OLA: Lending a Father, Missing a Husband

Suzanne's exercise machine

Suzanne' sent this card to me

Bill arrived yesterday, November 23, he had been gone since Oct. 28. Suzanne, his second child and first daughter, had hip surgery the day after his arrival. The doting father took Devin and Cassie to school and back, cooked meals, and generally kept the house in order while she was in recovery. Suzanne loved that I lent him Bill and sent me a card that said, 'More herds can't express my gratitude.'

Just when Bill was to come home, she suffered pulmonary embolisms in both lungs, an unfortunate complication of surgery, being hugely immobile for a long period of time as well as owing to genetics (see Bill’s own bout with it on http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2013/08/ola-getting-fun-food-and-more-all-in.html ). Bill extended his stay for four days until the weekend when the thanksgiving holiday will give the famly more time to take care for her.At least he got home in time for my birthday!

Bill being picked up by the shuttle

Suzanne's goodies for Bill

Yes, Bill is a good father. But he is also a good husband. I missed him but I knew how to cope with the situation. Before he left, I asked him to take me to the Oriental Store. I bought all that I needed for a walk down a Filipino culinary memory lane: daing na bangus, pinangat na isda, paksiw na isda, escabeche, ginisang patola, ginisang ampalaya, ginisang upo, chicken tinola, beef bulalo, each one four times, dishes I have missed a lot. For breakasts, I alternated pan de sal with red eggs or coco jam, champorado, and congee. Every day was a Filipino Feast.

                                                                                         

ginisang ampalaya (sauteed bitter gourd)

Last January/February, the first draft of my book was completed when Bill also spent a month with his eldest child Jim in Boise, Idaho while they were preparing a portion of the 16,000 sq. ft. property, which they were paid for a case they won, to be used as their office. This time around, I also found the time to complete my edit of the manuscript. I have now sent a copy each to Suzanne and Claudine, my second child, for their review. As soon as they finish their reviews (Bill has done his), the manuscript will go to a professional editor. Then it may conceivably be ready to be published!

daing na isda (deep fried marinated milkfish)

escabeche (sweet and sour fish)

In addition, I have been able to create my new FB account, dissociating it from Bill’s and rebuilding my own base. I have also created our website, The Cruising Lifestyle, at gocruisinglifestyle.com, and our FB business page, The Cruising Lifestyle. These are all being prepared for a stronger online platform with a brand. My present platform now consists of a blog with 250,000+ views and a FB page with 1,500 friends. I have yet to work on my twitter and LinkedIn pressence. I am told that the blog should have about 30,000 views a month (the highest I have gotten was 22,500) and a FB business page at 3.000 Likes (0 so far!). So I have both an intensive editing period and a long marketing campaign to go before my target date of June 2014 book release!

bulalo (stewed beef shanks)

Then it was during this hiatus that the Haiyan tragedy struck the Philippines (please see my post http://rvcruisinglifestyle.blogspot.com/2013/11/wow-responding-to-disaster.html). Bill, my children and I were able to coordinate our donations. Although each of us had contributed separately to relief efforts (Bill donated to the UN World Food Programme USA), April got us to focus on the rebuilding efforts by contributing as a family to Gawad Kalinga. For just P20,000, one house could be rebuilt for a displaced family. They all donated their Christmas gifts from me to the fund. In addition, Deejay, husband of my first-born Trisha, designed a Tshirt (Help. Hope. Heal.). If he sells 50 of them, another house can be rebuilt. Please go to https://www.booster.com/help-hope-heal?share=6721384979451411.

Help. Hope. Heal

Bud's birthday @ Sourdough Pizza

Finally, our new friends on the block took care of me as Bill asked them to. Once Bonnie brought me to the grocery for some needed pantry items.We also went out for Bud's, Bonnie's husband, birthday at Sourdough Pizza very near Viewpoint.

Suzanne and her crutches

Suzanne got Bill for a month and I missed him for just a tiny part of that (hehehe). My book project got the push it needed. I also thoroughly enjoyed my walk down a Filipino culinary memory lane! And we were able to, from around the world, help in the relief efforts of central Philippines. Although I rarely saw the light of day, except for my daily walks to the Fitness Center, it was a very productive time for both Bill and me.  

OLA: 'Funding Your Life Overseas'

with a genuine cowboy from Rockin R' Ranch, our special night at the conference

intriguing sculpture at lobby of Phoenix Hilton Mesa

It’s good to be in Phoenix this time of the year! Last week my good friend Jingjing could not make it to a conference in Phoenix as a guest of Cynthia Araneta, her friend and manager of Surf and Turf RV Park in Del Mar, California. We had met Cynthia and spent a Happy New Year with her, visiting Filipino friends on January 1, 2013. Well, Cynthia called me up immediately and offered me Jingjing’s spot!  I am now eternally grateful for the wonderful opportunity not only to spend three lovely days again with her but also to immerse myself in a world I never knew existed.

cynthia @ our room in Phoenix Hilton Mesa

opening session

The conference was entitled ‘Funding Your Life Overseas’, held November9 to 12 at the Phoenix Hilton Mesa, just 15 minutes from Viewpoint. It is the first such conference organized by International Living, a company based in Ireland whose motto is Live, Retire, and Invest Overseas. The San Francisco Chronicle wrote that IL has built an empire selling paradise. And I found out how! Cynthia is a World Club member, able to attend any of its conferences, seminars, meetings anywhere around the world free for her lifetime. She estimates that her investment has paid for itself so far and she is only 61!

exhibits/cocktails

snack time @ the conference

In lectures, workshops, and panel discussions, the conference listed the following opportunities to fund anyone’s life overseas, living like a king or queen, earning in dollars and spending in local currency.

1.    Very portable careers where you only need a laptop and the internet: copywriting, travel writing, photography, freelance consulting, blogging, ecommerce/drop shipping

the plenary

     
       2.  Careers in real estate: owning vacation rentals, property and rental management, house and pet sitting, operating motels and bed n breakfasts

      3. Other opportunities: operating a franchise, teaching English, import/export, leading niche tours, and operating or renting out a farm 

The conference also dealt with topics like the top countries to live in, how to get started, overcoming obstacles, tax considerations, and the psyche of being jobless and succeeding.

Cynthia and me at the bar

Cynthia and me @ breakfast buffet

With my nerdish outlook on life, I am always armed with my laptop and smartphone and constantly connected with the internet.   I chose to attend the following workshops, natural opportunities for me: copywriting, travel writing, photography, and arranging niche tours. All of these are highly portable tasks and are related to traveling, our main preoccupation nowadays. Now that we are have completed North America and in 2014 are embarking on our journeys abroad, this conference opened my eyes to funding that may greatly increase our travels and the enjoyment.

Cynthia and me at the lounge

riding a bus to the Rockin' R Ranch

The conference was also a great venue for meeting like-minded people. Although I did not win a free trip to Costa Rica and another one to Nicaragua, I met a nurse who is planning to live in Ecuador, a retired nurse who has not yet decided where, a retired lady who has rentals in Phoenix, a gentleman who is starting his 3-year round-the-world journey next year, and another one who is looking to buy a home in Costa Rica. And, of course, I had more time with Cynthia who has such a bubbly personality.  A pediatrician by profession, she also gave me a bit of power programming (hypnotherapy) to help me get rid of my chronic hives.  If this works it will be great, no more hives or hive-controlling drugs.

On Monday evening we were also treated to a Wild Wild West Show at Rockin’ R Ranch. I had a pretty big slice of beef plus a whole leg quarter of chicken (both barbecued) with sides of baked potato, beans, applesauce, biscuit, and pastry. Sunday and Tuesday evenings were hosted cocktails. Breakfasts were buffets. And endless snacks were always available at the Exhibit Hall. Cynthia, being a World Club member, and I, as her VIP Guest, had the privilege of staying at the VIP Lounge where there was more eats and networking. But, as soon as I got back to the RV, I was horrified! The uncooperative scale registered an additional (and highly unwanted) 3 pounds! 

great shot of the gunfight after dinner

the singing part of the Cowboy Dinner Theater

The only thing I wished was that the Philippines had been included as one of the top countries to live in. Most of the countries recommended are in Central America. Only Malaysia was discussed from Asia where English is painted as a major drawback. Precisely what they would not encounter in the Philippines! But it was also heartwarming that anyone who found out that Cynthia and I are from the Philippines asks if we had family in the devastated areas and inquires about the ongoing relief efforts for the victims of Yolanda/Haiyan.

practice shooting @ the Ranch

A BIG Thank You Jingjing and Cynthia for this wonderful opportunity to rise from my armchair and engage the world again! That was one very helpful conference!

WOW: Responding to Disaster

taking care of those who perished: more than 3,600 with 1,200 still missing

saving what's left

Last Sunday I published my usual weekly post on my blog. It was about ‘Choosing Club Memberships for Social Growth’, third in a series of how Bill and I are getting settled at Viewpoint RV Golf and Tennis Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. Little did I know that a ‘perfect storm in terms of its sheer size, its circular symmetry and the tightness of its eye’ had set a world record and, the day before, hit hard Leyte and Samar, the third poorest province in the Philippines (poverty incidence at 59.4%). How insensitive of me, to focus on the comforts and luxury of resort living while countless people suffered back home! A rightful nudge by my friend June Lopez and concerned inquiries by neighbors, family, and friends woke me. 

looking for what they have lost

The status updates on Facebook at the time started with praises about the surprisingly good disaster preparedness, compared to previous calamities. The Philippines has one of the highest incidences of natural disaters in the world. But when news trickled in about the real situation, the status updates changed overnight. The extent of the devastation was slowly revealed and now authorities count over 3,600 dead, 1,200 still missing,12,500 injured, and 600,000 displaced. The emotional response is overwhelming. The US takes the lead in what is projected to be the third highest disaster aid in its history, behind the Haitian earthquake and the Indonesian tsunami. (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/13/donations-typhoon-stricken-philippines/3508929/). That is not even counting heroic help from US military.

helping themselves

Being 10,000 miles away, all Bill and I could do was to donate money to a reputable agency, the UN’s World Food Programme USA. And then we saw how a friend, Monette Hamlin, purchased 10 water filtration systems for help that has significant multiplier effect; how another friend, Jennifer Simons, pioneered in the relief efforts for those who were evacuated to Manila; or how the brother of a friend, Orly Tugob, reveled in the exercise he freely got as he carried heavy relief goods in Tacloban. So many inspiring stories in the face of adversity were shared in media, social or mainstream. Even Anderson Cooper finally admitted that he was amazed at the extraordinary strength of the Filipino people (http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/522424/20131115/haiyan-anderson-cooper-philippines-strength-extraordinary.htm#.Uoa02MSsiSo).

much needed water

And then, in the midst of the chaos that is natural in disaster scenarios, negativity found its way into people’s psyche.  Leaders began to get bashed for perceived incompetence, people began to criticize journalists’ reports, and looting was blamed on negligent law enforcement officers. My daughter April, tucked away in Newcastle upon Tyne in England, wrote an inspiring appeal on her Facebook page, which she followed with concrete informational help, for us to focus on positive things. Similarly, Bobbi Jo Domingo, a colleague from Development Academy of the Philippines, wanted to raise the level of discussion to something more fruitful. This is my small contribution towards their cry.

the Filipino rises every single time

I hope that the five basics of disaster response continue to be taken care of: early evacuation, emergency medical help, accessibility of food and water, improvised shelter, and infrastructure for better distribution and communication. It is also always good to remember the truism that staying with the positive will beget more positives. But the Philippines cannot escape from looking into the future for disaster risk reduction. If we do not have any experts in the science of disaster management, it will be worth our while to send scholars since such degrees are already being offered, as a matter of course, in American schools of higher learning. Hopefully, lessons learned are institutionalized in a powerful National Institution. Lastly, we can only be proud of economic gains if they are spread more evenly so that no more Filipinos have to live in shaky shoddy shanties by the sea, ready to be wiped out by the next big storm or gobbled up by the next big earthquake (http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/14/stop-catastrophizing-relief-efforts-in-the-philippines/).

WOW: Choosing Club Memberships for Social Growth

our little orange tree is ready for the picking!

view from one of the clubhouses

Much has been said about the fifty clubs available for memberships at Viewpoint RV Golf and Tennis Resort. Even with the 45+ concerts, dances, dinners, and other special events, it seems that the seniors in this age qualified resort still have time to spare! I also still have time to spare from the writing, editing, and marketing of my book and the cooking, washing clothes, and washing dishes. I have sorely missed the busy social life I had in the Philippines and hope that memberships in these different clubs that suit my interests will bring about new friendships to go back to winter after winter.

 

campfireAdd caption

After studying the roster of clubs that were described in a Viewpoint Residents’ Package I chose those that fit my interests and balanced intellectual, creative, and physical exercises. Then I called the club leaders to book my memberships through the land lines provided each resident. It is so easy to call the 4-digit number, actually your site number, # 5520 for us, as a local. This also serves as the last four digits of the land line number of each site, with the prefix being the first 3 digits of the campground’s phone number with the area code of 480.

Here are my choices and schedule thus far, unless I opt out of one or another club entices me to join:

MONDAY, 9:30 AM                                                                                                      BOOK CLUB

The Book Club has a list of 16 books to tackle during weekly meetings. Each member is assigned one to lead the discussion. I am told that the discussions are vibrant.

MONDAY, 1-3:30 PM (November through March)                                                    WRITING CLUB

the writing club

The Writing Club is a writing session of two parts{ 1) a sharing of the writing assignment of 500 words  centered on a keyword that is given as homework and 2) a writing exercise in class for ten minutes, also centered on another keyword.  A collection of the best writing crafted is published at the end..

TUESDAY AND THURSDAY AM, 8:30 AM (starting January)                                       YOGA CLUB

WEDNESDAY, 9 AM                                                                                               SCRABBLE CLUB

I am addicted to Word games; I spend many hours in Words with Friends on my smart phone. The Scrabble Club enables me to play face-to-face with new friends.

WEDNESDAY, 5:30 PM                                                                POKER CLUB, TEXAS HOLD’EM

There is another group, Poker Dealer’s Choice, but I like the simplicity of Texas Hold ’Em. You IIInly lose the entrance fee of $10 and hope to play as long as you can with it.

THURSDAY, 9:30 AM                                                                                                   TENNIS CLUB

Our grandkids, Yeye in Seattle and Devin and Cassie in Denver, are keen on tennis and I am enthralled by the sport so much that I follow all the majors.  Therefore, I decided to give it a try in this Tennis Resort. Well, I have a modest goal: enter at Level 1.5 and hope to advance to 2.0 in three years! If I don’t make it, there is its sister, pickle ball, to pursue! And this Resort has 6 courts for pickle ball and 10 for tennis.

THURSDAY, 6:30 PM (starting January)                                  COUPLES COUNTRY DANCE CLUB

FRIDAY, 6 PM                                                                                                         KARAOKE CLUB

I love singing, I mean performing! So I love it when campgrounds have this activity!

SATURDAY, 6:30 PM                                                                          BRIDGE for COUPLES CLUB

my view from the treadmill, the pool

Actually, there is also a Mahjong Club but they play it differently here than I am used to. Hopefully, Bill will join me in Tennis because everything is played in doubles (unless he really prefers pickle ball or chooses golf instead) and the Dance and Bridge Clubs. But my day will try to include a trip to the Fitness Center where I burn at least 150 calories, reach a heart rate of at least 128 beats per minute, or complete at least 1.5 miles, whichever comes first. On Tuesday nights Bill and I can go to the dinners and concerts and, starting January, special Tributes to singing greats and the special events on weekends.

our block, #5500

first campfire on the 5500 block

Finally, our street (# 5500) is now full with all the RVs that regularly come during winter. We are the new kids on the block. The couple that used to occupy our site has bought a park model home on the same street. This block is very active, has several Carols and Bonnies and Bills. On our second week Bud and Bonnie on Site # 5514 hosted a welcome campfire dinner of burgers, potatoes and salads. In return, I have invited them to my birthday on November 25 when I will serve fresh lumpia and pancit bihon!

Hopefully, there will absolutely be no room for boredom in this Viewpoint RV Golf and Tennis Resort!

WOW: Choosing a Home Parish for Spiritual Growth

Bill with the author and speaker, Joyce Coronel

Holy Cross Catholic Church courtyard in Mesa, Arizona

Another priority for Bill and me, in addition to finding our family physician, is to choose a home parish. In the last four years, we had hopped from parish to parish across the continent,  from the smallest chapel (8-seater) to the biggest basilicas, not staying long enough to become familiar even with the songs being sung in service nor contribute into a good stewardship. We strongly believe that a good home parish is vital to our spiritual growth and strengthening as individuals and as a couple. 

another view

The Catholic Church of the US has 78.2 million self-identified members and is the largest single religious denomination in the United States, reaching 25 percent of the population. The United States has the fourth largest Catholic population in the world, after Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines, in that order. Within the 195 geographical dioceses and archdioceses (excluding the Archdiocese for the Military Services), there are 17,644 local Catholic parishes in the country.

The term parish refers not only to the territorial unit under the Diocese but also to the people of its community or the congregation as well as to church property within it. The word parish originated from the Greek paroikia, "the dwelling-place of the priest" (in Tagalog we say parokya). Established in 1969, the Diocese of Phoenix (the entire metropolitan area with 43,967 square miles) has 92 parishes, more than 800,000 individual members and almost 300,000 households served by 128 religious priests, 230 deacons, and countless lay people.

yet another view

In our previous parish, the St, John the Baptist Catholic Church in Kent, Washington, Bill and I had become a well-known couple, members of the Supper Club and founders of the Filipino-American Association. Bill was also an active Eucharistic Minister. Actually, when the Parish was starting, he was also an active member of the Parish Management Committee.  So we have longed to belong again to a parish where we can share our gifts not only of money but also of time and talent. 

We had a good idea of what we were looking for in a parish. Aside from 1) being administered well, a good parish 2) is very welcoming and solicits ideas and input from parishioners. As such, it 3) celebrates well-prepared and celebrated Sunday masses,4) offers continuing religious education, sacramental formation, devotional opportunities, and retreats for spiritual growth, and 5) has social justice and advocacy groups and opportunities for service and outreach. The weekly Bulletin is always an indicator and this Parish has 12 pages every week!

Reverend Richard Felt, Pastor

To our surprise, the very first parish church we went to, the Holy Cross Catholic Church, the nearest to Viewpoint, had such a lively Life Teen Mass that we decided to be members. The priest managed to get people involved by using stories and a dynamic delivery, interjecting humor in his homily.  The congregation represented all age groups (not only a retirement community) with a preponderance of Hispanic parishioners, and many activities were being reported on. 

Lasagna Dinner sponsored by Knights of Columbus,
emceed by Reverend John Shetler, Parochial Vicar

As a matter of fact, we quickly decided to join the Lasagna Dinner with Joyce Coronel as speaker on Oct. 26 at the Parish’s Anderson Hall. Judging by the response to this fund-raising event, it looks like we joined the right parish! Joyce is a Catholic journalist who writes for the Catholic Sun and has been a staunch pro-life activist since she was young. She has also written a book, Martyrs Crown, of the persecuted Catholics of war-torn Middle East. And there are about a thousand n the Phoenix area alone.

12-page bulletin every week

Now Bill is thinking of joining the Knights of Columbus chapter in the parish while I am longing for a Supper Club. In the meantime, we are regular attendees of the lively Sunday Life Teen Mass (because I think I am still a teenager!).