Sunday, 20 May 2007

Harvest, Cash and Carry in Strawberry Fields

 
 
 
 


"Let me take you down 'cause I'm going to Strawberry fields
Nothing is real and nothing is getting to hung about,"
but this was something; it was real one and half hour looking
for the ripe, deliciously looking and tempting fruitlets and
of course, munching in between which is the attractive bonus of
this kind of harvest your own fruits sales practised in German
farms or fields offering seasonal fruits like cherries and
strawberries. It was a multi-tasking effort: taking photos,
searching for ripe berries,nibbling,listening to Russian, or
Polish? and Turkish languages swirling between rows
of Fragaria vesca or European strawberries.

I paid 9Euro for 5 kilos of self-harvested strawberries and did
a brief interview with the woman who is managing this small
harvest and cash strawberry fields near my village. Nothing of
those questions how much does she earn (not yet though) but she
gladly answered my strawberry related questions: she comes from
Romania,and they normally replant the fields after three years,
and they would sell the berries until end of June. Aha, enough
time to ask her relevant strawberry-related questions and start
a Filipina-Romanian suki relationship in these German strawberry
fields.

Tip: Do bring a compact to check trace of exaggerated
sampling before you present the basket of your labour. Good that
they have not thought of weighing people before and after
entering the fields...

Pinay von Strawberrymania
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, 17 May 2007

Father's Day in Alemanya



To be a successful father, there is one absolute rule:
'when you have a kid, don't look at it for the first two years'.

Ernest Hemingway

Wednesday, 16 May 2007

I Really Don't Want to Blog Today Day



Tja, after getting up nearing eleven this morning, I
resolved that I won't come near my notebook today.
Basta! Enough of these sleepless nights searching for
interesting pages, Pinay bloggers in diaspora and
trying to understand what RSS Feed means. I can't even
post my photo in my profile so why should I bother
to learn about XML Format and trackbacks.
Reality Check: I will just read emails from dear friends
who loyally send me chain of letters, jokes and spiritual
reminders. Why, at least, these senders I know are made
of blood and flesh with mind and heart and not just email
addresses, and we will soon be sitting together for a dinner
or discuss themes in which we all believe in i.e. women
empowerment, development, migration and integration. Believe
in the sense that it will also appeal to our funders and our
network members. Harinawa!

And so I opened this email from Lina G. with a warning that she
is forwarding it to me for the sake of fun. There he is, this
David Copperfield (have you received your forward?)teasing
me to pick a card and just look at his eyes. Let me see, I
was telling myself and waited either for a trick or treat after
rolling down the whole page.
And wow! Fantastic, simply unbelievable and I am really
amazed how it ended.
If you get this as forward, let me know if Copperfield's
hynoptic eyes have no effect in you. If you cheated, let
me know your trick, please, please!

Actually, today is I really don't want to blog today.

Tuesday, 15 May 2007

If it's Monday, it is Aldi Day! and Nice Neighbors


I bumped into one of my nice woman neighbors yesterday afternoon
after doing my Monday grocery in this now famous 'if it's Monday
or Thursday, then it is Aldi Day' supermarket where one buys not
only canned goods and computers but also books tours or holidays
to USA, Africa or anywhere in Asia. I still have to check if the
supermarket in my village beats the Ethnic tariffs offered by many
tour and travel agencies to full or half-blooded Filipinas and Filipinos
and their partners and children. I did not buy any holiday tour package
but bought a universal homeware which unifies all Aldi shoppers,
rich or poor, employed or unemployed, sports car owners or joggers,
and with this ware, I mean the ever helpful rolls of toilet papers.
Well, come to think of it, it is indeed, a very unifying factor,
an egalitarian domestic ware which is found now in all sizes and
shapes of German-made bathrooms including the johns, naturally.
Ooops, I forgot one globalization issue here. Many stuffs are no
longer produced in expensive Germany but imports from different
"cheap" production zones either in Europe or China.

But back to my Nice Neighbor...
I said nice neighbor because she is, indeed, a nice person...as in
nice person and married to another nice husband. All the niceties
one could wish for when you are living in an apartment complex.
Why am I writing this piece? Well, she gave me two bottles of really
exquisite tasting barrique aged redwine after this spontaneous
meeting in front of our apartment. Talking of ideal, nice neighborhood.

They also showed me yesterday their newly purchased Mac notebook;
my heart sank with envy...the other man's grass is always greener
syndrome momentarily overwhelmed me, that piece of Apple I wanted
so much since I've learned how to use the mouse.

So after the small talks and reassuring them that I would not
attempt to ride freely in their newly installed Wilan connection,
I invited them to visit my blogs. So now you could imagine
why the sudden love your neighbor as you love yourself posting
here.

Now, I am thinking of getting a new blog...blog without my
dear nice neighbors knowing about their equally nice
Pinay Kapitbahay blog.com.

Pinay von Alemanya

Sunday, 13 May 2007

Women Rule the World




EuroVision Song Contest

This is the English version of the
German entry to this year's Eurovision
Singing Competition which was held in Helsinki
last May 12, the eve before Mother's Day
in Germany.We have one woman chancellor but
the song placed only 19th. Lugi daw ang Alemanya
according to the local headlines the next day.

Frauen Regier'n Die Welt
Women Rule the World

Even in school the other boys would laugh
But it didn't matter to me a bit
She was so sweet and her legs were so long
I went to her ballet class for almost a year

When I found out she wanted to save the environment
I sewed "No thanks"on my parka
Back then she didn't care about any of that
But since then I know who rules the world

The way they talk and the way they stand
And how they look at you
Your wallet and your heart open right up
And then you buy a ring and a mink
All it takes is a sexy glance
To make you change your politics
It's not a boss of an action hero
A country or Mafia money
It's women who rule the world

They pull out all they stops,
from flirtatious to naive
As babies, they've already got their father
under control
They give you everything when they want something
And you bang your head against the wall when they pout

You make a fool of yourself and take abuse,
Just so the chicks of glance your way one time
They build up Beckham and topple Clinton
Without even starting a political party

The way they talk and the way they stand...

Comment ko: I really did not stay at home to watch
this yearly spectacular in May but rather went to see
a film. But I had seen this singer performing
in a German television last IWD, International Women's
Day this entry song. Instant Comment: Ay Sos!
Nangaya na naman ang mga Aleman. Talo 'to tiyak, I
instantly thought. So talo nga si Swinging Cicero.
I saw the semi-finals (in tv of course) and I was for
Hungary, Serbia and the song with the dancing Turkish women
impressed me. I really go for ethnic stuffs, they show
somehow a distinctive culture and not only copies
of clips we normally see in N-TV. It gets boring somehow.
Some entries, I thought they must be in the wrong stage; this
is a singing competition and not a search for the biggest
skupltured breasts and best swinging Hospitality Girls!
Well, for German Cicero...he could pass for a model for Persil
washing powder.

And the Winner is....from Serbia, and I think she really has
a voice sans swinging and décolletage.

Marija Serifovic
Song: Molitva

I'm wide awake
An empty bed drives my dreams away
Life melts like ice
Disappears in the twinkling of an eye

I'm losing my mind
Pushing reality out of sight
Our lips are touching softly
You're the one I believe blindly

I walk around like crazy
Falling in love frightens me
Days are like wounds
Countless and hard to get through

Prayer...
It burns my sore lips like a fire
Prayer...
Thy name is something I admire
Heavens knows just as well as I do
So many times I have cried over you
Heaven knows just as well as I do
I pray and live only for you

I can't lie to God
as I kneel down and pray
You're the love of my life
That's the only thing I can say

A Mother Within Us

 
 

Network of the Imaginary Mother

Blessed be my brain
that I may conceive of my own power.
Blessed be my breast
that I may give sustenance to those I love.
Blessed be my womb
that I may create what I choose to create.
Blessed be my knees
that I may bend so as not to break.
Blessed be my feet
that I may walk in the path of my highest will.

Robin Morgan

As a special feature for the celebration of Mother's Day, today
May 13, second Sunday in May,I am posting these photos
of Matryoshki (Nesting Dolls)a souvenir but definitely
no dust collectors from our travel to St. Petersburg.


Happy Mother's Day!
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Thursday, 10 May 2007

Fit than Fat!



The Culprits!

Finally, when the rain came, Germans were not talking anymore
about the weather. Now, there is the new threat facing the whole
future of this society...fat children, fat men, fat women.
Dicke Deutsche! Fat Germans! Although the fatty years with the
social benefits are gone, the unwanted fat covering about 2/3
of men and 53% of women in Germany remains. That is another
translation from the news taken from the suedeutsche.de
Hey, it says men and women from Germany, so it could mean you
and me and not only the ...where did I read that definition...
fat, ugly, beefy...Gs.

Another article claims that in Europe about
20% of all school kids are overweight. Who is the culprit?
TV commercials are to be blamed for this development according
to this pro-heart advocacy group. About 20 ads of food and other
tempting goodies with high fat and sugar contents are being
flashed per hour, and therefore, children should be protected
from such commercials.

Fitt statt Fett is the Five-Point Plan
of the duo Ulla Schmidt(SPD), Minister for Health and
Horst Seehofer(CSU) Minister for Consumption and Agriculture
(I refuse to make the association fat pigs produce fat Germans?)
to improve Germans' eating habits and physical exercises until
the year 2020 and simultaneously stop children's tendency
to become overweight.

So calling all mothers, blogging or not, single parents or what,
how do I keep my kids cute, fit than fat, healthy looking with
my/our own weakness for dougnuts, white wine and chips while
watching TV,chatting or googling my favorite recipes for
brownies, buco pies and salads?

Wednesday, 9 May 2007

What is a Philippine Election?

Cross Posting from Balita-USA

What is a Philippine election?
It all begins when the country's brightest, most highly qualified
inhabitants, the young dynamic professionals, citizens who
have the potential to make good leaders get together and
examine the country's problems, the state of politics and
the long-term national prospects.

What happens next?
They decide to emigrate.

And after that?
Another group of bright people get together.

What do they do?
They also emigrate.

And then?
And so on and so forth.

What does any of this have to do with a Philippine election?

When talented, smart and highly qualified potential leaders
leave the country all the time, who are you left with?
Retired basketball players? Toilet comedians? Bad actors
and actresses? Spoiled vicious rich kids?
Ageing and debauched hermaphrodites? You're ready to hold
a Philippine election.

How important are elected officials to the Philippines?
Nobody's been able to figure out an answer to that one.

What's at stake in a Philippine election?

Prizes and surprises! Millions in cash! Dream houses!
The vacations of your choice! Fun for the entire family!
That's from the politician's point of view.

How many positions are waiting to be filled in the
coming elections?

About 17,000 public offices and a still undetermined
number of graves.

So it's like a lotto?

Sort of, except that when you lose you could lose your life.

Who are qualified to run?
Anyone at all! Generally, any person of any citizenship
who's alive, of a certain age, good character and able
to summon a mob huge enough to intimidate the Supreme Court.

What kind of candidates have the most chances of winning?
ARTISTS who have the CONFIDENCE of the people.

You mean a con artist, don't you?
You said it, we didn't.

Who are qualified to vote?
Those willing to be bussed around and go a hard day's work
visiting a lot of precints during election day.

Talk about parties in the Philippines.
Everybody loves going to parties in the Philippines.

No, Political parties.
Oh! Well, in the past there used to be only two parties,
the Liberalistas and the Nacionalistas. Now there are
several dozens, but they still all fall under two main
parties: the Sosyalites and the Opportunitas.

What's the difference between the two parties?
Sosyalites love parties. Opportunitas will join any.

Explain what this year's presidential elections is all about?

Did you hear the one about the murderer, the thief, the
incompetent and the idiot?

No, is that a joke?
That's the presidential election.

You're a cynical bastard, aren't you?
No, no, no, we're not running for office.

Why are there so many international observers who come to
a Philippine election?

They're fascinated by all the strange phenomena which
accompany it.

What are you talking about?

Miracles are a dime dozen during election here. Vicious
criminals suddenly become saintly leaders. Voters fly.
The dead cast their ballots. Morons become national
leaders.

Why is the Church so closely involved in elections?
They're also interested in studying the miracles. Also,
priests are needed to administer the last sacraments
to all the people who're killed.

Philippine elections sound like they're really violent
and bloody.

Not really. Not more than several dozen die on the average.
Why that's only a teensy fraction of the population! And
everything blows over after election day, so the country
can bet back to its usual kidnapping, wholesale graft,
hostage taking and coup attempts.

How clean are Philippine elections?
Let us put it this way: If Philippine elections were your
house, you wouldn't want to live in it.

What are guns, goons and gold?
Three traditional important elements of a successful election.
There's a new one: film credits.

How come this pamphlet doesn't include a question that goes
why can't all candidates just jump in the lake?

That question looks like it was just gratuitously put into
this article for every naughty purposes. We decline to answer it.

How can you tell an election outcome is suspicious?
Power failures in very specific rooms where the counting is
taking place. Numbers that start losing zeroes as the days go by.

Can't the candidates, out of the goodness of their hearts, put
a stop to crooked election?

You are really ARE from another planet, aren't you?

---Shared by Col. Romy Monteyro

Posting is taken from BALITA-USA

Tuesday, 8 May 2007

For Birthday Celebrants 8th of May



...this marvelous moment for women, they should
remember that one of the gifts they have is that they
remained so very close to the personal life, and that the
qualities that were discovered in the personal life,
the value of human life, the value of tenderness,
attentiveness to others' moods, the need for compassion
and pity and understanding, the things that women
practice everyday in their daily lives, in their
small kingdoms, are enormously important.
Anais Nin

Happy Birthday, Dear Hermie, Dear Edith,
Wish you many returns of lovely years!
Cheers! Baci!

Saturday, 5 May 2007

Ligawan (Courting) Ala Aleman with a Maibaum




Yes, there is such thing as ligawan in Germany
even if we hear many interesting things about
the 'unromantic' Teutonics, but I would add some
German guys to avoid massive protests from
Pinay friends who would delare their boyfriends,
partners or husbands are exceptions to the rule...
ooops cliché.

Was doing a mini powerwalk this morning when I passed by my
neighbor's house and saw this huge decorated Maibaum out of
a birch tree standing in front of their so-called Reihenhaus.
Reihenhaus means residences or houses built in a row.

Pausing to look at the Maibaum, I realized that
my neigbor's teen-aged daughter must have now a suitor
who wishes to declare his love through this Maibaum or maypole
decorated with colorful paper bands which reminded
me of decorative papers back home we called 'papel
de Japon'. I wonder how these papers are now named. Papel
de China? Papel de Globalization?

Or she must have a boyfriend as I can not imagine that
young guy ordering this huge birch tree taking all that
trouble without a secured collateral. Or is this Maibaum
a joint project of her admirers to share costing?

If this would be a tradition back home, I could imagine
that in the courting time of my older sister, she would have
had a forestry in front of our house. And during the
wooing tradition time of my grandmother, her best suitor
would have had enough trees to chop for his 'paninilbihan' or
courting service before the wedding.

But don't you get wild imagination that German Romeos
would personally chop, fetch and put a Maibaum
in front of the house of their 'inamorata.' Tree chopping
is naturally verboten, and maypoles like many other
commodities could be ordered in all sizes for fast
delivery and well, for lack of the right verb...
erection on the eve of May 1.

Note: Maibaum photo with a woman is taken
from website of WDR.

Friday, 4 May 2007

Pinoys' 'Award-itis"

I found this email in one of my egroups and would like to cross
post here in this blog.

Pinoy's severe case of 'award-itis'(and our perpetual
search for Mr. and Miss Pancit, Pinakbet, Bangus, Tinapa USA
World and Universe).

Filipino communities in various parts of the world, especially
in the US, love to give awards to each other in addition
to staging dinner dances that also feature the search
for Miss Tinapa of Los Angeles or Mrs. Mabalahibo of
San Francisco.

We are guilty of these maladies, 'beauty pageant-itis'and
'award-itis.' On virtually any weekend, a Filipino
community somewhere in America is honoring, for example,
the most outstanding Filipino-American water filter salesman
of the year or Mr. Balikbayan Box Salesman of the Year USA.

I have attended an event where folks gave each other awards.
These people basically took turns standing up and presenting
each other with a plaque until everyone had one. I did not
know whether to laugh or to cry about the absurdity of the
situation.

The plus side of these awards and beauty pageants is that
supposedly they raise funds for worthy causes. Magpapatayo
ng million dollars community center daw. Sana nga but most
of the time they only earn about close to a thousand dollars
at best. This means they will have to do a lot more of
this absurd events. See the vicious cycle perpetuated here?

Yes, there are several awards that are prestigious, given
by people with impeccable credentials. However, these awards
by respectable organizations are outnumbered by recognition
events staged by organizations of dubious integrity or by
personalities out to seek glory for themselves.

The glut of these awards events and beauty contests has
reached ridiculous proportions. As a result, a lot of
people, especially in the Fil-Am community, don't take
these occasions seriously. Except the people who are
busy giving awards to each other.

by
Ruben Napales
Freelance Writer
National Inquiry

I was emailing back Ms. Anita not to get so upset
with such postings. What I find disturbing is
the indifference of many OFS or migrants on the situation
back home. Hay naku, many would say, talagang wala nang
magagawa dyan sa Pilipinas and they would start with
the litany of corruption, abuses, high prices and all
the other "Hiobsbotschaft" bad news coming from the
home country. It makes you really so sad and so
angry. But we know that we do not stop in just
being angry.
I told Ms. Anita that as long as Ms. Tinapa
and Mr. Bagoong and the organizers of such events
share a part of their earnings to any good cause
back home, I would not mind them having fun. We just
have to be critical as to how they spend our donations.
Transparency and decency should be kept alive together
with other Filipino values which are so many that
if every Filipino would keep them, we would be
awarded with the most saintly living citizens the
world has known. In the meantime, I am running out
of convincing excuses when my in-laws ask me why is this
going on in your country?

Pina von Alemania

Tuesday, 1 May 2007

Reminiscing in May


Maikäfer ...My Avatar in May

Summer Holiday
Manga at Suman
Siniguelas at Sabong sa Ilokos Sur
May duhat pa at bagoong
Flores de Mayo
Paalay
Tabang Mayo
Salagubang ng kuya ko
Second Sunday - Mother's Day
May 8 - Liberation Day
May Day! May Day!
May you be blessed with abundance in life
Maikäfer
Maibaum
Labor Day
Kilusang Mayo Uno
When Bee Gees
were singing
when I was small, and Christmas trees were tall
do do do do do do do do do
May 06 - Birthday of my bayaw
will have some wine
May 8 birthday ni Edith, ni Hermie
They will cook pansit
partnered with chicken sandwich
May 17 Ascension Day
May 13 birthday ni Noor
May 23 ni Antonia Marikit
First rain in May
No showers in April
No flowers in May
Maibowle
so sweet nakakalasing
Santacruzan, Reyna Elena
is the daughter of the town mayor
who is running for
May 14 Philippine election
if he wins
he will give away free beer
for one month plus the
hand of his "lovely" son
turned daughter
In May my favorite poem
The Rhodora
by Ralp Waldo Emerson
"In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals, fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,
Then Beauty is its own excuse for being:
Why thou wert there, o rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask, I never knew:
But, in my simple ignorance, suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there brought you.

May and soon
follows June.

Pinay wishing her name is Rhodora Maria von Alemania

Saturday, 28 April 2007

Contemporary Indonesian Art Exhibition in Cologna

 
Rudi Mukahar, Girls'Talk
 
Rudi Mukahar, I Miss You
 
I Wayan Sudiarta, Last Episode of Legong Merah

A collection of contemporary Indonesian paintings is
on exhibition at the Projektraum, Alte Feuerwache
Melchiorstrasse 3, Cologne City from April 27 - 29, 2007.

Aryaseni Gallery
of Singapore is presenting some works of Indonesian artists:
Antoni Eka Putra, Gusti Alit, Marsoyo, Narko Hanjaya, Suharmanto,
Suklu,Wayan Sudiata, Rudi Mukahar and Zam Kamil.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday, 22 April 2007

The Week About Children

 
 
 
 

As a especial feature for this theme "Kinder sind Zukunft",
(rough translation: Children Are Our Future)
I would like to post this poem about children. I saw this poem
for the first time during the World Conference on Women in Beijing in
1995 and since then, it has been sent, posted, forwarded in the
cyberspace. Author is Unknown.

CHILDREN LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE

If children live with CRITICISM
They learn to CONDEMN
If children live with HOSTILITY
They learn to FIGHT
If children live with RIDICULE
They learn to BE SHY
If children live with SHAME
They learn to FEEL GUILTY

If children live with TOLERANCE
They learn to BE PATIENT
If children live with ENCOURAGEMENT
They learn to HAVE CONFIDENCE
If children live with PRAISE
They learn to APPRECIATE
If children live with FAIRNESS
They learn JUSTICE
If children live with SECURITY
They learn to HAVE FAITH
If children live with APPROVAL
They learn to LIKE THEMSELVES
If children live with ACCEPTANCE and FRIENDSHIP
They learn to FIND LOVE IN THE WORLD.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, 19 April 2007

Re-learning Women's Solidarity from the Elephants




"Gott, ist der süüüß! Oh God, how cute!" writes one local newspaper,
was the most heard expression when the newly born elephant was
presented to the public at the Cologne City Zoo last Tuesday, April 17.

If Berlin has its star Knut, the cuddly polar bear, Cologne has also its
own mega attraction, the elephant calf, son of Mother Elephant Tong Koon.
Sharing the same birthday with the present pope, the elephant calf is
now being christened unofficially as Benedetto.

The excitement at the zoo from Monday to Tuesday reached me
through hubby`s blow-by-blow account of the birth of the mini jumbo.
"Did you know that cows were assisting in the delivery of that
baby elephant?" hubby asked me last Tuesday morning.
"What are the cows doing in there?" I asked back.
"Those are the female elephants," he patiently explained. "They
cordoned off the mother elephant until she gave birth and
protected the calf all the time, no kind of assistance from the
zoo helpers," he continued.
"of course," I retorted, "female solidarity, what else?" while thinking
of my next posting title "Re-learning Women´s Solidarity from
the Elephants." And to be more scientific, I googled for reasons
why female elephants are manifesting more
damayan or solidarity than some female groupings I know.
Here are some findings from the San Diego Zoo
"Both African and Asian elephants live in close social groups
called herds.A herd is usually made up of related females,
called cows,and their offspring.The leader of the herd is
called the matriarch. The matriarch is usually the oldest
and most experienced female in the herd. She decides
when and where the herd will eat, rest, and travel. Adult males,
called bulls, don´t live in a herd. Once male elephants become
teenagers,they leave the herd. Only after they become adults will
they visit other herds, and that is only for short periods of time
to breed. Bulls do not take part in caring for the young."

"Do you know how much Benedetto weighed when he was born?"
asked hubby Wednesday evening. I answered, "10kilos," thinking
how thin he looks."100 kilos," hubby exclaimed like he
has just won in a state lottery. I have no idea why he got so
fascinated in this elephant story.
"Oh, I thought you were asking about the pope," I answered
bursting into laughter.
Well, to make our Pachyderm loaded marital conversation short,
I told hubby before going to bed this morning of Thursday:
"Well, who knows, the calf will be so loved and popular that he
will get the name, Papal Bull. I think, I should join this name
the elephant contest which runs until this coming Sunday and
win a year free ticket to visit the zoo."

Pinay von Alemanya

Saturday, 14 April 2007

Prince Charming Frog Arthur and His Avatar

 
 
Posted by Picasa


Prince Charming

by Holy Hellcat

I never had to kiss a frog
To find my Prince Charming;
Except for the obvious,
Love sees everything;
We began as strangers,
Then we became friends;
We ignored the danger
and killed the romance;
Maybe it was me, or maybe it was him,
Maybe it was his best friend;
Maybe we'd be better off had we never kissed;
Maybe I should 've tried the amphibian:
Kissing frogs was not for me,
Until my Prince became a Queen.

Prince Frog Has Returned

The Prince Charming Frog of my neighbor's mini pond has heralded
its return for this year's summer with its croakings tonight.
Hubby has instantly baptized the Prince as Frog Arthur...he has
finally returned or resurfaced from his deep winter sleep. I wonder
if this is the same charming frog which kept us wide awake
in the summery nights of the past year.

His croakings have reached now such an alarming crescendo keeping
me company until four in the morning while I shift my time between
surfing and blogging.

I think my book on Chinese Feng-shui suggests that I place
a figurine of frog in the balcony for good luck. What about a leaping
and croaking frog in the garden, a bringer of double luck?
Have to consult the book again to see if there are small
writings on the side effects of frog Feng-shui. Maybe,lucky but
puyat naman...lacking in sleep.

It's nearing five, and slowly I feel I am about to doze off but wait...
how about surfing for the recipe on how to make frog relleno?

Croak, croak, croak.

Pinay von Alemania

Friday, 13 April 2007

Babaylanes Internationales: Friday, the 13th, I am here to say*

Babaylanes Internationales: Friday, the 13th, I am here to say*

The Word Lottery Prize


photo from: www.victorianweb.org

Fri, 13. April, 2007. 03:36
Re: CONGRATULATION...YOU HAVE WON!!!

Stamford Bridge London

The Word Lottery Prize Notification

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded
annual final draws held on (13th March,2007) by Word Lottery in
conjunction with the British American Tobacco Worldwide Promotion,
your email was among the 20 Lucky winners who won £250,000
each on the THE WORD LOTTERY PROMO.
However,the results were released on (13th April, 2007)
and your email was attached to ticket number (**********)
and ballot number (*************). The online draws (sic!)was
conducted by a random selection of email addresses from
an exclusive list of 29,031 Email addresses of individuals
and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random
computer search from the internet.
However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned
to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.

The selection process was carried out through random selection
in our computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from
a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the
continents of the world.
This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also
Licensed by the (sic!)The International Association of Gaming
Regulators (IAGR). This lottery is the 3rd of its kind and we intend
to sensitize the public. In other (sic!) to claim your £250,000
prize winning, which has been deposited in a designated Bank.
However,you will have to fill the form below and send it to
the Promotion manager of THE WORD LOTTERY PROMO for
verification and then you will be directed to the Locale
Bank Plc where you will Transfer your winning sum of £250,000
which has already been deposited in your favour.
FIRST NAME:.................
LAST NAME:..................
AGE:.......................
SEX:.......................
ADDRESS:...................
EMAIL:.....................
PHONE:.....................
OCCUPATION:................
COMPANY:...................
COUNTRY:...................
AMOUNT WON.................

Please you are adviced to complete the form and send it immediately
to our Promotion manager through email or fax for prompt
collection of your fund from the designated courier company.
(Contact Promotion Manager)
Name: Barrister John Mc Calat
Tel: 4470 etc, etc, etc
Email: barristeretc.etc.@yahoo.com

You are to keep all lotto information away from the general
public especially your ticket number and ballot number.
(This is important as a case of double claims will not be
entertained). Staff of Word Lottery and the British American
Tobacco Company are not to partake in this Lottery.

Accept my hearty congratulations once again!

Yours faithfully,
Management.

************************************************************

If you see me wearing all those devilish, reddish
Prada outfits looking like Mirinda Pepsi, then you know
I have collected my winning ticket from Barrister McCalat.

Monday, 9 April 2007

He Ain't Heavy...He's My Brother

The road is long
With many a winding turn
That leads us to who knows where
Who knows where

But I'm strong
Strong enough to carry him
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

So on we go
His welfare is of my concern
No burden is he, to bear
we'll get there
For I know
He would not encumber me
He ain't heavy, he's my brother

If I'm laden at all
I'm laden with sadness
That everyone's heart
Isn't filled with the gladness
Of love for one another

It's a long, long road
From which there is no return
While we're on our way to there
Why not share

And the load
Doesn't weigh me down at all
He ain't heavy, he's my brother
He ain't heavy, he's my brother.


Neil Diamond

Friday, 6 April 2007

SHAKIRA IN COLOGNE

Hola mga Amigas,
After the fasting and saying
sorry for our sins,
and now I should say
Hips don't lie
Let's have some wholesome fun
and do some gyrating.
Who would like to join me
and see this wonderful girl
SHAKIRA
in our city
on 8th of April
in the evening.

See Koelnarena for further
information and shows.
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Meditation on Holy Friday

The Kingdom of heaven is found in the place of your
compassion. It is found in the place of your loving.
It is found in the place of your generosity. It is found
in the place of your healing of yourself and others.
It is very easy to find the kingdom of heaven inside.

When we stop using the intellect of the mind
and come to the wisdom of the heart, we access the
door to Divinity, because out of that heart comes
the compassion and forgiveness.

J-Roger

Sunday, 1 April 2007

April Fools' Day...Favorite Jokes

Was asking around friends for their favorite jokes especially
original jokes but it seems that we have been pampered with
emailed jokes going around the internet... recycled, resent,
yes re-blogged a hundred times. And at times, you recognize
hey, this is my original joke, this really happened to me decades
ago and was sharing it to some friends.

I have jokes which never fail to amuse me whenever
I remember them.
And I have jokes which I really share only with some particular
friends, and we know that these jokes have a special bonding
among us like a secret code known only to the anointed in our clique.

Yesterday, my friend Bing forwarded me this email coming
from another hotmail add holder. I have tagged it following the
original title of the subject, Lost in Translation, and I added
jokes from bing.

If you have not received this forward, I would like to share them
with you as especial posting for today, April 1, April Fool's Day.
And if you know the original source of this collection, please do let me know.
Enjoy them! ( The jokes, I mean.)

In a hotel in Chiangmai:
Key Must Drop at Front Desk
Check out Time: 12:AM

In a Tokyo Hotel:
It is forbidden to steal hotel towels please. If you are not a person
to do such thing is please not to read notice.

In a Bucharest hotel lobby:
The lift is being fixed for the next day. During that time we regret
that you will be unbearable.

In a Leipzig elevator:
Do no enter the lift backwards, and only when lit up.

In a Belgrade hotel elevator:
To move the cabin, push button for wishing floor. If the cabin should
enter more persons, each one should press a number of wishing floor.
Driving is then going alphabetically by national order.

In a Paris hotel elevator:
Please leave your values at the front desk.

In a hotel in Athens:
Visitors are expected to complain at the office between the hours
of 9 and 11. am daily.

In a Yugolavian hotel:
The flattening of undewear with pleasure is the job of the
chambermaid.

In a Japanese hotel:
You are invited to take advantage of the chambermaid.

In the lobby of a Moscow hotel across from a Russian
Orthodox monastery:
You are welcome to visit the cemetery where famous Russian and Soviet
composers, artists, and writers are buried daily except Thursday.

In an Austrian hotel catering to skiers:
Not to perambulate the corridors in the hours of repose
in the boots of ascension.

On the menu of a Swiss restaurant:
Our wines leave you nothing to hope for.

On the menu of a Polish hotel:
Salad a firm's own make; limpid red beet soup with cheesy
dumplings in the form of a finger; roasted duck let loose; beef
rashers beaten up in the country people's fashion.

Outside a Hong Kong tailor shop:
Ladies may have a fit upstairs.

In a Bangkok dry cleaners:
Drop your trousers here for best results.

Outside a Paris dress shop:
Dresses for Street Walking.

In a Rhodes tailor shop:
Order your summers suit. Because is big rush we will
execute customers in strict rotation.

A sign posted in Germany's Black Forest:
It is strictly forbidden on our black forest camping site
that people of different sex, for instance, men and women,
live together in one tent unless they are married with each
other for that purpose.

In a Zurich hotel:
Because of the impropriety of entertaining guests of the
opposite sex in the bedrooms, it is suggested that the lobby
be used for this purpose.

In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

In a Rome laundry:
Ladies, leave your clothes here and spend the afternoon
having a good time.

In a Swiss mountain inn:
Special today - no ice cream.

In a Bangkok temple:
It is forbidden to enter a woman even a foreigner if dressed
as a man.

In a Copenhagen air line ticket office:
We take your bags and send then in all directions.

On the door of a Moscow hotel room:
If this is your first visit to the USSR, you are welcome to it.

In a Norwegian cocktail lounge:
Ladies are not requested not to have children in the bar.

In a Budapest zoo:
Please do not feed the animals. If you have any suitable food,
give it to the guard on duty.

In the office of a Roman doctor:
Specialist in women and other diseases.

In an Acapulco hotel:
The manager has personally passed all the water served here.

In a Tokyo shop:
Our nylons cost more than common, but you'll find they are
best in the long run.

From a Japanese information booklet about using a hotel
air conditioner:
Cooles and Heates: If you want just condition of warm
in your room, please control yourself.

From a broschure of a car rental firm in Tokyo:
When passenger of foot heave in sight, tootle the horn.
Trumpet him melodiously at first, but if he still obstacles
your passage then tootle him with vigor.

Two signs from a Majorcan shop entrance:
English well talking. Here speeching American..."

Finally, in the Philippines...
"Don't English us...we're not schooling anymore...'

(Thanks to Bing and Akosiida)

Tuesday, 27 March 2007

Your Mother is always with You

For a dear friend Marilou F.
Our deep sympathy for the passing
away of her mother this early spring.






Your mother is always with you...

She is the whisper of the leaves
as you walk down the street.

She is the cool hand on your brow
when you're not well.

Your mother lives inside
your laughter. She's crystallized
in every tear drop.

She's the place you came from, your first home.
She's the map you
follow with every step that you take.

She's your first love and your first heart break...
and nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, not space...
not even death...
will ever searate you
from your mother...

You carry her inside you...

(poem taken from: www.mothers.net)
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Thursday, 15 March 2007

Pinays Celebrate International Women's Day




(photos by ML)
In keeping with their yearly celebration of the IWD
International Women's Day (March 8), Philippine Women's
Forum e.V. (Babaylan Germany) and Babaylanes Internationales
held an information evening with a film showing of
Lualhati Bautista's story "Bata, Bata Paano Ka Ginawa"
at the Internationaleszentrum Stolzestrasse in Cologne,
Germany on March 9, 2007.
The film Bata, Bata Paano Ka Ginawa, starring
Vilma Santos, Albert Martinez, Ariel Rivera, Raymond
Bagatsing, Carlo Aquino and Serena Dalrymple and
directed by Chino Rono, tells of the story of Lea, played
by Vilma Santos a Filipina torn between her belief in herself
as an individual who has her own right to her own decision
and the expectation and tradition of Philippine society
regarding women as mothers and partners.
'If I am were a person who has no own identity, I would
never be a good mother,' declared Lea to her ex-husband
as the two searched for the reason for their failed marriage.
At the end of the film, Lea while giving a talk during
a graduation ceremony, she concluded: "The question how
the children are made is not really difficult. The most difficult
question is for parents to know how they would raise
up their children as decent, just and humane beings. For if
the children are molded as such, then we could offer them
a decent, just and humane society. We should all reach
for the stars and make our collective dreams come true."

The women agreed to hold another gathering to talk
about the film and specifically on the topic of Filipino
women and their rights and obligations as well as
privileges as mothers, partners and above all as thinking
individuals.
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Saturday, 10 March 2007

Thursday, 8 March 2007

MARCH 8 (IWD) INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY





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I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again.

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman.

You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul.

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman.

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long, long way to go
Until I make my brother understand.

Oh yes, I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman.

Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong
I am woman.

(Helen Reddy and Ray Burton)
Taken from: www.lyricstime.com

P.S.

Would like to send my best wishes to dear
friends who celebrated their birthdays.
March 7 to Jo. B.
March 8 to Beng
Wish you many returns of lovely years.
Thanks to the lovely smiles of Angela, Fatima,
Lara, Jiada, Nelly, Debbie, Malu, Belly and
Yolliebelle

A Meaningful International Women's Day!