Sayaw: History through Philippine Dances

Check out this event on Facebook

Basketball: Wellington Saints Invitation Team vs Philippines' Gilas

Tickets:
Adult - $12
Child (5-15yrs)
Family (2A & 3C) - $30
VIP - $25

To learn more about this event and book tickets, visit the Te Rauparaha Arena website

The Salvation Army's Halloween party

Every year at Halloween, we see kids dressed up in various costumes as they roam from house to house for their customary 'trick or treat'.  And every year the Salvation Army also plays host to a fun night of games. If the event falls on the same evening as trick or treating night, then expect lesser kids roaming the streets!  I think some parents prefer this too, because then they would know where their kids are and parents can also stay for coffee and mingle while the kids have their fun.

2011 Philippine Independence Day Celebration in Wellington

The Philippine Embassy invites all Filipinos and friends in New Zealand in celebrating the 113th Anniversary of Philippine Independence and the 150th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal on Sunday, 12 June 2011 (10:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.) at the Wellington Indian Cultural Center, 48 Kemp St. Kilbirnie, Wellington.

ASEAN Presents SouthEast Asian Night Market

Bring all the family to sample the exciting sounds and spicy aromas of the third Southeast Asian Night Market which will spread out along the Wellington waterfront at Frank Kitts promenade and Shed 6 on Saturday 16 April 2011 from 4.00pm to 10.00pm. In the event of bad weather, the market will be held on Sunday 17 April from 4pm to 10pm.

The ten member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) - Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam - have combined to bring you delicious food, colourful crafts and non-stop entertainment from Indonesian puppetry to Malaysian tea pulling.

The Philippines will host a coconut skull race and tumbang preso!

Read more from the asia:online website

Capital E! National Arts Festival's GlobalFest

GlobalFest marks the closing of the National Arts Festival and celebrate the diversity of our beautiful city in a fun free afternoon for the whole family.

Enjoy great food, hands-on crafts and activities, and stunning dance and music performances in this day long celebration of Wellington and its people. Civic Square will come alive with a sea of colourful costumes, scintillating sounds and tantalising tastes.

Bring the family and party away the closing day of the Festival!

Date and Time: Sun 27 March, 10am - 3pm
Venue : CIVIC SQUARE (Wet weather venue - Capital E)
Duration: As long as you like
Age: Everyone
Price: Free

Reference: Capital E! website

Relating Well in New Zealand

(A rather late post I know, but check if there are still seats available if you are interested.  Thanks)

Life in a new country can be challenging. You are invited to the Free half-day seminar: Relating Well in New Zealand

Run by Relationship Services you will learn about:

• New Zealand culture
• strategies for coping with change
• opportunities for networking and support
• tips on where to find help

This is a great opportunity to hear from other newcomers and their experience of settling into New Zealand and to gain knowledge and skills for settling successfully in New Zealand.

Saturday 19 March, 9 am – 12.45 pm
Level 5, Outwide House
61-63 Taranaki Street, Wellington

To register please contact Relationship Services Wellington on 385 1729 or 0800 RELATE (0800 735 283) or email wellington@relationships.org.nz

Morning tea will be provided.

Kind regards,
Wellington - Settlement Support New Zealand 





Other schedules and information about this seminar series can be found in the Relationship Services website

Race Relations Day

Race Relations Day: An annual international event to eliminate racial discrimination

Please join us to celebrate this year’s theme: “Living in Harmony”

Saturday 12 March
11am-2pm
Johnsonville Community Centre (Main Hall)

~ Free Entry ~

There will be:
Ethnic Food stalls
Entertainment by the diverse cultures from our local community

plus

DJs from Kool FM~
Whitireia Students of Music, and
You may even get a chance to hear yourself on radio

(All proceeds donated to the Red Cross Christchurch Earthquake Relief Fund)


Programme
11 am -       Tai Chi Interactive Session
11.30 am  - Formal Opening
11.50 am - Chinese Martial Arts / Cultural performances
12.10 pm - Filipino Community Performances
12.30 pm - Fusion Arts
12.50 pm - Bollywood /Indian Arts  Performance
1.10 pm - Mystery Segment from Kool FM
1.30 pm - D J Music

(Please note that some programmes may be subject to change)

Please attend and appreciate it if you could pass this on to your networks

This event is brought to you by Settling In, Family and Community Services, Ministry of Social Development, Whitireia Community Polytechnic, Wellington City Council, Society for South East Asian Communities and Mabuhay Association

For further information, please contact
Matilde Tayawa - 027 2282675
Murali Kumar - 029 235 4322 

Japan Festival

I saw a poster of this event yesterday as I was heading for home. This event is scheduled for tomorrow. I want to goooo!!! There is a crafts and food stall at the fair, and that is where I want to be.


This is the introductory message at the Asia:NZ website:

On Saturday 11 July Wellingtonians will get a chance to celebrate Japanese culture at the inaugural Japan Festival of Wellington featuring food stalls, local and overseas performers, fashion shows, children’s entertainment and competitions.

Bring along family or friends and relax in the tranquil ambience of the age-old Japanese tea ceremony, try your hand at writing a haiku poem or take part in a competition to roll New Zealand’s longest sushi.

Looks like a wonderful Festival. And as with most things Japanese, I expect that this will be a fun, colorful, and memorable event. kawaii! Visit Asia:NZ for more information.

Where has the traffic gone?

Wednesday night last week saw me at the Victory Liner terminal to get a ticket in going back to Baguio for the Holy Week. As I have narrated in my earlier post, I was not able to get a ticket for that night. This is the first time ever that I got a ticket for the following day! Usually the queue would set me off for 4 hours at most, which I patiently wait out in the passenger area. This time, it was more than 16 hours off. That was the volume of tourists that packed up and headed for Baguio. We learned that for Thursday alone, 40,000 vehicles were counted to have entered the Baguio City. Whew!

The line to the ticketing station stretched as far as the the gate to EDSA and to the adjacent gas station!

After waiting patiently in line, this is the sign that will greet you: all trips fully-booked til 1:00PM the following day! I was able to get a 1:30PM ride instead. What to do next? Haul my luggage back to the pad.

The normally-busy Makati roads looked like this last Thursday. Wow!

We visited the Church last Good Friday and Easter Sunday. For the times when we were not at home experimenting at the kitchen or hanging out, we'd be out with Emily, our guest for the weekend.

Hope you all had a meaningful Holy Week!

Holy Week

The Holy Week is upon us, and I am set to go home to Baguio City. However, after more than an hour of waiting in line at the bus terminal, I was able to get a ticket... for 1:30PM the following day! Things are looking congested for my beloved hometown once again.

Last weekend, my wife and I visited the Baguio Cathedral to celebrate Palm Sunday. Some photos can be found at the Baguio-Quezon blog.
When I was a kid, the Holy Week meant the start of the summer vacation and the end of classes. So we'd be in the provinces, usually in Pangasinan or Dagupan, my father's hometown. As we play outside, the elders would caution us to be very careful because if we get hurt, it will take a long time to heal. At 6PM, the Angelus is prayed along with the rosary. We would also take a bath on Thursday afternoon because it was prohibited to do so on Good Friday when Jesus died. We were also told not to make so much noise and not be joyous for that week, for in those days, our Lord is suffering.

The Holy Week means a lot more to me now, and while I am not the meditating type, I find joy and consolation in the fact that Someone up there cares for me.

Til next week, have a meaningful Holy Week and advanced Happy Easter!

Total lunar eclipse on August 28

[Photo credit: space.com]

That's today! I hope the sky clears up so we can see this event.

The message from an e-mail received about this:
A total lunar eclipse will occur on August 28 and will be visible in the Philippines, the United States of America, the Pacific, eastern Asia, and Australasia. The totality will last for one hour and thirty minutes.

The eclipse will begin as the Moon enters the penumbral stage at 3:52 PM (Philippine Standard Time), and the umbral stage will begin at 4:50 PM as shown in the illustration. The eclipse will end at 9:22 PM (PST). The Moon will rise at 6:08 PM and sets on the following morning at 5:16 AM.

[photo credit: NASA]

Additional information: NASA site for the August 28 total Lunar Eclipse

The truth is out there

Since Grade School, I have already been fascinated with things that science cannot easily explain. During those times, the only way you can read about these was if you go to the library, or if you have friends who have encyclopedias on the stuff. Fascinating!

Thanks to the internet, such information is now more accessible and updated! So, what exactly are these "stuff" about?

Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) - including abductions, cattle mutilation, bits of alien things injected into people. Though when I stare at the skies and trace out the big dipper (half-hoping that I see something extraordinary), abduction is the furthest thing from my mind.

The website UFO Evidence has lots of photos and narrations of UFO sightings. While there are photos that are documented as fake, there are still lots that have been left unexplained.


Cattle mutilation is likewise a curiosity. Cuts are made with laser-like precision. Why want animal insides and leave the beef? If the aliens were so intelligent, couldn't they have taken the whole cow with them instead, or chopped up the meat using their laser beam into tenderloin sizes? Or will this be considered double-dead? Hmmm. Drop by Crystalinks' Cattle Mutilation page for a sample. (photo above credited to them)


Religious implications
Did you know that even in rennaisance paintings, there are indications of UFO existence. It is even deduced that the star which shone on Jesus when He was born came from an alien spacecraft. Of course, that kind of thinking will lead you to the obvious line of thought about the origin of Jesus. Out of this world, isn't it?

Or even before that, when the Virgin Mary received news of important role of becoming the mother of the Saviour of mankind, a UFO-like structure was visible.

In other paintings, the objects depicted are look so much like saucers floating about with lights emitting from them.

I learned about the above things way back in college (the late 90s). The SLU library had this huge book about UFOs in the Reference section, along with lots of nice books on paintings.

Just recently, I read about Christian iconology that refute the apparent presence of UFOs in these paintings. Very intriguing and illuminating! After more than 20 years, I realize that what I read in those books years ago were nothing more than flights of fancy! Alas! Read about this on Art and UFO.

Oh, before I forget. The UFO photo at the start of this post is a fake. It was very famous way back when due to the detail of the ship. Very rare in UFO photos. (photo credit: ufosrus)

Hmmm... I was supposed to write about all of the weird things that fascinate me as a kid and until now. But this UFO topic alone is worth an entire post by itself!

There are loads of other sites waiting to be discovered in the Net. A simple Google search will reveal lots of other references.

I believe that something is out there, watching us. And it's not just the Star Wars / Star Trek / ET / Close Encounters movie fan in me that's talking.

What about you?

Happy Mother's Day!

Ann of Apple of My Eyes tagged me some time back even though she was aware of the fact that I avoid it like the plague (except on a few occasions, like now. Baka magalit si Ann kapag hindi ko ginawa kaya gagawin ko na. Bwehehehe)

The tag calls for giving ten reasons why I married my other half. So here goes, in no particular order:

1. She's the mother of my very handsome boy, Jose Carlos. Of course, he inherited some of his good features from yours truly. O, hwag na kokontra. hehe.

2. She's funny, sometimes even without trying to be. And she's got this giggle that looks like she'll run out of air real soon. It's similar to Ernie of Sesame Street's giggle. Beat that.

Here we were looking for unique clothing items from the UK stores. This one's mano-po inspired. hehe

3. We have things in common. We like to eat, read books, play video games of the 80s arcade kind, we watch SciFi, fantasy, romantic, and comedy films.

She's my "accomplice" in trying out foodie places in Baguio

4. She's frugal. At least, now, we are able to save up. hehe

5. She drives me crazy. She decides one one thing, and in less than 5 minutes changes her mind. It drives me crazy.

6. Understanding. When I arrive here in Baguio feeling tired, I want to stay home even when she wants to go out and run errands etc. Most of the time, she lets me be. Dear, pagtimpla mo ko ng hot choco. Tapos bibili na ako ng gasul. hehehe

7. Simple. She's a simple girl from a simple girl. We do not splurge on dates, she dresses simply. I give her accessories such as bracelets and necklaces from Dessagirl and she likes wearing them. I buy extras for her friends and she likes them too and keeps them. hehe

8. She gives my simple whims. "Dear, let's see more of your province while we're there." I had two wonderful days. "Dear, let's buy Jonas' Delight at TeaHouse in Session Road!" She buys one and we have a wonderful dessert while watching TV. "Dear, let's buy plants for the garden!" She and Jo-Lo goes with me. "Dear, Happy Meal has a new toy! Let's buy some!" She gets the entire set for Jo-Lo hehe. Simple things for me that matters a lot.

9. She keeps our home spic and span. I'm not the organized type when it comes to fixing the bed and cleaning up and arranging the abubot of which we have a lot thanks to me.

Making suman at my parent's house.

10. Lastly, I married my other half because I love her!

Happy Mother's Day, Dearest! And Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers out there!

Now, to pass on the tag torch... if you are born in the month of October, looking forward to the last Harry Potter book and movie, and married, then you just got tagged!

Event calendar

Calendar of events for:
New Zealand - in blue highlight
The Philippines - in yellow highlight
Wellington - in red highlight





Disclaimer: Events and schedules may change without notice.