Keep Calm and Stay Vaklush...

Vaklush is a colloquial, coined Tagalog (Filipino) word which means gay, happy, merry or simply associated with a positive, cheerful disposition. 

Most of my friends address me as Badaf or Vaklush because of my cheery, optimistic disposition associated with my distinct high pitched (?), loud, resonating laughter. Hahahaha I still remember ex colleagues and even current colleagues telling me that they know that I am within the work area because of my laughter.  Hehehehe 

As I struggled with anxiety disorder and panic attacks, I must admit that there was a point that I felt a totally different person - I was afraid, I missed my laughter, I was restless, I was very cautious.  Thank God with His healing grace and compassion, with my medication, and my other physical activities such as acupunture, footing, meditation, I am slowly going back to my normal life.  Needless to say, I still have a looooong way to go. 

As I reflect in this period when I fought anxiety (and continue to fight it), one of my biggest take away (this is so corporate term hahaha) is the need to stay calm.  It is actually a skill that can be practiced and acquired.  When faced with restlessness, sudden confusion, discomfort, our first reaction is to pant, to panic... But staying calm, closing our eyes, taking a deep breath, feeling and relaxing our muscles, calm our nerves, calm our thoughts to the point that we can just shrug off the panic/anxiety attack.  Meditation has been very helpful in helping me practice mindfulness and applying techniques to fully live the present moment. 

Aside from staying calm, the young at heart hahaahhaa and the positive soul in me would like to add to STAY VAKLUSH.  :) In my terms, staying vaklush means: 

1.  Consistently arming ourselves with a happy thought - family anecdotes, crazy movie scenes or whatever that will always spark a sudden feeling of happiness in us. Sometimes, looking at photo albums also rekindle beautiful memories.  

2.  SPOTIFY!!!! Music!!!  I once read a quote saying "can you imagine a world without music?"  That must be terrible.  Music is like food to our soul.  Right now music is very accessible.  So load your mobile phones, tablets with playlists that are close to your heart.  I have a wide variety of collection in my Spotify.. I have mindfulness/anti stress,  old songs (Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams era hehehe), pop music, soundtracks, Korean and Mandarin Pop, and of course Tagalog and Spanish songs.  I have an emotional connection with these playlists. This also means that we can sing to our hearts delight and it does not matter if we are out of tune! At this age, nobody should care. Hahahahaha 

3.  Feel Good.  This is an overall package/overall feeling of feeling good, looking good and loving your aura.  Feeling good means embracing, sincerely accepting our limitations and our imperfections (after all, nobody is perfect), dwelling and nurturing our strengths as they will enable us to contribute better, acquiring a new skill to hone our capabilities and sometimes looking good.  Looking good does not mean buying the most expensive shoes, bags, clothing, jewelry that is available in the market.  Rather looking good is being comfortable in your skin.  I know that I am already in my early 40s but during summer, I am most comfortable wearing shorts and cotton shirt.  Maybe too casual for a mom like me, yet it works for me.  During winter, I love wearing mini skirts with my wool socks.  They key here is to love your reflection in your mirror.  To always smile.  It is a mental mindset and yes! it is achievable! 

4.  Take care of yourself.  Charity begins at home.  You cannot give what you do not have.  If you are exhausted, it is quite difficult to give a sincere, happy, joyous love and service to your family.  You may easily snap in the process.  Taking care of ourselves is crucial because this means that we must listen to our body.. When we are tired, we puase, stop and prioritize our things.  Not even Noah´s ark was built in one day.  We need to prioritize our household chores, we need to have a work life balance sometimes in spite of the long hours at work plus the commuting time.  Taking care of yourself also means pamper yourself... on a weekend, which I usually do, I fill my tub with hot water and I spend half an hour just soaked in the water; taking care of one´s self also means putting a facial mask every other day, haing your nails done, going to the salon or simply having your me time even if it meant eating alone in McDonalds or in the Ritz Hotel restaurant.  I am not afraid to eat alone. In fact, to me it is a sign of personal strength and I am a firm believer that eating alone is healthy because you actually disconnect and just enjoy the process of eating. :)  Travelling/going on vacation is also a good therapy.  

5.  Stay connected with people that matter to you:  never be afraid to make the first move to get in touch. Surely, there will be times that your call will be rejected or your message is not answered but keep in touch.  This has been very helpful to me as I am living outside my country of birth and I am far from my closest friends. 

6.  Buy beautiful, colorful flowers as they add up character in your mansionette. Hahahaha 

7.  Sincerely praise people and sincerely look on the positive characters of people.  Let us not dwell on the negative. 

8.  Watch Korean Dramas. Hahahahaah 

9.  Laugh to your heart´s desires.  Laugh loud, as if there is no tomorrow. 

10.  Pray.  When man prays, God works.  Nothing is impossible with God. 

I continue to be a work in progress but I am hopeful that everything will be back to normal.  I will continue to KEEP CALM AND STAY VAKLUSH, for my sanity, peace of mind and for my family.  So help me God!!  

Happy weekend!!! 

I love Madrid. I love Spain.. My second home..

By now, it is already a known fact that I am an Asian living here in Madrid, Spain.  In my previous blog posts, I have talked about my adjustments.  It was not a bed of roses but it has been a blessed, beautiful and challenging experience. 

This blogpost is lovingly dedicated to my second home, Madrid, Spain who has openly accepted/adopted me as its own child.  Though I maintain dual citizenship, I can say spending the last decade here in Madrid has been an eye opener and I am very grateful for this experience.  

Madrid is the capital of Spain.  It is huge, enormous city and I will only talk about my daily lifestyle and the beauty of being a Madrileño :) living in the city centre. :)  

1.  Madrid as Spain´s capital and as one of the biggest cities in Spain, provides professional opportunities.  Many multinational companies have their satellite offices here in Madrid or in Barcelona.  This is good because it provides options for us, skilles foreigners.  

2.  Although Madrid is also a melting pot as you can see a wide variety of races and nationalities and more and more people are inclined to speaking in English, it is still imperative to learn and speak Castellano.  Madrileños/Spanish in general are very accommodating and helpful to foreigners learning Castellano.  

3.  The Madrid Community offers a wide variety of services to the citizens.  We have bilingual public school system for pre-school, primary and middle school.  From what I heard, university education is still affordable.  Our taxes are still properly managed :) as we can still avail of public medical services through our social security.  I would like to commend the public health system for the newborns, infants and children.  Even if my son has a private insurance, we still go to the public health system because of its impeccable attention, service and protocol to childcare.  The same applies to adults however, there is a longer queue. :)  There are also public residences and services for older people.  For younger adults, below 26 years old, they have discounts in their public transport cards.  

4.  The Madrid school system also offers services for families below a certain income bracket providing them financial assistance so that the children can avail of lunch in the school (this way, the parents´work schedule will not be disrupted) and discounts for the school supplies and materials. 

5.  Madrid has invested a lot in its public transport system.  We have a very, mega efficient public bus, train (inter city, intracity and long trips), metro/subway transport systems.  Prices are very reasonable compared to Italy and France.  :) Schedules are usually complied to.  This is very convenient for us, the working class who move around a lot using the public transport system.  

6.  Madrid is a clean, orderly, safe and secured city.  We have our special numbers to call should there be cases of emergencies and the response rate is immediate.  The Madrid city administration makes sure that the roadsweepers regularly clean the streets and that the public waste system is very reliable.  

7.  Although we do not have a beach here in Madrid, unlike in Barcelona, it is compensated with the parks that enable the people to enjoy picnics/sunbathing during the hot summer.  We have the Retiro Park and Madrid Rio as two of our biggest and well maintained parks.  Retiro Park can be the equivalent of Central Park of New York.  Madrid Rio boasts of its man made water spring (chorros de agua) where the people can stay up all day and simply enjoy getting wet and refreshed with the water.  

8.  Department stores, Police stations, churches, medical clinics, hospitals, groceries, drugstores, schools, museums and other entertainment places (bars/resturants) are accesible in Madrid!!! 

9.  Madrid has its own brand/trademark for its nightlife. When my husband and I were younger and prior to our mortgage jajajaja, we did our fair share of the Madrid nightlife! Jejejejeje 

10.  Every Christmas season, people go crazy, jolly, cheery and all participative with the Loteria de Natividad (Christmas lottery) where a hefty amount of money is awarded to the winners!!!

11.  Madrid is home to the well known Prado Museum, Templo de Debod, Royal Palace and Almudena Church, Plaza Mayor, Escorial, Las Rozas Shopping Village,  MAN: Museo Arqueologico Nacional Madrid to name a few.  We also have the Gran Via which is equivalent to the Time Square/Fifth avenue of New York.  

12.  Madrid is a kid friendly city to raise your children.  Aside from the quality education and reliable protocol for child care, Madrid has a big theme park (Parque de Atracciones), Madrid Zoo, Faunia, Museo de Ferrocaril and other treats to the children! There are so many educational options for children.  During summer, summer camps are also available to enable the parents to continue working, manage their holidays and at the same time keep the children entertained and busy.  

13.  Madrid winter is light compared to other European countries! Certainly, we need to wear our winter coat, boots, etc but the sun is always up!  On good winter nights, we are fortunate to have the sun still up until 630pm.  There are days that we have sunny winter!! This is a big bonus for a tropical animal like me. Hehehehehe. 


I am always proud to be a Filipino and my Filipino blood is always with me.  But I will always be grateful to Madrid for all of the opportunities and new experiences that it is giving me and my family.  I continue to hope and pray that in spite of the economic crisis (high rate of unemployment),  corruption within the royal family and the public servants and other political issues surrounding the government, we will continue to enjoy our social and public services and that Spain will continue to be a great country especially for the next generations.  So help us God!! 

Here are some snapshots of the beautiful Madrid!!! 

Catedral de Almudena 

 Casa Toni

 Sangria in Mercado de San Miguel

 Madrid Zoo

 Mom and I enjoying the efficient Train System

Mom in Plaza Mayor

 Mom in Callao

 Mom in Plaza de España (Don Quijote) 

 Beauitful weather 

 Street name

 Cuesta de Moyano

 Paseo de Florida

Parque del Buen Retiro

The Amateur Cook in Me.. Picadillo Filipino Style

This is my version of Picadillo.  I think this is called Picadillo in the Philippines, because from a Spanish perspective, picar/picada is ground meat.  The primar ingredient of this dish is ground meat. 

I am very fortunate that my son and husband are adventurous and not picky with food at all.  They enjoy the variety of Filipino and Asian dishes, as well as Continental food. 

This Picadillo dish is best served with hot, steamed white rice. 

Complexity:  Easy 
Preparation and Cooking time:  45 minutes 

Ingredients: 

1/4 ground meat (Good to serve a family of 3) 
1 cup of green peas 
1 medium sized potato, diced 
2 medium carrots, diced 
1 small onion, finely chopped 
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped 
tomato sauce 
1 teaspoon of sugar 
olive oil
1 small cupe water 
Salt (optional) - I do not usually include salt in my dishes.  

Procedure:

1.  Heat the pan and pour the olive oil. 
2.  Add the onion and the garlic.  
3.  Add the ground beef and let it turn brown, saute it with the garlic and onion. Add salt to tast, optional.  
4.  Add the veggies - potatoes, carrots and green peas. 
5.  Mix the tomato sauce and 1 small cup of water. Add the sugar to taste and to balance the acidity of the tomato sauce. 
6.  Let it simmer.  You will know that it is cooked when the veggies are in the right texture, ready for eating. 
7.  Serve with hot rice and it is so ready to go!! 

Enjoy.  Thank you.. 

Nurturing a Happy child..

As a mother, one of my greatest wishes and desires is to raise a happy, well balanced, kind hearted, love filled and secured child. Regardless of where I am, or who I am, or the circumstances surrounding me/us I believe that these aspirations are achievable as these are genuine desires of a mother. 

I am no perfect mother and I can honestly say that I will forever be a work in progress, as a mother, as a wife, as a daughter, sister, friend, professional, person until my last breath.  But this strong desire to continuosly improve and aspire to be better, to upgrade as a person are the very same values that will equip me to raise a loving, happy, kind and secured child. 

This blogpost springs from my heart as a mother.  I can honestly say that I am raising a happy, love filled, confident and secured child by consistently doing the following: 

1.  Being a present parent:  My husband and I need to work to pay off our bills and to improve our quality of life, but work always comes secondary to the needs of our son.  We do our best to be present in all of the important school activities and in his life.  This includes:  being interested in what our son is imparting/communicating to us, doing routine activities together, paying attention and ensuring that his needs are on the top of our list.  We organize our schedules and our agenda to keep us on our toes on the needs of our son.  

2.  Making time for each other:  We eat together whenever we can.  We make it a point that part of our weekends aside from doing household chores is spent with our son - in the park, museum, library, riding the bicycle.. JUST BEING TOGETHER!!! 

3.  We do routine and new things together such as learning to concoct a new dish, going to the grocery, watching movies and tv programs together, dancing, singing, walking, going to the church and sometimes, just simply sitting on our sofa with our books. We provide mechanisms so that our son can learn new things and eventually build new skills such as cycling, swimming, judo, etc.  

4.  WE TALK A LOT AND LAUGH A LOT TOGETHER.

5.  My son is already 7 years old and I let him make decisions and i let him reason out.  We engage in healthy arguments and we try to persuade each other to "buy" our point of view.  This method increases my son´s self confidence and capability to believe in himself.  

6.  I GO BIGTIME, SHAMELESS hahahaha in expressing my love for him and in praising him for his good deeds.. This is tricky though.  Because in as much as he must believe in himself, he should not be arrogant and he should be respectful of others.  So I always stress the importance of being polite and respecting our individuality.  

7.  I organize playgroups and I get in touch with the parents of his classmates so my son will have a group with whom he can play with.  This boosts his social and interpersonal skills.  

8.  THERE IS NEVER A DAY, NOT A MOMENT THAT I DO NOT LET HIM KNOW THAT I LOVE HIM. BECAUSE I LOVE HIM WITH ALL OF ME.  

9.  I use the carrot and the stick when appropriate.  I reprimand in private and I tell him nicely when he has done something that has disappointed me.  

10.  School definitely is fundamental, primordial, but I do no want him to be grade conscious.  I stress the importance of obtaining a passing mark but more importantly, I focus on the learnings,the lectures the rationale of the subjects.  

Having said of all these, I believe that my son is a happy child and I continue to hope and pray that he will continue to remain a happy, secured, confident, loving and lovable child. :)  

Parenting is not at all a walk in the park. It is like a roller coaster ride with all its ups and downs.  But as the adults, we as parents should always practice patience and continue to demonstrate love and affection to our children in its highest form. 

I thank God for giving me this opportunity to become a mom to my son and I continue to hope and pray that I will do good as a mom. So help me God!! 

Thanks for reading!!! 

***not my photos lifted from the internet. 

Welcome July and thank you June...

Officially, the 1st semester of 2018 has culminated.  

Many many thanks June for everything that you made me experience.  It was a roller coaster ride as I continue to recover from my anxiety, as I am still on medical leave, as I spend more time on meditation, yoga, acupuncture, therapeutic massages and footing.  My son finished the school year with extremely flying colors!! The high grades are icing on the cake but what is important is the discipline and the habits that my son have developed. 

Welcome July 2018.  For this month, we will celebrate my younger brother´s birthday.. I will continue to have medical appointments as a In aspire and work hard to go back to my normal life the soonest possible time.  And we will continue to enjoy summer in Madrid. 

Let´s all have a great time.  Take care!!! 

 *** not my photo. lifted from the internet...