R.I.P. Elly

fritz's mom died on dec 21.she's only 68 years old.

this is the only picture i have of her, this was taken in 2009 during one of my vacations when i visited fritz. i should have taken more pictures with her, but since we visited her almost every weekend when i came to live here, i didnt think that i needed to take pictures.
she has always been nice to me and made me feel welcome everytime we visited.
i still remember on my last visit she told me before leaving, i love you---and i told fritz that---that it was nice to have your mom's boyfriend like you--(even --love you). i'll miss you elly. we'll all miss you.

we went to another country in 40 minutes!

..hmmm....well, the other country is belgium. it is only 40minutes away by car from where we live so we decided to go and have a walk in antwerp. its a nice city and cant wait to get back there soon....



rides outside of the train station


train station

enjoying my authentic belgian waffles! yummmm


the most amazing thing happened. we bumped into Tamara in Antwerp! What are the chances! I used to work with her in Bigfoot in Cebu. I knew she was from Belgium, but wow, what a coincidence. she lives in grimembergen and i live in breda and with so many people there, we bump into her. kismet! we promised to see each other again and have coffee in january.


enjoying some fancy champagne at the champagne bar in antwerp. :)

christmas at den haag

merry christmas!

merry christmas from fritz,arleen, henrika, steve and ling!

miss u everyone in manila

its been a sad christmas as fritz's mom died yesterday and instead of christmas plans we have been arranging for funeral plans. :( may she rest in peace. she has always been nice to me and on one hand i am glad that the pain and suffering in the hospital is over for her. i hope she is in a good place now.

anyway, life goes on. i miss you everyone there in manila.
we wish everyone and eat a crunchy skin of lechon in my honor.:)

homesick at christmas time

So I finally found a catholic mass in english here in breda, its in st. martinuskerk in breda princenhage and they only do it every sunday of the month at 2pm. Most of the churchgoers are Filipinos with their Dutch husbands and children, but other people are welcome as well.

They put up a Belen (Nativity) outside the church, with a real donkey!




and here is a picture with my new filipina friend Mylaine who is married to a Dutch man who is---- the father of the boyfriend of a colleague at NHTV.Did you get it?
Look at all the snow and how I am wearing 4 layers of shirts/sweater and winter coat--making me look like a michelin man! weeheeee



im a bit homesick, but also spending a lot of time in the hospital as fritz's mom is still in ICU. Its my first time away from home for Christmas, and its a blue Christmas...:(

love is food

my mom and dad will be so proud of me!
COOKING!!!!
Tonight I cooked Sinigang na Baboy for dinner and my beloved favorite dessert, palita! I am so glad our Asian store has everything that i need to make me feel like home---with homemade cooking...
Eating this makes me feel better today despite the cold.
i miss my house in manila.

Ski Virgin!

it was my first time to try skiing! we went to a place called skidome (skidome.nl).Skidome is in Ruchpen, around 30minutes from Breda and is good for beginners skiing and snowboarding. Philippines being a tropical country--has no snow or skiing so this was an alien concept for me---one activity that I just watch in a movie or on television.
It was an epic success!
It was not as bad as I expected it to be and i was able to do several rounds of skiing AND I didnt fall a lot (maybe 4 times in 2 hours...not so bad!)Fritz told me I learned fast!Ggoodie!
Here are our pictures with the whole skii shebang!

snow outside my office