Tuesday, September 25, 2007
[ kill kill die die!!! ]
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Our school is having a
Mexico trip sometime in late 2007 / early 2008.
And a Europe trip too. Itenerary:
Florence, Verona, Tuscany, Venice, and the French Riviera.
Unfortunately I am not eligible as of yet.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
I am stuck in a retreat in the SAME chapel we go to mass too...which is a short bus ride away.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
Labels: canada, school
chLoe was here at: 2:31:00 PM
Monday, August 27, 2007
[ in eight days, i will be walking the hallways of pope john paul ii catholic secondary school. hooray me! ]
For the second time in a row I woke up at 7 AM. Today's occasion: go to school!!!!
But nooooo. Not yet. First I ate breakfast (duh). I was not up for rice. Then I took a bath (also duh) which I also did not feel like doing but had to because we had to go meet the principal. After debating on what to wear I chose my favourite brown long thing with the bolero which I have worn a million times on a million important occasions and denims. Also sandals. While I was doing that the song "When the Saints Go Marching in" crept into my head. I do not know why.
First me and the fam went to St. Martin de Porres School to see about my sis (who's going to seventh grade btw) but the principal wasn't there. Me and my sisters explored. It looks like what you see in movies only we were stuck to kindergarten classrooms 'cause we couldn't go up since the school is closed.
Then after the principal failed to arrive we went to MY SCHOOL!!!!!!!!! It's shaped in a P and is a bus ride and a short (meaning long) walk away. How nice in winter.
Met up with the VP and decided on which courses to take. Went with Arielle which is still unfair but I have to get used to and talked about which ones we wanted (not the same as much as possible). There was another girl there, a blonde, who took a look at what we were doing which was filling up forms and asked us if we were transfering schools. I said we just moved to Canada, continued to write, then when confused asked
"What's Integrated Technology?" She took the book and explained
"Take a look at the grade ten and eleven courses and if you'd like to take these" - indicating tech courses - "you have to start with Integrated Technology."
Oh.
Then I wrote again, Visual Arts first choice, Integrated Tech second, Business third, Drama fourth, Music fifth. I know I took piano but I suck at reading notes and besides, I'm out of practice and if they make me sing they'll be putting themselves in danger of perforated eardrums.
To make conversation I asked, "Are you transfering here too?"
"Pardon?"
"Are you transfering here too?"
"No, I have an interview. I'm going to be teaching religion."
Oh wow! And my next question was going to be "What grade are you in?"
I hope she'll be my teacher. If she gets accepted anyway. She's really nice and really pretty (fashionably dressed, non-acned, and young). Better watch out for boys! I actually thought she was seventeen or something.
VP called us back and made conversation with the parentals (I am going back tomorrow for guidance counseling and uniform-buying), then we went. I said to the nice blonde who I hoped was going to be my teacher that it was nice to meet her and she said good luck. I can't believe it, I really did think she was a teenager. She must at least be twenty-one. I didn't catch her name but oh well. See her in religion class!
Went back to St. Martin and got my sister's records straight. Then went with Dad and Arielle to the library, where I'm at now.
See ya! Belated post later on the really great day in Brampton! Hey, I am making good progress and meeting lots of new people. The BOMB!!!!!
Labels: canada, school
chLoe was here at: 12:17:00 PM
Monday, July 09, 2007
[ boring title, i know. i couldn't think of anything to put here but "wedding". ]
THESE ARE ALL TAKEN FROM MY COUSIN'S FACEBOOK.
(Thanks Kuya Rommel XP)
The lady Santoses:Mom, Auntie Tots, Auntie Cel, Tita Cisty, Tita Baby
Second generation:Me, Nadine, Arielle, Nicole, Monica
Try this for size:
The entire groom's family. Well, almost.
With love from Chris and Coleen:
The giveaways (fortune cookies)
Table for people over thirty:
The newlyweds and the "oldies".
Smile and say cheese:
The newlyweds and the groom's cousins (plus me and the dress I almost wish I didn't wear).
LOL:
Me and my sisters plus our goofy cousin Rommel (credits for the pics cuz).
Us again:Monica, Arielle, Me, Nadine, Nicole.
Labels: canada, family, summer
chLoe was here at: 12:32:00 AM
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
[ ninth grade?! ]
Me in the same batch as my younger sister?! No way, man.
We went downtown with Tita Cristy and Tito Raul today to take the placement test. I finally saw the other part of Toronto, the "city" part, with the Bata Shoe Museum, the CN Tower, Bloor Street, and other stuff you might find in guide books.
So shortly after we got to the place (Loreto College or something) my sis and I were made to write the usual details on a piece of paper. And then this Vietnamese guy, his name was Henry, put in Grade Nine on both of our papers. At first I was okay with it, since I won't be alone when I get there, but graduate at the same time as my younger sister? Give me a break. I mean, how loser-ish is that?
The test was pretty easy, though. Except for Math. Area, perimeter, all these were lost on me. For a moment there I even forgot how to do fractions - and I've been doing them for the past eight years!
Nevertheless, we both still managed, because of good English to make it to our selected school, Pope John Paul II C.S.S. If we didn't we would've been sent to Jean Vanier. Phew then, we'd have our cousin Monica to guide us along. But still. Ninth grade, with my sister. We both fear competition, even if we are not actually competing. People might look [at me, namely] and say, "Oh, you're in the same grade then?" and compare my grades with hers. The problem is, we are both good, maybe equally so. Both of us are honour students and we are in the same career path. There is no competition, but other people might think there is. And then we might begin to see that we're being compared, compete, and affect our sisterhood.
So you see how that just ruins things? They can't put me in tenth grade and I don't want them to, because the tenth-graders might already have their groups and I might not fit in. I'm glad I'm going to school with my sister so I won't be alone, but having to be in the same grade sucks.
Anyway after all that we went to Eglinton Square in where else, Eglinton. Those white guys are so good-looking. Maybe mostly because I've never been around them (only Filipino guys all my life) so yeah...almost every one I saw was gorgeous. There was this guy who opened the door for me and my sis (cause they have exceptional manners here hahaha) and he and his friend were in muscle shirts or something and like, wow.
Pasta-loving me went to an Italian fastfood place that started with a V and ordered spaghetti and pizza. Their servings are HUGE! I guess, to be expected from a place like Canada. And then we went out after that and I saw another guy in a green shirt who was wow.
Next we all headed to Oshawa. I don't know my geography yet so exactly how far that is from downtown or Scarborough is still not clear to me. Anyway, Oshawa is good. Spacious, clean and new-looking. Kuya Raoul's house was still like brand-new. Everything was white. It was nice, I mean I could imagine living in it, but it was far from any good Catholic school I know. All we did there was sit and watch TV and then around 4:30 PM we left, and shopped for some groceries.
Guess that's all for now. Tomorrow might be Niagara and on Sunday cherry-picking.
Labels: canada, school
chLoe was here at: 5:12:00 PM
Saturday, June 23, 2007
[ potpal ]
O, anong inaakala mo dyan? :))
Potpal is laptop spelled backwards. The heck with this thing. I'm not used to typing on the keyboard. Haha. So we're almost done with the sleepover. I'm still at Monica and Nicole's house (with my sisters of course). This is their potpal. We're going to the Pacific Mall with them later and to the Asian Festival thingy nearby.
So far life has been kinda busy. The relatives have been taking us everywhere. I'm still not done with Alice, I Think. I went biking on the Crap Bike yesterday.
Hay, buhay.
Labels: blog, boredom, canada
chLoe was here at: 8:42:00 AM
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
[ shish boom pak. ]
Hey I'm in Canada! First blog post from the new country. Surprisingly it wasn't too different from the Philippines although the climate is...whoa. They call it "late spring" but back home it would be called aircon. ANG LAMIG SA LABAS. Maybe as cold as Baguio or something. And by the way, I went to Alaska - that's supposedly in caps.
After we got out of the airport (details of the flight in an edit post) and into the waiting area I thought we were still inside. Then I realized we weren't. It was really cold, as cold as the malls back home. Here it was not a mall, it was plainly the outside. Canadians wore short sleeves. Foreigners wore jackets. Kaya halata eh. I hope I get used to the cold soon (eh di pano pa pag winter, di ba?)
By the way, I'm in my aunt's house. In the suburbs. Nagmamadali ako sorry...hindi kasi amin yung computer eh. Kaya siguro maraming mali 'to.
Before lunch my other aunt took me to my supposed-to-be school, Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School. Dunno what grade I'll be in - elementary or high school? Also, where? Supposedly we're sent to schools by district. Maybe not PJPII for me. I like their uniforms though - white polo, necktie, blazer, skirt / pants, high socks. But the people are different. I was a little intimidated. I saw only two Pinoys, and most other students were already in groups. How will I fit in?
No need to worry now I guess. There's a whole two months of summer to come. Oh and I already met the cousins and the relatives (which is a lot) after we came here at one AM. Haha. Different time zone from back home - 12 hours. Philippine time and date for this post is 21st June, roughly 2 PM.
Labels: canada
chLoe was here at: 1:52:00 PM
Saturday, June 02, 2007
[ an open letter ]
Like the title says, this is an open letter because I'm letting you all read it. It's mostly about my feelings on moving to you-know-where, written to my cousin who lives there.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
To: NiKkIbUm
Date: Saturday, 2 June, 2007 11:02 PM
Subject: a little more than two weeks
Message:
well today is june 2nd, and there are only 17 more days until we leave.
it's still a bit unreal to me and i can't grasp the fact that we're actually going. i feel a bit numb, kind of devoid of emotion, about leaving here and coming there.
you'd think i would at least be excited, but i'm not. it's almost the start of the school year back here and i don't even miss going. i don't miss anything... YET, but i probably will.
i wonder what it'll be like to live there. i can't think of that, of the future, or anything. i still can't, don't, won't believe that we're nearly half-done packing, or that we've attended a lot of farewells already, or that our names are on the flight roster.
gee whiz. is this normal? cause when we had that seminar on which they prep us for life in canada, they told us to expect some stages/changes in our attitude: euphoria (none of that now), disenchantment (maybe when i finally start feeling something), acceptance, and adjustment. or something like that.
i'm not even euphoric. i don't expect anything from canada or you. don't get me wrong - a lot of people have told us it isn't necessarily easy there. and as for you, online people are maybe, and mostly, different from what they are in real life. so i won't expect anything of you. we'll get to know each other better when i get there. and please don't expect anything from me either. i'm mostly shy around new people - it'll probably be a little awkward at first, as firsts are, but i'll get used to you over some time.
hopefully, i'm going to take it in well and in stride. i can't say what will be happening in the 18 or so days when i meet canada and you all, because i'm not feeling anything. no premonitions, no expectations. so i guess i'm living each day in slow motion.
now to change the topic, the titas have been making bilin, and we've been shopping till we're dead tired. so while we're at it, do you want anything?
earlier today kuya sam and ate tech took us to the columbia warehouse where we bought our cold-weather gear - probably like the ones you saw them wear when they went there. they were heavy, man! you can give me and my sisters advice on what/how to layer when we get there, but as of now we are just finishing shopping and packing.
see you soon. i will probably start feeling euphoric once i get on the plane. but till then, good luck to me and my family.
"For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how orderly you are and how firm your faith in Christ is."
- Colossians 2:5
Labels: canada, changes, summer
chLoe was here at: 11:13:00 PM
Saturday, May 12, 2007
[ in the mind of sentimentality ]
I'm at the cafe again, typing. It's been long since I last did this because I never like to type when I have limited time. Anyway. Do you realize it's the 12th of May today? A month more and we'll find ourselves back in school. This summer was the fastest - and the slowest - I've ever been. Days moved by slowly maybe because I was bored. I hardly went out except with my family to do some shopping. Not like last year. It was the best summer I ever had.
Days moved and are moving quickly, and I realize that it's only matter of time before I'm leaving, before I get to start a new life. It moves, quickly. Faster than I can feel anything about going. Quickly. I don't realize that I'm wasting precious time. Quickly. While I'm thinking slow time catches up and overtakes me.
What is that funny thing about time anyway? It flies when you're having fun and it doesn't when you're not.
Did it fly? May 12, 2006. When we were in the hotel in Manila. How much time since then? A year ago today. Is it?
June 13, 2006. Still clear in my memory, like it happened today. Did it fly again?
May 12 to June 13, 2007. Almost a month. I HOPE IT DOESN'T.
I'm a person who lives in the past. Maybe I keep hanging on to it like a dream. Then BAM, when I wake up, it's gone. I realize that it's over and it's done.
Somebody once told me that if I bring my past into my very near future, I'll be finding it harder to move on. That's a new way of thinking I guess.
Thing is, I don't like to think about the future.
And as much as I tend to, I don't like to live in the past either.
I wish I could live in the present.
But then, maybe I'll just have to realize that this is now, before it's too late, before I let time overtake me and regret it for the rest of my future.
To those who do not realize what I mean, this post is about my life in general. I'm moving and I'll be gone before I know it, and there's only a little over a month left, and I still have to go to school on the 13th of June just like I did a year ago, only to be there one last time before I leave.
"Love alters not with time's brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom."
- Lucas Scott, One Tree Hill
Labels: cafe posting, canada, summer
chLoe was here at: 4:58:00 PM
Sunday, March 04, 2007
[ late night talk shows ]
I'm pretty sure you've watched an episode or two of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Nothing, haha. It's just that I like the ads thing where Jay shows classifieds which have somehow mutated into knee-slapping articles people love to laugh at. It's funny. Plus the guests aren't duds, either.
Today wasn't a special day, but it's been a long time since I went to ATC with my mom, my dad and my sisters. I was starting to miss our old Saturday routine (which happened only on account of my going to Kumon). So yesterday I begged my mom to take us there. And today we did.
While my parents were out booking flights at a travel agency somewhere in ATC and Arielle was at a group practice in BF Park, my other sister Nadine and I stayed at Powerbooks. Mom had left three books about Canada and I got intrigued by the cover pictures, so I picked them up and started reading. You know how I am. Well, as you might have expected from reading tour books like I did, I learned a lot about the country we're going to, and specifically about the Toronto area. There was Yonge Street, which is the longest street in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records, and the CN Tower, which was originally built for broadcasting and turned out to be a major tourist attraction. I also saw pictures of Vancouver (my cousin left yesterday and they're staying there for a week before flying to Toronto), and Nova Scotia, which is the next best place to visit if you don't have the money to go to Scotland.
CN Tower / Part of Yonge StreetIt hasn't yet become real to me that we're actually leaving. I'm supposed to expect euphoria once we get there. Then disenchantment. Then acceptance. Then something else (I can't remember what). These are the stages of when you move someplace new. I don't think I want to get disenchanted. Or homesick. Or both. I hope I don't.
"Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
- Albert Einstein
Labels: canada, changes
chLoe was here at: 10:45:00 PM
Friday, February 23, 2007
[ great week ]
Well I have been having great days lately, except for I was sick last Sunday and had a horrible headache on Tuesday. Biogesic helped a lot then, so I was okay. I thought my semi-insomnia was kicking back again, but I guess not, because I've been sleeping better.
Today was a great, great day. Of course I don't really expect Fridays to be great, I just live them off because the next day is Saturday. Anyway, Fridays are when I spend my time doing pointless stuff like sitting in front of the computer. Right now the rest of my family is at the theater so I'm home alone and I've got the computer to myself! Hmm...so my way of writing this post is kind of like The Actor Who Plays D.M. because I just read his
blog. Looks like he has a huge crush on The Actress Who Plays H.G. because a lot of his entries have her name and the word gorgeous in the same sentence, on them.
Anyways, it's been one year since State of National Emergency was last (and somewhat confusingly) declared. I remember well because February 23, 2006 was THE day. :) I really miss being a high school freshman, because that was when everything started. I can honestly say that I've grown up a lot since then, and know that
I WAS NEVER IN LOVE WITH COKE. Ah, those were the days, back when practically every girl was swooning over some guy and saying they were "in love" (though I believe some of them really were - you know who you are!). I really miss first year. I still can't get over the fact that I'm almost over with being a sophomore and that we are moving to a whole new country, and I'm still missing those carefree, happy days (don't worry, I'm having carefree, happy days right now). Time really goes fast, doesn't it? It was Saturday last week and it's Saturday again tomorrow!
Oh well. At least we're not going out. My parents are going to fix some papers in U.P. and my sisters and I aren't coming along.
By the way, have you watched The Passion of the Christ? If you haven't, well, watch it. We did in our CVE class last year and we're doing it again, and it made me cry last year. This year though, because I knew what was going to happen, I didn't. Besides, my classmates are noisier now than they used to be. And totally not related to the topic, the song I Belong to Me is stuck in my head. Gah. I can't get it out; I might as well put it here so you can all hear it in your heads after reading this. Hahahahahaha.
New layout tomorrow! Thanks
Vicky!
"Love doesn't make the world go round, love is what makes the ride worthwhile."
- Elizabeth Browning
Labels: canada, happy days
chLoe was here at: 6:56:00 PM
