rest. I called home, and my little girl answered the phone. The first thing she said to me was "I did not vomit last night, daddy". It was comforting. I asked her if she feels anything different or funny, and she said she's fine. It gave her mother a big sense of relief.

Alice and I got scared big time last night. Thank God everything is better now.

Ash

ASH, our youngest kid, turned five years old today. We initially sent him a text message during the early morning hours to greet him happy birthday, then his Mommy called him on the phone afterwards to talk to him for a while, asking what he would want to be prepared for his birthday party later in the day. He's a little shy at first, but eventually said he would like spaghetti, and the usual barbecued hotdogs... well, his 'Mima' (my mother) would probably add one or two more chicken or pork dishes to that... his brother and sister, as well as his cousins will have a grand time later today for that.

Anyways, it is usually with mixed emotions that Alice and I greet each birthday in the family these days. It is obvious due to the fact that we are far away, but even though, it is still quite overwhelming everytime you get the emotion on a particular day... well, I guess that's how it will be for both of us for sometime...

Going back to Ash, he is basically a 'Mommy's Boy'. That's mainly because he is the youngest of the three, and partly because mothers are usually the ones always interacting with growing up toddlers. That is not to say I am not interacting with him whatsoever - we also have our good times together, although sometimes we also didn't get along too well because of his tantrums (well, what can you expect from a 4-year old)... anyhow, I admire my little boy because eventhough he had grown up mainly with the company of his 'yaya', he always has that fondness for both Alice and me, and he always has that 'fresh', friendly, and humorous nature even at a very young age... I guess he will grow up to be the 'joker' of the family.

When Ash was three, Alice went to Sydney. After a short while, I followed her there and thus, Ash was left with his 'yaya' in most of his third year as a child... After going back from Sydney, we spent only a few months back home and then flew again, this time to the Gulf. Again Ash was left 'alone' for the most part of his fourth year as a growing boy. I know it doesn't have to be like that for him, but circumstances made it so, and thus, all of us - and I think most especially him - have been doing sacrifices for the family. I always dream of the time that Ash, and also his two other siblings, River and Rain, will be here with us... maybe when that time comes, we can make up for all those wasted times we spent far away from each other... we really 'owed' much from our kids, and thus hoping and wishing hard we could make up for these soon...

In the meantime, we'll just say -

Happy Birthday, Ash... from Daddy and Mommy

Some Photos...

Birthday Party

I FINALLY HAD the chance to celebrate my 38th birthday last Thursday. Close friends were there, most notably those working in the same company as me. Alice and I had initially planned to prepare beef and chicken dishes, but unfortunately, the beef was not available that time, and so we were left preparing chicken dishes only. We were able to complete all the ingredients by 9:30 in the morning of Thursday, and we were on track to cooking all the planned recipes before 10:00. After an approximate 1 and 1/2 hours in the kitchen, we were able to complete the dishes - mixed pancit (bihon/canton), tinola, and chicken fritada - it wasn't much, but from the way the guests devoured the food, I guess we had done it well. :D

Anyways, the day also served as kind of 'bonding' day for everyone as well... most of them stayed until late in the evening just plain talking about all the things at work and in the Gulf... in the afternoon, I decided to quickly bake Alice's favorite - the Peach Pie. The guys loved it as well, giving more 'compliments' to the crust. Well, that's not bad for a budding baker :D

The get-together ended at about a little before 9:00, the guys, probably already feeling tired for almost a whole day staying at the flat, decided they have to go to their own accomodations and have a rest.

The day was both exhilarating and fun... all the preparations were worth the memories gained to start another year for me...