Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the March 30th, 2006
Apparently you call a pregnant Filipina “butete” which is a blowfish. Vanessa does suddenly have a belly which is a bit surprising considering she’s just a tiny little pixie.
On the subject of pixies… Vanessa likes fairies, pixies, and such. We spent a few hours looking at fairies on the internet. Unfortunately these censors around here are so crazy, they censor pictures of fairies if they’re not fully clothed. What’s with that, I ask.
I’m going to put in a request to move to a villa on the main campus so that Vanessa can have a garden. The apartment we have is quite nice and new and close to my office. The villas can be a bit run down, however, I feel bad that she’s cooped up indoors all day. And it would be nice to have a garden.
I am bored out of my mind today. I read all my books and watched all the DVDs. Given that there is nothing to do in this town, I spent the day being agitated and bored.
I am however trying to get healthy for the sake of my unborn child… I went running 3 days this week…
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the March 28th, 2006
These damn censors around here block the RSS feed for the style.com podcast. WHY??? Why block style.com, I would really like to know. Anyway because it’s blocked, of course I really want to read it.
My mom has promised to send Vanessa panties, sweaters and maternity clothes to our hotel in Rome. Today Vanessa was telling this to nanay (her mom) so I hope my mom doesn’t forget.
One of my colleagues who is Indian got stoned by small children yesterday. I had a stone thrown at me once also. I asked the Bengali who works around here and he said he gets stoned all the time. WHat the hell is wrong with these small children. ANyway my Indian colleague went to the imam (prayer leader) at the mosque and told him about this problem. The imam said “it’s because you’re not Saudi” and my Indian colleague asked the imam to do something about it, you know, help take care of a Muslim brother, etc. Apparently this fell on deaf ears, which is interesting given all this talk about the brotherhood of Muslims. I don’t doubt there is a “brotherhood” FYI, I just find it interesting that the concept was ignored by my local imam.
7 days and we’re in sunny Rome. Watch the hell out Italy cuz we’re coming.
One of my colleagues who has been here for 8 years decided he’s “had enough” and is leaving in June. I agreed to buy his car, which is a Subaru Forrester 4WD. It has 40K on it and it’s 4 years old. The selling price is 27,000 riyals which is $7200 USD. I’m pleased because he’s an anal-retentive old guy who has taken really good care of the car. The only bad thing about this is it is going to put a bit of a crimp into my summer cash flow.
Posted in Cheetahhhhhhh by Administrator on the March 25th, 2006
In Wisconsin we think of summer as the happy time of year. Of course a hot day in Wisconsin is 85F. Maybe we get a few days of 90-95F in August, but nobody goes outside then except my dad and Cale.
Summer is fast approaching here in the Arabian desert. The days have been getting hotter and hotter. Now, here, the nice time of year is winter. From December until early March, the weather is perfect; always sunny, dry as a bone, and in the high 70s F. You couldn’t ask for better weather actualy. Now summer is coming and several times I’ve been walking to or from the office, and the sun has been scorching me, and I feel like I’m in an oven. It’s about 90F right now and it’s only going to get hotter. And I don’t like it.
Incidentally I’ve mentioned that I’m burnt out. I really don’t know how I’m going to get through the next 2 months. Well, I should say, they’re going to be rough. I’m pretty stoic about work and killing off 60 days is pretty easy as far as I’m concerned. Nevertheless all motivation and enthusiasm has been sucked out of me. It’s always this way, for every teacher I imagine.That’s why we need summer holidays. I’lll return to the university in September enthusiastic and full of energy.
11 days to go until we leave for Rome. This week is just a review week, which will be easy. Next week is the midterm exam and oral testing, which is easy from my perspective. So I’m almost home free…
Posted in AngelSphinx by Administrator on the March 25th, 2006
Hello Folks, here’s pregnant Angelsphinx!
Well, it was been a long week. Had no time to blog here as I experiencing morning sickness..Makes me vomit or fell vomit all day…And been lazy staying long infront of the computer…I read in a book that too much staying infront of the computer is not good for the baby because of the radiation..As a concern future mom, I don’t want to waste this great bun in my oven! I been waiting for this..And, Oh Lord, why would I waste the best gift I ever had…? So, I am so much careful. Although sometime I admit that I dont like to eat anything..My sense of taste and smell is so bad as of now..but still I force my self to eat right foods, foods for two. I know Chris sometimes wants me to feed as he observes the amount of foods I take. He says I eat like a kitten..And sometimes he says, ” I will call your mom and tell her you’re not eating!” LOL..Makes me laugh. But, yes, I eat, really…He just doesnt notice that I have lots of foods in my pocket.
Anyway, its 10 days to go..We’ll be on Italy! Thank’s God, I have my Italian visa now..We went to Jeddah this weekend, Saturday…After the consulate, we went to Filipino soq (market). It’s heaven for me folks because I am so much missing the Filipino foods..Chris allow me to get all the stuffs I like so I grabbed alot! he. he. Well its not expensive so I get alot for my stock esp the foods I am craving. Great that I found tamarind candy, Chris likes it too now (he. he). Also hopia and puto (rice cake), chicharon (fried beef skin), korniks, fried peanuts like Dingdong and also all the ingredients for pancit palabok…I cooked palabok last night and Chris love it! So, I feel at home!
After Rome Italy, its 45 days to go to my homeland! Oh God, I am so excited! I miss Filipino foods! Pork, longganisa, tocino, etc….esp my mom’s recipes..And I miss my small bed and my little muning =)..Anyway, I have to go now..2 hours to go, its lunch time..Chris will come home from work.. I need to prepare a lunch for my handsome and sweet husband!I will make chicken adobo, Chris favorite..and also mango and pineapple smoothe..Its freakin hot here now..We need ice shakes..See ya folks! God bless..Keep smiling…more smiles, less wrinkles.. he. he.
Posted in Podcast by Administrator on the March 24th, 2006
Here we go, Vanessa BBQing on our balcony. She is concerned that her belly is big; she watched the video and said, “Oh, you can really see I’m pregnant. “
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the March 24th, 2006
Cheers mates, it’s the Cheetahhhhhhhh, chillin out on the weekend (Thurs-Fri of course).
We went up to Jeddah to the Italian consulate and picked up Vanessa’s passport with a nice fancy Italian visa in it. We also drove around for hours until we found the Filipino sook. Vanessa was delighted and loaded up a basket with Filipino things liked dried breakfast fish. Sure enough, this morning she was eating dried breakfast fish. She wanted me to try it but I said no way.
Vanessa has terrible morning sickness and is always vomiting, or on the verge of vomiting. I feel bad for the poor little thing.
We just got back from Star market. We did our grocery shopping and I noticed today that everybody checks us out. There are lots of Filipinos in this town and they always check us out. The Arabs check us out because Vanessa doesn’t veil herself. And today there was a white guy with a Korean wife, they were also eyeing us. Why does everybody eye us? Well probably because we’re so cute.
Vanessa is busy BBQing us steaks on the balcony. I told her that in the States, BBQing is a man’s job, but she doesn’t seem to trust me with the grill. Actually she is a better BBQer than me, it’s true. I just throw the meat on and let it burn, American style. She sits there fanning it and basting it… it turns out a lot better when she does it. Unfortunately there are no grilled onions with this steak because Vanessa doesn’t like onions any more (a morning sickness related thing).
Anyway 11 days to go and we’re off to la bella Roma to enjoy some of the duce vida. We realized that after we get back from Rome, we will have only 45 days to go until the summer holidays.
The plan for the summer holidays is this. First, a month in the Philippines. Vanessa has her village reunion to attend and she has to show off her new husband to her family. Then we’re going to go to Baguio with her mom, where I am considering buying a house. Baguio in in northern Luzon island, in the mountains. It has a cool climate. The only thing I’m concerned about is mudslides, which apparently do happen in Baguio. I’m going to have to look into this carefully. The last thing I want is to work like a slave to buy a house that gets buried by mud.
After that we’re going to go to a beach resort, such as Boracay.
We’re also going to do a lot of shopping, eg, maternity clothes… the shopping is so much cheaper in the Philippines, we’re going to take advantage as much as the 2 bag airline limit will allow us.
Then it’s back to Saudi for a couple days. Then we’re flying in to Chicago on my annual free tickets (courtesy of HM the king, whom I work for). We’ll do a little goofing around in Madison and Milwaukee. We’re also going to rent a car and go up north to the Brule, so that I can do a little flyfishing.
Mid to late July, we’re going to head on down to South America. I’m discussing Peru with Cale, who seems gung-ho. Don’t have the word yet from my mom, sister, or dad, however Vanessa and I are going. Maybe we’ll make it an Amazonian holiday. Cale and I also kicked out the possibility of just going to Brazil.
Posted in Uncategorized by Administrator on the March 21st, 2006
Cheers mates, it’s the Cheetahhhhhhh. I have been very busy this week. I’m almost through with the first phase of developing next year’s curriculum and can soon relax a little. It’s been a bit of a chore for me. Anyway generally I’ve been too tired to blog. Right now I’m in my office blogging on my Nokia 9500. And the reason I’m taking the trouble to blog at work is because I’m so disturbed by what one of my students said in class.
Today we were doing a bit of grammar… discussing hypothetical situations using the structure ‘If… I would…’ Anyway I was going around the classroom with hypothetical questions. I came to one kid and said, ‘If you were stranded on a desert island with one famous person from history, who would it be?’
The kid answered, ‘I would be with Hitler, because he killed the Jews.’ I was dumbfounded. The whole class started jabbering and one of the brighter students said to him, in Arabic, ‘Don’t say such a thing to a Christian.’
The hatred of the Jews around here is something you just take for granted really. I just avoid anything remotely related to the subject of Jews. The power of the general hatred around here is really surprising, though. I have heard a perfectly sane and normal colleague, whom I know to be a good and moral man, start ranting about how the Jews are an evil race, etc.
Well of course I’m just not even going to get involved in such a conversation. It’s really startling and upsetting to me but I’m not going to argue with mass communal hatred.
Here is Vanessa’s childhood school. Taken last June 2005 at her town province..She’s with her cousins and neice. Her last vacation in her hometown Capoocan, Leyte island of Philippines.
Here is the video of poor little malnourished Muning. She’s just 1 month old on this video..Just found her in the street, cold and wet..It broke my heart when I saw her. She’s innocent to experience that. I brought her in our house and give lots of love. Like me, my brother loves cats also..We gave her milk in a bottle and put her in a little box as her bed. I am so glad that she still alive now even though her mother is not around. My mom always give me update about Muning..Mom said that shes big now and spoiled. I miss her so much and I wish I can bring her in Saudi..Sometime, Chris and I dream to pick cats on the street of Yanbu..But I am kinda afraid because we might pick a witch cat. LOL. Here is the latest picture of Muning..She’s smart kitten.
Here we go, Vanessa BBQing on our balcony. She is concerned that her belly is big; she watched the video and said, “Oh, you can really see I’m pregnant. “