Ibyang
Ibyang

The Married Life

Dinner at Pepper Lunch

Just because I wanted to unwind after work tonight (I had to deal with someone else’ work {read:problems} today at the office that left me officially exhausted), it was a toss between going to the Apple Store or having early dinner at Pepper Lunch…of course, Pepper Lunch won! The Apple Store can wait, my craving for Pepper Lunch can’t hehehe.

This time we ordered the “Hitokuchi” Cut for Chris….

and “Shimofuri” Pepper for me.

While finishing up, I noticed the the hole on Pepper Lunch’s chairs was actually Pepper Lunch’s logo:

One of these days I’m gonna tell husband to make us a logo, so that when we have our dream home we can personalize our chairs hahahaha. Husband will probably say “Ang jologs mo talaga!”.

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Finding Some ‘ME time’ Now That I’m Married

Nearly three months after Chris has arrived here in Sydney, time management-wise I’m slowly adjusting to being really married.

For the first two months that Chris was here, I was finding it very hard to inject some “ME time” due to a lot of reasons—parties to attend to, shoots, projects we acquired now that we are together, exploring Sydney, packing and unpacking our stuff, and household chores to name a few. Life is indeed so much busier now that husband and I are doing our responsibilities as husband and wife and as individuals.

And now I think, I’m really getting the hang of managing my time as for this weekend I was able to do a lot of “Me time”: took afternoon naps on Friday and Saturday, briskwalk and jog at the park today, blog and surf the net, watch Koreanovela at night and read a chapter or two of the novel I’m reading before I go to sleep. So yay me!!!!

Thank goodness husband has been very helpful in the home (he irons our clothes, cleans the house and helps in the washing of laundry), never asks too much from me and always gives me space to do things I want to do like take afternoon naps, briskwalk/jog to the park alone or just spend 10 minutes by my lonesome while sipping green tea.

As early as now, I’d have to say that I’m lucky that I found a partner that respects my value for solitude. It is rare to find someone who understands and is sensitive to one’s need to be alone. My need for solitude is not relative to alienation or loneliness, it is simply a need for me to reflect, meditate, talk to myself or simply stare into nothing and just breathe. Silence is golden for me and in that silence I always find my center…I’m more aligned to whatever directions I’m moving towards to. The solutide that I reward myself is one reason why I maintain a healthy soul and mind. And I’m glad my husband knows and respects that.

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Kami ay mga Batang Batibot

Mga bata, natatandaan nyo pa ba ang kantang ito?

PAGMULAT NG MATA, LANGIT NAKATAWA
SA BATIBOT, SA BATIBOT
TAYO NANG MAGPUNTA, TUKLASIN SA BATIBOT
ANG TUWA, ANG SAYA

DOON SA BATIBOT, TAYO NA, TAYO NA
MGA BATA SA BATIBOT MALIKSI, MASIGLA. (2X)

DALI, SUNDAN NATIN ANG NGITI NG ARAW
DOON SA BATIBOT (2X)

TAYO NANG MAGPUNTA TUKLASIN SA BATIBOT
ANG TUWA, ANG SAYA

DOON SA BATIBOT, TAYO NA, TAYO NA
MGA BATA SA BATIBOT MALIKSI, MASIGLA. (2X)

Yan ang Theme Song ng pinaka-paboritong children’s TV show namin ni Chris na Batibot, kung saan ang layunin ay magturo ng mga mabubuting asal at impormasyong/araling pambata sa pamamagitan ng mga kwento, sayaw at awitin. Dito rin natin nakilala sila…

Natatandaan nyo pa ba sila?

Si Pong Pagong ang friendly pagong na mahilig sa Kangkong at ang best friend nyang si Kiko Matsing na mahilig naman sa saging ang mga pangunahing mga karakter sa Batibot. Araw-araw silang napapanood noon sa TV, kasama pa nila si Kuya Bodjie at si Ate Sienna na napakagaling magkwento ng mga alamat at kung ano-ano pa.

Eto pa ang kanilang ibang mga kasama sa Batibot:

Oh diba? Kung isa kang katulad namin na masugid na fan ng Batibot noon, sigurado akong napapangiti ka ngayon dahil naalala mo ang panahon na inaliw ka ni Manang Bola at ng kanyang Perlas na Bilog; si Irma Daldal na parating take 2 kay Direk (at sobra talaga nyang daldal na reporter); ang mga kulitan ni Sitsiritsit at Alibangbang; at ang lambingan ng magkapatid na Ning-ning at Ging-ging.

Nung isang linggo, parang kaming nagkaroon ng Batibot Festival ni Chris dahil tuwing gabi nagkakantahan kami ng mga paborito naming awit mula sa Batibot tulad ng:

Alin ang Naiba? (madalas itong kantahin ni Pong Pagong, gayang-gaya ni Chris ang boses ni Pong kaya tawa lang ako ng tawa pag ito na ang kinakantan namin)

Alin? Alin? Alin ang naiba?
Isipin kung alin ang naiba?
Isiping mabuti
Isipin kung alin
Isipin kung alin ang naiba?

Pag-gising sa Umaga (pag kinakanta namin ito, may actions pa kami at ang tagal naming matapos kantahin kasi tawa kami ng tawa)

Pag-gising sa umaga, kami’y naghihilamos
Tignan n’yo kung paano
Isa-dalawa-tatlo (2x)
Kami’y naghihilamos

Pag-gising sa umaga, kami’y nagsi-sepilyo
Tignan n’yo kung paano
Isa-dalawa-tatlo (2x)
Kami’y nagsi-sepilyo.

Pag-gising sa umaga, kami’y nagsusuklay
Tignan n’yo kung paano
Isa-dalawa-tatlo (2x)
Kami’y nagsusuklay.

Pag-gising sa umaga (2x)
Ugaliin, araw-araw (2x)
Maghilamos
Magsepilyo
Magsuklay!

Napakanta ba kayo? hehehe. Ang saya diba?

*sigh* Na-miss talaga namin ang Batibot…nakakalungkot isipin na wala nang Batibot na napapanood ang mga bata ngayon. Nung isang beses ay nabanggit pa ni Chris na ang swerte namin noon at nagkaroon kami ng pagkakataong makapanood ng isang pambatang TV show kung saan marami kaming natutunan at naaliw pa kami. Nang dahil sa Batibot, higit ngang naging makulay at masigla ang aming kabataan :).

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Flu Shots, Blood Tests and Coffee Dates

Took the day-off today and the focus of our itinerary was a trip to the doctor and do some monthly groceries—yes, the married life!

Chris and I had our flu shots in preparation for the Winter season. It it weren’t for Chris’ first time experiencing Winter, I wouldn’t be interested in getting a flu vaccine. For the past two winters I’ve been here, I haven’t had one. However, I feel it would be very irresponsible of me if something bad happens to Chris this Winter knowing that I had a chance of preventing him getting sick.

After our flu shots, I had a sample (lots of sample actually) of my blood taken for tests. It’s really no biggie family and friends, it’s just a pre-pregnancy procedure (there you have it folks, I said the magic word “pregnancy”) per advise of the doctor. The blood test would determine if I would need shots of Rubella, Hepa A & B, Measles, Chickenpox…there was a fifth one—I can’t remember. Anyway, the point is, if needs be, these vaccines will be given to me so that when I conceived a baby, I wouldn’t get any illness/es that might affect the baby inside me.

It was that simple really but a few weeks ago, I was rationalizing whether to follow the doctor’s advise. I kept on thinking that during my parents’ time, wala namang masyadong chuva pagdating sa pag-aanak and I turned out just fine. However, I realized that being a Wife (and hopefully a Soon-to-be-Mom) is all about being responsible. I can never forgive myself if something happens to my future baby if I don’t follow the doctor’s advise. It will forever be in my conscience knowing that I have been told of future consequences.

After all that’s been done, off we went to the shops to have my haircut, groceries and lunch. Before we went home, we had a quiet hour at Starbucks just talking of future plans. Our final stop for coffee (or dessert) everytime we go out has been a staple in every date we have (a ritual that started back home in the Phils). Even if we’re together everyday at home, we still feel that our coffee dates is our time to re-connect, a time to stop for awhile and talk of things we forget to talk about in our everyday routines. With such coffee dates, we go home feeling happier.

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