Several days have gone by yet the smell of ‘Isla Reta Xmas Party’ is still in the air. The feeling was nostalgic for me since Isla Reta was and will always be the venue of the beloved IT4. Here are some pictures.

- jairosolutions go to isla reta -

- beautiful waters -

~Courtesy of CoffeeFlower~

1st Mindanao Blog Summit

Davao City will host the first ever Mindanao Bloggers Summit, and I luckily had the opportunity of registering for it. Its theme Spotlight Mindanao: Blogging for Culture, Identity, & Understanding, needless to say, aims to turn to a different avenue in promoting our sense of nationality, and open-mindedness, as well as provides a venue for Mindanao bloggers to connect with each other, and encourage every person’s own uniqueness.

This also gives the world an idea of the existence and interesting attributes, of this side of the Philippines.

These are Summit Details:

1st Mindanao Bloggers Summit

• Date: 27 October 2007 (Saturday)
• Time: 1:30 to 6:00 P.M.
• Venue: 4th Floor, NCCC Mall, Ma-a, Davao City
• Registration Fee: FREE! (However, participants will be required to post an entry on their blogs declaring that they intend to join the Summit. Instructions will be emailed to all registered bloggers very soon.)
• Organized by The Usual Suspects

Sponsored by:

Councilor Peter Laviña
BisayaBloggers.com
Davao's Food Huntress
Lane Systems

Just visit Mindanao bloggers to know more of the summit, and other future events.

I will join the summit, and I suggest other Mindanao bloggers to join as well. See you guys there.

This blog i read from an american who lived here in philippines. By the way, his blog is so interesting and it kept me reading all their stuff till the wee hours of the night (or dawn). I am quoting this one from their blog.

Here's the url so that you can go check it out too...

http://www.liveinthephilippines.com/blog/

~ () ~

Recently, with “AmericanLola” participating in the blog, there has been some talk about learning the local language wherever you are living in the Philippines. I can tell you, based on my experience, that only a small percentage of foreigners living here take the time to learn the local language. This is true especially of Americans.

I have a little joke that I keep handy when the situation is right:

Q: Do you know what they call somebody who can speak two languages?
A: Sure, it’s called “bilingual.”

Q: Do you know what they call somebody who can speak more than two languages?
A: Sure, it’s called “multilingual.”

Q: Do you know what they call somebody who can speak only one language?
A: Hmmm…. I can’t think of an answer.

The answer is - an American!

This is very true, and most Americans speak only English. Go to Europe, the average person there can speak 3 or 4 languages. Here in the Philippines people can speak multiple languages as well (let’s not get into the whole debate over what is a language and what is a dialect, nobody will ever win). Why do Americans find it so hard to learn another language?

A few years ago, a friend from the States was here visiting me. He was telling me that even in the short time that I have been gone (7+ years) the problem of illegal immigration from Mexico had gotten much worse than when I was there. He was very upset about how the Mexicans coming into the States didn’t even take the time to learn how to speak English. Now, that has been a stickler for Americans for years, it bothers us that people would come to our country, yet they don’t make any effort to learn to speak English so that they can blend in with the rest of the country.

I sat there listening to my friend, and suddenly it struck me. Can I speak fluent Tagalog or Cebuano? No. Hmm… I thought… “how many Americans who come here make an effort to learn Tagalog or the language in their local region?” The answer was clear to me - almost none do. Yet, most of us are upset about the fact that the Mexicans come to the States and do not make any effort to learn English. Seems hypocritical, don’t you think?

Well, the fact is that I can speak some Cebuano (that is the language of choice where I live - also regularly called Bisaya). I have gone to classes on two different occasions for a couple of months each. I can speak enough Cebuano to get by in public, but I am not fluent. I can understand maybe 70% of what I hear, at least in a general way. I intend to keep making a personal effort toward learning the language. When you go out in public, people appreciate it when you can speak even a few words of their language. They are clearly in joy when they see that!

Going back to AmericanLola, I have met her and her husband on several occasions, and I consider them to be friends, even good friends. When I have seen them converse in Cebuano, or talk with waiters or clerks in Cebuano, I have been so impressed (and jealous) by it! Now, here are two people who not only made the effort to learn enough to get by, they are as fluent as they could possibly be. Feyma has told me that when she speaks with AmericanLola the language is indistinguishable from a local speaker. Now, to me that is impressive.

How about you? Do you intend to learn the language when you get here? How do you feel about others coming into your country when they don’t make an effort to learn the language?

~ Quoted from an entry from http://www.liveinthephilippines.com/blog/ ~

It's been a while since my last post. Many things had happened to my life. A sudden change. A mature experience. A lovely thought. Those things touched my life in between pressure at home and at work. I hadn't give up on things. I know someday, things will run as smoothly as I have dreamed of.

For one thing, love touched my life. I know that at this age, I can be as reckless as a common eager teen-agers around. I have to think before acting. Think of others too. Check on their feelings and wants and needs from me. They may be expecting something from me as I may have been expecting something from them. I realized, life is a give and take. It's not always a win-win situation. You win some, you lose some. Yet each time we lose, we haven't really lost at all. Experience teaches us every now and then.

As of now, God has been great to me. He gives me blessings and gift. He showed me love and gave it to me. I don't want to lose these gifts. But of course, there comes trials and hardship that we had to surpass. Sickness, pressure, temptations and other common things that tries our very core strength. But despite all these, I know that God will never leave me. He will help me and my love ones surpass these. We just have to do our part.

Well, this is just for now. May God always bless me and my love ones. Amen.

Sadness is self-inflicted. You need not to bother too much about every crappy occurrences around you. But then again, you tend to get yourself involved. Happiness is self-induced just the same. As they say, it's just a matter of perspective.

So while you still have the chance to shape your day's mood, choose: would you rather be sad or happy?

Life is good. Life is bad. It's just us who decides.

I should have known better. I have been keeping this up in my head over and over again. Yet mistakes tend to repeat themselves. Lines roll and play as if they have life.

"There is a fine line between saying "I love you" and "I like you". The former will never mean the same thing as the latter and so goes the latter to the former."

"The world is so unfair!" ~~~ "When did the world became fair?"

"I know things might lead me into pain but I am currently happy now... I want to savor every bit of happiness even if it is meant to be taken away from me in the future."