Persisting I

*Passed by the Art Elements Asian Gallery weeks ago with my parents and we discovered Norlie Meimban. Boy would I have loved to take home a piece or have something commissioned. Given his animation background, his style is a lovely mix of techniques and themes that give it a very postmodern look. Would love to meet him someday and see more of his work and how else it can evolve

that centerpiece!

I’ve been so fixated on his series of unbroken motion depicting ideas of perhaps of a persisting self. I’ll always be curious about the temporal and the causal facets of continuity. Much to read on. Art that makes you think, a feast for the eyes, and food for thought, y’know 😊

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Featured images: © Norlie Meimban

Interim Evergreen

My dominantly white, pastel, crisp blue feed has gone green. Evergreen, to be specific. There’s just a special place in this city kid’s heart for roaming the great outdoors. It’s a priceless change of scenery. 🌲💚💙

7 out of 9 of these were taken during my stroll around Lynn Canyon in North Vancouver with family. Still wish I had an SLR to better capture the landscape. The two videos are from my stroll around UBC with Janelle on another day

 

Marikina: A heritage of homemade

*This is article is by my good friend, the monk himself, Peavey, who had just graduated a few months ago.

I’ve actually never been here

In what I’m assuming is his last article in The Guidon, he so fittingly features (more like writes a special tribute) to Marikina City. It’s the kind of article every city deserves, and every publication and aspiring journalist needs to be able to type out.

I’m unsure whether I’ve really been to Marikina. I know I haven’t explored any of it then. I bet it would’ve been what Manila has sort of become to me and grown on me in my college years. It would’ve been my playground in between breaks had I stayed in Ateneo. I’m still set on visiting it someday especially after reading this travelogue.

but I’ve been wanting to go since 2012

But not every joint run by passion is bannered with neon signs and billboards. Tucked away in the most unassuming corners of the city center or Bayan are surprisingly authentic ramen houses, holes-in-the-wall serving uniquely-crafted porridge and Visayan food joints.

Of course, all the walking one goes through helps digest all the eating. As the feet prime the stomach, shoes have been the city’s historical marker and primary product for centuries. Displays and shops sprawled around the riverbanks and traditional city center serve as living testimonies to this heritage.

The story of shoes and food arose together. Marikina resident and former Barangay Administrator Alan Bartolome shares that when shoemaking was the main occupation of the citizens, workers and shop owners would reward themselves and their families after a week’s labor. Too tired to cook, they would place hearty bulk orders of pancit and lumpia on the many eateries that still serve till today.

—Peavey Vergara

think just how the white & blue scheme goes with a plate of Pinoy breakfast

No one can make pancit after a long day sound so appetizing and culturally significant as you have, Peaves!

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Featured images: Rustic Mornings by Isabelo © Ea Senga

From 35000ft up

*Some notes I wrote after watching two movies during the 14hr flight then dozed off miraculously in a blanket that I really liked and smuggled w me 😅

Youngsters helping out elders but complete strangers of different races and nationalities in flight give me a whole lot of hope. Small acts of kindness do have potential of going a long way. 

35000 feet on the air and I can still feel so down at times. It can hurt me even from up here, even when I close my eyes. 

I hope to fly to where we used to be and where we used to say we’d go. As I travel against daylight until I’m 15hours behind you, I just wanted to say goodnight 🐾

Flee

Going someplace 15 hours behind

Off to a colder part of the world for a little bit

Bourdainism: Lakbay Rizal 2016

*Last Friday I joined my first field trip in years and went to a couple of museums in Rizal with my home org DLSU PILOSOPO.  Thanks for organizing this trip and being a part of this day, everyone! 

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all four stops of the day

Passing down the paintbrush
After taking out breakfast at McDonald’s Taft at around 7 in the morning and roughly two hours on the road, the urban highways and billboards took a change in scenery into smaller houses with large plantations at their backyards. We made our first stop in Blanco Family Museum in the humble and colorful town of Angono, the Art Capital of the Philippines. Large statues of fish, carabao, and other local symbols were spread throughout the streets of the municipality home to national artists Botong Francisco and Lucio San Pedro, Angono is also home to three generations of a family of artists.

From patriarch Jose Blanco, who never attained formal training in the arts, to his seven children, who all started painting under his guidance and instruction at the tender ages of three; they built this gallery from the ground up to house the family’s works and to commemorate his works. They managed to produce highly professional traditional paintings, all sharing the Filipino’s way of life as a common subject matter, preserved usually in oil on even some larger than life pieces. Taking cue from the greats like Rembrandt, they captured aspects of local culture, history, and their individual experiences using techniques in classical art in great detail.

Jose passed on his work ethic to his children and their children, since then solidifying the value of perseverance and a love for art. With just the foundational principles of primary and secondary subjects, dark to light contrasting, and color temperatures, they explored and developed their methods throughout time; however, always maintaining Filipino still life as a strict theme to treasure national culture.

Thea, Yan, Kat, Carlos, ze artist, Christian, Doc Bebs, Amanda, Ridge, Keira, me

Mythos and minaluto 
We found ourselves taking shelter from the light noontime drizzle at Nemiranda Art House just a few minutes away. With its dark wood interior built from old recycled materials like bamboo and old church debris, hundreds of hand painted figurines and paper mache art hung from its ceiling to its walls. With little cobwebs, dust, and anting-anting adding to its eerie charm, the place is an acquired taste. Its floors are wood alternating from lovely old colorful tiles lining the entire place and some of its parts are under constant reconstruction. More importantly it houses bits and pieces from its founder, Nemiranda’s collection, a forerunner in Imaginative Figurism. Known as the House of Myth, the art depicts mystic legends and local folklore.

Just down the street, almost like an extension of the previous museum was Balaw Balaw Restaurant, which doubles as a restaurant and gallery serving local dishes. With two orders of the speciality dish, Minaluto, which was good for 8 and just enough for 14 hungry stomachs, we feasted on a platter of four kinds of rice, topped with a variety of ulam all laid out on a large banana leaf. Satisfying our sweeter cravings over glasses of refreshing green mango, buko, and calamansi juice, the lunch was a simple yet significant meal in celebration of Angono’s food delights. (Except for the part where three hungry, large cats joined us for lunch and if you know me well, I’m terrified of cats 😓 so I ate in a bench away from the rest of the group huuhuu)

lovely view of the contrast of hilly Antipolo and Metro Manila~ something I’m not quite used to as I usually see the opposite: city skyscrapers with silhouettes of far off mountains~ & the afternoon’s purple overcast

Green, white, photogenic
About half an hour into Antipolo until we entering the gated estate and cactus-vine walled property where the instafamous Pinto Art Gallery was located. “You wouldn’t think we’re in the Philippines anymore,” my classmate whispered to me holding up her camera. I beg to differ because the place (I keep referring to it as an estate haha) has hispanic Filipino influences even in its predominantly white architecture. It just seems like a getaway from the dirtier, not well maintained spots Filipinos are accustomed to, but with great care and sufficient funding, it’s a no brainer that more places could look like this. The gallery gained its popularity over Instagram in the last two years, as one of Metro Manila’s most photographed and frequented dating places. I, on the other hand, was glad to have spent my first trip here with classmates and girl friends who were just as interested in the aesthetics of the place.

Well photographed and even better to visit in person especially on an overcast day, the museum houses a large range of local art with well landscaped gardens and greenery. We even spotted a prenuptial photo shoot taking place that afternoon and I couldn’t help but feel bad for the bride-to-be’s gown dragging all over the soil. After two and a half hours of nonstop picture-taking, we had our merienda in the cafe beside the museum shop and the margherita pizza to share is all I can recommend.

By half past 4 in the afternoon, we headed into the van and bid Rizal goodbye. Surprisingly faster than the anticipated Friday afternoon traffic flow, it was a sleepy ride back to home base in Manila. It was nearing a violet sunset😍, a good local art-filled day when I woke up on a little jam on Kalayaan bridge and got off a gas station to head home.

From Dangwa with love

With bundles of our favorite picks wrapped in newspaper in two hands and extra change to spare in our pockets today, we walk with the sunset against our backs, and the old market disappears behind us. We move on to emptier streets of plain concrete and slightly duller cement walls, to get into a trike that will take us back to Tayuman station.

— {yours truly}

Before the month is over, I just wanted to share this timely Valentine’s article my friend and I wrote for the school paper. It was one of those rare “perks of the job” moments at the local flower district which rekindled my love for fresh blooms. Can’t wait to go back for more! ☺️

My May in Squares: Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish

*So what’s summer without food and friends? Here are just some of the reasons why my clothes are tighter and some of the adventures that have made me happier—all in squares.

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Fatter
If I’m not at home attempting to bake something sweet for the people I love and trying to be more domesticated in the kitchen, I’m out having lunch with my family and grandparents in Japanese restaurants. When I’m with groups of friends, we usually try new places but these are rarely the best meals cause they’re usually really fancy places our college wallets can’t afford and something always goes wrong, like waiters don’t pay enough attention to us cause we look underage or we share food so we don’t get filled up. But when I’m out with my closest girl friends, as much as we talk about trying new places, we just stick to the ones we know.

There’s nothing like entering a restaurant and knowing where you always want to sit, not needing to look at the menu longer than two minutes, and knowing what food’s going to be served. Consistency in quality is important to me. Keyword: quality. I like surprises, but I don’t like getting surprised about how disappointing a meal is or worse, knowing it wasn’t going to be good all along. I’m adventurous with food in the sense that I’d try anything, but I won’t always go out of my way to try hipsterrific restaurants that care more about branding than flavor.

I crave comfort food and my idea of comfort food is simple. It’s not about the calories but it isn’t about the city’s hottest restaurants of the month either. If I’ve eaten in one restaurant for years, I’ll order the same thing again and again. I’m picky but it really is that simple. I don’t get sick of anything I find good. My orders are so predictable, the choices of my go-to-restaurants are just as predictable too. Even if they’re not the healthiest of choices (because there are worse), I like chocolate, I like cheese, I like bread, and I like midnight snacks.

Best brownies in town from Plaza Cafe, Chilli’s refillable tortilla chips favorites with Gabby & Pam, Sandwiches from Plaza Cafe, My avocado fixation, Cafe Breton forever, Yes, I baked oreo cheesecake bars, Brothers Burger in the sun, Paella from Barcino, and Krispy Kreme from a workshop

Higher
In between everyone’s internships, on one early Saturday morning, my friends and I took a three hour drive to Pampanga. Direction: North & Destination: Sandbox.

The rides to and from were stories on their own. We had the weirdest and funnest pitstops in gas stations and fast foods. We also made new friends and ate the yummiest local food there. We made friends with Waze and got lost along the way while singing along to sleepover songs and a road trip playlist I picked out.

I’d recommend Sandbox to everyone. There’s nothing to dislike about a place with sprouting poles, bars, obstacle courses, and tight ropes, other than the grueling heat. If anything was bad about that day, it was just the weather. There’s no such thing as an amusement park without lines, so that I can deal with but the intense heat? Nope.

It was real fun though! I finally tried try zip-lining for the first time, as well as the giant swing, which is now one of my favorite rides. (Click here and here to check out the bigger version of the ride, which is now my now on my bucket list!!)

But I was really disappointed in myself when I couldn’t make the free fall jump from six or seven stories high. I just stood there frozen. Perhaps because as I was walking up, I had already been anticipating the fear. And the only thing I could think about on my walk of shame down the stairs, was how I’ll ever be able to conquer my number one dream of bungee jumping if I can’t even free fall off a few flights of stairs compared to bungee jumps…

I know though that I’ll be back to conquer the one thing I didn’t have the guts to do that day, so I’ll be a step closer to facing all my other fears. Till then, still on Ever Upwards.

The checkpoints of the North and all our junk food that looked like it could’ve lasted us days but it only lasted a few hours and Sandbox with my friends, wee

Down and around
I’ve also had some spontaneous days out over the month with new friends that have taken me to new places or better yet, shown me the same everyday things in a new light. From running around and pigging out in S&R as though it was my first time to hanging around the village with my brother’s older friends.

And on one lovely afternoon, I got to live out my dream of driving blissfully on the skyway and head south. With U2 in the background, it was just like I imagined. At the same time, nothing like I imagined.

I saw new neighborhoods and took a peak into the community there; talk about southern hospitality. I saw the city skyline bathed in a blend of sunset hues, which I tried to capture in watercolor as soon as I got home.

But I’ve been home a lot since and I hope to get out more for days like these.

Moments in between my little adventures, New swinging friends Toby & Aya, Me dramatically appreciating Ding Dongs in S&R, and me being real happy that I captioned the photo “Aidee goes South”

Bourdainism: Taipei 2015

*I look up to Anthony Bourdain, hence “Bourdainisms” are my adventures and travels consisting of people, places, food, culture, and experiences out of my usual comfort zone.

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Over a month ago, I went to Taiwan with my family and here are some tidbits about my trip. 

Frankly I’m not the biggest fan of Chinese food especially Taiwanese cuisine other than Din Tai Fung chains, because it’s either too bland, too oily, or it’s just not my cup of… yang chow fried rice, but this trip’s meals were really good.

As tourists we’ve all been tricked into eating in overpriced restaurants, but travelers seek to taste things outside of the typical menu of xiao long bao and assortments of dumplings. Take walks around the city. Neon signs and bustling cues and crowds will always lead you to where the locals eat. Where have the old people been going to eat? Where do the youngsters go?

Night markets without fail are always fun for shopping and food tasting. But food carts by the side of streets, parked beside motorcycles and trucks, as well as simple eateries that look like they’ve been around for decades are also without fail an eating experience.

My favorite traditional Taiwanese comfort food has got to be the fried dough dipped in warm soy milk, called youtiao. I could eat that breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in between! I also get another cup of fresh soy milk to go, this time over ice. It’s like your Chinese Starbucks with only one homemade drink in the same shop at the corner of the street, prepared by the same people that have been getting up at 5 in the morning to knead pastry dishes all their lives. Okay, it’s not like Starbucks, but it’s worth the extra block and cueing up for.

I also have a lot more photos of sushi, just sushi, and more Japanese food than anything else, which gave a lot of people on Snapchat the impression that I was actually in Tokyo or Osaka, haha. And if you know me, you know I’m not the biggest sushi eater, but ever since I tasted the sushi (what an accomplishment for non-sushi-eaters) in the Japanese restaurants in Taipei, I’ve craved it since!

Soy milk over ice, Sushi buffet, Youtiao, 1/16th of continental breakfast haha, Grocery finds, Standard milk appreciation photo, Local pastries, More fresh sushi, & Bitter gourd or ampalaya shake

A little history lesson for anyone wondering why I’m eating sushi all the way in Taiwain. Well after the Chinese-Japanese war, Japan occupied Taiwan in the early 1950s and have since maintained working relations and a strong influence in its culture today, especially in the capital seat of Taipei. From the abundance of imported Japanese goods in department stores to all-day Japanese buffets people wait in line for, the “peaceful people” left behind more than just kawaii shopping districts and delicately prepared fresh sashimi.

Taiwanese today are very mild-mannered and respectful. They’re also very disciplined, the kind of people that literally stay behind the yellow line or in between a carefully drawn out path for the next set of passengers to give way to those alighting the platform.

There’s a harmony to their civic-mindedness that’s distinctly similar to how I’ve pictured Japan from what I’ve read and heard, and I feel like I’m the ball of eagerness that’s disrupting their flow, taking pictures here and there.

My allergies hit on the third of my daily photowalks around the city but there’s no better way around than by foot, so it’s all good and there was a breeze

A huge part of why I enjoyed my trip is because of the boutique hotel we stayed in. Who doesn’t like hotels? But this one’s probably one of my favorites. Other than fast wifi and the Japanese-style toilets (buttons, sprinklers, and a system more updated than my laptop), there’s a coffee shop I can be left in for hours or days even, and I wouldn’t mind.

It’s also where we have our continental breakfast buffet (almost Jordan Peele level of awe), which is the only motivation I have to get out of a fluffy white bed. 6 in the evening is happy hour during which they serve wine, crackers, and cheese. Other times of the day, they offer snacks and sweets. Two words: chocolate & unlimited hot chocolate! 😊 Alright, those were five words for five times the love. Also why I walked down to the lobby in my PJ’s and startled a few people. But I didn’t mind cause the goal was to get to the hot chocolate machine.

In the same lounge, they have a mini library of coffee table books and I enjoyed every one of the six or eight that I read and browsed through. I wish I had more time or that I could’ve taken them home with me. There was no better alternative to spending an afternoon with sniffles and a gross pile of used tissue, reading about the history of toy trains, Barbie, and rare photographs of Amish towns.

More random shots and milk tea! Can’t go to Taiwan without drinking milk tea

Speaking of libraries, we took the bus at around 10 o’clock in the evening, to the famous 24-hour bookstore. To tell you the truth, it was a little bit of a disappointment. However, stationery heaven waited at the basement, but I decided not to get anything even if I wanted everything (again, notebooks and journals) because it was pricey. The other floors were just books, and although overwhelmingly large, only 5% of the stocks were in English and they were really common English books.

Had the bookstore offer a wider selection of English books, then I would’ve felt the way every local felt as they perched on every step and corner of the aisles, flipping through pages till the wee hours. I envied their bliss getting lost in infinite pages for an infinitely longer period of time, while I found myself just completely lost in translation in this forest of a library. But it was a sight to see anyhow.

Taipei is a melting pot of Asian influences and the old and the new. Small dilapidated town homes and shops sit in front of a skyscraper backdrop. In every street there’s something new being built or brewing with a 21st century city grind and craft morning ground; however, the streets are still tainted with a unique brand of Taiwanese culture and portions of Chinese history that waft the city. There’s still a lot I want to see and I wonder how Taipei will be in a couple of years. Till then!

A selfie with a Comme des Garçons head wrap in Sogo showing off my freshly snipped hair then. And I didn’t buy the wrap nor a tee cause they didn’t have it in my size

Sole Sisters

*Just sharing something I wrote for my on-the-spot exam prior to getting my dream internship with Team ABC by Abbey Sy (click to see her blog here!) which I’m really excited for. The challenge was to make a one page blog post about my favorite adventure, and the catch: never mentioning the actual place. This is dedicated to Grace and Jeorge, plus Cam Chua who made the entire trip unlike any other and of course, Clarissa, Selina, Gabby, and Kimmy. 

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As our red-eye flight plunged into an indigo blue dawn, four of my sleepyhead girlfriends surrounded a wide-awake and excited me. After the tease of lengthy immigration and baggage claim lines, and the blur of last minute transportation inquiries, we were finally greeted by the cool breeze of a foreign country.

3 days, 2 king-sized beds, 8 girls, no parents, and it almost felt like one of the world’s hippest cities was all ours to bask in.

Day 01: Hungry eyes

In the rush to check-in our budget hotel, drop our bags, change for the weather, and explore the neighboring establishments, we must’ve worked up quite an appetite. Fortunately for us, a friend who decided to take a study exchange program here, as well as one of the reasons we’ve visited, dragged us on a twenty-minute stroll along hillsides of parks and markets for the first and biggest lunch of the trip. Thanks to the glory that is unlimited strips of beef, pork, warm sticky rice, and fresh cabbage that we barbecued ourselves, this humble hole in the wall restaurant dug holes in our now happy tummies. This meal didn’t disappoint and we were hungry for more—food and everything this city had to offer. In an effort to burn the calories we gained, we took a hike to a Jesuit-ran dormitory and met the colorful faces of other foreign exchange students. And on our way back to the hotel, we took mental notes of our ‘trip bucket lists’ as we got glimpses of every store and street market that called out to each of us. Our night ended in a convenient store raid and one of the first of three slumber parties.

First ever plane ride without my folks, but I guess that old man behind was watching. And those Nutella crepes were so addictive I had to have them every night. My face says it all..

Day 02: Of youngsters and the metropolis

I was happy to be able to cross something off my personal goal of trying every McDonald’s in every foreign country I visit. And in an attempt not to be culturally aloof, after a couple of sausage egg mcmuffins and cups of orange juice, we were off to an early start at the imperial gardens. Though we tried our best to stay with the tour, what can anyone expect from eight girls in the midst of acres of star-shaped-leaf-bearing trees that could be rivaled to Japan’s cherry blossoms among what mirrored the palaces of a cheerier Forbidden City in Beijing? After two hours rolling around in crisp red and orange autumn leaves, looking for lighting, and arguing who holds the selfie stick, we took the metro to the arts college district, also known as a Mecca for youngsters like ourselves who share an appreciation for endless bargains, music, art, and all kinds of food. From international brands to homegrown street stalls, kimchi cheese pasta to churros in ice cream, parades of performing students, and museums for the peculiar and quirkiest illusions. We were all beautifully lost in a city I never knew could be so vibrant and alive. By five in the morning, we were amongst hung-over partygoers and a few senior citizens that lined the seats of the metro waiting for the first train out and back to a still sleeping city.

We joined the historical tour but they lost us or we lost them and we had our own photo tour!

I gathered flowers, leaves, and acorns along the mini hike but it was a really long day. They didn’t survive the journey being squished inside my backpack. 😞

My first autumn, our first autumn, and autumn has just gotta be the best season!

Even funner than it looks over at the Trick Eye museum

Antigravity stuff and.. uhuh

Day 03: November winds

Taking refuge from yesterday’s spur of events; we took a nice little picnic by the city’s most iconic river, a celebrated escape from the city’s buzz. After street food and 7/11 take outs, we rented bikes to race the length of the riverbank. I’ll never seem to forget the nostalgia of feeling at home in a place I just came to know but felt like I was a part of already, as the cold November winds embraced me and we came and gone on two wheels, while the others wobbled and learned along the way.

We actually have decent-normal pictures

Undeniably one of the best afternoons I’ve ever had ☺

Day 04: In between goodbyes and hellos

In half a day, a sprint to all the nearest shops, and a late food expo discovery, I’m half ashamed yet half proud to say I was flying home with a luggage that was about to pop as it was impossible to zip, and little to no pocket money left on me. As we hesitated to say goodbye to the city we’ve yet to discover inch by inch of, we were eager to be welcomed by our families back home with our hands balancing piles of gifts and souvenirs. Especially since it was my first time away from home, I made sure to return with the best pasalubong I could find for each and every person I missed and thought of.

Weight gained: explained. Semi-exotic food: I miss.

Wherever my next travels take me to, this late November adventure has carved its place in the colorful diaries of my mind and I hope in our short stay, we’ve in turn, carved out our young souls in the bustling city of _ _ _ _ _ (guess the city I went to! *half pun intended ☺)