The Nativity Story and Voltes V

Not that these are in any way related, except as part of my
Christmas remembrance this year.

I watched The Nativity Story tonight and it is a good
follow-up on the dawn novena mass or Simbang Gabi or Misa de Gallo I
attended today.

I can't remember now how many times I have completed the
9-day Simbang Gabi. I know that I've been attending it since high
school, though I couldn't complete one then.

Christmas preparation is just not the same for me without
going to these dawn masses. I wake up at 3:15am and am usually at the
church before 4:00am so I can get a decent seat. The mass starts at
4:30am. I noticed though that there are not as many people attending
the dawn masses in our church as compared to previous years. Perhaps,
more people now prefer to attend the anticipated Simbang Gabi at
around 9pm in other churches rather than wake up at the crack of dawn.

Anyway, today's gospel is from Matthew 1:18-25. Our priest
explained the character of St. Joseph, given his setting. How just he
was.

In his days, there were three stages to marriage.
Engagement, Betrothal and Marriage proper. During betrothal, the
couple signed a contract binding them as husband and wife but they'd
have to wait a year before they could live together. One reason for
this, our priest said, is to test the purity of the woman.

Imagine what St. Joseph felt when he learned that Mary was
pregnant during their betrothal.

But he didn't want Mary to be stoned to death if he accused
her publicly and she was tried.

Imagine that Mary knew that she would face death when the
angel told her that she would be pregnant and she answered, "be it
done unto me according thy word."

"The Nativity Story" is a good backgrounder movie, that
makes me appreciate more the sacrifices of Mary and Joseph from the
first Christmas.

Anyway, I might not have many take home gifts today but my
officemate and classmate in German, Tranqs, burned me a CD of Japanese
animation theme songs. My favorite is Voltes V.

I was in kindergarten (around 1980) when then President
Marcos stopped the showing of animations on TV, including Voltes V.
GMA 7 showed it again for the first time since the 80's in 1999. This
time, I finally learned the ending. And it became even more of a
favorite.

Anyway, I'd better get some sleep, before the next Simbang Gabi.

sayong
12-18-06 11pm

German class graduates

It feels so good to finally graduate :)
But it;s not the end of German language course for me of four other
classmates at the FSI. We will all pursue higher German courses at
the Goethe Institut in Makati next year.
At the same time, four of us were also accepted at FSI's French
language course. Could we be as good as we were in German? It
remains to be seen. I hope so :)

sayong
12-14-06

good haul

I had a good haul today.

When he arrived this morning, my boss brought us tamarind candies, banana chips and arrow root.

In the afternoon, a former officemate gave us T-Shirts.

And a friend from another agency sent a bottle of naturally-fermented coco nectar vinegar.

When I got to DFA for our practice for the presentation tomorrow, there were simply so much food. A classmate who just arrived from Cebu brought dried mangoes, otap, rosquillos, and danggit. Bebot brought GoNuts Donut. Jacky also gave us Christmas gifts.

As I was just telling my mother, I not only got danggit but vinegar to dip it in :)

On top is the news that government workers will get 6,000 pesos as additional Christmas bonus not later than the 15th.

It feels very much like Christmas already :)


sayong
12-13-06

Ilocano dishes

I still have a hangover of my report in German and took pictures of my dinner today. I had a true Ilocano fare tonight --- pinakbet with bagnet. And they rhyme, too :)


12-06-06-pinakbet


12-06-06-bagnet

As I don’t eat anything with bagoong, my mother uses patis (fish sauce) when she cooks pinakbet.

From time to time, my mother prepares her own bagnet. Although it’s also delicious, it just cannot compare to the bagnet bought in Ilocos. My sister said that a kilo costs 350 pesos nowadays. My mother’s version is like chicharon but better for one’s health. That is, it’s not saturated with salt.

After eating healthy pakbet and cholesterol-rich bagnet, I had fiber with melon.

12-06-06-melon

Life is simply delicious :) Burp...


sayong
12-06-06 10:35pm