The Ocean of My Being

So much has happened the past days, but I haven't had the time to sit down and write about everything, not even in my journal. Oh, but I will try to update just as soon I get all the things I need to finish done. For now, I just would like to wish everyone a very happy, peaceful and prosperous 2005! May God bless us all! :)

Wow! This same day exactly a year ago, I wrote and "published" my very first blog entry . I still can't believe it's been a year already. How fast time flies really. :) I remember I was pretty excited about starting my blog. I wanted my blog to be sort of a venue for me to let my inner feelings/thoughts out and to be my primary outlet. I guess, after a year, I have shared quite a number of things and thoughts. I'm very happy at how my blog is and how it has become, in one way or another, an outlet for me. I really thank everyone who take some time to take a dip into this OCEAN . And, to all my friends (both in the cyberworld and in real life) who never fail to take a dip and leave 'footprints', doumo arigatou gozaimmasu ! May we all continue to sail smoothly in this OCEAN of life. :)  Mwah! :)

Mommy and me... ********** Belated greetings of a very happy birthday, Mom! All the words in the world are not enough to express how much I love you and how thankful I am that you are my mom. You are the best!!! :) I miss you sooo much! Mwah! Mwah! Mwah! ********** It was my mom's birthday on the 12th. :)

I have always believed in people's innate goodness. No matter how bad or "evil" people may appear to be, there's still that goodness within. No matter how cruel the world or life may become, people still manage to survive because of other people's manifestation of that very goodness. This belief has proven itself true more than once in my life. I've always believed that this goodness in people is a great proof of God's love. People's genuine kindness never fail to inspire me. It's one of the things that keep me on the right path. I know that sometimes it feels like it's just so difficult to be good and nice at a time and world like ours, but a little goodness here and there truly goes a long way. A simple gesture of goodness and kindness may and can change a life. We've heard and read stories that prove this. Just recently, I have seen and experienced such life-changing goodness. To that person who showed me such goodness of heart...

The PPYEP 2004 Family... ********** SSEAYP 2000 Mini Reunion at Kawasaki... ********** View from my Kansai Int'l Center room... ********** I love this bridge! ********** At the Yokohama Port... ********** Giant Ferris Wheel... ********** The Osaka Castle... ********** Shrine in Sakai, Osaka... ********** The Goddess... ********** Banzai Nippon!!!

Wow, it has been a long time since I last blogged! I've been pretty busy the past weeks with the Eid-ul Fitr (End of Ramadhan Feast), enrollment and school, transferring from SRH to another dorm, my Japanese batchmates' coming and our batchmates' wedding, and working for Bok . It's fun to be busy, though, because I seldom feel bored. And, everything has transformed me into a "normal person" (as Lanee would say) because now, I sleep at night and am awake the whole day. :) ********** Eid-ul Fitr ... The Eid fell on the 12th of November. The date changes every year, you see, because the Islamic Hijrah Calendar is a few days shorter than the Gregorian Calendar . Every Eid , we would have a special prayer (one of the most important optional/special prayers in Islam ). This would take place early in the morning, about 7 or 8 o'clock. Chanting of the Takbeer Mursal (God-praising) would start at about 5 or 5:30 in the morning and then the two rak...

Sahro Ramadhan Al-Mubaarak (the Blessed Month of Ramadhan ) is, as everyone knows, the most important month in the Islamic calendar. It is my favorite time of the year. It is when I am at my best. Yes, my best because during this month, I would always have such a nice and happy disposition. The Ramadhan spirit would always make me feel like nothing in the world could really bother or irritate me. Sure, I still lose my temper at times, but it's never as bad as I usually do at other times of the year. Not a single good deed and beautiful thing go without my being thankful for them even if these deeds are not directed to me and these things not for me. I just can't expalin it, but Ramadhan gives me peace of mind and makes me feel like I am at peace with everything and everyone in the world. It feels great. During this very special month, Muslims fast, i.e. abstain from taking in any kind of (solid) food, liquid whatsoever the whole time the sun is up- roughly from 4:30...

At home in Mihara... I will never forget a single moment of my whole stay in Mihara town. It was such a nice, little town with, as I mentioned in the earlier entry, the loveliest people. They're all so warm and friendly. My foster family, the Shibaikes , really treated me like a real daughter. The whole time I was with them, I never felt like an outsider or whatever. Never mind that Otoosan (Father) and Ikuko (my 17-year-old foster sister) didn't speak English. I was able to communicate with them in my halting Japanese and by asking them to " yukkuri shabete kudasai " (please speak slowly). Okaasan (Mother) and Takanori (my 22-year-old foster brother) knew English, but later on, Okaasan started talking to me in slow Japanese as well. I had no problem with that, I even liked the idea because I was able to really practice my Nihongo and got my ears a little bit used to native Nihongo speakers. While I was there, they introduced me to Alicia-san (a Filipi...

The 2004 Pan Pacific Youth Exchange Program (PPYEP) officially ended on the 12th of October. The 12-day program was really much, much more fun, more interesting, and greater than I expected it to be. It was like a continuation or an extension of SSEAYP . The difference was that there wasn't a Nippon Maru and there was an Australian contingent (very white people among brown ones). And, there were only 32 of us, all in all, from the seven countries and then, of course, the Japanese counterparts. As a result, we were all really bonded and very close. That's very nice, but that also made the parting very, very sad and difficult for most of us. Hay! Anyway, since I've started talking about the experience in a day-to-day basis, I'd like to continue doing so. " It's really funny to look back after all these years... " So, the song goes and I really hope to look back on these days for years and years with that funny, dreamy smile on my face. ******...

I've been here in Osaka for five nights (and four days) now. It has been a very, very interesting and enjoyable time for everyone in the program. After all the activities that we've done so far, we're all quite exhausted, but it's just so much fun that we don't mind at all. We still have eight days more to go before the program ends. Tomorrow, we leave for Kyoto to experience Japanese style hotel. I'm really excited about that. Here in Osaka, we're housed at the Kansai International Center (a dormitory-like hostel). Aside from the fact that everything is free here, what I like most about this place is my room. As expected of a Japanese facility, our rooms are fully furnished (TV, heater, refrigerator, VCR player, CD/cassette player, and comfort/shower room). Doing laundry is very convenient, too, because there are 24-hour laundry rooms on every floor. There's a music lounge (with musical instruments and karaoke) for the bored. There's a ...