114th Philippine Independence day!!!!

One of the most significant dates in the Philippine’s history is Independence Day. It marks the nation’s independence from Spanish rule on June 12, 1889. During our two years in Yaoundé, 2009-2011, the Filipino community there made it a point to celebrate Philippine Independence Day. We took part in that event each year, and it’s such a joy for me to have hosted it. This year we are posted in Bogota, and so far we’ve met only one other Filipina here. There is no Philippine embassy, not even a consulate here, the closest one is in Brazil. Hoping to be able to participate in Philippine Independence day celebration next year be it anywhere or perhaps I’ll host one in Bogota…hmmm…How I wish!!! To all my Kababayan out there feliz día de la independencia!!!! and to our very own Many Pacquiao good luck on November for the rematch! Here are some of the 2010-2011 Philippine Independence day celebration photos in Cameroon. full of Joy!!2010 us preparing-2010 and the lechon 2010 Dancing the Tinikling Douala and Yaounde chapter in Cameroon-2011 Cheers-2011 2011 so having fun!!! 2011

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Our place in Bogota

We arrived in Bogota last July 2011. We were first put in a temporary apartment on Calle 85 near Andino mall, it's a nice area the only cons is the apartment is right at the corner of 85 and Carrera 10, a busy intersection not to mention motorists in Colombia love to honk! Two months later we moved into our assigned apartment, it has 3 bedrooms & 3.5 bathrooms. The apartment takes the whole 3rd floor, and the elevator open straight to our apartment so it's really nice plus it’s in a nice part of town called Chico. We’re still on the corner of an intersection, Carrera 9 & Calle 94, but it’s not too noisy. We have the Parque Chico and Parque 93 close to us, both in easy walking distance. In a city of 8M+ people, it’s nice to look out your windows and see the trees and green spaces of the parks. So we can walk to the parks and to restaurants easily, plus we have a small grocery nearby that we can walk to. On Sundays and local holidays, we can easily get to Carrera 7 (Septima) or Carrera 11 to take part in ‘ciclovia’, when certain streets are closed to cars and open to walkers, joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers…you name it, very cool.

Dining room

Living room

View from the balcony

TV room hallway going to the rooms

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lots of catch up to do but first meet our Sofie!

It's been awhile since my last post. A lot of things happened since we left Yaounde, good things of course! We just had a new addition in the family. Sofia Marie, born March 15,2012 at City Hospital in Martinsburg , West Virginia . We are all together in Bogota, Col. for a 2 years tour. Bogota is a beautiful city, will tell you more and tour you around Bogota on my next post. Meet our little Sofie

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