Shops & etc.

Recently, despite the sluggish weather, we’ve been up and about going from place to place looking out for big discount sales as my mother did her pasalubong shopping. They are flying back home at the end of this month and that means I’ll be left on my own again. Sigh!

For that particular weekend, first on the list was the famed shopping center of London and Europe’s largest High Street – the Oxford Street. We managed to buy a few items for my dear sisters and some autumn and winter clothes for me despite the elbow-to-elbow crowd. People from all sorts of races seemed to gather out there to shop and you’ll experience assortment of races, colors, sizes, languages and well…odors. Haha!

As I was scouting around for some favors and souvenirs for my BIG DAY, we went to Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill which is popular for its antique shops. Finding nothing that suits our theme, we checked out the Covent Garden which is in the heart of London’s West End. It is famous for its fashionable shops and boutiques, street performers, bars, restaurants, theatres and the Royal Opera House. The whole setting reminded me of Greenhills tiangge. They have stalls that sell a whole variety of products which was most like the ones you can find back home. Luckily, Crabtree and Evelyn has a boutique inside and it was there I perfectly found the things I was looking for all these time.

Here are some images taken along the way:

Autumn in London

Nanay and Tatay with London's Red Telephone Box and Red Double-Decker Bus

Evita...shown in one of London's West End theatres...and traffic jam - London style

Same old me in a whole new world...

Covent Garden Market with people watching....

....Street Performers

Ancestor? hehe! a British Liberal Statesman. I'm more interested in the name than in the figure. hehe!

The Wrath of Milenyo

I saw the pictures of the damages Milenyo has brought and I felt a different kind of gloominess. Gone are the familiar sights that had been home for me for the past five years. Shattered houses, establishments and billboards; uprooted trees and light posts, upturned vans and other vehicles; the many lost lives – God help us!

I pray for the restoration of our electric and water supplies, homes, lives and faith to bounce back after a great calamity.

“Through the storm, through the night, lead us into the light. Take our hands, precious Lord, lead us home”

Here Comes Autumn

Lately, the weather is making it extra hard for me to wake up in the morning. It has started to get cold especially at the start of the day and towards the evening. It has also started to get dark as early as half past six in the evening. And of course, there are the frequent rains, fog and strong winds that remind me of the suspended school days back when I was still in school (read: bagyo. hehe!). There’s a certain crisp smell in the air brought about by the fallen dried leaves. A combination of greens, oranges, yellows and sometimes burgundies entertains my sight.

Yeah! Indeed, autumn is here. My very first autumn and I can’t wait to fully enjoy its splendour when all the leaves have fallen and I can walk over them and hear their crushing sound. That’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing eversince. Just about a week ago, I kept my summer beddings and linens and put out my duvet. It’s just so comforting to curl inside it and let my body enjoy the warmth.

But then behind the excitement and anticipation for the coming of a new season, I am also beginning to feel a little homesick. Weird! Just when it will be over a month before my homecoming, I am feeling these pangs of missing dear Pinas. Maybe, it has something to do with my parents going home at the end of this month and I’ll be left all alone here again. Maybe, it’s because of the onset of the Christmas Season for us Pinoys and I just can’t feel it from here. Maybe, I’m just overly excited. There’s a lot for me to look forward to and I can’t wait to spend time with my family back in Bacolod, spending time with Zach and our friends and of course…the BIG event!!!

Oh! Autumn is here…and I’ll be coming home before it will end.

Out for a While

At first, I hesitated joining for a number of reasons: (1) I might not know the people going anyway (but I realized that was the main reason of the event - to meet and know new people) (2) my father refused to drive 60 miles for me since he said he is not familiar with the place and he’s not that confident in driving in UK motorway yet – so how much more for a new driver? (3) I have dimensioning deliverables due for the end of the week. But, I have signed up for this months ago and it’s a shame if I cancel at the last minute and our team leader gave me the go-signal. Most importantly, it will be held in an old historical castle right in the heart of the forest. Just my kind of thing hence I decided to join after all!!!

So last Monday, 4th of September, I found myself sharing a ride with our lady project manager and off to Berkhamstead in Hertfordshire for a two-day teambuilding for UK and Ireland Consulting and Integrating Group. It was facilitated by Ashridge – a management school offering executive education and held at Ashridge House – a castle set in a 150-acre country estate and in a course of a history spanning for 700 years, it has been the home of a religious order, then briefly a royal residence of Henry VIII and eventually her daughter Elizabeth I. Later, it became a mansion for dukes and earls including the Duke of Bridgewater. And this is mainly the reason why I decided to join. The moment I stepped in, my small eyes widen in amazement - the place is truly posh and historical.

Ashridge House


Main Entrance leading to the Grand Hall

The other side of the castle


One of the many beautiful gardens - just my kind of hues


Such a neat and well-trimmed garden


Going back to the teambuilding, it was fun and instructive. We had a balance of room discussion and idea sharing, which aided the getting-to-know you stage, and physical and outdoor activities where we went to the woods and had the usual games and challenges (like tight-rope walking, spiderweb challenge, and all those usual teambuilding stuffs) that facilitated the whole idea of cooperation and working as a team. The fun part is getting to know people and associating names read in emails with rightful faces.

Later in the evening, we all went to change for evening clothes and gathered in the main hall for cocktail and a 4-course sit-down dinner. It was just so majestic that I literally felt that I was some kind of a royalty. The food and the setting were just the best combination. It was a dream-come-true. Though as the evening deepen, some of my colleagues, just can’t get enough of the overflowing wine, made a mess of themselves that somehow ruined the regal scene (Brits and their obsession for liquor). But it was still a good laugh, anyhow. (As much as I wanted to take pictures of the great hall and dinner that evening, I was not able to because of a funny and embarrassing reason. huhu!!!)

After some glasses of wine and slight intoxication, I retired to my suite and thank the Lord for a wonderful experience and looking forward to more fantastic days such as this.

Life and Stress

I’ve been rambling about stress lately and just in time I got this forwarded mail that made me realized a lot of things and brought me back on the track. Here it is…

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, and some exquisite - telling them to help themselves to the coffee. After all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is but normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress. Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases, it's just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and then began eyeing each other's cups. Now consider this: Life is the coffee, and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and the type of cup we have does not define nor change the quality of life we live. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided us." God brews the coffee, not the cups. Enjoy your coffee.

See?!!! Indeed, it is very true. We tend to focus our attention, time and efforts on our career and work performance, on earning more money and being ahead of everyone else that we don’t know we are missing the most essential of all…living a LIFE, enjoying it and sharing it with everybody. We should relish every moment of our life because surely when we are old and gray and looking back to our years behind, what will matter most is how we lived our life and enjoyed God’s creations.

Stop…and smell the flowers!!!