DIA DEL LIBRO 2009 En El Instituto Cervantes, Manila

- April 25, 2009 (last of 3 days of the Dia Del Libro)

- Went to the Instituto Cervantes at around 10:30am with my mom.

- When we arrived there, we browsed through the book sale, before doing anything else. When the Instituto said book sale, THEY WEREN'T KIDDING. A lot of books were just worth 20php!!!! Of course, there were some worth a hundred, 200, even to a thousand, but of course, depending on the books. A lot of well known bookstores were present such as Fully Booked and Power Books were present. Publishing Houses, such as Anvil, were also there. They all gave discounts to their books (mga 20%, ganon). Most of the books are either written in Spanish, related to Spanish (and Spain, or other Spanish-speaking nations), or a combination of both. There were also a lot of rare and/ro antique books as well (hehe, nakabili ako. Bwahahahahaha), but a lot of them were written in Spanish.

- There was also a stall selling books from the Czech Republic (courtesy of the Czech Foreign Affairs, if I'm not mistaken). The books there were written in Czech, Spanish, or French. I bought the one in French. It's because 1., it's only worth 50 php, 2., I need to flex my French skills as well. Hahahaha. By the way, the people there gave the customers a rose for each book they buy (or each time??....depends on the stall I guess)

- Scenario: Gilbert is talking to the English-speaking Filipina (you know, with the accent and such :) :) :) :) ). She's the one in charge of the stall selling books from the Czech Foreign Affairs (yung pinagbilhan ko ng book written in French)

Gilbert: Can I get this?? (refers to the booklets with European poems inside)
Young lady: Yes.
Gilbert: Are they free??
Young lady: Yes.
Gilbert: Oh great, thanks!!
Young lady: Please get more....wala kasing kumukuha eh. Hindi maubos-ubos.
Gilbert: Ok. *gets another copy for mom* Thank you :) :) :) :)

- After browsing through some books, my mom and I signed up for the 12:15 Spanish demo class and the 1:30 guided tour of the Instituto. I also signed up for the 11:45 Spanish Diagnostic Test....just to know how well I am in Spanish (though I am honest enough to say that I'm not that good, since I only know the basics)

- I went to the second floor to the Admin Office, since the diagnostic will be held there. I waited for quite some time before the staff told us (the people who would be taking the test) to go to a random room inside. We waited again for quite some time. People put out their pens while waiting for the test papers to arrive....Later....the first person was called to another room. Revelation: ORAL DIAGNOSTIC PALA....HAHAHAHA. So there, everyone basically panicked, including me.

- When my turn came, a friendly looking Spanish lady talked to me. Since my mind was still disoriented by the fact that 1., it was an oral test, 2., I don't do very well in oral tests because I get nervous, 3., I mastered the present tense and the present progressive (from Spanish class in Ateneo), though I have a knowledge of the other tenses (from self study). It was quite funny, because the things she asked me were somewhat similar to the oral exam topics back in Ateneo. Haha. I had to converse using some of the other tenses though. Yeah yeah, I know I didn't do that well in the oral diagnostic. Haha. After the test, she told me that if I would wish to enroll in the Instituto, I would be enrolled at level 9 (out of 28 levels). Hey, I guess that's not bad for a beginner like me. She gave me a piece of paper that I was supposed to show to the staff, in case I wanted to enroll. She referred the the piece of paper as "tu papelito" (your little paper). Hahahaha. I find it cute when Spanish-speaking people say things with the suffix "-ito" or "-ita" to make things small and cute. Haha.

- My mom went to the demo class alone, since the time of the oral diagnostic had a bit of conflict with the demo class time. They had a pretty Spanish teacher. Hahahaha. I waited outside the room, walked here and there, and took some snaps. After quite some time, my mom and the rest of her demo-classmates came out of the room. I immediately asked her how the class went. She showed off some of her "re-known" Spanish by asking me a few simple questions like "Como estas" and such. To my surprise, the topics discussed in the demo class were exactly the same as the topics discussed on out first day in Spanish class last second sem in Ateneo (I think ADMU adopted the Instituto way of teaching Spanish....they even adopted the book. Haha.) Well I guess I didn't miss much....because I might get bored if ever I attended the class....or not, since the Spanish teacher was pretty. HAHAHAHA.

- We went to the waiting area for the guided tour. Due to some unknown cause, the tour was delayed a few minutes....We (tour-mates) were already getting worried that the tour would not push through. Just as we were about to "give up hope", Mr. Guia Turistico (Mr. Tour Guide) went to meet us. He also happens to be the librarian of the Instituto Library. :D:D:D:D We went around the building, discovering the history of the Instituto Cervantes (from the original branch in Spain) and the Instituto Cervantes (Manila branch).

- After the tour, my mom and I watched a Spanish movie. It's entitled "Al Sur de Granada" (South from Granada). It was a fairly amusing yet dramatic film. Thanks to the power of technology, we understood the movie more through the English subtitles below. Hahahaha. :D:D:D:D

- After the movie (around 4pm I guess), my mom and I were already hungry. We had our brunch before going to the Instituto. Haha. We bought our own churros (since I took a picture of someone else's churros earlier today). While eating our churros (courtesy of Dulcinea), the European Poetry Recital Contest started. We only watched the first set of readers (foreigners and Filipinos representing European countries). After the first set of readers (the second set being Filipinos representing poems from the Philippines), my mom and I decided to go home, since it was getting late already (around 5pm).

- Overall, I lovvvvved the day so much. I felt that I was in Spain for the day, since I was surrounded by a lot of random Spanish people, and a lot of random Filipinos speaking Spanish. Hahahaha. The "Spanish" mood was also boosted by the Latina music being played throughout the day, as well as the books that were written in Spanish, and a lot of Dora the Explorer books from Power Books and Fully Booked. Haha.




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- I like the smell of the Admin Office. I don't know what scent that is, but I really really like to sniff some more of whatever scent that is.

- I also love the scent of the Instituto library. It's a different one from the Admin Office, but yeah, I love both scents.

- Instituto Candies (candies placed inside red wrappers with the Instituto seal) are WAY COOL. Hahahaha :D:D:D:D

- I saw Mr. Renan Prado at the Instituto. He's teaching Spanish in Ateneo too. He never became my teacher so I didn't call him. Even if I did, care naman niya saken, di naman niya ako kilala. Baka matakot pa, sabihin stalker ako. Hahahaha.

- As of 7pm today, my mom as asked me "Como estas?" (how are you) and "Como te llamas" (what's your name) for the nth time already. Haha. At least natuwa siya sa demo class niya. Haha :D:D:D:D

Cinq Rediscovers Manila!!!!

- (April 18, 2009) We met up in CKSC at around 8:30, but left at around 9:30. Oliver came to meet us, but he wasn't going with us. Aww. I saw Abi Uy too.

- We took the train to Central, and rode a jeep to PLM (for those who don't know, PLM is inside Intramuros). We were supposed to meet Karel there. Buti hindi kami nawala. Haha. It was our first time to commute to PLM. After centuries of waiting outside PLM, Karel came out to meet us. We talked for a while, and I decided that it would be a good idea to walk around Intramuros, since Karel's council meeting in PLM is still a "decade" away. Karel was somehow familiar with the streets of Intramuros, so she sort of became our guide. She was the road guide, and I was the info guide. Haha. (I would've brought an Intramuros map with me if we planned to go there. Haha. Well at least something to add to the day's itenerary. Haha.)

- While walking through the walled city, we first saw the Silahis Craft store. From various travel blogs and other websites that I visited beforehand, I learned that the Silahis Crafts and Antiques produced some of the best Philippine crafts in the country. Knowing this, I was thrilled to see the store. I went in (and persuaded the others to come in also), and looked at the products. Ang ganda, pero ang mahal. Sigh. Hahahaha.

- Next stop, Wow Philippines!! "Conveniently", the Wow Philippines tent featured products from Region 1 (Ilocos Region). It's funny kasi I'm from Ilocos (well, my dad's side anyway). For my companions, the products were something "cute" to look at, but for me, they were not special anymore. Hahahaha.

- After Wow Philippines, we immediately went to the Ministop branch inside Intramuros to freshen up a bit.

- After going to Ministop, Karel brought us to Luneta (Rizal Park), which we found out was right across the street. Haha. She wanted to make sure that we won't get lost. Hahahaha. She left us at the Luneta Gate (the one nearest to the Mass Comm Library in Luneta). She headed back to PLM because she was already *a few minutes* late for her council meeting. Hehe.

- First stop in Luneta was the Japanese Garden. The minimalist garden was fashioned to look Japanese. It didn't have much inside though. It had a small rock-plaque things with the face of Kwanima/Avalokishvara (I think.) It was said to be from Hiroshima. It could also be a replica. I really don't know. The plaque says "from Hiroshima". Haha.
****Admission Fee: 5 pesos per person

- Next, we planned to check out the Planetarium, but it was temporarily closed. Sighhhh. Since it was closed, we headed straight to the Chinese Garden. It was "authentic" !!. I love it :) :) :) :) Complete with ducks and geese. Haha. It also had a statue of Confucius (Kong Zi). Aside from that, the patterns painted on the walls and the ceiling were very nicely made. It gave me that "classical Chinese" feel.
****Admission Fee: 5 pesos per person

- The geese were funny. When foreigners walk pass them, they'll follow the foreigners until the foreigners are far away. When Filipinos walk pass the geese, the geese just ignore them....ergo, the geese ignored us when we walked pass them. Hahahaha.

- After leaving the garden, Jessica realized that she left her umbrella inside. Luckily, the man there was kind enough to let Jessica in without paying the entrace fee again.

- We next went to the nearby eatery in Luneta and ate lunch. We ate our lunches at the open area beside the eatery. Since most of us ordered fish, the cats started coming to us. We give the cats our fish heads and tails. Since Erlyn wasn't able to finish her fish, she gave the leftovers to the cats too. 2 of the cats even fought over the fish meat. Hey, at least they wrestled far from us. Hahahaha.

- After eating our lunch, we walked outisde Luneta and went straight to the nearby Museo Pambata (Children's Museum). It's an interactive museum made especially for kids (and kids at heart)
****Adrmission Fee: 100 pesos per person (general fee), 50% discount for Manila residents (with valid ID that shows that you're a resident), but free on Tuesdays (Manila residents with valid ID). Also, senior citizens with valid ID do not need to pay for their entrace. Street children also do not need to pay for the entrance fee (well that's nice....)

- It was the first time for my 4 companions (ever), and my first time in almost 9 years to go there. I was amazed at some of the improvements they made to the museum. We all acted as if we were little children playing around with everything we can play with. In one part, we even got to dress up in our "alternative Filipiniana" attires. We saw numerous sarongs, skirts, shirts, and other costumes lying around. Since my "cloth/tela" skills here already honed through MASCKS (Ramayana memories....), I used the clothing items, and turned me and my friends into dolls. Hahahaha. Since pretty much everything didn't fir on me, I used the sarongs and random pieces of cloth, and turned myself into a Muslim from Mindanao. Hahahaha. (refer to pictures)

- After the museum, we returned to Rizal park, and went to the other end of it. We went to see the new National Museum (not the one in the old Senate Bldg ah....).
****Admission Fee: 100pesos for adults, 30pesos for students

- We didn't have pictures inside the museum because we weren't allowed to take snaps inside.

- I like the museum, because the galleries were really nicely made (not to mention airconditioned). Personally I was fascinated also at some of the exhibits there, including the Laguna Copper Plate (I'll send a link below). The Laguna Copper Plate was one of the national treausres that I wanted to see....I never thought I'd see it in my life. Hahahaha. Well at least now, I saw the original copper plate in the National Museum. :) :) :) :)
LINK: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguna_Copperplate_Inscription

- After leaving the museum, we walked for a few minutes until we reached the UN LRT Station. We went home *super* tired and sunburnt, but it was fun. I think it would be better if we did this in the "-ber" months, so we don't really have to endure under the hot sun. Kunti na lang gumapang na kami sa lupa sa init eh....di lang namin ginawa kasi pati yung sahig mainit din. Haha.

- By the way....total amount of gastos for the day??....300PESOS. :) :) :) :)



** Pics were from my cam, Jessica's, Bless's, Erlyn's and Nathalie's.... :) :) :) :)

*PICTURES ARE COMPLETE*

This Is How We Bug People Having Their OJT....Haha....*VERSION 2009*....

- Went to see neighbor Bless around 11:20am. After that, we headed for Shakey's Masangkay.

- Knowing that Shakey's serves food a bit slowly, we ordered first, and waited for Jessica to come and see us.

- After a few minutes, Jessica arrived from Metropolitan Hosp, where she's currently having her OJT.

- We ate, and talked about the lives of other people. HAHAHAHA. In short, CHIKA.

- After lunch, Bless and I accompanied Jessica back to Metro. We enjoyed looking at Jessica with her lab gown on. "Professional looking" daw. Haha. Terence was also there, having his OJT. (If you've been looking through my photos for the past how many months, Nellie and I bugged Terence last summer, while he was having his OJT in another drugstore.)

- Bless and I stayed in Metro for a while, enjoying the "free" airconditioning "services", while looking at Jessica and her OJT-mates, and talking 'once again' about the lives of other people. Hahahaha. Bless and I left at around 2:30pm, since Bless needed to go somewhere else with her family at 3.

- It was a "calm" afternoon. Hmm, a *different* getaway for once. Hahahaha.

Cinq's "Little-Much" Holy-day In Holy Week............

- April 8, 2009, RP

- Eric invited me last night to watch a movie with Kim Carmela to "celebrate" Kim's freedom from her toxic schoolwork in UP Manila.

- Eric and I rode the train around 1:30pm, and met Carmela in National Bookstore in RP.

- Knowing that the movie was about 1.5 hours later, we strolled around the mall, and settled in Razon's in the Padre Faura Wing. I ate their halo-halo, since it had no beans and ube. Obviously, I hated beans and ube (except ube cake....).

- After eating my halo-halo, we went to buy our movie tickets. I ordered a bucket of popcorn, so we'd have something to munch on during the movie. By the way, we watched Mosters VS Aliens (my second time....haha). Anyway, a red bucket was somewhere on the counter....for some odd reason. Eric thought that I cought the red bucket. Silly silly Eric. Haha.

- The movie was still funny, even if it was my second time to watch it :D:D:D:D

- After the movie....I craved for food....again. We walked around Midtown, and came across with a sort of "French" themed restaurant named "Pink Pepper". No one was inside....since it was a car restaurant....assuming that the place came alive at night. The prices of the food were totally barbaric as well. The food there were expensive. The pizzas though, are sort of "normally priced", so we decided to try their pizzas.

- Inside the restaurant, we ordered a salmon pizza. While waiting for our order, a waitress arrived with salt, pepper, and a bottle of French olive oil, with various herbs, peppers and chilis in the bottle. The words in the bottle were written in French. Since Eric and Carmela couldn't decipher the words on the bottle, I had a go. I managed to come up what the words meant, since I've been studying French (alongside other languages....) for quite some time now. YEY....hindi nasayang yung mga pinag-aaralan ko. Sure, I might not have gotten all the words....pero I made sense naman. Haha....

- We only had water to drink, so we wouldn't have to shell out extra dough. Since we wanted to "sound" fancy, we referred to the glasses of water as "glasses of white wine". HAHA....**....wild imagination....**

- After eating, I told them that I wated to eat at McDonald's....since I'm craving for fastfood food. We headed towards McDonald's, and chatted till we decided to head back home.

- Eric and I rode the train home, while Carmela rode the bus home.

- I was a nice afternoon, and a nice way to break myself from glueing my butt to the chair, and sticking my eyes in front of the computer watching random youtube videos all the time. Haha. :D:D:D:D

- Cheers :) :) :) :)

MARDI (DIMANCHE) GRAS: JEZELLE CHENG'S 18TH!!!!

- April 5, 2009, Greenhills West Clubhouse, 7pm

- went to Jen's house (diyan lang siya sa taas namin) around 10 to 5pm....

- waited for Rachel for uhh....an hour?? Haha....

- when Rachel arrived....talk talk kami until we arrived at Greenhills. Buti na lang may Skyflakes si Rachel....I was super duper gutom na kasi....

- When we got inside, I saw the Yogurt stand somewhere in neverland. I asked Deborrah to accompany me to the stand. Sabi ni ate, we were allowed to get our free yogurt cups already. Of course....gutom nga....kaya I got mine already. While I was on my way to our table, lumingon ako palikod. Ayon....MAHABA NA AGAD PILA SA YOGURT STAND....yan....pakapalan lang kasi ng face eh....haha....

- Then, there was this sizzling beef platter. Lahat ata ng table binigyan puwera kami....so I asked the waiter for our platter. Hahahaha...."We feel so prejudiced. Haha."

- Later naman, yung iced tea....mga 3 times akong nag-ask sa iba't ibang waiter for iced tea....kasi....kami lang ulit yung walang iced tea....binigyan nga yung iba samin....tapos hindi ako binigyan. HAHAHAHA....Debo was kind enough to give her iced tea to me....she needed to go somewhere kasi, kaya hindi na niya maiinom. Haha....

- There was a performance by Jezelle and friends....

- The food was superb....I didn't get the tongue nga lang....I don't eat lengua eh....No me gusta comer la lengua....

- Ang unique ng debut niya....this was the first time that I encountered a dance competition (with dance instructors pa) in a debut. Hahahaha....Sayang hindi nanalo si Catherine....we all thought she would win....Pero si Gerald nanalo sa men's category....DI BA?!?! Haha....

- They also had the typical "how-well-do-you-know-the-debutant" contest. Parang pera o bayong yung dating niya....well I joined that one....and I lost. Hahahaha....sayang. Pero ok lang....may "lifetime supply" of mentos for the consolation prize. Hahahaha.... :D:D:D:D

- Meron din palang photobooth....well....yun na....the name says it all. Haha....

- The last performance was nice as well.... :D:D:D:D

- Then ayon, some of Jezelle's relatives (ata) were teasing Jezelle's mom....then sabi ni auntie na she'll sing, as long as sasayaw kami after siya kumanta.....so deal....haha....she sang "Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin"....haha....YAY :D:D:D:D....

- After everything else, we went home na. Somewhere along the way, Rachel told us that the host was Chubi del Rosario....For those who may or may not remember him....he was a teen actor in GMA some years ago. Ka-love team ata ni Anne Curtis, as Rachel said....I didn't recognize him in the party because he was so much whiter in person than in the telly. He had long hair and wore glasses as well.

- When we arrived at our building around 12+, Jimmy got off the car as well. Susunduin pala siya sa house namin ng mom niya. Jen and I waited with Jimmy, para may kasama siya. After a few minutes, another car arrived....then, Deborrah got off the car. I told Debo to wait with us na lang....the more the merrier nga. I noticed Deborrah's shawl....then she told me that she didn't wear her shawl at the party. She only wore it because it was cold in the car. I played around with her shawl....and tuenrd the shawl into a hijab (or a jilbab....basta yung iniikot sa head ng mga Muslim women). YAY....

- Fun fun night....I became fatter....again....YAY!!!!