Nhemskie's Haven

The Night Musical Fountain Shows are back on again this year!  Dadaepo Sunset Fountain of Dreams is a must-see tourist attraction at the western Busan. The fountain was a Guinness World Records in 2010 for the world's largest fountain. It is a stunning display of light, sound and water choreographed to popular Korean and English music. Located near Dadaepo Beach, this musical fountain is easy to reach via subway (Dadaepo Station) and a must-last-stop to include in your sunset road, Dadaepo Beach walk itinerary. It's worth the visit and most importantly, it's FREE!  Running Period:  Saturday, April 30 – Sunday, October 30, 2022 (※ No show on Mondays) Address: 사하구 몰운대1길 14 (다대동)  Timings:  Spring (April), Fall (September-October)  Weekdays (Tue. – Fri.) 7:30pm (20mins)  Weekends & Holidays 7:30pm (30mins), 8:30pm (20mins)  Summer (May-August)  Weekdays (Tue. – Fri.) 8:00pm (20mins)  Weekends & Holidays 8:00pm (30mins), 9:00pm (20...

Lee, Linda. The Red Candy  Book Launching.2019.JPEG file. The Red Candy is the first illustrated Children's book of Ms. Linda A Lee in Kinaray-a and English that is gorgeously illustrated and wonderfully told. Front Photo of Linda Lee's Ang Dulce nga Pula.2019.JPEG file. Mimi the young girl of this charming and vibrantly illustrated story loves eating the red, sweet and stringy candy that leaves that glossy red tint on her lips. After convincing her mother, Minda, to give her money to buy some paper needed for school, she bought the money for her favorite sweet and traded guava for paper instead. That night Mimi had a nightmare after eating all the candies she bought and went to bed without brushing her teeth. She dreamt being chased by a gigantic talking worm wearing a tooth crown with scary fangs. But when she understands how horrible it felt when the monster gnawed her teeth, it was then Mimi was awaken by her mom and learns the importance of regular brushi...

JUN, NEMIE. John Denver Meeting.2019.JPEG file. Social media and online games are today's virtual playground. It goes without saying that the convenience of posting photos or videos online is simply undeniable, We've all probably seen someone being targeted by people with malicious comments and being judged at social media exchanges. Arden Rod Condez debut feature film "John Denver Trending" at the 2019 Busan International Film Festival prods the dangers of social media to us and to the modern youth. Set in the rural area of Pandan in the province of Antique, a teenage boy named John Denver was ostracized and condemned after an uploaded video of him impulsively fighting back a false charge went viral. The film shows multifaceted and complex issues - inequality, cyber bullying, and platforms of media manipulation. A teenager who is fragile, less resilient and thoughtless by nature becomes so much overwhelmed and distressed by the consequences of his abru...

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...

I went to work this morning knowing a thousand tasks shall greet me at the doorstep of our office. As most of all my friends know, I've switched my more-than-a-decade career of teaching to the world of sedentary office working. I am now working in a medical exporting firm, in charge of the overseas business sales. Everything is quite new to me and I do acknowledge that it shall still be a very long way for me to know everything in this new job. Today is quite special since I shall visit our bank and submit all the papers that are needed for our negotiation with Yemen and Qatar. I shall meet a new bank section head today and hopefully introduce myself as the Import Department Manager of our company. Smooth and easy. I did dress up for the occasion knowing that manners and etiquette are part of the business deal. My face has been prettily adored with shades of red. Hair well kempt. And just as I thought everything was going to be perfect, a bad news came ...

Tommy and I are faced with a serious dilemma of facing another galling part of our lives --- moving on and this time it means everything to us. Moving back to Korea and facing a new life there entail another 'Korean Life' is a big problem in the making. Being a wife to Tommy,  a mom to Chloe, a teacher in a foreign land, an only daughter-in-law to my in-laws and a filipino expat... all myriad of possibilities can happen. I'm worried that what we 'have' right now isn't enough. I'm worried that what we had experienced here in Bangkok (the freedom and carefree life that we have for one and a half years) would always linger in ourt thoughts. I'm afraid of the stress I'd get since Tommy decided to embark his stock trading path. I'm afraid that the Korean society isn't ready yet for multi-cultural families like us. I'm afraid of falling below the expectations of my family. I'm just so afraid of failing... and everything what stores in the f...

Bangkok is very similar to the Philippines when it comes to weather and food. There are thousands of reasons to love in Bangkok. But among them, what I love here t he most is the food. Food here in Bangkok is quite similar to the ones in the Philippines. One distinct similarity is its sweetness and richness of desserts. In Korea, where I've stayed one third of my life, fruit eaten with rice would be a disastrous match. However, in Thailand and even in the Philippines, they are very common. Let me give you the honor of introducing the luscious desserts that I've been enjoying right now. Lovely... isn't it!

Chloe's 5th Birthday @ Ichi Ban Sea Food Restaurant (Korean age 6) The 41st King's Cup Thailand VS Korea Chloe and her playmate Pi Ppo A Swan boat ride the day before Chloe's 5th Birthday at Queen Sirikit Park Chloe was very excited to see her grandma and aunties from Korea this summer!    

Everything's a mess now here in Bangkok. We've been tensed all month long preparing for the flooding that has never actually happened in our place inner Bangkok, not yet for now, some government officials say. The first issue that I've been having right now is water. Since we've been getting our water from Nestle Pure Life which factory is located in Ayudthaya, we can't find bigger bottles of water nowadays in convenience stores or big marts around. Hopefully everything is going to be back on its normal state or else... we'd be relocated somewhere else

Question : "The measure of your success is how much money you make." Do you agree or disagree with this statement? If you disagree, is there another way to define success? If you agree, why is money the best way to define sucess? Give specific reasons and examples to support your answer.      People generally relate success to how much money they make. People who believe this to be true might argue that this is because everything in this world revolves around money. However, in my opinion, there's so much more to success rather than just money. I would define success as how close a person is from achieving his or her goal and how satisfied that person is with his or her life.      To begin with, money is not everything in life and there are things that people can't buy with money. It might seem true that wealth can bring one a step closer to achieving one's dream, but when that's the case...

     Tommy knew, even before we got married, that cooking wasn't my cup of tea. We even came to an agreement that I'd just be serving him kimchi everyday which made him reconsider his proposal for marriage...LOL. I actually never went out of my cooking comfort zone (frying -- which I found to be the best skill I have so far next to slicing ripe mangoes) not after I came to Korea.      So before you make a grave mistake of doing this recipe, I'm suggesting you to think twice before you seriously do it.      The recipe is quite easy for a trying hard cook like me. Here it is: Lotus Roots Boiled in Soy Sauce ( 연근조림 - Chloe's Favorite) Ingredients: 450g of Lotus Roots 1 spoon of Vinegar (I use Apple Vinegar) For the Sauce (Mix them together in a bowl then set aside) 1 1/2 cup of water 1/2 cup of soy sauce ( I use the Korean brands, or Kikoman will also do) 3...

         Lightnings flashed and thunder filled the whole sky. The monks in a northern Thailand province were bewildered to find one of their monuments struck by the lighning. Looking closely to this chedi, they discovered  a Buddha statue covered with plaster inside it. The monks took the statue quickly and brought it to the abbot's  residence where it was safely kept.      Days after the incident, the abbot suddenly espied that the stucco on the Buddha's nose had flaked off. He took a good look at it and saw a green image beneath. He removed carefully all the stucco that covered it --- He was stunned to see that the Buddha statue was green!  The Emerald Buddha      In 2006 when Tommy and I had our second honeymoon trip in Thailand. We booked our trip with an agency and had a ...