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Showing posts from April, 2012

Favorite House Guest

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2:30am - Dog looking happy to be my guest for the evening rather than being home alone in his human female’s house. 2:45am - Dog rolling all over the bed, to get rid of my scent and replace it with his. 3:00am - Dog realizing that it’s friggin 3am, gives me the “WTF are we still awake?!?” look. 3:30am - No longer caring that his human male is taking his sweet time in checking his email, Dog starts to dream about food, cats and belly rubs.
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Derpina  and  Derp , Friendzone-free!!  4/22/12

Top 10 Churches in the Holy Land.

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When I initially saw the itinerary for the trip, I couldn’t help but salivate at the sheer number of churches we were going to check out.  As anyone who really knows me can attest, I’m a huge fan of anything old , so much more if they are ancient. In Manila, Intramuros would be the closest thing to fit this description with San Agustin Church being the favorite. So you can imagine how it felt to see all these awesome churches in the Holy Land.. I felt like I was in freakin’  Disney Land!! While I make it a point to say a prayer at every location, the bulk of my time is spent reading up on the history of the place (thank you Wikipedia), admiring the facade of the churches and the stories the mosaics, sculptures, paintings and stained glass tell. I am a fan of anything that is created and hand-made (may it be novels, music, art, monuments or tourist traps), and these churches are indeed products of people who were not only masters of their craft but also passionate followers of

Jerusalem - Gethsemane

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Just noticed it now but there is actually a  camouflaged lizard  on this Olive Tree at the Garden of Gethsemane.  Can you spot it?  There MAY be more than one! :D

Barbican Beer of the Middle East

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The perfect way to end a 13 hour day in an Arabian Desert is with a nice cold bottle of beer, or in my case  TWO . (Non-Alcoholic as per Muslim Law hahaha!)

Jerusalem

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"A new world. A better world. A kingdom of conscience…a kingdom of Heaven." Taken from Kingdom of Heaven, one of my favorite movies of all time, these words never fail to strike a chord within me; for it’s idealism, it’s truth, it’s message of HOPE. For Holy Week this year, instead of going to the beach as has been the case the past decade, I decided to go on a solo pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Why solo? I have always believed that faith is a personal journey ; one which does not have a destination, but is a continuing process of getting to know the Divine by which we get to know ourselves a bit more. Definitely, the highlight of this trip would be the old city of Jerusalem. Being the history geek, architecture admirer and student of religion that I am, I could not help but feel excited weeks before actually stepping foot in the city; where not only Jesus had done so but also countless Hebrews, Christians, Muslims, Romans and Ottomans before me.  Indeed I had

Walls of Jerusalem Old City

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JERUSALEM. "How can you be in hell, when you’re in my heart."   - Balian of Ibelin Picture of the outer wall of the old city of Jerusalem, taken during my  solo pilgrim walk  from the hotel last night (sorry Mom & Mon).  Blog entry to follow.

Palestine - Mount of Temptation

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Definitely my FAVORITE mountain!  (This is the mountain where Christ was tempted by the devil for 40 days & nights.)

Palestine - West Bank

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At the Palestinian controlled West Bank. Have a blessed Sunday, everyone!