It’s been a fun and exhausting three days but it’s not over until our flight lands in Dubai. My only goal now is to make sure that all of my clients will get in the flight and no one will be left behind.

I’ll post what happened during this trip once I have the energy to do it. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with some photos from this journey to Istanbul.

**There is no door separating my room and my bathroom (except to the loo which is tucked in a small enclosed corner on the side). And yes, you can open the curtains and pull up the blinds so that everyone can see that you are taking a shower or lounging in the bath tub.

**Efes Pilsen – a local Turkish beer. It was ok; more of like a mix of San Miguel Pale Pilsen and San Mig Light.

**The way to the top of Mount Uludağ. We took a cable car going down the mountain. I survived despite my fear of heights.

Despite my ridiculous fear of heights, the part of the Bursa tour that I’m looking forward to is the cable car ride to Mount Uludağ.

I seriously hope that it won’t be too windy when we do our tour. I would die if the cable car starts rocking back and forth; left and right.

For this trip, I also need to make sure that I get to visit Hagia Sophia. It was disappointing that I wasn’t able to go in the last time I went to Istanbul. Going inside this enormous monument would be THE highlight of my trip. *fingers crossed*

It’s 12:29am. It’s time for me to a get an hour or two of sleep and then it’s off to the airport to start this journey.

Nowadays, one would now need to sign up for a schedule to submit the documents because the consulate would only accept a certain number of applications in a day. An applicant may wait in the lobby and hope that some of the people who booked an appointment will not show up that day. But to be on the waiting list, one will have to be at the consulate at 7:30 am (the office opens at 9:00 am).

So earlier today, I woke up as early as possible and went to the consulate to try my luck. I was able to schedule an appointment on 28 August but there is a big possibility that 29, 30 or 31 August will be a holiday and I am scheduled to travel on 01 September. Given my time/day constraints, I really had to try.

When I arrived this morning, I was already number 44 out of more than 60 people waiting in the lobby. One by one, numbers were being called out.

1. 5. 12. 18. 24. 29. 33. 37. 42. 43.

I was anxiously waiting, standing beside the reception desk and silently hoping that my number would be called.

Suddenly the guy in the front desk stood up and said that all the tokens for the day were finished and informed all remaining applicants to come back the next day. Just imagine the horror, grief, anger that I felt. I thought of making a scene but I know that it wouldn’t help Heck, they might not even grant me a visa and forever ban me from their country so I decided to leave with a heavy heart.

Now my plan is to go to the consulate as early as possible to hopefully be the first in the waiting list and have a greater chance of submitting my application. I just hope that I can wake up early to do that, haha.

The song reminds me of Pinay Flying High. This goes out to you. Haha.

To say that I was excited to watch the final Harry Potter movie is an understatement. I was really, really, really, really looking forward to seeing the movie that I traveled for 2 hours from my home in Cavite to Makati the watch the film by myself. I don’t mind going to a theater and watching a movie alone. Sometimes I think it’s a whole lot better just going there by myself because I get to immerse myself in what I’m watching. (Note: I was in the Philippines last week because my grandmother died. I only came back to Dubai last night).

So going back to the movie. Hmmm. Where to start?

Overall, the movie for me was underwhelming. Compared to Part 1 which I thought was fine, Part 2 was a bit less than ok. I don’t want to say it was disappointing because the film had its moments (some expected and some surprising). But as a whole, it didn’t make me feel the same emotions I felt when I was reading the book.

Granted, there were A LOT of things that happened in the final chapters of the Deathly Hallows and it cannot all be cramped in a 2 hour movie. I understand that part but I was hoping they would have embraced more  what was written in the book.

As for the effects, I thought it was superb and it was a treat watching it in 3D . Maggie Smith (who played Professor McGonagall) and Julie Walters (who played Molly Weasley) was amazing despite a relatively small screen time. Same goes for Matthew Lewis who played one of my favorite characters in the series, Neville Longbottom. I’m glad that David Yates highlighted his character by giving him some funny and dramatic moments in the final movie.

In the end, other than being underwhelmed, I also felt a bit sad. It was difficult not to get teary-eyed not because like Michael Jackson said, “This is it.”. Any Harry Potter fan who has followed the books and the movies for years would feel that a chapter of his or her life has finally come to a close. However, this not really THE END. So as long as there is someone who reads the books and watches the films, Harry, Ron , Hermione and everyone in the Potterworld will live on.

I must have watched this movie more than 10 times and it still makes me laugh and smile (and it made me want to go and see Greece too). Nia Vardalos is terrific as the uptight, history professor/tour guide Georgia. The supporting cast is as nutty as its lead although they are stereotypical. My favorite tourist is Dorcas, the thieving granny.

As I watch this movie now, it makes me look back at my own personal experience handling a group of tourists from different countries and backgrounds. I remember being scared but excited, clueless but eager to do a good job and to make my clients happy at the end of the trip. Fortunately the past three groups that I handled went well despite a few hiccups here and there. 

There are several groups lined up for the coming months (especially for the Eid holidays) and I can only hope it will remain to be exciting, challenging and full of learning experiences.

May 13 – My friends Karima and John invited me to party at Yas Hotel in Abu Dhabi. I’ve never been to Yas Hotel or Yas Island before so I was quite excited when I got the invite. Although I was a bit hesitant to say yes because I was feeling a bit shy, I’m glad I went. We traveled in style and got picked up by a swanky black stretch limo from Jumeirah Beach Residence. Everyone had an amazing time as we partied the night away until past 3 am (which was surprising because the party ends at 3am in most Dubai clubs). 

May 21 – I went to Wild Wadi for the first time. My Al Qouz friends asked me to tag along for a day of crazy water slides under sweltering summer sun. I originally wanted to go just to see what Wild Wadi has to offer and then sleep the rest of the day because I was up until past 3 am cleaning my flat. However the moment we got there, all the slides and activities in the water theme park got me eager to try almost all of them (I didn’t dare to go to the Jumeirah Sceirah due to my fear of heights). My favorite was the Flow Rider lesson. The long wait in the queue was definitely worth it because I was able to do several tricks even if it was my first time doing it.

The past two weeks had also been quite tough.

Two weeks ago, I got the news from my mom that my paternal grandmother got hospitalized because of a brain stroke. She was in the ICU and wasn’t doing well. After a few days, she was let out of the ICU and was able to go home however my mom said she’s not the same. She said that my Lola Mading was having trouble recognizing people and seemed really week.

Last week, my mom called me again and told me that my lola was in the hospital again. My father, who was flying back home for vacation, was able to see my grandmother and look after her. My aunt who lives in Thailand also went home to see my lola.

I’m glad that my dad, uncles and aunt are all in the Philippines to be with my grandmother even though I can’t be there. It’s not that I don’t want to – I know I can get a staff ticket and go home pronto. It’s just that going home seems so presumptuous that my lola is on final days or weeks. I still cling to my faith and hope that she will be better. My mom told me that she will let me know if things are getting worse.

My only other worry now is how to help my parents pay for the hospital bills. After having a talk with my uncles and aunt, my mom and dad are now tasked to clear and settle the hospital bills which are already running quite high. I promised my mom that I would give them half of the 12 week bonus I’m going to get this month. However it’s still is not enough to cover all the expenses. I feel really crappy not being able to provide more financial support to my parents. Given the circumstances, I might have to borrow money from the bank to help further with the bills.

The past weeks had definitely been challenging, exhausting and interesting.

I hope the coming weeks would be better.

After watching Fast Five, it was a bit difficult how tell my friends what I thought about the movie. I was expecting the movie to be as formulaic as it’s predecessors but surprisingly it was quite different.

Overall, the tone and feel of the movie was different compared to the four previous films. Fast Five had less car chases and street races and more action/fight scenes. My favorite fight/chase scene was when Dominic (Vin Diesel), Brian (Paul Walker) and Mia (Jordana Brewster, still as hot as ever) were running away from the goons hunting them in the infamous favelas of Rio de Janeiro. It was a very scenic and interesting location to shoot a chase scene and I would have done the same if I made the film.

As a viewer, I must admit that the movie was entertaining. It had a lot of funny moments – the craziest (and grossest) would be the toilet explosion. However the personal retribution angle was kind of dragging and the half-baked Ocean’s Eleven-ish heist was a definite downer. Just when you think that the Vin Diesel and his gang would be cracking their heads to steal a million dollars, they ended up cracking their fists instead and trashing half of Rio in the process.

In the end, Fast Five was an escapist big budget Hollywood movie. Its only saving grace for me was that the tone and approach was moving towards the right direction. However there’s still a lot to work on. And as I walk out of the theater, all I could do is hope that the sixth (and last as per film’s Wikipedia page) film won’t just be all brawn and very little/no brain. That’s too much to hope for I know but who knows? We all might just get surprised when movie comes out.

Be Kind Rewind is my second favorite Michel Gondry film (next only to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). It’s such a fun movie to watch. Jack Black and Mos Def were both ridiculously funny. 

Despite the crazy series of events that lead the characters to created Sweded versions of well-known movies, one would realize that the core of this movie is about film and filmmaking itself – the creative process, the production, the camaraderie and team work and most importantly the joy that movies bring to everyone. I hope I still have the chance of doing the same someday and this movie is a good reminder of that I don’t need fancy cameras or a big budget to do a film (although it would help a lot). All I need is a camera, a fantastically creative team and a brilliant story idea to create movies that everyone can enjoy.