I had a very hectic weekend behind me. I met a couple of blog friends, went from one party to another and then visited my sister, my son and some old friends before I finally went home. All in all…I think I drove more than 1000 kilometers in just two and a half days.

Friday, December 9, 2005. It was 11:30 as I woke up…gee, kong hindi tumawag ang kapatid siguro nakatulog ako hanggang hapon. I was in panic as I saw the clock, at lalong nataranta as I remembered that I told Kathleen I will pick her up from school para didiretso na lang kami sa Frankfurt. No time to take a shower kaya entenwasch nalang ang ginawa ko. I was still in pajama as the doorbell rang, not knowing who were outside I went out and opened the door and saw it was der Kaminkehrer chimney sweeper. My looks were surely embarrassing but I had no choice than to let him in. Hindi ko nakita ang note na naka paskil sa may pintuan namin dahil hindi ako lumabas ng bahay the day before. It was written there that he is scheduled to clean the chimney that day. Mabuti na lang he accomplished his work quickly. Kaya after he left I started packing our things, dressed up im nu in a minute and hurriedly left home heading to Kathleen’s school.

We arrived in Darmstadt at 5:30 P.M. Eight o’clock ang usapan namin nina Melissa na magkita, kaya nagmadali akong inakyat ang aming mga gamit. I chatted awhile with my sis…gusting-gusto ko na sanang umalis ng maaga para makapag window shop sa Frankfurt. Pero hindi ko ito nakuhang gawin dahil naghanda ng hapunan si kapatid. I arrived at Mövenpick Restaurant 20 minutes late. Hehehe…it looks like as if “coming late” is getting a habit of mine. Pero sa tutuo lang ang hirap mag schedule kapag may anak na maliit. Lalong-lalo na’t ito ay makulit at maligalig na katulad ng anak ko.

Melissa and Rhoda were already there as I entered the restaurant. We greeted to each other and exchanged besso-beso. So now what? He he he…hindi po kami nagsambunutan. Our so called misunderstanding was settled long time ago. Kaya we really enjoyed the evening. We had great a dinner, we had fun talking about the internet and our kids and etc. Dahil sa sobrang bisi namin sa halakhakan at kuwentuhan…hindi tnamin namalayan na may kumuha or nagnakaw na pala sa handbag ni Rhoda. She only noticed it was gone as we were about to leave the restaurant. We even asked the waiter and our neighbouring table if they saw or noticed someone came near to our table. The answer was of course no. The poor girl was shocked and shaking. She can not believe that something like this would happen to her here in Germany!

The waiter offered to serve us coffee…but I immediately waved him no and told him that we’re going to have our coffee in

Starbucks. We left after we paid our bills and walk along the Fressgass, heading to our favourite coffee shop. Starbucks closes at midnight so we decided to hop to a bar called Yours Australian Bar. Hmmm, it’s really a nice place to hang-out. They are open ‘til 2:00 A.M, and guess what…they also have a Karaoke Bar too. So, to those who love to sing and when you happen to visit Frankfurt…visit YOURS. It was already 1:30 A:M as we left the place. We parted in good mood…even Rhoda has momentarily forgotten the incident happened in Mövenpick.

Saturday, December 10, 2005. A busy day with a long list of schedules. We left my sister’s place after lunch and went to my son to deliver Kathleen. She doesn’t want to go with me to the small Christmas Party in Buchen, so I was forced to change my plan and drove her to Kleinheubach first instead of going to Grossheubach directly. I left after an hour and went to pick up my guide Genie. Her husband decided to come along with us at siya na rin ang nagdrive patungo sa party. He took a shorter way to Buchen, short cut daw yon ha. Muntik ng batukan ni Genie ang asawa niya dahil naligaw ito. Kaya po kami paikot-ikot ng ilang beses sa isang lugar. It was already 7:00 P:M as we reached the place. Genie was in a very bad mood, but it didn’t bother me at all. The only thing that disturbed me the whole way was her endless nagging at her husband. She didn’t notice she was making him very nervous. Poor Rudi.

Almost all former Karilagan Dance Group members were there. I was so surprised dahil ang pagkaalam ko sila ay hindi makakarating. Yon pala, pinag-usapan na nila ito na i-surprise ako. Seeing them again brought me back memories of the good old days! Puno at sisikan sa Pfarrheim vicarage. Marivic the organizer was not expecting that a huge number of guests are coming. Norena offered me to sit beside her…ibig sabihin, kaming dalawa ang nakaupo sa isang upuan. Mabuti na lang payat ako, este siya pala kaya nagkasya ang dalawang wetpunene namin. Well, hindi importante para sa akin ang upuan dahil nag-ikot na ako na parang isang politician sa bawat table. I distributed the flyers for my “Online Remittance” sideline job.

Later after the big kainan…Santa Claus came with a loud…HO HO HO HO HO. He read a short Christmas story to the kids and distributed the presents afterwards. As the children’s excitement subsided Marivic started announcing her parlour games, one of it was “trip to Jerusalem” where my boy Gillian joined. I did not know he was of the participants because I went outside the balcony to smoke. Alma, a friend of mine came rushing to the balcony door and told me to get inside and I should grab my camera and see

Gillian. Oh my gush! My little boy against other three kids who were several years older than him. They ran around the group of chairs as the music played. Gillian acting as if he knew the game…won the second price. He could have won the first prize kong hindi lang mali ang upuan na inupuan niya sa final round. Yong chair kasing nasa tabi ang napili niya. The sponsor handed him his prize and he didn’t even understand why.

Matapos maglaro ang mga bata ay sayawan na para sa mga nanay. They played the music of Black Eyed Peas (I forgot the title).

Wow, disco beat talaga kaya di ko na napigil ang sarili kong pumagitna sa dance floor at sumayaw. Aba ang aking anak ay bigla ding lumitaw doon. Akala ko kong ano na, mantakin niyo bang hinila akong pabalik sa aming puwesto at ako’y kanyang pinaupo. Ay ala ang batang ari ay umaasta bagang guwardiya. Matapos naming kumain ng dessert at matapos magbalot ni Genie ng “bring home” ay napagpasiyahan na naming umuwi.

Sunday, December 11, 2005. Doon kami nag lunch kay Ludy sa Röllbach. She prepared sinigang, fried shrimps and vegetables with Tofu. Nagkuwentuhan sandali at maya-maya ay nagpaalam na akong umalis para hindi masyadong gabihin pag-uwi. Almost eight o’clock in the evening na ng kami ay dumating ng bahay. Gerd arrived home from Berlin before us. We were all knock-out so we all went to bed early. I had a very hectic and stressful weekend. But I was happy because it was a successful and unforgettable weekend indeed.

How I love to write a long story about the Christmas Ball we attended last Saturday, but can’t do it at the moment. Aside from being busy accomplishing some important work…am groggy as well. I had 2 sleepless nights behind me (had a long interesting and funny chika with Jing Diva) kaya antok na antok pa rin ako hanggang ngayon kaya short messsage lang ito. I just want to let you see the pictures we took on that marvelous evening.

Pahabol:

I don’t know why some of you can’t view the largest size of the thumbnails I added previously…am so sorry for the inconvience. Ito na po I added thumbnails again but in different way, hope this will work this time. You may go to the GALLERY to see the rest of the images. Hope you’ll enjoy viewing.

Please click thumbnail to view original size.