POPE BENEDICT IN ISTANBUL

I like this picture of Pope Benedict praying at the Blue Mosque, together with a high-ranking Muslim clergyman. Got up at 5:00 this morning to go to the Pope's 9 a.m. mass at St. Esprit, across from the Hilton. The invites said to be there between 7 and 8 but my friends and I were not taking any chances: we knew there would be a massive turnout and we wanted to make sure we got good seats. We had to take the subway because there were roadblocks everywhere - this was a very SENSITIVE visit, in light of the Regensburg lecture and the reference to the Prophet. 13,000 policemen were deployed in the city. The Mossad had sent their guys to help out.

The seating was being managed by the French mafia - French Catholics manning the aisles (the bishop is French). Only 4 of us from the English congregation got invites, and 17 others got tickets by lottery. There were the French (more than the English-speakers definitely), the Germans, the Italians, three whole rows of the elderly and infirm, and then the diplomats and the bureaucrats who always get the best seats. Surprisingly not that many TV crews - I thought we would be crowded out by CNN and their ilk.

We waited 2 hours for the Pope to arrive but the two hours went fast - what with the beautiful singing by various choirs, and also watching the little dramas unfloding all around us: on what was a special, holy occasion, human frailty in full display: this one man picking a fight because he didn't get the seat he wanted, people squabbling about getting a better view - you get the picture. One had to laugh, and imagine similar scenes at the gates of Heaven - people protesting that they had more of a right to be there than the next person, jostling each other for space, arguing as to who got there first, etc. Ahay, as we say. We never learn.

We knew the Pope had arrived when we heard clapping from outside - the clapping of children! They were a children's choir greeting the Pontiff. Before he entered the church he unveiled a bronze statue of Pope John the 23rd, who served as Nuncio here in Istanbul before he became Pope. When he entered the doors the church EXPLODED in clapping, cheers and ululation. We don't ululate in the Philippines but Middle Easterners and Africans do - it's a rapid LALALALALALALALALALA with both tongue and throat work that is amazing. You have to hear it to believe it. I wish I could post a video here.

This was the most amazing welcome I have ever heard in my life - except of course for the cheering and clapping for Pope JP in Manila, and Pope Paul VI years before him. Have not seen anyone feted in this way for many many years.

I was happy for Benedetto. His reception in Ankara - from the Turkish bureaucrats - was not quite chilly but it wasn't warm. People had not come out in droves to see him. The happiness and applause must have warmed his heart.

I must say the applause and the jubilation were also a cry of assertion for the Christians in Turkey - a way outnumbered and beleaguered lot (Mustafa Kemal's secular Turkey closed down seminaries left right and center. This continues to be a sore point).

It was excellent to see, and great for Benedict. I am sure he was happy.

The Pope actually a mild and gentle presence. He did not display his muscular intellect here; on this visit he listened, he praised, he reached out, he embraced (Muslims and other Christians), he prayed with other faiths. Word is that this is not as much his thing as it was John Paul's (remember the ecumenical prayers at Assisi), but he certainly did it here and did it well. His Muslim hosts noticed. Before he arrived, an Islamic party which calls itself the "Happiness" party staged rallies protesting the visit (this party garnered 3% of the Turkish vote in the last elections) and we all wondered if the volume of the protests would increase as the visit progressed, but quite the opposite happened. They accepted him and welcomed him and by the end of the visit they were praising the Pope.

A mild and gentle man was what we saw. Our church was in full festive regalia, welcoming the Greek Orthodox priests in their miters and flowing black robes; the Chaldeans, the Armenians, the Syrians, the Anglicans, the Protestants. What a grand festival it was.

The man is human and gets into trouble with his words and actions, but I have to say on an occasion like this, he (the pope) definitely becomes more than what he is. There is definitely something there - a grandeur that does not come from his own small self.

This is one of my all time favorite poems, by Derek Walcott.

 

Love After Love

The time will come when, with elation you will greet yourself arriving at your own door, in your own mirror and each will smile at the other's welcome, and say, sit here. Eat. You will love again the stranger who was your self. Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart to itself, to the stranger who has loved you all your life, whom you ignored for another, who knows you by heart. Take down the love letters from the bookshelf, the photographs, the desperate notes, peel your own image from the mirror. Sit. Feast on your life.

20 - Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival draws local ....

Monday, November 20 2006 @ 05:03 PM GMT Provincial 20 - Iloilo's Dinagyang Festival draws local, international audience, in Manila The city government of Iloilo and the Dinagyang Foundation are all set to bring the country's best tourism event, the Dinagyang Festival, to international and national audiences on December 9-10, 2006. This was announced by Dinagyang Festival executive director Ben Jimena after preparations were finalized in bringing the Dinagyang tribe and dancers to Marikina City for special performances hosted by Marikina City Mayor Marides C. Fernando on December 9. The next day, the Dinagyang Festival and official mascot Dagoy will be at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City for the formal launching of Dinagyang 2007 and a press conference for international and national media exposures. Invited to the launching are Manila-based travel writers and news reporters of broadsheets, magazines, radio and television networks. Also invited are foreign reporters. The launching is timely since thousands of foreigners are in Metro Manila for the upcoming ASEAN Summit to be held in Cebu on December 11-15, 2006. The biggest shopping mall in the country is expected to be full of people to see the sights and hear the sounds of Dinagyang and Ilonggos who can not go home to Iloilo on January are invited to see the Dinagyang Festival. A photo exhibit and video presentation will be held the whole day at the Mall of Asia. Jimena said that thousands of foreign delegates would still be in Manila waiting for the arrival of 17 heads of states on December 12 to go to Cebu. The foreign delegates through their Manila embassies were invited to see how Ilonggos celebrate the festival and venerate the Sto. Nino as official patron saint of Iloilo City. Dinagyang's Tribu Atub-Atub will be focal performer to drum up the festivities slated in Iloilo City on the last week of January 2007. Mascot Dagoy of Dinagyang is also slated to go around the major cities of the Philippines to invite and show-off the Dinagyang Festival in Iloilo City. Jimena said bringing Dinagyang Festival, the recently recognized top tourism event by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP), is supported by the Dinagyang Foundation chaired by Lee Chuan and City Mayor Jerry P. Trenas. (PNA) -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by Balita MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.

RUMOR

The Philippine Congress is planning to pass a legislative bill changing the name of the Philippines into 'PACLAND', with Manny 'the Pacman' Pacquiao as President as a tribute to the Pacman's latest victory against Erik 'El Terible' Morales of Tijuana, Mexico!

CABATUAN AIRPORT

Opening of Iloilo airport to boost tourism, economy of WV : Drilon
Visayan Daily Star. 11/14/2006

ILOILO CITY - Western Visayas' tourism and economy will get a big boost with the opening of the international airport in Iloilo next year.

The P8.759 billion-airport straddling the towns of Sta. Barbara and Cabatuan, around 24 kms west of Iloilo City, will be open to commercial flights on April 15, Sen. Franklin Drilon said.

Drilon said all structural and electrical works will be finished by the end of the year while testing of lights and navigational facilities will be conducted in the first quarter of next year. The facility will be formally turned over by the Taisei-Shimizu Joint Venture to the Department of Transportation and Communication on March 17.

The project is funded by the Special Yen Loan Package of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation.The airport constructed in a 188-hectare area will help address the increasing number of passengers and cargo traffic in Iloilo.The current Iloilo City airport in Mandurriao District here is the fourth busiest in the country in terms of the number of passengers next to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, and the Mactan (Cebu) and Davao international airports.

The new airport will include state-of-the-art facilities including a modern terminal, control tower buildings, and landing and navigation systems. It will have a runway measuring 2,500 m x 45 m, a passenger terminal with 12,000 sq. m space and a 1,281 sq. m-cargo terminal.

The 54-hectare site of the old airport is being eyed to be converted into a commercial and light industry complex. The Department of Finance has placed the value of the site at P1 billion.Drilon said that after the opening of the new airport, the old site should be disposed to generate additional revenues for the government.

FAITH AND PRAYER

...IN THE EARLY MORNING 

THE GROTTO

....is on the left. 

LOURDES

Back view of the Basilica at the Sanctuary. 

THEY EAT

....RABBIT DON'T THEY?

PASTRIES PASTRIES

...brioche, beignettes, croissants - ALL GOOD!

THE BANKS OF THE SEINE

.. in late October.

REMEMBER THE GARGOYLES

...of Notre Dame?

PARIS OCT. 2006

Close up of part of the facade of Notre Dame 

BENEATH THE EIFFEL TOWER

October 2006 with my sister-in-law, Rosemarie. 

Mitsuwa - Little Japan

Bambi, Pinky, and I embarked on a new adventure to watch a 400lb tuna being sliced at a huge Japanese Foodstore in Edgewater, NJ. Pinky, being a glutton for punishment, drove all the way from Valley Cottage, NY to pick me up at Maplewood, NJ, which was further away from Edgewater, and then drove back to the place of interest. This, mind you, is after we stayed up to the wee hours of the morning waiting for people to show up for our weekly chat. The funny thing is that we ended up chatting with each other, which was totally unnecessary, especially at that time, since we were in the same time zone and we were going to see each other the next day. Where was everybody? Etic was in the conference but was totally quiet or just ignoring us. Tim tried to get in but couldn't. Meyen??? Belen???

Anyway, I posed, Bambi took the pictures and poor Pinky had to stay in her car because we could not find a parking spot. We ended up eating in the car. The food (Japanese, of course!) was delicious. We had the identical meal of fried dumplings dipped in soy sauce, good fried rice and Coke. That was the most rice I had eaten in a long time. Back to the tuna. It was not 400 lb but more like 200 lb. The head had a price tag of $20.00. Now let's look for the body.



Here it is, headless but still unsliced. I had a sudden craving for kinilaw just looking at it. 

NEW YORK WEEKEND

Wow - nakakainggit!!! Looks like a great time was had by all, and GREAT FOOD!!!! So remind me why was Etic in new York again? And did he give each one of you free consultancies? Ano ang guinpabalon ninyo sa iya on the trip home - New York cheesecake????

Andie Had the Serendipity Chef Salad

The specialty of the house is frozen hot chocolate. I do not have a picture of it because it took me a long time to finish my food. The FHC was so big that we only ordered one and while Etic and Pinky were sipping/spooning it, I was still wrestling with my salad. Then they started complaining of being cold. It was cold outside and the chocolate was cold. I managed 2 spoonfuls after my salad.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun and we were just acting silly. And Meyen, I just forgot or ignored my knees.  

Pinky Had Steak

 

Etic and His Mixed Grill

We have to show you pictures of our food because they looked too good to eat. 

Etic and Pinky Perusing the Menu

 

Etic and Andie in front of Serendipity

Etic wanted to walk in Central Park but we had no place to park so we decided to proceed to Serendipity where we planned to have dinner. This is the restaurant in the movie of the same name starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale. There was a line and we were told that the waiting time was from 45 minutes to an hour and a half. We stayed in line and since other people left, we did not have to wait very long to be seated.

Mind you, while we were in the car we were mentioning everybody we can remember from UP Iloilo while we were still there just because we could not figure out who Manang Rhode's BF was then. Anyway, as we were being seated, a familiar figure passed as as he was exiting the restaurant. Pinky recognized him as Eisen Espina, one of the names that cropped out earlier. Pinky said,"Si Eisen Espina," and wanted to talk to him but he was gone. After a while, as we were about to order, he came back and talked to us. He said that one of his children told him that someone had called out his name. His wife was with him and it turned out to be Naty Arandela,who was one year ahead of me at CPU Elementary. He was a practicing physician in Texas and was in NYC to visit their child who is working at ABC (TV Network). Speaking about SERENDIPITY! 

Etic and Andie

 

Pinky and Andie

 

Etic and Pinky and the SMH Mural

After looking at all the artwork in the museum at least twice (We watched Philippe's video 5 times.), we left. We saw this mural across the street and saw the initials of SMH (Studio Museum of Harlem) on it. Since there was not much else to see in the area, we just decided to pose right there.  

Parking

We returned to New York the next day, Sunday. Our first stop was the Studio Museum of Harlem where my son, Philippe had a video on display. We really did not know what to expect. The video was one of 2 shorts that was shot last July. We got a little startled because there Philippe was on a big screen repeating an obscenity with different facial expressions for maybe 3 minutes. Anyway, it is all for art.  

October 15-16 2006

October 15-16 2006

Andie has pictures of our Sunday outing as well. Hopefully she'll put them up on the blog when she gets home from work tonight. We had some other interesting adventures.

Meyen, my hair is actually dark brown, but shows up as black in pictures. I would like to say that this is all natural, but only my hairdresser knows for sure!

NYC ADVENTURE

Can't believe you guys did all that!!! Kind of reminds me of the Jaro fiesta when a bunch of us nagakalasandad sang sunod sa float with Aurora Pijuan in it. We were already in college then - Meloy was with us!!!

Etic probably missed his fresh lumpia when you went to a sandwich place?

Poor Andie - what about your knees?

I must say, Pinky - I really like how black your hair is! What's the secret!!!

Meyen

Alls Well that Ends Weeelll?

Dido is still at large getting the car and Bambi took this picture. Hey, this is a clear picture of the 3 youngones66 with the POSTER of C.

We went home. I was dropped off first. I IMed Pinky with last minute messages while she was giving her niece a blow by blow account of our encounter with the American Idol. I was tired so this I posted when I woke up. I missed church but I had to get this out of the way before my memory fades. Bye ya al! 

Pinky and ...

Believe it or not, Pinky is actually talking to C. That is my playbill she is holding to obtain his autograph. I told her, "Get the autograph and I take the pictures." I guess, she knows now that I did not get the whole picture. 

Bambi and her Camera

You get the picture?

 

More Stagedoor Pictures

A closer look at C and the back of Pinky's head. 

Piny and Constantine

Most appropriately, this is Constantine and Pinky's back. It was hard to get a good view. I most firmly believe that Bambi had a better view from the other side.