02.18.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized at 11:40 pm by Administrator
Before I move on from Hidden Valley, I thought I’d share a few more pics. Aaron and I wanted to see what else was around the Valley. I read that there was a Hidden Falls somewhere, so I wanted to see if we could reach it. We hiked farther down and found this pool.
Then a little further down we found this large tree.
On the other side of this tree was a worn-out sign that explained that the forest was once dominated by these types of trees. They were used for ship building, and then I couldn’t read much of the sign anymore due to the wear.
Beyond the tree we found another pool called Lover’s Pool (very secluded).
Well, okay, this picture isn’t of Lover’s Pool, but just the sign pointing to the direction. We did see the pool, but it was just another pool, so we headed to the right in the direction of the Hidden Falls. That wall-like thing at the bottom portion of the picture is actually part of a tree root that was right in the middle of the pathway. We had to climb over it to continue on our trail, which looked like this.
The trail was pretty tidy and well maintained. Granted at some places it was a little bumpy, but with all those tree roots, it’s hard to avoid that. Some places were just narrow paved walkways with views like this,
then other spots were more manicured like these steps leading downward.
Not far from there was the Hidden Falls. There was a man down there sweeping up and doing general maintenance there. After I did a little slip and slide number (yep, I fell on me butt), he took our picture in front of the falls.
And just for a better look at the falls without us blocking the view. . .
And this is the view looking the opposite direction from the falls.
I did take a bit more pictures of the scenery on the walk, but you get the gist, I think. When we got back, we still had a little time to enjoy in their gardens, so Aaron and I found a nice place to sit. Aaron did some drawings,
and I did some knitting.
Here’s an example of some of Aaron’s drawings. The shaded foliage sketch on the bottom of the picture was Aaron’s drawing of the little garden by the cottages. The “sleeping” person on the top right was his rendition of me sleeping the day before, heheh. The other faces are miscellaneous characters he’s practicing on.
At about noon we had to check out of Hidden Valley and drive back to Manila. We got back just in time for, guess what? Why, dinner of course!
Marlakins
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02.15.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:51 am by Administrator
Just a little Happy New Year’s greeting for anyone celebrating the Chinese New Year from Little Tiger Bear. He’s all dressed up for the occasion as this year is the year of the tiger.
Isn’t he adorable? I picked him up from Eva Air. Aaron agreed that he would be a nice souvenir since this year’s trip was just before the Year of the Tiger. I’m not really sure how the Chinese calendar works, but I do know that the Jewish calendar also celebrates their New Year at a different time than we do using the Julian calendar. I believe the Jewish calendar celebrates New Year during the month of Tishri or around September instead of January. Anyway, I had originally planned to visit Chinatown to see their new year’s festivities, but it turned out they weren’t celebrating it until next week! Not sure what’s up with that, but maybe it was because Valentines Day and/or the Winter Olympics were opening this weekend as well? Hmm. Never heard of stopping the New Year’s celebration like that, but anyway. . .
I think I’m slowly starting to get back into my old rhythm here at home, but before I continue with the travelogue, I thought I’d just post up a couple miscellaneous pics we took on the trip. I just really like this pic of Aaron, so I just wanted to share it. I can’t help it, I’m his biased mom!
Awww, my baby is all growed up. . .
And just having a little fun at the Baiyoke Sky Hotel.
Wow, dig those slippers! He’s not the only one who can play royalty. . .
Oh my!, definitely something wrong with this picture, ha ha ha!
Okay, enough fooling around for now. Happy Chinese New Year! I’ll try to continue with pics from Hidden Valley with my next post.
Happy President’s Day!
Marlakins
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02.12.10
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:46 pm by Administrator
We’re back in Los Angeles. We arrived yesterday, and boy was that one long day! It took us about 22 hours from leaving the Philippines to finally setting foot at LAX. I have to admit that this time I felt a little conflict in that I was happy to be back to see my boys and hubby again, but I was also sad to come home as I really liked the food and shopping abroad. Maybe it’s because we left just from the heels of visiting Bangkok, and I was just not ready to go yet. There was so much to see and do there that I didn’t feel quite ready to come home yet. I will miss the food there. The food was incredible. And strangely, when we arrived back in Los Angeles I felt a tinge of culture shock. Everything here was (in comparison to Bangkok and the Philippines) sterile feeling. Hardly any people were walking in the streets, the weather was cold, and things felt too far apart. The Lord willing I would like to go back there some day for a better look around. Another notable thing was that there definitely were more foreign tourists in Bangkok than in the Philippines. There’s obviously a lot of partying going on there as well as we saw lots of people dressed up and ready for the night when we arrived, and some of the women were just absolutely stunning. Hmmm, bet it could be a dangerous place for young men, if you ask me! I imagine there have been lots of broken hearts and pocket books. . .
Anyway, since I’m still trying to get back on my feet, I’ll continue with the travelogue later. Have been sorting through the luggage, mail, and restocking the fridge and stuff like that. Tomorrow we’re headed off to the Asian Pacific Museum in Pasadena since Andrew needs to go there for one of his class papers. Then the following day, Sunday February 14 (and Valentines Day), is the Chinese New Year, so I want to head down to Chinatown to see what their festivities are going to look like. Both the Philippines and Thailand were preparing for the Chinese New Year, so I’m anxious to see the festivities here, too. The Philippines has a large Chinese population and each year when we’ve visited the Philippines in January we’ve seen their extra sales stalls preparing for their new year. Last year we happened to still be in the Philippines during their new year and we saw them light fireworks. This year we’re missing it and instead we’re back in LA. If I get any pictures of anything in Chinatown I’ll try to share them.
One final comment for today for anyone traveling to Los Angeles from the Philippines. . . Don’t bother bringing home chicharon. They confiscated mine this year even if they did not have the “laman.” Apparently, the rules have changed just last month (or so I was told), and they are no longer allowing chicharon (laman or no laman) into the country or maybe it’s just Los Angeles since I really can’t speak for any other ports of entry to the U.S. Must be some terrorist risk to bring pork cracklings into the country. The dang things are fried to a crisp in boiling oil, so it can’t be that they’re afraid of pathogens, so it must be a terrorist risk or very greedy, hungry customs checkers. I was very disappointed. Last year was a much more pleasant entry experience into the U.S. Last year after I handed my U.S. passport to be checked, the man smiled nicely and said, “Welcome home!” I was hoping for the same pleasant greeting this year, but no such luck. Instead of “welcome home,” he grabbed my chicharon and threatened me with a $300.00 fine if I didn’t fess up to any other bags I was “hiding.” Wow, home sweet home. . . rant over.
Marlakins
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01.31.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized at 6:49 am by Administrator
After a good night’s sleep, we woke up early in the morning refreshed and with a more optimistic attitude. The toilets worked, there was hot water, no geckos were infesting the rooms, and not even one mosquito harassed us during the night. Ah. . . with that, we ventured outside for a peek at our surroundings and breakfast.
Oh, yeah! And around the grounds. . .
Here we are at breakfast.
While we ate breakfast we were given the list of possible tours and activities to join. Since it was too late to join the tour for the Underground river in Sabong, we decided to take the boat ride to Arena Island, which is a turtle reserve. We took a 30 minute ride from the hotel to get to the starting point. Then we had to get into a small boat to transfer onto the bigger boat that would take us the rest of the way to the island.
Here’s a pic of Aaron transferring boats.
We sat at the top of the boat. The weather and temperature was perfect for this outing.
And here’s Aaron with the two lady tour-guides-in-training.
The girls are both natives of Palawan and are currently working at the resort as part of their schooling in Hotel, Restaurant Management. They don’t get paid for their work there, but rather earn school credits. They were part of the staff who accompanied us to the island. They were very attentive to our needs while out. It was almost like having a personal alila.
This was another one of the staff who helped ferry us to and from the islands. He was in charge of all the play things like snorkles, kayaks, etc.
These are the kinds of boats we saw along the way.
And finally after about 45 minutes, we transferred once more to the little boat and approached Arena Island. It was really small and reminded me of Guilligan’s Island, ha ha! Thankfully, they were very clean and careful of the ecology there.
And that’s about all the pictures I can attach to one post so will continue the next post with the landing at Arena Island. As you can see, the gang is now much happier, and by this time it was pretty clear that I was forgiven! Mommy even “said,” I forgive you now, Marla. Ha! Whew. . .
Marlakins
P.S. Hidden Valley in Laguna turned out to be a nice place! Marissa, is that the place you visited last time you were here? Will have to share some of those pics after the Palawan pics. But oye, I’m gaining weight here! I was a bit shocked when I saw my pictures! LOL
While splashing about in the hot springs, Daddy couldn’t help but comment that he found a place that Mark would like! Tee hee!
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01.17.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized, food and restaurants at 5:32 pm by Administrator
Here in the Philippines eating is a very social aspect of the society (as in many other countries). So any trip to the Philippines should include lots of food, especially local foods.
Abe is a Filipino restaurant here in the One Serendra area. The style of food is from the area of Pampanga. Abe means “friend” in the Kapangpangan. Here’s a pic of Aaron in front of Abe’s.
Actually, we had just finished eating there when this pic was taken. Here are some of the dishes that we chowed down on. This is lumpia ubod, which is palm shoots wrapped with lettuce with a sweet peanut sauce.
Another dish is called Kinilaw, which is like a ceviche (marinated raw fish ). This is another rendition of anotherFilipino raw fish dish we tried last year at Bohol called Sinuglau. Eh, we started digging in before I remembered to take its picture.
The main courses included Kare kare, which is oxtail in a peanut sauce. There are a couple pieces of tripe laid across the top. The veggies included are commonly string beans and eggplant.
This is eaten with a condiment called bagoong, which is made from lots of tiny shrimp. It’s very salty.
This is Abe’s gule magalang (veggie dish from the town of Magalang).
Pinakbet (mixed vegetable dish from northern Philippines, an Ilocano delicacy).
Chicken with coconut (this is a spicy dish).
Lechon paksew. This is a more manicured version of the dish. I’ll try to add a more homemade looking version later as it has more bones and shredded pork.
This is just a sampling of some Filipino dishes.
Marlakins
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11.25.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:23 pm by Administrator
Yesterday I tried to write up a post, but ran out of time. Today, I see that I’ll likely not have enough time to finish a proper post, again. Tomorrow will be super busy as we have two gatherings to attend, but still wanted to wish everyone in the bloggosphere a Happy Thanksgiving. Soooo. . .
HAPPY THANKSGIVING! 
Now off to shop!
Marlakins
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09.30.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:52 pm by Administrator
I just had an interesting discussion with my cousin in the Philippines thanks to instant chats. He filled me in on the flood news there, then our conversation moved on to the problems with their “squatters.” And yes, when I visited there, I saw plenty of them. But oddly, we never really discussed them until tonight, and now I am interested to learn more. It should be no surprise that like us, the Philippines has their social and political problems, too. And that reminded me of an article I read this morning. The title was State to Mom: Stop Baby-Sitting Neighbors’ Kids“.
The reason why I recalled this article during our conversation was because it reminded me about laws. How do we determine which laws are good laws? And what are we to do with bad laws? In the article I referenced above a mom was allowing the kids of three of her friends to stay at her house for about an hour each morning before they caught their school bus. Well, apparently she was “turned in” by some neighbor citing some law they have in Michigan that “no one may care for unrelated children in their home for more than four weeks each calendar year unless they are licensed day-care providers.” I have no idea how that law got onto their books, but luckily there are some sane people out there who realize that it needs to be changed. “On Tuesday, agency Director Ismael Ahmed said good neighbors should be allowed to help each other ensure their children are safe. Gov. Jennifer Granholm instructed Ahmed to work with the state Legislature to change the law, he said.” Whew, thank God for compassion and reason. . . The question now is, will compassion and reason prevail? I hope they will have a follow up on the outcome of this one. . .
Marlakins
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09.22.09
Posted in Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, Health-related--Natural Alternative Treatments, Uncategorized at 7:09 pm by Administrator
This morning I saw the title of an article which stated that a 79-year-old Japanese man won a body building contest. I tried to click onto the link, but my state-of-the-art computer refused to cooperate. Apparently it was a video that just kept loading and loading. All I saw were the comments that he looked really good.
I’ve had an interest in centenarians and aging ever since I read Genesis because I was always fascinated by the accounts in the Bible of how certain people lived to be 900 years old. Noah was said to be around 600 years old during the flood and from reading the genealogies in the Bible, there were many more who lived to be at least that old. I know there are those who don’t believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, but I do. And as a result, while our current life expectancy is around 70-80 years old or so, I believe that our bodies were designed to live much, much longer. So I wanted to see this 79-year-old body builder.
I didn’t find the video or picture of this 79-year-old body builder, but I did find some other interesting videos of very fit older people. I will say that it was very encouraging to see these people, and I am now inspired to make a bit more effort to do some weight training. I admit that I don’t enjoy exercise just for exercise’s sake. I’m one of those people who have to be going somewhere to walk, not just to walk for exercise. And so just sitting there lifting weights feels like a waste of time to me. However, I guess I should try to incorporated some weight training in my daily routine since I’m no spring chicken and aging and osteoporosis could be just around the corner for me, yikes! So with that thought, I found some women body builders who I find inspiring. Check out this 78-year-old-woman!
What great skin tone! I thought the saggies were inevitable, but she looks pretty darned good. . .
If that wasn’t encouragement enough, I found another woman aged 86 who also looked great. Check her out.
This reminds me of the story in Genesis when the Pharaoh spotted Abram’s wife, Sarai, and wanted her as one of his women. I mean at the time the Bible describes her to be about 100 years old! Yet, she still looked good to the Pharaoh. I figured Sarai was obviously not aging the way we do today. Times have changed. . . But seeing these body builder women gives me a glimpse of how the human body is really capable lasting longer in a more healthful or youthful condition than expected.
And then I also found this cute video of a 98-year-old man. I love the way he’s spending his time, particularly with the children. What a wonderful way to live.
Now I am inspired. There were more videos at YouTube of other fit elderly people, so that’s very encouraging. Hmmm. Between household chores, errands, preparing food for the fam, and knitting I’ll have to find some time to work in weight training. How else can I last long enough to see and “carry” me grand babies that I keep dreamin’ ’bout? Hmmm. Maybe I’ll start by lifting my iron skillets while stir frying, heheheh.
Marlakins
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09.09.09
Posted in Uncategorized, knitting and crocheting at 6:34 pm by Administrator
I just popped into my blog today and found that Wordpress must have updated their program. So I’m going to have to learn to navigate it again, ugh (I’m not a great computer person, so I tend to struggle with this. . . ) I generally find my knitting updates the easiest to post, so decided to update my yarn projects while I figure out Wordpress’s new format. This weekend I decided to work up the purse kit I got from Suss Designs. Here’s the contents of the kit. 
I noticed that the level listed on the card is “beginner,” but the experience level listed on the instructions is “intermediate,” heheh. Regardless, it is a pretty straight forward pattern and a good beginner project. While the overall purse is a very simple knit stitch, I can see why the instructions calls for intermediate skills because of the sewing for the lining and also for the crocheted flower. However, I decided to make a different flower and attach it with a pin, which I’ll show on the completed purse. Here’s the beginning step of this project. 
I found that I didn’t have to wind the hand up into a ball. I could just unwind it and knit along the way and when I wanted to take a break, I could just twist up the hank again to keep it orderly. After I finished knitting the bag portion of the purse, I folded it, sewed the sides together and then sewed the handles on. Here’s a pic with one of the handles attached along with the lining I picked out from my fabric stash. 
The instruction said to knit the bag longer, but I wanted to make it look more like the picture, so I stopped knitting and the hank above is what was left over with the yarn. Seems I could almost make another purse with that. . . After I sewed the handles on, I sewed in the lining. It was kind of hard to get a good picture of the inside of the bag to show the lining, but this is what I got. 
Then I decided to work on the flower. As I mentioned, I didn’t quite like the flower on the pattern because I’m making this as a present for my mom, and that flower just didn’t look like my mom’s style. So I found a flower pattern from Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Flowers book. Here’s what the flower looked like in progress. 
Here’s what it looked like completely assembled. I still needed to sew it onto the pin here. I decided to sew it onto a pin instead of directly onto the purse in case my mom wanted to remove the flower. If she likes it and wants me to, I can sew it directly to the purse later. 
Okay, now that I’ve gotten this far into the post, I can say that the upgrade Wordpress made sure makes it easier to attach pictures! So I think I’m liking this new feature so far.
So moving right along, here’s the completed purse. I put a picture of the kit purse for comparison. I like my flower better, heheh. And since it’s on a pin, it can be moved to different spots on the purse. 
By the way, the flower in the kit calls for crochet, but I used a knitted flower pattern. I know there are many cute crochet flowers, so that’s definitely an option for more interchangeable flowers. The other project I finished recently is a pair of socks for Andrew. Here it is in progress. 
And here it is completed with Aaron modeling them for me. 
The yarn I used was Sock-Ease by Lion Brand. One ball makes a pair and the color is #202. I guess they don’t give it a name because it has mixed colors? Oh well, it’s the first time I’ve used this yarn, and I think it works up nicely and is nice to work with. I would like to try some of their other colors in this yarn.
Welp, that’s all folks. The fires are not quite out yet, but getting contained and less smoke around. I was shocked to see Halloween decorations or advertisements out already, then I realized that it’s already September, oye. . . It’s amazing how fast time flies by! No time to slack!
Marlakins
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09.04.09
Posted in Book Reviews, Church Issues and Bible Interpretations, History, Uncategorized at 10:34 am by Administrator
The Skull Measurer’s Mistake by Sven Lindqvist is a short, but interesting book dealing with racism in history. Lindqvist writes that, “The history of racism is not only about racists. Throughout history there have also been people who have seen through the errors of racists and protested against their abuses. This book is about some of those people.” In keeping with Lindqvist’s writing style in Exterminate All the Brutes, Lindqvist writes in an easy to follow and straightforward narrative. He quotes many people in history including the references from where those quotes and ideas come in reference to the climate of the times. Once again, he has taught me much more about our history, particularly in light of racism. Understanding racism a bit better helps me to recognize it more easily when I see it. Many racist ideas and terminologies have continued to carry on in our world today and is more evident now that we currently have an African-American president.
I grew up hearing the terms “white people,” “black people,” “brown people,” “yellow people,” and “red people.” It was normal for me to hear that when referring to different people of different ethnicities. However, when I met Brian, he didn’t like it when I used those terms. He would tell me he didn’t know what I was talking about. He asked me how did I judge or know who was white or black? People can be mixed (and more often than not are), but it’s not always evident. But most of all, the reason he didn’t like those terms were because he believed they were racist terms used primarily for slavery. And it has only been relatively recent that I find that I’ve been somewhat confused about the term “racism,” too. And upon reading the news recently regarding issues dealing with Sotomayor and Obama, I’m seeing that many other people are also confused by the terms racist/racism and ethnic or ethnicity, etc. Sadly, I’ve only seriously examined racism more recently as I’ve been reading about Africa and our history of colonialization. And now after reading Sven Lindqvist’s books, The Skull Measurer’s Mistake and Exterminate All the Brutes, it has been made much more clear how those terms of skin color have been used throughout history to create a system by which anyone other than “white” aka the “superior class” naturally would and could be subjugated by inherent right. Terms separating the colors of people were fabricated to justify colonialization and subjugation by various Europeans. People other than white were considered less than human, less intellectual, barbaric and unfeeling, no different from animals. However, as Lindqvist (and even Brian) pointed out, it’s very subjective how one is deemed either white or “non-white.” This becomes more evident when we look at the history of how the Jews were looked upon as well as the Irish, the Egyptians, the Armenians and Turks, the Boers, and many other ethnic groups. It becomes much more difficult to determine who among them were white or black (non-white) solely by looking at their skin color, yet amongst the subjugators, they were not all looked upon as white, but rather inferior and even given labels such as “white negroes.” Today we see it termed “white trash,” and other names. The terms live on, and we use them today unwittingly further validating that such designations truly exist, and are even “neutral” to describe a people. They are not neutral and I see now, more than ever how it is a mistake for us to continue using those terms. We do not have a black president, we have an African-American president. Black is a racist term, African-American is the proper designation of his ethnic heritage. And for those who said during the election that Obama isn’t black, but Muslim when referring to his ethnicity, well that was really messed up because the term Muslim isn’t an ethnic term either, but a term used to denote religious affiliation, not ethnic affiliation. From reading comments online, I see that there is a lot of confusion out there.
In discussing the issue with the Jews in Germany, Lindqvist wrote,
“Those who captured Alsace-Lorraine from France in 1870 are now applying their racial theories to the French Jews there and calling them “Semites.” The Germans have always loved to give their hatred a veneer of science. But “semitic” is a linguistic term that describes a language group–that there should be a corresponding biological race is only an assumption. To want to found the nation on a common race, as the Germans do, is just as backward as the Russians wanting to found theirs on a common faith. ‘All modern nations are racially mixed. We are all half-breeds.’
So cultural fellowship is more important than biological. Let us quite simply admit, says Leroy-Beaulieu, that in disposition, abilities and intellectual habits, a French Jew, even if called a Semite, is far closer to us than an Indian Brahmin, even if he is called Aryan.”
From the viewpoint of the Christian, these separations of color should be ridiculous because if we believe the Bible, then we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. We are all essentially one blood despite the fact that many of us have been separated for generations and certain characteristics may have become dominant or recessive. Charles Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest, the strong will eliminate and conquer the weak is contrary to the Bible in more than one way because not only is the theory of evolution contrary to the account of creation in Genesis, but it is also contrary to Jesus’s teaching that we are to care for the weak such as the orphans and widows. The king’s duty, according to the Bible is to advocate for the poor, not to subjugate them or take away their lands and rights and colonize.
Lindqvists quotes many people in history who have questioned racism which raised very thought provoking concepts. One such concept was that race was somehow aligned with the degree of primitiveness. That is, the African due to their inherent race was unable to build a sophisticated society as evidenced by their current cultural way of living. Lindqvist wrote:
“The white races have succeed in convincing themselves that God almighty has created them as lords over not only animals and plants, but also over the rest of mankind. Two hundred years ago, this doctrine was accepted quite uncritically and the subjugated races believed in their own inferiority. But today there is a constantly increasing number among them who accept nothing else except equality between the races.”
Lindqvist quotes Theophilus Scholes who challenged the notion that primitiveness was related to inferior races and thus reflected upon the color of one’s skin. Scholes uses the Egyptians as an example of how they were once considered white while they were admired; however, once they began to be despised, they were considered colored. The Greeks were thought to be the core of European identity, says Martin Bernal, and romanticism idolized the Greeks with their culture and asserted that only racially “pure” civilizations could be creative it followed that racial and cultural mixing in Ancient Greece had to be denied.
What it boiled down to was that only cultured civilizations could be born from the “superior white races.” Scholes challenged that “unless it can be proved that the Egyptians were white at the time when they were the most civilized people in the world, and the white races were black at the time when they were primitive tribes–unless that is proved, the theory that progress and greatness go together with whiteness, and inferiority with black skin, cannot be believed.
“Racial prejudice rests on delusions, much as slavery and the burning of witches do. . . ”
Among other historical events Lindqvist covers is the treatment of the American Indians in the U.S. He writes of the continued broken treaties with the Cherokee and their subsequent loss of land and rights as it relates to racism. Lindqvist’s book, The Skull Measurer’s Mistake has been very enlightening to me. It amazes me how much of history is obscured and not ordinarily taught to our children. We are taught that the importance of history is so that we don’t repeat our mistakes, but ironically we aren’t taught history effectively. I think this is evident with the current widespread continuance of racism and the general lack of understanding of it.
Two thumbs up for The Skull Measurer’s Mistake by Sven Linqvist. I’m going to try to get a hold of his other book called, A History of Bombings. I’m anxious to see his insight on that subject.
Marlakins
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