A Letter From Nagaoka From Mommy To Maia

Dearest Maia,

This is my second to the last day here in Nagaoka.

There's a tiny tinge of sadness in my heart. I guess, it's because I like this place so much and there's a big possibility I might not be able to come back here anymore. Well at least not for business. The guys we worked with they are really good at what they do so I think they can do things on their own now.Also, if ever I do come back I am really hoping I can bring you and daddy with me already.

The food is great here (they say it's because of how clean the water is and how stable the temperature is. The place is very close to the mountains and the sea. So yes, it's nature doing it's magic once again) I am starting to think, the location has something to do with how good-natured the people here are. Almost everyone I'd meet in the streets or stores has a smile and a greeting for me. I love how quite this place is. A totally different world from what you see in Tokyo where the pedestrian crossings are always bustling with people. In here, you hardly see people crossing the streets (I wonder where they are??? Hmmmm).

Yesterday, I went out for a run. That felt really good. The weather was just right (maybe about 19-20 ish degrees) so when I started sweating it didn't feel like I'm on fire. Today I planned to do another one to explore the other side of Nagaoka but I slept like a baby I woke up late. I had to prepare for a presentation so I decided not to go out anymore. Maybe tomorrow. So I can also say goodbye to the place.

We also run into a couple of preschoolers at the train station yesterday. They were super cute. Reminded me of your classmates in St. Michael. They were on their own but they seem to behave well. They were walking in a line (I don't know if they're trained to fall in line even while walking). I never saw any little kid throwing a tantrum here. They all seem to be very mild mannered. And obedient.

But I missed so much especially when I saw those kids yesterday. I wish you were here with me. I wish I can hold your hand as I make my way to train. I wish I can introduce you to the train conductor who really amuses me. Much like the train conductors you see on your favorite cartoons.

Well, mommy has to prepare stuff for work now. I'll see you in two days.

I love you so much,
Faye

p.s. Here are couple of shots of high school kids at the train station. The schedule that we take in the mornings is always filled with school kids. They're always an fascinating sight for me.

This is a shot from outside of the Ojiya Station.

100Yen Store Find

Did you collect stationery and stickers when you were a kid?

I did! My sisters and I apart from collecting stamps (mostly from snail mail that we actually receive from family and friends) went through this phase. We had a clear, thick plastic folder where we'd put a set of every kind of stationery that we'd come across in bookstores. (Did you keep that folder Mao?)

Today, after a very filling dinner with a colleague, we decided to explore the shops adjacent to our hotel. I noticed a 100Yen shop this morning when I took a photo of the view from my hotel room and I was able to convince my co-worker to drop by there. And my heart leaped when I saw an entire aisle of super cute stationeries. I wanted to hoard. But thank God I do not have the budget to do that. So I carefully went through each of the stationery packs and picked 2 -- yes just two (sob, sob, sniff, sniff).
  

Maia! You can now write letters using nice paper. Maybe we should find you a penpal now...whadyathink?


I was praying I'd come across tiny cooking sets as well which was actually what the kid was asking me to get her ever since she learned that Mommy's going to Japan-ese (even if they're not Re-ment made) but there was unfortunately none. I decided to buy these cute toy trucks for my nephews instead. Both were Made In China but I hope my nephew wouldn't really notice. Haha. (Bought in Japan but Made In China?#!$#!)

regardless of their point of origin, i think the boys will love this :)

I have a lot of stories to share about this trip but I gotta get some decent sleep first. I hope to find more time tomorrow. For now, I wish you all a wonderful week :)

Maia Travels: Mother's Day At Bag Of Beans

Tagaytay is becoming a favorite destination for our little family. Thinking that it's much cooler over there, we left the house early last Sunday to hear mass at Ina Ng Laging Saklolo. Then we planned to have breakfast after at the main branch of Bag of Beans further up in Mendez. I just learned recently that they now have a branch at the Tagaytay Rotunda strip of restos (what's that called exactly? I can't remember anymore). But wanting to find a more comfortable and well, quite breakfast place we decided to take a extra few more kilometers to travel to where the original cafe is.

The last time we ate at BoB was when Tibs and I were planning our wedding in 2007. We stumbled into this quaint little cafe (if I remember correctly, the extension where the buffet set up is now was not there yet) because we were looking for a big place to for our families to stay in after the wedding. Although we already acquired our house then, it wasn't big enough for several families to stay in. Good thing, as I was a member of w@w then, I found Amirsache Villa and we were able to rent the entire place.

Oppps, I digress once again. Sorry about that. Going back to my story, we've stopped over the store several times after that coffee date often when my family comes over to visit but we never thought of stopping there to grab a bite. We've always just come back for the bread and never really bothered to check out the restaurant inside.

Deciding to spend our mother's day there was just right. Although the resto was packed when we arrived at around 9:30 am, we were immediately ushered to available seats. But as they were bursting with guests, food took a little longer (probably than usual) even if we only ordered usual pinoy breakfast fare of longanisa, chicken tocino, chicken pork asado. I ordered funny face pancakes for the little miss because the day before she mentioned of wanting to make me pancakes for mother's day breakfast (and i indeed ended up eating most of the pancakes and her eating most of my longa meal). Tibs upsized to bottomless brewed coffeesince we both are huge coffee drinkers. I think we still make better brewed coffee though. With our ever-reliable tiny 3d coffee maker and a few spoonfuls of Monk's Blend ground robusta coffee. I got curious too how the restaurant turned out to be so packed with hungry guests so early in the day and the servers told me they open as early as 6. I made a mental note to invite the hubs for an even earlier breakfast date (and maybe a short run? hmmmm) one of these days.

 The restaurant also serves buffet breakfast (at P395/person) and brunch (at 495/person).

While we wait for our food, Maia, Ate Inday and I took the opportunity to explore the area and took turns posing for photos in almost every photo op-friendly corner. We were silly like that. The little girl even set a limit on the number of shots we should take of her. (Dito mommy, 4 pictures. Dito 5 ha. Kailangan 5. two pictures lang tayo dito, mommy. Kalurkey having a camera-hugging kid)

So even if the day was supposed to be all for me, it turned out to be HER day mostly. The number of photos of her alone would be enough testament to that. Gone is that camera reticent kid that I used to chase just to steal a few decent photos from. Lately, she gleefully volunteers to have her photo taken.

We left Tagaytay just before noon. The highway was not that busy when we got there around 8am-ish but at noontime, it was evident that it was a special Sunday. Most restaurants we passed by were all packed with nary a vacant parking spot within plain sight. I guess on special days like this it's better to plan an early morning trip if you ever decide to come up to Tagaytay.

I'm really happy that Tagaytay is now very commuter-friendly. It makes planning for special weekends a lot more easier for me.

How did you spend your mother's day?

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Bag Of Beans
Coffeeshop, Restaurant and Bakery
115 Aguinaldo Highway, Crossing Mendez West
Tagaytay City
046 413 2724

How to commute to Bag of Beans via Aguinaldo Hi-way 

Take bus or jeepney (at the Olivarez terminal) that is heading towards Nasugbu. Bag of beans is along the highway to your right a few kilometers after Crossing Mendez Intersection.

More on Tagaytay sights here.

This Thing Called Motherhood.

Last night, I plugged in an old external harddrive containing photos from several years ago. I was looking for a decent photo of my mom, to use for my mother's greeting to her. But I ended up browsing from folder to folder of Maia's infant photos. 

I always say how fast time flies when I look at my daughter. But truthfully, with me being so uptight with documenting her every move, I can hardly measure how far she's grown physically just by looking. Sometimes, how fast time flies just end up as a declaration of time that passed and not so much of me having a point of comparison on the physical aspect anymore. I hope you get what I mean.

Not till I saw these photos again. And I'm glad I made friends with my ever reliable point and shoot when this little girl was just a tiny little thing. I remember how tough our first 2 years were. I remembered the countless meltdowns, sometimes to the point of me actually questioning my ability to parent a child. 

But all those doubts were somehow put to rest now. I look at my little dalagita and my heart just swells. With pride. With love. With hope. With assurance. That after every emotional rollercoaster that we've been through, I somehow existed for this particular purpose. To be this kid's mother. To help raise this tiny little thing to become something - somebody with a purpose as well - someday.

Thank you for always pushing me to strive to be the best, Maia. I am a better person now because of you. You and daddy helped shape me to be BETTER. This thing called motherhood is the best thing that ever happened to me. 

Posting my favorite photos here from some almost 5 years ago:

Weekend 18: Rainbows and Little Surprises

I love rainbows. Who doesn't?

my camera phone did not do any justice to this magnificent sighting.
i wish i had a real camera today. just for today.

Today, my little girl saw a rainbow from end to end for the first time. She immediately took out the Rainbow Brite coloring book that I bought for her recently and started waving that at the rainbow. 

greeting the rainbow with relentless waves of her Rainbow Brite coloring book

Most of our neighbors got their cameras out and started taking shots at this rare sight too.

Ah, the gift of nature. Kid got so inspired she immediately went to work filling her coloring book with rainbow shades.

This morning we woke up to a wonderful surprise. My mommy friend Leslie (and who's also a blogger who I look up to) tagged me in a photo from a local newspaper. The little girl was in a photo that was featured on one of the articles in the paper. It was a photo from her recently concluded 3-day summer at St. Michael Playhouse. I was thrilled with that Facebook photo tag already but our daddy was not satisfied by that he went to get our very own copy of the paper for documentation's sake. I was smiling from ear to ear. I didn't know we also have a stage daddy in our midst. 

So anyways, weekends like this - all-centered in my little family - is something that I extremely miss. And I'm glad that I was given the opportunity to reclaim that this weekend. I must admit, I still didn't feel the weekend go by but somehow, I have the happy smiles of the husband and the little girl still fresh in my memory when they woke up yesterday and simply declared it's going to be a happy weekend.

I'm leaving for another week in Japan again at the end of this month and I'm hoping I can still spend one more weekend with the little girl doing arts and crafts before that happens. School season is only a month away and I'm pretty sure that when that hits, I will surely not have the luxury to spend leisure weekends like this with her so I better catch up.