mama has left dubai

This morning, Mama boarded the plane for her flight back to the Philippines. Being an OFW, it’s practically normal to have to say goodbye at the airport. But despite it being a regular occurrence, it’s always difficult to say goodbye to loved ones. So you can imagine that before we separated, tears started flowing down my cheeks as Mama put her arms around me for a tight hug. Before letting go, she gently whispered “Di bale, babalik naman ako.” To which I replied tearily “Promise mo ‘yan ha.”

Of course I didn’t leave right away. I stayed and watched as she she stood in queue, went through Passport Control, and finally waved goodbye as she headed to the area leading to the gates.

At 8:30am, she called me to say she had already reached the Boarding Gate and was just waiting for the announcement to board the plane.  And a few minutes after 9am, she called again to say that she was already in the plane and just waiting for the rest of the passengers to board. 

Haaaay!!! She just left this morning but I miss her so much already.

Even though you’re an adult, there will always come a time when you’ll want to be treated like a child…by none other than your mom. Kasi iba talaga ang pagmamahal ng isang ina.

little explorers

Several weekends ago, we decided to give Caila a treat to mark the beginning of a new schoolyear ahead. Taking advantage of the Entertainer voucher we had, we invited our friends so that their son could also enjoy the experience. So as agreed, we met up at Mirdif City Centre on a Friday morning, purchased the tickets, and the two children entered Little Explorers with their daddies. For almost 2 hours, the kids had a great time with their daddies following them as they explored the 5 zones of the edutainment centre:
     • I discover myself
     • I can do
     • I locate myself
     • All together
     • I experiment

As you can tell, the centre is generally about self-discovery, experimenting and understanding your surroundings.

While they enjoyed themselves at Little Explorer, we (the mommies) and the kids’ baby sisters went window-shopping around the mall. By the time it was 12:30pm, we received a call from the daddies saying that it was time to have lunch and get some rest so we all headed to California Pizza Kitchen where we used another Entertainer voucher. We ordered their Cheeseburger Pizza and Original BBQ Chicken Pizza, two types of pastas (I can’t remember what kind), and drinks.

After a couple of hours when we had our fill, the kids returned to Little Explorers, this time with the mommies accompanying them. Even though our kids had already explored everything earlier, they still couldn’t help trying out all the zones all over again. And it was actually fun for us adults too as we tried them out as well! From time to time, you could hear us say “Ang galing!” or “Ang cute!” and “Ganon pala yun!” and even “Ang saya!”  Seriously, ang galing, ang cute and ang saya talaga!  There were so many things and contraptions to keep the kids busy and entertained.  Here are photos of just some of them.

 

It was a great way to spend the last weekend of the summer vacation…for the kids and parents!

Little Explorers
Mirdif City Centre
Dhs130 per child (with 1 adult) for an All-day Access Pass in the 5 Zones

timings and festivities during eid al adha

image source

As my colleagues and I look forward to enjoying a long Eid holiday (but not as long as the government offices and schools, though), here's some helpful information I found from Gulf News with the timings and festivities that will keep everyone in Dubai busy until Saturday:

Metro Stations:
October 12-14: 5.30am to midnight
October 15-17: 5.30am to 3am (next day)
October 18: 10am to 3am (next day)
October 19: 5.30am to 3am (next day)

Parking: Free during October 13-18, except at the Fish Market parking zone and multi-stories parking

Fireworks: 9pm daily during October 15-18 at Jumeirah Open Beach in Umm Suqueim 2

Malls: 10am-2am daily

Dubai 24 Hours: Dubai Mall, Mall of the Emirates, Deira City Centre, Mirdif City Centre, Dubai Festival City Mall, Oasis Centre, Arabian Centre, and Lamcy Plaza during the first 2 days of Eid Al Adha

Global Village: Open from 4pm to 2am during October 10-19

Dubai Parks: Al Mushrif Park, Al Safa Park, Al Mamar Park, Creek Park, Jumaira Beach Park, Zabeel Park will be open from 9am to 11pm

Eid Mubarak!

congratulations dlsu!

DLSU = 71

UST = 69

Game 3 with overtime

ANIMO LA SALLE!

lace crazy

These finds were bought on a whim while I was walking in Deira City Centre on my way to the metro.

I had no plans of buying anything, nor was I looking for anything in particular, but these just seemed to call out to me as I passed by Jennyfer and Splash.

I guess I'm a girly-girl more than I'd like to admit =)

sophie's rainbow birthday party (the actual party)

In an earlier post, I shared the things we did to make the party fit the theme. However, I wasn’t able to share how the party went. So, here goes…

Since ours was the first event of the day at Chowking, we had enough time to check the set-up and arrange the cakes and cupcakes. Guests began arriving at 10:15am, and by 11:30am, the Chowking host started the program. Sophie’s Ninong Eugz said the opening prayer, everyone sang Happy Birthday, and the games began immediately after.

For the first game, all the kids were each asked to say Happy Birthday Sophieeeeeeee for the longest time possible.

The next game was a team relay, again for the young kids, wherein they had to balance a small object on a spoon in their mouths.

What followed next was a trivia game where 2 teams (men vs. women) had to answer the most questions correctly. The questions were mostly about Sophie and our family; it was fun to know who really knew us and the birthday celebrant. Naturally, since all players were adults, the game was a riot. Puro asaran at kulitan.

with the winners

While waiting for the food buffet to be set-up, the walang kamatayang Bring Me game was played. However, I made sure the items that we asked for were not that common: an insurance card with dental coverage, key-ring with the most keys, mobile phone with the oldest sms, any object that started with the letter S, etc.

Finally, it was time for lunch and Mike Y., another of Sophie’s godfathers, lead the thanksgiving prayer.

During this time, Sophie had fallen asleep, so it was a good time for Hubby and me to eat and mingle with the guests.

When we noticed that most of the guests had had their fill, the host called for another game. This time the kids had to fix up their moms’ hair, and the mom who had the best-looking do (judged by the rest of the guests’ applause) was the winner.

After that game, everyone’s attention was on the birthday celebrant as we all sang Happy Birthday again, helped Sophie blow the candles, say a few words and wishes, and cut the cake.

all of us blowing the candle...except the birthday girl herself

Mama sharing her wishes for Sophie...and the little girl listening closely

Sophie may not be able to remember that day, but as they say, the first birthday is usually for the parents…and I definitely had a good time that day.

mama's visa cancelled

Less than 2 weeks left of her stay in this sandpit because she’s leaving us to go back to the Philippines.

She keeps joking that matatapos na kasi ang kontrata nya at ayaw nyang irenew.

Ang daya mo, Ma! Sabi mo, mageextend ka pa dito.

Paano na yung date natin sa Burj Al Arab?

Hindi mo pa ako tinuturuan magluto ng kare-kare, pakbet, at yung iba mo pang masarap na recipes. Waaaahhhhh!!!!

 

This post tells how we applied for her Residence Visa last year.