Monday, February 26, 2007

GOOD TO BE BACK IN MY SMALL WORLD









Hello there, Andy Susim from Sumaila is back from a brief vacation in the Philippines. It took me a while before I was able to function normally ( a little diarrhea). The SINULOG religious festival we witnessed in Cebu was awesome !!! It is the feast of Santo Ninyo celebrated simultaneously in many places in the Philippines. You can feel the people's faith in the atmosphere all around you during the entire festival. From the early morning mass to the fluvial parade along the seaport of Cebu, everything is worth our time, effort (and money !). We were in the upper deck of a small boat having breakfast of hot chocolate, mango, lanzones, sandwiches, etc, etc, as we watched this fluvial parade all around us. It was one experience all captured in our camera. Back in Manila and Quezon City, everyday is always a hectic day going from place to place, trying to visit as many people as possible that you missed these past few years. Oh, yes, I saw Johnny Pacheco and family in Navotas and of course my best friend in Malabon, who is now in Bulacan. With his help, I traced an old lady neighbor when I lived in Pasig while studying. Even if I arrived almost midnight from work or school, this lady would send me a hot bowl of soup knowing how hungry I must have been. She suffered a mild stroke (she's 80 plus now), but I was surprised how her mind suddenly comes to life upon recognizing me and recalling in vivid detail our past lives, how we played with her five children. Our reunion with my family in Cabuyao was also a memorable one. I did not realize I have these many nieces, nephews, grandkids, etc, etc. It was a whole day celebration with Karaoke singing. Our old church in Cabuyao is still standing majestically as it is, only fully renovated inside. When we went to Villa Escudero, somewhere in the boundary of Laguna and Quezon, we saw Noli Cueto with some students and faculty members from UST. What a small world !!! It was a very nice place being developed as a resort facility for tourists. There was cultural presentation. We visited also a museum displaying relics from Philippines past, religiously, culturally, socio-economically and , of course, politically. The man-made dam with eatery down in the water level was really a nice treat that draws everyone down there. Even Raquel, who is on wheel chair, is down there !!!

It felt very, very good to have seen and met many contemporaries (sadly , many were gone) and knowing many were very happy upon seeing me and Raquel.

Well, it took me awhile to publish this. I have computer problem, the blog is forcing me to upgrade, so I will publish this without the pictures and the pictures will follow soon. It should be from Slide.com if I still know how to do it. ok ? Sai an jima !!!

I just manage to log in by switching to the New Blogger. Now let me see if I can post pictures here. Wish me good luck !!! Yes !!! But the pictures are in front of the article !!! I stopped after uploading only eleven pictures. This process is even slower than the original set-up ???
I think I got it now, Princess !!! That's why I was able to edit this last posting. When I updated to the New Blogger, I was asked to provide a new email address. So I used my alternate email address and gave andysusim@sbcglobal.net" . Now, Blogger is using that new email address as the new Username. And my new password is "gugol_oras" (note the underscore) since it is supposed to be a Google account. Now let me see if I can transfer my pics from Slide.com using this new Username and new password. Wish me luck !!!