Spring Picnic

The endth of May was a great fine day to go out on a picnic. As such, my Design Team of around 20 engineers (including 2 foreigners - I and Sanjeew, an Indian expat) had a group picnic that day. Our families were encouraged to join and so I brought Danielle and Mei-Mei. My boujangnim - Mr. Choi picked us up in our apartment around 8:30 in the morning. The venue was a 20 minute ride to a secluded formerly elementary school converted to an artist's retreat house. After preparing the venue for the games and playing catch with baseballs, we ate some grilled sea shells, kimbap and fruits while Danielle ate her baon of rice with pork adobo. A game of five-a-side soccer and soccer baseball ensued. I have never been good with soccer so I asked to be the goalie which I thought was the easiest position. What I didn't know was they didn’t allow the goalies to touch the ball with their hands. This almost cost us a goal when I once caught the ball with my hand and a penalty kick was called. Luckily, no goal was made by the opposing team. We won courtesy of two guys in our team who were really good with soccer. I had a better performance in the soccer baseball where I scored twice and hit the ball quite good despite kicking it with my left foot (a handicap to all players to minimize homeruns).


Lunch served was samyeopsal, kimbap, kimchi, fresh veggies and fruits. In the afternoon, the game of choku was played. It’s a kind of sepak takraw but soccer ball is used. Definitely, this game is unknown to me so I relegated myself as morale booster for my team. Then, we had some parlor games. The most fun was when families were the contestants. First game was 200 meter race of fathers and their son/daughter back riding. Since Danielle was probably the youngest among the children, we won the race. All children had the same prize of color pens. Next competition was the couple relay. The husband ran first, then the wife, lastly the wife back rides on the husband and run around twice. We were third in the first round of wives back riding husbands but I couldn't sustain for another round. Only two pairs completed the second round. The picnic event ended with some raffles where we won two lotto tickets and a bunch of bananas. We found the following Monday that the lotto tickets weren't even near the winning number combinations. At least we won some bananas to replenish our spent energy. We slept very early that night and woke up late.

My birthday

On May 30, I had my 30nth birthday here in Korea. Despite being away from home, I am very happy to have spent it here with my family and new friends. Actually, the night before my birthday, I called up home to try to catch up with my twin bro - Jay who had just arrived from UK to continue his vacation in the Philippines together with his wife. Unfortunately, he was not home but I was able to talk with my Dad and Mom. I also talked with my brother InkO Ron-Ron and my niece and nephew - Pauline and Patrick. It was nice to have talked with them.

Since it was Friday, I and my new friends had a basketball game against our fellow Korean colleagues. If it was a boxing match, we won't be allowed to go against the Koreans as they were almost double our size. To give you an idea of the mismatch, it was like a game between the high schoolers against collegiates. Yet, we were able to give them a tough game with our teamwork, passing, shooting and speed. We just couldn't match up with their size and power. The next game we were mixed and matched together with the Koreans and it was more fun. We ended our basketball game around 8PM and my guys were famished. We went home and to my surprise the friends of my wife bought me a nice birthday cake! My wife prepared a simple Visayan birthday dinner for all of us. We had pork humba, chicken adobo, fish escabeche and bihon. We finished it off with some soju - korean rice wine. We ended the small salo-salo a little early than usual (just before midnight) since the following day I had a picnic to attend with my Design Team while my friends had to work Overtime. It was another really wonderful simple dinner with family and friends. I couldn’t ask for more.

My Clone in UK

No, that is not me in UK with another lady. It could not be me because I have been here in Korea for the past 10 months or so. And I have a family of my own here. So, the only viable explanation is, that guy in the picture is my clone. Yes, he is my clone. Actually, not a science-fiction type of clone but real gift of nature clone. He is my twin brother Jay. Jay & Joy, that is what we have been called throughout our childhood and even through high school and some parts in college. But when I started to work, my HR Manager called me Alan and it became JT Alan to shorten it in my engineering plan drawings. I guess my colleagues just want me to be a usual guy named Alan. Alan is also very easy for Japanese to pronounce. Koreans can easily pronounce it too.

Anyways, my clone, my twin Jay has been working in Kuwait for the past two years now and he and his wife had their much needed vacation in UK with my elder brother Jigz. They had a wonderful time in UK as posted in my brother Jigz blog. When I and Jay were in college, we sometimes watch different movies and talk about it when we get home. After a few months, his story of the movie seemed to be embedded in my memory that I oftentimes forget if I or he watch a certain movie. With his new experience in UK, I feel like I have just been there too. I am very glad Jay and his wife Yannie had a wonderful time in UK because they both deserved it. They are now in my home country, the Philippines to continue their vacation there.

Last May 30, I had my 30nth birthday and it means it was also Jay's birthday. Happy birthday to both of us - Jake! I am proud to have a twin like you!

First Sketches

I went home after OT with a wide awake Danielle waiting for me. It’s a nice feeling to have your daughter eagerly waiting for you to come home. Since I brought some bond papers for my wife, Danielle readily requested to write on one of the bond papers. So, we gave her one bond paper and a pen. While I and my wife were talking, Danielle was scribbling away on her paper. I was pleasantly surprised as she finished sketching a Penguin. The sketch really looked liked the penguin "Big Z" of the animation movie "Surf's Up" which Danielle likes to watch. I do hope she gets to develop her creativity and artistry. Keep it up Danielle.

However, her next sketches were a little bit more reflective of her being a 3 year old. She sketched a Daddy Whale and Baby Whale while the next one was supposedly a Mommy Whale & Baby Whale but it looked more like Mr. & Mrs. Potato. ^^












First Stitches
Danielle also had a scary incident 5 days ago. One night, while I looked for my charger in the other room, Danielle followed me and called out "Hide & Seek". So, I told her "I found you!!” she ran to the master's bed room and slipped, barely missing the door jam, she hit her forehead not very hard but it still cut her. We immediately sought help from our friendly neighbor Min & Jung and we went to the hospital. I put pressure on her forehead to stop any bleeding and as we arrived at the emergency room, we saw that it was a bit nasty cut that needs some stitching. The doctors immediately x-rayed her head which turned out negative for abnormalities. Then, the time came to stitch her forehead. All the time, Danielle had already stopped crying and talking with a hint of smile on her face. The doctor first placed Danielle on a small board with a net which will tie her body and arms to immobilize her during the operation. We sooth her with assuring words that the doctor will fix her "wawa" wound. But as soon as the doctor sticks the needle of anesthesia to her forehead, she winch in pain and it wrenched my heart. Now, I know how painful for parents to see their children suffer. After about five small stitches which seemed to take forever at that time, Danielle amazingly smiled to her Mommy saying "Magic, no more wawa!” ^^ Now five days later, a small scar remains which we hope will be smoothen out with the cream the doctor gave. One thing this incident showed is that we will have to be more vigilant with Danielle because she has become a quite active little girl.

A Family Movie

Two days ago, my boujangnim (boss) - Mr. Pil Gyoo Choi gave me two movie passes to enjoy a movie with my wife. We checked the Lotte Cinema website and found that Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian and Speed Racer are the english movies currently shown. I have always wanted to have a family movie experience with Mei-Mei & Dani so I chose Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian over Speed Racer.

However, the movie passes can only be used during weekdays. Thus, we decided to watch the family movie yesterday. It will be the first time for Danielle to have the big screen experience and we can't wait to observe her reactions. Unlike Philippines, movies here have time slots that one must choose as no one is allowed to enter the theater once a movie starts. So, after work, we went to Lotte Cinema and had some sizzling steak for dinner in a nearby restaurant. I don’t know but Danielle always seems to eat more when we go out to the Mall or to an eatery. This time, she even ate more as she was excited to watch the big TV. We reserved our time slots and bought a large pop corn with two drinks. Then, the movie started, Danielle comfortably sat on my lap and was initially a little bit scared when the lights turned off. However, as the movie played on, she seemingly enjoyed it, eating pop corn and sipping some sprite. She visibly enjoyed the scenes where the King Lion and fairytale creatures come to life. We really thought she would sleep through the middle of the movie but she was still in high spirits to the finish. Expectedly, she slept through the ride home but it was a nice first movie date with my family.

Pouting Lips

Last night, I went home to a sleeping Danielle with pouting lips. The protruded pouting lips were caused by a mouth injury of her own doing. She had been playing at the playground with her Pinoy-Korean friends that afternoon. Upon coming back to the apartment, she went directly to our room and jumped in the bed. After a few minutes, my wife heard a thud and a cry in the room. She found a crying Danielle with a bloody mouth saying the window hurt her. My wife, I am proud to say she didn't panicked upon seeing the blood in Danielle's mouth, immediately let her drink some water and let her eat some ice cream. She learned that putting cold compress to children's mouth injuries was a good way to stop bleeding. Indeed the bleeding stopped and Danielle cooled down and asked some milk before sleeping soon after. When I looked at her injured mouth, I was really worried because it was the first time I saw her with such an injury but my wife, Gina, soothed my worries away with the way she coolly handled the situation. She got some ice pack and applied cold compress to the lips while Danielle slept. This morning when I called up the house, a lively Danielle in good mood answered the phone. She told me (she still speaks gibberish sometimes but I could understand her already) that she is already fine and that she had been playing with her friends yesterday. My wife took over the phone and told me that Danielle promised not to jump on the bed. We are hoping she will keep that promise with the kind painful lesson she received.

Children's Day

On May 5, we planned to attend the Children's Day event hosted by the company I worked with which is held in one of the nearby beachfront of Jangseungpo. However, my wife's Filipina friend with a Korean husband invited us to instead attend the nearby Jisepo village Children's Day event held near its coastline within the Geoje Fishing Village Museum. Since they had a car, we were happy to join them and we were surprised that we will also be attending the picnic of the other Filipino-Korean families of Geoje Island.

We arrived in the Museum around 10AM and soon found ourselves watching kids enjoying the day with some mascots, lots of balloons, a kid's variety show, parlor games and free gifts. Danielle was visibly elated to see lots of balloons and kids playing around. She got two balloons right away and as we took some pictures together with the mascots, Danielle seemed to shake off her fear of the mascots. It seems her pleasure of going out and seeing lots of kids occupied her mind. Before watching the kid's variety show, we went to the museum that had free entrance for this special event. We saw some unique fish varieties of Geoje and even saw some fish fossils. Then, we were educated to the evolving fishing methods of the fishing villages through some eye-catching miniature villages of the past, present and the future, life-size model of a traditional boat propped with fishermen mannequins and video presentations. There was also a large aquarium of the unique exotic fishes of Geoje. I could only imagine that someday this kind of museum would rise up in my hometown in Bohol. Who knows?

After going through a leisure walk of the historic world of the fishing villages of Geoje, we proceeded to join the kid's variety show but the morning session just ended. Still, we were fortunate enough to be given with gifts to our kids. Danielle was so happy receiving her gift. The funny part was all the children actually received the same gift - a jumping rope! Still, a gift would always give joy to any kid. We then had our Filipina-Korean family picnic but we were the honorary guests being the only pure Filipino Family of the group. We had a Filipino-Korean lunch of samgyeopsal barbeque, ramyeon noodles, pork kaldereta, fish inun-unan, some fruits and snacks. The kids were free to roam around, play, and enjoy each other's company. The afternoon session of kid's variety show soon started as we watched several kids lined up in joining the various games. Prizes were the same kind of gift that Danielle received. It didn't dampen the kid's spirit of fun. After the games, kids were asked to sing in front of the stages and they eagerly joined! Prizes were still the same kind of gift that Danielle received. It just shows that the important thing for children is to enjoy their time rather than their gifts.

The day's event ended around 5PM with the adults and kids all tired. When we arrived in the house, Danielle soon after fell asleep. She only woke half asleep around 7PM to ask for her milk and doze off back to sleep soon after. It was another wonderful quality time with my family.