Happy CHINESE NEW YEAR!

2014's Chinese New Year (you might also call it the Lunar New Year or the Spring Festival) starts today, January 31. from ownbound.com 2014 is a year of the horse. The Horse is one of the eleven Chinese Zodiacs, together with the Dragon, Ox, Rooster and many more. If you were born in 2002, 1990, 1978, or 1966, it's your year (according to the Chinese Zodiac)!  You might celebrate the Spring Festival in a variety of ways. Dragon...

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Lucky Numbers Around The World

You might think of numbers as that annoying thing you just see in Math class (might as well add in the variables, huh?), but some numbers actually mean more in different cultures. Read on to find out more! The Number 7. In Egyptian Mythology, the number 7 is a symbol for being whole and perfect. Examples of the number seven which is depicted in Egyptian Mythology are the seven zigzag lines that form a pool (representing water) and the Nebu (Egyptian...

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UPDATES: The Contributor's Corner + Non-Daily Posting

Contributor's Corner Update With the announcement of the co-authors, they will post in the blog with a parenthesized (CC) on the title, which stands for Contributor's Corner. If you want to see all the CC Posts, just click here and click Contributor's Corner. CC Posts start on the first week of February! Non-Daily Blog Posting Sometimes, it's really difficult for me to stir up an idea, so we will not be posting daily anymore. I (Euan) might post three or two times per week, but this blog will still be fully...

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3 National Symbols of the Philippines

The Philippine Flag. The flag of the Philippines is commonly known as the "Three Stars and a Sun". The royal blue part of the flag symbolizes justice, peace and truth, while the scarlet red part represents bravery, courage and honor. The three stars represents Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the three major parts of the Philippines. Finally, the eight rayed sun symbolizes the 8 provinces that started the 1896 Philippine Revolution, Batangas, Nueva...

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THE SURPRISE!

So before I spill the deets, I just wanted to say that I spent some time thinking about this and I thought it would be good both for the blog and for themselves. THE SURPRISE: Introducing The Co-Authors!  I (Euan) will still be owning the blog fully, and managing a larger part of the blog than the co-authors. I feel like I'm only sharing my experiences here, and I think letting other people share theirs is a good way for them to publicly share thoughts and for you to get an insight to what other people are thinking.  Of course...

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Featured In Our School Magazine!

We just published the first ever school magazine for our school! The ISSR Voice's December 2013 Winter Issue just sold out and I am so proud of not just myself, but also the crew and my friends (and our English teacher who guided us) for making this a success! Woo-hoo!  I was an author of the magazine and I chose two of my blog posts to be published in the magazine. First was the Stockholms Stadsmuseet (Stockholm City Museum)...

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Those Boring Moments...

Source: wordfromthewell.com So once in a while when you're travelling, you'll get bored. You won't get bored with the things you see in the country, the experiences, and blah blah blah, but you will experience either a long train / air-plane ride, a flight layover that seems like eternity, or even just waiting for the bus going to town. So here's some stuff you can do to let that time pass by: Probably, the most obvious thing you can do on...

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EATS: Hemma Vasastan

Hemma Vasastan is a restaurant literally about sixty feet within our apartment in Odenplan.  The restaurant seemed pretty calm on the outside, but the things completely changed after a step through the front door. 30 to 50 people were crowded near the restaurant's entrance, where the pub is, talking and shouting, watching a football match of some sort. That immediately changed my perspective. Fast forward onto our appetizer: garlic...

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POST ROUNDUP - The Philippines Trip {Dec. 2013 - Jan. 2014}

Our holiday to the Philippines has been so much fun, and as you read this, I'm already at Stockholm in School. Here's a rather new segment of the blog, Post Roundup, which will recap the posts for you. Enjoy! Highly Recommended Posts To Read Group Bonding at the Alabang Town Center  - It has been five, almost six, months since I've seen the people which I normally see every weekday, so it was awesome to spend a day with them at the mall...

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EATS: Love Desserts

After our trip to the University to the Philippines, we went to Trinoma and to SM City North Edsa (I was going to blog about these two, but there was not enough content). We met with a ton of good friends of my auntie and uncle. These good friends (I think) they met via WOWTrippers (Backpacking adventures to the Philippines!). It was the owner of WOWTrippers' birthday (Janine / J9!) and we met her at the TriNoma Foodcourt. After...

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EATS: Street Food at The UP Diliman Campus

You might see people riding around your neighbourhood in a bicycle, with the bicycle having an attached cart with some sort of pan or whatever. These are the street food vendors. Some Filipinos call street food "tusok-tusok", because most street food requires you to get a small stick, stab your chosen street food item, and if you want, dunk it into a container filled with some sort of sauce. "Tusok-tusok" can be roughly translated as "stab-stab",...

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UPDATE | Farewell Philippines!

The Philippines trip has been a blast, and the Holidays are almost over. I had 10 extra days here, but today is the day where I say goodbye to the Philippines for now. This trip has been amazingly fun, and I coped with the weather better than I expected. It was nice to see the family and friends after about half a year in Europe. The posts from the Philippines will still continue until January 12, of which there will be no post for the following day (13 January), just for jetlag allowance. If any of my family is reading this post, I will surely...

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(Exclusive For F.B) | Eats: Rodic's Diner at U.P Diliman Campus

Following our trip to the University of the Philippines, we ate at Rodic's in the U.P Shopping Center. But we'll do this a bit differently today. I've always been saying that you'll get exclusive blog post updates and some extra pictures and travelling information when you like the official Facebook page of the blog, and you still will! This blog post will only be present in the official Facebook page, as a pledge that you will get some...

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The University of the Philippines

Four years ago, my auntie and I went to the University of the Philippines - Diliman Campus, just to feel the physical environment and atmosphere for me, and a walk down memory lane for my auntie. Four years later, we went to it again, this time with my sister and uncle. Before you go inside the campus, you will be welcomed by the U.P Oblation Statue in front of the Quezon Hall. You might think that the Oblation is just some random naked guy with...

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EATS: Contis' Bakeshop & Restaurant

With the urge to see my auntie at work (and the suggestion of my mom to see her in her working atmosphere), we went to Contis' Bakeshop and Restaurant in Greenbelt 3.  {Yes, I know that yesterday's post was also in Greenbelt, but this happened after Christmas, not before.} Disclaimer: I'm posting my true experiences here, and not just "sucking up" to the restaurant just because my auntie work's there. Just saying that this is the truth....

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EATS: Starbucks ~ Greenbelt 3

For our first trip at the Greenbelt, we stopped by to get some drinks at Starbucks. I got a Strawberry and Cream Frappuccino (No coffee, 'cuz I don't like it with coffee) while my mom and my sister got a Chocolate Chip Frappucino. We also got our drinks with a Chocolate Glazed Doughnut (for me) and a Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie (for my sister). It looked more high-quality in my phone. Sorry! My frappuccino tasted really good at the...

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Greenbelt Mall

Our trips to Manila for our vacation here in the Philippines frequently end up here, in Greenbelt Mall, so I think it's about time I give you some insight about it. Greenbelt is a shopping mall in Manila, and (from what I understand) is kinda separated to Greenbelts 1 through 5. Each part of the Greenbelt houses different kinds of services. Based from Wikipedia, Greenbelt 1 features hardware stores and stores that sell home appliances, while...

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EATS: Jollibee @ Festival Mall

Ahhh Jollibee. If you roam around the streets of Manila, there's a 90% chance of you spotting one or two (or four, or twelve...), Jollibee is the most iconic Philippine fast food chain. It serves fried chicken, burgers, sandwiches and even pasta.  We went to the Jollibee at the Festival Mall's fourth floor. No doubt, it was really busy. If you're living in Scandinavia, Jollibee is as busy, if not much more busier than Jensen's...

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Festival Supermall

From panoramio.com Currently (As of 3 January, 2014), Festival Mall is only composed of four floors, with an okay variety of shops, restaurants and kiosks. In my opinion, it's outside looks unappealing in some areas. It has two of each supermarkets and hardware / shops, and a department store. Also, 'till this day (date above), it's going through (what they call) "A facelift like no other" or some other thing like that, in order to expand...

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Group Bonding @ the Alabang Town Center {Timezone}

After 5 months in Stockholm, it was really good to meet The Group and have some fun! I see them almost every day back in the Philippines, so it'll be very good to meet them again. On the picture is (from left to right) Yonits, Pauline (Pau), Sean (Mica), Michael and me. We went to the Alabang Town Center! What I like about this mall is that it's really big (for me), and that it has lots of "natural elements" to it. It has an open area in...

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