yes, i know. i've been back for more than three weeks now but i still haven't managed to update my blog. except now. nyahaha. *audience cheers* okay, okay! first and foremost, let me welcome you to my blog with its all new skin! *starts singing the twinkle, twinkle little star song* thank you, thank you!

three weeks, huh? beats me. i wasn't aware until now that i've been home for almost a month already. *boinks* try spending your everyday life doing nothing at home, and you'll feel this loss of sense of time too. *sighs* anyway, I managed to make a few escapades out of this gigantic boring state, and let me give you a preview of 'em all! (as you might have guessed, I have nothing else better to do)


2007 02 04, sunday

goodbye to the freezing japan (where in the end I was able to live my life wearing short pants), and hello to the burning Philippines (aww.. and they said it was cold here.)! miraculously, i didn't shed a single tear when I said sayounara to my exchange student friends from other countries. i even had fun during the one night stay at the hotel on saturday night. what i loved most was the get-together with the other three filipinas who went with me to japan: the ever jolly, petite and white cebuana, rose; the prettiest of us four who has the same knack as me for telling love stories, hon; and the uper rich songbird of the group, andie. you can just imagine how the four of us chatted along the way home. endless.


at the airport, we spent ten years waiting for our luggage to come out. a tip to the readers: if you plan on going abroad, you don't really need to check-in early. or else you'll have to wait for years for your baggage to come out from the very pit of the plane. *sweatdrops* stupid me even lost my baggage claim stab or something, causing more delay. *bonks self* at last, we were finally home! i remember the other girls' parents looking at me incredulously and saying i've transformed into a haponesa. on the outside, maybe. but never on the inside. pinay na pinay pa din po ako. *beams*


i ranted on about everything inside genesis (my family's yet unpaid van), and had my bro john fix my necklace which snapped in my hurry to change clothes. we headed on to SM, where we heard mass, had our annual family picture taken, and did a little tour. natsukashii!


during our stop at comic alley, one of my fave stores, there was this sales kuya who kept bothering me and asking me to hold this and hold that for him. like, huh? in the end he told me:

ate, I like your style. ano ka ba, model ka ba ng ano or something?

actually, ang gulo ng tanong niya. but I was really flattered and said "thank you", and I laughed. a model at 148cm? it just can't be. really. but thanks kuya. you made me feel good about myself. *beams*

hmm.. what else? my baby sis jen now has a phone with a camera (daig ang ate aba!), and she had fun taking pictures of me. *grins* so I decided to pull john for a pictorial (kunwari) at the national bookstore. he glares at me whenever I remind him of how he wasn't able to put a decent serious face at that time.


2007 02 05, monday

i was glad because finally, I was able to meet some of my batch mates. i offered to give kat a lift to UP, although i regret not being able to prepare earlier, hence she arrived and saw me with a bath towel on my head, and my room in a total mess. *sheepish grin*

from nine in the morning up to around three in the afternoon, i was stuck in the AFS office (at the ISSI building) with the other three filipinas who went to Japan, our parents, and the AFS staff. we did the report-writing ceremonies, and had our post-arrival orientation. we enjoyed sharing stories of what we encountered within the one year trip to japan, and we were given ideas on what we will face now that we're back home. it had been a very fruitful day. and the food was good, too. nyahaha!

after the orientation, the three girls went to mall of asia for a bonding moment, but I wasn't able to go because i still had some business in UP with my dadz. after attending to said business, we still had plenty of time before we met up with my momz (naghatid kami sa airport during the night), so i had the chance to stay at the sunken garden and meet some of my batchmates. yatta! I remember shouting at bar and having been mistaken as her gradeschool friend; running to my dadz to ask if I could go to the sunken garden with bar, deah and rej; meeting mels as i searched for the three who suddenly disappeared; being on standby at the sunken garden and meeting some of the people who still haven't gone to manong's birthday; giving atan and mars a ride to katipunan; and being told that i gained some fats. toinks. it was fun although we didn't really do anything but chat and take a few pics. i just wished i saw bea, chummy and x.


that night, i cried for the first time ever since i came back. just because i made a stupid mistake with my best friend's cell phone number. besty, uper sorry talaga nun ha. *hugs*

2007 02 07, wednesday

i had my haircut, and had my hair transformed from a broom to.. well, hair. *sweatdrops*

2007 02 08, thursday

i woke up, at napagkamalan ko si juno na siya si atan. *bonks self*

2007 02 10, saturday

i was eager the whole morning; finally, i'd be able to see my besty bea again! especially after the incident last febby five. she came with her bro aj at around two in the afternoon, and we spent eternity chatting and exercising our vanity. *lol* i gave her my pasalubong (for more details, see her blog), and we went out to eat isaw. (don't tell my mom, because I told her we ate banana cue *peace*). we bumped into enric at the park, looked at pics that he brought, and went back to my house, where aj beat bea at a wrestling PS2 game. *sweatdrops* before they walked on home, enric gave me a portrait of myself, which he drew (minus the broom hair and eye infection). sukkuri! *beams* enric, thanks ha!


2007 02 12, monday

i went to UP once again, this time for a dinner at six in the afternoon. my parents dropped me at the venue, and i hanged out with mahonri during the majority of the evening. she's just like bea: the ultimate photographer. she always had her camera with her, and took shots every now and then. wow. me? i don't really take much pictures, especially when i'm not included in the shot. talk about selfish. *sweatdrops*

we listened to reports by the elders, voted for the returnees board, took pictures, met other returnees and potential exchange students, and of course, ate dinner. andie had to go home early, and rose wasn't there because she's already in cebu, but the night was fun. we shared stories to the three youngsters who will be going to japan this march: the uper kulet and eager jj; the mahinhin and shy-type (mala ako last year) malyn; and the guy with whom I may have talked to most, denib. he's going to nagano, and before i came back some of the AFS elders in japan have told me about him. wow, i'm already looking forward to chatting with him once he's back home next year. *beams* to the three of you, good luck and God bless!

we also met sofia, an exchange student from belgium who is presently enjoying her stay here in the philippines. she even knew a sentence which contains very deep filipino that i didn't get its meaning! wow.

and there was also the other batches who went to japan, including ate lani from batch one (second wave, after AFS was down for 22 years). she's a graduating student of psychology in UP diliman, and also a member of psychsoc. i asked her about bea, she asked me about juno. toinks. she's so pretty! *hearts*

oh, and there came don michael, who went to the YES program (for america) last year. he's about a year older then me, but since he's been delayed for a year after his trip abroad, he ended up in the same batch as mahonri in makati sci last year. now, he's in ateneo. he's makulet and friendly, with a confidence level na hindi ko ata keri. *lol* believe me.. he went into the office, set the pc, and invited us to watch advent children, and he even answered the phone when it rang! he must be a really active AFSer already. wow.




at around ten, we finally called it a day. there was supposed to be an event at the japanese embassy the next day, but i wasn't able to go. hon called me in the afternoon and updated me.. in japanese. *grins*

2007 02 13, tuesday

i was writing thank-you cards to the AFS staff and elder people who helped me in japan, and i decided to make a valentine's card for my momz. i told our house helper to shout darna if ever my momz was coming so I could hide the v-card. wow.. can you believe she did it? my stomach was aching after! *lol*

2007 02 14, wednesday

it was valentine's day! i gave my mom the v-card after i woke up in the morning. and i spent the whole day at home or at our store. my mom turned out to be testing someone, but he failed. nevermind that.

at night, we bought some snacks at 7 11 and went to the dike, and then suddenly decided to check out the lights expo from korea near the mall of asia. after the drive, we could finally see the gigantic lights within the walls of the expo! and we realized that there were entrance fees. and nobody brought money.

2007 02 15, thursday

it was another day of date with my besty; she agreed to accompany me during my visit to risci. i arrived ahead of time, and kuya arnel, the owner of the store in front of the school, gave me free kwek-kwek and softdrinks. i enjoy chatting with him for updates and the like, and he told me that he was happy because all the students from higher batches who come to visit the school always went to his store first. *smiles*

present senior students lea, jam and len saw me at kuya arnel's, and called me over to the school. i hanged out with mean and felt embarrassed when chiki went around my feet admiring my.. err, shoes? *sweatdrops* later on when prom practice was about to start, I went to the faculty room, and my former adviser madam faeldog listened to my stories. she's just like my mom. *smiles* the other teachers who saw me commented on my m&m-colored fingernails, my face that expanded, my figure (huh?) and my face, which they claimed to have become beautiful for some reason. ahihi. salamats po! *sheepish grin*

after leaving the faculty room, we went on around the school, greeting and taking pics with former schoolmates. juno came with bea and gave me a bouquet of flowers, and I gave him the pasalubong that I bought for him last december. we stood by the physics lab, and i.. did what i've decided to do. suki da kedo.. gomen.

my sis went on ahead to the jeepney stop without telling me, but eventually we found her because no jeep had arrived yet at that time. juno treated us to bread and softdrinks. i accidentally stepped on his injured toe. gomen ne. *teary-eyed* at tanay, he treated us to kitkat (yatta!) and walked us home. salamats ha..



2007 02 17, saturday

another date with bhe. na naman? *lol* she asked me if i wanted to play badminton, and arrived with aj in the afternoon. we then took a tricycle to the dike, and there i found out that she had prepared a welcome home performance with enric, they being the representatives of the t-gang (the tanay gang, composed of eight people: bea, enric, kat, mica/chummy, meng, mels, nikko and me). they sang the same song that kat sang the night before my flight to japan last year: our graduation song, one song by christian bautista whose title i shamefully forgot. *boinks self* they even had a tarpaulin with our pictures.. aww. thanks!

and thanks also to those two, for another gift..

we had snacks after that, and then went on to the park where we really played badminton. when it turned dark already, we walked to my house where everyone went to the toilet, and ended the day. t'was fun!


my parents had been out the whole day, because they accompanied john to mapua for his entrance examination. congrats for passing, bro! *applaudes*

2007 02 18, sunday

i went to an ukay with jen after the 5 pm mass. and she found a skirt for me for 60 pesos. yatta! i treated her to a blouse, and she also bought pedals for herself. ukay's are fun, and cheap! *lol*

2007 02 19, monday

you know what it should have been..

2007 02 21, wednesday

i went to church at night with my parents to hear mass. it was ash wednesday. i was surprised when I bumped into isko, my childhood guy friend from whom i got separated because I went to risci for high school. he was carrying a child = his cousin. i was just teasing him when i asked him "anak mo?" *lol*

during the afternoon, i went to a comshop to download pictures from my mail inbox (the internet connection at home isn't too fast). this has been one of my activities lately. while at the comshop, this guy had been texting me. he's been telling me flattering things that I really didn't want to hear. *sigh* gomen.

2007 02 23, friday

yey, another one of my escapades! after several days, i was able to leave the piggy life of staying in bed all afternoon, watching tv, trying to sleep, etc. pano, feeling prom din. this day was my baby sister's prom day, or okay, prom night. and I tagged along. ahihi. *sheepish grin*

jen said she wanted to look like one of the disney princesses, and she did appear like one. she was closest to her favorite, belle, the beauty in beauty and the beast. The only difference was that her gown color was green/blue, whilst belle's is yellow.


meanwhile, I donned a patched up maong dress which belonged to my ate joanne, but which she haven't worn even once. plus my only pair of doll shoes. or at least I believed them to be.

my batchmates weren't there when i arrived at risci, my highschool; they went to jollibee for their dinner, and bea offered to buy me food. i had shots with may and debi, present junior students, and after a while bea's group arrived, and my parents left me be. it was the first time i met the long-haired kenneth, and the second time for mels and boji, since i came back home, that is. later on, we met the gay gang plus kate, mars, and then juno. we watched the ever-long kutilyon and looked at the various gowns of the students, until one by one, my batchmates went home. i remember running with mels around the school just to take a shot of jen with her partner, paul. he's a junior, but he's taller then her. sakin ata nagmana ng height si jen eh. *grins*



i stayed until the prom ended, being pulled by joan (another of our junior buddies) to the dance floor, and taking shots of my sis being danced by her guy friends (and boylets. *grins*). flatteringly, i had my share of "shall we dance?" 's as well. to those kind-enough lads and men, thank you for making me feel like it's my prom night again. *beams* minus the gown and my batch mates though. *sighs*

i went there for two reasons: to watch jen and take pictures of her like she told me to do, and to patch up things with a certain someone. i accomplished my first mission well, but I flunked with the second.

why, oh why, did I have to be at a loss of words when finally, we were standing face to face?

2007 02 28 , wednesday

today? okay, i'll try to give you a "detailed" account of what occurred.

i was awaken when i heard dadz shouting at john in the next room because his room's light was on. he then called me and told me to get up already and look after our store because he and momz was going to ate jho, who was brought to the hospital. i immediately got up, not to look after our store, but to make a paper lily and write a note to my sick sister. i finished just in time for my parents' departure.

i ate breakfast, took a bath, and did a girl's complete vain ceremony, plus a little lazy-ing and watching tv. i went to the store at 10. at 12, i was called to lunch. i got mad at john because I found out that he had eaten my double butch bread from goldilocks. he said that my momz told him he's free to eat it.. rar.

i went back to our store and finally decided to start working on the essay that i need to submit to AFS, regarding my AFS experience in japan. i finished it just minutes ago.

my parents were back earlier than i expected. ate jho was with them. i ate lots of breadsticks with her, and later on hugged her while she slept. i watched princess charming and full house at that time.

i decided to go out again and type some more of my essay in our store, and then momz told me to go inside and eat the sopas that she prepared for my ate. i did so while watching flame of recca, and then after eating sopas i got vain and started taking pics of my ugly face with ate jho's phone.

i went back to our store again, finished my AFS essay, and typed this very long entry. if you read everything up to this point, i thank you deeply. nothing could amount to the gratitude i am feeling right now, so don't bother asking for cash or pasalubong. boinks.

jaa, finished with this entry at last! God bless! *peace*