Suki's First Day in the Philippines

Many of you may be wondering why I haven't updated this blog in two months. Well, a lot of things happened.

First, during Summer Vacation, you know how everyone always plans on accomplishing a whole lot now that you have an abundance of time? Hah! I wish... I spent my summer vacation being a couch potato. Eat, Sleep, Watch TV (or in my case, files of tv shows and movies i've had on my hard drive; we don't have cable haha!), and read dozens and dozens of fanfics (Harry/Draco is still my current muse).

I've also tried my hand at cooking real meals instead of just desserts and to be quite honest, I... i'm getting there haha! u.u #hatersgonnahate

Near the end of my summer vacation, one of my best friends from High School came by to spend three weeks with me here in the Philippines! I can't believe she flew almost 18 hours to get here (well, she spend some days in Korea and a few layovers here and there; let's just say it was an accumulated 18 hours on a plane).

Suki arrived on the morning of May 18.

We picked her up at the airport! It was really easy to spot her. It must've been really hot for her because she was wearing a cardigan and aaaa I don't even want to imagine how hot it must've been.

Suki and I took a selfie while waiting for her baggage to arrive on the carousel. My Dad was surprised because apparently Suki and I look similar? Maybe. (We tested out this theory a few days later when I snuck her into my school using my ID.)

Suki only had one checked-in bag instead of the usual two, but maybe that was because she came from Korea and not from the States; like, she spent a few days in Korea before coming here. It was also very daring for Suki to come over to this tropical country smack in the middle of summer! It is very very hot right now. (But now that she's left, the rainy season is starting, I think. I hope it might get cooler soon).

Traffic in Manila is bad but somehow on this day, there weren't much cars on the road. Suki observed that not all the roads in Manila have lines. I told her that the roads are mere suggestions for Filipino drivers.

When we got home, we had lunch with Lola Idang's Pancit Malabon and special Crispy Pata from somewhere else (I kind of forgot the name of the place because we only just started buying there).

While she was in Korea, she asked me if I wanted anything and I told her if she could buy some pretty weird snacks. I don't know how to read Korean but I'll try to describe or rate them. We tried them out the next day when my older sister was home.

Top row:

1. Hard candy in fruit cocktail flavor? It was pretty good and sweet.
2. Kicker knock-off KitKats... I actually like this more than KitKats. It had more chocolate than wafers :D
3. Squid flavor chips? It was kind of stale and boring.
4. FRIED CHICKEN CHIPS it was pretty good. It was shaped like fried chicken legs and tasted like KFC hahaha

Middle row:

1. Sun Chips: Spicy - wasn't that Spicy
2. Seafood flavor chips was kind of boring, it didn't taste much like seafood?
3. Cheetos in a flavor we weren't sure of tasted kind of stale as well :/ We think it lacked seasonings

Bottom row:

1. Larva??? Slugs??? it was pretty sweet and it was chewy candy and I loved it okay. A+ Packaging too
2. Ramen Chips?? They were chips that were shaped like those uncooked instant noodles and it tastes like those too and the seasoning was amazing and this is the best chip ever okay.
3. DIY Chocolate thing was very Asian and the chocolate and experience was pretty good too :D

Then Suki started taking pictures of our house and back and front yard and everything. The only reason I'm uploading this photo is because I've never actually posed with this as my background at all because when I take outfit shots, the sun is always directly on this side so it's kinda hard. But this is actually my favorite part of our yard because of.....

THIS TOILET POT. I think it was very creative of my parents to recycle our old toilet into a flower pot.

Lace shirt from Terranova, Striped dress from Greenhills halfassed "outfit shot" haha!

Then we figured it was too hot to stay outside so we went back to our room to bask in the glory of the air conditioner. We just watched a few Johnny's Entertainment videos from my hard drive. Mostly just KAT-TUN and NEWS, but I think on this day we watched Kanjani8's Neoki Dokkiri videos :D

When we were done watching, we asked our Dad to take us to Tea Farm (which I've posted about before).

When we got our change, we got a defaced 100 peso bill! 

I ordered my favorite Mud Slide and Suki ordered a Strawberry Milk Tea. Then we just waited for my sister to come pick us up to go home.

For dinner we had the best Beef Calderetta cooked specially by Kuya Boboy. I swear, every other Kalderetta in the world cannot compare to Kuya Boboy's Kalderetta.

On the next post... we go to Las Piñas. 

Analysis on Chinese-North Korean Relations

It's currently finals week at school which is why I haven't had time to post anymore outfit shots. 

As many of you know, I major in International Studies and these are the types of things that we do. Do I regret it? Maybe just a little, there are definitely times when I have no idea what I'm reading about. This may be one of them but I'm posting this here because gdi Flowboard is pretty. 

This presentation is for our "China and the World" class. If you want a copy of our paper, just comment down below or email me at vveramare@gmail.com :D (Also I just realized that I mention USCHINA the most on this blog, I swear we have different classes!)

view on Flowboard here!

Vanished Whiz-Bangs

Shirt: Ralph Lauren | Skirt: Greenhills | Jacket: Danskin Now (Walmart) | Shoes: Converse

In case you still haven't figured it out, this outfit is almost exactly the same as the previous outfit. I thought it would be appropriate because I called the last outfit "Wildfire Whiz-bangs". These are the magical fireworks produced by Fred and George, first seen in the Order of the Phoenix. You can't really do anything about those fireworks--when you try to get rid of them with a vanishing charm, they only multiply!

Thus, this outfit is the Vanished Whiz-Bang.

Alternatively, this can also be an allusion to time travelling or a different take on "repeating outfits". If you've been reading my blog for quite a while now, you would know that I started this blog as a log of what I wore so that I wouldn't repeat the exact same outfit the next week (not that I have any particular grievances towards outfit repeating; as my aunt would say "if it looks good and it works for you, then flaunt it.") 

bow: Pinkbox

See, I even took the accessorizing to the last detail by putting a bow--something that I'm setting out to be a staple piece of my daily outfits from now on (if I can take the over-girliness and the cutesy attributes it gives off).

Apart from outfit repeating, I'm also notorious for pose repeating. I do admit that I'm still uncomfortable in front of the camera (and it's probably going to be something I will forever be). I still feel goofy whenever I do this and finding flattering poses and angles is somewhat hard for me because I don't even see what the camera sees while I'm taking these pictures. These are what some people might call glorified selfies.

I even tried to put a chair on to try setting the focus with low aperture, but it still turned out blurry. Oh well. I really want a camera remote u.u

Or sometimes I would take pictures and it would be perfect and focused--BUT I WON'T BE ON THE PICTURE AT ALL. This can get frustrating sometimes and asking other people to take my pictures is even more awkward.

But sometimes, it works out, so it's all good. I'm waiting for my older sister to come home so we can finally watch Hannibal. If you are reading this and you haven't started Hannibal yet, go watch it now. You won't regret it (well, you might, if you're squeemish about the whole "omg he eats humans" thing).

Wildfire Whiz-Bang

Top: Mango | Skirt: Greenhills | Sneakers: Converse

I feel like this colorful outfit makes up for the black and white filled posts of last week.

I've always been hesitant to wear something this colorful but I've always always wanted to. I remember in high school, my school would have neon days for the night's football game. Back then I didn't really own anything neon or wore anything apart from the generic jeans + shirt + jacket + tennis shoes. This is why in college, I've opted to wear less jeans.

This post was supposed to be for yesterday but because I was too lazy to set up the camera, I asked my sister if I could borrow her phone instead. Transferring the files took too long--apparently, google and dropbox just wouldn't cooperate with our internet connection yesterday.

The files were too big, so when I finally downloaded it on my laptop, I immediately resized them. But hey, high quality photos, am i right?

Some photos were a bit overexposed though. I do admit that when I got home yesterday, the sun was too bright, but usually camera phones compensate for that right? Oh well

hair bow: Pinkbox

Also, this is the first time I've worn a bow on my hair! The other day my sister and I bought so much bows so expect to see me wear more bows in the future.

ring: H&M

I'm not sure if it's just the angle or if the phone camera does some weird things but my legs definitely look longer in these shots :D

I'm posting today's outfit tomorrow instead (and it's gonna be a big shock because.........). hahah!

AMSTUD Field Trip

On March 21st, my fellow American Studies classmates and I went on a field trip to the US Embassy in Manila (follow them on twitter and facebook)and to the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial.

I would've taken pictures but because I knew we were going to the US Embassy, I figured that we weren't allowed to bring electronics. This is why I went to school with nothing--no phone, no iPad, and foolishly enough, no ID (it was a good thing they still let me inside). However, my classmates brought their fancy smartphones and just surrendered them upon entrance.

Which is why all the pictures here were from my classmates. Mostly by Justine, though because she was my bus buddy!

This is the whole gang. My friends and I all sat at the very far end of the bus because that's where the cool kids sit. It's kind of funny how we were all told to wear blue--the passers-by must have assumed we were from our rival university.

Me and Justine with Alaine's derpy face. It was also really cold in the bus. 

We were obviously not allowed to take pictures in the US Embassy but what I can say is that I learned so much from the speakers they brought in at the Thomas Jefferson Information Center and that the interior and exterior of the place was amazing and filled with so much history. I can't wait to work there someday.

For lunch, we ate at Kpub BBQ (also on Facebook). It's one of those restaurants where they bring you your food raw and you'd have to cook it yourself which was very unfortunate for us because we weren't sure if the meat we were eating was already cooked. 

Later on when the attendant came by to get more of our orders, she told us that the meat we were cooking were already burnt. All of the meat we ate were burnt. Oops.

Here's everyone again.

Once finished eating, we all went to the parking lot to wait for the bus. It took a long time but at least we weren't waiting for the bus in the rain.

While waiting for the bus everyone went wild and took a whole bunch of oscar selfies. This guy on the bottom right is as big as a moose with a longer reach so he can include waaaay more people on his selfies.

and more goofy shots. 

Before going to the cemetery, we were told off for taking goofy pictures and were warned to pay respects to the dead and not be too hyper.

The cemetery was beautiful. This picture doesn't give justice to the symmetry and order of the crosses (and some Stars of David).

The chapel.

The view of Taguig

Justine

The Star Spangled Banner

Taguig. You can see the straight white rows behind the trees.

The place was massive.

Behind Justine you can see names etched on the wall. These are the people who were Missing In Action.

I felt really bad wearing my High School National History Club shirt because I sincerely don't want History to Repeat itself, but it was the only blue shirt I own and we were told to wear jeans and I really hate jeans as well.

This place was so pretty, ok? It was well kept and very peaceful. I wish I can return here soon.