CHRISTMAS IN MANILA

Christmas for 2009 was different. I broke the tradition of dressing up the christmas tree and have a few friends over for dinner or invite the carol group over. Christmas is always special to me. This year the family spent Christmas in Manila together with a group of friends. We met up with Tommy and Lynn and their daughter Paulyne.

ARABIAN NIGHT 2010

With much appreciation to Ling and a few of her students for their efforts to put together this party.

The annual belly dance party is a much look-forward event by all the students. That night everyone
just look so beautiful and gorgeous. I must say that belly dance exudes the femininity in a woman, bring out the Goddess that is within them. It not only provides personal pleasure but also raises self esteem and builds confidence, adding a new zest for life. It has no barrier to age or size. It teaches us to love and accept who we are.

Farewell party for Ling

Wow, where do I begin. Cannot even remember when was the last time I visited my page not to mentioned pen something in. There are so much to pour out. I want to start with the latest and most talked about issue among those belly dancers in my region. LING, OUR BELLY DANCING TEACHER IS LEAVING US. (sob sob). I personally feels very sad. She is more than a teacher to me and many other students. I am sure everyone of us will miss her very much. By the way she is leaving for Shanghai with her hubby. I hope that she does not have to leave us but her rightful place is with her husband.

Ling is, so far, the best belly dancing teacher in my area. We had a farewell party for her last Saturday. There were lots of food and everyone had a good time swing to the music. I feel that we missed out something that night. We should have done a performance in full costume in honour of her.

Well, I wish her the very best in all things and God's blessings and favour be upon her always.

Cement craft

Cement craft was mentioned earlier. Little did I realize that so much can be done with cement. I believe cement is something not very popular when it comes to craft and I am certain there are not many others who will venture into it. Cement is always associated with the construction industry and give people the idea of something very rough and messy. True to some extend and not to mention seemed " unladylike". There was an incident when I went to a hardware shop to buy cement and mesh wire for the stepping stone. I was actually on my way out for an appointment so I was dressed up. The shopkeeper, an elderly lady was trying to cut the mesh wire for me. Seeing her age I told her to let me do it instead. Guess what was her response. "Ai yo, a lady like you with all your nails painted you will not be able to do this kind of rough work." My reply to her was "excuse me aunty. If I can work with cement what is the cutting of mesh wire to me. Anyway I am used to doing this. " She thought that I was joking. Anyway back to the cement craft, I am now starting on cement tiles for the wall. They are thinner and smaller in size. They make beautiful wall decoration. It gives a casual and unique appearance. I've not seen something of this being used yet as decoration but I am going to use it in my own home. I am certain it will stand out.

Belly dance - student night

The much awaited belly dance student night was finally over. Great!! was the only word I can use to describe the night. It was indeed an eye opener for all the students as well as the guests. I can tell that a lot of efforts were put in by most of the students for the night. From head gears to anklets, beautifully stitched costumes to beautiful neck pieces and ear rings – every piece was meticulously matched. There were easily over 50 pieces of beautiful costumes to feast the eyes. Not to mention bodies of various sizes and shapes dominate the dance floor. Whatever shape and size they are, everyone looked beautiful. I was especially taken by a group of aunties who did quite a few performances. Everyone of them danced with confidence and grace. A word of thanks and praise must really go to our teacher, who, all by herself, put up the night for the students. . We took quite a few group photos. But I MUST obtain the consent of those in the photos before I can post them.

Belly dance is gaining popularity here and the perception of the dance has changed. Belly dance teaches us to be in control of our body which is a good form of exercise. The benefits of belly dance are both mental and physical. Dancing provides a good cardio-vascular workout and helps increase both flexibility and strength, focusing on the torso or "core muscles", although it also builds leg strength. Many belly dance styles emphasize muscular "isolations", teaching the ability to move various muscles or muscle groups independently. To begin with the teacher student relationship is very important. We students have a lot of fun in the class and at the end of each class, every one of us look forward to the next one. Sometimes our teacher will perform for us and can see that every pair of eyes is flooded with admiration including myself. Being the oldest aunty in the class, I would say that I am pretty slow in catching up but the teacher and other students are always full of patience with us, aunties.

Belly dance costume

Oh boy, the last input was probably 3 weeks ago. So much to say and share but 24 hrs a day doesn't seems to help much with so much on hand. The month of September was really a challenging month. The cement craft turned out very well. Shown them to quite a few people and they were rather impressed even those in the landscaping industry. The showed interest and asked for quotation.

The most challenging and satisfying of all is the stitching of the dance costume. One day our dance teacher brought a piece to our class. She was encouraging the students to make one for the up and coming gathering. The piece was so beautiful. I then told myself that I would also like to stitch one of those for myself. I am not sure if I am going to use it for the student nite but in any way it would be something beautiful to possess especially I am taking up the dance. I am sure every belly dancer would like to own one of those if not because of the price or time taken to stitch one. The stitching involves a lot of patience. I've put in about 60 hrs over the last 3 weeks. Still about 15% more to completion. The sight of the beautiful piece gave me pure satisfaction.

About plant It’s a great day today. Everything on schedule. 9.30 am and I am already done at the gym. My son showed me the thumb after his first mouthful of pasta at 11.30 am. The best is I’ve already prepared Garfield’s favourite food (guess what that is) for our dinner and also two extra trays for the freezer.

Just before I took my seat in front of the computer, I was admiring some flowering plants (Portulaca or Japanese Rose) which I planted 2 months ago. A very easy to manage and maintenance free plant. Wow ! the blooms are just fantastic and colorful. All these while I thought I was just hopeless when it comes to gardening. Either the plant just died or looked half dead (except of money plant – even

these gave up on me at times). However, everything changed two weeks after I started planting the Portulaca. A few buds started appearing and I began paying more attention to other plants as well. More diligent in watering and giving fertilizers for growth and flowers. One and a half months now, I can really see the difference in all the plants. SATISFACTION – all that I can say. I now strongly believe that all living things need love and attention to grow and to be healthy. By the way just for your information, I plucked the Portulaca at the workshop I sent my car to for repair work. Just got 3 stalks of about 4-5 inches. Had actually wanted to take more but on second thought felt it was not a nice thing to do. So just settled with one color each.