Nhemskie's Haven

Inspired from Belle Saerae Kim-Moon segment at IOB. 1985 : Ate Nikki Daedrian Darwin and I had a Hello Kitty cake on our birthday party. That was the first birthday party that I could remember since Nanay was not really into parties. My Kuya Allen Alejandro was a photo bummer:) 1992 : Nanay generously sent me a-3.00 peso birthday allowance which I bought two rolls of bread spreaded with mayonnaise and Cheezwhiz at “ibaba.” The bread was so delicious that it was so impossible for me to resist eating them during Mommy Sylvia Cruz classes. I ended up eating them under my wooden desk during my class and left me with no snack at recess time. 1996 : It was intramurals at STC and I wore the coolest “HARD CLASS” shirt of my section, IV-St. Margarette ( Lizette Jasa , Raquel Gahol-Gregorio , Bernadette Dolor Anonuevo , Allan Abcede Alba , Moffet Alamag Sambo and so on). I woke up early, dressed up nicely (shirt tucked in my jeans) and left my Kaka’s home to wait for a ride to school...

Some days before the one-day program we had at the Busan Filipino School, I thought of teaching Chloe some starter lines from our Philippine Anthem. Me: (Singing) "Bayang Magiliw, Perlas ng Silanganan..." Chloe had tried to follow however she was struggling how to pronounce "bayang magiliw" since there's no one word-syllable sounding "ng" and "liw" in Korean... Chloe: "Mayang magiliw..." Me: No baby, it should have the B sound... "bayang"... Chloe: Okay, I'll try it again... (Rhythm fine... one deep breath) "Bayang Bagiliw"... ...hearing herself out loud we both have a good laugh. That's the spirit my baby!

It was a no ordinary Saturday for us.  It was a day we ’ d booked for a night at Citadines Heaundae Busan and a full-course dinner at Le Convive in Centum City. Honestly, I ’ ve never had expected that my favorite radio program,  Inside Out Busan , would give me these amazing prizes... really. Citadines Haeundae Hote l is conveniently located at the Busan Metro and a short walk would take anyone to the beach. Check in at Citadines starts at 3 pm and the hotel receptionist and staffs were all professional and courteous as we fill up the necessary information for the room that we have booked. We were directed at the 36 th  floor and found a little trouble with the elevator. Nevertheless, the room was clean, cozy and had a stunning view of the beach. The room that we stayed in had a kitchen with all basic kitchen utensils and a balcony meant for laundry. The bathrobes were clean and the towels were freshly piled up at the bathroom rack. Toiletries were provided as w...

Today marks another history for the Filipino people. Shall it be another six years of being in the same wretched spot or shall it commence great milestones and put Philippines back to where it was decades ago. Change is about to happen if everyone is ready for it. Funny how us Filipinos demand of great change and yet we never have tried being agents of change! I remember the Conference that I attended few years back in my teaching career in BSU regarding changes. We people tend to look at everyone to explain the problem when experiencing relational adversities. We must begin to examine ourselves and should be willing to correct whatever deficiency we have in order for change to materialize. “When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits, I dreamed of changing the world. As I grew older, and wiser, I discovered the world would not change, so I shortened my sights somewhat and decided to change only my country. But it, too, seemed immovable. As I grew into my t...