coffee break

wellington is cold. no surprise, it’s in the latitude of tasmania. i was kinda whacked to think that it’s somewhere near papua new guinea. stupid me brought summer clothes. the city is pretty, very cosmopolitan. kinda small, 2km square city center. but i think it’s charming that way, everything is a stone throw away in a sense. very european. like most cities away from home, everything closes early, like 6.00pm early. exactly 4.45pm, people are leaving the office leaving the expats (us) at the office to tidy things up. and i don’t mean clean and dust the desk, finish up work that needs to be finished. i think it’s an asian thing, working really hard. and the streets are deserted.

it’s a good timing being her; it’s the new zealand international arts festival. there’s an endless parade of plays, musicals, concerts and museum exhibits. we’re watching good morning, mr. gershwin at the st. james theater. and then a 3d movie on an adaptation of hans christian andersen’s ugly duckling on sunday. loving the culture rich city. looking forward on our saturday trip to martinborough. wine country and plenty of good food, way to live life.

as with the people i came here with, we use our nights to see the city. there’s a section of the city that really thrives at night that has all the dinner place and drinking pubs. similar to australia, they drink like a fish and rowdy as hell. my 10th day here, and i have to say i am enjoying the food. i’ve been having lamb and steak everyday, and really good ones! the dining here is so amazing, i haven’t had dinner in the same place twice. by way not cheap food, but not as expensive as i would expect. the venison in mushroom risotto with truffle jus is just nz$34. not bad. specially once you tasted how fabulous it is. 10 more days, more restaurants, and plenty more experiences.

i can feel it calling me.

i recently hosted a couch surfer. a lawyer from estonia studying language in japan. a free spirit in all sense. she’s on a 2 month long winter break, with the philippines as her first stop. fortunately it coincided with our company shutdown so dahon, des and i played gracious hostess. we went on a food trip to up village, the first stop was kiss the cook for lunch, chocolate kiss for dessert, isaw behind malcolm hall and then van gogh is bipolar for a light dinner.

she stayed for 4 days and left for puerto galera for a week of scuba diving. some people ask why i did it, why i welcome total strangers into my house. and i say why not. i do get their concerns; a stranger, might be a serial killer,might be a bipolar, obsessive compulsive. and i get it. though we need to be cautious, we also need to open ourselves. how often can you say that you opened yourself to a total stranger? that you help them, not only to have a roof under them for a couple of days, but also to feel safe and feel welcome. it’s like making people experience the experience you want to have when travelling.

tonight, another couch surfer guest is staying with me until thursday, when he is flying back to korea. he’s a filipino-canadian, teaching english. that same night, a married couple from romania will be staying with me until monday next week. now if my social life would be as active as this…

i have always been inspired by people who follow their dream. sticking to their principle even if it means swimming upstream. pink is of of those artist who’s not only gutsy but stands against objectification of women, specially in video music when they are portrayed as play things and nice to have of men. her stand stand against the midst of rap, r&b and pop videos were scantily clad women washing cars, soaping each other is nothing short of being ballsy.

but it doesn’t take away from the celebration of a woman; her sexuality, body, mind and spirit. i guess it’s all about how you portray a woman. a woman in skin tight clothes in the arms of a burly man is different from a woman in skin tight clothes running a multi-million company.

pink’s performance  in the recently concluded 2010 grammys is amazing. the purity of the song, its artistic articulation in aerial acrobatic and carefully selected costume. in the sea of artistic compromises, this is art.

you can download this track here.

listening to:
Funhouse – Pink : Glitter In The Air

sacrilege! to all ben10 (ben tennyson) fans out there, mcdonald’s philippines have released 4 ben10 toys together with their happy meal. the toys are not that bad, really juvenile if you ask me, directly targeting the 6-9 age group. i have nothing against the toys, except this…

since when did aliens carry man-purse? something is wrong here. i know aliens are far intelligent, are they now more fashion forward? pushing the envelope people…