Buy One Get One

Tell me what do you understand about this sales pitch that you find in a lot of shops nowadays:

Buy One Get One
50% off
Absolutely Everything

Choose your answer:

(a) Buy one item and you get the other free
(b) Buy one item and get the other at half price

If you answer (a), like me, you are wrong. Answer (b) is the correct one. I wonder how many would choose (a) as their answer? Because of the above sales pitch, written in big letters in a poster, I was almost fooled (twice) to rush into a shop and buy clothes for my sons. The reality of the so-called credit crunch reined me in into making me think twice about buying. And that is when I realised that I understood it wrong. Remember to read the small print! The verbal warning you get before signing any credit purchase comes to mind. When I scrutinise the small posters inside the shop you will get these text instead: Buy one, get one half the price.

Is it not cheeky for shops to do this? I suppose it is within the legal boundary to do it but still, it seems to me like twisting the truth. As a consumer, we should think twice before we buy. These are hard times we are in right now. Caveat emptor!

Cold December

Photo: BBC Weather

December announced itself today with a freezing cold morning. Brrrrr! I hate it when it is cold. I cannot stand the biting cold weather. I drove my son to school now because of it. When I started the car this morning, I have to wait for about five minutes before I drove away. Ice had formed on the front windows and I have to wait until it melted. My son, impatient as usual, complained that we should be going to school already. I drove slowly today because of the slippery road.

Peterborough holiday souvenir

As promised a while back (better late than never), here is my take on substituting the tourist spot with that of a souvenir depicting it. I used a fridge magnet for this photograph of the Peterborough Cathedral, using my 3.2 megapixel mobile phone.

Lewis Hamilton Wins F1 World Championship

Finally, British young racing driver Lewis Hamilton of McLaren won the Formula 1 World Championship! He did it in a nail biting finish in the last lap of yesterday's Brazilian Grand Prix, which was eventually won by his fierce rival for the title Felipe Massa of Ferrari.

Hamilton just edged out Massa of the title by a mere point. Not only is Hamilton only the second driver to win the world title in his second season (after Canada's 1997 winner Jacques Villeneuve) BUT he is also the youngest ever world champion in Formula 1 history!

I watched the race from start to finish, although not entirely... how can you if when you are looking after two boys, ages three and five, at the same time? But I watched the last ten laps of the race. It was really exciting to watch. I thought Hamilton already had it in the bag; after all, he only needs to finish fifth to win the title!

But the feared rain started and this started to change the whole situation for Hamilton. He changed into wet tires because of the rains and fell from fourth position to fifth, behind Timo Glock of Toyota. Sebastian Vettel of Toro Rosso overtook Hamilton in the penultimate lap, thus demoting the latter to sixth place, and I thought, that's it that just cost Hamilton the race.

However, as they are all about to go into the finish line Vettel and Hamilton overtook Glock. Lady Luck smiled on Hamilton that rainy day.

I called up my two boys and carry both of them as we jumped five times into the air! They were also laughing with joy oblivious to the reason why we are jumping. I was really ecstatic with Hamilton's win. Well done, lad!

Photo credit: BBC News

School's Out

Today is the start of half term, which means that Cean will have a school break of one week. What to do, what to do? For a starter, Cean will need to practice more often this week on his writing. That's his weakness in school at the moment. Reading-wise, he has just started reading orange banded books. These are books that are supposedly read by Year 2 and 3 pupils, I think. He brought one book with him last Friday to read. This is not enough but we still have a few green banded books at home that he needed to read. Maybe that will suffice.

Touching Story For Working Parents

(This is part of a forwarded email I received a few weeks back. This is for us working parents with children, especially the younger ones.)

This is worth the time to read.

A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: "Daddy, may I ask you a question?"
DAD: "Yeah sure, what is it?" replied the man.
SON: "Daddy, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?" the man said angrily.

SON: "I just want to know... Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
DAD: "If you must know, I make $20.00 an hour."
SON: "Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: "Daddy, may I please borrow $10.00 ?"

The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behaviour."

The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often.

The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. "Are you asleep, son?" He asked. "No daddy, I'm awake," replied the boy. "I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier" said the man. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10.00 you asked for." The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you daddy!" He yelled.

Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled. "Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied. "Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.

It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

Do remember to share that $20.00 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.

But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family.

How To Be Happy At Work

(I received this in a forwarded email from my former mentor. Be happy!)
Take two paper clips and rubber bands


Assemble them as shown on the picture

Apply as shown

Superstar

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am going to find out the reason for Cean's 'Star of the Week' certificate. Well, it was for showing a great effort in working on his numeracy skills! Well done, son.

Star Of The Week

Cean had a surprise waiting for us when he arrived from school last Friday afternoon. Inside his book bag was a small certificate awarded to him by his teacher. Cean was 'Star of the week' last week! Wow! My wife and I were really happy for this recognition. Curious, I asked Cean what made him the star. His reply? 'I don't know, Dad.' Typical. I must ask his teacher, then.

Holiday Souvenirs

London, UK: Model of Tower Bridge over the river Thames

My brother Jay and Mel, his wife, visited us last May for a week before going home to the Philippines for their scheduled holiday this year. I toured them in some of London's famous landmarks like Big Ben, House of Parliament, Tower of London and many others. As remembrance of their visit to these London landmarks they bought souvenirs such as fridge magnets. Aside from taking photographs, buying souvenirs from our holiday destinations is usually the next in our to-do list, is it not?

But buying holiday souvenirs is not enough for photographer Michael Hughes. He likes to photograph them in front of the real tourist hotspots. In fact, he has travelled the world doing just that. Now, that is cool, don't you think? I would like to do that in our future holidays. Actually, I don't have to wait for our next holiday. I will buy a souvenir of Peterborough's famous landmark, Peterborough Cathedral. Once I get a photograph I will publish it in this blog. Watch this space!

Maybe you would like to do it, too? When you have published it in your blog please let me know and I will have a look. If you don't have a blog but you want the world to know I can publish it in this blog if you like.

Picture credits - www.guardian.co.uk

Power Of The Rose

Last Tuesday, I came across an explanation why women likes it when given flowers. My wife had been "nagging" me lately about not giving her flowers. But she's allergic to pollens! She was given flowers before by her colleague but it did not last long in the vase. She started sneezing! So, her pleas for flowers have fallen on deaf ears, until last Tuesday.

Anyway, this 2005 research paper, An Environmental Approach to Positive Emotion: Flowers revealed that:

• flowers, upon presentation to women, always elicited the Duchenne or true smile. Women who received flowers reported more positive moods 3 days later.

• a flower given to men or women in an elevator elicited more positive social behavior than other stimuli.
  

• flowers presented to elderly participants (55+ age) elicited positive moo reports an improved episodic memory.

• Flowers have immediate and long-term effects on emotional reactions, mood, social behaviors and even memory for both males and females.
  

Now that I know the positive emotional effect of flowers on women (and men, too) I passed by the supermarket to buy two dozens of roses (peach and red coloured) on my way home from work. When I reached home I knocked on the door with the roses ready in my hands. When my wife opened the door, I gave her the roses before the customary kiss. I swore I saw the Duchenne or true smile when I looked at her face!

It has been three days since I gave the flowers and she is still smiling most of the time. Wow, such is the power of the rose!

If you want to read the research paper click here.

Roses For My Dear Wife

More On Bag For Life

I received a comment from Iva, who describes herself as a baby environmentalist, about my recent post on Bag for Life. She told me that green bags (as it is known in the Philippines) are becoming an in-thing in Manila, which is a good thing as it helps our environment. I am glad to know about this development. When I was still in Cebu in 2002 I do not seem to recall seeing green bags sold in supermarkets. I already know about the promotion of the use of jute bags.

I am interested to know if the Philippine government has a policy on green bags/bags for life. Obviously, there is one here in the UK but I have to do some research on that. I will write a blogpost about the results later on. In the meantime, let me just describe the use of bag for life here in the UK from a user's viewpoint.

Bags for life have been in the major supermarkets here for a few years now. They come in different types and sizes, for example, jute bags and recyclable plastic bags. The featured bag in my earlier post is the cheapest type (10 pence each) and the most commonly used by consumers.

Encouraging consumers to use bags for life when they go shopping requires a change in their behaviour, which does not happen overnight. Most people still prefer to use the small but free carrier bags. Why? What could be more convenient than just going to the supermarket empty-handed. I should know as I am guilty of doing it at times. Even though I have a bag for life in my back pack for a little shopping after work, I also sometimes end up with an extra carrier bag of shopping.

I buy most of our family's food shopping during weekends. Even with the three or four bags for life that I brought, sometimes it is not enough. However, it is not entirely bad as it seems. Regular carrier bags nowadays are mostly made in part from recycled materials; besides I do reuse them at home in our small bins.

The "carrot" approach of encouraging consumers to use bags for life for their shopping needs to be complemented with a "stick" approach. Presently, UK consumers are now slowly being forced to pay for the carrier bag if they want to use them when shopping. Marks and Spencer supermarkets are already doing it since early this year, charging 5 pence for every carrier bag you use. However, all proceeds from its sale goes to local environmental projects the store supports. Later this year, Sainsbury's will follow suit. My family will be more affected by this change as we do most of our food shopping in a nearby branch. I will have to plan better when the time comes.

As consumers, it is not enough to be aware of the effects of plastic bags on the environment. We need to make individual action no matter how small to reduce, reuse and recycle the use of plastic bags when shopping for groceries. I am consciously doing action already but still need to improve on my behaviour until this becomes a natural thing for me to do. How about you? Have you done your bit?

Iva blogs about the environment at http://greenphils.com/

What's For Breakfast, Dad?

I gave "tsamporado" to my sons for their breakfast today. Using only dark chocolate powder (the younger one has milk allergy) and a little sugar on their rice porridge, the boys ate a bowlful each. They must have missed tsamporado that much since it has been awhile since we made them one. Our sons, Pinoy pa rin!

Remembering Martial Law

Today, the Philippines marked the 36th anniversary of the declaration of martial law by the dictator Ferdinand Marcos. This ushered in the darkest period of my country's modern history. I was nearly two years old when martial law was declared in 21 September 1972.

The only thing I remembered martial law affected us was when my mother gave birth to our youngest brothers, who are twins, in 1975. At that time, a midnight curfew was in effect. When mother delivered the twins, she lost a lot of blood. She needed blood transfusion quickly or she will die. Father rang for his nephews to proceed to the hospital for blood typing and eventually, blood donation.

On their way to the hospital my cousins ran into a military curfew. Obviously, they were interrogated. Fortunately, the military personnel believed their explanation and they were allowed to proceed to the hospital just in time.

Although martial law's most famous victim was the late Benigno "Ninoy" Aquino Jr (assassinated post-martial law in 1983), there were hundeds more little known martyrs (those who disappeared and died before 1986) of this draconian rule. I am glad to know that there is now a museum that puts a face on little known martial law martyrs.

There are more than 170 of them - youth, educators, farmers, activists, artists and public servants, and many, if not most, of them are little known. I am particularly struck that many of them were young. As the museum director puts it, "It's clear many of the martyrs were the young ones. In Philippine revolutions, many of our heroes were in their teens."

On this very important day, I pay my respects to the martyrs and heroes (those who survived beyond 1986) of martial law. If not for their sacrifices and struggle, the Philippines we now know today would not have been as free and democratic. I and the millions of fellow Filipinos in the country and outside are the better because of them. Remember the past!

World's Strangest Clock Unveiled

A £1m clock called the "time eater" has been unveiled at Cambridge University by Professor Stephen Hawking.

The author of A Brief History of Time was guest of honour when the unique clock, which has no hands or numbers, was revealed at Corpus Christi College.

Dubbed the strangest clock in the world, it features a giant grasshopper and has 60 slits cut into its face which light up to show the time.

Its creator John Taylor said he "wanted to make timekeeping interesting".

The Corpus Clock will stand outside the college's library and will be on view to the public.

More at BBC News

Photo credit - BBC News

Most Dangerous Man On The Internet

Brad Pitt has been found to be the most dangerous search name of the year. According to McAfee, the film star's name is more likely to direct a user to malicious sites than any other celebrity moniker.

The security firm found that fans who search the name "Brad Pitt" on the web have nearly a 1 in 5 chance of encountering a potentially risky site. 18 per cent of searches lead to wallpaper, screen savers and photos that carried some sort of malware. Searching 'Brad Pitt screensavers' bumps the infection risk up to 50 per cent.

Read more at http://uk.news.yahoo.com

Princess

(I got this funny story from a forwarded email by a former professor of mine at university.)

Once upon a time there lived a king. The king had a beautiful daughter, the PRINCESS. But there was a problem. Everything the princess touched would melt. No matter what - metal, wood, stone, anything she touched would melt.

Because of this, men were afraid of her. Nobody would dare marry her. The king despaired. What could he do to help his daughter? He consulted his wizards and magicians. One wizard told the king, "If your daughter touches one thing that does not melt in her hands, she will be cured."

The king was overjoyed and came up with a plan. Next day, he held a competition. Any man that could bring his daughter an object that would not melt would marry her and inherit the king's wealth.

THREE YOUNG PRINCES TOOK UP THE CHALLENGE.

The first brought a sword of the finest steel. But alas, when the princess touched it, it melted, and t he prince went away sadly .

The second prince brought diamonds. He thought diamonds are the hardest substance in the world and would not melt. But alas, once the princess touched them, they melted. He too was sent away disappointed.

The third prince approached. He told the princess, "Put your hand in my pocket and feel what is in there." The princess did as she was told, though she turned red. She felt something hard. She held it in her hand. And it did not melt!!!

The king was overjoyed. Everybody in the kingdom was overjoyed. And the third prince married the princess and they both lived happily ever after.

Question: What was in the prince's pants?

(Scroll down for the answer)















M&M's of course.

They melt in your mouth, not in your hand.


What were you thinking??

Bag For Life

After work, I sometimes pass by the supermarket and buy food and stuff for the house. I now place them in my Bag for Life instead of the store's small carrier bags. So-called because you only need to buy once and then you can replace it again and again. Costing just under a pound, it is larger and sturdier than the carrier bags. Using this bag is my little way of helping clean up our environment because everytime I use it means one or two less plastic bags not thrown out into the bin. What about you? Get one (or more) now and use it. Let us do our part in keeping our planet clean and healthy for the next generation.

Distraction

I just finished watching the most bizarre game show I have ever seen on television. Presented by the comic Jimmy Carr, this comic game show entitled Distraction requires contestants to answer general knowledge questions while attempting to complete some bizarre challenges.

For this particular episode I just watched, there were four contestants - two males and two females. In the first round, the contestants compete in a Question and Answer (Q&A) game. However, instead of a buzzer they have to smash a bottle on their head if they know the answer to a question asked. In the middle of the first round, Carr told them that if they know the answer they have to smash a bottle on the contestant next to them. Then the laugh began!

The first round was a blast I had to stand up to catch my breath due to excessive laughing; my stomach really hurt. Anyway, after each round a contestant will bow out because of garnering the lowest score.

The second round sounded simple. The three remaining contestants have to compete in a School Sports Day event, actually three namely three-legged race, sack race and the cartwheel. However, they needed a partner - a nude partner. Yes, that's right, a certified nudist for a partner!

The remaining two contestants (a male and a female) entered the third round and compete in a Q&A game again. But this time they have to sit in a lavatory with their jeans and underwear down. Why? Because if they know the answer they have to wee a little on the water. The female contestant was really embarrassed but guess what, she won! She was quick to wee despite having heard her saying that she is not going to do it.

She won a £10,000 red Mini; however, Carr will not give it to her that easily. She has to answer five questions correctly to get the Mini in its pristine condition. For every wrong answer she will give, a part of the car will be destroyed or defaced. Luckily, she only got one answer wrong. Her flatmate spray painted on her car for the wrong answer.

But all is well that ends well for this lucky lady. She drove away in a new red Mini with her flatmate, which I guess had been forgiven for what she had done to the new car.

I Googled this game and I got this Wikipedia entry, if you want to read on.

Late Night Movie

Last night, I watched a late night movie on telly entitled The Greatest Game Ever Played. It is a Disney sports drama first released in 2004 and starred by the next Indiana Jones, Shia Labeouf. The movie is based on the true story of how a golfing fanatic, Francis Ouimet, overcame the odds to win the 1913 US Open as an amateur.

Ouimet beat the great Harry Vardon, already a five time winner of the British Open before coming to the US Open. After his defeat, Vardon went on to win a sixth British Open the following year, a record feat that still stands to this day. Vardon is considered the greatest British golfer ever.

Now I do not know the game of gold let alone how it is scored. I did try some golfing in the practice range and in a bar, doing some putting, on weekend nights many years ago. But I was surprised to find myself enjoying the movie that involves golf. It was actually a human drama of overcaming the odds to achieved one's dream. This kind of a movie plot almost always sell to the audience.

The title, The Greatest Game Ever Played, was actually spoken by the character that played the British journalist that accompanied Vardon and company to the tournament. He used this phrase to describe the impending saga of the final round that involved three protagonists, two British professionals and the lone American amateur Ouimet, as they faced off for the championship trophy.

The last 30 minutes of the movie was a gripping thriller and I literally was glued to my seat not wanting to miss every second of the show. I missed the first 15-20 minutes of the movie but I still enjoyed it and I might find the DVD copy so I can enjoy watching again at my own time.

Philippine Rhose

This is another article written by Matthew Sutherland, which was first published in a Philippine national newspaper in 1999. I first read about this in an email sent by a friend years ago. Again, the text is taken from Ramny's blog.

A RHOSE, BY ANY OTHER NAME
Matthew Sutherland

"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." - (Proverbs 22:1)

When I arrived in the Philippines from the UK six years ago, one of the first cultural differences to strike me was names. The subject has provided a continuing source of amazement and amusement ever since. The first unusual thing, from an English perspective, is that everyone here has a nickname. In the staid and boring United Kingdom, we have nicknames in kindergarten, but when we move into adulthood we tend, I am glad to say, to lose them.

The second thing that struck me is that Philippine names for both girls and boys tend to be what we in the UK would regard as overbearingly cutesy for anyone over about five. "Fifty-five-year-olds with names that sound like five-year-olds", as one colleague put it. Where I come from, a boy with a nickname like Boy Blue or Honey Boy would be beaten to death at school by pre-adolescent bullies, and never make it to adulthood. So, probably, would girls with names like Babes, Lovely, Precious, Peachy or Apples. Yuk, ech ech. Here, however, no one bats an eyelid.

Then I noticed how many people have what I have come to call "door-bell names". These are nicknames that sound like - well, door-bells. There are millions of them. Bing, Bong, Ding, and Dong are some of the more common. They can be, and frequently are, used in even more door-bell-like combinations such as Bing-Bong, Ding-Dong, Ting-Ting, and so on. Even our newly-appointed chief of police has a doorbell name Ping.

None of these door-bell names exist where I come from, and hence sound unusually amusing to my untutored foreign ear. Someone once told me that one of the Bings, when asked why he was called Bing, replied "because my brother is called Bong". Faultless logic.

Dong, of course, is a particularly funny one for me, as where I come from "dong" is a slang word for... well, perhaps "talong" is the best Tagalog equivalent.

Repeating names was another novelty to me, having never before encountered people with names like Len-Len, Let-Let, Mai-Mai, or Ning-Ning. The secretary I inherited on my arrival had an unusual one: Leck-Leck. Such names are then frequently further refined by using the "squared" symbol, as in Len2 or Mai2. This had me very confused for a while.

Then there is the trend for parents to stick to a theme when naming their children. This can be as simple as making them all begin with the same letter, as in Jun, Jimmy, Janice, and Joy. More imaginative parents shoot for more sophisticated forms of assonance or rhyme, as in Biboy, Boboy, Buboy, Baboy (notice the names get worse the more kids there are-best to be born early or you could end up being a Baboy). Even better, parents can create whole families of, say, desserts (Apple Pie, Cherry Pie, Honey Pie) or flowers (Rose, Daffodil, Tulip).

The main advantage of such combinations is that they look great painted across your trunk if you're a cab driver. That's another thing I'd never seen before coming to Manila - taxis with the driver's kids' names on the trunk.

Another whole eye-opening field for the foreign visitor is the phenomenon of the "composite" name. This includes names like Jejomar (for Jesus, Joseph and Mary), and the remarkable Luzviminda (for Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, believe it or not). That's a bit like me being called something like "Engscowani" (for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).

Between you and me, I'm glad I'm not. And how could I forget to mention the fabulous concept of the randomly inserted letter 'h'. Quite what this device is supposed to achieve, I have not yet figured out, but I think it is designed to give a touch of class to an otherwise only averagely weird name. It results in creations like Jhun, Lhenn, Ghemma, and Jhimmy. Or how about Jhun-Jhun (Jhun2)?

There is also a whole separate field of name games-those where the parents have exhibited a creative sense of humor on purpose. I once had my house in London painted by a Czechoslovakian decorator by the name of Peter Peter. I could never figure out if his parents had a fantastic sense of humor or no imagination at all-it had to be one or the other.

But here in the Philippines, wonderful imagination and humor is often applied to the naming process, particularly, it seems, in the Chinese community. My favourites include Bach Johann Sebastian; Edgar Allan Pe; Jonathan Livingston Sy; Magic Chiongson, Chica Go, and my girlfriend's very own sister, Van Go. I am assured these are real people, although I've only met two of them. I hope they don't mind being mentioned here.

How boring to come from a country like the UK full of people with names like John Smith. How wonderful to come from a country where imagination and exoticism rule the world of names.

Even the towns here have weird names; my favorite is the unbelieveably-named town of Sexmoan (ironically close to Olongapo and Angeles). Where else in the world could that really be true? Where else in the world could the head of the Church really be called Cardinal Sin? Where else but the Philippines!

Note: Philippines has a senator named Joker, and it is his legal name.

Source: The Chronicles of Ramny blog

A Matter of Taste by Matthew Sutherland

Recently, I have read an email about a British expat's take on Filipino culture. The article in the said email is actually two articles joined together so I tried to dig out the original articles in the internet. It turned out that these articles are in many Filipino blogsites, particularly The Chronicles of Ramny.


A MATTER OF TASTE
Matthew Sutherland

I have now been in this country for over six years, and consider myself in most respects well-assimilated. However, there is one key step on the road to full assimilation which I have yet to take, and that’s to eat BALUT. The day any of you sees me eating balut, please call immigration and ask them to issue me a Filipino passport. Because at that point there will be no turning back!

BALUT, for those still blissfully ignorant non-Pinoys out there, is a fertilized duck egg. It is commonly sold with salt in a piece of newspaper, much like English fish and chips, by street vendors usually after dark, presumably so you can’t see how gross it is. It’s meant to be an aphrodisiac, although I can’t imagine anything more likely to dispel sexual desire than crunching on a partially-formed baby duck swimming in noxious fluid. The embryo in the egg comes in varying stages of development, but basically it is not considered macho to eat one without fully discernable feathers, beak, and claws. Some say these crunchy bits are the best. Other prefer just to drink the so-called ‘soup’, the vile, pungent liquid that surrounds the aforementioned feathery fetus… excuse me, I have to go and throw up now. I’ll be back in a minute.

Food dominates the life of the Filipinos, People here just love to eat at least eight times a day. These eight official meals are called, in order: breakfast, snacks, lunch, merienda, pica-pica, pulutan, dinner and no-one-saw-me-take-that-cookie-from-the-fridge-so-it-doesn’t-count. The short gaps in between these mealtimes are spent eating Sky Flakes from the open packet that sits on every desktop. You’re never far from food in the Philippines. If you doubt this, next time you’re driving home from work, try this game. See how long you can drive without seeing food and I don’t mean a distant restaurant, or a picture of food, I mean a man on the sidewalk frying fish balls or a man walking through the traffic selling nuts or candy. I bet it’s less than one minute.

Here are some other things I’ve noticed about food in the Philippines. Firstly, a meal is not a meal without rice – even breakfast. In the UK, I could go a whole year without eating rice. Second, it’s impossible to drink without eating. A bottle of San Miguel just isn’t the same without gambas or beef tapa. Third, no one ventures more than two paces from their house without baon and a container of something cold to drink. You might as well ask a Filipino to leave home without his pants on. And lastly, where I come from, you eat with a knife and fork. Here, you eat with a spoon and fork.

You try eating rice swimming in fish sauce with a knife. One really nice thing about Filipino food culture is that people always ask you to SHARE their food. In my office, if you catch anyone attacking their baon, they will always go, “sir KAIN TAYO!” (“Let’s eat!”) This confused me, until I realized that they didn’t actually expect me to sit down and start munching on their boneless bangus. In fact, the polite response is something like, “No thanks! I just ate!”. But the principle is sound – if you have food on your plate, you are expected to share it, however hungry you are, with those who may be even hungrier, I think that’s great. In fact, this is frequently even taken one step further, Many Filipinos use “Have you eaten yet?” (“Kumain ka na?”) as a general greeting, irrespective of time of day or location.

Some foreigners think Filipino food is fairly dull compared to other Asian cuisines. Actually lots of it is very good: Spicy dishes like Bicol Express (strange, a dish named after a train); anything cooked with coconut milk; anything KINILAW; and anything ADOBO. And it’s hard to beat the sheer wanton, cholesterolic frenzy of a good old-fashioned LECHON de leche feast. Dig a pit, light a fire, add 50 pounds of animal fat on a stick, and cook until crisp. Mmm, mmm… you can actually feel your arteries constricting with each successive mouthful.I also share one key Pinoy trait —a sweet tooth!! I am thus the only foreigner I know who does not complain about sweet bread, sweet burgers, sweet spaghetti, sweet banana ketchup, and so on. I am a man who likes to put jam on his pizza. Try it! It’s the weird food you want to avoid. In addition to duck fetus in the half-shell, items to avoid in the Philippines include pig’s blood soup (DINUGUAN); bull’s testicle soup, the strangely-named “SOUP NUMBER FIVE” (I dread to think what numbers one to four are); and the ubiquitous, stinky shrimp paste, BAGOONG, and it’s equally stinky sister, PATIS. Filipinos are so addicted to these latter items that they will even risk arrest or deportation trying to smuggle them into countries like Australia and the USA, which wisely ban the importation of items you can smell from more than 100 paces. Then there’s the small matter of the blue ice cream. I have never been able to get my brain around eating blue food; the ubiquitous UBE leaves ube cold. And lastly on the subject of weird food, beware: that KALDERETANG KAMBING (goat) could well be KALDERETANG ASO (dog)…

The Filipino, of course, has a well-developed sense of food. Here’s a typical Pinoy food joke: “I’m on a seafood diet.” “What’s a seafood diet?” “When I see food, I eat it!” Filipinos also eat strange bits of animals — the feet, the head, the guts, etc., usually barbecued on a stick. These have been given witty names, like “ADIDAS” (chicken’s feet); “KURBATA” (either just chicken’s neck, or “neck and thigh” as in “neck-tie”; “WALKMAN” (pigs ears); “PAL” (chicken wings); “HELMET” (chicken head); “IUD” (chicken intestines), and BETAMAX” (video-cassette-like blocks of animal blood).

Yum, yum. Bon appetit.

Source: The Chronicles of Ramny blog

World's smallest snake discovered

The world's smallest snake, averaging just 10cm (4 inches) and as thin as a spaghetti noodle, has been discovered on the Caribbean island of Barbados.

read more | digg story

Misbehaving Sisters

Edik never fails to amuse me with his blog entries. This one is original and I had a great laugh. I know, I have a shallow sense of humour but I had fun reading this article. The two good priest, after seeing the five religious nuns in a rather un-sisterly posture, were said to be shocked and almost fainted. C'mon, really?

Please vote for Chocolate Hills

Have you notice the widget on the top right side of this blog? Please support the campaign to make Chocolate Hills as one of the new 7 wonders of nature by clicking on the widget. This natural wonder is found in my home province of Bohol, Philippines. If you want to know more about Chocolate Hills I wrote an article about it in Bohol On My Mind.

Wordle Up

I just made one in Bohol On My Mind. Just go to Wordle.net and paste either a bunch of text or your blog or web address and it will create a word cloud like this. Have fun!

UP Centennial shirt

Today, the 18th of June, the University of the Philippines celebrate its 100th anniversary. I am wearing a t-shirt with the centennial logo in front. At the back of the shirt is the centennial theme, "UP: Excellence, Service & Leadersip in the Next 100 Years." UP has just been declared the country's National University, long overdue, so all the more to celebrate. I took my BSc and MSc (sans thesis) at UP Cebu, where I was also last employed before moving to the UK. Aside from buying this shirt, my other small contribution for the centennial are several textbooks for UP Cebu's Environmental Studies program. It is a great honour to be an "Iskolar ng Bayan"!

Independence Day

The Philippines celebrated its 110th year of independence from foreign rule last 12th of June. How is my beloved country now, after all these years? Jose Ma. Montelibano said that Filipinos have little to celebrate, but much to strive for. He described Philippine independence in the current context as a hollow state, same as its democracy - all trappings are there, but the substance is missing. Poverty, he said, makes slaves of people and denies them choices. Poignantly, he further asked, "How can true independence and democracy co-exist with poverty so massive and crippling? How can independence and democracy live with such shame?"

Officially free from foreign rule, the Philippines is still a long way from freedom, so said Chief Justice Reynato Puno recently in his speech on Independence Day. The reason? The so-called "economic colonizers" - foreign investors and businessmen who are given more favours and privileges than Filipino citizens, and wealthy foreign nations violating Filipinos' social and economic rights.

And then there are the local elites with vested interests. Since the time of Bonifacio, these opportunists have always worked against the interest of the Filipinos. They cowardly conspired with the foreign invaders in the past in order to protect their economic and political interests. Unfortunately for us Filipinos, they are still lording over us even until today.

These "twin evils" worked with each other for 110 years, and counting, in violating the Filipinos' social and economic rights and you wonder why poverty in the Philippines is so "massive and crippling?" Thus, it is not surprising that "Filipinos are dashing for exits," by the millions, according to Juan Mercado. He said that about 1.1 million left last year, and many will not return. According to a university study, Filipinos were the biggest group in the 54.2 million migrant workers that Asia have fielded. Our country has become a country of nomads, and will still be, in the near future.

I have never imagined myself as working abroad. But as fate would have it I got married to an overseas Filipino worker (OFW). Now, my wife and I are permanent residents of the UK, thus, no longer officially considered as OFWs. We do plan to retire back in the Philippines, which is still a good number of years away. Our two sons are both born in the UK, so it will be up to them where they seek their own destinies.

As long as the wealthy foreign nations, who loaned money to the Philippines, continue to dictate on our social and economic policies, and their businessmen conspire with the local elite in plundering the Philippines' wealth, many more Filipinos will become poorer. Million Filipinos will continue to leave the country annually in order to seek better economic opportunities. Many will not return.

Although Montelibano is hoping that "Filipinos abroad... must find a way to return, to share their golden experiences, to tell stories of hardship and loneliness..." as long as the "twin evils" are heavily influencing on how our country is being run, Filipinos abroad, ourselves included, may not heed the call. In the meantime, we continue to "bloom wherever we are planted." Of course, money remittances continues, too.

Father's Day card

This is the front page of the card that Cean made for this occasion.

Father's Day

Cean made this wonderful card last Friday in school. We celebrated this day with lunch buffet at our favourite Chinese restaurant. Happy Father's Day to all dads like me!

Tasty Filipinos

Photo: Ivan About Town blog

Ever heard of tasty Filipinos? I first came across this edible variety when it caused a controversy in the Philippines several years ago. Before you get any cannibalistic notion about this, I am talking about the biscuit snacks that are sold in Spain under the brand name Filipinos. I came across this snack food again when I recently checked out Ivan Henares' blog. He was visiting Spain when he spotted with amusement the biscuit snacks sold alongside such world famous brands as Oreo and Chips Ahoy.

Mel and Jay UK Tour

A fortnight ago, unknown to many people except for the closest of kith and kin, Mel and Jay flew into town for a one-week holiday. It has been awhile since we've seen Jay; at the same time, quite thrilled to finally meet Mel.

They arrived one gloomy and wet Thursday afternoon (15th May) in an Emirates plane from their base in Kuwait via Dubai. Although they had a few hours stopover in Dubai, Jay was not able to have a quick reunion with his brother Jul since the latter was already at work and could not make it to the airport on time.

After two delays I finally met the pair at the arrival area of London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 3 and it was nearly 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Quick hellos and how are yous were exchanged before we proceeded to London Underground to catch a tube train to King's Cross, wherein we caught another train to Peterborough. It was about half past nine in the evening when we reached my home. The kids were already asleep but Aai was still awake. Late hot supper was served.

I toured Jay and Mel in London the following day. Before that, they accompanied me and Cean (eldest son) to school and then we took a late morning train to London. Our main itinerary for the day was the Tower of London, a World Heritage Site and very popular to tourists. We then proceeded to see Tower Bridge exhibition and London City Hall. I then brought them to Westminster area for a quick look at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey and London Eye.

Now that they know their way around London they went back there again on Saturday. Their itinerary was Buckingham Palace to watch the 'changing of guards' ceremony. After taking lunch in St James Park they went back to Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament and London Eye. Alas, it was another wet day so they weren't able to get a great view of London from the Eye.

And on the Sabbath they rested. We treated them to lunch after attending Mass in a church near the city centre. As visitors to Peterborough, it is customary for Jay and Mel to visit Peterborough Cathedral. We ended up the day window shopping at the city's shopping centre, Queensgate.

On Monday, we took them to Burghley House, the largest and grandest house of the first Elizabethan age, which is located in nearby Stamford, itself a famous old market town. Before we went inside the house for a guided tour we visited the new attraction, Garden of Surprises. The boys really had a wonderful time. Inside the house was a different matter. You are immediately transported to olden times, seeing all those kitchen utensils and stoves, hundred of paintings, royal beds, antique furnitures and more. You have to be in the house in order to appreciate it.

The next day, they are back in London and this time they went to Kew Gardens, St Paul's Cathedral and the National Gallery. On Wednesday, on their last tour in the famed city, they went to Madam Tussauds, the famous wax museum, where they rubbed elbows with world famous celebrities in all their waxed glory.

On Thursday, they decided to rest and started packing their things for a trip back home to the Philippines. The kids bonded with their uncle Jay and auntie Mel. When we told Cean that they were leaving the following early morning, he started crying and kept on telling his Mum to stop them from leaving. He was upset. And John Paul? Not bothered at all.

They left for London Heathrow in the early hours of Friday morning. They were obviously very happy during their one week stay with us and even talked about coming back. We told them they can come anytime. And here's an interesting fact, Jay and Mel have been to more London tourist attractions that I have been to and I have been living in this country for six years.

Today is the 3nth birthday of Jay and his twin brother JT Alan. I wish them a healthy and prosperous life ahead of them! You did not think that our recent visitors were Mel Tiangco and Jay Sonza, the famous hosts of the now defunct talk show, Mel and Jay (later Partners with Mel and Jay), did you? No, they were my younger brother Jay and his wife Mel(rose), modern day Filipino heroes (OFWs) based in Kuwait.

Swedes find 'world's oldest tree'

If you want to live forever (or much much longer) be a tree instead. A tree said to be the planet's oldest at nearly 10,000 years old, has been found in Sweden. It certainly is an amazing find!

read more | digg story

Fish and chips

This was the lunch I shared with my sons last Sunday. Sometimes served with peas, fish and chips are my favourite British food. I just loved that oil fried fish. Mmmm delicious!

Sunday lunch

This is how I spend my quality time with Cean and John Paul - eating lunch together in our local supermarket restaurant. After lunch, we do some food shopping to top up our supplies for the following week.

Self-portrait

This picture was taken using my old Sony Ericsson W850i handset. The phone in the picture is my new mocha brown Sony Ericsson W890i handset. This super slim and stylish phone is equipped with 2GB of memory and a 3.2 Megapixel camera. This phone only came out in the UK just recently. I cannot wait to try my latest gizmo!

Flying Penguins

I first saw this in BBC's Breakfast morning news program, a film teaser showing a group of penguins starting to take flight and then actually flying.Apparently, a BBC camera crew filming a colony of Adelie penguins were surprised to see these penguins did something no other penguins have done - flew into the Antarctic skies. The film clip is extraordinary you have got to see it. Beware, though, what do we celebrate this day?

read more | digg story

White Saturday

Catholics like me refer to today as Black Saturday, the day before the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, I woke up this morning to a "white" Saturday. The kids and I enjoyed the snowfall that went on for several minutes. By lunchtime it was gone but snow in late March is supposed to be unusual as we now nears springtime. Of course it is not due to global warming!?!?

Vote for Chocolate Hills

Please join my campaign for Bohol's world-famous Chocolate Hills to be one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature. Chocolate Hills is an unusual geological formation in Bohol, Philippines. It is composed of around 1,268 perfectly cone-shaped hills, which are covered in green grass that turns brown during the dry season, thus the name "Chocolate Hills."

read more | digg story

Cathedral Church in Peterborough

It is considered as the most beautiful Norman Cathedral in England and is dedicated to Sts Peter, Paul and Andrew.

A monastic church was founded in Peterborough by King Peada in 655 AD, destroyed by the Danes in 870, rebuilt as part of a Benedictine Abbey and reconsecrated in 972, burned down in an accidental fire in 1116 and re-built in its present form between 1118 and 1238. The porch was added about 1380, the eastern extensions around 1500 and the central tower was re-built in the mid 1300's and again in the 1880's. In 1539 the monastery was closed by Henry VIII, but eighteen months later in 1541, the church became the Cathedral of the new Diocese of Peterborough, with the last abbot as the new bishop, and Peterborough became a city.

The information above was taken from the Peterborough Cathedral website. In it, there is also a link that describes a short history of the Cathedral. Aside from its huge and beautiful structure, both inside and outside, the Cathedral's other claim to fame is that it is where two queens during the Tudor period were buried: Katherine of Aragon (one of the wives of Henry VIII) and Mary Queen of Scots. The latter's grave, however, is now empty as she was re-buried in Westminster in 1612. The Abbey's most valued relic - St Oswald's Arm, disappeared from its chapel about the time of the reformation but the chapel still has its newel staircase or watch-tower where monks kept guard over it day and night.

Nowadays, the Cathedral still follows its centuries old pattern of daily worship. However, the medieval monastic pattern of eight sessions per day has been reduced to morning prayer, daily Eucharist and evensong on most days of the week.

Note: the text of this post are mostly taken from the Peterborough Cathedral website (http://www.peterborough-cathedral.org.uk/).

Peterborough Cathedral

A must-see attraction for every visitor to the city of Peterborough!

This shot is taken from my Sony Ericsson W850i and then published through mobile blogging. It's cool, huh! In the future, some of my posts (shorter and with pictures) will be published through my mobile phone (or as it is most commonly known in the Philippines, celphone).

Tourists seen planting trees, picking veggies in new program

The Philippine Department of Tourism is promoting "participatory tourism", where tourists have the opportunity to participate in some cultural activities in the attractions they are visiting.

I think it is a laudable program, which deserves a serious look into by local governments in the country. Here in the UK, some farms run a similar program where local tourists, especially children, learn about farming. Aside from the education gained they are also able to participate in some activities like picking of fruits.

Here is an excerpt of the Philippine Daily Inquirer news article that discusses more about "participatory tourism":

LA TRINIDAD, BENGUET – Local tourism and irrigation officials are pushing a tourism program that would allow tourists and visitors to learn how to harvest vegetables and plant trees. The program, they said, was one way of making the province’s vegetable gardens and endangered watersheds click as tourism sites.

read more digg story

Getting rid of the Ugly Filipino abroad

This Philippine Daily Inquirer article by Michael Tan does not make for pleasant reading for some Filipinos. I agree that when we Filipinos travel (both locally and abroad) we tend to be loud, especially if we are a big group. This can be misinterpreted by locals as being rowdy, too. However, this attitude is not something unique to us.

The use of the epithet Ugly Filipino is an obvious reference to Ugly American, which was used "to refer to perceptions of arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless behaviours of Americans at home or abroad (Wikipedia). Why the reference? Because the behaviour we show as tourists is similar to the Americans.

The article, however, is well meaning. It seeks to erase that bad image we have abroad as tourists by offering the following tips to become better tourists:

1. Take in the local culture's sights, sounds and smells
2. Blend in
3. Be inquisitive, not acquisitive.

Some food for thought then for those Filipinos about to travel abroad as tourists.

read more digg story

First look at vast 'book of life'

I came across this interesting BBC artice about a huge online database designed to enhance greatly our limited understanding of our world's diminishing biodiversity. So far, the "first 30,000 pages have been unveiled of a vast encyclopedia which aims to catalogue every one of our planet's 1.8 million species ... The creators of the database say it could have an impact on human knowledge comparable to that which followed the microscope's invention in the 1600s."

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Who owns today?

"It comes but once every four years and this 29 February some workers are being given the extra day as holiday. Employers won't like the idea, but we tend to look at additional time as a gift." (Read more about this article by following the link at the bottom)

I did come to work on this day not mindful about its significance. It was just another working day. On the other hand, I have a neighbour back in Bohol, Philippines who was born on this day in 1972. That means he had just celebrated his 9th birthday. Hope it was grand!

read more digg story

Earthquake hits the UK

I thought I felt something moving while I was working on my computer drafting my most recent post on my Pinoyborian blog. It continued for sometime and then I heard our master bedroom door making a noise. I stood up and my wife called out as she was woken up by the tremors, too. It was a surreal experience as I thought there were no earthquakes in the UK. In my homeland, the Philippines, you would expect it to happen regularly (although we pray against it happening) as we are located in the so-called Ring of Fire.

My personal experience on earthquakes happened in 1990-1991 when that series of catastrophic earthquakes hit the Philippines. I was still then a university student. The first time it happened I was sitting in a concrete bench by the roadside just whiling my time away when I feel the bench moving sideways. I thought to myself this cannot be happening as the bench was concrete. I stood up and look at the school building behind me and saw students running out screaming. I then felt the tremors and everything I saw blurred. It did not last long in real time I suppose but at that time it was long enough. It scared me.

The second time it happened (during the same year) I was watching a movie with my brother in the balcony at that. Then tremors started in the middle of the show, people scampered to get to the door (I'm sure there were minor injuries during the melee) but I held my brother back. I said to him, "wait for it to stop and the door is quiet clear then we go out". When the movements stopped off we go and out of the moviehouse. It was a lousy movie anyway - I do not remember it now.

read more digg story

Cean turns 5

Our eldest son celebrated his fifth birthday last Monday 18 February. Coincidentally, my father turned 70 on the same day. The party, however, was held two days later at our house. It was attended by friends and their family from the Filipino community in Peterborough.

Social event

Birthday celebrations are a common way of socialising among us Filipinos here in Peterborough. Aside from catching up on each other's lives (sharing stories, problems and triumphs), attending such an event is a huge welcome relief from a hectic life of work and family. This is most specially true during these winter months. The weather is very cold and the skies dark and gloomy that all you want to do is stay inside and sulk.

Initially, we have only wanted to celebrate Cean's birthday with a few close friends. However, as the date gets nearer we have invited more people than we have planned to do. As hosts, the preparation was not easy - it never was, so swore our friends who came to the party and have played hosts themselves in the past.

Pinoy food
My wife is an excellent cook, if I should say so myself. I, however, is rubbish on such things but tried making it up by preparing all the ingredients (well, almost all). She hated doing it because she has very sensitive hands. Preparations started as early as the previous week by buying the canned ingredients and some decorations. It became quite hectic as the day gets nearer.

On the eve of the party, which was the start of wala'y tulogay (literally 'no sleeping'), the two main events were preparing ingredients and cooking that lasted until the wee hours of the morning the next day. Of course, there were the occasional disruption by cries of Mummy and Daddy by the little ones who were sleeping upstairs. On the party day, preparations are still ongoing up until during the party itself.

What could be more Pinoy in a birthday party than the food? Adobong baboy, lumpia shanghai, pansit canton, spaghetti, stir fry vegetables (carrots, broccolli, flat peas and bell peppers) and the piece de resistance, Daisy's bistek Tagalog done with a Bol-anon twist, were the main courses eaten together with the equally important kan-on (boiled rice). For dessert, there were biko (similar to kakanin), saging turon (plantain fritters), buko fruit salad and refrigerator cake.

Our son is very much into cars so a redhot racing car-shaped birthday cake it has to be. Bought at the local Sainsburys, it was a "moist sponge cake filled with delicious buttercream and raspberry jam, covered with soft icing and edible decorations." I have to say it was a delicious cake and the children seemed to have enjoyed it as well.

Birthday celebrant
In the run up to the party day, Cean was very excited and talks a lot about it. He is a very shy boy so the party is our way of exposing him to lots of different people and for him to socialise with other children. Unfortunately, when the big day came he was poorly with chest infection after he arrived from school. We did not realise until later on in the night that he was running a high fever. That explained his lacklustre behaviour when he came down after changing into his birthday clothes and greeted his visitors. After the customary singing, candle blowing and picture taking he politely begged off from the revelry to go upstairs and quitely played with his PlayStation (PS) 2 console. His favourite at the moment is any Hot Wheels game.

It did not stop the rest of us from celebrating though. The house was literally packed full with adults and children. The former were huddled up in small groups and swap stories while the latter were busy playing down- and upstairs with their balloons and whistles. Some children were enjoying Cbeebies and Nick Jr 2 shows. Later on, there was the very Pinoy idea of entertaining guests - Magic Mike singing by the adults. It was a very happy event and I am quite certain that everybody had a great time.

Cean had received a lot of gifts - birthday cards, money, shirts, trousers, a picture frame, a PS2 game and even another birthday cake. Through this article let me express my family's heartfelt thanks to our friends who came and gave gifts. Your presence was more than enough and the presents came unexpected but greatly appreciated by us and especially Cean, as a great bonus.

More pictures
There are more pictures to enjoy in my Friendster and Multiply accounts. Additionally, my relatives can check on our Geni family tree site.

Learn and earn with Moneyblogger

I am very new to blogging. I came across it while surfing the internet. After a bit of researching about blogs I decided to create one myself. My first blog was created in October 2007 from a social networking site popular with fellow Filipinos. I only did one post in it since I discovered Blogger, which I prefer to use.

I like Blogger because of the opportunity to earn money from my blogs (I have two at present and two still in the planning stage). Earning from blogging? Now that caught my attention when still researching about the topic. I thought to myself, that is a good incentive to motivate me to pursue this hobby. Yes, it is a hobby for me as I have a day job that pays me well enough. But greedy as I am, I want to earn more money!

Seriously, I was intrigued with the idea of earning money from sharing my thoughts and views on life to the rest of the world. Although making money is not the main reason I got into blogging I cannot discount the fact that it is a motivating factor. If I earn from my blogs it will make my wife happy, too! She is not too keen on me spending late night hours on the internet. She wants me rested and sleeping the night away instead. Understandably so as I have to bond with my young sons when I arrived from work; not to mention, too, the chores awaiting me at home!

Anyway, I did a Google search on the topic of earning from blogging and I came across Moneyblogger. It was very timely to come across it as I have just started blogging without any knowledge about computer programming. Moneyblogger "is a year long project started in October 2007 with a simple aim - to see how much money you can really make from blogging." Although it was about how to earn from blogging, the added value to me is that I also learn some of the 'basics' on creating a blog e.g. how to write the About Me page.

So far, Moneyblogger has proven to be indispensable to me as it is helping me a lot. I always refer to it if I want to improve on my blog. Whether I will earn money from my blog is not on my mind now. If it comes, it will be a great bonus. For now, I am happy just blogging my thoughts and views and whatever caught my fancy, to the world. And did I mention that by posting about Moneyblogger I have a chance to win an iPod Nano. How's that for a bonus!

I am the Filipino of the Year 2007

Yes, you read it right. I was given the award by one of my favourite newspaper columnist, Philippine Daily Inquirer's Conrado de Quiros. Intrigued? Aghast? Then go and read his column about me.

Warm Welcome

This blog is generally about how it is to live in the UK from a Pinoy family's perspective. There will be focus on our integration into British culture and also about the the vibrant Filipino community in the city of Peterborough and neighboring places.

The blog's name is a combination of the words Pinoy, the informal name we Filipinos like to call ourselves (similar to Brits for British), and Peterborian, a native of Peterborough.