in this life of living & learning: Mabuhay!

[Wikipedia:]
"Mabuhay (pronunciation: mah-BOO-high) is a Tagalog word used to exclaim "long live". Comparable to the Romance language expression “Vive, Viva”, the salute associated with this exclamation; in which both arms are raised above the head in unison three times, is similar to that used in the Banzai. The expression is most often used at toasts (cheers!) during gatherings and parties, at rallies, political conferences, or for praising notable individuals. It is also an expression used in welcoming guests and a way of showing hospitality.
The root word buhay means life."

So my family and I just returned from a 3 and a half week long trip to the Philippines, where I gave my tagalog a good workout, haha. I wouldn't call myself entirely fluent, but I know enough to converse and get by, thanks to a 6-week stay there when I was 7 years old and had to pick up the language so my cousins would talk to me (they said I spoke English too fast for them to understand, so naturally, I had to conform, considering they outnumbered me :P).

It was a pretty great trip, I hadn't been back to the PI since 2005 so it was really nice to see family again and all that. Some of my younger cousins have gotten so grown up, I can't get over it! We also got a lot of shopping done, plus we took a trip down to Boracay, which is basically the Hawaii of the Philippines, so it was amazing. We were there for I think about four days, and it was just so gorgeous. White sand all along the beach and into the water; no rocks or coral reefs to watch out for when swimming or anything! We also got to watch a show called ASAP (I don't know why it's called that, I'm pretty sure it doesn't stand for As Soon As Possible), which involves a bunch of the Filipino celebrities singing and dancing to mostly songs that are popular here in America. My parents watch it here in the states on TFC (The Filipino Channel), & usually I'm not really into it cuz I'm of the opinion where songs are most often best when sung by the original singers, but this particular show we went to I actually really enjoyed. They started with "Play that Funky Music," so it was really upbeat and got us all into the show, they did another Michael Jackson tribute including a slower version of "Thriller," which was interesting and actually sounded pretty good. Overall, I think there was more dancing and performances of songs from Filipino artists, which made the whole show more entertaining to watch for me. We have it recorded here on TFC at home, but still have yet to watch it. Our cousins and friends told us they focused on us several times (probably because we're considerably taller than the average Filipino :P), so that'll be cool to see ourselves on TV, haha.

I have a bit over 1000 pictures/videos from the whole trip just on my camera, and then there are more from Dad's camera, so I've still gotta sort thru all of that and pick out the best ones and post some on FB. Dad has some cool panoramic shots on his cam as well as shots of fish-feeding and helmet diving in Boracay, but here's a sneak peek at some of our PI adventures from my batch of photos :)