March 11, 2011 -- an 8.9 earthquake devastated Japan, and unleashed a huge tsunami that caused massive damage. Buidling, cars and ships were swept away by water and killing hundreds of people.
The disaster in Japan is an absolute tragedy to mankind. It is terrifying to watch the news coverage and see the devastation. I just can't imagine how the people of Japan are feeling right now. There is one thing that history shows us and that is the people of Japan have and will continue to bounce back from the most adverse of situations. I hope the recovery is quick.
I has been raining here in our area, which is actually a nice break from all the sun and heat. It's nice to have a change in the weather once in a while. It also makes me appreciate the warm sunny days a little more. But it is not that I don't like the clouds and rain. I'm spending most of the time working and meeting friends, but I look forward to spending my time in bed with my boy and some movies with this weather.
Here is my almost one month overdue post. Few days back I blogged about going to the Manila Ocean Park with my boyfriend and gay friend. Hec and I have planned of visiting Ocean Park few months ago since I'll be visiting him in his place, also, I tagged along Raymund with us since it has been a long time we haven't seen each other. Hec said there's nothing much to see at the Manila Ocean Park, well, I must agree. but it's the experience I was up to. Anyway, when Hec said that, he acted otherwise.. he seemed very excited and interested to be at the oceanarium. He pointed this and that for me to see.. haha well.. nothing much to see, huh?
So I will just show you the photos, and I'm sorry they are a bit blurry. I just don't know how to use my camera properly, plus I don't have an eye for composition hehehe. Oh, the first few photos are at the NAIA and KFC, LOL.
I woke up early today because it's really really hot even if I have an electric fan in my room. The aircon is busted and I think it will take longer for me to get a new replacement. So if you want a free sauna, just go to my room. LOL.
I really cannot stand the heat here in the Philippines, it's like I'm always looking for something just to beat the heat. Before, the summer heat was bearable, but as the years pass by, the heat is becoming unbearable. This is maybe another effect of the climate change.
I'm thinking it is sometimes best to go malling and chill a little, but going outside the house will just kill you because of the hotness of the sun. Summer is almost over, but I have not really enjoyed being at the beach just like the usual stuff I do at the beach during summer. It has been 2 years that I have missed going back to Boracay beach. It's either that I'm always busy or I'm out of budget. Anyway, it's 28 degreesC today and i'm thinking of some things to do to battle the heat: go to the mall with friends, or make fruit shakes. I guess I have to do both. :)
April 7-8, 2010 my classmates and I, together with our school adviser went to one of best beach resorts in Guimaras, Iloilo. We have agreed to go at Guisi Beach Resort and Lighthouse on weekdays to avoid the crowd during the weekend, plus the fact that it's summer here in the Philippines and school is out, so we had a feeling that excursionists, foreigners, and some balikbayans would go there too. It was a great experience to have spent my summer with my classmates - the MK 4-1, the last batch of marketing students in our school. We made it uber memorable since it would be the last event that we will be spending our time together, so we stayed there overnight.
Here are the people I will truly miss, the MK 4-1.
Ok, enough said. I will just show you some photos. :)
The long road ahead to the resort. It won't be turbulent when there are friends who get to walk with you. :)
The unspoilt beach
Me enjoying the water. I find this picture weird though, but it's rather candid. :)
Clear waters
Breath taking view
You have to climb for you to get to the ruins and old lighthouse
Climbing up
This is the original Guisi Point Lighthouse, it was built in 18th century. It's really really old and rusty just by looking at it. It might even collapse anytime from now.
It's rusty stairs
There's actually a sign not to climb to avoid danger. (words in Hiligaynon; Ilonggo)
But I tried to. Luckily, it didn't collapse. LOL
The white lighthouse - it's active and working. (sorry was not able to a good picture of it)
Ruins of a settlement during the Spanish Era
The sunset
Before going home, we did side-trip Trappist Monastery. Went inside the church and purchased some delis.
I just came back home from the Guisi Beach in Guimaras Iloilo. I had fun with my classmates, we stayed overnight, enjoyed the sun and the crystal clear water. Right now, I am really really tired, I lack sleep, and my body is sore. So I be back tomorrow for the proper update with pictures. :) I am off to bed now.
Tonight at 8:30pm, our home will be out of lights for an hour. Turning off our lights is our vote for Mother Earth.
Also tonight, my friend and I will be at SM City Mall to take part for Earth Hour. There will be a program that will start at 8pm, then the countdown for the switching off of lights will be at 8:30pm-9:30pm. It's our way of showing solidarity with Earth Hour.
It was a beautiful day out though, it rained in the morning, but eventually the sun came out at noon. And so, I went to my former office, met up with my BFF and had a good time.
Something very special was said to me by my boyfriend today. *smiles* I miss the boy so much.
I think I will be traveling a lot starting this month until June. By Monday, I will be in Bacolod City. I will be leaving early in the morning so that I can go back in the afternoon. And if things will go according to plan, I will be in Manila in June. BUT I need to finish something here before heading Manila. Oh well, these are just my tentative plan. It still subject to change.
Changes.. ahhh.. I am feeling it now. Things do change and we can only hope for the best. But the extent of the change is a huge factor to consider in what can be done. Some say planning is dangerous, but apathy can be more dangerous. It is important to keep some realistic optimism. Right? I still believe that when a door of opportunity closes, a window opens. So I live life as it is given to me. Hope you all do the same way!
Mother Earth has been providing us everything we need. Like, food, shelter, and clothing. Today is just right to give back to Mother Earth what she had been providing us.
Let's start by actively thinking about what more we can do, and put that into action.
Earth is all that we have to base ourselves in. So do something worthwhile starting today.
I feel a little bit crappy, which is par for the course on a Sunday, and usually not too bad as I just ignore everyone else and wander around the house until I feel OK. I am ignoring text messages from friends, I just delete them right away without reading them, also, I'm ignoring IM's. I just don't feel like talking to anybody else right now.
I just got home from bringing my bf to the airport - he is going back to Manila. Time spent together in his 2 week vacation was awesome than ever. I am terribly missing him right now, I'm not pretty sure when are we going to see each other again. Maybe I will plan of visiting him in Manila, or maybe in Clark, Pampanga when he works there. Oh no, Clark! I should be there.. or to visit him often. "City of Angels" as they call it.. oh no no.. not good!
Anyways, here are a few photos we took today:
It's raining and I hear thunderstorms, which is making me depressed. Times like these makes me miss my bf more. I would always want to turn over and make happy noises with him when I'm always sleeping next to him (apt flashbacks), and pretend like I am scared of thunderstorms and lightning. He would probably find it cute. Hah!
I know I'm going to feel a lot of sadness when he and I are away, but it's worth all of that. I've got a boyfriend who is the smartest person I know, who makes me laugh so hard I practically scream! If I list the things I love about him, this will reach epic proportions. Let's just say that being with him makes me the luckiest person in the world!
Oh wow summer is nearing! I already feel like I'm near the doors of hell - scorching hot!
So.. on April 26th, my team will be spending our summer at the beach. Now, it's time to get new bikinis!
Other than that, I want to spend my summer with my BF at the beach,
waking up to a lovely blue sky and a bright yellow sun, dine at tropical resto that would surely satisfy our palate (yeah we love to eat), feeling the warm summer night (grin), take a swim in waters, and sipping lemonade, rather than sitting in the office hehehe. If this would happen, I will take all the leave that I could get.
Me enjoying summer, and getting paid is one of the best things in life. lol! Oh well, that is how I want to spend my summer.. just feeling the sun on my skin - not stressing much about money.
I just miss my bf! We just talked last night over the phone, and were texting this morning about his homecoming. Yay!
It's almost summer! Bf and I are planning of going to the beach. But I don't think I can go back to Boracay Island again because there are shit load of stuffs lined up for next month. The last time I visited Boracay was in March 2008. That island has a lot of fun and excitement, but for sure I will miss that this summer. But it's ok, there are other beaches that we can go to. And it's going to be fun fun fun in the sun! My summer wouldn't be complete without the sun, the beach and him! Oh I love summer!
Photos from last year's (March 2008) Boracay trip.
I just arrived from the trip, my friends and I went to one of the beach resorts in San Joaquin, Iloilo. It was a nice place. Details and images will be posted tomorrow.
Damn man, I'm hella tired.
But I got to tell you something nice. This morning when I woke up, I watched the pretty sunset. I was standing at the terrace and I noticed that one side of the sky looked like opal and the other side like sea. I went down the seashore and looked up. The other side of the sky looked like a far away ocean of thick green and grey misty water hanging in the sky. I had this image in my head like a memory I could have brought my camera with me when I went to the seashore, anyway it looked like that.
So far, my weekend is great.
+++ I still have a hangover.. I wanted to see Hectril but I'd rather sleep for a while. Maybe we're gonna meet later. And oh, there's a big party at MO2..my friends will be there to party tonight. I'm just not sure if I can go out, I need to ask Hec first. If he says no, then I'd be staying home and hit the sack early. He he he. Sleeping is one of my favorite things. Good thing that's what I'm going to do now.
Typhoon Frank hit Iloilo on Saturday, June 21, 2008. 34, 000 individuals are affected (and counting), and 73 were reported dead (and could rise further). For the record, this is the worst disaster in Iloilo.
Our Home
For the first time in history, the first floor of our house were flooded. The knee-length flood hit our home around 6pm. We had to take all of our stuffs and appliances up to the 2nd floor for safety. My parents room is in the 1st floor, so my Mom slept in my brother's room, while my dad and my brother didn't sleep the whole night waiting for the next thing that could possibly happen. We had to call our neighbor's children to come up to the 2nd floor and we let them stayed in my room and in my sister's room. If the flood could have risen up to the 2nd floor, (which is quite impossible, yet possible) my mom's plan was to evacuate the area and get a hotel room. Good thing the flood subsided around 4am.
Communication
PECO was forced to cut down the power. My cellphones were running out of batteries. My Globe phone was the first to ran out of batteries. so i had to switch my sim card to my Smart cellphone which was about to go battery empty. What I did was to put it on and off after 10 minutes just to conserve it's battery for emergency purposes. I didn't want to lose communication with Hectril because they were stranded in SM City around 1pm until today. The last text I got from him was from 7am today, saying they are still stranded and he's running out of batteries. Landlines were also dead (both Globelines and PLDT), so there were no means to contact our other relatives who I believe were affected by flood. And whallah! the power were restored in our area at exactly 10am.
The Flood Zone
In the flood zone, were people evacuating, and many were stranded. Authorities had barred all traffic into the city. There were reports of deaths, people stranded, flood, and reports of people killing others just for food. The heavy rain batted the city which have caused to flood, and a very strong wind that downed trees that blocked some roadways. The typhoon left people homeless, desperate for food, water, clothes and medicine.
The most affected areas (for what I know) are Pavia, Jaro, La Paz, Mandurriao. And in some provinces. We live in Molo, reports said, our town is not that much affected. Some areas are, but not really.
The Affected People
Most people around the city walked out the storm, some rode out of their homes, some were stranded on their rooftops. These people were queued up before other people who are not affected. They are hungry, thirsty, worried and terrified. Those whose homes had been destroyed were left to wonder at the random nature of disaster that spared some of their neighbors houses just a few meters away.
The After-Math
The evacuees gathered around our baranggay hall and Day Care Center, complained angrily that food supplies haven't arrived yet. I could hear some people complaining that vice mayor Jed Mabilog, who happens to live near our baranggay didn't do anything to help these people out. And that Mayor Jerry Treñas is still in Kuala Lumpur.
My parents have decided to cook miswa (rice noodles.. or is it?) and pancit molo to those evacuees. I also had to raid my closet for my unused clothes and blanket that I intend to distribute. I texted a friend who lives in Southville Subdivision if she has unused clothes that she could hand down. Good thing she had to come over and helped. Others then followed, giving the rest of their foods and water to squatters in the Baranggay Hall. Few minutes later, food and water from organizations were loaded in. People were heated, shouting and swearing for the situation.
Volunteers loaded in more foods and medicines. There were also cops, fire trucks and army trucks checking for the area and for people. I've talked to one of the cops, and they said they had been spending 24 hours doing a lot of monitoring, identifying areas of great need and making contacts to help avoid conflicts or riots that may possibly happen to desperate crowds.
THIS IS WHAT ILOILO has become. A typhoon hits, the city floods, and humanity was put into test. Black turns into white, white turns into black. This story will never die.
For every rich people enjoys the luxury of life, there were a lot of stranded victims who could share their last bottle of water. For every ideologue who designates the efforts of volunteers, there are a lot of people who will sacrifice to help others... even to visit an evacuation center to deliver food and clothing to those in need. For every person despairing for their loss, there are dozens returning with humor and the hope to rebuild.
Of course, there is confusion, corruption, incompetence and fear. But there is also human goodness, and that is what will stand.
If you are living in Iloilo City, and want to donate food, clothes and medicine, please contact your Baranggay Captain or Chairman.
or if you want to help our area just email me: m.mariejo@yahoo.com or text me: 09279628984 / 09203687726
And if you are in the other side of the world and want to help, you may click the button below:
