We went for snowboarding lessons again last weekend. That was my second beginners lesson, 3rd session overall. This time, after 30mins to an hour of practice (and falling) at the beginners slope, our instructor took us to the mid section of the main slope! Cool! We've been waiting to go up there since our first lesson!
It felt really, really good being up there, gliding down (and still falling down), and going up again thru the ski lift. I couldn't do half of the exercises he gave us but at least I was able to still go down the slope. I think I improved my falling leaf routine already. Haha! And I've attempted the turns and have succeeded a few times! Well, that's the fun part..
I think I fell down a hundred times during that 2-hour session. I fell several times on my knees, flat down, on my butt, flat on my back, and on my wrist (trying to prevent a fall). Once I almost twisted my back... imagine falling down almost sideways with the momentum naturally bringing you to a face-up position with your feet on the board facing down the snow. I also fell down backwards and my head hit the hard, compact snow. That happened after I went down too fast and I needed to stop because I'm near the bottom of the slope. So I tried to turn left to stop, which I realized is a big mistake for a beginner because I'm goofy, and I pressed too hard that I suddenly stopped! Of course, you know what happens next when you're traveling too fast and you suddenly stop.
So, here I am now.. sore legs, sore thighs, sore knees, sore wrists, sore arms, sore shoulders, sore back, and sore head. I've had a couple of painkillers already and most of the pain is gone, except for a few aches from my head, back and shoulders.
I guess I'm going to pass snowboarding this weekend. Maybe I should consider stopping as well. Hey, I still have other plans :p (sandboarding, skydiving, renting a Ferrari..) Great... just when our instructor gave us a go signal to go up the slope without an instructor!
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Froop
I was walking down Hamdan Street a few weeks ago when I overheard this conversation between two ladies walking towards me. One of them was talking about work and that she needed "froop" of income or something. I couldn't take the grin off my face after that! That has to be the funniest word I heard from someone with an F and P defect!
I actually forgot about this until last Wednesday. We were having lunch with my officemates' flight attendant friend when the conversation shifted to my inability to understand how these South Africans talk! Hey, don't blame me. Not only is their accent like a combination of British and German, one of them admitted to unconsciously talk to me in Afrikaans =))!
Anyway, so we then talked about how the Japanese have no L's and the Chinese have no R's. Then, the flight attendant friend suddenly said "and Filipino's always interchange F's and P's".
Whoa! We're now known por that? Do they have froop of this? I mean, I know a pew feofle with that depect but I didn't think that there are a lot of them and that other feofle have noticed this as a depect common to us Pilifinos. Imagine yourselp joking around with your Jafanese or Chinese priend, imfersonating the way they talk in English (You wanna watch Free Wirry?), and suddenly they do an imfersonation of you talking in English, switching F's with P's. p*ck!
So, starting today, flease mind your P's and F's.
I actually forgot about this until last Wednesday. We were having lunch with my officemates' flight attendant friend when the conversation shifted to my inability to understand how these South Africans talk! Hey, don't blame me. Not only is their accent like a combination of British and German, one of them admitted to unconsciously talk to me in Afrikaans =))!
Anyway, so we then talked about how the Japanese have no L's and the Chinese have no R's. Then, the flight attendant friend suddenly said "and Filipino's always interchange F's and P's".
Whoa! We're now known por that? Do they have froop of this? I mean, I know a pew feofle with that depect but I didn't think that there are a lot of them and that other feofle have noticed this as a depect common to us Pilifinos. Imagine yourselp joking around with your Jafanese or Chinese priend, imfersonating the way they talk in English (You wanna watch Free Wirry?), and suddenly they do an imfersonation of you talking in English, switching F's with P's. p*ck!
So, starting today, flease mind your P's and F's.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
(Un)holy week
I haven't been to church since I got here in Abu Dhabi. I didn't know there was one until I saw some Filipinos with ashes on their forehead last Ash Wednesday. Ok, I didn't bother to ask around before :p (I keep forgetting too since Sunday is a work day here). I just thought they were as strict as Saudi Arabia when it comes to religion.
Anyway, enough of the excuses. After that I said to myself that I will go to church on Easter Sunday. Good thing I was allowed to "work from home" that Sunday. So Mark, a Filipino working at the apartment I'm staying in, and I went to St. Joseph. It was a small church inside a school. In front was a new and bigger church, still under construction, and a mosque on the left. The mass was held in the school grounds since it was the only Catholic church in Abu Dhabi and there were hundreds of people attending that mass. A lot of Filipinos, Indians, and some Europeans and Americans as well.
Everything was going well, until communion time. Three lines formed in our area and I took the leftmost one. About 2 meters away from the priest, the line started to merge. The ones in front of me easily squeezed in the line in the middle. You know how you squeeze in, right? You walk forward and sideways at the same time until you're part of the other line. When it was my turn to merge, this girl(girl1) wouldn't let me in even though I was only a few inches away from her (and a bit ahead of her).
"Okay... let her go ahead."
I was making my move to merge when the girl(girl2) behind the girl1 suddenly pressed her body way too close to the girl2. Obviously I can't merge again.
"Okay... she's a girl, let her through."
Now, I'm about one meter away from the priest so I really have to get in line. This guy behind girl2 wouldn't let me in, too! We were elbow to elbow, me ahead by an inch or 2, and he would not let me go ahead! Here I am having my first mass since Feb and all I can think of is
"What the...?!?!"
What were they thinking? Do they think I was cheating and was trying to get ahead of them? Does he think God reward him for taking communion before I do?? Or maybe he thinks there's not enough host for everyone and he really, really needs to take one. I don't know what was going through his head, but I was out of words... well almost. "What the...?!?!"
Ok, I have 2 choices: Either I let him through or just continue to squeeze myself in. If I do the first one, what if the person behind him wouldn't let me through as well? Plus there were other people behind me waiting to merge as well.
"Lord, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing.. and forgive me from what I'm about to do as well"
So I continued to merge...
... and he continued to move forward as well.
We were elbow to elbow until we got to the front. I remember saying "excuse me" just before I reached the front. Now there's two and a half lines in front: the rightmost one, my line, and him a few inches behind in the middle.
I can't believe that just happened. The 2 girls and the guy looked Filipino to me, which made me feel worse. I already have a few not-so-good observations and experience with other Filipinos here (that's a different story), but this one tops it all for now.
After communion, Mark asked me if we can leave. The place is a bit far from normal traffic so getting a taxi will be a nightmare if we get out along with everyone else. Good idea. If these guys won't let me through the communion line, I don't think they will let us get a cab that easily.
Anyway, enough of the excuses. After that I said to myself that I will go to church on Easter Sunday. Good thing I was allowed to "work from home" that Sunday. So Mark, a Filipino working at the apartment I'm staying in, and I went to St. Joseph. It was a small church inside a school. In front was a new and bigger church, still under construction, and a mosque on the left. The mass was held in the school grounds since it was the only Catholic church in Abu Dhabi and there were hundreds of people attending that mass. A lot of Filipinos, Indians, and some Europeans and Americans as well.
Everything was going well, until communion time. Three lines formed in our area and I took the leftmost one. About 2 meters away from the priest, the line started to merge. The ones in front of me easily squeezed in the line in the middle. You know how you squeeze in, right? You walk forward and sideways at the same time until you're part of the other line. When it was my turn to merge, this girl(girl1) wouldn't let me in even though I was only a few inches away from her (and a bit ahead of her).
"Okay... let her go ahead."
I was making my move to merge when the girl(girl2) behind the girl1 suddenly pressed her body way too close to the girl2. Obviously I can't merge again.
"Okay... she's a girl, let her through."
Now, I'm about one meter away from the priest so I really have to get in line. This guy behind girl2 wouldn't let me in, too! We were elbow to elbow, me ahead by an inch or 2, and he would not let me go ahead! Here I am having my first mass since Feb and all I can think of is
"What the...?!?!"
What were they thinking? Do they think I was cheating and was trying to get ahead of them? Does he think God reward him for taking communion before I do?? Or maybe he thinks there's not enough host for everyone and he really, really needs to take one. I don't know what was going through his head, but I was out of words... well almost. "What the...?!?!"
Ok, I have 2 choices: Either I let him through or just continue to squeeze myself in. If I do the first one, what if the person behind him wouldn't let me through as well? Plus there were other people behind me waiting to merge as well.
"Lord, forgive them for they do not know what they're doing.. and forgive me from what I'm about to do as well"
So I continued to merge...
... and he continued to move forward as well.
We were elbow to elbow until we got to the front. I remember saying "excuse me" just before I reached the front. Now there's two and a half lines in front: the rightmost one, my line, and him a few inches behind in the middle.
I can't believe that just happened. The 2 girls and the guy looked Filipino to me, which made me feel worse. I already have a few not-so-good observations and experience with other Filipinos here (that's a different story), but this one tops it all for now.
After communion, Mark asked me if we can leave. The place is a bit far from normal traffic so getting a taxi will be a nightmare if we get out along with everyone else. Good idea. If these guys won't let me through the communion line, I don't think they will let us get a cab that easily.
Saturday, April 15, 2006
And the answer is...
I should stay!
I was reading a magazine while having coffee last night and I came across my horoscope for the week. I guess this is the answer to my previous post:
CANCER JUN 21 -JUL 23: The relationships to concentrate on now are those that are likely to be lasting, or already are. People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Concentrating now on projects for the future is well worthwhile. you will still be keeping an eye on finances. Any progress here this week is likely to be because of lack of spending rather than cash flowing in. Delay a trip if it means the risk of losing out on a good deal.
Your Luck: Work before pleasure.
Yes, my current project sucks.. but I'm sure it will look good on my resume ;).
People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Hmm... maybe it should be "romance may have to wait some more" haha! :p
Any progress this week? Wait, lemme look at my wallet... Well, I don't have a new gadget yet... snowboarding classes are always full so I haven't had a lesson for 2 weeks now... my ref is empty except for apples and oranges and bottles of water... and my expenses have not been paid yet. Yahoo! Progress!
Delay a trip? I wonder which one... Manila in May? Singapore in June? London in July? Italy next year?? Desert safari and camping next week??? Snowboarding this weekend???? Nooooooooo!!!!
So let's see... what's a good deal..
Delay a trip to get more work!
nah..
Delay a trip to buy new suits at 70% off!
tempting...
Delay a trip to get your passport and visa on time.
Hey, getting your passport is alredy a good deal. Getting it on time is a steal! Especially "in this part of the world".
So, I'll be here until around October or December but definitely not until next year!!! x-(
I was reading a magazine while having coffee last night and I came across my horoscope for the week. I guess this is the answer to my previous post:
CANCER JUN 21 -JUL 23: The relationships to concentrate on now are those that are likely to be lasting, or already are. People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Concentrating now on projects for the future is well worthwhile. you will still be keeping an eye on finances. Any progress here this week is likely to be because of lack of spending rather than cash flowing in. Delay a trip if it means the risk of losing out on a good deal.
Your Luck: Work before pleasure.
Yes, my current project sucks.. but I'm sure it will look good on my resume ;).
People will come and go and romance may have to wait. Hmm... maybe it should be "romance may have to wait some more" haha! :p
Any progress this week? Wait, lemme look at my wallet... Well, I don't have a new gadget yet... snowboarding classes are always full so I haven't had a lesson for 2 weeks now... my ref is empty except for apples and oranges and bottles of water... and my expenses have not been paid yet. Yahoo! Progress!
Delay a trip? I wonder which one... Manila in May? Singapore in June? London in July? Italy next year?? Desert safari and camping next week??? Snowboarding this weekend???? Nooooooooo!!!!
So let's see... what's a good deal..
Delay a trip to get more work!
nah..
Delay a trip to buy new suits at 70% off!
tempting...
Delay a trip to get your passport and visa on time.
Hey, getting your passport is alredy a good deal. Getting it on time is a steal! Especially "in this part of the world".
So, I'll be here until around October or December but definitely not until next year!!! x-(
Monday, April 10, 2006
What's currently going through my head...
Should I stay or should I go now?
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
- the clash
Should I stay or should I go now?
If I go there will be trouble
An’ if I stay it will be double
So come on and let me know
- the clash
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)