the need to update

It’s been over six months and this blog has not seen any new postings at all. Every time I start to write again, I see my fingers click on the backspace key, deleting whatever thoughts I want to put in. It’s like a basketball player losing his touch, not finding the rhythm, no matter how many attempts he makes.
Well, they say it’s got to start somewhere. So I’ll just have to force my mood into this. Knowing that 2008 is about to end, I just feel the need to update.

So where were we? On a hiatus? Not really.

I got my hands busy (as always, the lame excuse) ever since the day I started working in an architectural office. Wifey has her own excuse as well with her training schedules. And if ever we had the available time, it just had to be spent with family and friends.

I have always wanted to talk about how our church wedding went really well, now I have problems looking for the right words to explain how it felt that very day. I can only manage to thank the people who were there to celebrate with us and to the people who sent their well wishes, and to those who gave presents as well. Everyone can always look at our multiply site for the lovely photos.

alli & toni druing the church wedding
angelo getting ready to walk the aisle

About two months ago, over lunch, there was quite a conversation with a couple of relatives from the US of A. Some dwelt on the trivial subjects while others on the more pressing issues. What really struck me though was the topic about moving out of the country and finding a job elsewhere. It’s an irresistible temptation about how they describe the opportunities in the land of milk and honey. I don’t look at myself as being too patriotic, or about how optimistic I am of our country. I’d be a hypocrite if I would say it never crossed my mind, to leave the Philippines. Wifey also feels that Cebu has become too small of an island and that somehow we might need to migrate to a “better” place. This has been an insistent topic for almost a month that we had discussed over a cup of coffee, bottles of beer and even over a game of mahjong. We laid the pros and cons on the table and finally decided to just stay where we are as of the moment.

Cebu has become my place of comfort. Allison and I had made an unwritten rule that by the time I finish taking up the board exam, we can always explore different options outside our beloved island. And before that time comes, I am learning the tricks of the trade of the architecture industry through my apprenticeship - doing working drawings, visiting project sites, conversing with suppliers and, except for the deadlines, I’m having a relatively good experience.

toni with his co-workers at casa verde at the walk
alli with her co-workers at casa verde in ramos

After eight months of being a soft skills trainer, Allison now holds the position of language trainer. She gets to teach more of the English stuff to those aspiring call center agents. She tells me how Americanized she can get, with her learning the culture of the U.S., the different states and their capitals, the time zones and holidays and all of the related matter. She is a natural in training the English language.

“Let me see,” “remember,” “see I told you,” “do you have something for me?” – These words are just some of those that Zai Angelo, our little boy uses to converse with us and with other people. And he gets to learn new words as each day passes. He knows all the names of his toys and he never gets tired of watching Buzz Lightyear flying to “infinity and beyond.” He is just amazing for a two year old. One time, we had him attend a birthday party for a little girl about his age and we never imagined how sociable he can be and how he can quickly follow instructions.

zai angelo playing with his horsey toy
and posing with the smirky smile in urdaneta, pangasinan

Three days before Halloween, the three of us left for Manila, sort of a short family vacation. Thanks to my mom who shouldered most of the expenses for the whole trip. We got to spend a day in Baguio, three days in Pangasinan and two days in Manila. It was the first time for us to be in Urdaneta for All Souls and All Saints days. Angelo’s first trip to Baguio was short-lived though, because of the bad weather. By the third of November, Alli and I went to Manila and left Angelo with his grandmother. They followed us to Manila on the next day. Save for the tiring train rides, Allison and I had a pretty fun experience with our day in our nation’s capital – we toured the UP-Diliman campus, we went as far as San Juan just to buy my second FrancisM shirt, a cup of coffee and some cupcakes at Sonja’s at The Fort, a soothing shower at One McKinley Place (thanks Jackie), a sumptuous dinner at Texas Roadhouse with Jackie, Mari, Bunny and Jerome. Then we capped the night with some booze at MetroWalk in Ortigas (thanks Doris).

By November four, it was our first time to step into the gigantic SM Mall of Asia. Noticeably, it was a different style of architecture among all the SM malls. I was kind of impressed by how the mall tycoon considered more about the aesthetic aspect with emphasis on the green rather than retail space. A lunch at Italiani’s was delightfully fulfilling. Then we headed to Manila’s Ocean Park where we met up with Angelo, Mommy, Wanda and her boyfriend Edwin. Once we got inside, there’s no stopping the clicking of the cameras for pictures. You can just see how our little boy was in awe of the pools and huge aquariums of different species of fish right before his very eyes.

That was one sweet November indeed.

alli & toni at sm mall of asia
the Corteses at manila ocean park

A couple of recent celebrations we attended were the second Cebu guitar festival, the lighting of the Christmas tree at the Fuente Osmeña rotunda, the CIC annual grand homecoming, where Angelo got to play the part of an angel and I got to play the shepherd in a nativity scene. Then the birthday party for our good friend and Angelo’s godmother – Maica and recently my colleague Marvin, who just tied the knot.

Then it has been quite routine ever since. We go to work on a weekly basis and we always look forward to our free time on weekends, where we get to enjoy the company of each other.

So for the past six months that this blog has not seen any updates at all, here’s hoping that this post could pretty much sum up how we were for the second half of the year 2008. And while the whole nation celebrates the victory of the Pacman over the Golden Boy, we celebrate the “rebirth” of our blogsite. And as we continue to expect more parties to attend on this merry month of December, we, The Corteses, also hope to continue posting more updates soon.

final dose:
we already started sending our annual newsletter to family, relatives and close friends...


 

posted by A.Cortes on 1:42 AM under

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