Nhemskie's Haven

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!

         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 ...

A ring on the phone woke me up in the middle of my late sleeping. It was a call from the Philippines asking how we have been doing lately. It's a lazy Sunday morning in Bangkok- Cloudy skies, drizzling all morning, Tommy still on the bed and Chloe playing with her "Lucy" doll in the living room. The conversation was swift and brief. I thought of actually sleeping right after the call when suddenly thick raidrops fell outside. Below our condominium lies a university ground that is clearly visible from our condominium terrace. I felt as snug as a bug. It was like feeling home again, for the first time in years. I kept my eyes open, looking at the falling rain and seeing my little princess pretending to be a mom to her Lucy. It will be a great day, I believe.

Daddy Bear Tommy. Spiky-sports cut (this is how he says it).I believe this has been his hair-style for more than 12 years. Mommy Bear Nemie. I actually hesitated between having a perm or a short cut. I guess you know what I chose. I feel, I got "chubbier" with this cut. What do you think? Baby Bear Chloe. Chloe's grandma brought her to a nearby hair salon in the neighborhood and had her bangs cut. She really looks like a baby boy here! hihihi.

Smiling Chloe @ Shinsegae Dept. Store Rooftop Feeling cold on the top Hi James! Chloe making train cookies Hi Percy! Posing for Toby Backwards--- Fun...Fun at the Slides Working hard on balls! Chloe and her friend Ka-Hyeon Chloe after a rolling experience!

When my sister-in-law and her family came from Thailand last month, they brought me the best gift that I could ask for --- MANGOES ! Before coming, she (my sis-in-law) asked me what gift would I like to have but of course as a humble wife of her brotherㅋㅋㅋㅋ, I said she didn't really need to bring anything. I just threw a joke that she might want to give me something that reminds me of my country (coz' Thailand is a bit similar with the Philippines because of its weather) but to my surprise she brought fresh mangoes for me and Chloe. I couldn't thank her enough for bringing them so I cut and served them like the ones in the pictures with my in-laws. They were so interested on how did I cut the mangoes into halves, complementing too that it was like eating mangoes in a tropical resort abroad. Tommy was also thrilled by the sweet taste of the fruit. For him, it reminded him of our second honeymoon trip in Bangkok last 2007. For me, their tastes brought me back to the days...

Life has been smoother after the strenuous family schedule few weeks ago. There was this house moving, weekend out-of-town trip, and bidding goodbye to a family going abroad. It's kinda' easy to think this for some... but not with the JUN's. Tommy's family is quite different from other families here in Korea, as far as I know. They are really, really this kind of "close" to each other, they enjoy eating with a couple of drinks... I MEAN eating for as long as they can! I mean I know their metabolism are quite amazing even if they eat for hours and still they don't get fat but, how about ME??? (kkk) A typical get-together dinner would last for 3 hours... minimum but if you'll say it's a get-together party with some more relatives coming it would be just like until dawn! My mom-in-law has a fairly generous set of hands. Appetizers, main dish, desserts... soup for hangovers... you name it! and the list goes on and on. Our family believes like it...

Five years ago, when I was still in my home country, I never thought of what my students say when they tell me that married women here in Korea are the strongest. I, for one, had never been in to this country so, I took it only as a joke. How could have any married woman in the world be different? But since I married and came here, I found their words to be true. An "아가씨" is a single woman in Korea. Once this single woman married, she therefore enters to the world of "Ajummas." Ajummas are of no difference from any other humans, except they are wives, mothers, companions, daughters and career women-all-of-a-sort. They are believed to be 'super-humans' because of their strength... they are strongest after giving birth to their children. They are happiest with other ajummas around, singing trot music and chatting almost everything from their family lives to what side dishes to make, what Sauna is the best or where is the biggest sale in town, like that. They w...

I started the second trimester and I guess the baby is fine inside my tummy. But I do get nervous at times thinking maybe something has gone wrong...No, I shouldn't get worried about these thoughts. The urine and QUAD results are enough to say the baby is perfectly healthy inside. Lately, Tommy is getting pretty excited being a future daddy. I heard from a colleague of mine that a baby could hear their father voices more because of their fathers' "low-toned" voices. So every morning and night, Tommy almost always talk infront of my tummy... (it looks very cute and lovely ^^ I always wonder what kind of father will he be...) Still, I feel more and more pregnant... My belly is getting bigger and bigger, I have to go to the bathroom more often that I'd like to, I get hungry more than the usual, have headaches and heartburns once in a while. But at least I don't (and I hope NEVER again~)throw up nowadays. I just don't feel good whenever I brush my teeth every ...

I grieve today because we lost our precious niece. Her name is Kurt Nicole, the daughter of my youngest sis. She suffered too much pain at a very young age. Little that we knew she would go away that early... But we were very proud of her because she kept on fighting 'til the end. We'll be missing you.... mommy and daddy will surely do a lot. You'll be at peace now... no more pain. We love you... and we're truly sorry that you have suffered much. Goodbye.

It's good to be back here writing in my blog. Now where have I all been these days? Hmmmmm.. yeah, I was really busy. Time slips easily these days. Maybe it's because I had a lot of things to do... (I mean, I a ALWAYS HAVE a lot of things to do). I never notice that the year is almost ending. My dear~ I never even fulfilled my new year's resolution!!! There's a another year anyways... (too bad) I guess some pictures in my photo album will tell what I have done for the last few weeks that I never wrote anything in this blog. That would be my trip to Andong and Chungmu(the nappoli of Korea as they say). My trip to Andong was sponsored by The PWHL team where I attended some seminar about Korean culture, sex and violence, child rearing and the like together with different foreign wives here in Busan. The trip was actually more of a cultural experience more than the usual sight-seeing. They taught us to do some traditional charms and let us know more about the traditional ho...