Thursday, January 5, 2012

Année 2011

Inspired by Deepa's 1st blog for the new year, I decided to answer (and edit) the year-end quiz:
  1. What did you do in 2011 that you have never done before?
    – Went home to the Philippines as a balikbayan;
    – Sang with the ACS at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with the Gaia Philharmonic Choir (Japan) and the SYC Ensemble Singers (Singapore) for the TATLO: A Choral Celebration;
    – Took the same flight from Manila to Paris (and vice-versa the year before) with the hubby;
    – Started Project 365 and writing here (yay!);
    – Applied for a titre de séjour;
    – Joined Gawad Kalinga (GK) Europe-France as Secretary of the Board;
    – Watched a piano concert at the Cité International Universitaire de Paris;
    – Visited Musée de Cluny and Le Petit Palais;
    – Joined Discover Walks - Paris (Latin Quarter and Right Bank) and SANDEMANs New Paris (FREE) Tour;
    – Spent Pete's birthday very close to nature at Le Nid Dans L'Arbre;
    – Visited the Pierrefonds Castle;
    – Visited Dunkerque, the city where Pete was born, and stayed at his maternal grandparents' home;
    – Organized the Ateneo College Glee Club's (ACGC) stay in Paris (Tita/Ate mode!);

    – Worked at UNESCO;

    – Travelled to the United Kingdom via Calais (car and ferry);
    – Took the "See London by Night Tour";
    – Hosted three Pinoy events (Pista sa Paris, Mutya ng Paris and Search for the SMDC Endorser-Paris)
    – (Remotely) Hosted 5 dear friends in our love nest;
    – Got married in church;
    – Had a (wedding) party in a manade;
    – Explored the South of France with my family (Arles & Tarascon, Manosque, Gordes, Lourdes, Carcassonne, Nîmes, Aigues-Mortes and Avignon);
    – Tried Lebanese cuisine (twice!);
    – Taught "Do-Re-Mi" from "The Sound of Music" as a group number;
    – Sang for UNESCO's Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize Ceremony with the UNESCO Choir;
    Visited Jim, a dear friend, in Barcelona;
    – Spent time with Fr. Ben Nebres, S.J. and more than 20 other visitors in Paris;
    – Visited St. Bernadette's "internally incorrupt" body in Nevers twice;
    – Watched an authentic French cancan performance;
    – Helped organize and sang in a concert (Pasko sa Paris: A Pinoy Jam Christmas Concert) at the Philippine Embassy;

    – Celebrated the entire Christmas season in France;
    – Cooked pansit for Pete's family (and they loved it!);
    – Spent time with Pete's Mom's side of the family thrice (wedding, Mami's 90th birthday celebration and Christmas)

  2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
    I don't have any, but I will surely keep this "12 Really Stupid Things I Never Want To Do Again" article of Rev. James Martin, S.J. handy.

  3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
    – Elaine gave birth to cutie baby Ice in April. This photo is c/o Tita Nanoo.


    – Come June, Julie, another good friend, gave birth to baby Joanna.


  4. Did anyone close to you die?
    Thankfully, no.

  5. What countries did you visit?
    – Philippines
    – United Kingdom
    – South of France
    – Spain

  6. What would you like to have in 2012 that you lacked in 2011?
    A full-time job.

  7. What dates from 2011 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
    July 30, the date of our church wedding in Pete's village in the South of France.




  8. What was your biggest achievement/s of the year?
    Besides improving our humble love nest and being a wife to my wonderful husband...
    – Having the ACGC in Paris and Deepa wonderfully wrote about the experience here;
    – Finally having the opportunity to work at UNESCO;
    – Being able to help out the Filipino community here the best way I can;

  9. What was your biggest failure?
    Not really a failure, but I could've explored other job opportunities instead of being TOO focused on UNESCO.

  10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
    Thank God that there was nothing major... just slight fever, colds or cough.

  11. What was the best thing you bought?
    It also happens to be our biggest purchase for the year and our Christmas gift to ourselves, the Kangen Water machine.

  12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
    My dear Pete-Pete and I would have to say his Mom. Not really for a particular behavior, but for all the work she did for our church wedding.

  13. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
    The possibility of moving to a bigger apartment and (finally) having a baby.

  14. What song/s will always remind you of 2011?
    Pitbull's "Rain Over Me" featuring Mark Anthony because Pete and I had a good long laugh one morning over breakfast when he told me that he dreamt about it.
    – The songs played during our first dance: Dire Strait's "Romeo & Juliet" and Rajaton's "Butterfly"

  15. Compared to this time last year, are you
    – happier or sadder?
    Happier!
    – thinner or fatter? Same-same...
    – richer or poorer? Richer, I suppose...

  16. What do you wish you’d done more of?
    – Take advantage of visiting museums in Paris every 1st Sunday of the month;
    – Cook/Bake;
    – Exercise

  17. What do you wish you’d done less of?
    Hmmm... probably watch my favorite TV series, but I'm not regretting it. :p

  18. How did you spend Christmas?
    Pete and I went to the South and spent the holidays with his family. It was quite special because after 5 long years, they are complete once again.


  19. Did you fall in love in 2011?
    I stayed in love.

  20. What was your favorite TV program?
    When I had time, I was hooked on CSI (Vegas, Miami & New York), House and Glee. New discoveries were How I Met Your Mother and Game of Thrones.

  21. What was your greatest musical discovery?
    Dream Theater

  22. What did you want and get?
    These!


  23. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
    I turned 33. I didn't feel like throwing a party so I just had a nice quiet dinner with the love of my life at his favorite Tex-Mex resto.

  24. Who did you miss?
    Naturally my family in Batangas, my Ateneo and ACS families and all my friends who are not in Paris and are instead scattered all over the world.

    ACS photo c/o John Cas from last December 23's annual Christmas Concert and Simbanggabi at the Church of the Gesù, the UCPRO one's c/o Ninang Sonia Araneta, the mother hen of this bunch of ladies and the OUDAR & Fr. Ben ones were emailed to me.



  25. Who was the best new person you met?
    – UNESCO friends
    – Pinoy Jam group

  26. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2011.
    This particular "Fall in Love" quote from Fr. Pedro Arrupe, S.J. continues to guide me in how I've been living my life...

    "Nothing is more practical than finding God,
    that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.
    What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination will affect everything.
    It will decide what will get you out of bed in the mornings,
    what you will do with your evenings, how you spend your weekends,
    what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart,
    and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

    Fall in love, stay in love, and it will decide everything."


Cheers to a better and happier 2012 from our home to yours!


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Noël à Paris

... PASKO SA PARIS (PSP) is an event, which Amba Cristy envisions to be an annual thing. It is meant to showcase the Philippines to the French (culture, food, products, etc.), hoping to encourage them to visit the Philippines and experience the Filipino Christmas firsthand. The big(ger) thing will be next year, but these events havealready used PSP to start promoting the idea this early.
  • PSP: A FilCom Christmas Party - As a token of appreciation for hosting last July's Pista sa Paris, Kuya Abet, the President of the Coordinating Committee, invited Cesar Molina and I.

    Ate Cory, Dennis and I took the opportunity to promote the Pinoy Jam Christmas Concert and a snippet of my performance is in this video (9:40);



  • PSP: A Pinoy Jam Christmas Concert was successfully held at the Embassy last Saturday, December 10.

    Instead of doing the traditional house-to-house caroling, the Pinoy Jam group thought of staging an intimate acoustic-type, yet highly-entertaining concert, which aims to proudly share the spirit of Filipino Christmas through (food and) music. The group prepared a repertoire, which basically reflects both the joyful spirit of Christmas and the loneliness of the season especially for those who are not with their loved ones.

    It was indeed a pleasure celebrating Christmas, an extremely important and revered holiday for most of us Filipinos, with the people who came... the Pinoy Jam way!

Monday, September 12, 2011

Il y a deux semaine.

I can't believe that it's been 2 weeks since I started working again. Shifting from vacay to work mode was not as hard as I expected, but I admit that I miss not setting the alarm and getting up later to enjoy the comfort of our bed longer.

Time passed by so fast and it didn't help that I've been busy with some non-work-related things.

Simple joys the past weeks, which make my heart smile:
  • WORKING again!
  • Another invitation for October to be an EMCEE, a career I never thought I will venture into;
  • A great weekend in Nantes with OLD AND NEW FRIENDS to celebrate Tita Rose Ann's birthday;
  • 10th Anniversary of 9-11 - The good that came out of it and this very poignant Empire State of Mind tribute:
  • This article by F Sionil Jose on "Why we are shallow;"
  • MOULES FRITES with Tita Cora and Tita Siony;
  • SINGING with the UNESCO Choir and Orchestra at the 2010 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize Ceremony (recipient - Argentina's "The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo";
  • IKEA's 2012 Catalogue distributed at the Cambronne métro exit;
  • PINOY JAM group's planned caroling/concert this December
Last night, Pete and I went to the Embassy to welcome Philippines' new ambassador to France, H.E. Cristina G. Ortega together with other Pinoy community and business leaders. I honestly didn't know what to expect. All I know is that she's from U.P. and she's been serving the government for a long time. I was impressed the moment I saw her and it stayed that way until we left the reception. Here's to the new "administration" and to praying for more exciting projects for the Pinoy community in Paris!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Une tasse de café est tout ce qu'il faut...

A cup of coffee is all we need... to have a good conversation!

Marj and I promised that we will catch up on what we've been up to when we're both back in Paris and that's what we did last Friday, my last free week day before going back to work. There were a lot of things, which we talked about and experienced, but these stood out:
  • NEW (INEXPENSIVE) DVDs: I went to FNAC before meeting with her so I showed the new additions to our collection: "Interview with the Vampire," "The Sound of Music," "The English Patient," "Munich," "The Last King of Scotland," and "Singing in the Rain;"
  • GAME OF THRONES: The last time we were together, she was talking about this great series with Deepa and I did get curious, but it was only this week that I finally got to watch and finish it. Now I don't wonder anymore what my friends are raving about. I can't wait for the next season to begin!
  • AN ADORABLE GUY SERVING AT SEGAFREDO PROUDLY WEARING THIS STATEMENT SHIRT!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Mon premier (et j'espère pas la dernière)...

Oui, finalement... my first post (and hopefully not the last)! :D

I've created this account before I moved to France more than a year ago so you might be wondering what prompted me to start. I got the idea from a friend actually. She decided to put Facebook posts and other stuff, which "moved" her to her blog so she can access them more easily. Very brilliant!

Why now? Plain and simple. Because it's the start of a new month (and perhaps because it's already Christmas in the Philippines?! LOL!).

The past few weeks have been spent mostly at home, taking advantage of my free time before I start working next week. Looking back, I have been pretty productive:
  • doing post-church wedding stuff;
  • following-up on government-related matters;
  • attending the after summer break rehearsals of the UNESCO Choir;
  • enhancing the ACS website;
  • fixing our files (papers, papers, papers and others);
  • starting a scrapbook (yay!);
  • making (and finishing!) a digital photo album of our South of France exploration
Let me share with you some of the things, which made my heart smile the past few days:
  • COOKING COMPLIMENT RECEIVED: "I like your cooking a lot!" - from the hubby's petite-cousine (his cousin's daughter) who dined with us for a couple of days last month. *BLUSH*
  • ADELE'S MUSIC: One of my staple playlists while working. Her most recent performance at the 2011 Video Music Awards is just perfection personified. Too bad the link's already removed on YouTube, but I hope this live rendition in her own home will do: Someone Like You. P.S. The hubby surprised me with a copy of her album when he got home from work. Awww...
  • THE BUCKET LIST: The poster I chose above is the less popular one, but I like it better. This movie never fails to move me to tears and it succeeded again just an hour or so ago.
  • BEYONCÉ: Who she is as an artist is a source of inspiration. Here's "Beyoncé: Year of 4," which "documents the year-long personal and artistic journey that inspired Beyoncé's fourth solo album, 4."