The Most Beautiful Eyes in the World...

Alex commented before that he found Filipinas' eyes really beautiful... (oh, he asked if we, my sister and i, had our eyes done...kekekeke....)

I told him about Kwon Sang Woo saying the same when he came here a few years ago for the opening of The Face Shop (he's the male endorser)...

My youngest sister works for an international English academy here in Baguio City. Her students consist of young professionals and university/college students from Korea. One of her students admiringly told her that he finds Filipinos' eyes the most beautiful eyes in the world....

..(@_@)....

Sinong Pilipino... Sinong Koreano???

Just minutes before our wedding, many people thought Alex was a Pinoy because ""Kim"" is also a common (and prominent Chinese) family name in Benguet...

When I submitted our requirements at the CFO-DFA, the clerk pointed at my mom in one of our wedding pictures (wedding pictures with family and the Officiating officer were among the requirements), asking if it was Alex' mom. I told her it was actually my mom who is half-Chinese... that's why she and Alex look alike, kekekeke....

Oh and by the way, my husband also thought I was a Korean when he first approached me in a Korean Grocery Store in Baguio City. He and his companions were so surprised that I was a Filipina when I replied to him in English that I did not understand a word he said...

In Pictures...Lyrics by Alabama...

""I've got her photograph on the stand by my bed
Two on the mantle and thousands in my head
I can't believe how fast she's growing
it ain't supposed to be like this
Every time I look at her
I see how much I've missed

...I missed her first steps, her first words
And I love you Daddy is something I seldom heard
Oh it hurts me so
to watch my girl
grow up in pictures..."""

While I was growing up, my dad was always away---abroad.. I remember my dad would always say ""where's my little girl?"" whenever he came home. I was popularly called by my siblings as "daddy's girl""... This song gave me an idea on how he really felt being away from all of us just to give us a better life and future...

As I mentioned before, my dad passed away last April 2004, and during his wake, his cousin from the USA also came home just to bid him goodbye..

Last Saturday, I went home to La Trinidad to bring my stuff to our house. While the bus was winding its way up the last kilometers of Marcos Highway, I saw the Summer Place/Palace Hotel... This hotel was a witness to our family's closeness and ""kakulitan"".. Just days before Christmas of 2002, my dad's favorite cousin, Aunt Jing, died of SLE or Lopus in the States. Her body was brought in after Christmas so we had to tone down our holidays' celebrations. Every night, during her wake, my dad would haul us in his pick up just to spend the whole night at my Aunt's near the Summer Place Hotel.. Just to beat the cold and call of sleep, we did the usual ""pampagising"" practices..

It was quite lonely one night, with just us in the wake.. and I just found myself walking to the view deck of this Hotel to get a better view of the Marcos Highway and bought ice cream to keep myself busy(?), kekeke.... I didn't know that my dad saw me from my Aunt's house so he called my sister, brother, cousins and my mom and they all followed me and bought them ice cream too... ""Okay tripping mo ah"" my eldest cousin even said, haha! Since that night, it became a ritual for us all to go there and just buy something that would ease our boredom or do things to pass the time and eventually return to my Aunt's house to sing and pray again... So whenever I go up Baguio, I couldn't help myself whenever I get teary-eyed at the sight of this Hotel...

During my dad's wake, Uncle Jeff (Aunt Jing's brother) had to fly in from New Jersey just to see my dad and tell us stories about him, and showed us their picture together when they were still working at Lepanto Mines..

I may not have really lots of memories with my dad (since he was away most of the time), but I have lots of pictures to look at, and stories of people who love him share for us all to cherish...

In my mind, I always picture my dad as a very compassionate person.. You can see it in his eyes, you can see it etched in his laugh lines and wrinkles, you can feel it through people's stories...

And what surprises me most is that even though I see his life (from his youth to his old age) through pictures, people always say the same thing --- he's the best person (cousin, brother, friend, co-worker, uncle, etc.) they've ever known...