Through the years, 23 years to be exact!

August 8, 2013 by feyma

Through the years, 23 years to be exact!

This first part is from Feyma.

Wow, 23 years ago on the 9th of August Bob and I said our “I DO’s”. Another year to create precious memories together. I just can’t believe it that it has been that long ago already since we became husband and wife. We were both in our 20′s then. Him in his late 20′s and me being in my early 20′s.

Can’t believe it that we’ve been together for over 2 decades now. It’s been a good ride for us. We are blessed with our 3 good looking boys, and 2 beautiful daughters (have to brag. LOL).

It’s been a roller coaster ride for us. We totally handled it good with the grace of God the almighty.

Of course we had our moments, just like the typical and normal couple. Our marriage is far from perfect, especially with the two different cultures together. Bob would say something and I take it differently. Sometimes we argue and fight, thank God not physically. Raising voices yes we do that, who would not. Being married for 23 years and together almost everyday (24/7 for a lot of years, since Bob has been working at home for more than 20 years) what can you expect? LOL. I’m so glad Bob put up with some of my shenanigans. I think he’s the only guy that can put up with it. Ha ha ha… Really he’s an amazing husband and a father to our kids. He is really good to our girls too. He’s also good to my family especially when my parents were alive. He was so thoughtful to them. That’s why I love him more for that. I know he will do anything for me. I do the same for him.

Bob works hard to support me, our kids and some members of my family. He never complained that. We’ve been burned out on helping other members of the family especially nieces that have been so ungrateful. One thing that’s so different on the 2 cultures. Filipino way, after what happened to some of my family members so disrespectful and not appreciating what we’ve done for them. I told Bob I had it, we are not sending anybody to school anymore. Western way: they would still support the other family members because not all members of the family are the same. In short not judgmental. I really applauded him for that. He totally open my eyes. I think I was just blindsided by my anger and embarrassment. I got over it and moved on.

To Bob: I love you so much honey. You and the kids really are my life. Thank you so much for loving me unconditionally. Thank you for helping me adjusting and teaching me living the life in the States. Thank you for pampering me. You really taught me a lot in life. Love you more for that. Happy 23rd Anniversary Babe. Another year to strengthen our marriage that last a lifetime!!!

A few photos from our years together

Now, this part is from Bob.

Thank you, hon, for your kind words! You know that I love you very much! Unlike most couples, this is the first (and only) marriage for each of us, and we will keep it that way, I know that!

We have had a lot of good times together, and a few bad too, of course. I have so many great memories of my times over the past 23 years! I know you do too. When we first got married, and you migrated to the States, I was able to help teach you and help you learn the ropes of how things worked there. After a few years of that, we both learned from each other (well, I guess we did that all along too, though). Then, in 2000, we moved to the Philippines and it was your turn to start teaching me how things work here. I love you for that.

Something that a lot of our readers may not know is about cooking. When we got married and you moved to the States, I quickly learned that you didn’t know how to cook! It was not a problem for me, though, because I enjoyed cooking, and I welcomed the opportunity to make meals for you. I hope you liked the things that I cooked. I quickly bought some Filipino cookbooks and I started cooking Filipino food for you. It wasn’t always perfect, but a lot of times it turned out great. I took great pride in the fact that I always made sure that you had some kind of food from “back home” to keep you feeling comfortable in the States. You never did learn to cook very much in the States. However, when we moved to the Philippines, you decided it was your turn to take care of me when it came to the cooking department. You not only started cooking most of the meals, you also learned how to cook American food, and you always made sure that I had the kinds of foods that made me happy! I love you a lot for that!

Marrying you was the best thing I ever did, and the thing that made me happiest in life. A close second was when we grew a family. We had 3 boys in the States, and they are all good kids, and I know that both of us are very proud of our boys. Still, as much as I love our boys, and you too, we always wanted to have a girl as well. Moving here gave us the opportunity to make that addition to our family by taking in two of our nieces and making them our daughters. It has really made my family life complete, and I love the girls just as much as I do our boys.

Happy Anniversary, honey, I love you from the bottom of my heart! Thanks for writing this surprise post, and I think you will also be surprised when you see that I added the second half to it!

July 11, 2013 by feyma

The eye popping show!

Been watching shows on TV. One that caught our attention was the show “Restaurant Impossible” by Robert Irvine. The show really is about drowning in debt restaurant owners and asking help from Robert on how to make their restaurant better and more profitable. What Robert will do he will renovate the restaurant and improved the menu for 2 days with the budget of $10,000. He will have help from his few different designers and his builder Tom. Both Bob and I really like the show and the people that help Robert. A lot of time we would be in awe of the outcome of the renovation. I also learned a few menus from him.

Robert Irvine of Restaurant Impossible

It’s really puzzling to me how could any owners let there restaurant be filthy, disgusting and so much gunk. Just watching the show makes my stomach turn upside down. Lots of time my eyeballs just about to pop out just watching those people when picking up the equipment in the kitchen and it’s filth every where. I felt that the workers just didn’t care and I guess the owners too. Too many OMG came out from my mouth in every episode that I watch of that show. It’s just mind blowing that the owners don’t have a clue how disgusting their restaurant has become. Like Bob and I were always commenting while watching the show, why can’t the owner start cleaning when they try to reach out for Robert before he come there to see their restaurant? At least when he comes to visit the resto it is partly clean already. Geez, if I would be the owner I would be embarrassed seeing my restaurant so filthy. Most of the restaurant that Robert would visit he always say its like a pig sty. And I totally agree with him.

Now since watching that show. My gosh, I was telling Bob that I felt like not eating at any restaurant now here in the Philippines, unless it is a newly opened restaurant. If the restaurant in the West goes like that so filthy and so disgusting, to think they had people from the government checking the restaurant regularly. What will be the restaurant here? I am not sure if they have regular people from the government checking the restaurant or do they have strict regulations on maintaining the restaurant here.

When going to the restaurant now all I’m thinking when ordering if the drinks and ice dispenser the inside is it clean? Are the cooking pots and pans cleaned? Are there mice crawling all over the restaurant during the night? Are the meats and veggies cleaned before cooking and serving? Gee, too many questions now in the back of my head. I mean I am not saying that the restaurant be super, super clean. Really it would be nice though if it would. But I would like it to be at least everything’s clean and the plates that were clean be covered that no bugs crawling in. No mice inside the kitchen running all over.

I don’t mind eating and drinking at some other good known restaurants here. Also right now I don’t mind eating at S & R since they just opened and some other restaurant that just opened recently. I know that the drinks & ice dispenser still in good shape.

Have a good eat everyone!

April 12, 2012 by feyma

Easter 2012 Celebration at our house!

We always celebrate the Easter with painting of eggs the night before. The kids will paint to whatever design they like and dip it into different colors for fun. The Easter bunny will have some goodies for the kids too the next morning before the kids hunt Easter eggs.

This year, we have a newbie to Easter egg hunting, our helper Mel. She really thought it was so cool. We let her join in with our kids for Easter egg hunting in our yard. And Easter Bunny gave her lots of candies too. We told her to eat her candies instead of sending it to her kid. Her child is too young to eat candy right now anyway. Just by watching her we could tell she really had a blast. It was really nice watching her hunt with the kids. I’m glad we let her join in with our kids.

Our other helper has 2 children. She’s a stay out helper, in other words she does not live with us. She came to the house after the kids already finished with the egg hunting. We just let the kids gave some eggs to her kids. The Easter Bunny also left some goodies for her kids here at the house. So, she brought that with her when she went home at the end of the day.

On Easter day, while preparing what to cook for lunch. Bob asked me if we could go to the orphanage that we always went to before. He wanted to pay a visit with the kids there. He wants to bring some food for them there for lunch. I told Bob that it would be okay for me to go there. So Bob and I and AJ went to buy all the food that we wanted to bring there. While were out, our other kids were preparing themselves so that we will just swing by to pick them up before heading to the orphanage.

Article continues below pictures. Click on the photo for a bigger image.

We decided to bring cooked fried chicken, bread, fruits and cooked rice too. We just let our helper cook a big amount of rice while we were out buying the other food. We got to the orphanage around 12 pm. We thought that they will eat around that time. Well, as soon as we got there the kids were getting ready for their nap. A few of the toddlers were already sleeping. So I asked the lady that’s watching the kids whats the best time to go there if bringing food for lunch or dinner? She said around 10am for lunch and 4pm for dinner. I told her that I will keep that in mind and tell friends about it too. They said its okay that we went there, lots of those kids still remember us from our previous visits. They were so happy seeing us there.

When we first got there the kids were quiet and just stayed in their own beds. Well, just after few minutes they were already ready to play. They were really playing with our kids. Almost all of them like to be held and be given hugs. I felt sorry for Bob, they want that Bob will carry them. One kid after another was calling him and wanting him to carry them. They want pictures. One time I was caught off guard, I was talking to other kids and all of a sudden a few girls grab my hand with cell phone in my hand, I almost dropped my cell phone on the floor. They said in unison “we want pictures too.” I told them “of course I will take pictures of you guys.: They want pictures with Bob, ha ha ha. . We also brought our niece Bebe and our helper Mel.

Bob and I think that Mel probably misses her daughter when seeing lots of babies there. She told me that she really enjoyed going there. I could tell, she just can’t stop talking about it. We also brought Nicole with us. She stopped going there for awhile because she got scared with a little wild kid when we went there before. But this time she really had a blast and the kids like her too. A few kids keep holding on to her hand. One baby there that she wanted to take home was Christian. I guess all our kids wanted to take home Christian. He really likes our kids too. He mostly likes Jared and Bebe. If Jared would be out of his sight he would be looking for him. Jared stayed with him the whole time we’re there. I could tell that our kids really enjoyed going there a lot.

Bob and I decided that every Easter we will go there or go for giving away food and gifts for Easter. It was really fun doing it. It’s going to be another tradition in our household I think. Even just simple and little things to give it makes little kids happy and brought smile to their faces. It makes it all worthwhile.

I hope you guys had a good and happy Easter celebration!!!

Cheers!

April 5, 2012 by feyma

Strange phone call

Yesterday I got a phone call while cooking breakfast for Bob.

It was really early in the morning. It was just me and Bob who were up. I thought it was an inquiry from the email about some land. I thought it was an overseas call because it was too early for people from here. The call was on my cell phone.

When I said hello, there was a lady asking me who I was? I told her you’re the one that’s calling me, I continue on saying may I know whose on the line please?

Then she asked me do you know Mr. so and so? I was trying to think and tried to remember the name, I told her I vaguely remember the name. I said why? She then said because you’re name is on his skype.

Ah what?

I asked her more if her man emailed me on LiP or about travel in Mindanao or Davao or about Samal? She can’t even answer me.

Hello, who are you?

I was gonna tell her hmm, that’s strange because the only person that knows my skype is Bob. I never gave my skype account to anybody since I never use it. Why would I need skype we have Vonage? We just cut off our Vonage not that long ago. I had another option too if I don’t used vonage my pc was hooked to Bob’s skype account anyway. I like to use Vonage because I can just dial just like a regular phone line. When we didn’t have the vVonage I never used the skype on my pc.

Anyway, I think she saw my number on her husband or boyfriend’s pc or cell phone and tried to dial my number to make sure I’m not the second lady in line.

Holy molly, I don’t really need a jealous wife/girlfriend calling me. Early in the morning it already ruined my day. My goodness by the sound of her voice she’s way younger than me. She should have the confidence with her man not to stray away with other women. I don’t even remember if I communicated with her partner/husband. Geez, I wonder if he inquired from me a condo, a house or a land. I have to dig in through all my emails again.

Living here for over 10 years now, I’ve experienced a lot, I’ve meet too many ladies I thought that could be my friend. But they later tell their boyfriend/husband that they can’t hang out with me because of our age difference. They just don’t want it, their reason I am too old to be their friend they say. I just laugh it off because if they say I am too old for them to be their friend, but look whose talking, their boyfriend or husband is 20 years older than I am! I never had anything against any ladies that were married to older men. A lot of my friends in the States before that I hang out with they were married to older men and we don’t have any problem. But my goodness if they are talking bad about our age difference to be my friend I find it to be odd. I’m not sure if I am too boring for them, I don’t go out during night time. For me and Bob, that’s the time we spent with our kids. See we just like to go out meet people around lunch time. Maybe some of the ladies might still be in bed though. Maybe we are on different time zone. ha ha ha. :-). One thing with me and Bob’s relationship – we trust each other. Well, we would not be married this long if we did not. He can go anywhere without me. I can go anywhere without him. I don’t have to have someone to be with him, same for me. Lots of friends that I know they will have their brother or cousins to guard their husband. Oh well to each his own I guess.

Honestly a friend of ours told me before that his girlfriend, who was really young, in her teens. She confess to our friend that I was a threat. I really speak my mind and I can communicate well. She really had problem with me because her man asked advice from me about money matters. Her boyfriend just didn’t trust her when it comes to money. Of course she’s too young to know how to handle money. All she wants is spent it. She didn’t even knows how much her boyfriend was worth but Bob and I knew. Same stories with our other friends. The lists goes on and on.

Cheers!

March 30, 2012 by feyma

Trouble in Paradise!

I think a lot of you saw the video of the American guy, Jimmy posted on YouTube? Been hearing and seeing him on TV and on the internet. So I checked out his video “The 20 things he hated about the Philippines”. To be totally honest he was partly right on the subject he was talking about. Most of the videos he was showing was totally true. I know there has been lots of uproar over that video. I’ve seen positive and negative comments about it. I even saw government officials comment about it. Before this famous video, they also had the “20 things I love about the Philippines.” That video didn’t make it big on YouTube and the news over here. But the one that he had of what hated here in the Philippines really made it big on the news over here. It’s like a viral video that its talked about here for days and days and it made front page on the newspaper.

Jimmy Sieczka

Really he was right on the subject matter. The only thing I don’t like is that he was swearing too much. His delivery I think really pissed off a lot of people. I think a lot of the foreigners here would not want to do what he did. I will not encourage Bob to do it. Like some of the Filipinos would say over here to the foreigner “you’re just a foreigner.” Bob experienced being told about that statement a few times. I don’t want Bob to be in big trouble here. Like what we always says here on LIP, we could not and will never change the 90+ million Filipinos. I know if its a Filipino would make that video and say what he says, I think its more acceptable to the Pinoys here than him. Brutal honesty is just not sitting well here. They will say the honest truth here differently, not the way that Jimmy did. I know that sometimes brutal honesty is really needed here especially in the business area of the country. But the more you say it, the more you are hated here.

I’ve seen on TV that Jimmy made an apology to the people he offended. I’ve heard people saying that he should not. They said he didn’t do anything wrong. He was just making a point that the other Filipinos would not dare to do. I wonder if the famous actors/actresses make similar video pointing out to the politicians of whats happening in the country when it comes to roads, economy and the way business is being handled here. Do you think the politicians will listens to them? And what do you think the reactions of the people? What do you think if just an ordinary person would make a similar video, do you think the people here would have an uproar over it? Were the egos of the Filipinos offended by Jimmy, just because he’s a foreigner?

It really is an interesting thought from people. I can see the open mind of the Filipinos because some saw what Jimmy meant to say. They were even praising him of his boldness. Some people really didn’t see what he was meaning to say. It still a hot topic here in the PI. I know it will die down soon. I hope that Jimmy still have more friends over what happened. He is free to say what he says, this is after all a freed country. We can say what we wanted to say, right? Feel free to say what you think about it. Just don’t swear please.

Cheers!