I pressume all of you knows the sign language. People tend to use it lalo na kong parehong magkaiba ang kanilang linguahe. Madalas ko itong gamit noong bago pa ako dito sa Germany, kulang na lang na pati nguso at mga paa ko ay gamit ko rin para lang nila ako maintindihan. That was 23years ago.

Kaninang hapon napilitan na naman akong gamitin ito although German ang taong “kaharap” ko. It happened on my way to Handelshof (wholesale supermarket) in Moenchengladbach. Somewhere along Autobahn 61, a Mercedes car before me was driving very slow. Nagtaka ako dahil walang speed limit sa area na yon. It was not possible for me to over take him right away dahil kakapasok ko pa lang sa autobahn. Besides, I also have to wait til the cars on the left lane passes by. So I drove patiently behind him for about 5 minutes. After awhile, I glanced at the rear view and saw that the left lane was deserted behind me. So for instance, I stepped on my gas pedal and speed up from 80 to 120 kilometers. I maneuvered the car back to the right lane matapos ko siyang maunahan and I even increased my speed to 150. Laking gulat ko na lang ng makita ko siya na nasa left side ko na and we were even at the same speed level. Kaya pala naki-level siya ng height dahil may balak na masama. I almost choke as he all of a sudden used a sign language. Guess what, he showed me his stinky middle finger, he over take me afterwards at nandoon na naman siya ulit sa harap ko and slowed down again. I was wondering of his behaviour dahil madalang naman ang mga sasakyan kanina, actually he could easily speed away with his Mercedes. Pero ewan ko kong bakit mas gusto niyang nasa harapan ko siya. Mukhang napagtripan ako ng ulol. This scenario repeated 3 times and everytime I over take him ibang sign ang kanyang pinapakita sa akin. First he showed me his middle finger, next he pointed his finger on his forehead…that means sira ulo daw ako. And the third time, he spit on his palm and did as if throwing it behind him. I think it means…you are scrap or something like that.

Now he made me real mad at nangatog na talaga ako sa galit. Balak kong gumanti but how? Wala na akong ibang sign na alam gamitin dahil naunahan niya na ako. Something dirty came to my mind. I stepped on the pedal to accelerate my speed to the fullest, at noong magka level na naman kami. I looked at him, and smiled at him with all my charm. Then I pointed at him and signaled him to slow down and go to the service road. After doing so, I pressed my tongue on my right cheek..mouth half open, clenched my right hand and shaked it gracefully. My gush, I was fevering…my cheeks were glowing and I was so ashamed of my action. Pero sa tutuo lang ano, the feeling thereafter was satisfying. Hehehehe…hindi na nakahirit ang gago. Sa shock he speed up to hell. So ein Arsch, ich hoffe du gehst zur Hölle!

We had a wonderful sunny weather today kaya naisipan kong linisin ang harapan ng aming bahay. Maya-maya, lumabas ang aming kapitbahay kasama ang kanyang anak na halos kasing edad ng aking bulilit. Wala sana ako sa mood na makipaghuntahan sa kanya dahil balak ko pang ipasyal ang mga bata. Kaya ako nagmamadali sa aking ginagawa. But well, since I’m no bastos nakangiting aso pa rin ako and listened to her endless complains about this and that. Habang ang dalawang maliliit naman were playing behind us and we can not over hear Gillian talking “kauderwelsch”. She began to ask questions about my boy and then started bragging about her son who can talk more and clearly than Gillian, her son who is so intelligent and blah blah blah. Hello, please excuse but I’m aware of that fact okay?

Oh well, some parents believe that a child who begins to walk at 8 months is more talented and smarter than a child who begins to walk at 12 months. The fact is that children are just different. The child who begins walking later may grow up to be a better athlete than the child who starts to walk at a younger age. What I mean to say is that no two children are the same. She heard Gilian saying “Mama bitte (please) milk“, guess what she told me. “Oh no wonder he can’t talk, you should only speak german to him and not mix.” Grrrr. Paki-alamira. Typical german attitude besser wisser (one who always know better). She continued telling me what to do and what is good and what is bad and tralalala.

I simply answered: See Mrs. Sowieso, it is unwise to rush children in their development or to try to get them to be like some other child. Helpful parent will help children develop as they are ready. Okay? I brought three kids in this world and you only have one. I can tell you that each of them developed differently. So do not ever tell me again what is best for my child because I’m not doing this to you.

Then I left to end the conversation.

Below are my two clowns who brighten up my day.

Hello everyone! My name is Gillian-Yves. I turned 3 last February 2, 2006.

Mama bought me a mini cake for my birthday.

For our dinner, she prepared Stuffed Calamaris…

Fried King Prawns with Parsley and Garlic Sauce…

and as dessert, Buko Salad with Kaong and Peach…hmmm, yummmy! Take note, we had no guest…it was just the four of us, but we had fun.

Okay, let me tell you more about me. I’m a computer freak like the rest of the family. My mom was always mad at me when I used her pc, she once told me that I ruined all her work because I pushed on several buttons. Now I got a mini notebook as birthday present, but see…it is not really like the adult pc. It makes music that sound monotonous in the long run and the screen is so small and it is not colored as well. So I am sure you understand me when I’ll tell you that real pc is still my fancy, and that is why I still sneak to Mom’s desk when she is away.

That is my Ate Kathleen. She teaches me how to brush my teeth properly, tie my shoes, wear my jacket and how to operate my notebook. One thing disturbed me though, she played most of the time at it than really teaching me what to do. I think she likes it more than me…

Now that I’m three years old, my family expect a lot of things from me. Like, I should behave when we are eating. I should be quiet when we are in the church and many other things. Hmmm, I just can’t understand the world sometimes, I’m so puzzled. You see, there are things I want to do but Mom does not like it. There are things they want me to do but I don’t like it…like potty training. They thought they can trick me by giving me my milk and my doggie just to keep me remain sitted. But….

I hate it!

Really, really hate it!!! Waaaaaa…

A Wordpress plugin called "Counterize" brought me to the link of the above mentioned competition. Last week as I was checking the list of my Counterize Referer I saw a link that catched my attention. I clicked on it out of curiousity and voila…there I found out that there’s a competition for Wordpress 2.0 theme design running. I thought of joining but I became hesitant as I saw the long list of participants. Hubby and AnP encouraged me and so I made up my mind and spent one and a half week creating/designing three (3) WP Themes for submission.  It may sound so ambitious of me to participate…but what the heck! In german we say it "dabei sein ist alles" *to take part is all that matters. I would like to encourage all other hobby designers like me to join the fun. Please go here KCYAP for more details.

All three themes will be available for dowload after 28th February 2006. By the way, be my judge. I’d like to hear your opinon about my work…and oh please be gentle with your comments :). Yours truly is not a professional designer…I’m just doing this for fun.