Never too late, never too early…

… to send your Christmas presents for Tifa!!!

You can send them in anytime, contact us for our snail mail but if you prepare to use Paypal, who are we to complain. Here’s our paypal account: kotsengkuba(at)gmail.com

Don’t worry, Tifa will receive them for sure

Just a few nights before Christmas, I received two email notifications from PayPal informing me of two successful fund transfers to my account. I thought they were for me but to my bigger surprise, they’re for me but for Tifa. And the senders left their notes so to ensure Tifa will receive the money. HMP!

The fund was then transferred to my bank account (still in USD) and we had to change in to Peso when we went back home. My wife and I had been scouring department stores in Cavite and Manila just so we could buy Tifa she we thought she would want to buy for her money – probably a bike. But to no avail, we could not see one that would fit her age and height. The ones in SM Dasmariñas are either too big or too cheap-looking (ayaw ko naman mapintasan ng mga nagreregalo no, hahaha). Same with the bike stores in Silang Market area and for Christmas’ sake, the department stores in SM San Lazaro are closed on January 1 so I left for Shanghai without buying the bike for Tifa.

This isn’t it, we paid it ourselves dahil di naman kamahalan

Fortunately, when my wife went looking in front of Robinson’s Pala-pala, she found the perfect one in a considerably perfect price (around Php 1,000.00 - ayan abonado pa ko ha. Lols )

When they came home that day, my wife sent me an SMS. “Mahal,d2 n po kami s bhay. Tuwang tuwa c tifa s bike. Hndi n naman maintindihan kung pano mag wa-wow. Tal0n ng tal0n.Ü”

And the evidence…

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Survey says: 2009 is the Year of the Earth Ox

2009, according to Chinese Horoscope, is the year of the Earth Ox. The Ox ( 牛 ) is one of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Ox is denoted by the earthly branch character 丑. In the Vietnamese zodiac, the water buffalo occupies the position of the ox.

I have not much thing to do in the office today (or I have so many but, being a tardy goat as what the Chinese Zodiac says, I’m just too lazy to attend to) so I was checking the internet, not for pörn but for predictions about this coming Chinese Year of the Ox 2009. During my search, I noticed that most of the top hits are from local websites (or blogs) such as, in no particular order, RN Pinay, Raymond Lo – Professional Feng Shui Researcher & Practitioner and PinoyBusineness.ORG.

My stay in the Philippines during this year’s New Year made me realized how different the Tsinoy traditions in celebrating the occasion as compared to those being practiced in the Hopia Wonderland. There were no extravagant foods, round fruits or even the Tikoys in a Mainland Chinese table during Christmas eve, there were just dumplings that each of the family members had prepared. Now it got me thinking, why on earth are we having so much preparation in the Philippines when the genuine Chinese are just preparing simple meals? Did our Tsinoys just made up those traditions were practicing back home or was it just because China is so big and those popular Chinese traditions were just not being practiced in the area where I am?

Let’s do a survey, ladies and gentlemen. Please help me collect as much information by doing the procedures below:

1. Using Google (so we could contain the data in a single search engine), search the internet for the keyword 2009 Year of the Ox.
2. Copy the entire first page of the search results and paste it in a notepad.
3. Email the text document to me – kotsengkuba(at)gmail.com – with the following information:

• Name (pet or pseudo name is allowed if you opt for anonymity) and website (if applicable)
• Nationality
• Country
• Time and date of search

I will compile your responses on or before January 26, 2009 (Chinese New Year) and I’ll post in on my other blog Hopia Encounters with my analysis and interpretations. That’s all ladies and gentlemen. I hope you’ll participate in this (senseless) sensible activity. Belated Happy New Year and advanced Chinese New Year to all!

Photo credit: Cafe Astrology

My first Cebu Pacific flight: Beggars can’t be choosers

Although my wife had been taking Cebu Pacific flights when traveling to and from Shanghai, it was my very first time to actually see and ride their A-319 Airbus. And guess what? I got extremely dizzy during the flight, hahaha! Though I’m not sure whether that dizziness was caused by the aircraft itself or just my lack of sleep since my flight back to Shanghai, except the fact that I was seated between two Caucasians (Yeah, I’m a bigot now. Sue me!), was normal.

My wife is really afraid of flights (and heights, tall buildings, earthquakes and sailing) so I was trying to calm her during the start of the flight although I was actually getting slightly dizzy from start because I could feel the plain’s vibrations – those caused by the engines and the winds gushing to the aircraft – even after the plain was already flying stable. I’m could not clearly remember whether I could also feel those vibrations on the other three airlines – PAL, JAL and NWA - that I had taken in the past. I would if I could go back in time but I couldn’t so probably I wouldn’t remember.

I think I already had a short nap and when I woke up, I felt like vomiting or needing to go to the toilet. Yes, I was thinking of going to the toilet hoping that I would feel better if I could at least vomit or defecate or both. You know that feeling right? And I could feel myself perspiring from my head to my upper torso. I told my wife how I was feeling which only caused her to panic even more. She had to apply her ever-ready white flower on my nose thrills and, if I’m not mistaken, on my forehead. She kept doing it several times and she could just have to make me take a sip, she would probably have done it just to make me feel fine. I was trying to calculate whether I could make it to the toilet but because I can’t even convince myself to stand I just tried to inhale as much white flower as I could until I finally fell asleep. When I woke up, most of the passengers had already left.

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