during the vigil

============= ma, mami, jen. you three were all right. it can get really cold oout in here. it's good that mami gave me a pair of leggings. my legs can still feel the cold wind. jen, i got a pair of soccer socks (the long ones) over leggings i'm wearing right now. ma, i brought enough clothers - say 6 clothes to make a very thick layer but they're not really of help. i'm just wondering how could the caucasians here can stand the almost five degrees celsius of cold wind. and it's not even snowing here (how much more if there's snow?) ============ there's a lot of people out here. different countries. different language. different accents. right now, i'm located around some "slovenijans" (i still have to check it out) and some people from hong kong. earlier, we've met some filipinos from different countries. some from united states, canada, papua new guinea, new zealand. but mostly are from australia. it's quite amazing that i see philippine flag worm by someone who is with the aussie group. i'm just wondering if they still consider themselves filipinos. i'm still in doubt of their nationality (or sense of it) though they respond to our cheers (such as mabuhay!) or they call us out upon seeing the Philippine flag. it must be because i was just disturbed when i met a kid from wollemi whose parents are both filipinos but considers himself a half-pinoy. weird? i know. by the way, filipinos here are called here filos. love? maybe. =========== ros, how are you? what are you doing right now, bud? i hope you're doing well right now. i just wish i was there on your birthday. how was the surprise - sorry if that was all i can think of and wasn't able to plan a more bonggang surprise, just like last year. i wish too that i got to see you when you knew that the video wasn't actually a venatores video. ============ right now, i'm now enjoying sydney. they have a good weather here. cold but not snowy. cold that you can wear several layers of clothes - sartorialism, baby. however, it can get really hot here reaching 35 degrees. hotter than the philippines. hmm... climate's a notch higher than philippines.

second day mate!

and this day partially ends my day as a traveler here in sydney. and what a good day to cap it off! i had a great experience when we went to the blue mountain. i'm sure ms. gruet mentioned it during our australian studies. it was a never ending walk. after getting off the train which we first missed on our way to the mountains, we started walking from the station to the park where we had our lunch. (we had marmalade, butter and bread for breakfast and we had the same during lunch.) and to get to the observation decks fronting the blue mountains, we had to walk for almost 30minutes. from the observation decks to the three sisters, stone formations named after a myth or vice-versa. whatever! and oh, blue mountain's at katamboo but i'm not sure if it's still in sydney. on our way home, we had the last ride of the train. and it really highlights my day. why? we had companions in the train. drunken kids. i mean they're really crazy. they drink inside the train, though it's prohibited. they also made fun of our mates from wollemi college, asking different silly questions. i really hated it. good thing that mike, dae and i did not try to meddle with the situation. even peter, who was a former cop but presently a teacher, didn't intefere with what happened. they made silly remarks. below are some of the lines: "so, you are going to penrith. are you also going to the jesus thing? the youth day thing?" "have you kissed a girl?" ben, a student and wollemi boy, said no. the girl insisted "do you want me to kiss you?" "no! my girlfriend's gonna get jealous." and the wollemi group just laughed. a wollemi kid made a joke "we have a cop here!" and the whole drunken group went to them and almost went wild. here's the scenario. some girls, part of the drunken group, are smoking when the train stops. they are drinking inside the train. they're making fun of us. a guy wearing cap even shouted inside that he is christ. that same guy, i saw him kissing another guy. is he gay? i don't know you could barely tell, coz' gay guys are really hidden here, especially that sydney's a gay capital. i also saw a guy sitting on, again, another guy's lap. the latter's even kissing the former on the neck. yuck! yuck! yuck! i was really helpless during that time. i couldn't help my friends get away from the situation because honestly, i don't want to be discriminated on my second stay here. i don't wanna have a bad impression on austalians now that i met a few mates who are really welcoming us. if dae and mike only knew, i was shivering, at first because of cold, but minutes after, i was restless because i was really afraid they would pick on us. i mean, discriminate us. arggh... anyway, i'm so full right now. just had snags (hotdogs) and the barbi (que, pronounced as ba-bee) courtesy of the wollemi kids' parents. snags are so delicious that i had four on bun. australians make snags which are really tasty. that's all mate. -arjay diño (shivering)

first day in aussie

good day, mate. i'm here at wollemi college, somewhere in werrington, sydney australia. it's good that they have a computer so that i could blog what has been happening to me. just wanna say right away, Thank You to the parents and school facilitator of the school. hmm... here are some of the things i've noticed on my short trip around sydney. language. i learned from my australian studies class that a tourism advertisement of australia was banned in UK for including "bloody hell", a profane phrase. thus, it seems to them that australians are "vulgar" in using the term. however, i call it weird. or was it because i grew up on a country with american influence. i'm so used to seeing "please watch your step" signs on steps, but here it's different: "mind your step." also, another signage used the term "rubbish" in the line please "throw your rubbish in the trash can." weather it's really cold in here that i have to wear five clothes: undershirt, collared shirt, long-sleeves top, and two jackets. and i'm serious. ok fine, it's because climate in manila is really harsh, i mean hot. due to the weather, i don't mind walking for miles. i never got tired and exhausted from walking. it's cool here, i mean, i get to walk wearing a jacket and my very huge backpack. i've been to baguio and i know that relatively it's cool there but i haven't experienced having heater on my room, our (class)room. it's weird staying on a warm room and then going out on a very chilly and windy open space. transportation based on my first day here, it is either you walk or you take a train in going to different places. i have seen some buses they were close to getting empty. was it because today's a sunday, a rest day for them? i don't know. let's wait til tomorrow or world youth day festivities start. mr. paras, you are right. a secret to having a successful country is a good means of public transportation. and they have it here with their trains. as far as i can remember, i saw four or five lines, and almost all are connected. the train's fast too that having a trip of an hour and a half would mean like marikina to laguna, say 50 km. money i'm so used to not valuing coins because in the philippines, coins don't have that large value. here, the smaller your gold coins, the higher the value and it is very different when compared to manila. with your really small coins, say 3 gold coins, you can go as far as 50 km or you can have a big mac which reminds of my next topic. firsts it's my first time here in australia. first time to go out of the country. first time to see an extinct tree, the wollemi tree which my school where i'm staying is named after. first time to see bats hanging on the trees. first time to see the sydney opera house. first time to experience 5-12 degrees celcius but what could top off my firsts is to eat BIG MAC at mcdonalds. i'll just assume you know why it's that special. ehehe til the next time, arjay diño.

the Papa

i'm really excited to leave the country for the first time. ahaha australia baby! not as a tourist though, but as a pilgrim. a pilgrim. pilgrim, not tourist. a traveler, perhaps. traveler who is seeking for the right way. ehehe but i would really like to thank my family who supported me in this trip and all the sponsors whose names shall be kept in confidentiality. anyway, keeping up with the theme of excitement, i just wanna say that i'm excited to have the chance of meeting the Pope, Pope Benedict XVI. i hope that i could get a good shot of him - hmm... something to aim for. i'm really excited to go on a pilgrim. i have always limited the concept of pilgrimage to the muslims that i never thought that Christians do pilgrimage also. ehehe. a week and a half of prayers, wow, i never thought that this will be a really cool period. i mean, we get to be enlightened... there, thank you to all. pray that i may get a safe trip and a chance to meet the Pope.