March 29, 2006

Dreamt

I was watching The Weakest Link today ( Brit Ed.) and found an interesting info.

Did you know that the only word in the English dictionary that ends with mt is the word Dreamt?

Not bad eh?

And you know what is Anne's favorite quote ?


"Your mind will explode doing something it's not used to doing - thinking. "


Pardon me. I just find that wickedly funny!

Posted by duke at 3/29/2006 10:11:00 PM       6 comments



March 28, 2006

Total Solar Eclipse

Today, a hotel staff rang our flat,handed me two 3D glasses, and said something about the solar eclipse tomorrow. Then I realized, I totally forgot about the TOTAL Solar Eclipse happening here in Turkey tomorrow, March 29!

I really can't remember the last time I saw a total solar eclipse. I remember seeing some partial eclipse in Manila when I was young but not one where the sun is totally covered.

Tomorrow, apparently, at between 1054am-1057 -Universal Time ( 3 minutes) the new moon will directly be in between the earth and the sun. Istanbul is not directlyi n the path of the eclipse but hopefully, we will see a partial of the whole thing. If we were in Antalya tomorrow, we will be able to see the whole process but this will take a 2 hour plane ride from here.

You can find more info about the eclipse tomorrow on this website or here. I hope I get to take pictures if it is visible here!

Should you be in the following places tomorrow, prepare to witness a total solar eclipse.

Ghana
Togo
Benin
Nigeria
Niger
Chad
Libya
Egypt
Turkey
Georgia
the Caucasus
Caspian Sea
Kazakhstan
Russia
Mongolia

If not, you can still find some live webcasts on the net or simply watch the news tomorrow. I'm sure it will be on.

Happy Viewing!

Posted by duke at 3/28/2006 04:55:00 PM       8 comments



March 26, 2006

Manila.. Manila...

Most of our time in Manila were spent eating, playing bowling, drinking and dancing. Husband and I wanted to relive the good ol' days of going out when we were still living and working there. We touched based with our closests family and friends and went out almost every night. In those three weeks, we just didn't think of any form of diet and did what pleased us. We really indulged ourselves with all the Pinoy food we could muster. Husband ate all the sisig he wanted and finally figured out that for him, the best sisig is the one with egg on top. Ironically, this sisig was served at a billiards place somewhere in QC. We both forgot the name of the place but we knew how to get there.

We played bowling every week of our stay. Our good friends, husband and wife, C and J played against us all the time. Coronado Lanes is non existent anymore as the site is being developed into one of Ayala's Residential Condominiums ( The Residences Greenbelt). We played at the Powerbowl in Rockwell. This gave me opportunity to shop around and look at the new Zara store over there. I wasn't really impressed with the number of collections of Zara over there since there aren't a lot compared to the ones I saw in Singapore and here in Istanbul. One good thing though, over there, they have smaller sizes ( 1, 2, 3). Translated : easier to shop for me!

Being such creatures of habit, our night outs were mainly in Greenbelt 3. I finally got to eat Not Joes from UVA again and enjoy the panfried gooseliver in Nuvo. I also discovered that Cafe Havana's Mangojito is a great drink and Cena's Frozen Zombie is a bargain at Php 225 per pitcher. Another great reason to go to Greenbelt is the opening of our favorite Thai restaurant, People's Palace. We didn't have to go all the way to Malate ( like we used to) just to have our servings of sumptous Thai dishes.
We knew we will be going back to our old "home" and check out how it is doing. We had dinner at Circles at the Makati Shangri-La and met up with friends who are still working there. We enjoyed one Thursday night singing and dancing with The Spirit of '67 Band in Conways courtesy of our Godmother, MS. We also checked out the newly renovated Shang Palace and Inagiku Restaurant. I would love to get hold of that Kimono display on that Japanese Restaurant!Our usual night place, V, is now aptly named Citrus. The regular night owls and familiar faces were nowhere to be found anymore. Most of the crowd were dancing the night away at The Embassy Bar in Fort Bonifacio. We went there with a couple of friends and had a good time taking silly pictures of us. I guess it was all the booze that we consumed. At the end of the day, it's ok. We were on HOLIDAY anyway!

Posted by duke at 3/26/2006 05:04:00 PM       16 comments



March 24, 2006

Airline Blues

I woke up today still thinking of the humid summer heat of Manila only to find out that I am back here in Istanbul. Looking out, the sky is very cloudy. The sun refuses to shine and the remnants of winter's grip is still trying to hold on as spring tries to break through.

Our flight back was alright except for some issues with Singapore airlines who produced our baggage totally ripped-off from the top. The odd thing is, they can't seem to give us a concrete reason what happened to our luggage, who did the damage, and from which airport did it happen. We started our journey in Manila going to Singapore, then Dubai and finally arriving in Istanbul. They made a report and offered to pick up our bag in our flat to initiate an investigation and a replacement if necessary. I'm still not happy. I wasn't happy with the whole flight from the moment I checked in online.

Normally, I check in online so I can choose the seat assignment that I want. Being in economy class is not a walk in the park for my husband who feels uncomfortable with the small leg room and this adds up to his anxiousness and fear of flying. Our ticket did not allow us to upgrade to Business class and required us to buy a new set of tickets to fly BC. My only hope was to be assigned in the aisle seat in front- the 31st or the next available front row of the plane. Imagine my frustration when SQ automatically assigned the seats and put us back in almost the last few rows of the plane. I was able to change the seat assignment but the first row was blocked already.

Checking in at the airport was our only hope. Normally if there are no babies on board or priority passengers, they would allow this kind of request. The Manila to Singapore flight, we were able to get the seats the last minute. The ground crew explained that they couldn't change our seats for the Singapore Dubai route and asked us to double check with SQ when we arrive in Singapore.

Arriving in Changi Airport, we proceeded to the Transfer Desk and checked with them. To our dismay, they said the flight is already full and they couldn't change our seat assignments which was in the rear part of the plane. So off we went through the 10 hour flight all the way to Istanbul in our assigned seats on

Posted by duke at 3/24/2006 09:52:00 AM       29 comments



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Location: Istanbul, Türkiye

A first time mom to baby A living as an expat in Istanbul, Turkey.

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