Golf Vacation

Hello to all my A&B Lifestyle readers, we´re currently here at malaga, spain. It´s a nice city and we´re here for a one-weeek golf vacation.

I´m not playing golf only my MIL and my sweetheart. I´m going to explore the area later, use the gym and its good that they have a free internet service, though its very slow. Its better than nothing, i dont want to have a blog flu, i´m going to get sick if i cannot blog or access the internet, its my other world.

Our hotel

LP 55- Bridge or Tulay

Maligayang LP sa lahat!!! Ito naman ang aking lahok sa litratong pinoy sa temang bridge or tulay para sa araw na ito.

Ang maliit na kulay pulang tulay na ito ay matatagpuan sa windows to the world sa shenzhen, china. Sa lugar na ito, iyong makikita ang iba't ibang pinaliit na tourist attraction sa iba't ibang bansa tulad ng eiffel tower sa paris at iba pa. This shot was taken at windows to the world in shenzhen, china. The place shows miniatures of famous tourist spots around the world.

Store Opening Hours

What a coincidence, i just feature my pig post the other day, now there is an outbreak of swine flu, a virus that normally infects pigs, birds and people. I already write something about it in my other blog cool mom an2nette

Before, the store opening hours here in germany especially in supermarkets are just till 7 or 8 pm. But because of the clamor of people to extend their opening hours, some supermarket like penny markt and kaufland extended their time till 10 in the evening.

This give the opportunity for shoppers particularly those who are working full time to shop after office hours without stress at the above mentioned stores.

The Shopping Cart

Here in Germany, shopping carts in a supermarket are equipped with a coin-operated mechanism. The customer has to insert a coin, which is returned if and when the customer returns the cart to a designated cart parking point. Unlike at our very own SM supermarket, customers just leave the shopping cart at the parking lot.

The motivation behind the deposit system is not theft deterrent since the trolley is worth significantly more than the deposit, however thru this fee, the store
owner seeks to reduce the expense of their employees having to gather the carts that were not returned.

Shopping carts here are also kid-friendly, you can conveniently shop by putting your kid inside the trolley.

Me and My Pig

Do you know that i have a pig? Her color is pink and she's easy to maintain, you dont need to feed her and she's not demanding anything from me. She don't even protest and she's behave most of the time. Now here she is.....

Actually, i saw her in Berlin, i wanted to bring her home but the owner is the one protesting. When we saw a pig, first thing that came to our mind is the pork and the piggy bank which serve as a device to teach the rudiments of thrift and savings to children. Saving is very important so that we can have something to use during difficult times.

My Airplane Foods Dilemma

Travelling is one of the most interesting and exciting events in our life. For the past eight years, dirk and me were travelling a lot. We want to explore places, culture and meet new friends. For me, travelling is adventure and fun, things that we still can do if we're still able and capable, not when we're already in the wheelchair.

The only thing i dislike is my bouncing stomach especially if its a long distance travel. My stomach dont want to accept airplane foods. Foods served are varied depending on the airlines. Even if its different it doesnt help my bumpy stomach so i always just drink tea.

LP 54- Gusali or Building

Ito naman ang aking lahok sa Litratong Pinoy sa temang Gusali para sa araw ng Huwebes, Maligayang LP sa lahat!!

Ang gusali na ito ay matatagpuan sa hongkong. Makikita ang iba't ibang sinampay na karaniwang tanawin sa low-end na lugar dito. This building shot was taken in hongkong. You can see the different clothes and aircons hang outside the building in this area of HK.

Ang building naman na ito ay ang aming rathaus o city hall. Sadyang napakaganda ng mga architectural design ng mga gusali sa bansang alemanya, karamihan ay historical
kaya dinadayo ng mga turista. The picture shown is our city hall. Most of the buildings here in Germany are historical and also an added attraction to tourists.

Ito naman ang maganda ring gusali sa Berlin

ang larawan na ito ay kuha sa Vienna, Austria

I'm Pissed but i want Peace

I really get angry when a colleague is not directly telling our mistakes at work. I think its a normal reaction when you learned your mistakes from other people. Nobody is perfect and sometimes you really commit mistakes. In our line of work at the hotel, sometimes there are small things that you forgot which should not be an issue at all when its already settled.

There are things that happened that are beyond our control. Things that was blown out of proportion to the point of putting words into others people's mouth. This is a very unprofessional behavior. With my real friends/colleague in my place of assignment, we practice the principle of transparency, we're very open on things that we need to achieve and improve. Blaming each other don't exists in our vocabulary, because we work together and its all our fault. We work as a team and most of all we respect each other's abilities and shortcomings. It's not proper when you lend your help and your effort was fruitless and not appreciated. You know who you are, hope that this will be a wake up call for you, most of all change for the better, we should be counting friends not enemies. Life is too short,love and peace should reign in our hearts.

The Weekend Weather

The weather really is unpredictable. Its raining the whole day last saturday, yesterday was foggy and today its sunny. This climate change is the greatest environmental challenge the world is facing today. Its hard to drive when its foggy and its also hard to shop when its raining.

The causes of climate change can be attributed to the natural causes and those that are created by man. I'm anticipating that that there will be a very hot summer this year. Business are affected when its raining, instead of shopping, people chose to stay within the comfort zone of their homes.

Few shoppers and empty coffee shops

Apple Trees

It's fascinating to look at apple trees near our home, they all blossomed with white/gray flowers in between small leaves. While i'm used to see leaves first then the fruits, apple trees is different. During spring, the flowers comes first, then the leaves and then the apples.

Beside the apple trees plantation is Kaechelen, a mini version of our very own national bookstore where we bought some office supplies. Here you can have a combination of nature and business in one place.

The Salts of Life

According to Wikipedia, salt is a dietary mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride that is essential for animal life but toxic to most land plants. At home, we use four kinds of salts.


The table salt or iodized salt which i use for cooking, which is also a preservative and a popular food seasoning. The one in the middle is a special powder salt which we use in the dishwashing machine to prevent it from clogging.

Above is the regeneration salt in cubes for our water purifying machine to remove the calcium in water to prevent the water pipe from clogging


This is our ice melting salt in small grains of stone to melt the snow and ice during winter season. So salt is really very important in every household.

LP 53- Hardin or Garden

Ito naman ang aking entry sa Litratong Pinoy sa temang hardin para sa huwebes na ito. Happy LP sa lahat.


Sa isa kong blog cool mom an2nette aking inilahok ang aming winter garden. Ito naman ang garden ng aming kapitbahay na masipag magtanim ng mga bulaklak, ang aming garden ay wala pang tanim dahil katatapos pa lang ng winter. (I use the photo of our winter garden in my other blog, we still dont have plants in our garden because the winter just ended, and in this blog i take a photo of our neighbor's garden)
Ito naman ang larawan ng hardin ng Rebstock hotel na malapit sa aming lugar.


Itong hardin na ito ay matatagpuan sa mission hills, ang pinakamalaking golf course sa buong mundo

Dirk's Incredible Driving

Last week, a family friend from Kempten, a largest city in Allgäu, a region in the south-west of bavaria, germany visited us. Maundy thursday, he decided to drive around freiburg in his convertible BMW car. It was in Kozingen that the engine of the car got kaputt. Its good that a BMW service center is just nearby so they pick up the car.

The repair will cost him more than 2 thousand euro so he search for a more cheaper repair service. He found a cheaper one but still not within his affordable budget. Together with my better half, they just decided to rent a trailer, pick up the car and drive to Kempten. Dirk was so tired, imagine the more than 800 kilometer non-stop driving in one day. He just paused for coffee and cake, then proceed driving. He started at 11 in the morning and returned at 10 in the evening.

Inner Awareness

In observance of the lenten season, we need a moral and spiritual renewal to help us meet the many problems we face. The present global economic crisis is a wake up call for everybody. Let us do something worthwhile and change for the better. Let's pray, meditate and do some soul searching. Reform should start in our inner selves, forgive others and let bygones, be bygones.

Let's move on, life is too short and the future is now. I want to share with you my favorite song, what a wonderful world by Louis Armstrong with Kenny G. There are so many things we should be thankful for. Let's thank GOD for all the things he had given us.

Bracing for the Hard Times

The course of hard times prevails everywhere. The global recession is leading to job losses and wage cuts. For us filipinos, there is no doubt that Philippines was hardly hit. Its good that our country is one of the world's biggest labor-exporting countries and steady remittances from migrant workers also help boost our economy. Living a simple life and do some cost-cutting will help us a lot in this difficult times.

The present location of our washing machine here in germany is near the central heating room. We want to relocate it to the other room and an elektro company make a quotation for 2000 euro just for the transfer. To save money, my better half just bought the materials at Obi and he will try to do it by himself.

The Easter Flowers

While there are chocolate bunnies as one of the easter icons, there are also flowers that only come out during spring and easter. Here in germany, we called it oster glocken or daffodils. It is probably the most popular and best known spring flowers which come in many varieties.

This easter bells are easy to maintain and bring an element of surprise and excitement each year as we eagerly await their emergence from the soil followed by their floral performance. They are planted in autumn to flower in spring.

Chocolate Bunnies and Eggs

An easter is not complete without chocolate bunnies and eggs. It is a well known and well cherished holiday custom during lenten season here in germany.

The easter bunny as an easter symbol was originated in southwestern germany. In some countries, eggs is given to the children during easter sunday together with gifts from parents and relatives. Here, they hide the eggs, bunnies and the gifts for the kids to search.

The Summit is Over

The three hotels owned by our employer were full of german policemen assigned to safeguard the area where the summit meeting was held. Today, they all returned to Dresden and Leipzig where they are assigned. They were all nice and even praised the hotel staff for being competent during their three day stay in the hotel

They did a lot of sacrifice especially yesterday that they have breakfast at 3 am and left the hotel at 4 in the morning to be in Strasbourg early enough before the meeting of 20 head of states starts. Today, as they left the three hotels, some of them even give some mementos to the staff. Now they can rest after the three day hectic schedules and kudos to them for a job well done.

Summer Feeling

Today the weather is nice that many people are in the city to enjoy the summer feeling. Coffee shops and restaurants are full unlike the past days that its more or less empty. Young and old alike are wearing summer outfit eventhough its still spring. Hopefully the nice weather will continue so that dirk can play golf everyday.

President Obama in Germany and France

American President Barrack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama arrived this morning in Strasbourg for a meeting with France President sarkozy. Then they're off to Baden-baden, Germany for a meeting with our German Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Strasbourg is 25 minutes drive from our place and baden-baden is 30 minutes. French and German police are bracing themselves for the NATO meetings with massive security precautions. Military helicopters are also flying around the area and police boats patrolling around rhine river between strasbourg and kehl. Around 15,000 german police and 9,000 french police are on duty to manage the crowd during the protest.

Tomorrow, President Obama will be back in Strasbourg for the NATO event where the war in Afghanistan will command attention. The American President is pursuing a new strategy in the war and looking to NATO leaders to commit new combat forces and other help.

The sad news is that the Philippines was among four countries blacklisted as uncooperative tax haven. At the request of G20 summit of rich and developing nations, the OECA named our country, Uruguay, Costa Rica and Malaysia territory of Labuan as the worst offenders saying that they refused to adopt the new rules of financial openness.

LP NO. 52- Paboritong Litrato (Favorite Photo)

Ito naman ang aking lahok sa Litratong Pinoy sa temang paboritong litrato para sa unang huwebes ng buwan ng abril.
Si Dirk kasama ang tigre (Dirk with tiger)
Marami talaga akong paboritong litrato pero ito ang napili kong ilahok. Kuha ko ang larawan na iyan sa China nung kami'y magbakasyon. Nagkaroon ng pagkakataon ang mga turista na magpakuha ng larawan sa tigreng ito na sadyang nung oras na iyon ay behave, birthday photo yan ng sweetheart kong si dirk.

I have lots of favorite picture but i choose this to be one of my entry. I am the one who took this picture during our vacation in china. The tourist have a chance to pose with the tiger and its good that the dangerous animal is behave during that time. This also serve as the birthday photo of my better half, Dirk. Ang litrato sa ibaba ang paboritong larawan ng aking kabiyak, ang boracay sa paglubog ng araw. The boracay sunset is dirk's favorite as well.

Ang pangalawang lahok ko ay ang pamumuhay ng mga tao sa floating village ng mekong river sa cambodia. Nakuhanan ko ng larawan ang isang bata na nagsasagwan gamit ang planggana sa pagpunta sa isang tindahan. Sa village na ito lahat ay nakalutang, eskuwelahan, tindahan, at ang pagsisiksikan ng isang pamilya sa isang maliit na bahay.

The floating village at mekong river.