Saudi Sexpat Stories: Tales from the Kingdom

Nagsimula nang kumagat ang dilim

Nagbabadya ng pagtatapos ng isang araw

At nagpapaalala ng pamamahinga

Bago bumungad ang isa na namang bagong umaga

Ito ay isang sulok ng aming kuwarto.  Kapag binukas na ang lamparang ito ay hudyat na para magpahinga – lalo na para kay bunso na natutulog pa ring kasama naming mag-asawa.

Just finished the second instalment of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series, New Moon, and needless to say…

I am hooked!

Who wouldn’t be after reading lines as beautiful as these…

“…The bond forged between us was not one that could be broken by absence, distance or time.  And no matter how much more special or beautiful or brilliant or perfect than me he might be, he was as irreversibly altered as I was.  As I would always belong to him, so would he always be mine.”

(*Sigh*)

And needless to say, again, I am so looking forward to watching the movie as well! (I just pray that the Middle East release would be “attuned” with the rest of the world…).

To all fellow Twilight fans out there, this one’s for you…

…is what I had a major case of while doing this with the kids yesterday afternoon…

Yup, it was some sort of an “arts and crafts” afternoon for us! What exactly were we up to, you ask?

A dabble here…

A dabble there…

Even diva-lette was struttin’ her stuff!

When they say life is like a wheel (or something of that sort), I can’t help but agree! Who would’ve thought that I would be doing this again after a quarter of a century (yes, peeps, am no spring chicken)! Only difference is that now, instead of doing my own special project, I actually did this as a “labor of love” to help our eldest son, Luigi, with his Social Studies homework on land forms.

Care for a boat tour? First to the island…

Then to the mountain…

And finally to the volcano!

After seeing our handiwork at the end of the day, I must say that we didn’t do badly at all. Heck, I’ll even go the extra mile and claim that (modesty aside) my papier mache and water color skills aren’t even anywhere near “rusty”! What’s more, having this as a weekend activity certainly broke the monotony of going to the malls and made for perfect bonding time with the children – I enjoyed myself and they (hopefully) learned something new.

I only pray that when it’s our kids’ turn to do this for their own children, they can look back to this “arts and crafts afternoon” with fondness and with as much delight in the “deja vu” experience as I had.

Masdan ang liwanag

galing kay Haring Araw

Bumabalot at nagbibigay-kulay sa lahat

Animo’y mga sinag ng bahaghari

Na nagpapasaya sa mga supling na makukulit.

Kuha ito malapit sa El Alamein Fountain sa King’s Cross, Sydney, Australia, noong kami ay magpasyal doon noong Agosto 2007.

Kung gusto niyo namang malaman kung bakit “nagliwanag” ang mukha ng aking mahal na kabiyak kamakailan, samahan ninyo ako dito. 

Just giving you a preview of an important part of my daily “toddler management exercises”…

Our diva-lette just loves this show! And I do too – in more ways than one… I’m sure most stay-at-home moms/domestic divas out there know what I’m talking about, right?

Think “telly nanny”, people! Hahaha!

Have a “hop-py” Tuesday, everyone!

Here in the kingdom, being practically detached from the support systems we are used to back home (save perhaps for the family of Keith’s cousin who is also similarly situated as ourselves), it is a blessing to have good friends whom we can consider family.

It was therefore a welcome treat when we got together again with our Pinoy “pedia connection” recently.  Yup, we have a group of Pinoy pediatricians whom we have managed to nurture friendships with through the 2+ years we have been based here.    Since all of us came to the kingdom at about the same time, the common experiences and (mis)adventures we have had while here have somewhat strengthened the bonds of friendship that we share.

There was much reason to celebrate after all – P & S just had their first baby while  C was still obviously giddy with excitement with the long-anticipated arrival of her hubby to the kingdom almost two weeks ago. Heck, even V, who earlier called to beg off due to a splitting headache, managed to make it with his lovely wife J!  

As with all Pinoy get-togethers, food is a must so off we went to our favorite neighborhood Asian grill to “eat and greet” and essentially just to unwind and enjoy one another’s company.

Our kingdom “family” is definitely growing… and we truly thank God that He has made it possible for all of us to thrive in the desert.

PS To have a glimpse of our lovely evening, click here.  (And to protect the “privacy of the innocent”, you have to be our Multiply contact to view the pics – sorry!)

Oo naman!

Bagong panganak!

Ito ang isa sa mga paborito kong kuha ng aming bunso noong siya ay dalawang buwang gulang pa lamang.

Sarap kagatin ng mga daliri ano? Kakagigil!

Kung gusto niyo ng isang masarap na katuwang sa pagharap sa isang bagong umaga, saluhan ninyo ako dito.

This is what Marga and I have been eagerly anticipating these past few days…

Image courtesy of www.allposters.com. Tiara and borders added by author.

Yes, finally…it’s “Tinkerbell, the Movie”! Yey! This is long-overdue, if you ask us, as we have long adored this cute, spunky fairy from Peter Pan and have wondered when-oh-when would she ever star in her own movie.

The wait will soon be over for us, apparently, since in three more days, we’ll be off to Pixie Hollow! Thank goodness for the Disney Channel!

Till then, especially for all Tink fans out there, sprinkle some pixie dust and hold on tight to those fairy dreams…

PS Here’s something which will hopefully make the wait more, um, bearable… Enjoy!

This was forwarded to me by childhood pal Michelle who’s already based in SanFo with her two cutie daughters and hubby P.

It just made my day and put a silly grin on my face. Hope it does the same for you!

After reading her “September Santa” post quite recently, I promised my fave blogging cuz-in-law Munchkin Mommy that I would have an “online play date” with her soon.

I guess there’s no better time than today to fulfill that promise.  Please indulge me in some “mommy play time” (yes, MM and I are both guilty of playing with our little girls’ toys when they are not around…hahaha!) and join me in just letting those creative juices flow. 

Okay, now that we are all in “playtime” mode, let’s all have some F-U-N and say “HELLO, KITTY!” as we spend some moments in the life of our favorite “kikay cat” and her equally cute “bosom bunny”.

Kitty thought it was just another day at the hospital…

Until she saw her friend, Melody, at the reception.  Apparently, she was not feeling too well…

Since there were still a lot of patients to be seen, Kitty told Melody to relax first at the hospital park nearby.  It seemed like a good idea since Melody felt a wee better afterwards…

Finally, it was time to see the doctor…

…who told Melody to get some rest rest and pop some “tummy” pills so that she could be back to “hoppin’ form” real soon

The doctor also told Melody to take care not to eat too much anytime soon as she would not want to personally pick her up again with the ambulance…

…to take her back to the hospital!

Thankfully, Melody agreed and she was “hoppin’ on her hopper” in no time! (To find out what it was that Melody ate too much of, click here.)

THE END

DISCLAIMER: No “animals” were harmed in the production of this post and no little girls were unduly “deprived” of their rightful playthings.  All toys used with the consent of the owners.

PS The author would also like to thank Marga’s cousin, Ate Alyssa, for supplying the adorable subjects for this post and for introducing our “diva-lette” to the wonderful world of Hello Kitty!

Hope you enjoyed our playtime!  Looking forward to more “kikay Kittys” joining in the play group soon!