Osaka Pinoys Christmas Party 2006

Last night we had a Christmas Party at Sheira and Jet's apartment. Everyone came for the celebration (aside from the usual Isaac people, we had 3 guests) and each of the housemates brought along with them their food specialty except for Idel and I, we brought drinks.

The night was filled with the air of festivity. I think that was the only time that I truly experienced the feeling of Christmas. Since most of the japanese are not catholics, christmas is not as festive as it is at home.

Some of the memorable events that night include:
1.) Sagami-san and his wife brought along 2 of the prettiest cake in Osaka (mind you, they are the most expensive also, I could faint with their price! wahhhhh!)

2.) Everyone brought FOOD with them. The most surprising one was the lumpia that Diobert and Mars brought along. I'd have to give 100% for the presentation of that dish. To think that it was prepared by a guy, AMAZING!
3.) Singing the manita-manita song over and over again (Even if the gift was to be given to a guy! I guess everyone was a manita that night. =))
4.) Alvin being the Rose's manito - we've been trying to pair them up eversince we heard that Rose was coming to Osaka. (wala gyud miy lingaw! hahahaha) DESTINY!

5.) The "what is your most memorable experience in Osaka" question which was initiated by Mrs. Sagami. I don't know what happened in the course of this activity but when we came upon asking Ranil we drifted to another interesting topic, the "how did you meet your girlfriend" topic. Ranil's facial expression was really comical, my stomach ached 'caused by too much laughter.
6.) The internet karaoke singing. Romsil might have been annoyed with me on this one. The boisterous person that I am couldn't help but be my natural self.
7.) The 2nd round early morning eating session! (There's always room for more food. hehehehe)
We went home at around 2 in the morning.
Great party! Great night! Awesome people! Merry Christmas!

Girl Bonding

This night I finally spent quality time with my female groupmates. We went to a pasta resto near Esaka station. At first we tried the pasta place we usually go to for lunch but it wasn't available 'til 8PM and we didn't have a reservation so we went to another place.
Actuallly, the place had a great ambience. The lights were appropriate for dating and conversation. The staff were wearing santa outfits/hats in line with celebrating the christmas season. We ordered pizza(of course), carbonara with an appetizer consisting of vegetables and fried potatoes and for dessert each of us had a rasberry cheesecake(delicious!).
Before the meal, I took a picture of Higuchi-san. She has the coolest attire/outfit in the entire office. She wears mostly gothic style clothes. This style is usually worn by rock stars such as Evanescence vocalist Amy Lee. Pretty cool, don't you think so too?



I had a lot of fun talking to Hirata-san and Higuchi-san. I thank them both for trying to make me understand them by speaking slowly and repeatedly. (I'm also sorry at the same time for the things I couldn't understand.) We talked about a lot of stuff from religion, to family to Japanese tradition and Gackt. Higuchi-san informed us that Gackt, aside from being a multi- instrumentalist, is also multi-lingual and that he will star in an NHK drama next year. This guy is getting yummier by the minute, really.
We compared many traditional differences between our countries. It was funny and interesting. =)
Before we left the place one of the staff made shaped balloons for us. Mine looked like a bunny, Hirata-san got a dachshun dog and Higuchi-san got a giraffe. We rode the subway train together holding our shaped balloons. When Hirata-san and I got off in Nishinakajima Minamigata, she noticed that a few of our officemates got off the same train also. And they happen to be heading towards the Hankyu line also, so we tried to walk a little slower to keep the distance. (It is a little uncomfortable for a grown up to hold a balloon inside the train especially when there are many officemates about. hehehe) We finally parted ways at the station exit and said our goodbyes. All in all, it was a great night, enjoyable, informative and despite the many tounge twisters, it was a lot of fun! =)

Celebrity Look-ALike

Dah! Pariha lagi mi ug dagway ni Song Hye Kyo! Mayra! IDOL!!!! Sapern!

Kung magpablond ko sa akong buhok pariha pa gyud mi ug nawng ni Heather Locklear.
BWAHAHAHAHA!

Crazy About Yellow

The greatest weather in the world for me is AUTUMN! The sun shines so bright but the air is cool and the trees become multi-colored from light orange to red and YELLOW. I'm so glad to be here and experience this great weather in all it's entire duration! hahahaha.
Last Sunday(December 3) after visiting Metrobank for a money drop (OUCH! The 2000 charge is really starting to hurt!), Marcelino and I went to head for the Shinsaibashi Street. This is the street with the longest line of shops in this area. Before we crossed the road we noticed that the view was great. So we decided to have fun in our ignorance of the yellow colored trees and took some pictures of ourselves.

This is Marcelino, beware of this guy because his charm is deadly to women especially the japanese ones. (Peace Mars! hehehe). I'm immune to him since I have no real sexual orientation. Bwahahaha!



This picture actually looks like I'm standing in the middle of the highway like an ASTIG gaijin, doesn't it? Cool...=)

Celebration at Sagami-san's Place

Last December 2, Sagami-san held a celebration at his place for the new members of Osaka Family, Rose and Kaye who just landed their first job. (Though later I found out, the job was cancelled due to budget issues. TOINKS!) . I worked overtime that day and arrived at the place late, so I wasn't able to eat the highlights of the food parade but I was still able to fill my stomach with an ample amount of food and drinks. As usual, when pinoys gather together, voices get louder and louder and conversation gets interesting as the night goes on. This is what I love about being a filipino during these events. It wouldn't matter if we were eating only nuts and drinking only water because the stories and conversation will always be great.

All Girl's Night Out...almost

The night of November 24, 2006 I had dinner with some of the women in the office. We ate at the restaurant near the station. (This is the same restaurant people always go to when they decide to dine out or celebrate something. This is actually my 3rd time of dining in this place and I still can't remember its darn name. bwahahahaha.) The party was composed of six people namely Michiomo-san, Hirata-san, Higuchi-san, Fujimoto-san, me and of course the one that made the night an ALMOST all girl's night out, Oya-san. Hirata-san and Higuchi-san are both my groupmates. Michiomo-san and Fujimoto-san both work for another company. We are all working on the same major project but they are handling a different module.
We talked about many stuff that night, from who the noisiest person in the office is to who's the weakest and the weirdest (Which reminds me, why do Japanese throw coins into places with water anyway? And it doesn't have to be a wishing well type of place, any place with water will do. In this case, the little pond like thingy beside the table where we were eating.) We had many laughs and I enjoyed it very much despite the fact that I'm very poor in Japanese. It was a good thing that Michiomo-san and Oya-san were there. They can both speak english well. As always, Oya-san did a lot of translating for me.



































I didn't drink much alcohol that night but I drank a lot of really super delicious juices. I took a picture of the prettiest one. I took a picture of the aftermath of the food storm too. hehehe.

Fushimi Inari II

II? When was the I? Nah, forget it, the past is the past and I didn't have an ample amount of time to post then. So here we go.
Last November 3 was a holiday here in Japan, we (Gloridel, Sheira and I) decided to conquer the great mountains sorrounding the Fushimi Inari Taisha. Remember the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha" or "Saiyuri"? This was the place with the long trail of orange gates that the child Saiyuri ran on to wish for love.

The first half of the journey was the hardest, it was an uphill trail so it was very tiresome. We had brunch halfway of the uphill climb.

The second half was easy since it's mostly downhill. The entire trail could probably be completed in an average of 2 hours for an athletic and healthy person. But then we're not really that athletic, are we? I'm pretty sure that I ain't that healthy either, so it took us longer to complete the route.

Dinner with Kaneda-san

I know that this post is long overdue since the dinner happened ages ago (last week of October). But then, "better late than never", right?

Kaneda-san is the girl sitting at 10 o'clock in the next row from me. She doesn't smile often enough but when she did, it was spectacularly cute! hehehe.
I wasn't the one who first noticed her in the office. It was Oya-san who did, he has a weakness for short haired women. We were checking out who were the "hot" people in the office that time. In my case there weren't many men who attracted me so we ended up comparing the pretty chicks in the room instead. hahahaha. One of them is Miss Kaneda Mayumi.
Before that dinner, we already ate one lunch with her. From that encounter I learned that she's interested in movie editing and that she's quitting work soon to take care of her mother. It was a good thing that we invited her before it was too late. (Guess, who did the invitation? It was a dual effort, almost like stalking! hahahaha).
We had dinner at a restaurant near the office with Oya-san. (I can't remember the name of the place but I think it is famous since we had dinner there before with my group mates.) It was a night of great food, drinks and conversation of mix japanese and english. We talked about everything from Kaneda-san's eccentric right hand guy to mangas and personal stuff. I sense that Kaneda-san is a comedian. She drew some caricature of her original created characters. Although I needed additional information to understand the joke but I knew that she was trying to make me laugh. So sweet, really. I wish her the best of luck in the future and maybe someday another great dinner to celebrate the sweetness of life.

A day with Oya-san

I hope that autumn is finally coming to Osaka and it`s not just the typhoon that`s making the weather great in this fine and beautiful day of September 15.

At lunch Oya-san took me to Hanamaru Udon shop[It was actually spelled a romaji Manmaru in the Ad]. There Oya-san ordered for me a Bukkake Udon. It was a dish with of course udon[japanese thick noodles], raw egg with spring onion leaves submerged in a hot delicious soup. It was deliciously heavenly!



After work we went to Pronto near the Esaka office to spend the early night over drinks and great food. I think I`m starting to get addicted to juices with lychee and a little alcohol.







Oya-san or shall I say Mr. Tomoyuki Oya "the handsome" is one of my colleagues at work. He is one of the guys who managed to stay cool and stay young at heart despite having responsibilities of a married life. He likes to listen to alternative music which makes me extremely happy since not many people here in Japan can appreciate english music that much.
He wants we to put in this blog post that "He likes pussy". So there it is! hahaha...just kidding.
Anyway, I think Oya-san is a very talented person, especially when it comes to learning bad words. He learns english bad words faster than a speeding bullet. hehehe. He is also open minded, honest and fun to be with. He`s a natural at making people laugh.
Truthfully, I`m glad I found one realiable and good friend in Oya-san. Aside from making me laugh during the tiresome office hours, he uplifts the spirit of other team members with his natural zest for life.
Kudos Oya-san!




Here`s one of his best jokes that cracks me up. It never fails to make me laugh everytime!
[Technique:He takes his glasses of slowly and his eyes become smaller and smaller.]



Cracked you up too, neh?

Kitsune Udon

I woke up late the morning of September 13. I wasn`t able to eat breakfast, cook food for lunch and I didn`t have time to clean my hair so I ended up tying it up into a bun and make the ends hang like pineapple leaves. I didn`t want to leave it hanging out because I`m anal about the smell stuff.
That day Ooya-san took me to a nearby Udon shop to eat my first Kitsune Udon. I was pretty excited and I brought my phone with me to take pictures of my food! I`ve read about this dish from the internet along with takoyaki and okonomiyaki. They are Osaka delicacies.




When I got home that evening I took out the hair clip and was surprised to see my hair curl like it was set in a salon. So I took pictures of my "not so clean" but "looks really great" hair. hehehe

Shin Osaka Starbucks Coffee

So what if there`s no East West Bar in Osaka, there`s still Startbucks coffee near the Shin Osaka station. This little corner at the back of Startbucks Coffee has become our own little area. It`s too bad that this branch closes early though but then it`s better than having no place to talk at all, right?
Today (September 10) we went there once again to talk about stuff. I do really love to talk of just about anything under the sun. hehehe
I took pictures of some people there to place them in the address book of my phone so that when they call I will see there faces on the screen. It feels more personal that way. mwehehe. (Yeah, I know what you`re thinking, you can say it... what a bunch of CRAP! hahaha)
Romsil:

Sheira: (Such a pretty smile!)

Pius:

My Birthday

Last September 2, we celebrated my birthday in Sheira`s/Jet`s mansion. I was happy that they bought a chocolate cake for me. I`m still like a child in many ways, I like to have parties and stuff and I want people to be always happy when they`re around me. In the morning of that day, we went bowling too. I didn`t hit a strike though, not even once! I`m the one named "Mana" in the score monitor. mwehehehe

A Day Of Walking

It was a bright saturday of the 1st day of september. We went walking down the long line of stores from Homachi to Shinsaibashi.

We went on a side trip to a temple (I don`t know the name of this one). Idel lit some candles there.



Then we entered a cosmetic store and found ...yes, you`re right, it`s ANGELINA JOLIE! hahaha, the poster...

We finally ended up eating Baskin and Robbins ice cream in Namba Parks. Life is just sweet!