Raising future Olympic Swimmers

Swimming is an activity loved much by almost everybody. It can be both useful and recreational. Known to humans, swimming’s main purpose is for bathing, to perform fishing, as an exercise, a recreation and as a sport. Like most children, my son and daughter always get wildly elated whenever the idea of swimming comes up. They both love being in the water and becomes blissfully delighted the moment they are in it but gets petrified at the thought of drowning.

About a year ago, my kids look like this when we go swimming:

They are apprehensively mistrustful, terrified when they realized that their Dad or I, were far enough and out of reach, cheerful yet clingy, panic-stricken even in a two-feet deep Jacuzzi or baby pool. At times, during outings, when they need to play with other water-loving kids, my children will only get confident if a giant life jacket is wrapped around their bodies regardless if its making them uncomfortable.

My dear Husband and I decided to get them into swimming lessons whenever we got the chance as long as it will not interfere with their schooling. In accordance to our hopes, a childhood friend of mine, Gracela Cucharo who I fondly call as Ate Tata, whose two daughters Nicole and Thea, were elite swimmers and has been competing in various local and regional swimming races invited me for a swimming lesson. It was the second week of January2012 when my son, Wine and daughter, Water together with two of their cousins Sugar and Creamo first got their formal swimming lessons. I never regret the decision to accept Ate Tata’s invitation and enrolled my children to this swimming lesson and the very same day my children and I met Coaches Renan David and Reymond Cabali who serve as good influences to my children and other swimmers in just a short span of time since they have been working together as a team.

At first, we were only looking at a ten-session swimming clinic and an extension only if the parents feel that their children needed more coaching. Before we knew it, the kids become more than just interested on learning how to swim but started to become passionately dedicated to swimming as a sport. They started to look forward to competing and mastering swimming strokes. They abide to their coaches for support, approval, admiration and command. For two months from the start, they only have weekend schedule for swimming lessons but as they got more attachment to other swimmers and develops the feeling of belongingness to a newly built swimming team, they seem to become more eager to be in the pool training. The kids get so excited when the coaches suggested to have the training schedules frequent by making it a two-hour training four times a week provided that swimmers will not abandon schooling  and a decrease in their school grades just doesn’t mean an equal punishment but they will be out of the team as well. Surprisingly, just like good athletes, my children put up with this kind of disciplinary action in a very positive manner. What can parents do?—Nothing, except to give good moral support, encouragement and the warmth of tender loving care not to mention provide the specifically individual coach fees and expensive training equipment like kick boards, fins, paddles and such. Let’s face it, SWIMMING is a very expensive and sophisticated sport specially to a middle-class family like us.

Barely four months on training, this is how my Wine and Water looks like now when they are in the swimming pool:

Water on a 25-meter freestyle drill

 

Wine on a 25-meter freestyle drill

Pardon the poor video quality. Moms are technically not allowed to stay and hangout by the poolside while training session is going on and it is the best of what a small digital camera can do. This video is recorded by my cousin Malou, Sugar and Creamo’s mom. Thanks a lot for this video my dear Ate Malou!

I know that to call my children Olympic Swimmers is like reaching for a star in the sky at night, it’s very far and a long way to go. According to a 14-time Olympic Gold Medalist Michael Phelps “You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the farther you get.”…so yeah, I AM RAISING FUTURE OLYMPIC SWIMMERS!   If my kids’ dreams are as big as the stars in the sky if they can be laid in your hands then so be it. I will dream their dreams for there is no limit on getting to where they wanna be- Gold Medal it is. This doesn’t just go for me alone but also to my fellow parents of Tagum City Stingray Swimming Team. If my kids’ swimming team thinks that training is winning, then every training session is a lap ahead towards our way to the Olympics.

 

   

The TAGUM CITY STINGRAY SWIMMING TEAM is an amateur sports group of swimming enthusiasts. Recently registered and granted as the official swimming team of Tagum City.

Please visit and like the team’s official Facebook Page:

TAGUM CITY STINGRAY SWIMMING TEAM

Galaxy Jewels

 

I first discovered Galaxy Chocolate when I was working in the Middle East some five years ago. Being a chocolate lover, I had generous helpings that satisfied my chocolate cravings during my stay and Galaxy Jewels Chocolate is one of my favorite.

Old packaging of Galaxy Chocolate Chest

New Packaging of Galaxy Chocolate Chest

Galaxy Chocolate Jewels comes in assorted  chocolate selection containing ten different chocolate varieties. The unique Arabic-mixed chocolate itself is rich, smooth milk chocolate filled with caramels, hazelnuts, dark chocolate cream, white chocolate cream,  crispy bits and more that are individually wrapped in a cleverly pretty and shiny foil wraps and packed in a very artistic plastic box resembling a treasure chest filled with jewels.

I bought six large and four medium size chest of Galaxy Jewels when I came home year 2008 for my annual vacation and gave these chests to family, friends and relatives as a pasalubong (gifts). For Easter 2009, my Husband dear attached a cardboard strip on both ends of  medium-sized chest and gave it to me as my Easter basket since finding a real Easter basket in  Saudi Arabia is impossible not to mention even celebrating such occasion is prohibited. Since then, Husband dear never fails to bring a chest of Galaxy Jewels every time he comes home for vacation and this box-filled of chocolate is not for the kids, nor the family and friends but solely for me. Sweet!

Today, my kids and I finished few of the last pieces that were left in the chest brought home from Husband dear’s latest vacation. I still can’t help it if I find Galaxy Jewels irresistible! Totally a guilty pleasure for this week!

Pick-a-Phone

Last Saturday night, I was informed that a friend and also a swim team co-parent’s handbag was snatched as she was sitting in the front seat of a tricycle ride(public transportation in our town)on her way home. As the secretary of Swim Team’s Org., that information told me that contact numbers will be updated as soon as she gets a new phone which I believe was inside the now-snatched handbag.  She was frantic for all her possessions inside the bag, of course, who wouldn’t be? If it was me…I would be more than just frantic. She is a good friend and an awesome mom to her kids. I feel sorry for her because of the incident but on the other hand was thankful as she is safe. I saw her yesterday during the kids’ training sessions. She related that after having the incident reported her handbag was recovered  Sunday morning thrown near a ditch close to their place and somebody was able to come across it  who happens to know her. Surprisingly, everything was intact specially her Identification Cards that she was most worried of except for the cash that was inside her wallet and the USB Flashdrive internet modem that she carries with her inside the bag. The snatcher must have tried to turn off the cellphone but failed to do so as her keypad lock feature was protected with a password and finds the phone useless for that matter and decided to leave it behind. In short, money-less bag and everything else was returned to my friend.

After training sessions I went to the city for some errands. At the mall, as I was about to pay my purchase, I found a cellphone at the cashier’s counter top partly hidden behind the Bantay Bata donation can making it impossible for the cashier to see it unless she will move the cash register’s monitor away from where it is at. I picked the phone and called for the lady in salmon orange colored top which I happen to notice using the phone before setting it down as she put her wallet back inside her bag before she turned and left just as I was approaching the counter. It is a blackberry phone and she was delightedly thankful when I handed it to her.

At the bus terminal later that day, I felt lucky to find a still empty bus at the spot waiting for its departure time because it meant that I will be able to sit where I want. Getting up the steps of the bus, I found a Nokia E63 laying by the window seat at the front row. I turn around me but realized I am completely alone inside the bus. By the rule of “Finders Keepers” I was hesitant to pick it up, afraid that something will happen if I touched it. Living in Mindanao, I am perfectly aware that most of Mindanao bombings were strategized with the use of cellular phones and with this thinking in my head at that moment, I was just standing there, unable to move and freakin’ scared staring at the phone. Will all my courage, I reached out and press a key on the phone, the screen immediately light up showing a man’s picture wearing a familiar red and blue colored shirt. I leaned closely, still not picking it up, studying the picture I realized that the man in the picture is wearing a DMS uniform (Davao Metro Shuttle). In fact, he just looks like one of the guys joking around with others in the same shirt by the dispatch booth which is few meters away from where the bus is at. Relieved, I picked the phone and call for the guy in the picture who happens to be the driver of the bus. Like the lady at the mall, he was delightedly thankful too. He even told me “ingat”(take care) and thank me once again as I was getting off at my stop.

“What is up with these people leaving their cellphones behind??” that is what’s going on in my mind during the bus ride. I find it pretty smart for my friend to protect her phone with a password and because of that, there is no need for contact number update and most importantly she didn’t need to get a new one. Unfortunate for her that she was a victim of such incident but still lucky enough to be safe and got some acquaintance who cared to pick up the ditched bag and find a way to return it to her.

I just hope that, the lady at the mall and the bus driver will both learn their lessons to be watchful of their belongings. They might not be as lucky to have finders who don’t tend to keep or I might not be around for a phone-picking task.

Rewards

In my previous post “in a month” I failed to mention that I drastically changed internet connection provider. In the Philippines, there are two huge mobile telecommunication companies that  goes head to head in competing with each other, it is SMART and GLOBE.

For years, I am a subscriber of Globe, my mobile network provider. I only used SMART when I started working overseas, since, their roaming service works better in my country of destination then. Being home for a while now, I switched back to GLOBE but kept SMART as well. In fact, I applied for PLDT myDSL which is powered by SMARTbro(SMART Broadband) for my internet connection at home. Few months back, internet connection started to suck big time. Connections will always get interruptions and server becomes unavailable which leads to frustrations on my behalf and getting pissed while doing work online. Not just that actually, what is worst is that 24/7 customer service is somehow almost-always-never-accessible. I guess you all know what I am talking about, don’t you? The irritating voice you always hear on 24/7 customer service voice prompt saying “Your call is important to us. All customer service representative is busy at the moment. Please stay on the line until the next representative becomes available.” At one point, while I was in the middle of listening to this irritating voice prompt, I suddenly realize that, the town has other internet providers and I don’t have to suffer with the very poor customer care. I had my mobile phone in my other hand while the landline phone receiver is cradled in the curve of my neck between head and shoulders. I just didn’t get poor customer service, I was awarded with a stiff neck injury waiting for them to entertain me.

Long story short, I hang up and dialed GLOBE’s customer service instead and was able to transact DSL application in a matter of 10-minute talk to a pleasant sounding, well informed and very accommodating, helpful customer service representative. In less than 48-hour time frame, my application was processed, investigated, ordered and installed. I am using GLOBE Tattoo DSL connection right now and never once did I get problems despite Mindanao’s  power shortage resulting to rotational brownouts which is often used by PLDT myDSL as a reason for interruptions.

On my GLOBE handy phone, I always get a text message every day at exactly 8:08:11 in the morning from 4438 MyRewards,MyGlobe – about the points I earned using the system. One day, the text message from 4438 is informing me to redeem earned points. I usually ignore these messages but since I was happy with how my internet connection turned out, I decided to give the ignored text messages  few seconds of my time by reading it. I redeemed my earned points by processing the redemption thru text messaging. After four working days, I received the package from MyRewards,MyGlobe. A 4GB Nano Pro Flash Drive by Imation delivered by Air21.

To GLOBE,

I will be enjoying the reward just as I am enjoying the service. More Power!

with GLOBE, GO lang ng GO!

in a month

 

It has been a month since the last post and with this new entry, I am officially back. What have I been up to for the last few weeks?- a LOT.

If attendance for blog writers is a must, my excuse letter would go— Excuse my absence in the blogosphere due to the following reasons.—

 

- My daughter ranked Fifth Honorable on her Kindergarten Commencement Exercises making me an ultra proud mom and us a super happy parents!

Congratulations my baby Water! Keep up the good work!

- I always believe that chances are given anytime and that it is always never too late for anything and thus—I became a student driver and learned how to drive. My dear husband is my instructor- Right! He’s been told that he is crazy for doing it and not sending me to a driving school instead.

I know that I am a good student but that doesn’t guarantee that I am not allowed to snap at him when I panicked gets frustrated with all the driving instructions and it seems to be like most of the time. Ha! Ha!. I love you WCW, there will be less “tantrums” and I promise to get better behind the wheel. PROMISE!

-  Since kids are off from school and dear husband is home for a short vacation, we treat ourselves to a little outdoor adventure. We went to an old favorite field trip destination when I was small, it is one of Davao City’s landmark – the GAP FARMING. It brought back memories of my excitement as a little girl on a school field trip.  Among all those memories, the most significant was that my 8-year old birthday was celebrated here too.

 

our old photos at GAP FARMING

Latest GAP visit with the famous photo by the giant “KALABAW”

Our little adventure goes a bit extreme too as out highlight for the day became our last stop and that is ZIP LINING with my mom.

 

Extreme Zip Lining experience at Davao’s Zip City

 

- The HOLY WEEK is a significant, traditional and highly religious celebration that is practiced by the entire Roman Catholic population in the country, myself and my family included. As Husband dear’s short vacation is about to end, we offer the entire week to prayers. As the new fire and water continues to light the path of life and shower blessings to my family, we  lift our hands in thanksgiving on Sunday of Easter!

 

In a month of absence from blogosphere, I was able to give the keyboards of my laptop a vacation from my typing fingers. I had a month well spent with family bonding and holidays. I gained weight from all the meals and served food during celebrations and gatherings. I took lots of pictures to add to a fully loaded photo album of stories.

The month is over and everything is back to normal………