Weekend trek with friends...

Lillian joins Rose Garden

Last week we welcomed our friend Lillian in the Rose Garden class as she recently turned 18 months old. My mommy said that she was so well behaved. That day, we learned that we should obey our parents and make them happy. Below are two photos that my mommy took during the class.

The Fast

Its that time of the year again, when Bahá'ís all over the world observe the annual Fast. Because throughout the year we wake up at different times (Maarten is usually up earlier to go to work, and Menchie wakes up a bit later), this is actually a wonderful opportunity for us to have an early breakfast together in the morning. So far it's been going really well, and we're already beginning to approach Naw-Ruz, the beginning of the new year. A few evenings we had the opportunity to eat in the dining room in the International Teaching Centre as well. As every year, the kitchen staff have really done an amazing job cooking and providing that special fasting ambiance. We wish everyone an inspiring remainder of the Fast! Here's a photo taken from our balcony when the sun was just rising over the mountain.

Ayyám-i-Há Festivities

Sorry we neglected to blog as we have been busy this past week due to the Ayyám-i-Há festivities. Starting with Monday, we had a party at our Mother Goose class, then Tuesday was a special day where the children in the Rose Garden and Brilliant Star classes joined together and made cookies for the staff in the Office of Personnel. On Wednesday, we (me and four other moms with our girls) visited our friend Cllyv and daughter Sheehan in Akka. First we visited the Shrine of Bahá’u’lláh together, and then headed off to Cllyv's house and had a delicious lunch. We had a good time there and hope to do this again. On Thursday there was no Rose Garden class, but instead brought our kids to Kat Katim indoor play area in the Castra mall. In the evening we had an Ayyám-i-Há party for all the families that was held in the PRC. For the last couple of weeks I have been preparing some materials for the stationery card making that I volunteered to handle during the party. I am glad some children (and even moms and other friends) came to our table and enjoyed making their own cards for different occasions (Ayyám-i-Há, Ridvan, Naw-Ruz, Birthday, etc.). The last party we attended was Friday's party with the Filipino friends where we were only able to participate in the sing-a-long portion and of course another delicious dinner (the friends had exchange of gifts and played some games before we came).

We wish our families and Bahá’í friends a Happy Ayyám-i-Há and a blessed fast!

Dinner at Burias place

We got invited for dinner by Ate Diane and Kuya Lonnie at their place with Parviz and Barbara Hatami as their special guests. They are visiting their son Jalal and his family. As always we had a scrumptuous dinner prepared by the hosts; a Filipino dish called "pansit" was the favorite among the guests.

Mr. Naraghi making pita bread while other friends look on.

close up

Mr. Hatami also trying to learn the skill Kuya Lonnie has mastered.

Nabil entertaining us with his piano pieces












...and of course Enna-Marie tried to imitate his kuya.



playing under the table

finished product...freshly made pita!

us with Alberto, Burias family (Nabil, Kuya Lonnie, Bahia & Ate Diane), & Rey

Nice love story on Valentine's Day

Here's a love story that recently happened on Valentine's day in Manila, that I would like to share with you all. I found and read this in the blog of Jim Paredes, the writer himself, who is one of the members of the long-standing famous musical group back home called the 'APO Hiking Society'...hope you'll enjoy it as well...

A few days before Valentines, we got a call from a young man who booked APO for a most unusual engagement: he wanted us to sing one song to his estranged wife on his behalf. When the call came, we were so delighted that we immediately said yes.

Yesterday, at 9:15 AM, Danny, Boboy and I met this young man at a Starbucks in Makati. He said that he had to make a gigantic effort to win his wife of two years back. They seemed to have made of mess of things big time. We did not care to probe more and find out the details. He said he would be happy if this major effort of inviting us to sing to his wife would result in her saying yes to even just having coffee with him. Lunch, or dinner will hopefully follow in the future and if his plans and prayers turn out right, he would like to have another weddimng ceremony with her to start anew.

The plan was simple. Someone would go before us to the girl’s office which was a building across Starbucks, approach her office cubicle with a bunch of flowers. A minute later, we would enter and sing accompanied by just a boombox, the song “PANALANGIN”.

At around 9:30, a messenger bearing a bouquet of red roses proceeded to her office and promptly handed her the flowers. Before she knew it, Danny, Boboy and I were there near her cubicle serenading her. The sight of seeing her with the expressions of shock, delight and being overwhelmed was simply priceless! Althroughout the song, she blushed, sang a few lines, and beamed a shy smile.

Soon after we started singing, everyone in the office stopped working, got out of their cubicles, brought out their cellphone cameras to capture the event.

After the song, amid shouts of ‘more’ from her smiling officemates, we kissed her on the cheek and whispered, ’somebody loves you’, and promptly exited her office.

Back at Starbucks, the young man who hired us for this unique gig was so happy that everything worked. We thanked each other and wished him the best of luck. From there, we proceeded to Bellevue Hotel in Alabang for our Valentine rehearsals and show that evening.

A few hours after the serenade yesterday, we got a text from the young man to tell us his wife called him to thank him and that they had scheduled lunch!!!

Ahhh…. it’s nice to be Cupid!

Yummy lunch at Greg's

Busy toddler

Our toddler at two years and two months old has so much energy, that each day we have to channel it in some new way. She does a variety of stuff during the day (reading, coloring, painting, stickering, playing with her toys, watching either an Israeli children’s programme or her favorite English/Dutch ones, strolling outside with mommy, etc.). As she is developing, growing and becoming so talkative, getting heavier, taller and smarter, mommy realizes that she has to be more creative for her toddler’s daily activities. She will soon start doing a class with her at home making crafts and doing some projects together. But for now, please see how busy Enna-Marie is these days from the following photos…

still loves wearing mommy's boots

and loves playing this as well...

helping daddy making pancakes

playing cars on an alphabet slide

rolling...

drinking some milk

playing cars again...

busy coloring

choosing which color to use

crossing...

climbing...

and she made it at the top...!

reading...


water coloring...

sorting mama and baby pencils of similar colors

Lunch date with Auntie Vanysha

I want to spend more time these days with my dear auntie 'Nysha' as her term of service here is finishing soon. Here's a photo of the two of us when we met in Ben Gurion street one Friday late morning.

then we went to the mall to have some lunch...lekker!

with mama, papa and auntie 'Nysha'