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garcia

26 Blog Entries
1 Trip
527 Photos

Trips:

Got 2 see what's out there!

Shorthand link:

http://blogabond.com/garcia


dated for 8 years, married for nearly 4 years, no littlies yet, understandably bored and seeking new adventures... therefore, we go.

young married couple. both born in the same small rice-farming village in the northern Philippines. presently residing in beautiful New Zealand. guy (Kanootz) works in a factory. girl (Joia) works in a preschool. in short, we rely on our gutsy & hardy outlook (5 barley loaves & 2 fish will do) more than our finances.

10 weeks ago: to save some bucks, Kanootz installed a king-single bed in the far end of Joia's grandparents' lounge; furniture & other stuff safe in self-storage; been a real blessing to receive only bank statements; NO power - phone - internet (thanks, uncle Roger for the free Wifi, haha!) - BILLS for the past 3 months. Such FREEDOM!

leaving for San Francisco (ex Auckland) in 10 days as first leg of our first (we hope there to be more) RTW trip. posting opening page now as will be busy with packing & finalizing stuff these coming days, plus some crash-course in DSLR photography this Monday (thanks Steph!).


Buddy List

Christina Martin
Christina Martin
Joey Carlotta
Joey Carlotta



niente dire [lost for words]... literally!

Milano, Italy

23 November 2007

Our flight from London Heathrow to Milan Linate cost us 120UKpounds. Not bad really, considering we only booked the other day. This was our first time to book online on our own. It was unbelievably easy! This was also one of our easiest check-ins ever. Thank God!

I don’t know about Kanootz but as soon as we boarded the plane, I already started to feel nervous about the language issue. I wasn’t sure how we’d find our way from the airport to Milan Stazioni Centrale… ‘pero bahala na si Lord!”. In Linate airport, we found a shuttle bus that took us to the train station for 5Euro/e. Thankfully, all I had to say was “Buon Giorno! Due biglietti, per favore.” Relief!

At 30 minutes length, the bus ride to the central station was almost like an orientation tour of Milan. It went all around the city, past the Duomo. Cool! Not a bad ride at all! The only thing is, I wasn’t quite sure whether I liked what I was seeing or not. We read somewhere that unless one has a healthy heap of credit cards (for high-end shopping) and a keen liking for the nightlife, then Milan isn’t the place. Well, we have neither.


milan's duomo cathedral

Upon reaching the train station, I was even more nervous as it meant we had to buy our tickets to Turin. Somehow, my prayers were heard and we quickly made friends with a lady in a black overall tunic. Her name was Zara. She was on the same plane, and also Turin-bound. I was a bit cautious, and even more so upon learning she was originally from Somali. But she had such a kind face and was willing to help us out. So, I said to the Lord, I will take away my prejudices, and will trust Him with our safety.


milan stazione centrale
It was raining that evening. Milan’s central station was dark, damp, smokey, and sorry to say but... dirty. We waited for our train for 1 hour. Zara even insisted to buy us some cold drinks. Anyway, after an hour of secondary-smoking, the information board finally told us to go to our boarding gate. The train was even more DREADFUL! The ticket did not indicate which carriage / seats we were supposed to get. So, we picked one at random. Being a Friday evening (workers from Turin head home for the weekend), it was packed! We didn’t realize this. So, 2 great big backpacks in tow, we squeezed and squashed in / with all sorts of people and all sorts of smells. I could tell that Kanootz’ patience is running out (it must be really bad then, and it isn’t just me). Without prior seating reservations, we ended up sitting on the corridor pull-downs. This meant that within the 2-hour trip, we had to get up every 5 or so minutes to let people through. I tried to convince Kanootz (actually, myself more than him) that it’s okay, it’s not that bad. Truth was I couldn’t tell him that all this discomfort was already making me miss home terribly. In retrospect, first class tickets would have saved us more.

At least, I told myself, in 2 hours or so, we’ll be in the company of Kanootz’ family. At least, we were heading towards more familiar people, although in an unfamiliar place…


permalink written by  garcia on November 23, 2007 from Milano, Italy
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?

London, United Kingdom

... I've been up to London... didn't visit the Queen...


kanootz in our tour bus
By now, we are starting to feel the stress of flying and being constantly on the move. Although, we are happy about our decision to forget about hostels (thanks to our hostel experience in SFO) for now, and stay in a cheap but clean hotel instead, it doesn’t exactly help that it had to be so far away from the city centre to be affordable. So, to avoid more stress, we booked to join coach tours for the next two days. Today, a London Day City tour with an evening cruise along the River Thames. Tomorrow, we go for a day tour outside of London through the same tour company.Still jet lagged, we only snoozed off at 03:00 hours in the early morning. Then, we had to get up as early as 06:00 hours to make it to Langham Hotel at 08:00 where the coach was picking us up. We had breakfast at EAT again, scrambled egg panini. Not bad.


Kanootz and Evan Evans

Richard's blue badge

The bus was 20 minutes late! Grrrr! Hmpf! Grrrr! We waited in front of the hotel. We learned later that the Langham hotel’s cheapest room is at UK350 pounds per night! What?!!! What kind of people stay in places like this? I also noticed that they had quite a few Filipino employees.


they keep them all in here!

kanootz w/ the beefeaters

the White Tower...


meticulous care...
Finally, the shuttle arrived and it took us to Victoria Coach Station where we boarded our tour bus. Our blue-badge tour guide’s name is Richard. Man, he liked to talk. We realized later, we were the only ones listening to him; everyone

he stands all day...
else had their speakers off. Oh well, at least he kept us entertained. We certainly appreciated the information spoon-feeding as we're too lazy to read up about the places.


braveheart!


ei, sisterrrr!

gotcha!
The tour started with a visit to the Tower of London, with a view of the Tower Bridge. Kenneth enjoyed the interactive exhibits at the White Tower museum. Joia was almost dizzied by all the bejeweled stuff in the Crown Jewel House. Oh, please do keep the postcards we sent you particularly the ones from the Tower of London/Crown Jewels for possible collection when we get back… haha! It’s just that we didn’t buy any souvenir.

arrgh! (Inside white tower)

From there, we drove to Buckingham Palace just in time for the finale of the changing of the guards. It was perfect timing! We didn’t get to see the whole process but we didn’t want to anyway, as apparently the middle bit is quite boring. There were Croatians in their football colours everywhere that day. We learned later that England was playing Croatia that night. England lost. They were very sore.


hop2, hop2! Guards marching in...

hop2, hop2, guards marching out!

this beautiful thing on front of Buckingham Palace

From Buckingham Palace, we were brought to an English pub for lunch – as promised. There we got chatting with the other people in the tour group. One very friendly young lady was called Julie. She’s French, 26, very well traveled; her boyfriend’s English so she took a job with Evan Evans to be able to live in the UK. She’s trying out the company’s products/services before she commences work. Sensible! There was a Filipino lady and her American husband from Connecticut; they were nice and down to earth. Then there’s this Filipino retiree couple, super YABANG! “O, yu shud bisit us in Merilend, we hab 3 extra rums becos ol our children are propeshonals and hab their own houses.” We were saying ‘Wow, you did very well then! But inside, Joia was grinding her teeth. ’Hmpf! Just the kinds of people that make one realize just how easy it is to stereotype Filipinos. Not good!


this way, that way... so many signs. yet so easy to get lost
Anyway, after lunch, we drove to Westminster Abbey. By this time, the tour was getting a bit too overloaded. Too many tombs, even Charles Darwin’s was there. ???? Doesn’t make sense ‘cause the Abbey is a church building. We did like the section where the ‘Quire’ (Old English for Choir) sits. Although there was no singing at the time, we can imagine how lovely it would have been.


outside Westminster Abbey

inside Westminster Abbey



The EYE
We then ended the day

Joia & Julie
with the beautiful evening cruise along the River Thames. We didn’t have enough time to go for a ride on the London Eye, but we were quite content with just being at the foot of it. The cruise captain was funny. He kept making us wave to the people on every bridge we passed. We were fortunate that just before the cruise ended, a big barge was approaching the Tower Bridge which meant it had to open up. What a sight!

Abra Cadabrah! The bridge opens up!


Kanootz & Joi by Westminster Abbey's walls
We didn’t really realize just how tired and stressed up we actually were until the tour finished and we were on our own. We walked around Picadilly Circus trying to locate the Internet Café we found last night. It was very frustrating; we were already hungry and tired but had to prioritize it so we could book our plane to Turin. This was yet another hall-of-famer, in a bad way, as this was our lowest point. We had a really big fight… which we won’t go about into too much detail, as you probably don’t want to hear about it anyway. The thing is, we expected and prepared ourselves for far worse situations than this. We knew there were going to be tough times. We’re still quite thankful and very proud to say, we are still very married and in love! Yippee!

Hope you enjoyed our London City tour. God bless you all!

permalink written by  garcia on November 22, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
tagged London
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London aside...

Bath, United Kingdom

We’re really terribly behind with our blog now. We’re writing this entry from Turin and there is a lot more to blog about. So let us just post these photos for you and then tell you a little bit about them... or more if our memories decide to work well

Pat, our lady cheauffer

The railway station @ Windsor


bench (at windsor railway station)
Basically, we rejoined the tour company for a day trip outside of London. We chose the Windsor-Stonehenge-Bath route. We have no regrets. It was hassle free, pleasant and cruising... We even got some much needed sleep. Sweet!

Kanootz in front of an old train engine

The coach driver was a lady named Pat. She wore a silver fern pin and greeted every single passenger, asked them where they’re from, and on learning we live in NZ, she said Kia Ora… lovely lady! Our tour guide was dear old Richard again. We’re a bigger number today, approximately twice as much as yesterday.


Windsor Castle

First stop was Windsor castle. We had to climb up a bridge and into a railway station – which was very very pretty and quiet. Somewhere along the railway station you can get a lovely sight of the entire castle. The town itself is very quaint with its cobbled streets and tiny little shops in buildings that are probably as old as the castle.


this way please...

The Windsor Castle behind Kanootz


Windsor tower

a tree by the castle wall
To get into the castle grounds, you have to go through security as rigorous as those in airports. After fetching our humungous audio guides - which we only listened to for the first 3 stops, we marched along the top of the castle wall for a little orientation before our guide leaves us to ourselves. Here, we got a lovely picture of the ‘public school’ (which means elite school) which William and Harry attended.

Windsor wall

The castle interior is just as one would imagine. Overwhelmingly regal, everything seems to be lined with gold. All the ceilings are painted with beautiful murals and the walls decorated with royal portraits by some of the most famous painters / artists of the past. There was a very PINK room. Joia liked that one. Then there’s the throne room where people who get invited gets to have an audience with the queen. It’s like in that movie Ever After where the stepmother and step sisters were summoned to appear before the king and queen.

view from Windsor Castle


There was changing of the guards that day...
After a while inside the castle, we were glad to be out the door and into the sunshine again. It gets to you, if you’re like us, uncomfortable in and overwhelmed by all that regality. It’s nice and all but okay, so? It’s enough to say we’ve seen all that.

guard's shoes

Walking back into the assembly point, we finally found each other again after getting lost in all the castles chambers. But also, this castle guard / beefeater (or something) found us. He was so funny. He insisted we took a photo together with him. Then he offered to take a photo of us – wasn’t a very good shot but nevertheless, the lovely gesture more than makes up for it.


friendly guard at Windsor

shot by friendly guard


Stonehenge silhouette... (w/ lens flare)

tourist pose
Next stop was Stonehenge. The site was pretty much the same as what one would see in travel brochures and travel shows. Visitors basically go in through the reception point and through a tunnel under the road, then out the other side where the rocks are. Here, the Filipino mother and son tourists finally approached us for a photo. It took them a while… haha!

a tomb hill around stonehenge
They thought we were Vietnamese. The son, who works in London, was complaining about the weather. We said we didn’t expect much of the UK weather, that way we don’t get too depressed by gray clouds.

listening to folklore


look below...rock poops!

the lone stone
Probably the most interesting thing about Stonehenge is that as one walks around the circular formation, every now and then, one would hear – rather, feel a really large explosion which actually shakes the ground with pressure enough to make you pop the inside of your ears. We learned later that there is an Army training ground close to the site. Now, it makes sense.

another lone stone

follow the shadow

Last stop: Bath. This was a lovely finale for the day. Bath is a very beautiful city.


some quote about Bath

Bath City Centre

The stately homes and gardens make you feel as if you’re in a different era. They even have shops lined up on top of a bridge.


Bath Cathedral

Roman Baths entrance

xylophone... ah, music!

Apparently, some famous Hollywood people have got themselves properties in some of its exclusive areas. The actual Roman baths are an interesting artifact. One can really get lost in time inside the complex.


The main pool

Roman costume-wearer behind Joia

dip?

The exit end leads you into the city center. The sun slowly darkening the parish church’s façade, people walking their dogs, quaint little shops of all sorts, a busker playing delightful music on his large xylophone… It was blissful!


Roman architecture inside Bath complex


building next to bath cathedral

Harrods - on our way back to hotel

Alas, the day must come to an end. The drive back home was peaceful. We thanked God for another safe day of travels. It was time to pack up again, thankfully, we did not have any problems boarding our plane from Heathrow to Milan – because we booked this flight online ourselves. Onwards to Europa!

Kanootz @ Heathrow w/ our ride to Milan

On the wings of... Alitalia

permalink written by  garcia on November 22, 2007 from Bath, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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London Calling! ring!!! ring!!!

London, United Kingdom


London Calling! Ring! Ring!
we're knackered!... but had to get going. Checking in at Pensacola for connecting flight to London's Gatwick was - ehm, a hassle... we're getting quite used to this. somehow our bookings are either faulty, unpaid or simply difficult. at this point, we question what the use was for paying service fees to the travel agency. Already we are bracing ourselves for more hassles when we board the plane to the UK at Charlotte airport. At Charlotte airport, the ladies at the boarding gate scanned Joia's NZ passport through and through - looking for visas.Kanootz' Philippine passport is apparently okay. ??? he has a visa (which we applied and waited for 1 month).

Room 322, Etap Hotel, Silvertown
We keep telling them, NZ passport holders do not need entry visa. Anyway, finally, some guy who knew his job finally came along and let us through. ZZZZZZZZZ we tried to get as much sleep as we could in the plane... well, 'cause we had no choice. to watch tv or movie, have to buy an earphone. we miss the perks of flying AirNZ, sob!


DLR train - very CLEAN!
Our plane landed in Gatwick on 19 November at 9:00 London time. We basically remember nothing much except how confused and giddy we were. Our only goal that day was get to Silvertown where Etap hotel was. At 90UKpounds(NZ$270), taxi was not an option! We spent nearly 2 hours at the airport before we finally figured out that the best transport to our hotel was via train. Joia was teary eyed by the time we boarded the 'correct' train. 1 whole hour of train ride meant we only got to the hotel by mid day.

Picadilly Circus
we were starving. On our way to the hotel door, some stranger stopped us, asking for 2ukpounds. we said we didn't have any. he argued we just didn't want to give him any. for goodness sake! we just wanna go rest now. we told him to come to the hotel reception with us. there, he was now asking for 10pounds.?#@! Joia gave him only 2lbs as it was all we had, fortunately. We took the lift to room 322. We unpacked a little. We fetched some bread and croissants from the petrol station nearby and had them for lunch. took a shower. crashed to bed.


Oxford Streetlights
time to get up... huh? 2pm! not the same day. following. we slept from 5pm of the 19th to 2pm of the 20th. This was definitely a hall-of-famer! In a hurry, we groomed up for our first official day, rather evening in London City. We took the DLR train which was 5 minutes away from the hotel. then we took another train to Central London. Hey, we just noticed how superb London Underground is. To say it's a far cry from NY's subway is an understatement. In contrast to NY's subway, London tube is CLEAN! very clean! we like clean! we miss clean! You can actually breathe and sit in it, and even enjoy the ride no matter how long.

some noble horses... worthy of this memorabillia. ???

red phone booths behind Joia...


self-portraits... location: ESPRIT
we exited the tube through Oxford Circus. From here, we began exploring the city. The weather was really nippy by now but we were too hungry to even care about the cold. we just wanted to get some decent warm food. we found this sandwich shop called EAT. we found out later there's lots of EATs in London. Excellent! After some bite, we walked along trying to locate Langham of London where we were to catch our tour bus tomorrow. It turns out it's just 5 minutes walk from EAT. Yay! Now we won't get lost.From Langham place, we took a u-turn towards Picadilly Circus.

window shopping along Oxford St
We just learned 'Circus' in London means a big 'roundabout'! Haha! Lots of prime shops for (window only) shopping. Eye candy for Joia. By chance, they were lighting up Oxford Street that night. We were looking for a handy shoulder bag for Joia at Lacoste when the shop assistant told us about the event. We ended up staying out in the streets that evening.


Eating warm pizza @ Picadilly Circus
We bought a slab of pizza each from some Italian restaurant (with an Irish-looking chef) and kept walking around Picadilly Circus until we found ourselves in Leicester Square where we found a cheap Internet cafe. 1pound/hour or buy a drink and stay for their wifi. Goodie! means we can keep blogging. can't seem to live without internet these days.


uhm, I feenk wee bettah gettattahea! kweek!
time to go back to hotel. 11pm... we were worried that some guy was gonna follow us again on our way home from the pontoon dock station. Thank God, there were other people from the train walking in same direction as we were. The evening was so full on... but we didn't expect any less anyway. It feels like San Francisco again (except a lot cleaner, they have great big machines constantly scrubbing their cobbled streets)... we're complete strangers to the city. no one to look out for us. Really really thankful to God for our guardian angels!

permalink written by  garcia on November 20, 2007 from London, United Kingdom
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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more about pensacola

Charlotte, United States

We are writing this entry on our way to the UK... hope it gets done before we land on London grounds so we can move on to new stuff...

The following are photographs from our day trip to Destin – a prime beach city to the East of Pensacola, Florida. On the way, we passed by Panama City Beach which is famous for being a favourite of college students on Spring Breaks. Apparently, the residents are not very keen on these crowd of spring breakers because of the havoc they sometimes cause.


... yeah, you can say it... 'to the world!'

white as snow... it's sand.


some ceremony that day - naval museum
Manong Tom being a Navy Veteran meant a visit to the US National Naval Museum in town. Driving to the place, we learned about the vast land area that the US Navy holds possession of, and not just some piece of land. It’ a spread of coastal land with beautiful sugar white beaches much like Pensacola beach. In the museum, Kanootz & Cousin Grace went on a Blue Angels simulator ride.

blue angels simulator
They seem to have enjoyed that.Joia’s favourite in the museum is the part where they exhibited homes and actual living conditions during the war times. Our visit was also quite special in that there was some kind of naval ceremony going on at the time. There were bunches of naval choir singers singing beautifully, and Joia watched a US Naval flag ceremony while Kanootz explored some more battle ships and fighter planes.

blue angels pilot wannabes

they actually showered in those days? haha! naval museum

kanootz' dream ride... Naval museum

The following day – Sabbath, we couldn’t go to church as the nearest one is about 30 - 45 minutes away and we knew Manong Tom & Cousin Grace were busy with preparations for their fund raising later in the evening. Cuz Grace leads a youth group and they organized some party to raise funds so some needy families could have a proper thanksgiving meal this coming week. We spent the day walking around their 4 acre property to collect leaves, twigs, berries and dry grass to decorate some hats for their harvest party.


joia's handmade autumn hats
After the walk, we gathered the hats, the stuff we collected, along with some glue & strings and we sat by the pool under the warm sun shine. We spent the rest of the day singing our favorite praise songs, chatting about our home church and the people there and just having a quiet restful day altogether.


mr. scarecrow
In the evening, we helped decorate their church hall. The party was a success! Many people bought more tickets from the front door. All in all, they were able to raise money for 6 families at the least (their goal was to raise only for 1 family). We were very impressed with how their community – though small it may be, all came together to support their youth. There really was a spirit of unity in there.

get down and boogie! - go Ms. Grace!
It was a tiring evening but a really rewarding one, especially for Cousin Grace. We were very proud of her that night. To celebrate and congratulate her, Manong Tom shouted us to some more Krispy Kreme later that night. We must have eaten 2 dozens between the 4 of us, and then took home some more. The donut store had a somewhat theatrical setting so customers could see how the donuts are made from start to finish. Exciting! Haha!

the life story of a krispy kreme...

Sunday was parting time again. We hate saying goodbye… we really suck at it! Even saying goodbye to Boolinzky and the other cats, and the goats and the dogs was very very difficult. Still, saying farewell to Manong Tom & Cuz Grace at the airport was much more unbearable. Especially, knowing how very well looked after we have been by them and then to go from here to London, it meant we had to go back to skimping as we’re about to live back on our own means again – and we really haven’t much. Waaaaa! But such is the life of travelers, and we willingly bear it... Pensacola has been a very very unexpected surprise to us and a very very pleasant experience that we will always go back to – at least in our minds, until we can afford to go visit again.


naked trees



permalink written by  garcia on November 18, 2007 from Charlotte, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
tagged Thanksgiving
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Katrina's Ghost

New Orleans, United States

13 November 2007 Today,
after breakfast of hot home-made brewed coffee and krispy kreme (leftover from last night… and yes, we know what you’re thinking but we’re on holiday, so shush! Haha!), we were ready for our long drive to the State of Louisianna. Manong Tom & cousin Grace left a note on the bench to let us know they’d gone to pick the rental car up (to save Tundra the mileage, sensible). We played with Boolinzky while we waited. They came back with a brand new Grand Cherokee Jeep (it hasn’t even got a proper license plate).

kanootz likes TRUCKS!


NASA - the actual ship that landed on the moon
They arrived, we hopped on board and before we knew it, we were passing ‘Beautiful Alabama’ already. We drove through Mobile City towards Mississippi, enjoying the view of the lengthy Mississippi river. From the car, it all looks like little patches of marshy grassland. In actual fact, the river is covered in reeds and seen on aerial view (from a plane or by google map), the river's massive snake-like path becomes more recognizable... Manong Tom is choir director of their home church; so naturally, we sang throughout the driving day. Inspired by the Mississippi river, he taught us to harmonize to a song with words that go "Michael rowed the boat ashore" or something... memory's not too good on this one.


Skyline New Orleans
After about 3 hours, we finally got our first sight of New Orleans’ skyline.

Mardi-gras baby!
Soon, we were in the city centre. Manong Tom parked by the main road so we could go for a walk around the city. New Orleans feels terribly empty despite several businesses obviously trying to get things going.

Bourbon lane post-Katrina
It had a distinct smell… not just an old city smell but one that tells you no matter how oblivious you are of Katrina’s coming and going some time ago, that something terrible had happened to this city. Nevertheless, the point of traveling is taking in every bit of the experience – from the fine and posh to the nitty gritties.

cable car - working one
Therefore, we walked on. Manong Tom led us to the French Quarter. The buildings are still very much reminiscent of the city’s French colonization. We walked along Bourbon St which was famous for its Jazz players, mardi-gras parties, cabarets as well as all sorts of cheap (in all the word’s connotations) entertainment. All in all, New Orleans was for us an eye opener. Where have all the people gone? Nobody knows, apparently. Such is the power of nature to dictate the course that human beings and all of civilization run through.

Katrina's ghost

It’s been a long day but not a dull one. We learned a lot today: about the lives of other human beings; the speculated future of a devastated city; about the characters of our host couple – whom we are coming to respect even more each day; and about ourselves in the midst of all this traveling.


untouched by Katrina

Tomorrow is going to be sort of a rest day. Cousin Grace has an engineering conference to go to (of which she is the presiding officer… well done! Proud of you!). Manong Tom has some appointments to go to so he will be dropping us off for a walk around the local mall.


the point is... Popeye's chicken!

permalink written by  garcia on November 16, 2007 from New Orleans, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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where in the world...?

Pensacola, United States


little plane to pensacola from Charlotte, North Carolina
Where in the world is Pensacola? Well, it’s a city in the state of Florida which is rather closer to Mobile City, Alabama than it is to the other Florida cities. But just because it doesn’t sound as familiar as Miami or Orlando to you doesn’t mean that it’s any less, at least not according to our experience.


Buenavista Manor
Before we start writing about our time in Florida, you must meet some characters who are about to take on great roles in making this such a special trip that will end up making us feel that we want to come back soon (of course, this story is being written in retrospect. Otherwise, how would we know that we do want to someday go back to Pensacola?) First up: there is the Buenavista Manor situated somewhere close to the country but not too far away from the city.

Kanootz w/ the manor's saanen goats
It totally felt like country to us because you see, they have 6 very very white goats – 3 sets of sisters that graze along the front yard of the Buenavista’s second property which is right next door. Then there’s Sophie and Sammy who are outdoor dogs. They have been known to attack visitors, so for the initial introduction, they were put on a leash while we stayed a good distance. Then there’s Beanie and Whiteshoes, the two hunter cats who man the garage and keep the snakes and rats at bay. By the way, we’ve just been reminded that there are in fact snakes in some places of this world, just not in New Zealand (or at least we like to believe so).

The butcher and his wife
Then there’s little Miss Boolinzkey (we’re making the spelling up but that’s how it sounds) aka Boo-boo, who is quite aware that she is the princess of the house. She doesn’t do outdoors. And apparently she likes to mark her territory every time there is a house guest so we’ve been warned to keep all doors shut at all times. But she’s very very cute and very very clean, and so we like her. And oh yes, let’s never forget Manong Tom and Manang Grace – the ‘Mr. & Mrs.’ of the house, who kept asking us if we have enough leg room (in the truck) from since the day they fetched us from the local airport. It’s just that when you’ve been used to a small Japanese 1990s car for most of your adult life, then it isn’t that difficult to answer such questions. This reminds us to introduce of course, their big white Toyota Tundra and the other GMC truck, although the Tundra did most of the work while we’re there.


Slinkey Booleenskey... Meeeooowwww!!!
Manang Grace is Kenneth’s first degree cousin. Her husband, Manong Tom, is also an Ilocano by ethnicity (like us and manang grace). This made our time together extra special as we could share jokes and stories in our most native tongue. There is something about speaking your birth language. Ilocano, we are reminded, is a very beautiful language (yes, we dare call it a language although technically it is a dialect… but then technically, a dialect is a variation of a more popular language… and Ilocano is unlike any language, totally separate from all the other ethnic languages surrounding it, so you decide…). There are feelings and thoughts that we can never express entirely and more meaningfully in another language but Ilocano despite being perfectly fluent in other languages.


Sophie (white, feisty, young) & Sammy (black, friendly, wise)
Manang Grace tells us that Manong Tom served in the US Navy for some 20 years. Some time during those two decades, he served as Navy Chef. And to say that ‘he can cook’ is not only an understatement but also a massive assault to his actual cooking prowess. From the moment we tasted his tender beef brisket with sliced sweet Georgia onions for our first meal with them, we knew we were in for a gastronomic ride. We had some nice conversations at the table over Florida’s famous Key Lime Pie for dessert. Wow! Refusing to take siesta, they took us along to some friends of theirs. It was lovely meeting new people and hearing new accents (southern, y’all!). When we got home, Manang Grace took us to meet their dogs, and then for a tour around their other property next door and to meet their goats as well. And when we got home, we smelt something familiar… peanuts… ah, kare-kare… ‘You do eat beef, don’t you?’ asks Manong Tom. Yes! He asks us also which part of the Bible we base our diet on. The Old Testament, we say. ‘Leviticus?’ he guesses. Yes. ‘Okay,’ he says. We’re thankful he knows his Bible well and is very considerate of our dietary choices. Kare-kare… man, it was for real! As if that wasn’t good enough – he also stirred up a mixture of Bagoong and lime. This is authentic Filipino cuisine! Tomorrow, we leave at 10, mamang Grace informs us. To the beach!

JUMP!


Pensacola beach: Kanootz, and the Tundra
The next morning, after a shower in the en suite bathroom (talk about 5-star accommodation… giggles), we followed our noses to the kitchen where Manong Tom was making omelette and fried rice. Hmmmm! Scrumptious! Again, we remember and appreciate how different this (& New York) has been compared to our San Francisco when we had to make do with soup in can and very salty hotdogs on hard bread.

w/ cousin Grace
After breakfast, Joia helped manang Grace to pack our picnic boxes. Then away to the beach we went. Miles away from the beach still, and we can already see the famous white sand we’d only ever read about on the internet. Pensacola beach is a stretch of white sand dunes, sugary white sand dunes. It seemed endless.

Kanootz and Joia... by: Manong Tom (Pensacola beach
Beautiful, clean, and because of the time of the year – fall, it was still sunny but not crowded. We took so many photos here, but they’ll never be able to make up for the real experience of being in the midst of it all. In the truck on the way home, Joia remembered 2 words I heard from Jerico back in New York City. ‘Krispy Kreme, what is that?’ Joia asks Manong Tom & Manang Grace.

Sugar-white sand of pensacola beach

Mr & Mrs Buenavista
Manang Grace smiled excitedly. Manong Tom turned the truck to change directions. Then there was the big sign: ‘Krispy Kreme’! We could smell it as soon as we got out the truck. Donuts like nothing else we’ve ever tasted. We ate almost a dozen between the 4 of us! Manong Tom also bought us our first official conjugal mug as a souvenir from Krispy Kreme. Thanks. Enjoy, everyone!

lost chinelas, pensacola beach

permalink written by  garcia on November 14, 2007 from Pensacola, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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God Bless America

New York, United States


nose-pickers in Monah

Tigerrrrrrrr!!!
Friday was Rose’s vacation leave again, thanks very much. I thought it was ridiculous that we were only planning for one activity for the day - The Monah – Museum of National History. When we got in, we realized quickly that Jerico was not kidding about spending the whole day in there. Stuffed animals of all sizes everywhere! Amazing! Our cameras couldn’t stop clicking! So much exhibits, all very very varied so difficult to get bored. And this was Friday, the 6th day.

Happy Sabbath, everyone! Early morning, that is 6am, we can already hear Jerico whisking away in the kitchen. He’s not very keen, is he? Last night, he had already planned his recipe thoroughly. Talk about excellent hospitality – makes us feel guilty as we were not paying customers. All we can say is thank you. Those pancakes were packed, and no need for jams! Except when your name is Rose and you have about 30 something sweet teeth.


yours trulalah!
After breakfast, Jerico and Kenneth got busy with fiquring out how we might find the closes church to go to. Jackson Heights SDA, it reads on the web. It turns out to be quite enjoyable with Rose walking us to the church, making certain we got there. The church service was an experience we did not expect and shall never forget. We had this big assumption that big city churches were majestic looking on the outside but scarce and poorly looking on the inside (San Francisco seemed to us that way). Well this one blew us away! It was bustling, a literal melting pot of cultures and colours. They made us stand up (embarrassing) and asked us where we’re coming from. New Zealand, we say. ‘Wow!’ the crowd chorused. A reaction we have now gotten accustomed to. The church felt very traditional but I don’t remember anybody falling asleep throughout the service. There was a quartet (Filipinos) who sang beautifully, a duet (Filipinos) who played wonderful music with a violin and a piano. Beside us was a Filipino family – Letty and her husband and daughter, very friendly and warm. At the end of the service, on our way out, Letty’s husband rushed to catch us. ‘If we don’t see each other again, sa langit na lang (in heaven we will),’ he says, melting Joia’s crybaby heart. She rushed out, away from the intensity leaving Kanootz to say goodbye to the family. Walking home, we told each other, we shall never forget Letty’s family and their faces, and will look for them on that day. We never expected to be so blessed by this experience – and in New York of all places in the world.

We got home, and Jerico had done it again! Our laundry – all washed, dried, folded. Rose is a very lucky girl! We don’t feel so terrible accepting the favor today as Joia was going to cook up a storm - Indian for dinner. Rose and Joia went to the closest Asian market to fetch some veggies, chicken and spices. Dinner was Fried Paprika Chicken and Curried Vegetables with cumin in coconut milk. We cooked tons, but were pleased with the overall outcome. I think Jerico liked the chicken, I hope.


kanootz took this... somewhere in The USA
That night, we chatted, we planned, we contemplated on our lives. It must have been the curry! Haha! We realize how very blessed we are to have friends hosting us – 5 star treatment! Tomorrow, they take us back to the air train to JFK. We don’t do very well with goodbyes. But it’s okay because we are positive we will see them again soon – in Auckland. We made quite a sales pitch, so we expect to be showing them around in the country we now call our home – in the near future.

permalink written by  garcia on November 10, 2007 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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Is there a doctor in the house?

New York, United States


Peahen... NBC Studio
Well, yesterday is pretty easy to retell. At noon, we headed out to Manhattan again. There we came across NBC studio, took photos, climbed up to the paid-tour booth on the 2nd floor – we just wanted to see what was up there… although we had not intentions at all to pay for any tickets for anything that day. It was fun looking through all the merchandise in the NBC studio… and thinking that it’s pretty easy for tourists to get sucked in to buying stuff… but not us, ‘cause there simply isn’t much for us to spend. Haha!


lotus lamp - Moma
We walked a few minutes further and finally found Moma. We looked forward to this – our first real museum visit for the trip. I gave the ticket which Rose had so thoughtfully tucked away for us to the man at the reception. ‘This is the Moma, miss; your ticket is for the Mets’. Oh, dear! Thank God, Kanootz was quick to save my face from certain shame with a ‘Two tickets to get in, please’. $20 each. Huh? $20 each. Oh well. As always, one must approach each circumstance with much optimism. So we headed in. Some of the exhibits were pretty amazing. Some makes one question why they’re there – which is probably the point.

Pollock's She-wolf @ Moma

Monet's @ Moma
A pink fluorescent light bulb on a corner is – apparently art. Okay. ‘Look, a Pollock!’ Kanootz calls out. Now we’re talking. Great to see something we finally know about. Slowly, the feeling of being ripped off is melting away. Monet made us stand sill by the sheer size of his work. Picasso makes one smile and want to touch. Oh, and let us also mention that there’s this helicopter hanging in the middle of the building – apparently the first commercial chopper ever. The Museum of Modern Art, after all is what it’s called. At least now that we’ve been exposed to modern art, we realize we have yet to develop appreciation for it.

Picasso, Pablo @ Moma


Union Square Park

beetroots... so red!
Finally, a text from Nurse Rose who had just finished work for the day calls us to take to the subway and meet her at union square. There, we managed to catch the remaining flea market stalls surrounding the park. Interesting and refreshing. Flea markets are always a gem and an amazing touch of country culture that spring out of the metals and concretes of the urban jungle.


pumpkins @ union square

for Inang... from a NY flea
After sunset, we followed Rose’s lead to her favourite Bagel Shop. Essa. We bought a dozen, and 6 cups of crème cheese – 2 plain ones, 2 garden salad, and 2 cups of a pleasant discovery – the ‘raisin and walnut’! It was a lengthy walk but all worth it! Funny thing – realizing that we were Filipinos, the shop person was telling Rose ‘mahal-mahal kita’ haha! And this was Wednesday – the 4th day.


wheat grass. lush. union square market
Thursday, Yahoo! Phantom tonight! The whole day, we were home with Jerico, and naturally – we ate nothing else but bagels, all day! Not complaining, nu-uh! I took the chance to get some photos downloaded, organized and finally do some blogging. Very very behind now. Sorry, peepz! Suddenly, sunset. Rose was home already. We got dressed up a little – Rose lent Joia this pretty little black velvet top with frilly bits, and Joia finally got to wear her red shoes, THE red shoes, in the US of A – fun!


@ Junior's, pre-show
We got there an hour early, so we grabbed some sandwich from a place called Junior’s. Kanootz and Joia shared a Corned Beef Sandwich. The size of the thing! Just as well they were sharing. Oh, and I wouldn’t dare miss to write about the free cheesecake tasters. Between Kanootz and Jerico, the whole tray was – well, piece of cake! And we like FREE. Remember? Come to think of it, the greatest thing in life is really FREE, and not in a cliché kind of way. For us, we’ve been given the greatest gift for free; we just had to accept it. Word for the day… Amen.

Alas, time for some classical entertainment. The cue to get in was very long, amazing when you think people’s tickets have designated seats anyway. ??? Oh, and the tickets were $60USD each. Good score, Miss Rose! Without her radars, we would’ve had to pay double considering how great our seats turned out to be! We could feel Jerico’s excitement when the lights went out. The play opens with an auction. There were several merchandises including a chandelier which became the centerpiece of the story. In the middle of first scene, the Matron calls out ‘I have a note’ in a very very English accent, ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ Huh? We look at Rose and Jerico searching for any indication as to whether that was part of the play or not. They look just as confused as us. Suddenly, the commotion upstairs which had started a while ago becomes louder and louder. ‘Is there a doctor in the house?’ The actors ask the audience, in their characters’ accents and tones. Come off of it, and you may actually be more credible, we thought. The curtain closed with some proper announcements for what really is happening. The show resumed as soon as the paramedics rushed away with the person involved. All in all, it’s been a very very interesting evening. It was special for Joia, as who would’ve thought she would be going to some opera, in New York not the least, with her college friend 5 years later who is also now married.


The Phantom of the Opera

permalink written by  garcia on November 9, 2007 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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Flushed away

New York, United States


Grafitti wecome here
Our 3rd day in New York, first time to wander on our own… we’ve been given instructions and directions by Jerico on how to get from Jackson Heights to Times Square in Manhattan. Rose had even given us her mobile phone for the day so we could contact Jerico (it seems he knows New York by heart) if need be. How difficult could it be? It only takes one train ride and no transfers, right? Don’t worry; we’ll be fine, we say.


@ the Philippine Embassy NY (unfriendly staff, hmpf!)
We walked out to 82nd street and up the subway terminal… waited for Train 7. When we boarded, the train was unusually bare. Sigh! At least no large suffocating crowd and we got to enjoy the views. Look, the Daily Planet! Kanootz excitedly pointed to a giant rounded metallic structure resembling the Earth. That’s funny, I thought as I don’t remember passing through that landmark yesterday when we went to Manhattan with Rose. I didn’t even see the Graffiti-covered building which Jerico had told us about (people are legally allowed to create graffiti so long as it is on that building. neat idea, huh?)


with the legends - NBA store
This is the last stop!” announces the operator. Wait a minute, this isn’t Manhattan. This is Flushing! We took the opposite train. I ran out the train hoping to catch the one on the other side. I tried to get in it but Kanootz hasn’t quite left the other train yet. He screamed… out of fear I might board the train without him. Haha! He says I scared him. Finally, we sat back in the same train we took before learning that it was scheduled to eventually go back to Manhattan.


Ian, did you order this one? (NBA store)
We didn’t have a plan for the day. Well, at least as far as I was concerned. Kanootz on the other hand has apparently made plans with Jerico’s help… to find NBA store – the world’s only. We walked along 5th ave from 42nd to 52nd street. 10 blocks seemed so short a walk having never seen the place before. There were many interesting sculptures and artworks along the building walls as well as some great spots for window shopping.


Kanootz @ central park
Further up along 5th Ave is Central Park. We got there at 3pm, which we figured gave us plenty of time to get out of there before dusk. It was also very chilly that afternoon so we couldn’t really be outdoors for too long. We ended up going back to the NBA store. Come to think of it, we spent most of the day in there anyway much to Kanootz’ delight. We were there till 6pm, and then we remembered that Jerico was baking salmon for dinner so we ran to the nearest subway station – 10 blocks away, and made sure to take the correct train back to 82nd street.

We got home in time for dinner – scrumptious! Oh, sorry, hello Rose… yeah, how was work? Not too tiring, we hope? Haha! Jerico’s baked salmon almost made us forget our sociability. It has been such a long day, but not too long to keep us from some conversation with the One that keeps us together; protects us from danger; and walks with us moment by moment through this exciting journey.


Rockafeller Center (hope we got the spelling right)

permalink written by  garcia on November 7, 2007 from New York, United States
from the travel blog: Got 2 see what's out there!
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