Unusual Blooming of Spring Flowers

It seems like springtime is 2 months earlier than usual.Spring flowers that usually bloom during late April/early May are now blooming and we are just in late February.

Most daffodils in the neighborhood are already in full bloom as well as the fuschias and the spring crocuses.Tulips and hyacinthes started to sprout since the first week of February.

These abnormal changes look alarming to me.I bet you've also seen the news about snows seen on parts of Saudi Arabia and in Jerusalem,the heavy snow in California, Florida and in China,the devastating floods in parts of Asia like in Indonesia,India,Bangladesh and then drought in Australia,Afghanistan and even in the Philippines.

As a mother,of course it concerns me seeing all these things that are happening around.I mean, what would happen next?Tomorrow?Next week?Next month?Next year? Are we still living in a safe world for our next generation?But then,I think, if it's the way of the world then who am I to question it? If floods and droughts and extreme cold and stupid wars are nature's ways to control the world's population,then que sera,sera.Mother nature has to find its own balance for life's sake and I have to respect it.To live here and now is what's important.

Gwen Stefani Concert in Antwerp

These are some photos during Gwen's concert in Antwerp taken from my Sony Ericsson cellphone.Too bad it can't zoom to take a closer shot. Anyway,I was glad to have a camera on my phone since it wasn't allowed to bring a camera inside.But others were smart to hide their cameras to use during the concert.

This one's when she climbed the side barrier to reach her audience in the upper level and sing up close.She went for a tour while singing from the opposite side until she reached the side where we were sitting.Here,she was just like 8-10 meters away from us.I was really looking forward to see her pass right in front of us.

Here,she's even closer(4-5 meters away)but she didn't pass right in front of us coz the fans were already getting more excited to touch her hand and clothes so she got scared to be pushed from the bar where she was standing. Her bodyguards got stressed to protect her coz she's really in the crowd.Only one of them was able to hold her.

And then she decided to go down and her bodyguards "assessed" her in going down(they were holding her like that.My husband was laughing to see the crowd of men who wanted to have a share of the grab.(Was it because of their gentleman instinct or something else? hmmmm...guys and Gwen...hehehe

Congratulations Kim Clijsters!!!

Kim Clijsters ,the retired Belgian tennis player give birth to a healthy baby girl named Jada Elly.Congratulations to the new mom! More power...

Link for the Fans

Live Webcam in Brugge,Belgium

Webcam Markt Brugge

I was trying to search on that live webcam of the Brussels Grande Place but it seems not functioning anymore. I found this one live from the Groot Markt of Brugge(their Grande Place).

It's a pity I did not see today the live webcam of the capital.Today is a sunny day although outside it's still 10-11 Celsius.

Language Barrier

Here's a sketch I'd like to share in my blog.Although it's somewhat a different scenario from mine,but I find this sketch funny.It's about an English miner who met a chinese girl and later encountered the so-called "language barrier".Just watch the video.

This reminded me of my first months living in a foreign land and adapting to new culture, new climate and new environment.In Belgium these are not enough to be able to adapt to the new place.In a country where 2 different languages are dominating, I have to say it's much of a challenge.Although many people here understand English,they'd prefer if you speak to them in their own language.

Belgium is a country of best beers and best chocolates,and is also the country of divisions between Flemish and French-speaking Belgians(called Francophones). Here, an immigrant has to encounter both Belgians inside a public bus or in any public place.Here, to be able to speak French has an advantage because most people in Brussels are french speaking.But learning Flemish "neerlandais" is usually a "must" especially if you are looking forward to get a professional job in Belgium.Many of the employers and business owners are Flemish so during interviews, my knowledge in english and french languages can still make me less qualified because they usually prefer to hire applicants who are bilingual which means french-netherlands speakers.

The funny thing is,Neerlandais language is only spoken in parts of Belgium.You can't use it outside Belgium.Even like going to The Netherlands(Dutch-speaking) you'd still not be THAT much understood because although many of the words are likely similar,the pronunciations are mostly far from being understood.So,I don't really see the great importance of learning that local language here.My brain can no longer take another language to learn.You see, I know how to speak 4 different languages... Bisaya(from Cebu island),Filipino(our national language),English(considered an international language) and French(spoken in France,part of Belgium and part of Switzerland).So don't tell me I don't know how to adapt and understand you.Sometimes I get tired of just trying to understand other people's mentality and not being understood by them.

Dealing With Mom-in-Law

This is the first time and probably the last time that I will say something about my life with my mom-in-law.Compared to other wives' complains about their mom-in-law,I think I got more luck.Mine, she's more of a big help to me than a pain in the ass.

Mostly once every week she invites us for a dinner in their house and 2-3 times every weekdays she volunteers to pick up my son in school.It's her car I use to practice and learn how to drive( it was her suggestion ). She cooks well. She offers to do clothes repair(she has an electric sewing machine)like replacing a broken zipper or adjusting oversized pants to make the leg length fit my size which is shorter than the european standard S.Aside from that,she also gives some helpful advices on how to remove stains on different fabrics and which products are effective for cleaning specific dirts on specific material( teakwood,tiles,carpet etc.)

If compared to my own mother, I would say my husband is lucky to have a mother like her.Well, just a little summary about my mother:she does not really know how to cook and she was always busy earning money that she had no more time guiding us.Being born as a middle child in a big family I always got into trouble.Dealing with older or younger siblings got me stuck in between.In every trouble,I was always the one to blame.When having a dispute with my older brother or sister,I got no right to defend or else I'd be disrespectful...with younger siblings,I got blamed if they cry or got hurt while playing because I was in charge to keep an eye of their safety.Anyway,those were the reasons why I'd say I got more luck having a mom-in-law who is very helpful and supportive

But she also got some "defects" that I would say are not THAT much to be bothering me. Like my mom,she also has a voice that carry from Belgium to the Philippines.She can't control it once she starts talking.And she really said what's on her mind or how she feels.Like last week on a Friday,she called me up to tell me that she was there in school to pick up Matt but the school was closed because of the "Journée pédagogique" and she blamed me for not telling her that there's no class.I told her (in french) that I thought she knew about it since she was the one who picked up Matyu in school that Thursday and normally the teacher informed those who pick up the kids either orally and was also written on the board...She said she did not pay attention of what's written on the board and she did not care to talk to the teacher...I just replied " what more can I say?" Then she answered back in a sarcastic way: "Well,I'm just wasting my time here in school for nothing.Then she hanged up on me. After that I felt guilty but what can I do? I was assuming she knew about it but she was really very mad that my explanation was not enough to calm her down.Anyway,we met that Sunday and did talk like nothing happened.

Lesson I've learned: Sometimes you have to be the one to make an effort to understand more than to be understood.It usually saves you from a never-ending argument that might eventually end up in bad terms.

Here's a useful link for those who really have a hard time dealing with their mom-in-law. Good luck!

Playhouse Disney Addict

Well, I guess my son is not the only one who is fund of watching Playhouse Disney channel. Each day for him is not complete without a glimpse of his favorite shows like Baby Einsteins,Roley Poly Olly, Mickey Mouse and Manny and his tools. After school his usual first request is to turn on the Satellite TV right before asking a snack.

I cant blame him if he's into their shows.I mean,even myself, I sometimes do some humming on some of their songs unconsciously( like the Think,think,think of the Super Detectives and the melody of Mickey Mouse right when his house shows up from the ground) like it got programmed into my subconscious as I keep on hearing it repeatedly.

The good thing is he's learning some good stuffs out of Baby Einsteins like the music of Beethoven etc... I can't say it's a perfect show for my kid but more or less it helps him how to analyze on given problems and puzzles.For me, their interactive shows make my kid more curious on solving mysteries and how stuffs work.And now that he got more learning, he's starting to ask questions like How and Why is it like this and like that?But you know kids, sometimes, they ask some How's and Why's that even parents can't figure out the answer or can't explain well according to the kid's level of understanding....or some subject answers to those questions are just too sensitive for his young age to tackle.

Being parents can be challenging especially on certain years of the child's growth. But like the famous phrase of the Spiderman,"With great gift comes great responsibilities." Each child is a gift of life and with this gift we are bound to take our responsibilities... not only taking care of these gifts but also guarding them from harm.To all parents, more power to your upbringing and guidance!

A Visit to the Gynecologist

We went to the gynecologist this afternoon to get another checkup and an echography.The doctor was a bit tight with her patients' schedule due to extra minutes spent answering phone calls of her other patients.At last, it was my turn after more than 30 minutes of waiting...

The baby is fine according to the echography images...I was so glad to see the images on the screen once again. My husband and I were eager to know if it's a girl or a boy so we ask the doc to check as well (can't wait anymore to be thrilled during delivery) but seems like the baby was too shy or too much conscious of the disturbance that its position was really difficult for us and the doctor to confirm. But anyway,we'll know next time.

Back home after that check up,my husband called for an appointment for Echography anatomic...it's a more precise echography in which they will really measure the exact growth of the fetus...if it's normal according to its weeks of age.Well,it is scheduled by the beginning of April just after we'll come back from our travel to the UAE. I hope everything will be ok by that time...

A New Story of a Desperate Housewife

Oh well,as desperate as it would sound,you sure will understand what I mean.I didn't get enough sleep last night(again).Yes,it's just one of those "stuffs" pregnant women usually undergo....insomnia...or better yet, sleeping disorder.I don't know why but I just suddenly wake up without any reason then I couldn't go back to sleep at once.Maybe it's due to my husband's snoring,or the sound of all the appliances in the house on stand-by or it's just me and my sleeping pattern.My sleep rythm is starting to get fragile that even a little bed movement can wake me up.This is not my first time getting pregnant yet this pregnancy is indeed more challenging than my first one.

I guess I just slept like 4 hours all in all.Worse thing is when I stay awake for more than 30 minutes my stomach starts to crave for something to eat or if not,it's my dry mouth that would urge me to get up and drink water...then after...to the water disposal "wee wee"....lol
Today I'm desperate to find answers on the internet or tips how to get a better sleep.

6:30 in the morning my husband's alarm radio turned on and there is no way I can go back to sleep to wait for the alarm assigned for me at 7:25. So before my alarm radio turns on I am already wide awake in the toilet or already dressing up ready to go down and eat a little breakfast.Today (like many other days)I was lucky my sweetie brought me a cup of hot chocolate milk and a bread.It was a relieve(for my complaining stomach) as well as it was a bother for the rest of my body that was still complaining of fatigue and requesting for more sleep.But well,I got to get prepared than just stay there lying down still wide awake.As all weekdays,I have to do my routine of getting myself ready and waking up my son and getting him ready as well then send him to school.
So there it was,we were able to catch the bus right on time...still feeling exhausted,I kept on yawning on the way to school.
As usual,before I left him inside the classroom,I was taking a look at what he's doing and how he is mingling with the other kids.I can see he is well-behaved there(maybe because there are lots of other kids well-behaving to get a reward later on and there is that famous reserved white chair for those who will be punished to sit on it at the corner).

I got back home and still tired from the lack of sleep.I decided to lie down on the sofa and tried to get back to sleep again.To my surprise,my polish friend gave me a surprise visit.She is also a desperate housewife ike me...lol. Her son and my son are in the same school and today she took him there by bike.She decided to drop by to talk about her miserable days with her mom-in-law who will stay in their house until end of March.I understand she needed somebody to talk to and share her burdens and headaches and so I set aside my sleeping plan to listen to her and show my sympathy.It also helped me to think that my life is better and my problem is nothing compared to hers.Somehow she helped me with my problem...knowing that someone else has worse problems than mine makes me feel less problematic.

Bizarre Dreams

Last night I had again one of those weird dreams. This time, I did not remember exactly how it started...but it was like this...

I was like in a place near a church and I had to cross two streets to be able to go there.In the first street,there were only very few cars passing so I didn't have a hard time to cross.After I crossed that street I had to climb a little bit to reach a passage which is on the top of bonsai trees that looked like a kind of ficus grown and trimmed to only reach 2 or 3 meters tall.Their 2 big branches that spread apart create that single passage.It seemed like the area surrounding these trees are wilderness and there's no other way except this single passage.And so I passed branches to branches until I reached the end of the passage that led me to the second street.There I saw many people on both sides of the street.It was very dense traffic and many people are waiting for their bus while some were like me waiting for a chance to cross the street.I did not know exactly when but I was able to cross the street with other people...I was like going with the flow...Then I arrived in the church and I was looking for the door to enter and attend a wedding ceremony.It got me confused with all the doors and passages and all the people passing around in every direction...I saw stairs leading down to the underground where I heard a priest's sermon and then another door leading up to the balcony of the church.I chose to go upstairs but after 3 steps I was facing a giant steep step to continue to the next steps.I was able to take a grip on the side and let myself climb and continue going up.From the balcony, I saw the entire church and the bride and groom...although I did not really recognize them from far,it seemed like it's Myra's wedding(a friend of mine who's now in California) because I saw her mom and the rest of her family.When the wedding was finished I saw people starting to stand up and go out of the church.Then I recognized Jade...she was wearing a bride's maid dress and holding a bouquet of flowers.I greeted her.Then suddenly, my attention was drawn by the couple walking behind me...it was Neil and Annabel(in real life married to a swiss guy).They were sooo sweet and even holding hands while staring at each other.And so surprised of what I saw,I turned back to Jade and said," I thought you two were in a serious relationship..what happened?" She just replied,"It didn't work out."
And so it was like pushed into fast forward and I had to go down the balcony and back to the bizarre stairs.When I reached that giant steep step again,I figured out how the other people were able to go down there(especially that old lady I saw beside me in the balcony.And so I decided to slide down while holding on the side.When I reached the ground floor I saw some familiar faces that I've met way back in high school days.I smiled at them and continue my way out.Then I reached the side of the street and there I waited for a bus to go back home.After a while I started asking myself: Wait, which home are you going and what bus are you going to take?And then I look around and realizingI said: This is just a dream. AND I SUDDENLY WOKE UP...

I checked the time, it was 3:47 am... it took me a while to go back to sleep.hmmmm...well, they said it's normal to have bizarre dreams when you're pregnant...I even dreamed many times that I caught my husband cheating on me!!! And in one of those dreams I dragged that woman by pulling her hair and I kicked her downstairs...well,there were scenes I saw before I did that crazy thing...She left our house but left our door open.What woke me up was that scene when I screamed at my husband saying : "Since when did you cheated on me?"... and he just replied to me with a weird question, "Where are the photos? Have you seen the photos? " And my loud screaming reaction was like...WHAT PHOTOOOSSS ARREE YOUUU TALKINGG ABOOOUUTTT!!! CANNTT YOUU SEEE I'M MAAAD???

The moment I woke up I was really relieved it was just another crazy dream...

In the Beginning ( The Story of the Creation of this Blog and More)

Not so long ago, in a faraway kingdom of Belgium, a desperate housewife named Theresa decided to create a blog on the internet. And so her "behind the scene" story of how her blog was created goes like this....

"Late afternoon when the sun starts to set,my husband Marc came from his work. I told him I want to create a personal blog but I don't know where to start one.There are lots of websites offering free postings and all the craps and being less knowledgeable about internet stuffs I asked his opinion about it... instead of only opinion, I got his full-free package of services which includes him taking over the computer doing stuffs for me(he finds it easier and faster that way than letting me do it myself and bombarding him with tons of questions that take hours of his time explaining).So I decided to sit on the nearby sofa behind him...now instead of me asking him like maybe 20-30 questions usually starting with HOW's, it's him asking me maybe 4-8 questions usualy WHAT's... like What page color do you like? or What page layout do you like? The rest, I just leave it all to him...it enables us,especially him to save time and effort(on my side).The funny moment starts when it's time to put the title of the blog...so he asked: " What title do you like me to put? " Hhhmmmm...I haven't really thought about that...so he suggested: What about Theresa's Blog?" I said no,it's already too common to name a blog a blog...lol...So then I told him maybe some words that would more or less rhyme with Theresa...but I know him well he couldn't wait that long (like overnight)to make me decide...so he suggested again.What about: Theresa Ohlala or Ohlala Theresa...?" I didn't know how many milliseconds it took me to react to it... but we had a laugh like crazy...he added more crazy and stupid suggestions that really made my blog and that day unforgettable... And so it ended up with an agreement to have the title Theresa's World... for now...

My blog sharing is usually not about the things usual women share like tips on how to save on shopping or cooking or telling others tips on effective cleaning or how you get into the mode of fashion. In Theresa's World, I share simple things about my life according to how I see it.Everybody has his own way of living life .You see it according to how you want to see it...in a specific angle you chose.We each have our own versions of the story.For sure if you'll asked my husband his side of the story it wouldn't be expressed like mine.Because men and women, generally speaking, live in two different state of mindfulness...most men are mindful in physical state that involves seeing and touching while most women in emotional state that involves sentimental feelings and aspirations.So even though they are both involved in the same experience their way of experiencing it are not the same.So much with lecturing...let's go back to my side of the story.

According to me,the life we have as a couple is amazing... like in the game of The Amazing Race, we both race as a team...our mission is to make it to the pit stop as a healthy team...meaning no arguments or no hurt feelings and no exchange of harsh words...and to always remember that its just a game...if ever there is some misunderstanding,we have to talk about it and find a way to contemplate each other...

And now after 6 years of marriage,inspite of life's ups and downs, we still find the moments to laugh together, have fun together and even just sit beside each other without saying a word and still find it fun...even if sometimes it's hard for him to contemplate and understand me, but still we find a way to reach out for each other inspite of our cultural differences,our 12 years of age gap and him being raised in Mars and me in Venus.Now our extra mission is to reach out for our growing family...our son who was born on Earth,now speaking an alien "Frenchic" language that sounds more like french mixed up with english accent and a chinese pronunciation that he calls,in his own term, a "Singapore" language...Makes me wonder how it will be with our second child ( still under construction )....