Pre-Vacation Mess

Last night, we finally invited our third batch of visitors to visit our new chez nous. Here, instead of our traditionnal house blessing where we invite everybody, including the buong barangay and the whole clan with matching priest at that, dito, we did it by batch (family, then friends, then, colleagues), well in our case lang
naman. Kasi naman po, unlike my mom who has sets of hundred plates, hundred glasses, hundred spoons and forks, etc, kami, we only have a few so we could content ourselves to just a few guests lang!

So this morning, ito ang bumulaga sa kin!

What do you expect, I again transformed myself into a super efficient mega dishwasher! Whew!

We had 3 couples + us, so imagine the works! Anyways, the night was great and everbody was tipsy except me!

Tomorrow, real vacation begins!

FREEZE!

All lines are busy now, please try your call later.

Familiar with that? Here is the email version that I've been receiving at work lately..

Je suis absent de mon bureau et serai de retour le x août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August x 2005.

Yep, time for summer vacation, time to get that tan, time to seize the summer sun at the sea or the mountains, time to discover little villages or another country. The whole France is on standby mode, be it with administrative offices, industries or schools and universities. After our neighboring countries, the frenchies are now clogging the French autoroutes to get to their respective destinations. July to August is the summer vacation peak for France as it coincides with the scolastic vacation, oh yeah, there are children to attend to. So here's a hint, if you're residing around Europe and thinking of spending your vacation in the countrysides of France, try to take your vacation earlier or later than these dates. Of course Paris is excluded, during these dates, only tourists stay in the french capital.

Vacations could extend up to a month, what about that? Starting last week, even if I was still at work, I was nevertheless blocked as some of my colleagues are already on vacation. What I have in my inbox are:

Je suis absent de mon bureau et serai de retour le x août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August x 2005.

Ok, I guess I got the message. I need a break too. Starting this weekend, my auto-response will take the revenge:

Je suis absente de mon bureau et serai de retour le 9 août 2005.
I am out of the office and will be back on August 9, 2005.

On the menu:

Entrée (Starter):

One-day hike at Ile d'Yeu with the beaux-parents (parents-in law).

See that little red mark on the map? There is where we will sweat out my beau-père's (father-inlaw) 70th birthday. Yep, sweat! A little 11-km hike is on the list to examine his tonacity. The 3 children agreed to give him (and mom-in law bien sûr) this surprise birthday gift (he detests leaving his garden on a hot summer day kasi hehe), and since frenchguy and I are on vacation on that same area too, we will be their guides.

The lost chateau (castle) is just one of the appetizers waiting for us in our one-day hike. I'm sure the ice cream at the port (our arrival area) is just as appetizing, yummm!
* Photos are from this site.

Plat Principal (Main Meal):

Cultural Visit / Castle Hopping at Loire Valley Castles.

Now that I cannot travel a lot and fatigue myself over our usual itinerant visit to God-knows-where part of the globe, it's just the right time to know more about my frenchguy's region. A cultural visit at that! Whoa! Well, I guess it's worth it, this region is not called the Garden of France for nothing, right? It's actually the King of France's favorite hideaway during the rennaissance period and transformed the area into the Region of Thousand Castles.

Among the list of castles in the region, I might throw a glance at this Leonardo da Vinci-inspired Chateau de Chambord, the biggest in the region with 440 rooms, 385 chimneys and 83 stairs! Hay naku, hirap sigurong linisin nito.

But just like most of the castles in France, bahay bakasyunan lang ng mga kings and queens yan..sarap no.

Another castle of interest is of course, the XVth century Chateau d'Ussé. If it looks familiar, that is because you probably read Sleeping Beauty during your younger years. Opo, there is where Charles Perrault got his inspiration in writing that novel.

It's a mix of gothic and rennaissance architecture, so my bébé will get his first lesson for that period habang nasa loob pa siya hehe.

Dessert (Dessert):

Beach hopping, biking (not for me now), beach night market shopping, partying and sorbetes and seafoods galore at nearby La Vendée with frenchguy's niece (on photo)! See that plate of oysters and little kuhols? Kami po ang nanguha nyan sa dagat, galing no?

Ciao!

Stress: How do you deal with it?

I was tagged by Isabela, this one's kinda cool...let me tell you my style!

What are the things you enjoy, even when no one around you want to go out and play?

I love reading a lot, does that count? That's my way of forgetting where / who I am and transforming myself into somebody else, most of the time, a detective (obvious ba that I'm more into suspense and detective stories?)....kasama na dyan yung reading other people's blog (and learning from their experiences)...

I enjoy taking pictures too...tho I'm not at all a professional one, haven't even read the user's guide of my camera.

I like listing all our expenses at home. Yep, I even have consumption bar graphs, repartition of fixed and variable costs, percentage of each category in my expenses list, etc...di po ako accountant, inhinyerong pulpol lang po!

What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it in your journal…

I'm normally a super cool gal, I hate being under pressure. Life is beautiful, so why waste my time worrying, right? But di naman po ako manhid, there are instances when I, too, am subjected to different stresses na nakaka-high blood which end up on sleepless nights due to anxiety. The main reasons are:

Stress: Most often due to my work. Kung pwede lang mag work without responsibilities and yung di ginagamitan ng utak, ginawa ko na!

Blood Pressure: Kadalasan, due to shopping. Those who know me are aware that I hate it! Nakakahigh blood kasi minsan yung ibang sales lady na di man lang palangiti, lalo na dito sa France, siguro dahil I frequent yung mga chipipay na shops hehe...e di ko na nga feel, tapos I can't even get the necessary infos that I want, darn! Sa Pinas naman, dalawang klase yan, me sunod ng sunod sayo, mukha ba kong shoplifter? Meron namang ni hindi ka papansinin (lalo na sa mamahaling shops)...hello, di ako nagwiwindow-shopping no!

Anxiety: When frenchguy's out of town / country, first thing he has to do is to call me up, di kasi ako makatulog sa kakaworry! He's complaining tho, pag ako kasi yung out of town / country, I don't return the favor, e alam ko namang safe ako e hehe..

So how do I manage?

I communicate: I talk, write emails, blog. I feel better after that.
I clean the toilet and bathroom: Yun na lang ang pinanggigigilan ko, try nyo, effective!
I cut my hair short: Yep, kadalasan kasi nai stress ako dahil late na ko pumasok, cutting it short means isang suklayan na lang. But judging by the number of times per year I visit my coiffeuse, I could be considered a certified super cool gal nga hehe.
I look myself infront of the mirror and say, 'you're not that bad after all!': It's because of my weight, super payatot kasi. So that's my way of consoling myself hehe..and hearing my friends with their weight problems and how they restreint themselves in eating what they really want, naiisip ko, maswerte pa nga ako e.
I read: Sabi ko nga, I forget everything when I read.
I watch a movie: Yung comedy at nonsense ha.
I walk: Normally, I invite frenchguy on a weekend and do a little hike. I love being with nature, parang walang problema ang mundo if you're surrounded by the trees, the birds, the cows hehe..
New!!! Watching my baby move: Ah, sarap!

…and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it in theirs.

Francesca: I know she's always cool..is she just hiding her stress or she just knows how to deal with it?
Schatzli: She's got a hectic schedule, so how does she cope up?
Airwind: A cool pinoy. Let's see how a young ambitious pinoy deal with stress sa Pinas Ngayon.
Naomi: Hmm, want to know ya better. So how is it there in Canada?
Baby Chatter: A mom in Paris. How does she deal with stressful parenting in France?

Fête Nationale

14th of July, the Fête Nationale in France or Bastille Day was celebrated last Thursday, occasion for most of the Frenchies to have a long 4-day weekend (they normally take their Friday for vacation in this case).

Instead of enjoying the feu d'artifice (fireworks) in Dijon or in Paris (saw the fireworks at the Eiffel Tower on TV, it was awesome!), we headed to the west direction to enjoy the tranquility and the cool breeze of the countryside.

We found this little paradise just perfect for us, where I could read my book far from the loud tourists and where frenchguy could nap without any problem. Next time, we will definitely bring our bingwit hehe..

Malayo ang tingin...nope, he's not doing yoga..here, frenchguy tries to have a feel of the water..then off he went to cross the lake..his favorite water activity...







After a soothing cold water massage at the lake, a little walk around the area normally completes our itinerary. This lovely 13th century castle adorned the little village where we started our buntis-friendly hike. Noticed the colorful tiled roof? Aside from the wines and mustards, that is one of the many signatures of Côte d'Or.

Now, back to Dijon...

Halfway to Hands-on Motherhood

Time flies. From the moment I knew it till the very moment I felt his first movement, I was like a neophyte scientist on his very first experiment, savouring this priviledged moment, patiently waiting for each little change, each overwhelming little change that only mothers could precisely explain.

5th month, whoa, that was pretty fast.

We will start preparing the room for the new family member and start completing the necessary gadgets for the much awaited arrival. Get excited with me, I've just changed my baby's diaper, please scroll down!

The excited parents...

UPDATE!

Some friends sent me an email asking Ano? Girl or Boy? It seems that my visitors aren't scrolling down enough so they could check my calendar...so there you go..

Filipino Time?

Honestly, I hate it! I don't like waiting for hours as if I have all the time in the world and got nothing else to do but to wait for Mr or Ms VIP! In return, I try to be on time all the time....ok, I have to admit that way back in my Philippine escapades, I practiced Filipino time too, and who wouldn't? Everbody arrives at least 30 minutes late so why the rush, right?

Filipino Cramming?

Oh, I hate this too, pero likas na Pinoy yata ako, I could arrive on time...but really on time, at the nearest second! I hate cramming before the exam when I was still a student, but I actually survived like that, reviewing till the wee hours the day before the exam!

Till now, cramming remains my game, more often to my disadvantage of course. This morning, I had an important meeting in our Paris office and I had to catch the train at 6:51am, no less. I swear, I had all the time, but heck, I still left home at the last minute thinking it would be easy to park my car and the train station is a mere 5 minutes away from home. Susmaryosep, I had all the traffic light RED yata! Ayun, I was one minute too late...the worst is that, I even saw the train leaving...kainis!

At around 8am, I started bugging frenchguy to reserve a taxi for me as I know, our secretary arrives around 9am (Heck, I don't even have the number of Paris Taxi to begin with!). Paris traffic especially when you're hurrying is not agreeable at all! Luckily the taxi driver understood that I have a 10am super duper important strategic meeting with the big bosses and not a Pinay Engineer in France should delay that! Whew, I nevertheless arrived ON TIME!

Lesson learned!

Coucou, I’m here…

At 19th week, mon bébé started to announce his presence. A tiny kick here, a sudden push there…hmmm, life…enjoying this magic moment.

Contente Maman

Hey, nasa France ka ba?

After a month long trial and validation (naks industrialization ang dating a hehe), just want to share how you could burn your phones doing endless chika to anybody around the planet without exhausting your bank account. Click here.

The thing is, from France, you could call up Philippine mobile phones at a local cost! It's like I'm calling around Dijon! Whoa! Just can't keep this good news just for myself..

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