HOME ABOUT ME CIRCLES OF LOVE CULINARY TRIUMPHS MY TRAVELS DISCOVERIES
All About Me
It was a rainy stormy evening in the
bustling city of Manila where I first opened my eyes. My mother is a half
Chinese and my father is an indigenous of the Philippine island. The day was
the 23rd of September 1964. I share common interest between the
Librans and Virgos. After earning my degree in Tourism, I decided to embark in
traveling to see the world right before my eyes. It was a staggering experience
to know what life is all about and the many wonders behind as you unfold it. As
a child, my great enthusiasm to explore the world has heightened my views and
perceptions in life. My wanderlust attitude has had brought me to different
parts of the globe. As a young student in my famous Alma Mater Plaridel High
School, I always had a fascination in world history, english and geography. My
friends had even witnessed my grades rocketed into academic excellence in those
subjects! On the contrary, I did struggle to get high grades in math and statistics, which I found
totally nerve rocking during my high school days.
I
remember my growing up years in Manila those was the days when life used to be
simple and we don't have any pre-occupation for tomorrow. Just earn a simple
living, bring the bacon home for the family and that was it. Those were my
growing-up years in our grocery store business. My father is from Bicol, the Briones clan of politicians, lawyers and
doctors from Camarines Sur, while my mother is a half cast Filipino and
Chinese. Running a small business in those years for my family means having
happy and satisfied customers at the end of a busy trading day. Everybody was
happy. No worries at all. In fact, they haven't had to think about up selling
or enhancing more state of the art products and services. Tama na yung notebook
and calculator to compute their daily sales. Walang computer or spreadsheets na
ginagamit!! Everything was done manually and we never do any sales forecast
what so ever. I was just happy then to have my birthday celebrated at home with
few invited friends. Those were my heydays!! My innocent childhood days!! Oh
the good old days!!!
I can still recall how I was determined to
get my college diploma. It gave me an utterly sense of achievement the moment I
got it. Bowled over to tell my mates that this is it. This is the beginning.
This is the start to win my dreams. My tour de force had just begun!
Apart from traveling, I am also a gourmet.
I enjoy cooking and hosting dinners. My insatiable appetite for food is a
heritage that goes back in my gene. On a lazy Sunday afternoon if not browsing
on the computer, I busy myself in the kitchen, trying on my latest recipe
conquest. My innermost passion in
cooking had prompted me to write and published my first International cookery
book, which is a collection of 111 international cuisines. It is entitled " I love Cooking" published last 2007.
Yes, I did live in Milan Italy for a
considerable amount of time before I moved to United Kingdom where I am now
based. It was an awesome experience getting the hang of the Italian culture.
The time I have spent in Italy had given me a vast opportunity to learn and
speak the Italian language. My incoherence to communicate with the Italians
during my early days in Milan had prompted me to learn the language with
eloquence.
Growing up in the lovely city of Manila,
has had given me a unique kind of perspectives to different cultures and
tradition. Coming from a mix-racial origin, I've got my first orientation of
foreign culture at such an early age. I'm not a computer whiz but I love
learning the latest innovation when it comes to web designing. My whims when it
comes to a salubrious lifestyle, beauty and harmony are stupendous, that I want
only the very best. I love catching- up on my Sunday papers. I watch a lot of
news, talk shows, soaps documentaries, films and travel programs. My day begins
in the morning with few minutes meditation, to envisage what I would like to
achieve for the rest of the day, whether in the domestic or career front. As
the day goes on, I pamper myself with a lavish thought of positive mental
attitude as I could also be volatile at times specially when the tough gets
going at work. As the evening wears on, I let my hair down, laugh whilst the
world giggles at me. This is indeed the
best cosmetic surgery one could ever have, as it slows or prevents the aging
effect on our visage. Music? Oh I'm a great music aficionado. Listening to my
favorites, it does bring out the best in me.
I have
years of experience working in the administration department both for legal and
financial side. I also had the opportunity to work in the reception and sales
dept.
My panache in the Italian language has had contributed a lot to win some more
clients in our foreign department. Achieving an excellent target on time has had always been my
priority in whatever task I was been delegated to do so.
I'm not a computer whiz but my keen interest in websites and power point slide
show has motivated me to create my own personal websites and numerous
collections of power point presentation ranging from simple recipe collections
to a more sophisticated words of wisdom presentation.
I have an excellent persuasion and communication
skills. The winds of change in my career had given me the full confidence to
achieve an excellent performance, building good rapport with our clients. My keen interest in International trade
business, psychotherapy, counseling, creative writing, traveling, cooking,
website designing and power point presentations coupled with my languages
skills has had paved the way for me to embark on various careers and managed
our own foreign trade business. My life might be a compelling saga to others
yet the euphoria that it brings into my life is such kaleidoscopic. Thanks to
our Lord Almighty that in my quest to see the world, He has armored me with
strong faith and devotion.
I love challenges and these what makes life too interesting for me. I believe
that "La Dolce Vita" is what we need to keep us going and makes us feel younger
all the time.
About my family
My daughter Audrey is a student
council president so from time to time I give her hand with their college
projects and speeches. She had just turned 18. Sometimes she got to represent the college
attending convention with the government ministers to talk about government
regulation acts, funding and implementing programs. So at times, she asked me
to give her advices and tips how to talk to those govt VIP's.
I guess this is the role of every mother to guide them and nurture them through out
the course of growing up and be there for them as they embark their quest on
the horizon. She is taking up ancient history and very keen to become a famous
Historian one day.
My husband Musty is a retired banker and he is into property business and works
together with me in our Foreign Trade Business. He is a British Pakistani and I
am Filipino Italian.
My family often get so annoyed
about me because of my tendency to drift and thrive for something that would
drain my physical energy and brain, anything from business, website designing,
cooking, to writing, to research, to sports, to home task!! In another words
adrenaline junkie! My doctor has had advised me not to engage in too much
strenuous activities and stressful mind-boggling task.
Nevertheless I would like to
dedicate more time to our foreign trade business and concentrate on my
psychotherapy and counselling courses. I guess at the end of the day, my time
is so constraint the fact that I have my family to attend to as well. I used to
work as a financial advisor for a UK finance firm for few years. It was last
Christmas that I have decided to change the course of my life and opted for a
different path. In a nutshell I have decided to redesign my life into a more
kaleidoscopic and empowering direction. So I guess I'm heading off for a great
change in life which is far more rewarding in terms of spiritual, personal,
family and health. I can see that my quest is over and I have found what I have
been looking for. In life, we go and search until we reach self-actualisation;
this is the culminating point of everybody's quest and desire in life. Beyond
the horizon, an opportunity lies for everybody in this world it could be a
career, a windfall, a soul mate or your own family..
My main motivating factor in
creating the idea of Say No To drugs, Say Yes to Healthy Lifestyle on Face book
is that I want friends to express their endowed thoughts in human interaction
by using drug addiction and promoting well being as the stimulus. Human
interaction and communication is not possibly achieved if there is no
stimulant, stimulus and motivating factor. They must be in congruence to our
purpose. We can create so many groups however if these three factors are
missing, it's going to be a non functional group, waste of space and time and
effort.
I'm not a philanthropist, but I think through the group site we can empower and
motivate people to open their hearts. I remember Mother Teresa of Calcutta, The
encounter I have had with her made so much difference in my life. I used to be
a voluntary member of Mother Teresa's missionary branch in Italy, every summer
I used to travel to India and bring some charitable donations from our Milan
headquarters and participate in some of her program in the early 90's. It was a
turning point of my life.
With Say no to drugs, drugs and health are the stimulant, The stimulus factors
are our crusade to stop drug addiction or fight drug abuse and, promote healthy
living, The motivators are the act of human kindness and quest for world peace
to prevent crimes
About Filipino Ethnicity and
Filipino Identity Crisis:
My pre-emption of thoughts on
the alienation of Filipinos in the Philippines and amongst our indigenous
Filipinos have long been rooted from birth until now and I guess this had
transcended our National Identity Crisis to catapult a government without a
governing law made by the people, because the people (we) that are meant to be
governed have lost their ethnicity and have been left wanderers of their
socio-cultural entities. Paradoxically, our ambivalence towards ethnicity had
created an alienated society amongst us Filipinos; the socio-cultural stigma
had been reprimanded to our social standing.
Like the foreigners, the Filipinos did not feel at home in the Philippines,
(our very own country) as they shared the same dream of striking it rich in a
foreign land. Our insular mentalities have built a massive wall of socio
cultural deviation amongst the Filipinos of various regions.
As a result it had perpetuated the epidermalization of inferiority that loomed
the country scores of generations. The rise in the socio and political upheaval
in the Philippines have brought nothing but chaos in the recognition of our
true national identity. This condition of prolonged oppression to our national
identity is one the key factor for unstable political and government system.
Sad to say, it�s been manifested in the lack of cooperation amongst us
Filipinos whose brain have been indoctrinated by the proliferation of many
pseudo American mentality. Why can�t we stick to our own history that we were?
Who were our ancestors? Immerse us to our past as drawn in our irrevocable
history. The timeline in our history is irreparable nonetheless of the
sufferings brought to our forefathers, in retrospective we can only look back
and be impassioned to our deluded past but it does not justify that we
completely kept a blind eye who we were. The truth that we us Filipinos are the
living proof of our national identity, it is the foundation of our ethnicity,
accept who we are and by doing so, it would avoid backlash. Our heritage from
our Spanish colonizers will tell that we have our very own identity but people
are in denial because of the resentment that it brought to our colonial era.
The genetic or lineage that runs most in our vein is a factual account that we
have had Spanish descendant that is incorporated in majority of the Filipino
names and surnames. I don�t know what seems mesmerizing for some people to
propagate a crusade to change the name of our country? Those are dysfunctional
people who want to change the course of our own history because of revulsion.
As a country, we have had never been integrated at all, why? This is attributed
to bigoted and fallacious opinions that corrupted the minds of so many
Filipinos. These are chronic diseases of malignant ideologies for our country
that no curative or palliative treatment had been found yet. I can only hope
that one day We Filipinos would see the beacon of light that would take us to a
new dawn. A society that is integrated and share common ideology of our history
as who we were, who we are and who we would be in representing our nation in
the eyes of the world. The God had given us abundance in natural and man made resources,
we can only hope to share these resources for the goodness of every Filipino,
help one another because he is a Filipino just like you and me. Accept our
heritage; don�t be in denial because of revenge. In doing so it would bestow a
trust to create national identity that would signify the start of an era of a
government founded in trust because we belong to one nation, called the
Philippines and We are the Filipinos of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
The Dawning of the New Age
The winds of change has had indeed brought immense changes in every aspect of
human interaction and integration, above most our perceptions in life have
become more formidable and compelling.
The age of computer systems and modern technology have had revolutionized our
socio cultural upbringing and made our lives more demanding. Everybody is
thriving for success and opportunities 24 hours on the dot. We are living in
robotic and neurotic society where competition is the name of the game
contradictory to the notion of brotherhood or fellowship affinity. Those were
my childhood days where stress, psychotherapy and counselling have never been
heard off. The call for fame, power and success had dominated our mentality.
Sometimes, I wish we could go back and turned back the hands of time. The
complexities of modern time are the by-product of man's complicated life.
About Racism and Xenophobia
Like in the United States, UK is a multi-faceted country. The vast lineage in
each individual that lives here contributes to the cosmopolitan atmosphere
especially in London. Despite the abundance of the mulattos, xenophobic is
still a wide gap issue to many, both the immigrants or the indigenous populous
of the country. Ideologically as every immigrant would differ from each
cultural background, fallacious opinions do occur. These are the cores of any
racial discrimination that is inevitable at times. The immense migration
following my movement here about 19 years ago has had intensified the gap
between the white and the colored ethnics particularly in the rural areas.
Racism is havoc to any nation, it could plunge the economy at any moment.
Xenophobia is a cancer in any society that should be destroyed. No one would
like to wake up one day, seeing the country has turned into a topsy-turvy. The
cultural, social and moral integration of every race is a contributing factor
to the stability of ones country.
Apparently I was lucky that I did not encounter any sort of xenophobic or
racial discrimination in both countries such as Italy and UK. Employment wise,
most of the companies that I have worked with have been very good to me. I was
given equal opportunity rights from vast employment fringe benefits to wages
increase and job promotion. I was very lucky in that sense compared to other
ethnic minority. Although there were also few incidents wherein I have
witnessed immigrants have been racially discriminated in their communities
however these could be attributed to lack of social and cultural integration
amongst the ethnic minorities.
My years of stay in Italy and UK have widen- up my perception about racism. The
human race is full of intricacies as incorporated in various cultural and
traditional heritages. Instinctively it is inevitable at times. I guess every
nation though is in for the toughest battle, which is the racial supremacy.
Filipinos are world renowned for their expertise in their chosen field and hard
working people. For this, we are very competitive in the labour market to
include our language and communication skills in comparison to other ethnic
minority.
To top it all, on my personal account being a Filipino- Italian based in UK, it
was an overwhelming experience for me to be part of these 2 great nations. The
Italians are very friendly and very charismatic in many ways where as the
British/Welsh are very supportive and provide so many windows of opportunities
to any budding immigrant who wants to achieve something.
Above all, I can't ask for more. These two countries Italy and Britain have
given me enormous opportunities and the experiences that I have learned from
them have developed my self-growth and self-awareness. Every now and then I
used them as guiding spirit and direction to propagate racial affinity,
solidarity and above most raise cultural awareness between the Philippines and
western countries.
MY WIZARD OF HEART BITS AND BOBS MY CULINARY TREATS MY PHOTOS