i’m alive! (an update of the last two weeks in one loooong kwento)

it’s been more than two weeks since i last posted.... been so busy with the coordination business.... i’m really enjoying this. i know it’s not-save-the-world kind of job but it gives me an opportunity to do something which i know i’m good at (hahaha! ang yabang!)

we’ve been in business for two weeks (our business officially started when i unsubscribed from w@w and announced) and we have quite a lot of inquiries. ang babaw pero ako natutuwa na when people, especially w@wies, inquire kasi i think that means they trust us up to some level. a few have also booked us and i am as excited with their weddings as i am with the wedding of really close friends. as much as possible, i really try to develop a personal relationship with them since i don’t to be just another supplier and i don’t want them be to just another client to us. :)

so far, even if, in effect, i am preparing for five weddings (in our team, each wedding is assigned a lead coordinator and as a lead coordinator, you are really the one on top of all the preps), i am really happy. it is a hard job, keeping up with all things-to-do’s and stuff but it is fun. at the same time, i also realized, just the other day, after a client meeting, that i am really taking this seriously, as in hindi lang siya another fun thing to do na pwedeng pagkakitaan while i’m not doing anything meaningful right now. ang galing!

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i went to obando last monday to interview for my thesis. i was able to interview four mothers. my thesis, for those who don’t know, is about parenting beliefs of mothers on childrearing, and as such, my questions focused mostly on what they believe to be the right way to bring up a child. i was so surprised when during the course of the interviews, i have realized (and of course, i will include this in my discussion) that although low-income parents believe the same things middle-income parents believe, they do that for a whole different reason. for example, middle-income parents believe that education is important. when asked why, they would reason that education would enable the child to be self-sufficient and would equip him or her with the right skills for the future. low-income parents, on the other hand, while also believing that education is important, reason that if their kids are not educated, people would talk about their kids and this would reflect badly on them (the parents themselves); “tatanungin ng mga tao kung sino ang mga magulang niyang batang yan at syempre nakakahiya”. nakakagulat. i am excited na nga other differences pa. i hope i get to find high-SES parents na so i can complete the analysis.

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my obando trip made me realize again how hard life is for some. although all of them live in concrete houses (so hindi naman barong-barong), their houses are only twice the size of our area rug here at home. the mothers talked of financial difficulty, of their husbands not having jobs, of selling the catch from the fishponds early in the morning so their kids can have baon for school, etc. no, i do not blame god in this instance (siguro kasi since hindi bata yung kausap ko, mag hindi naantig ang damdamin ko), but i blame the government for their plight. naniniwala ako na hindi dapat pinapayagan ng gobyerno na mabuhay sa ganung sitwasyon ang mga mamamayan. pero naiintindihan ko rin na mahirap kasi talaga ang buhay at hindi rin naman maaayos ng mga kahit na matitinong pulitiko ang sitwasyon natin sa loob ng isang linggo. haaay! ang hirap talaga.

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on a happier note, it’s my honey’s birthday on sunday. he’s turning 28! and for his birthday gift, i am throwing him a surprise party tomorrow night at my parents' place! sobra na akong excited for this! kaya rin naman sobra akong busy kasi inaayos ko nga ito. things are basically set na. just need to buy the ingredients later and to order some stuff like the chairs and kung anbu-ano pa (i ordered a keg of beer from san miguel. nakakatuwa kasi sobrang hassle free talaga.) i was supposed to have an international menu: puttanesca, garden salad, chicken lollipop, and yung other things na babagay pa dun. but then i decided to have shabu-shabu. actually my mom decided that we'll have that kasi masarap. my mom's really into this surprise din. hehe! (thanks, ma! love you!) so nung una okay pa, sabi ko carry na yun kahit hindi partner yung shabu-shabu sa ibang dish. but when i talked naman to jojie's dad, sabi naman niya magdadala raw siya ng lechon. nye! eh di talagang ang layo na, so when i consulted my mom, we decided to have pinoy foods na lang. so our new menu is the shabu-shabu (for the gulay and the soup), menudo , inihaw na bangus, pininyahang manok, lechon, pandan rice, and pandan lychee for desert. i wanted to make oreo cheesecake kaya lang wala akong springform pan. okay lang sana kung kami lang ang kakain, kahit na ordinaryong baking pan lang but because ise-serve, kelangan talaga springform pan. oh well! so bili na lang ako. mas madali pa, mas mura pa. hehe!

i'm really excited. i can't believe i lasted this long without accidentally telling him. i started planning for this august but then because of the gastos of my thesis, akala ko hindi kakayanin ng budget ko pero kinaya ko (well, partly because my mom offered to help me out... bait ng mommy ko!). so now, we're going to have a dinner for jojie's closest family and friends tomorrow night. mga 30 people yung invited. really excited! kakatuwa pa kasi sobrang game family and friends ni jojie. as in super cooperative. galing-galing!

will update you how the surprise bday party turns out.