It’s not often that one gets the chance to sit down and talk with brilliant people.
And that was exactly what I got when I, along with other bloggers, was invited to a lunch meeting with the brilliant mind behind the Darwin International School System, Mr. Rolando Dela Cruz.
Being a mother of three school-age kids, I often find reasons to rant about the educational system in this country (NOT necessarily about my kids’ school ha, let that be clear… Although yes, I do rant about that sometimes)… Ok, where were we? As I was saying…
Being a mother of three school-age kids, I often find reasons to rant about the educational system in this country. There is so much lacking. Kids graduate from high school and are still clueless when they get to college. As a result, the first two years of college are dedicated to to a general review of basic subjects.
And now, there’s the proposal to extend basic education from ten years to 12 years! This proposal has a lot of potential impact on Filipino families (especially on the finance side), and it’s something that’s not being taken lightly by most.
I went to the meeting because I wanted to know what this educator had to say about the current state and issues of Philippine education.
A former UP professor, Rolando Dela Cruz’s educational background is impressive, having studied in Japan, the Netherlands and the US. He took post-graduate studies at the Darwin College of the Cambridge University in England. This was the inspiration for the school he founded – the Darwin International School System.
More than being inspired by the name, Rollie was inspired by the University’s rich cultural orientation. Whatever he imbibed during his years in Cambridge, he now shares them at Darwin International School System.
Mommy bloggers Cookie, Cess, imom, and Lynn; Prof. Rolando Dela Cruz; blogging couple Ganns and Cathy Deen; PR practitioner Claire Agbayani and her son. Thanks to Lynn Zamora for this photo.
The lunch meeting turned out to be four hours long! But I am not complaining. In fact, my mommy friends and I were telling each other that this was, so far, the most enriching blogger event we have ever gone to. We went home wiser, with new learnings to apply to parenting our children.
I also realized that one blog entry is not enough to cover all that I gleaned from those four hours. So I am dividing this into a series.
The following points are just some of the important things that I learned from those four hours. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bulacan school, Darwin International School System, Darwin International System, Darwin School in Bulacan, International schools in the Philippines, learning and education, Philippine education, Philippine school system, Rolando dela Cruz, Top Philippine schools
Yep, human OREO!
My kids won a ticket to the OREO Get Dunked event that’s happening in several malls soon. We won the ticket by completing the Twist, Lick, Dunk game at ShareOreo.com. All by my pathetic gaming-challenged self, I would never have finished the game. But my kids, wired for gaming as they are, easily figured the game out. And so they also easily completed all the levels!
So what’s gonna happen at the OREO Get Dunked event? Parent-and-kid tandems (Yikes, kasali ako????) will have the chance to bond by diving/jumping/leaping together on to a velcro wall! Now, that’s bonding in the truest sense, haha!
There will also be other activities, such as face painting, Find the Word Game Booth, and the Sticky Dart Booth. It’s going to be a fun day of bonding between parents and kids, for sure!
If you would like to be part of OREO Get Dunked, head on to the following malls on these dates:
SM Megamall (August 29)
Trinoma (September 12)
Market! Market! (September 26)
Festival Mall (October 3)
For more information, and if you want to get a free ticket to the Get Dunked wall, head on to ShareOreo.com. Nao na!
Tags: Get Dunked event, Metro places, OREO cookies, Share OREO
It was deja vu for me – travelling through C5 and, eventually, EDSA to get to SLEX. Only, I wasn’t driving and stuck in traffic all by myself. This time I was riding with three other fab ladies and kuya driver.
Our destination was the Amherst Laboratories of Unilab in Mamplasan, Binan. Six or seven years ago, I worked there for 10 months as a product manager. I still cannot imagine that I endured hours of horrendous traffic driving to Mamplasan from Quezon City and back… But I did. Maybe I did love my job. 
Anyway, it wasn’t yet called Amherst then. But I remember the Amherst plant was in its early stage of construction around the time I left the company (not Unilab, by the way).
Much have changed since I was last there. I recognize the place because of the common theme in architecture among all the buildings in the Unilab Pharma Campus. Other than that, I’d get lost.
What was I doing back in Mamplasan? Unilab invited several mommy bloggers to visit Amherst, a world-class pharmaceutical manufacturing plant. The purpose of the plant tour was to show the innovation and quality that Unilab puts into making their meds.
The plant tour was hosted by Ms. Patricia Hizon, sportswriter/caster, blogger and a mom herself. The group of mommy bloggers was welcomed with a hearty breakfast by Mr. Jack Orendain from Unilab’s Corporate Affairs. There were presentations from Dr. Lourdes Genuino of the Medical Department on choices for a healthier family, and Ms. Adi de Leon, the plant manager, on the different processes and features of the plant.
Then came the exciting part: the tour! We were required to wear scrubs (which were personalized with our nicknames, by the way 
), hair caps, and shoe covers, and had to wash our hands before entering the manufacturing areas.
Some new stuff I learned from this trip: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Amherst Laboratories, Discerning Mommy campaign, EU GMP-certified, Unilab, Unilab Pharma Campus Mamplasan Binan
If there’s one thing that WordPress users should look forward to every year, it’s WordCamp. It’s a time for WordPress lovers to come together and learn from the gurus. I attended last year’s camp, and came away with a lot of learning that I immediately applied to my blogs.
The most practical learning was how to back-up my blog files using the correct plug-ins. Thanks to Lyle Santos, one of the pioneer organizers of Philippine WordCamps, who patiently walked me through the stages. I realized it wasn’t all that hard.
This year, I go again as a camper somewhere in between basic and intermediate. Admittedly, I have a lot of things to learn. As a blogger and web content provider, opportunities to expand and update my knowledge are always welcome.
And the lineup of breakaway talks excites me! (Break-away talks are a good idea because last year, some of the sessions I had to sit through were too techie I almost (nose)bled to death. hehe).
But the learning is just one part. This year, Mr. WordPress himself – Matt Mullenweg – is coming. And I’d love to see him, hear him talk in the flesh!
WordCamp Philippines 2010 happens on October 2, 2010 at La Salle CSB, Taft, Manila. For more information on registration and other details, visit WordCamp Philippines.
What’s one thing that most women can’t seem to get enough of? It begins with “S”… But it’s not a three-letter word. hehehe
SHOES! Well, I have a few — very few– friends who can live with just one or two staple pairs. But most of my girl friends go gaga and each probably has an entire shoe cabinet all to herself.
I’m the flip-flop kind of girl, since I really do not have to dress up everyday (because I work from any virtual office). I love the freedom and the get-up-and-go-ness of slipping into flip-flops and sandals.
Anyway, a few weeks ago I got sick and confined to the home. So what does a sick girl do when there’s just the bed and the net? Online retail therapy, of course! During that one week of solitary confinement, I managed to buy a few pieces of clothes from the Facebook online store of a former school mate.
And I also found POSH. (Oh, I also managed to resurrect my Le Zerk Restaurant on Cafe World, haha!) The many evils of Facebook!
POSH pocket shoes were made for women who work and walk around in their heels all day. It’s a feet savior – when your feet are aching and blistering all over, just bring out the Poshies (which come with their own tiny pouch that converts to a bag for teh killer heels) for instant relief. POSH is also for women like me, who just like to be comfortable yet chic.
Anyhoo… The Poshies arrived yesterday. And oh, how the girls went crazy over at my FB wall! hahaha.
Tags: Facebook, online shopping, POSH pocket shoes
Having three kids is, yes, joy.
But it’s also no joke when at least one of them gets sick. Because we share a family bed (yes, we all sleep together in one room… yes, teenager included 
), when one gets sick, the others are in danger of catching the bug too.
Of course, there’s Nate to consider, since he is an atopic child with a lot of food and environmental restrictions.
Because I want my kids to be healthy (and because, admittedly, it’s such a hassle when one of them is sick!), I put a premium on my family’s health. As a mom, choosing to be healthy is a decision that is often solely mine to make (because husband is busy making money, haha!).
Seriously, in most Filipino households, I think mothers hold the key to this decision. We are the ones who buy the groceries, and bring the kids to the doctor for check-up. We cook the family’s food (or at least plan the menu), and prepare the kids’ school lunch. We make sure the house is clean (or train our ates to do so, hehe). Much of our family’s health is really up to us mommies.
I shared some tips here on how I keep my kids healthy.
Healthy eating is a priority (though Friday nights are often chips night – treat for the kids’ hard work week you know). For over a year now, the family has been on brown rice. Though it’s a bit more expensive than white rice, I value the benefits of brown rice. I look at it as an investment (in health) rather than an expense. The kids like eating brown rice now, although there was some resistance at first.
Our shift to brown rice was, of course, influenced by the key decision-maker - moi! Haha!
When it comes to supplements, I make sure the kids take Vitamin C regularly. My son, on top of his multivitamins, gets a Vitamin C with Zinc supplement because he contracted amoebiasis three years ago. Zinc is said to strengthen the immune system. Based on experience (his amoebiasis has not recurred in a long time), it does work.
My armament against sickness!
Are you into web development and web content writing? Is site traffic an important consideration for you? How do you write articles that are easily searchable, with good ranking in search pages?
The point of writing something online is so that others can find it, read it and learn from it. Well, at least for me, this is the point. Otherwise, you don’t share something to the whole world via the worldwide web if you’d rather keep it to yourself.
As I was saying… The point of sharing something online is so that other people can read it and learn something of value to them. However, if the article is not searchable, the purpose is defeated.
Being visible online – mostly by being searchable by Google, the leading search engine – is vital especially for businesses that rely on web marketing.
This is where search engine optimization comes in. I’ve been blogging for over three years now, but I can’t say I’ve really mastered the “art” of SEO.
On August 25 and 26, SEO masters are coming to Manila to conduct a seminar entitled “Google Insider Secrets to Search Engine Optimization“.
Featured speakers are:
Simon Leung, an Optimization Specialist who used to be with Google; and Fabian Lim, an SEO expert and also Director of Click Media.
Some of the topics these two SEO experts will speak on are: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Fabian Lim, Google Insider Secrets to Search engine optimization, search engine optimization tips and tricks, SEO, SEO seminar Philippines, Simon Leung
Last year, my kids and I, along with a group of mommy bloggers, were invited to the newly opened Active Fun at SM North Annex.
Well, whad’ya know? Time flew by so fast, and Active Fun SM North is celebrating its first year anniversary already this month. We were invited again to a pre-anniversary bloggers’ party.
With the mommies and some of the kids. We were lucky to have pulled out 3 of them from the play area. Once they're inside, it's hard to get them to come out!
It’s just been a year, but I realized as I was comparing the pics from last year to this year that our kids grew up sooo quickly.
Nate - happy and excited to be in Active Fun...
...And this is him when he was told it was time to go home! hahahaha
Yes, Nate’s photo above shows how much kids love playing at Active Fun. Apples Morales (of Active Fun) says this scene is not uncommon.
Anyway, Active Fun has a whole line-up of exciting activities to celebrate its first birthday on August 18 and 19. Each ticket (at P450; P350 for Fun Club members) includes these treats: unlimited play, face painting, magic show, games, loot bags, raffle prizes, and other surprises.
I’m glad August 19 is a holiday in Quezon City – it means I can bring my kids!
- WIN ONE YEAR FREE UNLIMITED PLAY!
To celebrate its birthday, Active Fun is holding a contest for all its kiddie fans. There are two categories: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Active Fun, Active Fun anniversary, Active Fun kiddie party, Active Fun SM North Annex, Manila Life, Metro places
This is yet another food find!
Fu Chi Dumplings is one of those places that’s been there on Banawe Street for a while but we just kept passing by – dinadaan-daanan lang.
We noticed one fine day that we were hungry and craving for dumplings, though, that this place was often full. So we got curious.
The eatery is small, and can sometimes get a bit stuffy, especially on a hot day. Most people will probably find the food just average. But if you’re crazy for noodles (like the hub is) or dumplings (like the kids are) or pientong (like I am), this is the place.
Lunch hour crowd is a mix of different people – executives with briefcases, Banawe folk, couples, families, Chinoys and Pinoys. Once, hub and I even ran into a cousin’s wife who was buying take-out lunch. Parking is difficult as it’s limited to the slots in front of the eatery. So be there early.
Steamed pork dumplings (P60/10 pieces) - my favorite among all dumplings I've eaten so far.
Tags: Banawe Street restaurants, budget Chinese food in Quezon City, Chinese food, Chinese restaurants, pork dumplings
My family would usually go to Lanzhou La Mien on Benavidez, Binondo or to Banawe for our hand-pulled noodles and dumplings fix. Binondo is a looong drive from home, but we’re like that when we like the food. Distance is not a problem.
But there’s a fairly new place on Timog Avenue, Quezon City that serves authentic hand-pulled noodles – Kan Zhu. So now we don’t have to go far to satisfy my family’s noodle-and-dumpling cravings (which occurs quite frequently, hehe).
I was first brought there for dinner by my sister’s sister-in-law. The place happens to be partly owned by the family of the husband of my sister’s other sister-in-law, the same group that owns Mr. Choi Kitchen (another family favorite)… Bago kayo mahilo sa family tree, let’s get on with the food.
Kan Zhu’s best-seller seems to be the Braised Beef Noodle Soup (P135 for a fairly large bowl). Unfortunately, because my family doesn’t eat beef, I can only imagine that it must be very delicious, as each table seems to order this one.
Clockwise: Beef Noodle Soup; Century Egg (P70); Fuzhu - a spicy appetizer of tofu skin and sea cucumber (P70); Steamed Pork Dumplings (P65 for 7 pieces).
When I brought my hub and kids there on another occasion, we liked both varieties of the seafood noodles. We also liked the Chinese Sausage Fried Rice (P135 for a platter good enough for 3-4 persons to share). Of course, my kids will always like steamed dumplings. Though the menu says “pork dumplings”, it really is more “kuchay dumplings” because there is very little pork. But that is exactly how my kids like their dumplings, anyway. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: budget Chinese food in Quezon City, Chinese culture, Chinese food, food and dining, food finds, hand-pulled noodles, Kan Zhu hand-pulled noodles, Metro places
