September 05, 2008

Start of Term

On September 7th, most schools are going to open again for the start of the First Term of school year.  This includes my daughter’s school, Doha Montessori and British School.  But since it is Ramadan, school timings will be from 7:45 am- 12:15 noon.  This would mean that we’ll be able to come home early and will give her time to take naps in the afternoon.During our holiday, I’ve tried to give Xiane some exercises in writing and math which she was only able to do during our stay with my family in Baguio City.  Since our routine there is more domesticated compared to that in Angeles where she always spent time either at her Mamita’s or Tita Tin’s store.  Nevertheless making her do her...

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June 24, 2008

Xianelle's Party in Makati


We’ve been planning for a small party for Xianelle since last month. Since we were going home on the 19th of June, 2 days from Xiane’s actual birthday, we decided that she’ll just have a small get-together party in Makati on the 22nd.

On the day itself, the weather was really bad as there was a typhoon rampaging and signal no. 3 was raised in Manila. We had to take the 1 ½ hour trip so we were really hesitant if we were going to push through or not. We were to leave at 6:30 a.m. but pushed it to 11 as the winds were quite scary. By 11, the winds have gone down and so we braved the storm. We got to Manila at 1:00 as I had to drive slowly than usual as the winds and rain on the highway was terrible. Some of our guests (our relatives) have already eaten, which was good as it was way past our expected start. We had a cake for Xiane, spaghetti, morcon, ice cream, pansit and more. The kids played while the adults chatted. It’s seldom that we get together for occasions like this so we try to make the most of it. Even though the weather didn't really cooperate, everyone came and stayed. By 5 p.m., we had to say goodbye as we still need to find Lancaster Suites in Shaw Boulevard, where we were to spend the night, as we planned to go round Manila the next day.

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June 15, 2008

End of Year Report 2008

So it's almost the end of the school year and we received Xianelle's End of Year Report today. I'm glad that she's done well and learned a lot on her first year in a formal school. She started not being able to read words (though she already knew her letters) and not knowing what add and subtract means but she's gone a long way from "memorizing" the words from her book to reading her books by herself. Of course, we're not surprised that she needs to be reminded to listen carefully to instructions and that she is distracted easily. We do always remind her of that. Anyway, I'm sure her grandparents and titas and titos would be proud of her too!


Click on the image to view the complete content of the report


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June 12, 2008

Kung Fu Panda in Qatar

We’ve been going to the cinema more often as the summer blockbusters are already being shown in Qatar. About 3 weeks ago, we watched Iron Man. Last week, we watched The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Today, we would be watching Kung fu Panda. We usually watch in City Centre, Grand Cinema which now charges QR35 for a seat. Yup, that’s QR35, almost $10 dollars or roughly 380 Pesos.  Quite expensive especially that you have cheaper means of watching a film; wait for the DVD so you can rent it or download from you know where. Still, for me, the cinema experience is still worth it so we still go to the cinema to watch films that we think are worth the money. Besides, it’s...

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June 07, 2008

Snorkeling Exercise

We went to Al Ghazal Club last Saturday as it was a promise to Xiane that we would practice snorkeling. I bought my own  snorkel to use when we get home hoping that the rain wouldn't be a killjoy when we go to the Islands of Honda Bay in Palawan. I've been trying to teach her how to snorkel in the tub the other week so she'd enjoy swimming with the fishes.

At first, she was hesitant and scared as anyone would be. So I started with her trying the goggles first and holding her breath underwater. When she was more comfortable with it, I asked her to try the snorkel. Practicing in the tub went well although we've had some issues with water getting inside the snorkel as it was a bit big for her. That got resolved and now the problem was that the tub was just enough for her to snorkel in place. Thus, we had to try it in a pool to see how she'd do. And she did great! She actually didn't even want to get up and spent at least 5 minutes snorkeling every time she went down.

Here are photos of our practice session in Al Ghazal Club yesterday. 

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