Stand out Filipino Dish.

The cooking Demo start

Showing off my cooked caldereta

Pancit Bihon
Beef Caldereta

Chicken Adobo

. Leche Flan

The coolest Waiter-Bartender
I held a Filipino Cooking class yesterday at our house..My guests are all from the embassy. Everything went well. I started my cooking demo on a Chicken Adobo dish followed by a Beef Caldereta dish and the last is the Pancit Bihon. 3 dishes! I even had some leche flan for dessert, made it the night before but it wasn't part of the class. I can say it was a succesful class. The guests love and enjoy the food and the good company. Jeff is my waiter-bartender for that day and he did a great job serving drinks to everyone and in helping me with my class...wouldn't have done it without him. I was surprise with my skills lol!!!

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The Lions Made it with a Big RoaRRRRR!!

Congratulations!!!!! Victory to the Indomitable Lions!!You Made It to The WORLD CUP 2010!!!!! The team is pretty impressive!!! 2-0 Win over Morocco.
Happy Weekend Cameroon!!! Drive safely :)

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Happy Birthday Marine Corps!!

at the dance floor

Last night the Marine Security Guard Detachment in Yaounde celebrated the 234th Marine Corps birthday!! The Marine Ball was held at the Hilton. Guests started arriving at 1800H. Everybody dressed up so elegantly in their gown and men are in their tuxedo…my Jeff dressed in his Navy Choker whites . The Marines in their Dress Blue and I just cant stop admiring them in their distinctive uniform. The guests got to shake hands with the US Ambassador and the Marines at the receiving area and the ladies got a rose. There are dignitaries and guests from different embassies around town and as well as the FSN from the USE. There were also a group of Navy Seals there who came up from Limbe...they are on a deployment in Cameroon. At 1900H the ceremony started and was done beautifully. The Marines presented the colors, and the ambassadors speech is inspiring and the message from the Commandant of the Marine Corps General Conway was shown on a big screen. The cutting of the cake is a tradition at the Marine Ball, they use a Mameluke sword to cut the cake as it has special meaning to the Marine Corps. It was a three course menu dinner and me and Jeff chose the buffalo steak and it was just ok. A moment after everybody's done with the dinner the dance floor is open and of course the famous YMCA song that gets their feet moving...the Ambassador joined the dance floor too and she dance gracefully and very jolly. We danced the night away until my feet hurts but everybody seems to have a good time especialy me and Jeff. The last time I attended the Navy Ball is in 2004 in Bahrain with my Navy guy and its quite an experience for me. Seems like every year we got the chance to attend the Marine Ball and Im looking forward to it already... Ho-yahh!!

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International Day

Today ASOY Claire's school celebrated the International day or what Im used to know a United Nation's day. When I was in elementary school back in my hometown I always join the program everytime my school celebrate the UN day and for those students who can afford or willing to spend will be assigned a country to dress up in the national dress. I remember I once wear the national dress of Puerto Rico, the program includes parade around my village where my school is. I remember also making a flag of the the country you were assigned by your teacher and that will be credited as your second grading period. We made the flag out of Colored papers and band paper and use a bamboo stick for the pole and we wave it during the parade. International Day is one of my favorite programs/activities when I was a kid and even up to now its always been its a very colorful ,lively and educational event.
Today I got a one of a kind experience in my life perhaps...I carry and wave my own beloved Philippines flag! I was asked to participate in the program and to carry my flag with Claire beside me. I got goose bump and very proud while presenting my flag.I got to wear some of our national clothing(kimona&sarong) for the flag ceremony, and I cooked some pancit bihon as well for the international food tasting after the program.
Claire and her class are wearing the national dress of Kenya. All of them look so cute and adorable in their costume! The students did a great job in their own respective presentations. It was a nice program and so glad to be a part of it. Anywhere Im living, I always am proud to be a Filipino....I even keep a small flag at home..Viva Philippines!! as my good friend Steve says.

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Fun Halloween

USE Yaounde Halloween party with the Ambassador.
RENO 911

Ahoy Matey!!

Yo hoho and a bottle of rum!

Arrrgh!

at Claire's school

Harem dancer and the princess

Go Mountaineers!! WV

Pre halloween party at our neighbor.

Its truly been a busy halloween for us... Friday our lilttle Claire attended the halloween party at her school...it was fun, she was happy to see her classmates dress up too but she freaked out a little bit when some of the older kids scare her with their monster and scary mask costumes. She had a cotton candy we know its just all sugar but isn't she supposed to get a treat on halloween.
Right after ASOY we're heading to the embassy for the haunted house. Jeff plays a role at the haunted house as a zombie pirate and I got to dress up as a vampire.. The marine house is turned into a haunted house and the CLO did a great job in the preparation and decoration of the hunted house. We did a pretty good job in scaring the kids too..after the haunted house the kids will go to the parking lot for the TRUNK or treat, 12 cars volunteer to decorate their trunk and they all did a great job our car was a pirate theme. The kids has a blast going back thrice for for the treat tryin to collect more chocolate and candies as they can. Claire sat down in a corner and started to unwrapped the candies and trying to eat them all but of course daddy say no! We went home tired and exhausted fell asleep right away as soon our head hits the pillow.
Saturday night is halloween party for adults that's us. Claire have a sleep over at the Royster's place...For the adult halloween we are a pirates kinda Jack Sparrow and Elizabeth Swann hehe the party was fun, marine guys dress up like RENO 911 the roller blade guy is hilarious. and my first experience playing beer pong whew!I got drunk there. But we really had a good time!

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Just another weekend..

A head start for little Claire

Sparing

That's the smile I use to get evry morning

taking out the coconuts

The coconut pilot guy

Everyday it's raining in Cameroon! I love the rain as much as I love sunshine. Its still rainy season here and they say dry season will start at the end of this month...we'll see. Our Saturday morning started with a cup of freshly brewed coffee sitting at the porch enjoying the cool breeze of Yaounde. Then the guys came to trim and harvest those bunches of coconut that are about to fall anytime the wind strike. They waited for the rain to stop...its gonna be a tough job for him since the tree now is wet and could be slippery but seems like he's an expert and did a good job. He pretty much cut everything which is a big relief to me cause that coconut could fall and could hit anybody head. Not to mention the mess it makes in the pool! For our lunch we headed to the embassy the AERAY is hosting a BBQ...hamburgers and hotdogs at the pool, lots of family came and kids swimming in the pool. We had hamburger and Claire got a hotdog...it was good. We stayed a lil bit meet new faces then time to go home and take a nap hehe..
Its a beautiful day as the U2 song goes on in our ipod and its Sunday. Sun is up and that give me the opportunity to do gardening and Jeff cleans up the pool while Claire is playing with Simon the duty guard. Then Jeff and Claire jumped in the pool for a while...it's too cold for me! We had some fish delivered to the house yesterday so we had fish and chips for lunch and then it's time to just relax for the rest of the day...until football comes on!!

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HHE,Consumables and The Car

Our baby with the Diplomat plate

The Pantry that take me the whole day to organize

consumables enough for 6 mos I guess

lovers in the middle of all the boxes

The embassy truck with the three crates in it

HHE is three very important letters in foreign service life...and yes we got our HHE, consumables and the car over the past couple of weeks. The car arrived first, on 01OCT, then a week after that we got one crate of our HHE...only one! Then this week we got three more crates which contained the rest of our HHE and Consumables. We are happy to get our big screen TV...with football season in full swing and baseball playoffs, Jeff is really happy to have the TV. Im happy to have the car And Claire is really happy to have her toys...we can tell she missed them as we were unpacking, she was really excited to see every box we were opening, just like Christmas! haha. As I go thru the boxes I realised that we packed a lot of unnecessary stuff...thanks to Jeff! haha. And we didn't really bring that much...we put more in storage than we shipped here. A lot of people have 9 or more crates...we only had 4 total! We did alright though for our first posting and not really knowing what to expect for a house furnished by the government. But all in all we did a good job on our first post.

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Congratulation Cameroonians!!

The Lions Roarrr again! Cameroon beat Togo 3-0 in Yaounde yesterday October 10 at the Amadou Ahidjo Stadium...They're now the lead in group A of the combined qualifiers. It keeps us excited knowing that only one more game to win and they go to The World cup 2010!! Now on to beat the Moroccans at all cost!! Hope we have our jerseys by that time!!

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The saddest time of my life..

I just arrived back here in Yaounde last night from Philippines, the memory of my father is still in my mind and I cant help but cry but in the other end I manage to smile thinking that Im coming home to my loving husband and sweet Claire..
I left Yaounde Sept 13 and went home to take care of my father who is still in the hospital and comatose that time.. He passed away 5 days after I arrived..Im having trouble getting over it..that was the hardest, saddest time of my life..Being the eldest in the family I took care of evrything from the hospital,burial to the interment. Im so greatful to have a husband who stand by me all the way emotionally an finacially in my crucial monemt.. I miss my father so much..I have plans and dreams for him but that was all gone now..may he rest in peace with the Lord.
Im so grateful and thankful to the people who helped me out on getting my tix and getting me out of here quickly...espescially Kevan and Mac and Anna, and Emmanuel from the travel office. My EVT was approved as soon as the USE Manila confirmed my dad situation in the hospital. I'm also thankful to everyone who supported Jeff and Claire while I was gone...special thanks to Kevan and Kate, and Steve. Claire and Jeff really enjoyed spending time with you guys and your kids!

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Allez Allez Lions Indomptables!!!

Oui!!!Cameroon won the qualifiying match over Gabon today!! 2-1 the score. The Indomitable Lions are now the lead of their group by a point from Gabon with two more qualifying matches to go!! Pretty big chance to make it to the World Cup 2010 in South Africa! On October 10 they gonna play with Togo here in Yaounde!! We didnt watch the game on tv because we dont have the local channel yet but as soon as our tv (its in HHE) arrive we'll subscribe a Creolink.We did follow the game on the radio with Augustine our duty guard. Evry year I and Jeff watch the world cup and now we had a team to cheer!!

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Good luck Cameroon! We want you to win!!!

Cameroon vs Gabon Wednesday, 09 September 2009 Yaounde 15:30 World Cup Qualification Match.

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Claire's first day of School

Of course a pix with daddy on Claire's first day of school

In her classroom

Claire and Aliyah

The School registrar office

Patiently waiting for the service car..

She did a lot of paintings/coloring on her first week of school.

Claire's first day of school at ASOY! Oh man Oh man our lil Claire is in Pre-k3. Im crossing my fingers she won't get evicted hehehe.. Last friday we attended the new parents orientation at the school, We meet her teacher and have a tour of the school campus. Most of the expat kids in town go to this school. Claire's class starts at 8am to 12:15pm. She has french class too every Thursday. Everything went well on her first day of school, She came home with a messy shirt from colors and she is so proud of her first drawing in art subject, I kinda don't understand what she drew but she said its a river and a sun and a trees around it, anyway she got the color right lol! I bet our fridge will be over decorated of more paintings/drawing from Claire. Since we dont have our car here yet, its the duty driver that brings and picks Claire up in school and as far as traffic is concern its crazy out there bumper to bumper side mirror to side miror!! Everybody is making their own lane lol! But Im still determine to drive once our car is here..but right now we're still enjoying the free ride..
There's another school we looked at...Le Flamboyant. It's a Pre-K...totally a french school and there's one or two kids from the embassy going there. But it seemed to us to be more like a daycare. So we stuck with ASOY...it's sponsored by the embassy and has an American cirriculum. We really like the school and Claire really likes it too, so we feel good about it! Lots of kids from other embassies go there as well as some locals...a nice international environment. Its Claire's first School too and Jeff and I are just proud and excited as any other parents to their kids outthere!

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City Tour

Overlooking Bastos from Palais de Congress

Yaounde view standing from the Greek Embassy on Mt. Febé

Looking down from Benedictine Monastary

Monument de la Reunification

Marché Central

Marché le Mfoundi..Live chicken anyone?

Tsinga Craft Market..lots of Cool stuff here

Carving table/stools I got at Tsinga

Mahima Supermarché

Carrefour, Bastos

The embassy had a city tour for the new comers and that's us and one other family. Iris the asst CLO is our tour guide. First in our iterinary is Mount Febé...climbing Mt. Febe by foot or by wheel is fun and worth it, the road is smooth and passable. Our first stop in Mt. Febé is the Benedictine Monastary and museum and standing from the monastary is an impressive beauty overlooking Yaounde. Opposite to the Monastary is the Mt. Febé hotel a four star hotel in Cameroon. The embassy location is adjacent to the Mount Febe golf club. Yaounde the capital of Cameroon is sorrounded by mountains and the Febe mountain adds a lot of beauty to Yaounde.
Our next stop is the Palais de Congres...its an old govt building on another big hill where they held convention or international conference. It's not where the Congress meets! Which is what everyone thought!
We drove by the Djeuga Palace Hotel where the former embassy use to be. Then off to Mahima Central/ Casino or the Super Marche where I mostly do my groceries, they have imported goods there kinda western market but very expensive though...a box of cereal cost $10 and the Philadelphia cream cheese cost $9 but Im just buying the local brand cream cheese for $3 and that is what Im using now on Jeff'and Claire's bagel every morning...its not as good as the philadelpia cream cheese but ok.
Then we stop by at the Reunification monument take some pictures and drove back to the town where Iris show us some bazaar ( Bricolux, Niki Centrale, Snob Bazaar) and the Dolce Vita ice creams shop I dont know how good the ice cream but I miss Ben and jerry!!
There's a street name after JFK it even has his monument in the middle of the street I saw that while we're heading to the Laking African fabric store, the fabric besides its an art its a beautiful clothes with an African design and color...Im gonna get one soon and have it tailored dress just like what the local women wearing here.
We passed by Marché le Mfoundi where you can get fresh product, they sell their chicken alive and if you wanna buy you bargain for the price and then bring it to the other guy who will murder the chicken (slaughter) and dressed it for you but of course thats another fee but still way more cheaper and fresh tooo
The Independence Street in central town is what I like most that's where all the good restaurants and bar is. I cant wait to have our car here! After Independence St. is Carrefour Street the road back to Bastos to our place, Yes the place where we live is called Bastos!(Bastos in my dialect means Disrespectful) its like a neighborhood where all the embassies are. The local say they get that name from the British American Tobaco but it was shut down now.
The Tsinga Craft Market is another great place for Yaounde Shopping. here you can buy traditional crafts and arts of their region they all have a typical African flavor, I was able to buy two small tables/stools with art carving on the sides, I haggled for the price and ended up getting a good deal. We hope to get some more of them and other things of course!!
The tour end passed 12 o'çlock and that's give us enough time to get ready for the Luau party at the Marine house. There's always something going on at the Marine house!!

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