Harry Potter Exhibit

A few weeks back I saw the banners advertising the Harry Potter exhibit near our office. I immediately sent a message to my housemates to ask them to visit the exhibit with me. They immediately said yes. Yay!

Good thing my friend, Jajah, bought tickets already because the line was long when we arrived at the ArtScience Museum at Marina Bay Sands. I practically skipped to the exhibit area because I was so excited! I started reading the books even before it became very popular and, of course, watched all the movies on the big screen.

As usual taking photos inside the exhibit was prohibited so we gamely posed for the photo (SGD20 per photo!). We all insisted on wearing the Gryffindor scarf.

The exhibit was composed of the costumes and set/props used during the filming of the Harry Potter movies and replicas of the creatures in the film. It was really interesting to see how different the size of the costumes were from book one to seven. The actors really did grow up together with the film. I loved seeing the detail on the fabric used for the costumes which were pretty intricate and depicted the personality of each character.

I found the design of the wands of the different characters amazing. They were described fully in the book, but in the film the complexity of the designs were not that obvious. I liked Professor Snape and Hermione's wand the most and would've probably bought the set if it wasn't that expensive (it's SGD350!). I wonder though if they sourced out the wands from different countries for the film because they all looked so different.

The creatures looked life-like. When I was reading the book I really couldn't fully visualize properly how the dementor looked like. They had one life-size one and it surely looked scary and cold. Not many people hung around the area where the evil creatures were located because they looked so real.

After seeing the exhibit I realized how much work they put into putting together the movie. It wasn't just about choosing the right actors for the characters, but building the whole "Harry Potter world"/Hogwarts. The attention to detail wasn't only on what the characters were wearing, but also on all the different sets/props used. All of this made bringing the story to the big screen a huge success. If you're a big fan of Harry Potter better check out the exhibit. It's open until September 30 this year.

Different Names

On the way home from the airport last night the uncle-taxi-driver called me Maria because he saw my name from my credit card. He was a really sweet man so I responded back by saying, "Uncle, only my Mom calls me by my first name and only when she's mad at me." This made the cab driver laugh and bid me a good night after carrying my luggage up the side-walk (half of the cab drivers here just leave you to lug out your bag from the compartment, they're only nice at the airport).

On the way up to the apartment I realized that there are only three people who dare call me by my first name -- my Mom (when she's mad), Monser (a childhood friend who thinks it annoys me when he calls me by my first name), and Ishi (a colleague who finds it endearing that majority of Filipino women have Maria in their name). Another version my former colleague Charif used to call me with was Mary Aileen.

I go by many different nicknames, but majority of people I know call me Aileen. My original nickname was Maileen which they used when I was a baby, but I probably looked more like an Aileen than a Maileen so that fizzled out. My favorite tita, Tita Olive, calls me Ai and sometimes Aiai. Some Ilonggo friends and colleagues like calling me Leen (especially Mr. Diago from DPC). In high school my seatmate Rica started calling me Apol, so if you call me by that name I know you're from my high school batch. When I was in college my org-mates called me Mamasan (haha, I don't exactly remember why they gave me that nickname).

Different names during different periods of my life and represents different roles that I play too. Nowadays I'm just usually Aileen, Mommy and Sweetie. =)

Gerald Anderson

Some of my friends would likely cringe at this post, but it's not everyday you meet a famous TV actor/movie star/endorser. I was just minding my own business, gobbling up lunch at Ranchero Grill (General Santos City) when my dear friend, Avel, said in a loud whisper, "Gerald Anderson just arrived!" He lost no time, stood up and brought all of us to his table to say hello.  

I admit I was starstruck. I didn't realize that he was so tall and hunky! And I usually prefer to keep my distance with stars since I feel shy around them. But since the opportunity presented itself I just had to have a photo with him (haha!).

A week later I was doing some volunteer work to help teach abused migrant workers on how to use the internet. The lead teacher said, "Have the students search for their favorite movie actor." The student assigned to me was Filipino and so I asked her, "Who's your favorite actor?" She proudly declared, "Gerald Anderson!" After she successfully searched info about him on Google I told her, "I'll show you something." I quickly showed her my photo with Gerald Anderson which I posted on Google+. The simple sharing I did made her smile and say, "Ate! Swerte mo!"

Lucky me!

Sawasdee Kah!

I took this photo a few months back during a visit to Bangkok. It was my first time to see Ronald McDonald in a different pose. Very unique indeed!


I'm back in Bangkok! =)

Colombo, Sri Lanka

This year has been full of surprises, most of them involving traveling to places I've never been to. I spent about 5 days in Sri Lanka last May. Each day was packed with work-related activities, but I still manage to take a few snaps (mostly while in transit). I was traveling so much during that month, I didn't have the time to read up about Sri Lanka, so I had no clue what to expect. I only knew that I had a packed schedule and I didn't have to worry about anything because everything was planned.

We arrived in the middle of the night and the airport was about 45 minutes away from the hotel. When we got to the hotel we were immediately whisked to our rooms by our personal butler (wow!) and we just checked-in from the room. I didn't have time to appreciate my hotel room because I crashed right after I took a shower. Woke up bright and early the next day because we had to head to our event. On the way to the venue of the event I noticed that there was a lot of military vehicles and personnel around the city. My favorite Sri Lankan, Rohan, said that there was celebration that was going to happen during the weekend and they were practicing for it. He also explained that the government wanted to "show force" since the war just ended recently. I didn't feel anxious at all because it was the same way in Manila after the EDSA Revolution and even years after that.

Looking around the city I felt like I stepped back in time and I realized that Colombo was a city that was built on its own. I did not see any foreign-owned gasoline station or shops. I did not see any large malls that is common in Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur. And guess what, I immediately fell in love with Sri Lanka after realizing that there are still places that are untainted with so much commercialism. It was a country that was built by its own people and everyone seemed so simple and focused on their own lives, their families. I'm probably being very naive about it, but that's the impression I got.

I love how the whole city seemed to be dotted with trees all over. And mind you the trees have obviously been around for a long time already. I spent some good time just looking at Colombo from the top floor of my hotel and wondered how they managed to preserve all the trees around the city. And since there were lots of trees, I observed that there were a lot of birds too -- different species!

When I arrived I noticed that there were a lot of ads at the airport about Dilmah tea. My favorite Sri Lankan, Rohan, explained to me that they are famous for Ceylon tea and that it's one of their largest export products. Sweetie loves drinking tea and always tells me to buy exotic tea for him whenever I travel. I made sure to find time to buy him some flavored tea and he said that he loves the stuff I bought for him. I also don't think I'd tire of drinking Ceylon tea with milk. It's just really perfect.

What I love about Sri Lanka is the people. They were so warm and friendly and I just felt right at home. I hope I'd be able to visit Sri Lanka again soon =)

Hello Morocco!

I was ecstatic when I found out that I was going to attend gMaroc. gMaroc is an annual Google conference held in Morocco. This year it was held in Mohammedia, a city between Casablanca and Rabat. To me Morocco is a faraway exotic land. One place that's on my wish list to visit.

One of my Mom's favorite movies is "Casablanca". When I saw it on the list of movies in the plane, I made sure to watch it.

Now I know where my Mom based her hair-do. 

I didn't get to see much of Morocco since I had to attend the event for two full days. I certainly loved the fact that we stayed at a beach hotel. It was the closest I got to a beach this year (poor me!). Much as I wanted to wade in the water or walk on the sea shore I didn't have time to do so (was badly jetlagged!). So I contented myself by taking some photos from my balcony.

Morocco is very different from all the places I've been to. I had my face plastered on the plane's window so I could check out the terrain. It was my first time to see a different kind of land. In Asia most of the places are either green because of trees and crops, in Africa everything was brown with a mix of black (still trying to figure out what those black spots were).

The culture is also unlike any I've encountered. Some colleagues told me that I should wear a scarf to cover my hair, but a friend who's visited Morocco said that I didn't need to since I was obviously a foreigner and they weren't that strict there. My plane seatmate also assured me that I was going to be okay without a scarf. I noticed though that only men and boys swam at the beach and the women were just sitting around covered from head to foot.

I had the chance though to learn more about local culture by chatting with some of the Google Student Ambassadors and Google Geo Advocates. I must've bored them a lot because I kept asking questions - mostly about how they conducted weddings and if their marriages were arranged (it used to be they said). Too bad though I wasn't able to sample any local food (we always ended up eating in French restos!), save for the Moroccan bread David passed around (it was yummy!).

Rick's Cafe is a replica from the movie (Casablanca).

Well, maybe someday I'd be able to visit Morocca again... but for a vacation!

*BTW, Filipinos don't need a visa to visit Morocco!

Josh' Art

Kids are really so creative. Here's some clay art made by Josh (my playmate!) during Jay and Miguel's birthday dinner. I never managed to make anything out of clay (except balls) when I was a kid. Thought I'd post some photos of his work of art so that someday he can take a look at what he used to do. 

Android and a little girl in while gown. 

Yum!

Android nomnoms the hotdog sandwich.

Gown gets dots. 

Android gets dressed up too.