ADVENTURES OF THE RECENT PAST – PART 2a

pasko sa pilipinas

christmas 2008 ROCKED. family, friends, food … food … food and a whole month away from the winter wonderland. what more could one ask for? oh yeah, ate and claude …


almost picture perfect without the corres


friends from high school, veolia water and southville international school


palabok, buko pandan, lechong manok, maja blanca, puto bungbong (mmmmmmmmm), inihaw na bangus with toyo-calamansi, nilagang baka, bibingka (mmmmmmmm), kare-kare with bagoong. i had to induce selective amnesia on my south beach diet lol. thanks to alma, my sis-in-law, who made sure i "stuck" to healthy eating ... brown rice, chicken kare-kare, low-salt-low-fat dishes.



a visit to UP naming mahal (beloved university of the philippines diliman) to submit my application at the open university … me covering the upper part of maslow’s hierarchy of needs … after devouring all those puto bungbong’s and bibingka’s, indeed, the physiological needs had been met :-)


oblation up close and personal



in front of my college (arts and letters); nine muses by napoleon abueva

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KUYA BOYING

this world was never meant for one as beautiful as you ...

ADVENTURES OF THE RECENT PAST - PART 1

chilly chicago and champaign – november 2008

thanks to peter, my considerate husband, i was able to re-connect with good friends i hadn't seen for ages. magali lives in champaign while gigi is based in waukegan, located 64 kms north of downtown chicago, where she works as a teacher.

before flying to the US, i asked him whether it was ok if i stayed in illinois instead of going with him to buffalo. i explained the circumstances and being a reasonable man that he is, i didn’t have to ‘beg.’ (however, when we got back to munich, he admitted that although he was happy that i saw my friends, he was not pleased that we were apart during the trip. i honestly thought it was sweet of him to express this). so it was settled.

he had booked our flights to o’hare and from there, he took the connecting flight to buffalo. meanwhile, i headed to the union station to meet with val, another friend of mine and magali’s. i saw her in new york city in january. we would take the amtrak to champaign and after a two-and-a-half hour train ride, there would be a european-languages-majors-reunion of some sort.


with val at the luna restaurant


downtown champaign


art theater

a lot of catching up on life, work, relationships and future plans ensued. it was the same with gigi. unfortunately, i only got to spend 2 days with magali and val and 2 days with gigi - better than nothing, of course. i’d always be grateful for the opportunity.


cruising down chicago river with gigi aboard chicago's first lady





sears tower on the left and 311 south wacker on the right










view from the sears tower skydeck

other interesting skycrapers and structures sighted during the architecture cruise


millennium park and downtown chicago images

I'VE RISEN

in spring, even the blog slacker rises from the seemingly endless, harsh winter and medical malaise ... TRIUMPHANT!