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