Sunday, September 23, 2012

My days are numbered

もしもし?Kariちゃん、今どこ?[Hello? Kari-chan, where are you now?]

••••••••••

I'm at home, in front of the computer, eating chili and rice. At this time, I am waiting for my brother to wake up so I can prepare to go out to pay the electric bill. Lots of things happened last week but it did seem like I survived. Sleeplessness, more acne outbreaks and sleepovers...And more food. Speaking of food, I think I gained weight again lol

My brother and I took his girlfriend out on a trip around the city, and she liked it. Too bad, she had to leave last Friday to go back to work at Convergys in Ortigas, 6 hours away from here, bus ride. We bought souvenirs for her to bring to her family and co-workers and also bought something for us. I bought a small knife with a sheath, and my brother bought a jacket. I did mention this in my last blog post last week. We even went out night strolling and biking at the park beside the lake, by the way.

Second, another appointment at the Italian Embassy regarding my visa...well, visa interview. I was so nervous [way more nervous than standing in stage to perform, or getting caught by someone] that time that I even asked for KiAi from my dearest fade Family, even asked fade's Noriyuki and Rui to wish me luck or tell me anything to calm me down. Noriyuki is a bit late, I think about 5 hours late or later while Rui... yeah... after two days... but at least they responded, right? I got Noriyuki's tweet when I was already on my way back to Baguio. Well, the good news regarding this is I can finally get my visa on October 2, and this time, I'm travelling with my brother, since my uncle cant accompany me anymore because it's the birthday of his son. Oh crap, I just remembered, I haven't told my mom about that... or did I?


Behold...Noriyuki's tweet.

And Rui's


Next, I met up with my friend, Claudia in an internet cafe near her university... well, just in front... because we planned for a sleepover in her aunt's house, 30 minutes away from the city. It was funny because it's not to the fact that it's my first time having a sleep over alone, but it's because of the fun times that we had to make pizza, that I wasted my allowance for a box of doughnuts filled with Bavarian cream, that Claudia fell asleep while we were watching The Rite and when we hiked in Ambiong, just to feel the beautiful breeze. In the afternoon, I helped her look for and buy a gift for her mom because it was her mom's birthday. Well, I bought a leopard-print top, a doll dress and a lolita top from the shop Claudia and I went in.

Yesterday, there was an event in SM, and I didn't bother myself to get my Akaiko Shion costume because I will meet up with Claudia again, because I was invited for her mom's birthday. I met Shari-nee and talked a little regarding Claudia [that's a secret already] and more hugs from her ♥ I missed that gorgeous Fil-Swiss beauty o(=^.^=)o because we haven't seen each other for...errrr...weeks? After that meet, more food. more phone calls, more stalking and yes... more food.

Oh yeah, and today's my high school senpai, Atsumi's 22nd birthday.

Well, my days ARE numbered because I'm leaving Philippines in less than a month. I have a lot of stuff to do before I leave and probably troll more people since they will never see my face again in 2 years...no, make it 5 years...or maybe forever if I have totally fallen in love with Milan.

I think that's it.

Love lots! ♥

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Walking around Baguio: DAY 1

Good evening guys, going to post another nonsense here (lol) but I'm still doing it anyway... My feet are sore and I'm so sweaty, and I'm waiting for the water to boil so I can enjoy a cup of coffee before hitting the shower... I sort of served as a Tour Guide for my brother's girlfriend who came here in the city all the way from the province of Bulacan (that's like more or less 6 hours away from Baguio) and the first day of roaming around is tiring, I admit, but I enjoyed a lot, walking around, strolling and eating! Well, yes, I did mention that my feet are sore, but they will become worse in a few days and I still have an appointment at the Italian Embassy this Thursday morning.

Anyhow, for starters, I will apologize for the really bad resolution of my camera but I hope it works here in this blog post... I will promise for better photos in my posts real soon...


Arriving in our first destination: Baguio Botanical Garden, one of the most well known tourist spots here in the city. Most of the pine trees are here so the air's fresh (well, except if you go closer to the horses...) and you can walk around there and enjoy the view and the parks.


My brother and my brother's girlfriend, walking down from the stairs.


Yep.



The horse.


And the other horse.


Our first stop in the garden: souvenir shops lined up.


My brother bought this for me. It's a blade, really sharp and it looks like a micro katana (lmao). I'm keeping this with me all the time, just in case for emergency. Anyhow... it's my new toy~~!!!


MORE SOUVENIRS ~~~!!!!


The tall trees~~~~


More stuff in the shop.


I bought this :D It's a really sexy sweater and it's really warm ♥


Them again.


More souvenirs outside the shop.


More stalls and their products.


I remember this wood carving (yes, it's a wood carving) in my childhood. I remember this when we were in our old church and beside our church is a place called Igorot Stairs and these wood carvings are there. Well, it seemed like the Botanical Garden management bought these carvings and transported them there. One one of the carvings here lost its head.


The garden's sign...


The couple~!


I can see my eyes xD


Le neko


Just a statue of a native along the rocky stairs. It looked really creepy~


Pathway...


Just the bridge in the Taebaek Park in Botanical Garden.... behind this one is the Philippines-Japan Memorial Park.


BORED~~!!!


Just another muddy pathway to the Philippines-Japan Memorial Park.


Here we go!


The spirit gate (I don't know if I said it correctly but that's what my brother told me...correct me if I'm wrong)



Leaving the garden now and off to the Mansion House.


The Buckingham Palace inspired gate. This gate is placed during the Marcos era... I think?


Another view and behind is the Mansion itself.


Zoomed in. That is the mansion house and we're not allowed to go up there. That house is for the President and such...


Actual view from my position.


From up there to down here. Yes, the stairs of Wright Park! But from up there until here, you will never like the breeze. Yeah, it is windy but if you're gonna inhale, it's not that good at all because all you can smell is the horses' crap and pee.


A tourist riding one of the horses...


Mangoes with sauteed fish sauce! ♪

Well, after this, we sat for a short while, took a taxi going up to Mines View Park and my brother and I are deeply disappointed to what happened to the park. There's a lot of changes in there. The simple Mines View Park turned into an another central business district of the city and us, the actual people from Baguio who got another chance to stroll around, are not happy about the changes. anyhow, we still went for the classic stroll in the park and stare at the really deep cliff as if you're going to fall.


Dried squid in skewers~


View from Mines View Park's view deck. I only took the mountains because it's just really nostalgic, with a hint of wanting the old Baguio back.

After this trip, we ate lunch, decided to go home and take a rest but then my friend, Claudia, called me, and she wanted to see me so I went there. What surprised me when I got in her house is her HYDE hair [and yes, it's sexy] and while taking a stroll around the mall, seeing the faces of the people, seeing their reaction to Claudia's hair is just priceless.

By the way, we stopped by in the bookstore and bought something that I will never, ever gonna regret.


And going home, I bought something that will satisfy both my thirst and hunger: MOGU MOGU~! ♥


I guess that's it for now... there will be more for the Day 2! lmao

Love lots everyone ♥

Friday, September 7, 2012

Manila Getaway... nah just randomness while at the embassy.

After a week of being...err..."bus lagged"...I can finally manage to post a blog here again. A lot of things happened, including to the GACKT issue (hey, I may be a leader of the fade Street Team Philippines and been a fan of fade for almost a decade, I'm still PARTLY a Dear), here I go again posting randomness! Or maybe I'll just go story telling...



5 hours before the travel, I went to the supermarket with my brother to buy our usual grocers. I bought my own stuff for the travel (since I don't like to sleep in the bus on my way to Manila) so I bought a strawberry flavoured energy drink, 2 energy cookies and strong mints to keep me awake. Unfortunately, none of them worked on me. I suddenly fell asleep after a stop over at Sison, Pangasinan and woke up when we're already in Balintawak.



Here we go, I thought, watching people get in the 23:30 bus going to Pasay, waiting for my uncle to come back because he went out of the station to make a call. I thought we're going to Manila at 23:30 but my uncle insists that we should take the 00:00 bus going there.



And this is me, being bored.



I haven't took much photos before getting here in the Philippine-Italian Association at 8:00AM in Makati City. It's in the same building where the Italian Embassy is. Well, a couple of randomness happened here, when we got in this office, there's a Filipino family also in the waiting area in front of the front desk, and the kid kinda pissed me off for a bit. He's too show off. Probably about 10 or 12 years old, showing off his iPhone and it's like he's rubbing it in my face that he has an iPhone because my phone is a localized... errr... my|phone. Yeah. That's the name of the brand, alright, with matching Philippine map decal on the back of my phone! Hell yeah! Not. *cough* Anyway, going back, we did a lot of translations here, well, not really a lot but a couple. Got my authenticated birth certificate translated into Italian then my parent's marriage contract. after we got the files, after lot of corrections fixed, we headed to the 6th floor where the Italian Embassy is. No photos because we had to leave our cellphones to the guard. My documents were legalized in 5 minutes (lmao when it's supposedly after 3 days) and left the building.



My uncle got worried looking at the money he took from grandma for my documents then he realized that he took a little. It's a good thing there's a Western Union at the other side of the road so we went there and asked my aunt to get a thousand pesos from grandma and send it. But then, my aunt's response took 2 hours and it was 11:30AM when we got that thousand pesos and that is our fare back to Baguio.



Random photo 



Random photo #2 



I'm bored. This is our 2 hour waiting time... and FINALLY! Got the money and we're going to the bus station near the embassy in Pasay!



A really old sign from the 50's or 60's. I noticed this when I was looking around while we're in the taxi on our way to the Bus Station in Pasay. 


Just an old Japanese restaurant in Makati near Ayala center. 



A marvel under construction. I have a feeling this is a condominium. 



A closer look. 



Going up to this flyover! 



A billboard while we're on the flyover. Citibank ad on credit card designs. 



Is this even legal in Manila? Smoking while driving? Are there any MMDA's around? 



Haha! I was bored! 

After that jeepney shot, we finally arrived in the bus station in Pasay and waited for the 13:00 trip to Baguio. Took a ticket for the both of us and boarded.



Rain outside when we got in the bus. 



Just woke up from a nap...and we're still in Manila because of the heavy traffic in EDSA. 



Skies.......°O°  Below are the SCTEX-NLEX Sky pictures.





The next day, I managed to talk to my parents in Italy via Facebook +Skype thingy...their video call system (I honestly hate Facebook's system) while my brother plays Dragon City.



and this. 




LOVE LOTS! ♥

Kari