View from the 33rd

One thing that I love about our place is the view from our window. 

There were bright pink streaks in the sky yesterday.  I was mesmerized while I watched the colors disappear into the night.  When it is a clear day I can see the Manila Bay at the very end.

Watching rain is pretty cool too.  Notice the gray area at the left corner.  Yep, that is rain on it's way here :D  It arrived a few minutes after I took this photo.  I am seriously thinking of getting a telescope so I can spy on my neighbors admire the view better and also look at stars at night :D

Where is meow?

 Actually, we are home now :P  Just sharing some photos of the trip we took last 2 weeks ago.

Missing the sand and the beautiful blue water

Our home for 3 days

Beautiful sandbar.  Hope to come back soon (and stay longer).

Beautiful Batanes

I have always dreamt of going to Batanes.  My dad had a lot of photos from his trips there in the early 80's and I have been curious ever since.  So when Erman asked me where I wanted to go after our wedding the only place I had in mind was Batanes :)

Batanes is the northernmost province in the Philippines.  Airfare is quite pricey (I even stalked the Seair website for weeks hoping for a seat sale) but it's definitely worth it.  I kept looking out the window during the 1.45 hour plane ride.  I was so excited when we could finally see the islands!

Seair's 32 seater Dormier plane lands in Basco airport in Batan Island, Batanes.

I think this is the cutest airport I've seen so far...

and the most beautiful hotel I've ever stayed in! 

Our room was perfect!  We had to transfer to another room on our 3rd day though because someone had already reserved our room in advance.  This happened because I booked our trip late!  Haha.  But it was just okay because our second room was just as lovely.

I love that all their rooms have nice big windows

Human Heart toiletries

Amazing view of the island!  I can stay here forever :)

Cape Gooseberries

Have you ever seen a cape gooseberry?  The first time I saw one was about 2 years ago at the organic market in Baguio.  I was immediately drawn to the beautiful cocoon like covering.

It says gooseberry on the label, but I later found out that gooseberry is different from cape gooseberry (thank you wiki).

Inside the shell is a small round fruit that has a waxy texture.  It's hard to describe how it tastes because it has such a unique flavor... It's sweet, tart and sometimes also sour at the same time :D

Empty shells.  They remind me of the cocoon collection I had before.

All picked :)

Chasing Chinatown

Happy Year of the Metal Rabbit to all of us!  I'm not Chinese but I look forward to Chinese New Year because of the festivities...

I mean, when else do you see "lions" crossing the street?

or a dancing dragon? :)  I really wished I had time to drop by Chinatown but thankfully the dragons came to my neighborhood this year.  Photos are blurry since I was taking them from my balcony.  Hehe!

Aside from the festivities, we also look forward to the food!  Funny because these dishes and goodies are available the whole year round... but somehow it is more exciting to eat tikoy during the Chinese New Year! 

Erman and I were lucky to catch the very last day of the "Chasing Chinatown" food bazaar at the Power Plant Mall.

We saw a lot of goodies such as tikoy and hopia in different flavors.

Yummy dimsum!

and the best fresh lumpia from Ha Yuan.  Anyway, if you want to save on kramer pacer at musicians friend, just click on the link and you will find what you need :D

We want this kitten

My little sister pointed out this cute little baby while we were walking home this afternoon.

He hides under the foot bridge during the day.  Not sure where his mommy was when we took the photo but the street cleaner told us that he sleeps beside the other strays at night.

Look at that cute face!  We want to bring him home but I'm not so sure how it will work out.  Our place is very small plus we've already exceeded the allowed number of pets (supposedly just 1 per unit).  Our place is very cramped too.  Hopefully someone can give him a forever home.

Amorita is Love

I have been thinking about going to the beach a lot these days.  Work has been really hectic and our wedding planning is getting more complicated as the date grows closer.  There is also Christmas shopping and of course holiday traffic!  These are the times when I wish I could go on a trip and just detach myself from all the chaos.  It would be really great if I could go to a nice sunny place like Bohol and just relax.  Actually, Erman and I were supposed to go to Bohol this year but we had to cancel because of work :( Boo! 

It would have been really cool to be back here at Amorita in Panglao island.

And just sit down on one of the lounge chairs and just relax.  No computers, e-mails, text massages and phone calls :)

Or just stay in bed and watch TV.  

Btw, this photo was taken from Yummy.com because my room shots were blurred :(

You can also take a dip in your private jacuzzi

Lovely spread to greet the day

where I had the best champorado I've ever tasted!

You can also make your own omelet and order Filipino favorites like Daing na bangus or Chicken Adobo 

and if you still have space for dessert there is suman topped with Bohol's famous peanut kisses :)  Yum!  I really hope we can go back soon.

This is Surigao

Approximately 714 Km or 386 Nautical Miles away from Manila

1 hour and 40 minutes by plane

Huge and colorful tricycles

P268 lunch! (p89 per person)

Cuttlefish, Shrimps, Squid and Kilawin

View from the top

Orange meow

A hideaway in Lipata

Beautiful cat

Ice cold beer by the beach

Pebble beach in Mabua

These pebbles are huge :)

Water airplane

Sayungsong (purple dessert in leaf cone) and other rice cakes!

San Francisco de Assisi Elementary

KaEskwela made its second delivery of school supplies courtesy of National Bookstore Foundation to San Francisco de Assisi Elementary School in Minalin, Pampanga. Around 430 students received packs containing notebooks, pencils, erasers and sharpeners.

 Individual donors also contributed school supplies, books and 2 computers.

Nice books for their library!

Hardy Boys collection :)

The kids were all excited to get their new school supplies

 Yay!  New notebooks :)

They were all well behaved when we arrived.  The classrooms are neat and organized but a bit warm since there is only one fan in each room.  We later found out that the teachers used their own money to purchase these fans. If you wish to donate, please email us at kaeskwelavolunteers@yahoo.com

The younger kids gave us a sleepy welcome because we walked in on their afternoon nap! aaw!

26% of the kids in the school are malnourished :(

Today's lesson

The teachers prepared a very yummy lunch for us after.  We were all very touched :)

A toilet bowl in the middle of the rubble!

They demolished an old building to make room for a garden.  I look forward to seeing more plants and trees when we come back :)

For more info about us, go to KaEskwela and KaEskwela.org