Dinner at Tajimaya

Our Sayonara dinner for one of our team members who will be leaving Japan very soon, at Tajimaya Restaurant, Settsu Motoyama.  It was also my first time to go to this restaurant, another first here in Japan :).

Good luck Febri! I wish you happiness and success in all your future endeavors. Life begins after P&G, haha! Life goes on ... cliche, I know :).

The beef is really good!!! I love love it, except the tongue and liver (I don't eat these parts).

Thank you for this message and the mini-cake, so thoughtful of you :). We will miss you around.

Miyajima Japan

Miyajima is a small island less than an hour outside the city of Hiroshima. Miyajima is famous for its giant torii gate, which at high tide seems to float on top of the water. The sight is ranked as one of Japan's three best views (www.japan-guide.com).

From Hiroshima, we rode the ferry boat going to Miyajima Island, just a 10-minute ride from Hiroshima.

We stayed overnight in one of the island's ryokan (traditional Japanese inn).  Night in Miyajima Island is so quiet and peaceful. But, we did not let the night pass by without doing an activity. We went to an onsen (Japanese hot spring).  In Japan, people go to an onsen to relax, meet with friends, or just to get clean, while soaking naked in water. Yes, naked!  That was my first time to try onsen, shy at first :). Very relaxing, another first experience in Japan.

We were told that if we want to go near the torii gate, we should go there early in the morning when it's low tide.  So, we woke up early so that we could go near the famous torii while the water level is still low.

The torii gate at low tide. You can imagine how huge the torii gate is.

Posing with umbrella :). It was raining hard.

The water rose up fast at around 8AM.  So, here goes the floating torii.

The floating torii.

Wedding Pictorial

We went around the Itsukushima Shrine and did a lot of picture taking, as we usually do. Filipinos love picture taking so much :), but I'm not going to share all our pictures here.

There are some friendly deer on the island that wander around the site as the tourists :).

It was fun going around this famous island. Very memorable experience that I will never forget.

Souvenir shop

Having fun posing under the tree :).

My Cross-stitch Project

"Does a mother forget her baby,

Or a woman the child within her womb,

Yet even if these forget,

Yes even if these forget,

I will never forget my own".

I made this cross-stitch when my girls were still small. I was inspired by the song "I Will Never Forget You." I made the last line of this song as my own theme for my cross-stitch "I will never forget my own". Once a mom, always a mom.

Cross-stitching is fun, but you need to spend a lot of time to finish one pattern. I used to cross-stitch when my girls were still small and life was still simple. A job without too much stress and pressure, with house helper,  no internet and no social networking that eats a lot of time :), that's why I had a lot of free time at that time to spend on this hobby. But now, it's just so hard to squeeze this hobby with busy schedule and a lot of other things that keep me busy.

This is my cross-stitch project that I started 2 years ago. I stopped at some point due to busy schedule.  It's almost complete (about 90% done). I will try to complete this in the next month or so :).

Anti-Cancer Super Fruits

A friend of mine shared this on Facebook. Something worth sharing, so I thought of posting it here. My favorites are grapes, strawberries, and apple.  I love cherries too, but I wonder why cherry is not in this list.

Hiroshima Japan

Hiroshima is a famous historical place in Japan. It's a must see place when you get the chance to visit  Japan.

Hiroshima is known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15AM on August 6, 1945, near the end of World War II (according to Wikipedia). The explosion wiped out 90% of the city and immediately killed 80,000 people; tens of thousands more later died of radiation exposure (www.history.com).

Last year, we were finally able to visit Hiroshima with friends. It was a long drive from Kobe to Hiroshima, road trip with friends.

Looking at the pictures of the bombing and some of the bombing remains at the museum made me feel sad. It felt as if I was transported back in time. Very touching!

This is the Atomic Bomb (A-bomb) Dome, the most famous landmark in Hiroshima. This is being preserved for its perpetuity.

Peace!

Next to the A-bomb is the Aioi River. When the bomb exploded, badly burned victims threw themselves into this river to ease their pain.

Children's Peace Monument.

Peace art by Japanese kids.

Peace Memorial Park

I took this shot from the museum.

Peace Memorial Museum

Art model of Hiroshima before the blast.

After the blast.

Some bombing aftermath photos.

Random Memories - Priceless

I still remember when my 2 girls told me that they wanted to audition for the Interlude at Canadian Academy.      I encouraged them and told them that they have nothing to lose if they try. They both passed the audition with flying colors. Kanino pa ba naman magmamana? :). 

Interlude is Canadian Academy's premier vocal show group, made up of the most experienced and driven vocal musicians in the school. Members of the group make up the bulk of the special choirs assembled in any given year, such as APAC and Madrigal Singers, and most are also accomplished soloist.

They attended their first APAC Choir Festival in November 2009.  This was held in Seoul Foreign School in Korea.  I'm so proud of you girls!

The second one (for Abby) was held in Western Academy of Beijing in China in November 2010.