My First ever Wakeboarding

It was on my Bucket List.  I dreamed of doing it long back.  I saw myself standing on the board grinning while being pulled around the murky water.  I was having a great time.

Then reality sets in.

OMG!!! Wakeboarding is no walk in the park.  Those people you see flying like a feather on top of the board with a wide smile on their faces, IGNORE them because they’re making you believe that it’s that easy hahahaha.  Seriously, I believe they also gone through the process and in some ways they might have also drank a few gallons of water like I did before they became that good, or perhaps, they’ve been doing this long before the sport was invented hahahah (the green-eyed monster is here LOL).

Which makes me wonder.  Who in his right mind made this water sport?!? WHO??

According to Mr. Wikipedia, Wakeboarding is a surface water sport which involves riding a wakeboard over the surface of a body of water.  It was developed from a combination of water skiing, snowboarding and surface techniques.  It was said to be created in Australia and New Zealand and since the list of originators is quite long so let’s just move on LOL.  But let me say this first: Whoever made this sport, I don’t know whether to thank you for allowing me to have one of the best memories worth bragging or to hate you for giving me the opportunity to make an ass of myself .

Let’s revert to the tale of my first ever wakeboarding, which (by the way) only lasted for two hours LOL.  You think two hours is quite short for a first-timer?  Well, you have to try it for yourself so you’ll understand when I say that two hours of pulling, falling off the board and drinking water is already enough to have a full body aches for a couple of days.

Don’t get me wrong, they taught us the basics before they allowed us to ride the board.  However, no matter how hard I try to do what they told me, I always end up pulling the rope rather than being pulled by it.  The guy reminded me over and over again to just relax and allow the rope to pull me.  I did but only for a few seconds and then I panic hahahahah.  Thankfully after a thousand and one tries, I finally got it.  I was able to stay on the board and completed the entire course before I fell off again.  Well, this is my first time so you got to give me a break .

After an hour, I graduated from Seiza (a Japanese word meaning “correct sitting”) and moved on to “sitting defecation posture” on the board.  But before this monumental moment, I was trying to negotiate with the guide to let me kneel until  my time is up but he told me that kneeling will give me more body pain than the new position.  So, I trusted his insight and abide by his new instruction.  And LO!  I did it on my first go although only for a few meter (around 1 meter to be exact hahahah).  I made a couple more attempts before I was able to stay longer on the board – I covered half of the course before drinking the murky water again .  That was definitely a great achievement for someone like me! LOL.

In spite of all the hardships, gallons of murky water and body aches, I would still love to do this again.  This will remain untouched in my bucket list because I need to be able to stand on the board before I cross-out this one.  After all this is called wakeboarding

FOOD…

It’s been two (2) years since the last time I went home so I really really missed everything about my country.  I wanted to go home annually but my schedule just doesn’t jibe with that of my husband.  Hence, it took us a while to finally carry out our plan for that elusive vacation.  Anyhow, as I mentioned earlier, I badly missed the Philippines especially my family, friends and most of all the delectable Filipino foods .  Yes, FOOD

Even though there are quite a few Filipino restaurants here in the sandbox but the taste and feel seems totally different.  Maybe it has something to do with the company I’m with or simply the thought that I’m eating in my territory – the place where I understand everything.

Anyway, before we plunge into our long-awaited vacation, I listed down all the food I wanted to eat.  The list was a bit long and it contains food like Bananacue, Roasted pig, Durian, etc. etc. I was so determined to eat them all.  Ironically, when I arrived home, I just couldn’t find the time to buy some of them.  I even ended up eating dishes that I didn’t even expected. Take for example the Korean food hehehe.  Tell you about it later.

Enough talking, it’s time to show the evidence .  Here it goes…

As posted below, I am holding a Cebuano-style Shawarma.  Well, Shawarma is abundant in the Middle East but I don’t like it as much.  Why?  Because of the sauce.  If you look closely, you can see the sauce underneath my shawarma and this makes it tastier unlike its counterpart in the Middle East (OMG, this blog is making me drool.  I should finish this soon before I start wetting my Ipad hahahahah).

So, in order for you to understand what I’m talking about, I took the liberty of tagging a few photos of the delicious food I have eaten during my trip.  Don’t know if they are healthy but they surely are very yummy.

The above shown photos are not home-made.  They were ordered in a restaurant in Jerry’s Grill – Ayala Cebu, Lantaw Floating Restaurant – Cordova, Backyard BBQ – Boracay and Magsaysay Street – Davao.  However, my food trip didn’t end there, there are still more.  But the next set of dishes are either bought or cooked.  Yes, I was kind of busy but I still made time to have a cooking session with friends though I will not tell you which is which LOL.

Aren’t they pretty? LOL.  Let’s go back to the Korean food I told you a while back.  Try to guess where it is.  Did you identify them?  No?  It’s easy.  It is the weird looking food of all hahaha just kidding.  These are the dishes in the second row (except the fried dumplings).  It was my first time to taste a Korean dish.  Well, I’ve tried the instant noodles but surely it should be more appealing and delicious than that.  After consuming the food we ordered, all I can say is that it tastes good regardless of its spicy-ness and distinct after-taste.  Nonetheless, it is edible and I wouldn’t mind eating Korean food again if given another chance.  Yes, only when it happens by chance :-p because I’m sure I will never crave for it .  It was a worthy experience though.

I’m now back at the sandbox and I’ll be counting the months again ’til our next vacation.  Hence, for the meantime, these photos along with its memories will be my companion as I wait for the next year or vacation to arrive.

Broken promise

I’m truly sorry bloggy.   I’m sorry I wasn’t able to fulfill my promise to you.  You see bloggy, I was caught up with a lot of things at the office.  Yes.  I was busy because I went for a vacation.  Sorry I didn’t mention that to you too.

Anyhow, I’ll tell you all about it in my next entry.

Of Being Helpful

It happened three or four weeks ago.  Hubby received a call from an old acquaintance.  The caller enquired if he was looking for a job.  Well, currently hubby is considering job hunting for a better paying job, so he said yes.  Mr. X told him that he has an opening but it might only be on a contractual basis though they can offer a good salary.  Hubby was hesitant but he was willing to give it a try thinking that it still has to go through the usual recruitment process.  Two weeks had passed before he got another call from Mr. X.  This time he was telling him that it’s definitely a contractual basis and salary is only AED 5000 and he wants hubby to send him an email confirming his acceptance of such offer.  Hubby got to thinking that it is a risk not worth taking – even I thought so too.  When Mr.X rang him again, hubby discussed with him his concerns.  Apparently, the other person was 100% expecting him to eagerly accept the offer.  So when hubby turned it down, he exploded.  He uttered a series of curses and name-calling which in the end made my husband feel so bad.

My take on this?  Well, I won’t deny that my husband is partly to blame for it because he did not clearly convey his thoughts right from the beginning.  Hence, the other party thought that he will blindly accept any offer.  Regardless of what or how my husband said his points, Mr. X has no right to belittle him.  In the first place, he claimed that he wants to help him find a better paying job.  How can you call it better job when the contract is only temporary and thru an agency?  There is definitely no stability in that.  Yes, he might have the opportunity to work in a well-known establishment but still the fact remains that he is just a supplied worker.  Aside from the uncertainty of receiving your salaries on time, your tenure to that establishment is also not secured.  I rather he stay in his current company than risk becoming unemployed in a few months after accepting this crazy offer.

What Mr. acquaintance did was certainly the best example of what we call “Conduct of unbecoming a manager”.  His reaction was definitely a big disappointment.  Anyhow, there’s nothing we can do to change the past.  We just have to sift through the experience and take out the lesson.  Thankfully hubby has understood and acknowledge the lesson he learned from all of this – be mindful of what you are saying.

Hello… February

How fast time flies.  It seems like a day ago we were just celebrating the New Year and now it’s already February – the month of love.  This is that time of the year when there is a surplus of flowers and chocolates and everybody seems to be in love.

But not for me.  February is the month of remembrance.  The time of the year that makes me ponder what life would have been if my mom didn’t get sick and died on that fateful Valentine’s day of  1989.