sinterklaas

Nacht Van De Nacht (Night Of The Night)

At the beginning of spring time here in Holland, we changed our time into DST (Daylight Saving Time) where the clock jumps forward from 02:00 standard time to 03:00 DST and that day has 23 hours.

And now it's autumn and yesterday the clock jumps backward from 03:00 DST to 02:00 standard time, repeating that hour, and that day has 25 hours. There is an organization here in Holland that since 2005, are busy every year organizing activities for this especial night nationwide.. They called the event Nacht Van De Nacht (Night Of The Night). They say over 18 thousand people, including children went out and enjoys in the dark of the 5th Night of the Night. They took part in a record of 300 'dark' events, spread over all provinces. There are also 120 Municipal offices who turn-on tens thousands of lights or lamps together. Also companies named De Dom, Euromast, de Zaanse Schans and all branches of IKEA stood in the dark, along with hundreds of offices, churches, bridges, towers and monuments.

Sad... we didn't have the chance to go out and look for the fireworks in the Centrum near to us, because it's late for my daughter to go out and also my husband then went to the house of his bandmate for their band practice... Here in our place, I heard the main event was the cycling and walking at around 9:00 in the evening.... Maybe next year I could join those bikers and walking activities as well and enjoy "the night of the night".

Paddenstoelen (Mushrooms)

The Herfst (Autumn) season here in Holland officially begins last month (September 22). With my family here we have the chance to walk then in the woods of Drenthe and I made some pictures of Paddenstoelen or Mushrooms. Every Autumn season, kids are busy collecting fallen leaves, nuts and some cute things that can be well used for Autum decorations...

Mushrooms are popular also during autum, as you walk in the woods then you'll see different kinds of mushrooms are growing out... And making photos of them is nice too like what I did... I remember last year in the television program i've seen a documentary about Mushrooms, what are different classifications of them, their human uses like for eating, for medicines, etc.. But there are also poisonous mushrooms, like the first photo of mushroom you see above the red with white spots, according to Wikipedia they are called Amanita Muscaria .


By the way, today is the last day of our Herfstvakantie (Autumn vacation), a one week school vacation nationwide here in Holland during Autumn season... So back to school again on Monday... dutch! dutch! dutch!

Debulos Family

I just received from my brother the photos from yesterdays birthday celebration of my parents... Yesterday was my father's birthday and today is my mother's birthday... Just made me happy to see them celebrating together... It's a bit like a reunion because almost all the brothers and sister of my father came there with some of my cousins and their kids...

They use to make a joke with each other... Debulos is my maidens surname and we call ourselves "Pamilya Dimagiba" (family that can't be ruin). Actually it's the expression that we've seen in old filipino movies before, where ther are about 9 or more brothers... I don't remember anymore the title of the movie but it's simply shows that with big family especially more brothers that's not really easy to break them ha... By the way, in my father side, they are 12 siblings (8 brothers and 4 sisters)... We don't really came from rich family but for sure, we feel good under our skin... One thing I noticed, my Tita and Tito's have a sense of humor as well as my cousins...
In two photos you see above, those photos were taken in summer 2007, that's really like a reunion in a resort... The two youngest brother of them are in Bicol that's why you can just see ten of them.. I like this photo and I'm happy to see how they are close to each other even they are a bit old already...

And for me, my Papa is number 1 with great sense of humor... very funny and cheerful to be with. Whenever he's in the house, there is always a moment where we have to Laugh Out Loud.... I miss them...

Mijn Vader en Moeder (My Father and Mother)

Last year, I greeted my father and mother's birthday, but my father was in Saudi Arabia then and mother was in Philippines, so I wrote my wish that they will be together on their birthday (dutch my life: Happy Birthday Mama and Papa!). My wish came true... Today is my father's birthday and tomorrow is my mother's birthday... And they are together now in Manila, my father came for a vacation in Manila last month and he will be staying there till first week of November... Oh! now, i have a new wish that on their next birthday (next year) I wish that we could have a chance to have a vacation too in Manila, so that we are all together. That would really be like a reunion ha.


I would write it again... "I thank God for giving us a parent like them kind hearted, generous, responsible, cheerful and loving mother and father to us... They've shared to us everything they could give... And I thank them for upbringing us with FAITH in God, because that's a treasure that would always stay in our hearts and they share it with all their LOVE... We are really blessed to have a parent like them. "

WE LOVE YOU MA and PA
May God bless both of you with love and happiness you truly deserve always.

Last but not the least, I appreciate how my father and mother bring music in our family and in our hearts.... I think that's what also make our family more lively and cheerfully... I'll never forget how we enjoy singing karaoke together and how my papa and mama dances on ordinary sunday by hearing oldies love songs in Radio... soooo sweet!

We miss you......
Big kisses from Ron, Marge and Mireille

K2 zoekt K3 (K2 search K3)

For a few weeks we tried follow and watch every saturday night the Reality show "K2 Zoekt K3" (K2 search for K3).. K3 is a Belgian singing band that become famous in Holland for about 10 yrs... K3 came from the original name of 3 singers Karen, Kristel and Kathleen, their main audience were children... But last March, Kathleen (the old blond member of K3) quit the K3.. So the two old member Karen and Kristel (named as K2) tried to search for new member to become K3 again thru the Reality show "K3 zoekt K3"...

Last Saturday, was the Final show where among thousands who auditioned, 3 candidates were left to the final episode named Josje, Noa and Madelon.... It was reported that about 2.4 million televiewers in Holland watched it and we are one of them...

And the winner is Josje Huisman, the blond girl you see in the photo above.... If Karen and Kristel were Belgian, this time they have a dutch member now with Josje.. She deserves it, she's good in singing, good in dancing and with charisma too... Gefeliciteerd Josje!

Now Mireille and I will be watching K3 TV shows and i hope in the future we'll have a chance to watched their concert as well... I see my daughter is encourage to sing and dance everytime she watches them on TV... Mooi zo!

Overstroming in Filipijnen (Flood in Philippines)

Please Help Ondoy's Victims from Godz on Vimeo.

Last week Saturday evening here in Holland, when I first heard the news over the typhoon named "Ondoy" or the international name "Ketsana" hits Manila on that day (September 26). It flooded almost 80% of Manila, the Capital Region in Philippines... It breaks my heart to see in internet news on how many people were stranded, became homeless, injured, died and missing. They say almost one month worth of rain fell in just six hours over Metro Manila and was the worst in recorded history of floods in Manila after 40 years...

Sunday Morning I have a chance to chat with my family and Thank God, everyone is safe and our house doesn't reach the flood. Over a week, I tried to send sms and messages to all my family and friends to ask how are they? I heard stories how some of them got stranded, like sleeping in jeeney, reaching the roof of the building to avoid flood water and sad stories of those who died in about few streets away from our house in Karuhatan.

As of now Philippines declared In State Of Calamity, yes for the entire country. Declaration designed for worst-case scenario. In Malacañang, Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said: “The President agreed to declare the archipelago under a state of calamity for two reasons -- for local government units to have access to calamity funds and [subsequently] be more prepared, especially in areas threatened by Pepeng (the next typhoon after Ondoy), and to address rampant overpricing.”

Flooding is not really new in Philippines but the last one really affects the country because this time it hits the National Capital Region (Metro Manila)... Big companies were affected, millions of properties were damaged and it would take time to recover everything back in businesss. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo this morning asked even thousands of people to stay longer in evacuation centers in view of next Typhoon "Pepeng.''

I'm here in Holland and married to a dutch man...
But I'm still a Filipina who's asking Please help victims of typhoon 'Ondoy'.
You can visit Google's Typhoon Ondoy Donation Web Page for information.
And watch some captured video at youtube or read articles at gmanews.tv.

Thank you in advance for your help.

And please let us continue to pray for the victims of typhoon "Ondoy".

Dierencrematorium (Crematorium for Animals)

Last year I made a video of Mireille offering noodles pack for "Droopy", the pet dog of my mother-in-law.... I look back again to this video which i posted in Youtube last year.... "Droopy" was such a nice and sweet dog... But now she's gone already... Last week she just got an injection to die... She is about 9 years old i think... And since January, she got sick and the Veterinarian found out that she had Ovary cancer... Last February, she already had a schedule for injection to let her die, to avoid her from suffering with pain, but it was cancelled and after that she seems to get a bit strong but the last few months seems to got worst so there's no choice but to give her injection to die... sad...

By the way, the photos you see were the document of the Cremation of Droopy. She was cremated in the Dierencrematorium (Crematorium for Animals) in Delfzijl... and the ashes were in the jar as you can see in the photo....

We'll miss you Droopy....

Schilderij (Painting)

After showing photos of our house, some gave compliment for the paintings that hang in the wall. Well actually we have four paintings and each one came from different person, as a gift. The first painting above where you can see there is written Azian dream, that was created by Daniel Stuttje, he made it especially for us... Last year, he gave that painting as birthday gift for me and my husband... Daniel is a good friend of Ron for about 20 yrs. already. Mijn compliment to other paintings he made... and you can see more of his works at www.popcircus.nl and click the Schilderijen Daniel on the right side among the headings.

Then 2nd 3-pcs. painting is from Ivy Tan, a filipina friend of mine, she created and gave it to me last Chrirstmas as gift.... The first time I came to Ivy's house, I saw that 3 pcs. painting and I said right away that I like it. That's why she gave it to me... nice!

Then the 3rd 2-pcs painting was given to me by another filipina friend I have here named Tessie Spelde... Actually that 2-pcs painting was created by Raimunda Spelde, the daughter of her...

Finally the 4th photo of painting was given to us from Josefa Katuin or "Ate Josie", she's also a filipina who came and live here in holland for about 20 years already, that's why she's like a filipina mother here for me.. And that painting, she said was the first painting she bought here in Holland 20 years ago...

Thank you Daniel, Ivy, Raimunda and Ate Josie for giving those paintings for us.

De Jurk (The Dress)

Last Saturday, my filipina friend Cathy who is living in Schiedam (about 3 hours drive away from us) came to our house with her Dutch parnter, to bring some pasalubong... She just came back from Holland after her 2 weeks vacation in Philippines... And my family in Manila sends some small things for us here especially for Mireille... It made me proud that now, Mireille have her first jurk (dress) made by my Mama (as you can see in the photo)...

My mother is a dressmaker eversince and we grew up wearing clothes made by her, all our school uniforms from kindergarden to college level. And even on our teenage days when wearing casual dress or bestida (in tagalog) is not usual, she never get tired making clothes for us... not to mention all the dresses she made for me and my younger sister on special occassions like birthday, graduation day, recognition day or if we are going to attend special occassion.. And one of the special dress she made for me was my Wedding Dress...

As of now she still likes to make clothes and this time those are for her grand children like my nieces, Red and Steph... And the jurk (dress) for me daughter could just be one but for sure it's a VERY SPECIAL ONE... My daughter didn't realize yet that it was made by her Lola Berta but to see how proud she is when she wears it, could mean that for her it's also her special dress...