Miya Daldal: I love you, Mommy

Miya has learned to say 'I love you' on her own. Sometimes she says it in the middle of breastfeeding. But most of the times, she says it when she knows she did something wrong. Like tonight, I reprimanded her because she tore the books that her Lola gave her over the weekend. We stood in the corner and I talked to her. She knows I'm sad because of what she did. I've been teaching her to take care of her things because she tends to destroy her things.  So while nursing she told me, "Sorry Mommy. I love you. Di ko na uulitin yung punit ng books." Anak, I love you too. Please grow up to be a good and obedient daughter. :)

Pakistan 2013: Going Home

13-14 April 2013

 

After 5 nights away from my family, it was finally time to headback home. We left the site in the morning and again travelled to the nearest airport by land for two hours. It was already late afternoon by the time we arrived at Islamabad again for our flight back home to Manila. As I've shown you here, we stayed at the client’s own accommodations for guests. It’s very fortunate that they had connections because we were able to bypass all the security checks going inside the airport. I think, we were led to a different lounge area of the airport. The only thing we had to go through was the immigration check. Our hosts checked-in our luggages for us. Here we are lounge area.

 

Sorry I was really so happy with this top that I bought in Islamabad, hence, the medyo OOTD photo.

 
This business trip hallmarked my first time away from my husband and family since I had them in my life. I wrote here before my anxiety about this trip. There wasn’t a time during this trip that I didn’t cry after talking to them over the phone. I wasn’t able to access the free wifi at the hotel we stayed at so we weren’t able to facetime as we had planned. My phone bill amounted to P6000 after this. You can just imagine how excited I was to finally head on back home. As with the flight going to Islamabad, the flight back to Manila also had a stop in Bangkok. Was able to roam around the airport for a few minutes before going to the gate.

Finally with these two again!!!

Eating the chocolates I brought back home. Don't they look alike in this photo.

As with anything, there are good things and bad things. I missed them so much but there was still a good thing this trip brought us. They bonded during the time I was away. Miya was finally able to sleep without direct feeding from me. When I got back home she was able to sleep on her own without nursing (will make a separate post on how we sleep trained her). And I guess in a way, I got back on the groove of being me again. Being my own being.

Pakistan 2013: Project Site

12 April 2013

Although the night (more like morning) before, we slept very late because of our flight and land transportation (we slept at around 2am!), this was a very loooong day for all of us. We started with a 10am meeting and then had a walk through inside the plant just before lunch.

Under the scorching heat of the sun

We were able to have some rest time after lunch while our clients had their Friday prayer (Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country). Good thing we had some downtime because it was still a full afternoon and evening for all of us.

Playing a local game

Afterwards, we went around the site to check the nearby areas. I was with our safeguards team and they had to interview the locals. This was inside one of the residential compounds in the area. Their houses are made of bricks and in a rectangular shape. In this compound, there are four families who live here. This maybe the poorest of the poor. This is in contrast with the wealthy residential areas we saw in Islamabad.



 

We're wearing shawls because it was just sooo hot!!! Imagine it wasn't summer when we went there but the temperature was at 37 degrees much like the summer here in Manila. During summer, the temperature there can go up to 50 degrees.



 

 

More photos of the locals and the surrounding areas after the jump...

Pakistan 2013: Islamabad Airport

11 Arpil 2013

On this day, we didn't really have any meetings set because we were schedule to fly out of Islamabad and go to our project site. Unfortunately, Pakistan's national carrier PIA is known for it's delayed flights. Our flight was supposed to be at lunch time that day but was delayed later that evening. While at the airport, our flight was delayed again. Oh well, Cebu Pacific and PAL prepared me for these conditions :) Our group actually went shopping again that afternoon before heading to the airport. I was able to buy a Pakistan cricket jersey for Joema (he uses it when he's jogging) while my colleagues bought other pasalubong items.

Let me share with you what I saw in their airport.




This was one of the bathroom stalls. Not every stall has this, most have toilet bowls. The last time I saw this was in HK.

 

They had a crib inside the bathroom for mommies to use when changing baby's diaper.

Departure area for local flights

We arrived very late at our destination. After our flight, we had to travel for 2 hours by land. We all fell asleep during the ride. 

Pakistan 2013: Dinner at Monal Restaurant

Continuation from here...

10 April 2013

After our meetings with the client, we were able to go back to the hotel to rest for a bit. I wanted to take a nap before again going out for dinner but I wasn't able to. Must be jet-lagged. We were picked up at the hotel around 5pm. But before going straight to dinner, me and my lady colleagues went to the F-6 market. We went to this handicraft store where they sold everything you can think of that was made in Pakistan - from clothes to home decors to shawls. I was able to buy a few local tops (the embroidered ones) and a shawl. We then went up Margalla Hills again to eat at Monal Restaurant. The gentlement in our group decided to hike going up to the restaurant. We were so glad we didn't come with them hehe.

 

 

The view from the restaurant was amazing! And you can just imagine how cold it was since we were almost at the top of the mountain. This was higher than Daman-e-koh.

 

This was also the first time I was able to try Islamabad's local dishes. For our lunch the day before, we went to a Chinese restaurant and then for lunch that day they ordered Pizza Hut (I know right?). The night before at The Polo Lounge, the food was continental. But really, one of the other things I was worried about for this trip (yes I had many anxieties for this trip) aside from security in the area was the food. I'm not really fond of curry-based food - well, I thought their food was curry-based. Boy, was I so wrong. I loved their food! I just coudn't take how spicy their food was! I wanted to eat more but my I felt that my tongue would explode from my mouth, it felt that it was getting bigger and bigger by the minute because of all the spice!

 

 

Here's our whole group with our client.

Panorama shot of the restaurant

Pakistan 2013: First Two Days

Sorry for not blogging as often these past couple of weeks. But to make up for it, here's a rather lengthy and picture heavy post - a continuation of my Pakistan posts.

*******

8-9 April 2013

 

As I’ve mentioned, we arrived in the late evening of our first day/night in Islamabad. We didn’t do anything but check-in to our hotel. Along the way to the hotel, we saw some campaign posters. It was campaign season too in Pakistan at that time. Their elections were held May 11, I think, while we had ours (Philippine elections) on the 13^th.

Looks like Manila, right? With the campaign posters and concrete barriers along the road.

 

The next day aside from our meetings with the client, we were able to go around the city. Thanks to our very generous client. After our meetings, we were able to freshen up in our hotels and then they picked us up for dinner and some sight seeing. We first went to Pakistan Monument.

 

From Wiki: “The Pakistan Monument in Islamabad, Pakistan is a national monument representing the nation's four provinces and three territories. After a competition among many renowned architects, Arif Masood’s plan was selected for the final design. The blooming flower shape of the monument represents Pakistan's progress as a rapidly developing country. The four main petals of the monument represent the four provinces (Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Sindh), while the three smaller petals represent the three territories (Gilgit-Baltistan, Azak KAshmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas). The Monument has been designed to reflect the culture and civilization of the country and depicts the story of the Pakistan Movement, dedicated to those who sacrificed themselves for future generations.”

 

Then we went up to Margalla Hills to visit Daman-e-koh. But before going to Daman-e-koh, we stopped by the road to take a photo with the Faisal Mosque.

 

 

From wiki: “The Faisal Mosque is conceived as the National Mosque of Pakistan and named after the late King Faisal bin Abdul Aziz of Saudi Arabia, who supported and financed the project.

The largest mosque in South Asia, the Faisal Mosque was the largest mosue int he world from 1986 until 1993, when it was overtaken in size by the newly completed Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca, Morocco.”

With my colleagues and client

Explore Daman-e-Koh after the jump...

A to Z

Thanks to Marsy for tagging me and sorry it took me a while to do this hehe. Here are my A to Z.

A. Attached or Single? Attached.
 
B. Best Friend? My dear husband.

  

Totoy and Nene in 2001

C. Cake or pie?  Cake

D. Day of choice? Friday and Saturday!

E. Essential Item? My eyeglasses – I am legally blind whatever that means hahaha. But true I’m blind without my eyeglasses. I think my grade now is 5.00 and 5.25.

F. Favorite color? I don’t think I have a favorite. But for clothes, now I prefer the neutrals like black or grey or navy blue.

G. Gummy bears or worms? Gummy bears

H. Hometown? Lower Antipolo

I. Favorite Indulgence? Spa with the hubby

J. January or July? January, my birthday month and my daughter’s birthday month. It’s also my great grandmother, grandmother and brother’s birthday month. And my parents’ wedding anniversary month. January is pretty special in our household J

K. Kids? One at the moment J

L. Life isn’t complete without? Family. You know I’ve been telling Joema, we should live in a far away place like in the province (near or at the beach) or a country, just the three of us. I can live without my work, without the material things as long as I have them with me.

M. Marriage date? 8 November 2008. We’ve been married for almost 5 years! Wow! Ahahaha! 

 

 

 

N. Number of brothers/sisters? 1 brother. But my brother and I should have had 3 more siblings. My mom had 3 miscarriages in the 90s.

O. Oranges or Apples. Oranges

P. Phobias? I’m afraid of heights. There was this time when my friends and I went to Ilocos and went up the Cape Bojeador Lighthouse. I was with friends and I couldn’t chicken out of going up so I went up with them. I was able to smile for the camera while we were up there but I was crying halfway down the lighthouse. I felt like my legs were melting like jell-o.

Q. Quotes? Time is gold ahahaha!

R. Reasons to smile? My daughter and my hubby.

Love waking up with these two beside me

S. Season of choice? Summer. I love going to the beach!

T. Tag 5 People. Anna, Anj, Dins, Liz and Pepper.

U. Unknown fact about me? I'm afraid of lizards. As in! This started in college when once during our "tambay" periods a classmate of mine put a toy lizard at my back. I thought it was a real live one! I freaked out and cried!

V. Vegetable? Okra. I know a lot of people don’t like okra because it’s slimy but that’s actually what I like about it hehe.

W. Worst habit? Scratching my head and plucking out my hair haha.

X. Xray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound

Miya's first "photo"

Y. Your favorite food? Sinigang

Z. Zodiac sign? Aquarius