This is Christmas

All my life, I had celebrated my Christmas in my hometown - Bohol. And now, for the first time, I have celebrated it away from home. Yet, I don't feel as lonely as I thought I would. This is because I am with my new family to spend it with in South Korea. Although, Christmas around here is not as lively as in the Philippines, we still feel the spirit as there are already a lot of Koreans who are Christians.

Actually, we started our Christmas celebration two weeks ago with a Christmas Party with the Filipino community in my new company – Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME). The party atmosphere was definitely Filipino as we had our traditional Exchange Gifts or Manito-Manita and livened up with some parlor games. Of course, we had a sumptuous Filipino meal prepared by host family of the event and some by my fellow officemates. The party started at 7PM but ended up at around 12AM. Then, a week later, we had another Christmas Party with fellow Bisaya's from DSME and SHI (Samsung Heavy Industries). We felt more at home in this party as we were among a few friends who speak the same dialect and each of us contributed our own food which turned out to be a lot. Of course, the traditional Exchange Gifts was still there but no parlor games as we were more content on singing on the magic karaoke and talking with some drinks in hand. This party lasted much longer than the previous one as we started at 5PM and ended at around 1PM. My daughter also enjoyed it more as there were more children she could play with.

Then, on Christmas Eve (December 24), we had a personal dinner party with our friendly neighbors Min & Jeung. We had a Korean meal of samgyopsal (thin slice pork barbecue) and they provided a delicious ice cream cake. They also gave a gift for Danielle. We sang some songs and talked through the night but around 10PM only as Min was obliged to work on Christmas Day.

On Christmas Day, we started the day with a call home and I was very happy to hear the voice of my parents specially Mom who had a minor stroke three months ago. She missed us very much and very happy to hear from us. She also broke the news that she received a wonderful gift from the Lord as she can now walk on her own without the help of a cane. We always pray for her and we always knew she has a strong will and faith that will help her gain strength to recover. Then, we went to Church (yes, they have Catholic Churches here) and prayed for continued guidance in our stay here in Korea and thanking the Lord for the wonderful blessings we received. We went to Home Plus Mall and had some lunch and ice cream for Danielle. We bought some stuffs including one whole chicken and an ice cream cake we plan to eat at home. We cooked the whole chicken as inasal through Microwave Oven (an experiment actually which turned out to be just OK). We had a nice family dinner after which we capped the evening with a call to Gin's family.

Christmas will always be a time with the family and a renewal of Hope for all of us. A blessed Christmas to everyone and may the New Year bring forth blessings for everyone!

Winter Wonderland

As a kid from a tropical country, the Philippines, I have always wondered what winter would be like and how nice it would be to experience snow. As a young single man, I had experienced winter and snow in Japan while on a working trip sponsored by my previous company. However, I was not able to experienced the full snow experience since the place I stayed in Japan didn't had much snow. Now, that I am in South Korea, I am very lucky enough to meet nice Korean friends - Min & Jeung (see my other entry about them) who loved snowboarding so much that they are season ticket holders of one of the premier ski resorts in South Korea, the Muju Resort. They became such good friends with us that they invited us in one of their weekend getaways to Muju Resort.

So, on December 1, 2007, I finally experienced a full white winter with my family. On that weekend day, we all woke up early dawn to prepare for our 3 hours car trip to Muju Resort. It was a miracle that Danielle actually woke up early too, although a bit moody at first but she was soon up and eager to ride the car of her new "Tita" and "Tito". We had to start our journey at around 6am so that we will have enough time to rent our equipments & attire. So, off we went in the cold dawn of South Korean winter. Danielle and my wife Gin slept most of the time throughout the journey. When we arrived in the rental store, Danielle was already in her usual smiling morning mood after having slept an additional 2 hours. As we went through the rental store and got into our snowboard outfits, Danielle wowed the owners of the store so much that they actually gave her ear protectors as present.

After the stopover at the rental store, off we went to Muju Resort. There, for the first time, we saw the amazing snowy white mountain where skiers and boarders zig-zagged their way down the slopes. As we walked towards the resort, a photographer actually ask if he could take a picture of Danielle. After taking the picture, he told us to check out Muju Resort's website where he will post his pictures. True indeed, our picture (link to that page in Muju Website) was posted in the Muju Resort's website.

Now, it was time to have our first lessons in Snowboarding. I went first since we can't go together as children are not allowed to ride the snow lift. So, I went with Min and rode the snow lift up high into the beginner's slope. Seeing videos of snowboarding in the TV, I thought it would probably be easy if I just slide down. However, as I finished putting on my snowboard, Min's first tip is falling down on my butt. True indeed, it was the most important lesson as I actually fell perhaps a dozen times before I actually was able to stand up and balance myself on the snowboard. What made it difficult was the fact that I had to try to balance myself while trying to stop myself from sliding down the slope. As I sat down after a dozen more of butt-falls and a few meters covered, the trip down the slope seemed to be endless. Yet, I forced myself to stand up and slowly ride my board down the slope. Whew! I was finally able to ride for about 50 meters before I fell on my butt again. Well, atleast, its a good start. After about 30 minutes, I was actually able to come down the 3,413 meters slope on my own. I really couldn't believe myself and I felt deeply relieved I got to the bottom of the slope even if my course route may have been a bit ugly and probably deserved a sub-zero in the technical and artistic criteria. Well, atleast I pass my first test of will in the snowboarding, that is to ride your snowboard down a slope. We had lunch before Gin's turn to go. She rode the snow lift together with a new Korean female friend, and she arrived at the bottom an hour later. So, you can probably guess how much more difficult it was for her to come down the beginner's slope.

After some snacks, we rested for a bit while our Korean friends enjoyed the routes going down the Intermediate Slope. Then, we decided to ride the gondola (cable car) and went to the highest peak of Muju Resort. There, we immediately discovered, the wind was more intensely cold. And after a few snapshots, we hurriedly rode back on the gondola back to base. Our Korean friends were already waiting for us as we arrived and it was time for all of us to go to the condominium unit we rented for the night. There we soaked ourselves in the nice warm water of the bathtub. After we all have showered, we had a sumptuous dinner of "samgyopsal" (pork strips barbecue), kimchi, black rice and some fruits. I think we were all very hungry as we almost consumed all the food for the next day. Atleast we were able to leave some for lunch the next day. We slept soundly as we felt our energy drained that day. Even Danielle slept like he had been snowboarding too.

The next morning, we woke up at 10AM but Min & Jeung woke up at 8AM and went snowboarding again. After we showered and readied our things, they went back at 11AM and we had our lunch. At exactly 12noon, we checked out and off we went back to our apartment homes. This experience had been very meaningful for me as I shared it with my family and some really kind new friends.

(You can see more pictures in our friendster profile.)

Finding Friends

"Friends are important... So important, they make the world go round..." - Barney

Yes, I do agree with Barney that friends are so important, they make the world go round. Barney, by the way, is the purple dinosaur who captured the imagination of my daughter. Almost everyday does my little girl watch her Barney DVDs. That means, I too has to watch Barney shows almost daily. Well, I am not going to write about Barney. Rather, I will write about our new friends here in South Korea.

My wife and daughter had just arrived in South Korea for about a week when our doorbell rang one night. We were not expecting anyone nor had we ordered anything. So, we were wondering who could be at the door. When my wife opened the door, a Korean guy introduced himself and told us he and his wife had just moved in the opposite apartment unit. Giving a small pack of rice cakes, he explained that it is their Korean tradition to give some rice cakes to their new neighbor. Fortunately, the guy speaks english quite well. We thanked him and he soon went back to his wife. As we ate the delicious rice cakes, my wife was already thinking of giving something in return to welcome them also as our new neighbors. Luckily, we still had some Cebu delicacies which my wife brought over as presents for my team at the office. So, that weekend, we bravely knocked at their door and gave them a pack of 'Otap' (Cebuano cookie delicacy) and dried mangoes. And that started our friendship.

Allow me to introduce our new friends and kind neigbours Min Gyu Park and his wife Hee Jeung Park. They had really made our stay a wonderful experience as they invited us to their house for traditional Korean dinner, rode with their new car for some morning stroll at nice beaches in Goeje Island, and most importantly, our first 'snowy' experience in Muju Ski Resort. We really feel very lucky and blessed knowing these guys.

From the bottom of our hearts, we can't thank you enough - Min & Jeung. We hope we will be friends for a long time.

Source of Energy

They say the sun is our source of energy in our daily lives. Without the sun, they say life on Earth would cease to exist.. perhaps it would have not existed at all. We need the Sun for light, heat and energy.

However, in my personal life, a little star whose captivating twinkling eyes has been a big source of energy for me - my sweet little daughter Danielle. It can't be helped that after a long day's work, our energy is at it's lowest level when we go home to our respective homes. Yet, when I come home, the welcome kiss and hug of my little daughter never fails to jumpstart a new found energy within me. Then, she invites me to play with her and share time watching her favorite shows (Barbie & Barney), which actually takes out my office stresses as I go into her world of new wonders and new discoveries. Then, she appropriately caps my night as she sings 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' before she goes to sleep. Well, princess, you are my twinkling little star.

Perhaps, all fathers have this kind of feeling and this is one of the many wonderful mysteries of life. I am very grateful that I am given such a wonderful gift of life, for which wouldn't be possible without my lovely wife. She has also been the one who gave me a meaning in life and made my journey in this earth a worthwhile ride. She has been great and I hope she will continue to be great as we travel along the road of our family life.

Babes, thanks for sharing your life with me this past three years. Let's continue to stay strong through the years.

Little Pop Princess

What you think of this? Our little princess just showed her pop talent of a dance. She is just 2 years old but she always amazes us with her dancing prowess specially to the tune of new pop music. I don't know where she got the talent but I hope she will continue to wow us with her talents.

Everytime she does these kind of things, she never ceases to amaze us. Keep it up, our little precious princess.