Thank You Lord for 2012 Blessings

1. Floro's admission to Novitiate in their main seminary at Worcester, Massachusetts. Malapit nang maging pari ang betfriend ko!

2. Work related visit that leads me to Glasgow, Oxford, London, Manchester and Birmingham in UK! Not only once but twice! First time to attend meeting with Vendors. Panalo!

3. Serve at Tuloy sa Don Bosco for the TULOY KAP 2012. Equally blessed for i've learned a lot about volunteering and selfless service.

4. Promotions at the office. Promising careers to my ex-officemates. Got a good grade in my appraisal for the year. Very supportive group mates. New found friends. Nice!

5. A very successful Vietnam-Cmabodia trip with my college buddies Rose and Olive, together with Gilbert. It was exciting and fun to be with friends while on travel.

6. Soul searching solo travel at Seoul, Siquijor and Coron. Time to be awed and mesmerize with the beauty of Philippines beaches and what Korea has in-store for me. It was all worth it.

7. Conducting a training with my fellow Material Engineer at Singapore. Feels like a world class Engineer ang peg. 

8. Mikko came to my life this 2012. She is God's biggest blessing to me this 2012.

And of course there' still the good health in the family, career advancements of friends and family, being fit and losing almost 20 pounds this year, babies and new relationships. Thank you Lord for all of these blessings. May you continue to bless us in 2013.

Cheers and Happy New Year to all!

SK Trip Diary: Toyoko-Inn Busan Station 1 Review

It was my first time to book a hotel on my own. Most of the time when I travel it's my friends who do the booking stuff. But this time since I'm traveling alone I have to do it by myself. 

Thank God there's Trip Advisor, choosing the best budget hotel (plus with reviews from previous guests) has never been this easy.

And it's no brainer to choose the number 1 Budget hotel in Busan...the Toyoko-Inn!

Welcome to Room 1517

The hotel is conveniently located in the heart of Busan. It's a stone throw away from Busan KTX station, the subway and the airport limousine has a bus stop near the hotel. Cool noh?!

I'm a sucker for excellent service and when I arrive at 11:45 PM (my reservation last only till 11:30PM) exhausted, hungry, cold and cranky (thank you Cebu Pac for the 2 hour delayed flight) the Receptionist sensed that I'm in not in the mood she gave me her best smile and welcome me with warm and gusto! 

Very very very much appreciated!

Oh and they gave me a 3000 Won discount since I avail their membership card as well. Ayos!!

They actually left the receptionist area when I asked them I'll take a picture of it!

While it's freaking 10 deg C outside the building, my room is conditioned at 25 deg C. A little bit warm but it's comforting naman.

Lamp ala IKEA lang?!

I know for someone getting a fluffy pillows and bed is a big deal so it was a big surprise when they have both at Toyoko-Inn! I had a comfy sleep and totally relaxed feeling after the grueling flight form Manila.

They don't have closets for your clothes unfortunately but they do provide clothes hanger and hanger (shempre!) naman. And since I'm soooooooo tamad unpacking my things I just let them inside the luggage and put out only the winter clothes and scarf since I'll be using them most of the time I'm in Busan.

Hello Paddington jacket, it's been a while!

While I was awed by the set-up of the room the Internet connection just blew me away. It was the FASTEST internet connection I ever had in all my life. And I thought the internet connection in Saudi Arabia was the fastest. Imagine loading farmville in just 30 seconds, maygasabelgas, I was speechless! 

LoL!!!

(sorry i'm a mababaw that way)

Farmville lang katapat ko!

The television channels are purely Korean channels except for some International news channel like CNN and BBC. But if you're in a vacation mode who needs television diba??!

Here's the view from my room (taken using Instagram), overlooking the Busan KTX station and plaza. It was marvelous!!!

As a common set-up with other budget hotel, Breakfast is also included in the room rate. Their restaurant is located on the second floor, which still gives you the upper view of the side street outside the hotel. 

Breakfast by the window

The breakfast includes Rice, sausage, bread with jam, togue, and most importantly Kimchi!!!! 

I LOVE KIMCHI!

It's basically the same breakfast everyday, but I don't mind, as long as there's kimchi im good with it!

LoL!

Clean and deserted hallway.

Outside the hotel, you can have a short walk and do "people-watching" in front of Busan KTX station. It's a mini park in the heart of the city.

If you're bored doing nothing, you can cross the street and do some shopping. On the other side have all the Russian controlled restaurant and girly bars. In fairness madaming Russo sa Busan, maybe because of it's close proximity with Vladivostok. 

I mentioned on my previous post that I took the Busan City tour bus, well the start and finish stop-over of the bus is located just outside the hotel. Super conveniently! 

And of course, if there's a hotel near the area, for sure there's a lot of restaurant in the vicinity. I had my lunch and dinner on different restaurant near Toyoko-Inn and all of them didn't disappoint me.  Tip: food cost around 5000- 10000 Won, and super busog na yun!.

And the fun didn't stop when the sun sets. They have this water and light show on the mini park which last for 30 minutes. Ang tagal nia ha!!


The songs that was played includes song form Big Bang (Fantastic), Rihanna, LMFAO, 2NE1, and some mozart inspired classical songs.


Since it was a first time for me to watch it shempre napa-wow ako sa lighting effects! Pang mayaman talaga at free (unlike the one in Ocean park, may entrance ata dun!).

After the show, you can walk around the area and play casino, hang out and drink coffee at Angel-in-us, CBTL, Starbucks, shopping again, people watch at the subway station. Feeling turista level ang peg.

Kape Muna sa malamig na gabi!

Oh and since many guest in Toyoko-Inn surely asked on how to go to the airport, where is the limousine bus stops and what time it arrives, the staff posted this info for all those airport-related query. Para hindi paulit-ulit! LoL!

After spending 3 days at Busan, It's time to travel to the capital Seoul. And since nagmayaman ako for this trip, i took the First class trip of KTX going to Seoul. 

Very impressive train station, mas maganda pa ito compare to NAIA!

I had fun staying in Toyoko-Inn Busan station 1. Will surely be going back here next time!

Happines is....

1. Baby Carla staying at our house for 3 weeks and..
2. her kuya justine during the weekends.
3. Commitment Night at Lingkod
4. Dancing Kung Fu Fighting together with the Tuloy kids.
5. 90% completion of our 3 Gawad Kalinga houses.
6. 2 piece chiken joy, 1 extra rice, go large coke..for free (thanks to my Ate!)
7. Bossa Nova music
8. Driving.
9. HER =D.
10. Tons of work sa office.
11. Gold's Gym
12. Wednesday rosary, Mass and novena at St. Jerome parish.
13. Blogging.
14. Buko shake at Alabang Town Center.
15. Kuya Efren's DVD of Kung Fu fighting.
16. 43php/liter Diesel @ Shell gas station.
17. Lingkod PM Night.
18. Lapag AG.
19. 10:00 AM wake-up time during weekend.
20. Kare-kare cooked by Nanay.
21. Jack TV
22.My "cat-nap' pussycat named muning.
23. Do i need to reiterate about HER?

Paddington Bear struck by Cupid's Arrow

=D.

Para sa ating masweswerteng bata..

Forwarded email by a good friend. Enjoy reading!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1950's, 60' s, 70's and early 80's !!
First, some of us survived being born to mothers who did not have an
OB-Gyne and drank San Miguel Beer while they carried us.
While pregnant, they took cold or cough medicine, ate isaw, and didn't
worry about diabetes.

Then after all that trauma, our baby cribs were made of hard wood covered
with lead-based paints, pati na yung walker natin, matigas na kahoy din at
wala pang gulong.

We had no soft cushy cribs that play music, no disposable diapers (lampin
lang), and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no kneepads ,
sometimes wala pang preno yung bisikleta.

As children, we would ride in hot un-airconditioned buses with wooden seats
(yung JD bus na pula), or cars with no airconditioning & no seat belts
(ngayon lahat may aircon na)

Riding on the back of a carabao on a breezy summer day was considered a
treat. (ngayon hindi na nakakakita ng kalabaw ang mga bata)

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle purchased from
711 ( minsan straight from the faucet or poso)

We shared one soft drink bottle with four of our friends, and NO ONE
actually died from this. Or contacted hepatitis.

We ate rice with star margarine, ate raw eggs straight from the shell, and
drank softdrinks with real sugar in it (hindi diet coke), but we weren't
sick or overweight kasi nga......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, and get back when the
streetlights came on. Sarap mag patintero, tumbang preso , habulan at
taguan.

No one was able to reach us all day ( di uso ang cellphone , walang beepers
) . And yes, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our wooden trolleys (yung bearing ang gulong)
or plywood slides out of scraps and then ride down the street , only to
find out we forgot the brakes! After hitting the sidewalk or falling into
a canal (sewerage channel) a few times, we learned to solve the problem
ourselves with our bare & dirty hands .

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all,
no 100 channels on cable, no DVD movies, no surround stereo, no IPOD's, no
cell phones, no computers, no Internet, no chat rooms, and no Friendsters.
......... ...WE HAD REAL FRIENDS and we went outside to actually talk and
play with them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broken bones and teeth and there were no
stupid lawsuits from these accidents. The only rubbing we get is from our
friends with the words..masakit ba ? pero pag galit yung kalaro mo,,,,ang
sasabihin sa iyo..beh buti nga !

We played marbles (jolens) in the dirt , washed our hands just a little and
ate dirty ice cream & fish balls. we were not afraid of getting germs in
our stomachs.

We had to live with homemade guns " gawa sa kahoy, tinali ng rubberband ,
sumpit , tirador at kung ano ano pa na puedeng makasakitan. .pero masaya pa
rin ang lahat.

We made up games with sticks ( syatong ), and cans ( tumbang preso )and
although we were told they were dangerous, wala naman tayong binulag o
napatay.paminsan minsan may nabubukulan lang.

We walked, rode bikes, or took tricycles to a friend's house and knocked on
the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them to jump out the window!

Mini basketball teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't pass had to learn to deal with the disappointment. Wala yang mga
childhood depression at damaged self esteem ek-ek na yan. Ang pikon, talo.

Ang magulang ay nandoon lang para tignan kung ayos lang ang mga bata, hindi
para makialam at makipag-away sa ibang parents.

That generation of ours has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem
solvers, creative thinkers and successful professionals ever! They are the
CEO's, Engineers, Doctors and Military Generals of today.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had failure, success, and responsibility. We learned from our mistakes
the hard way.

You might want to share this with others who've had the luck to grow up as
real kids. We were lucky indeed.

And if you like, forward it to your kids too, so they will know how brave
their parents were..

It kind of makes you wanna go out and climb a tree, doesn't it?!

Sibol kids + Me = Happiness

A couple of weeks ago I had a chance to be a pre-school teacher for one day (well, basically it's for 1 hour only lang pala) but the experience and joy it has given me last for a lifetime.

Funny but I don't consider myself as a teacher material. Tutor material i can be as I am doing it now in Tuloy Foundation but teaching 30 kids in one room, ibang usapan na yan! What made it even worse was informing me about the teaching gig 15 minutes before office hour ended. To avoid panick i immediately prepared impromptu teaching materials for the kids to learn and some song skits for us to sing as well.

Saturday come, as I walked into the small classroom of Sibol (*) a warm smile greeted me on the door. It was their substitute teacher who greeted me and introduced me to the kids. The mothers/sisters/siblings of the pre-school kids was also there, perching on the wooden windows of the classroom. First thing to teach the kids was how to sing, luckily I still remember what we've sang on the Mongolian night at Anto's night, and the song was.......

"MAKING MELODY IN MY HEART"

O diba, parang it reminds you of your cathechism days nung bata pa tayo =D.

After singing this song FOUR times, i paused for a while to catch my breath, and after a quick rest we resume our class. but this time it's stortelling time naman. Thank God I still remember what i've learned on the storytelling workshop that I've attended before and I must admit I did very well!

Hahahahaha! Ako pa! Try me and see for yourself! =P.

Indeed, this experience with the kids makes me long to have my own kids narin. I believe I will be a good Father and a great tutor as well. Ang tagal naman kasi ni Ms. Right....

Let me share you a verse in the bible referring to how can we enter the kingdom of God in heaven.

[The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven ]
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me.

True? why not!

(*)Child & Youth Development GK provides value based education for pre-school children, aged 3 to 6 years old through its program called SIBOL, which means “to grow” in the Filipino language. GK provides a support program for street children of elementary age, from 7 to 13 years old. They are provided with academic tutorials, sports and creative workshops as well as a very solid values formation program through a program called SAGIP, which means “to save a life” in the Filipino language.