4 bidders, 1 host for expo 2020

Who among these cities and their themes will win the Expo 2020 bid?

Connecting Minds, Creating the Future

The Global Mind

New Routes to a Better World / Health for All

 

Power of Diversity, Harmony for Growth

If you’re in Dubai, you can’t miss the buzz of excitement that began since this morning. For several months, the emirate has been adorned with signs and billboards with its Expo 2020 logo and theme bid.  All of us have been invited to "Be part of it."  There’s no mistaking that practically everyone in the UAE wants Dubai to win because it would mean more job opportunities and more money coming in.

Compared to the other 3 competitors, I personally think that Dubai really stands out and deserves to win. Its location is accessible to everyone, it has grown so fast from a big sandpit to an iconic city with amazing buildings and state-of-the-art infrastructure, and I don’t think there’s anywhere else in the world where you can find a place that has as many nationalities co-existing with each other. It’s a nice place for a short tour or visit, but it’s a great place that you’d enjoy living in for a long time as well.

So, who’s going to host Expo 2020? We’ll find out at 8:30pm tonight.

want-it wednesday: visit japan

And it’s all Ser Chief and Maya’s fault.

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If you live in the Philippines or are an OFW who has a TFC subscription, you most probably know who I’m talking about and why. But if not, let me introduce them to you with a background.

I’m not the type of person who follows Tagalog soap operas on television, especially those that are shown in the afternoon (when I haven’t reached home yet) or late evening (when I’d rather be in dreamland). Even when our friends often talked about the previous day’s episode or what was going on in the story, I would just tune out. But when our wedding godparents (who are leaders of the YFC in Jebel Ali and are a couple we really look up to) admitted that they also follow the show, I became curious. So I started watching episodes of “Be Careful With My Heart” on Youtube to see what the fuss was about…and I liked it. It’s basically a modern day fairy tale about a nanny/maid (Maya) who falls in love with her widower boss (Ser Chief/Richard), who eventually falls in love with her as well. Sure there were parts that dwelled too long on a particular event, but the drama is basically light (no violence or animosity between characters), shows the Pinoy cultures, and teaches a few lessons from time to time. Plus, the actors and actresses just act natural, not forced. So even though it's a fairy tale story, you can still relate with what they were going through. I found it too much though when practically the entire wedding and reception were filmed (even the boring parts) as if that day really and truly happened. OA na masyado if you ask me. Anyway, after the wedding, the newlyweds went to Japan for their honeymoon. Which is the reason for this post.

If you don’t know yet, Hubby and I love Japanese food. We’re lucky that whenever we crave for it, this cuisine is available and affordable (in most restaurants) here in Dubai. Also, when company guests arrive, they usually bring omiyage for all of the staff in our office, allowing us to taste the different sweets from Japan. An added bonus is when big bosses visit, some of them give a separate smaller box of Japanese sweets just for me. Plus, I work for a Japanese company which has its own washlet in the office so I get to experience this bit of high technology from their country every day.   

Until recently, I was content that all these Japanese stuff was within my reach. But when I watched the past 2 episodes of “Be Careful With My Heart,” I realized that I want to actually visit and experience Japan. 

I want to eat authentic Japanese food that was freshly cooked in Japan by a local chef.

I want to stay in a ryokan (traditional inn) that has sliding doors in the rooms.

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I want to see Mount Fuji (I don’t think I could climb it, though) and ride the shinkansen (bullet train).

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I want to soak in a natural hot spring.

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I want to run in the falling snow, catch the flakes and watch them melt (actually, I want to do this in any country that has snow).

And most of all, I want to experience walking in the park and being surrounded by beautiful pink cherry blossom trees.

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As I mentioned earlier, I work for a Japanese company. The head office is in Tokyo, and several of my engineer colleagues have frequently travelled there for meetings and trainings. But that’s it. None of the staff in HR, Administration or Accounts has gone there on behalf of the Dubai branch, so it’s not likely that my managers would think of sending me there on a business trip.

I’m wishing upon a star and keeping my fingers crossed that one day, there’ll be an important reason for them to send me to our head office for a few days.  Or maybe I'll win in this Etihad Airways competition that I joined.  So, who knows?

music monday: we are the world for philippines

I was all set on blogging about a particular song for today’s Music Monday, but while looking for its music video on Youtube, I came across this one. And I knew it was meant to be shared.

I know so many artists have made so many versions of the song, but this one really struck me because it was sung by Filipinos for their kababayans who were affected by Typhoon Haiyan. What’s more, the singers aren’t famous (at least, not to me) but their voices are so powerful. But best of all, the video really showed how united and strong the Filipinos are, despite being faced with practically the worst and most difficult situations ever. Thanks of course to all those who helped and are helping the survivors get on their feet to move on with their lives.

 Ang galing talaga!  Nakakaiyak sa ganda.

selfie sunday: sophie

She’s at that stage when she absolutely adores looking at pictures and videos herself. And since she also likes making wacky faces at herself, I thought I’d take advantage of her cute narcissism-silliness by taking her selfie shots. 

ain't she adorable?!

thankful thursday: bed weather and chocolates

Summer has left the country and winter has finally arrived. Hurray! The weather had started changing in early November (I think), but it was only this morning as I was waiting at the bus stop when I truly felt that the cold season had really started. For one thing, it had rained earlier (and it rained again later this morning); for another, the winds were strong and cool. Even while I'm typing this, one of the windows in our office room is open and all of us are enjoying the fresh air.  This is something we wouldn’t dare do during the summer.

Here are a couple of pictures I took of the changing sky while waiting for my ride.

just above me, the sky is blue

a few seconds later, taken from the same spot but of the sky above the park, it has slowly turned gray

As the rains poured heavily in different parts of the country this morning, it was announced that classes had been suspended and students were being sent home as a precautionary measure. Even some companies sent their employees home, allowing them an early start to the weekend. I can imagine them now sitting cosily on the couch or in bed with a bowl of soup or cup of hot chocolate. Lucky them.

Well, I may not be lying in bed right now, but I do have chocolate…a box of Belgian macadamia ones from Japan.   

And these are the things I’m thankful to have experienced and received today.

a quick hello and daily memes

Hi there! Yes, I’m still here. Sorry for not updating this for some time. You see, I haven’t been blogging because of several reasons. Well, a few actually. Not that I need to explain myself, but since I haven’t posted anything in a while, I guess I owe it to this blog and my readers (naks!) to fill the space with words para hindi sayang yung pag-visit nyo.

Ok, first reason: Blogger’s Block. I simply couldn’t think of anything to blog about. Sure there were a few things that came into my mind from time to time, but as soon as I looked at the screen, I just couldn’t find the words.

Another reason for my absence was I was on a short leave from work from the 14th to the 18th of November. Hubby had been on local leave (he had to use up all his leave credits otherwise they would be forfeited) and I wanted to join him so that I could also spend time with our daughters for the last few days of his leave. We weren’t busy, but of course I wanted to just relish the free time we had. And as expected, when I returned to work on Tuesday, there were several e-mail messages I had to read and countless tasks and requests to take care of which continued until yesterday.

And since news circulated the world of the damage that Typhoon Yolanda left behind in the Philippines, I just lost the enthusiasm to blog. Practically everything I read or saw focused on this subject. It was depressing. We did what we could (donate, participate in fund-raising activities, pray), but of course to avoid being labelled as inconsiderate, minabuti ko na lang na wag muna magblog. Nakakahiya nga naman magkwento ng kung ano-anong bagay while our kababayans are suffering from the calamity.

But fortunately, the survivors are slowly but surely picking up the pieces and moving on with their lives. Thanks to practically the whole wide world in helping out. As I watched the videos and pictures of the memorable things people and countries did for the Yolanda survivors, I couldn’t stop my tears from falling. Nakaka-touch di ba? Nakakatuwa. In the midst of the hatred, fighting and wars going on, the world united to help the Filipinos stand up again.  At least something good came out of this disaster.

So as I mentioned earlier, I was on leave for a few days. With so much free time in my hands, I just enjoyed the lack of having to doing anything. In short, I enjoyed being lazy. Oo na, hindi maganda yun. Eh minsan lang naman. But while my body was being a bum, my mind tried to think of ways on how I could improve this blog. You know…the design and layout, the posts, traffic feed, how to get sponsors, even the name. I know one of the first things to do is to register my own domain name to put this blog “out there,” and I would definitely want to do that; but at this point in time, I don’t think I’m ready yet.  There's so much I want to do, but...

Anyway, in the meantime, I’m starting with baby steps and try to be more masipag with my posts. And one way of doing that would be…memes! Ok, not everyone looks forward to reading or doing memes; but if you appreciate at least one of them, well, that’s enough. What’s important is my blogging frequency and style improves and you, my dear readers (paninindigan ko talaga na meron) are entertained at least a bit.

So here are the memes that I’ll (hopefully) do each day. They’re not complete, though. I’ve been wracking my brains and the net for ideas for Tuesday and Saturday but I can’t think of any suitable memes for these days. If you know of any or if you have any suggestions, I’d really like to hear from you.

• Selfie Sunday – not only of me, but of whoever will use Tisay (my Galaxy Note) and neglects to delete their pictures (heehee!)
• Music Monday - all about songs and music
• ? Tuesday - any suggestions?
• Want-it Wednesday – things I want to buy or own, or experiences I would love to try at least once in my life (so that my family and friends know what to give me on Christmas and my birthday *wink*)
• Thankful Thursday – whatever big or small things that I’m just grateful for
• Photo Friday – another reason to post photos of anything that catches my interest
• ? Saturday – any suggestions?

Ok fine. I’ll be honest. Please don’t expect me to do these every single day. These are just to motivate and inspire me when I’m stuck with the desire to blog something but can’t think of anything. I will try to do them, but not constantly. Basta, bahala na. And if you’d also like to do these memes on your blog, let me know and forward your link to me so that I can mention it here. It’ll be fun.

Let’s make it fun! =)

free samples delivered to your door

Someone from the neighbourhood pharmacy rang each of the doorbells in our entire building to give these out last night


unexpected goodies!

Just in time too, because we had run out of wet wipes and forgot to buy a pack when we went to Carrefour last Saturday.  As for the tube of Olay, I'm willing to try it out.

I remember there was also a time when a truck parked outside our apartment building and men started giving out paper bags full of different kinds of Yoplait yogurt to the passersby (either the brand was still new in the UAE market or about to be introduced). All of us in our family had a great time trying them out.

Now where else in the world do you have samples delivered to your door for no reason?  =)