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She grew up not knowing who her father was. All she knew was that they shared the same last name though he never married her mother. So she vowed that when she was old enough, she would leave her province of Aklan to look for her father.  So after graduating from College, Me-Anne found her way to the big city in search of her father.  Guess what… she found him.  And much to my surprise, guess who her father is… no other than Manoy - our old family driver (since 1975, no later).

Huwaaaaaaat?   Manoy!!!!  But he’s an old bachelor!  Oh, you naughty naughty boy Manoy! I didn’t know you had it in you! 

So anyway, that was a few years ago.  And the long lost father and daughter grew to know each other and love each other.  Me-Anne found a good job in Manila, was able to buy a new house and was able to establish a new life in the big city.  Not bad for a country lass.  Like Manoy and the rest of our kasambahays,  Me-Anne also grew to be a part of our family and was often hanging out in our house in Kamuning.  The other kasambahays (3 spinster sisters)  treated her like their  own daughter and Yaya Lety actually died in her arms.

Now, Me-Anne is all grown up,  has found true love and and was married in a beautiful solemn ceremony in the chapel behind our church in Kamuning.

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Fireworks display from four different venues along Manila Bay – MOA, Dampa, Sofitel and Baywalk – during New Year’s Eve 2010.

Honey, Mama and I were so confused on where to look. It was a fantastic first New Year’s eve in our new home.

Once in a blue moon.  That’s how often I was blogging in 2009 (read RARELY)… and since a blue moon is ushering the New Year, I’m blogging tonight.

A blue moon… more than the song non-pianists learn to play four-hands on the piano… and more than myths that it’s linked to Satan or great love… is merely the second full moon in a month.  For December 2009, the first full moon happened on the 2nd of December while the second full moon is tonight… New Year’s Eve.

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Long long ago, there was a young man named Sabino Francisco. At a time when Marcelo H. del Pilar, Graciano Lopez-Jaena and Jose Rizal were writing by hand to develop the Propaganda Movement, Sabino and his family were linotypists.

In 1880, he married a beautiful young lady named Bernarda Vito. They bore 11 children, 8 of whom grew to adulthood. All the children of Sabino and Bernarda were educated, with the girls studying at the Centro Escolar de Se̱oritas. At a time in history when women were expected to stay home, all their daughters were career women Рnot bad for Filipinas in the 1920s. Most of his daughters were pharmacists. One daughter, Fely, was the founder of the Centro Escolar University. And his son, Emong, was the highest ranking Filipino general at that time.

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Continued from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day, 4/5/6.

Day 7, Thursday.

10:30 am.  In my van and on my way to Dusit (where the main meeting is to be held) to report to one of the bosses.  I was running late and I don’t know why the driver didn’t take the ASEAN lane which as delegate, I was entitled to use.  The ASEAN lane would have been faster and I would have avoided the traffic. But on second thought…

I never used the ASEAN lane again.  Hehe… I could be an iReporter, huh. I was just happy to get to Dusit in one piece… where guess who was at the lobby to meet me… Honey!

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Tags: Hua HIn, Married Life, meetings, Thailand

A one year old baby boy and, by a twist of fate, his two year old (yes two!) aunt!

a 76-year old man and a 75-year old woman who just had a mastectomy a few weeks ago…

These aren’t exactly the people you want in your team when you’re in a 5-K race.  But hey, during the Run for Pasig Race on Saturday, November 8… these people were MY team – the Mendoza Family or the RomyNenitaTogetherForever team.  It goes without saying – Romy is my father, but better known as Dad or Super Dad in my blog; and Nenita is my mother, who goes by the name of Mommy in my blog.

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Continued from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3.

The thing about these monthly meetings is that this present one was supposed to be our last (after 17 meetings no less) and we’re supposed to submit our drafts to the ministers.  But you know lawyers… put ten lawyers in one room, add all their assistants, and they’re all of different nationalities. What does that add to? Chaos!  No wonder we hardly get things done.  So we’re all panicking and rushing hoping to finish something by Thursday.  Ergo, the rest of my the next few days were practically the same… meetings, meetings, meetings… all through the days and all through the nights.

My only joy was the Thai food.  All food in Thailand is good.  And here in Hua Hin… it’s exceptional.  Twice the Thais treated us to Thai seafood in restaurants by the sea… ooh… just delectable.  Freshly grilled prawns, crabs, different kinds of shells, lobsters with those special spicy sauce.

But otherwise, this is how my days went.

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Continued from Day 1, Day 2…

Day 3, Sunday.

Instead of going to the gym like yesterday morning, I decided to hit the beach. Hey, although my purpose for going to Hua Hin was to attend a bloody meeting, I WAS at a beach resort.  There’s a bloody 5 miles of beach in this resort.  I had to go to the beach. So I woke up with the sun again and headed for the coast.

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Tags: beach, Hua HIn, Marriott, meetings, Thailand, Work

Continued from My Hua Hin Diary (Day 1).

Day 2, Saturday.

The next day, I literally woke up  with the sun.  As in.. I actually saw the sun gloriously rising up from the sea when I opened my eyes while in bed.

I’ve been complaining before that although I go to all these exotic beach resorts, I never really get to enjoy the beach.  But with a room like this at the Marriott, although I spend whole days and whole nights in meeting rooms, just the sight of this sunrise upon waking absolutely makes me feel that I’m in the beach.

You know I’ve never seen the sun rising over the sea in the Philippines.  Somehow, I’m always at the western coast… in Matabungkay – my Dad’s hometown, and now Manila Bay, where I get to see the sunset every evening from my bedroom.  So it’s quite thrilling for me to be at the east coast for once and watch the sun rise.

So it’s nice to wake up early for once.   I hit the gym (good girl Toe!) and had breakfast and prepared myself for work (I know I know it sucks… it’s a Saturday and I’m working).  First day was only the Assistants’ Meeting.

Boss is lucky… he gets to at least enjoy one day of the weekend relaxing and enjoying Hua Hin. Or at least that’s what we both thought.  He got THE phone call and was summoned back home that. same. day.  Whaaaaaa?  I’m abandoned?  Again?  This is like the fourth time (see this post).  But like last time in Yogyakarta, I’m really alone… no assistant (like in Bali) and no superior… just me. Moi. Myself.

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Tags: Hua HIn, sunrise, Thailand

Day 1, Friday.

Is Day 1 the day you arrive at a place or the day after Night 1? As the teen-agers say… whatevuh!   For this post, Day 1 is the day I arrived in Hua Hin.

So after that eventful plane ride, Boss and I arrived in Bangkok where this really big van arranged by the Meeting organizers was waiting for us to take us to Hua Hin.  As our delegation was very lean (just Boss and myself), we pretty much had more van rows than people so I was able to take the back row for myself,  stretch my legs and listen to my iPod in peace during the three-hour 195 km.  drive from Bangkok to Hua Hin.  Of course my privacy was interrupted intermittently with all the fresh and juicy office stories from Boss

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Tags: beach, Hua HIn, Marriott, night market, Thailand