Zia's first school

Last November 2008, Zia's developmental pediatrician has cleared her to enroll on a preparatory school. Her doctor has noted improvements on Zia's development, although there are still points to be improved. The speech and occupational therapy have to continue but we were advised that regular school can proceed. Judith and I scouted schools in BF Paranaque, looking for a school ideal for her speech condition, near our home, near the therapy center and of course not too expensive. After trimming the number to three potential schools, we eventually picked Child's Home School. Judith was very picky - she looked at the size of the rooms, the number of children per class, the schools where the teachers graduated, etc, etc.

Zia's class would be from November 2008 to March 2009. Her class was in the morning, from Monday to Friday. Seeing her in a school uniform for the first time is a sight to behold. It's a mixed feeling of glee - "my daughter is so cute" - and of gloom - "I'm getting old, my baby is now in school." Zia was enjoying her class. She was always excited when she was preparing going to school. Occasionally, she was accompanied by her Ate Cris to school, to be brought there by Manong Archie. After school, she would eagerly read her books and practice homeworks. Her speech has improved significantly. She has consistently expressed her feelings and sentiments, unlike a few months back wherein tantrums would be frequent because she cannot communicate to us well.



Of course, with school works come school activities that include family activities. By December 2008, Zia was excitedly practicing her Christmas class number. It was a dance number to the tune of Little Drummer Boy, with a costume of Little Santa. So when her school Christmas party came, all of us were there, happily cheering Zia and her classmates for their dance number. It was a cute number. Zia was dancing with her classmates, although sometimes, she has her own choreography different from her routine. Everybody enjoyed the party afterwards.

The other main school activity was the graduation. Again, some musical numbers were prepared. This time, Zia's class performed "I'm a Believer" from the Shrek soundtrack. Zia did another good dance performance. Her Ate Cris modified her costume which made her outfit better-looking. The other musical numbers were very entertaining as well. However, as her school was ending, Judith and I were deliberating wherein we will continue Zia to Child's Home. After balancing the pros and cons, we decided to enroll her to Montessori de Manila next school year.

Macau 2009

My christmas gift to Judith was a vacation trip in Macau. She deserves all the credit being a very good mother to Zia and Enzo, and keeping our house a good home for all of us.

So after the parties have finished, we flew first day of January, 2009. We stayed in the very magnificent Venetian-Macau Hotel, believed to be one of the biggest hotel complexes in the world. Macau is the equivalent of Las Vegas here in Asia. Numerous casinos and hotels are scattered throughout the small colony, and our hotel is the biggest of its kind. The hotel has the biggest casino land area I have ever seen. Maybe at least 10 basketball court-wide are the sizes of the casinos, and all of them are full of customers! Within the confines of the hotel is a shopping complex, elegantly located with a man-made river where gondolas travel to and fro. The ceiling is even painted with sunny, cloudy skies, giving the illusion of eternal daytime. The artwork in the hotel lobby is a sight to behold, and the hotel room exudes class in every aspect.

The sites in Macau are also good for tourists like us. Being a Portuguese colony before, this has aggregated to the Chinese culture beautifully, making its sights truly unique. We visited old piazzas, old temples, museums and different places of eating. The most famous landmark there is the Ruins of St. Paul Church, and one of the most popular food is their egg tart.

Travelling with Judith is such joy. Kahit lakad lang kami ng lakad, ok lang sa kanya. Siyempre, magkasundo pa kami sa food so kahit saan kami kumain ok lang. Kapag nasa ibang lugar kasi kami, mas gusto naming kumain ng mga local food kesa doon sa mga fastfood. Kahit hindi kami maintindihan ng mga tao doon, ok lang kami.

Na-miss lang namin ang mga bata. Apat na araw lang kaming nawala pero parang ang tagal-tagal na naming di sila kasama. Pag medyo mga 6 or 7 years na sila, isasama na namin sila sa mga biyahe namin.

Here are the pictures of our trip, click on this LINK.

Revival

It has been more than 8 months since my last update on this blog. I could have posted earlier but due to various reasons, nothing was posted.

There have been many activities in our home since then - Christmas 2008, Macau trip, Enzo's birthday, Zia's graduation, family outings, etc.

I will try to post each activity to update this blog. A new and hopefully better blog from moi.

Zia and iPhone

Zia has been using my iPhone for the past two weeks. Everynight once I arrive at home, she will get the phone and play with it. She uses these applications: Bubbles, Blowhorn, Moo, Preschool Adventure, Koi Pond, Sketch, Kaleidoscope, Piano, Drum, and recently iZoo wherein she chooses an animal from the list then as she taps the picture of the animal, she would listen to the sound of that animal.

At first, she chooses the animals randomly, then when we tried to have her look and select certain animals, me and Judith were amazed that she can pick the correct animal. So she has memorized some spelling of these animals. Early stage of reading, YES!



Yun nga lang, si Enzo di makagamit, laging yung ate lang niya. Bili kaya ako ng isa pa?

Comics

I have been a comic book collector since 1991. So for the past 17 years, I have been reading, buying and collecting comic books. Previous to that I would just read comic books from the shelves of bookstores or from my friends collections.

When I was in elementary (maybe grade 3), my Tatay would subscribe to Liwayway magazine everyweek. That was one of my early exposures to the wonderful world of comic books. During this time as well, my Tito Ely and Tita Luz who were then living beside our house in Olympia, Makati, had numerous tagalog comics in their house, Aliwan Komiks, Tagalog Klasiks, Wakasan, etc. During weekends, I would be reading Funny Comics in their home.


Every Sunday morning after Mass, our family would go to Makati Supermart in Ayala. After eating spaghetti in the Coffee Shop, we would proceed to our grocery shopping. While Tatay and Nanay are busy shopping, I would just go to the comic book aisle of the supermart. I would just read the comic books there until they would pass by me on the aisle notifying me that it’s time to go home. By that time, I have read around 5 comic books there.

This practice would go on for many years. I would just read the comic books week after week. In Paco Catholic School, we have comic books as well in the Library. I discovered there Tintin Comics and Asterix Comics. If I had some free time then, I would just read all the issues of these titles.

Of course during high school, priorities changed. Comic books were just there but not really tweaked my interest as much as other interests during that time.

This changed in 1991 when I read the series The Infinity Gauntlet. The story was about a super villain (Thanos) against all, I mean all the heroes of Marvel Comics.

I was hooked. If I remember it right, I read issue Number 1 in a friend’s house, after finishing that issue, my next instinct was to go to the nearest bookstore to buy the whole series (which eventually I did). I was a 2nd year college student of UP Diliman then.

That was also a good diving point, a good exposure to the different characters of Marvel Comics. Because all of their heroes were in that series, the reader has the chance to see how they act, how they perform. Thus the reader now is intrigued and would be eager to buy the respective titles of these comic book heroes. I was intrigued then with Wolverine, thus my first exposure to the X-men.


After nearly a month since I read the Gauntlet, I was buying around 5-10 titles a week. Most of the titles I was buying were from Marvel Comics, basically the X-men, and their previous issues or back issues. Since I was in Diliman then, I would go to Filbars Store in New York, Cubao to buy my books. If some of the issues become out of stock, I would go to Greenhills or Goldcrest Mall in Ayala or in Robinsons Galleria.

1991 was also a golden year for comic books. This was the time wherein the big names in Marvel, formed their own comic book company – Image Comics.


All the gimmicks for comics were there, multiple covers, gold covers, glow-in-the-dark covers, etc. I was collecting nearly 15 titles a week then.

I usually save my allowance money for comics. During that time, a comic book is around P30-P40 per issue. I have no vices then, this was my vice.

At present, I have more than a roomful of comic books. I store them on hard plastic containers, each book individually wrapped by plastic sheet with cardboard. I have also prepared a computerized database for my books. Am I stopping? Definitely not, it has become a part of my life. I have a regular store now in Robinsons Manila wherein the moment I enter, they give me the prepared weekly titles I have pre-ordered via email with their owner. Hopefully someday, one of my kids will get my interest for these wonderful comic books.

37

Last year I posted here my thoughts of being 36 years old.

Well, I just turned 37 a month ago, and another year of wrinkles, white hairs and aching back were added to my body.

Socially, quite a lot has transpired since last year. I've been to Singapore for the 3rd time, been to Ilocos and Bangkok for the first time. I'm still in PGH, working as an administrator for the hospital (my 5th of 6 years) and a consultant for the Department of Ophthalmology. Our group in Eye Republic is still doing good. We might have a new clinic by early next year in St. Luke's The Fort. I still need to finish my thesis in my Masteral degree in Informatics.

Tatay and Nanay were here last year (almost half a year) and they did a lot of things - fix the house, buy a new car and sadly, to bury my Tito Ben, Tito Toto and Lola who all passed away the last year. Some uncles and aunts were also able to visit us (Tita Josie from New York and Tito Francis with Wesley, Jeffrey and Tiffany).

Zia and Enzo are growing fast. Zia is currently enrolled in a special school to further train her speech and social development, while Enzo is becoming more of me. Most of my nights are playtime with my wonderful children.

Judith is becoming busy. Most of her clinic days, she has even more patients than me. She has hired a driver to accompany her, making me less worried when she is out working.

Hopefully, this next year will be as much as fun and more productive than the previous one.

37, tsk tsk, I'm getting old...

Bangkok

Last month, I was in Bangkok to attend an ophthalmological conference, together with 5 other eye doctors.

It was my first time in Thailand, and my experience was a very good one.

Judith should have been with me, but some problems came up thus she was not able to come. It could have been her second time around there, and she was quite excited to return sana.

Our group stayed in the Millennium Hilton Hotel, it was located along the Chao Praya River. The view from my room was quite good, overlooking the skyline of Bangkok. Upon arrival, our group headed straight to the shopping areas. Our itinerary was quite hectic so we have to really maximize our time.



Thailand is very similar to the Philippines in terms of weather, landscape, people's appearances; the main difference is their culture. They are very nationalistic, very proud of their heritage, and very proud of their monarchy, especially the king. In almost every nook of the city, the picture of their king is very much visible. Unlike here wherein huge billboards of politicians and movie stars adorn our streets. Doon sa kanila, yung hari lang nila, wala ng iba.



Food is great, spicy and very tasty. Streets are full of people, and traffic is almost similar to Manila. We visited the Grand Palace which is very majestic. I was in awe with the different temples and its designs. Truly a must see if you are in Bangkok. We also went to some discount markets (Chatuchak) wherein a wide variety of products can be bought. Their shopping malls are quite similar compared to ours. I also had a Thai massage (sarap). Of course, we went to the infamous PatPong district wherein exotic dancers perform exotic things from their exotic private parts. IBA!

Because of the limited time, we were not able to visit the other parts of Thailand, hopefully the next time I'll be there, I would be with Judith enjoying the beaches of Phuket.

And yes, the ophtha convention was good, too.