At the end of the day faith is a funny thing. It turns up when you don't really expect it. Its like one day you realize that the fairy tale may be slightly different than you dreamed. The castle, well, it may not be a castle. And its not so important happy ever after, just that its happy right now. See once in a while, once in a blue moon, people will surprise you , and once in a while people may even take your breath away.

-Meredith Grey, "Grey's Anatomy"

holiday to do list:

• wake up at 4.30 am, shower, last check of things to bring.
• get taxi to the airport at 5.30
• arrive just as the domestic terminal opens (6 am)
• check-in (try not to look nervous because you don't have a valid visa)
• pre-flight checks and breakfast at 6.30
• depart at 7 sharp
• arrive in phu quoc 55 mins later
• get to resort and leave bags at the counter (room will not be ready until around 12 noon)
• breakfast and lounge at the beach. oh, and get a massage!
• wake up after massage and find room ready earlier than expected
• unpack and head out to town (such as it is) for lunch
• get back on motorbike and travel to the pearl farm
• nothing much to see, just more pearl jewelry (of which there is a surplus in manila) so after a quick drink, head back to resort for more beach side lounging
• have sundowner drinks with co-workers staying at same resort. make their daughter cry.
• go back to room to shower and dress for dinner at really nice restaurant. order steamed grouper, hong kong style, grilled scallops with garlic and stir-fried morning glory. yum!
• putter around town after dinner and take a quick look at the (small) night market
• head back to resort, stop at the wine shop, check out the menu for the ocean bar and grill (dinner for another night)
• back in room, watch tv, eat chocolate, sleep.
• wake up at 8 and repeat beach side lounging and eating. awesome!

now back in saigon, and on laundry detail. sigh... holidays should really be longer.

"After all, is it not the way we humans shape the universe, shape time itself? Do we not take the raw stuff of chaos and impose a beginning, middle, and end on it, like the simplest and most profound of folktales, to reflect the shapes of our own tiny lives? And if the physicists are right, that the physical world changes as it is observed, and we are its only known observers, then might we not be bending the entire chaotic universe, the eternal, ever-active Now, to fit that familiar form?"
— Tad Williams (Sea of Silver Light)

Shadowrise coming out as 2 novels? Memory, Sorrow and Thorn all over again.... Coming March 2010

the calm before the storm...

exactly a week after ketsana lashed out on the philippines, another one  is on it's way to wreak more havoc. parma is now a category 5 storm system. rainfall is predicted to be not as much as ketsana (one can always pray...), but wind speeds are at 241 km/h.  our prayers are with you, mga kababayan.

A family who has, at the heart of it all, a grandma who matters...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

maya; what's wrong ms. chao?

ms. chao: nghi is crying, maya

maya: why is nghi crying?

ms. chao: because she doesn't want to brush her teeth

maya: because she doesn't have teeth, ms. chao?

:D

ms. chao: no maya, she's just very sleepy...

I'm Right Here

Phnom Penh in 24 hours or LESS:

most bus companies will refuse to sell round-trip tickets for same day travel. it takes roughly 6 hours to reach phnom penh. so buy tickets from 2 different bus companies.

wake up call at 4.30 am to shower and dress. no time for breakfast, just a quick cup of coffee, and call a taxi at 5.30.

arrive at bus depot 6.00. get on bus to phnom penh and leave promptly at 6.30. travel, travel travel. take intermittent naps in the slightly reclining seat. tour guide goes around and takes passports for easier immigration processing. hands out cambodia entry and exit forms, and the requisite health check questionnaire. arrive at border 9.15. exit bus to go through vietnamese immigration exit.

what?!? your auntie's visa expired already! 4 days ago! (duh, that was the purpose of this trip!) why are you exiting only now? i'm sorry mr. immigrations man, but i was sick (cough! cough!) and my auntie, she's hearing impaired. she cannot travel alone. okay, but you pay fine $20.00 US dola. (ang lagay eh...) thank you very much mr. immigrations man! see you again!

get back on bus for short hop to cambodia entry immigrations and customs.

cambodian customs man takes FOREVER to process passports. pictures are taken for immigrations and customs purposes, passports are stamped, cambodia entry forms are taken. on to the quarantine area. health check done by (unsanitary - no alcohol to wipe after every use!!!) ear thermometers, questionnaires collected and back on the bus for another short hop to the restaurant.

order noodle soup, anything else takes too long, and you'll be asked to get back on the bus before your order even arrives. bus will be on it's way to phnom pehn at exactly 10.00. travel, travel, travel some more. keep trying to get some sleep. halfway through, you get to the Neak Luong ferry. short trrip (around 10 mins) and you get to the other side. travel, travel, travel some more (you know the rest)

1.00 pm arrive at bus depot phnom penh. hire tuk-tuk to take you to other bus depot. arrive at other bus depot with 2 hours to spare. have lunch at nearby sidewalk cafe. pay for lunch. look around for somewhere to buy souvenirs. end up buying fruits and looking at electronics equipment.

2.30 pm go and wait for bus. wait some more. still waiting. (ticket says bus departs phnom penh at 3.00 pm.) meanwhile, take photos of wahtever you can see that proves you've been to cambodia. buy cold softdrinks in korean minimart next door (koreans really are everywhere!!) bus starts loading at 3.00 pm. reason for delay? waiting for more passengers, as there are only 6 of you currently on board. you choose to occupy empty row. more space. oh, and bus has portalet. a mini-sized one.

bus departs phnom penh 3.30 pm. as usual, travel, travel, travel. tour guide (kunduktor) collects passports again.

no, no! visa expired already! cannot! but sir, we have letter from immigrations official (c/o ms. marias very extensive network of connections) allowing my auntie to get a new visa upon entry into vietnam. okay, okay. no rablem.

hands out health check forms again. travel, travel, travel. this time to the lovely accompaniment of an ecclectic selection of vietnamese, cambodian and english (circa 1960) songs. turn up volume on ipod.

arrive cambodian border 7.30 pm. visa no rablem, give me picture. what picture? your auntie's picture for visa papers. we need picture? we don't have picture! what! no picture! no, no visa! but mr. immigrations man, we were not informed that we need to give picture for visa papers. no, no visa! go get picture!

auntie rides motorbike to look for photoshop. meanwhile, go through customs and vietnamese immigrations. get passports back. wait outside border office for auntie. wait some more. start to get nervous. call auntie. hear auntie's cellphone ringing in her bag, which she left behind when she got on motorbike. *facepalm* wait some more. ask bus driver to call motorbike driver to look for auntie.

no rablem. my friend take good care of auntie. get photo, get visa. we wait here. no rablem!

get back on bus. bite nails, check face of every motobike driver and passenger that pass by. wait some more. auntie arrives after 30 mins. pays motorbike driver $5.oo US dola. passport and visa okay now. take deep breath and relax.

8.15 bus resumes trip. travel, travel, travel. can't sleep anymore. close eyes and keep listening to ipod. travel, travel, travel some more. arrive ho chi minh city 10.00 pm. woo-hoo!

get off at bus depot at 10.15 and get taxi. arrive home 10.45 pm.

inalog na duhat!

____________________________________________________________________

i'll be right here where you need me

anytime just keep believing

and i'll be right here

if you ever need a friend

someone to care and understand

i'll be right here

holidays are wonderful things. sleeping-in on a weekday is absolute decadence! add in a slightly rainy day, very comfy bed and a good book, and it's the perfect mid-week escape!

BER!

in the philippines (and everywhere else, i'm sure!) entering the -ber months is like the starting gun of the christmas season. shopping malls will be playing christmas carols, christmas decor will start to be on display, pre-season sales will be advertised, and christmas programs will be filling cable television. i love -BER!

'tis the season to start making christmas wish lists! and number one on mine? MORE KIDS!!! we're losing children, and all because our smart board of management thought it was a good idea to put our campus up for sale.

we accomodate 3 classes in our small campus. reception (4-5 year olds) nursery (3 year olds) and my class, pre-nursery (2 year olds) last year, we had a total of 58 students. this year, we have 24. how's that for a drastic drop...

manang,

endless toy store, internet and person to person searches have failed me.

in lieu of the real thing, you can have this instead:

http://www2.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/m/monsters/3D_Insectosaurus.pdf

enjoy! sorry it's not the cuddly kind... love you!

(tried it out, failed at that, too. i'm sure between you and jaime you can manage to make a decent model)

eye candy, indeed!thanks manang!

my class again...

strawberry...

shortcake!

rock-a-bye, baby...

...time to sleep...

we scream for ice cream!

my class...

Miz Piggy :)

but ms. kathy, she ate my fruit!

mmmm, tasty!

...and i caught one THIS big!

i'm happy, promise!

Meh! ...but i don't wanna go to school!!!

kids of the future...

oppy bouncers

4 kids... waht to do, what to do...

we have this new toy, a bouncy ball. the one where you sit on it, and bounce around. my kids love it, only problem is, they're too short to reach the floor! so instead of bouncing around, they roll head over heels over it! pictures to follow, lol!

after the happy dance, this is what they do...

i do this at the end of each term... XD

On the Other Side of the Door

On the Other Side of the Door
I can be a different me,
As smart and as brave and as funny or strong
As a person could want to be.
There's nothing too hard for me to do,
There's no place I can't explore
Because everything can happen
On the other side of the door.

On the other side of the door
I don't have to go alone.
If you come, too, we can sail tall ships
And fly where the wind has flown.
And wherever we go, it is almost sure
We'll find what we're looking for
Because everything can happen
On the other side of the door.

-Jeff Moss

(http://awrungsponge.blogspot.com/2006/09/back-to-school-poetry.html)

thanks for the poem! now to get ready for tomorrow...

hmmmmm...

Sometimes, you just have to wonder...

Why can't women put on mascara with their mouth closed?

Why is it that when you're driving and looking for an address, you turn down the volume on the radio?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why is there a single shoe or slipper lying in the middle of the street?

Whose cruel idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have "S" in it?

Isn't it a bit unnerving that doctors call what they do practice?

Why is it that most nudists are people you don't want to see naked?

Why do they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?

If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest drown, too?

If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

Why does a round pizza come in a square box?

Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here,and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there? I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes out of its butt."

only in Vietnam:

How do motorbike taxi drivers manage to sleep on their parked motorbikes?

Why are pyjamas so fasionable all the time, everytime, everywhere?

Why do men have such long thumb / pinky nails?

Why do adults wear helmets and children use only mosquito netting?

class photos today. oh, right. we were supposed to start off our week with Hey Diddle, Diddle. unfortunately, it took 2 hours (!!!) for my class to be photographed. why, you ask? well, my kids were eager enough, the girls even refused to play outside, because their hair would get messed up (my girls, the vanity club!). anyway, aside from the crying jag from 2 of my kids (new students), we did pretty okay in our group picture. sure, there was that one boy who wouldn't stop picking his nose. or that little girl who kept showing off her new knickers. but hey, these are 2 year-olds here. you really can't expect a class photo to be perfect.

so on to the solo pictures. what fun! we did it according to the class list (which, by the way, is not alphabetical, chronological, or in any other form of order known to man). each child was made to sit on a chair, look at the camera, and smile. which worked for a few of them. a very little few. say, 1 or 2 of my kids. more often than not, they looked shell-shocked. like, "who the h*#l is this dude, and why is he making goofy faces at me?" some would just have that blank look on their faces, probably wondering what we're having for snack today (since we were already running late by this time, everybody was cranky with hunger).

others would valiantly try to smile, even as their eyes start to tear up - "stranger! stranger! but still must smile, camera pointed this way..." my favorites were the ones too excited to wait for the camera to point their way. from the time they got to school, to the time we had lunch, they had this smile plastered on their faces. you know, the kind that pulls the lips back from the teeth, pushes the cheeks high up their faces, and all but makes their eyes disappear. that smile. some would even call it a grimace. characters, all of them!

and Hey Diddle, Diddle? we got to recite the rhyme. all other activities put on hold. try again tomorrow...

(posted on Facebook 11 May 2009)

my class did Humpty Dumpty last week, to start off our Nursery Rhymes theme for this month. we did masks, puppets, role-paying games. but our culminating activity was an egg-hunt last friday. the children were each given one hard-boiled egg to decorate. one of my very helpful assistants blurted out, "wow Henry! your egg is so blue!" yes, his egg was PAINTED blue. thank you, ms. Ha.

during the actual game itself, (we hid the PAINTED eggs on and around the slide) all three of them (my assistants) kept calling out, "find your eggs!" and "hold your eggs! don't break them!"

isn't innocence grand ...we're doing Hey, Diddle, Diddle this week.

(posted on Facebook 10 May 2009)

Turtles, PLEASE!

we had a showing of Finding Nemo a few weeks ago, and my class is now OBSESSED with those dang turtles! i admit, it's good entertainment for them on those rainy afternoons when we can't go outside to play. but we ALWAYS keep going back to that scene with the sea turtles! they even have most of the dialogue memorized! this is, of course, with the requisite lisps and mispronunciations - wimming with the tutles! and their favorite expression now is, "oh my goodness!" everything is "oh my goodness!" this, and "oh my goodness!" that. even if they're just going to the toilet ("oh my goodness ms. kathy! can i go pee-pee?") excited, aren't we!

not to mention all the awesome-ing that goes on. they finish their food, "i's awesome, man!" they see a butterfly outside, "i's awesome, dude!" they even tried the head-butting thing, but the accompanying pain was not "awesome", so that was that.

i am now searching for nursery rhymes, popular or otherwise, that have turtles in them. capitalizing on their interest, you might say :D. big plus if they're named Crush and Squirt. HELP!

a chorus of "mine! mine!" (sea gulls) can now be heard in the pre-nursery classroom at regular

intervals...

(posted on Facebook 13 May 2009)

welcome to vietnam

just got back from the airport. picked up my aunt after her almost 2 month holiday in the philippines. made me realize a few things...

in my limited travel experiences, tan son nhat airport in ho chi minh city appears to be one of the better ones. high ceilings, lots of windows and open spaces so it doesn't get that crowded. all in all, a rather pleasant travel experience.

that said, the first thing that hits you as you deplane is the unique, one of a kind aroma that is vietnam. it is indescribable. an experience not to be missed, as it will hit you over and over and over again. it is an irrevocable sign that you are in vietnam.

as you go through the process of immigration checks, baggage claim and customs, you will meet people who will persistently speak to you in vietnamese, even after you tell them that you speak english, because of the unalterable fact that you have asian features. after much discussion, and the resulting confussion, they will acknowledge that you do not understand them, and thus, speak in english.

even the taxi drivers, who are waiting in line to recieve passengers, will require continuous reminders that you do not understand a single word that you say. and they will STILL try to carry out a conversation, in the event that you miraculously understand the words that are coming out of their mouth.

for first timers, here's a tip. let the driver drive. it may seem as if they're trying to hit everything on the road, but that's just how their traffic scheme is. drive fast, be impatient and don't yield. it works! just don't get a heart attack.

by the time you get home, you're too much of a basket case that you panic when you see the taxi meter read 150,000 vnd. relax, it's not that much. it just seems like it because of all the zero's. you're a millionaire in vietnam, so start acclimating yourself to the seemingly over-priced bills. before you know it, you'll be buying stuff by the millions.

so come on over, and enjoy all the best that ho chi minh city has to offer. i guarantee memories you'll laugh about for years to come! :)

release

one week since i got back to work. is this for real? back to work already? where did summer go???

my classroom is all bright and colorful, excuse me, colourful. must not forget, british curriculum and all... ready for my students. how many, you ask? i have 8. yes, count them, 8. 6 girls, 2 boys. men, you are outnumbered!

now, do as the aspirin bottle says: take 2 and keep away from children. if only it were true...