San Nicolas, Pangasinan Feb.28-March 6-2011

3rd week in the Philippines was spent in the province.
San Nicolas, Pangasinan was our base when we stayed at the province.
We have gone to Manaoag,Pangasinan to see Our Lady of Manaoag Church and attended mass there, to Paraoir, La Union to visit some relatives and had gone to Baguio City to sight see. Had some friends with us. Went to Burnham Park, Mines View Park, the Mansion and to their mall. Baguio City is not the same as I'd known before. Very crowded city like Manila. Unable to go to the Grotto 'coz it was raining hard and a bit slippery on the way there. Tried the Igorot costumes, walked around the area and had our lunch at the mall.
Going back to these places were good reminiscing of the past.
Paraoir, La Union is our mom's hometown altho' she didn't grew up there. She spent most of her life in Manila. But we used to go to this town every year during summer time to visit our grandmother and other relatives like our mom's siblings. Our grand mother's house is just 200 yards from the ocean.
This was a good trip. I think everybody had so much fun.

Mandaluyong Condo-Feb.21-27-2011

Our 2nd week in the Philippines, we had our sister's condo in Mandaluyong as our base It was during this time that we spent most of our time shopping for all the "bilins" from the States. We also spent a few stuff for ourselves.
We also visited our Alma Mater MCU with some of my classmates in college. The Dean of Nursing gave us a complete tour of the campus and then took us to the hospital and was introduced to the Chief Nurse who likewise gave us a hospital tour. The University and the Hospital had made some progress, I mean a lot of progress and changes for the better.
After the tour we went out to eat in one of the buffet restaurants-the place I can't remember,sorry.
Good Filipino food.
Back home you can only do 1 activity per day due to traffic. More time was spent on the road.
Gilbert and Rowena had a blessing of their new house in Sta.Ana,Manila. It's a 3 story house with an open roof. Party time..
We went to Meycauayan, Bulacan to visit the Ruetas niece and nephews and great nieces and nephews. Stayed overnight and Remy and I were well taken cared of by our niece Ely and family.
Kevin and his family were there. Everybody participated in karoake and dancing, all were having a good time. Ely also gave us a good manicure and pedicure.
After the 2nd week stay in Manila we headed to San Nicolas, Pangasinan and spent our 3rd week with Lumin and Boyet. It's their fiesta week.
Nene Garcia Gano my childhood best friend came with us in San Nicolas. Haven't seen her since I left the Philippines in 1968. She didn't change much but she was a successful teacher with successful children. We did a lot of reminiscing of our childhood in Zobel,Ermita.

Tagaytay Outing-Feb.20-2011

February 20, 2011- Sunday
The meeting place where we were picked up by the bus was at the Hotel Intercontinental in Makati.
The bus left around 7:15 for Tagaytay. The picnic was held at the property of Joe Corpuz's sister.
The turn out was good and filled up the bus. Food was great.It was potluck and coordinated by Myrna del Rosario Mondragon,Bob de la Rosa and Joe Corpus. Varieties of fruits were provided by Joe(all tropical fruits). A lot of camaraderie among our classmates. Dancing led by Bob,Jaime,Miles and Cynia. Everybody were enjoying the food,chatting, fun and dancing.

Araullo High School Grand Reunion-Feb.19, 2011

Feb.19,2011- Saturday
This activity is for all graduates of AHS from the beginning of the school up to 2010 graduates.
Since our batch was the Golden Jubilarian we were required to wear the special Golden Jubilarian ID and we were also the sponsor of the mass for the whole grand reunion celebration. Our Valedictorian Jaime Yambao donated flowers for the altar and was also the cantor during mass. Jaime was a retired Philippine Ambassador to Middle East(can't remember what country) Prescy Funtera was the coordinator of the mass with the AHS Alumni Association. The sound system was donated by our batch. It was a great sound system and it's something that the high school can use on their activities.
Quite a few classes were represented from the 50's to the present. My College classmates husband Ben de Guzman was a Class '64 graduate, my sister Lumen a '62 grad and my sister Remy a '69 grad. They were all there and part of representation of their classes.
The grand reunion didn't start till 1pm.
Before the reunion we 1st went to celebrate Lumen and Nene Lupiba's birthday by the Harbor.
Childhood friends were invited(Lita Lupiba,Nene Lupiba and Zeny Ignacio).Great to see and spend some time with them.
After the reunion we stopped by St. Vincent de Paul to attend mass but we were late in getting there,the mass was almost over but anyway it was nice to see our old Parish Church. From there we went to the place where we grew up in Zobel. Our house is no longer there after it got burned.The area had completely changed.

AHS Batch'61 Golden Jubilarian Dinner Dance

February 17, 2011-Thursday
Our Dinner Dance was held at the Architectural Center in Makati.
It was nice to see everybody again, but there were some who didn't show up who had signed up.
Anyway it was still a good evening for Batch'61. Everybody had a good time, a lot of laughters, and a lot of sharing of what had happened during the 50 years after high school.

Araullo High School Batch 1961 Golden Jubilee Reunion

February 16, 2011 Wednesday
Tour of Greenbelt- a good start to meet our batch mates whom we haven't seen for 50 years.
Had a little get together at Ayala Museum in Makati. A few batch mates showed up. A wonderful time to get to know each other again after 50 years. A lot of changes on everyone, all successful and the beauty of everyone is still there. Memories of high school were reminisced. Had merienda at the place with Filipino dishes.

Trip to the Philippines Feb.14-March 6,2011

My sister Remy and myself decided to have an R&R and at the same time attend a high school reunion in the Philippines.
Arrived in Manila on February 15 at 1010 am and met by my sister Lumen and nephew Gilbert. Gilbert took us around Manila before taking us to the Holiday Inn Galleria Hotel. Lumen joined us in this hotel for 1 week. The 3 of us bonded and had a good time together. Every morning at 6:30 am we attended mass at the Edsa Shrine, a 5 minute walk from our hotel. After mass had breakfast at the hotel and from breakfast we went to Robinson's Galleria Mall which is adjacent to our hotel. It's a big mall. We spent a lot of time at this mall, this is the place where we eat twice a day. We also bowled at their bowling alley. When bored the 3 of us had some treat for ourselves. We went for facials and some other beauty treatments. Life is good. This was our routine on our 1st week in the Philippines. Our routine was interrupted by our high school reunion activities.