My Blog

I didn’t realize my fingers could stutter, until I started talking with my hands.

My right was trembling and sweaty, as my whole body would be if I were speaking in public, as I tried to clumsily complete and repeat the ABCs in front of my 19-year old "teachers," DLSU-CSB students, who were staring at my fingers with scrutinizing eyes, as if ready to chop ‘em off the minute I make a mistake (but they were nice, really.. I’m just trying to make things sound so dramatic heheh).

I tried to block out all the noise in the room so I could focus on the minute sounds they make which might be familiar to my ears. I’m lucky they were really very, very patient. Had that been me teaching myself, I would have whacked myself on the head several times already - something that I was actually doing in my head when I forget how to do a letter in the alphabet.

They also taught me basic things like how to say Hi and Hello, how to ask the four Ws and one H, how to say where I live, how to say thanks and you’re welcome, among other short sentences. I even learned how to say BusinessWorld hahah!

I’m looking forward to our next meeting.. It will be a four-week long wait

Iloilo City — Ask me if I know how to speak Ilonggo and that’s what I’ll tell you. I can pick up a few words but I doubt if I can reply with a complete and grammatically correct sentence to save my life.

I’ve only been here for a little over two hours and my first stop was McDonalds. I should have stuck to my initial plan of getting Big Breakfast (I like spreading the strawberry preserve on top of the sausage :P) instead of settling with the longganisa meal. It’s just that I haven’t eaten longganisa meal for such a long time now. I was even surprised that the rice is laid flat on the styro anymore.. or maybe that’s just here.

I’m in an internet cafe at The Atrium, which is right next to a row of schools and universities, including UP. This net cafe is pretty cool. Neat, slim and uber-large monitor (okay, so I’m just gushing at it cz my laptop monitor’s too small), and I’m sitting on a bar stool cz.. well, the set-up’s like that.. like a bar or something. I wish I could order margarita here. Hahah!

On my way here, I passed by SM and Marina restaurant, which is where I’ll be meeting the Isuzu people for a road trip later. We’ll hit the road to Dumaguete (again, yes) and stay the night in a hotel by the shore. Yum! I miss Bahura Resort (I highly recommend you stay there if you’re ever in Dumaguete.. uber-romantic place, but stay away from the windows unless you want an audience!)

I’ll say hello to Dakak tomorrow!

I had to undergo catharsis after the emotional roller coaster ride I was forced to take a few weeks back but if there was one thing I couldn’t get rid off, it’s my Bora tan. I’m a natural morena and my melanin goes wild with the slightest sun exposure. Since I don’t do whitening stuff, it takes forever (like, June to March :P) for my skin to ever so slightly lighten again.

Snorkeling and sailing from 9 am to 1 pm in March was not really a good idea, with the tropical sun at its meanest. But it was fun, even if it left my skin a thousand degrees darker than usual.

I was seriously considering taking glutathione (ya know, that skin pill that makes Regine and Michael Jackson look like they were separated at birth) as part of my purging process, but now I’m glad I didn’t.

I spent a totally fun weekend in Dumaguete and Cebu for a coverage. After all the gruelling and embarrassing media "challenges" were over, we had a wonderful treat of enjoying the beach.

While in Negros, we were whisked off to Apo Island for the last media challenge - diving - for those who actually know how to swim. Those who can’t swim but would like to see the underwater world anyway were taken to the other side of the island to snorkel. I will have to google fishie images to share what I saw but there was lots.. well, schools of them and they were really pretty. Unfortunately, we only had 10 minutes to spare floating around before heading back to the other side and prepare for our trip to Cebu.

We kicked off our Maribago stay with the traditional Filipino hilot, complete with banana leaves slapped on our backs which made us smell like rice cakes. After resting a few hours, we went to the other side of the man-made sandbar in the resort, first to snorkel, then to drive/ride a jet ski.

I’ve fallen in love with snorkeling. I would have gone farther from the shore if not for the army of jelly fishes blocking my way.. okay, I just saw two but they scared me anyway. I loved watching the bright blue fishes which seem to light up underwater. I also saw a blue starfish, which looked more like a rubber toy. The guide actually took a couple of sea urchins off a rock with his bare hands so he could get the starfish and hand it to me!

After a while, it was time to say goodbye to the fishies and see the world again from above the surface of the water. I’m a speed junkie but I have to admit I don’t quite enjoy jet skiing so much. I guess it’s cz I’m so light and I always fear being thrown off, even if I have a lifevest. I always want to have a guide or a passenger with me. Or better yet, I’ll just be the passenger so I can scream all I want!

So going back to my skin (like, when did I get to be so vain about it?), I think I’m even darker now than in March. We baked under Cebu’s sun from around 3 p.m. until we decided to hit the bar and drown in margaritas during the happy hour.

I love it. Bora’s covered, and if things go as planned, I’ll be spending more time in the beach again this weekend. Sort of like a bye-bye summer 2007 thing. I can’t wait to see more of the fishies and get more of the sun. Sorry skin. Hahah!