Looking for a great place to eat in Coron, Palawan? Try Dali Dali, it's a small Korean joint with one of the best Kimchis I've ever had and a mouth watering selection of Korean dishes. It was so good that I had lunch there two days in a row.

Kimchi, Korea's iconic food and national treasure is one of the world's healthiest foods. Made from cabbage, garlic, vinegar, salt and seasonings, it's fermented for 3-4 months. 

Hello everyone!  For today's  Story of My Life challenge, I'd like to issue a public apology for spending the entire month of May talking about myself. To make up for this, I'm going to share an interesting find during a walk in the town of Coron, Palawan, where I currently am. 

Happy Mother's Day to all Moms!

"Addictively sweet like Candy Crush." 

I would like to hear yours. How would you sell yourself in 10 words or less?

Have a great weekend!

Love & light,

Arni

{Day 10: Most Embarrassing Moment.}

I was used to my Physics teacher calling my attention all the time in class. Busy daydreaming, I'd vaguely hear my name. Each time I failed to answer his question with a proper and correct one, my teacher replied," You're flying off at a tangent again." With that, a nickname was born. "The girl who flies off at a tangent." 

I embraced this nickname and accepted that yes, I do have a short attention span and could easily drift in the dream world in a nano-second. I'm not a girl who easily gets embarrassed. A girl with no shame, some of my friends called me. I didn't mind joining the group's laughter when something unexpectedly embarrassing happened to me.

The girl who flies off at a tangent

I've had a lot of embarrassing experiences but one in particular stood out  because it was the only humiliating experience that ever made me cry. 

I was a high school Senior. I spent my last year participating in a compulsory military education in order to finish high school. It's part of the school curriculum to enforce discipline and learn survival skills.  We called it CAT (Citizen's Army Training). Kids in school took this seriously (at least during my generation). It's a subject and usually taken after school for two hours, twice a week. The class is organized like a military unit, with battalions performing military drills and exercises.

The students have two choices, whether to be a cadet or an officer.  To become an officer, one must give up one summer and several months prior to that in order  to complete a rigid military training, a training no different given to actual soldiers.

I wanted to challenge myself. I was thin and fragile looking and definitely not military material. I joined. To my surprise, a group of fashionable girls joined the training too, the least likely you'd expect in such a group.  We trained for the Medics team.

We wore camouflage and I watched us, girls and guys give up vanity, sweating under the sun as we were screamed at and asked to quit while doing push ups. Those girls are amazing and surpassed everyone's expectations.  We all survived the summer and became officers. 

We enjoyed the power we had during those CAT classes. As our classmates stop to give us salute whenever we pass, they greeted us, "Ma'am, good morning, Ma'am." We'll reply with another salute and continue walking. No one attempted to mock the system because they knew they'll be punished during the outdoor exercises. They were not allowed to pass before us. They always had to stop to let us through. (It's weird, right?) My mates, then fellow officers shared a table together during these days. We were granted the responsibility to punish them if they don't follow rules, asking them to do more drills, if necessary.  It was surreal. 

Until the day of our CAT graduation. It's different and held separately from the academic graduation. We were all dressed up in military uniforms with a formal ceremony that we practiced for weeks. (I told you, we all took this seriously).  Alumni CAT officers attended this event and so did the entire high school in a big gymnasium. One of them sitting at the special table was a guy from an older batch (former officer) that I had a huge crush on.

The program starts with the entrance march of the country and school flag. They call this the Entrance of Colors.  

There were five of us. Two flag bearers and two color guards with fake rifles. I was one of these color guards. We were trained to handle this fake wooden rifle. We all practiced how to make it turn and the works.  We had an officer behind called a Color Sergeant to give commands. 

The gym was silent. All attention directed to us as we paused at the central end of the gym. The commanding officer's voice bounced off the walls as everyone patiently waited for the flags to enter the hall. 

The girl who flies off at a tangent heard a different command.

I heard "forward, " when in fact the actual command was something about halting and being present.

Guess what?

I marched forward. Alone. Unaware of the others frozen in place with an alarmed look on their faces. Halfway through the center of the gym, I was wondering what happened to the rest. When I glanced back  with my peripheral vision, I saw that I was alone and realized, I have made a huge mistake. The crowd stared and I saw the guy I had a crush on with that shocked look on his face that says, "What the h*ll are you doing?"

It was too late. 

The gym was silent. 

Everyone was staring at me. Alone, at the center of the gym.

Time stopped and each second felt like eternity. 

I had to think quickly. 

I grabbed my rifle and did some movements. I turned it, twisted it. I honestly couldn't remember. 

I just had to do something and pretended like it was part of the program.

After that impromptu stint, I marched back to the colors while trying to hold back the tears.

The color sergeant sensing my teary eyes uttered, "Hold it together."

We got through the national anthem. The guy I had a crush on was looking back at me throughout the song. I couldn't tell whether his expression was of disappointment or disbelief.  The other kids in the hall didn't notice. I held my poker face and kept it together.

As soon as we left the hall, I ran straight to the toilet and unleashed the tears. A release from that pressure, from the experience. That's the price I had to pay for not listening. 

Check out other embarrassing experiences here .

What's yours?

Happy Friday everyone!

XOXO,

Arni

I bought these cards to write love letters to my husband. I wrote short excerpts of memorable moments with him during our trip together in the city/ country mentioned on the postcard.  If it was a country, we haven't been to, I wrote things I wanted to do with him there. I hid these postcards in places around the house where he'll easily find them. (e.g. on the fridge, in his drawer etc.)

Happy Thursday!

Love & light,

Arni

Once you've crossed the threshold of not booking anything in advance, one great advice we have received from a group of backpackers we have met was this:

This is perfect for our preferred mode of traveling: when we don't have a planned itinerary for our trip. We always travel this way. Traveling without schedule. We just know when our flights are and approximately where we want to go and what we want to see, but we can decide very easily if we want to stay longer or shorter in a place without being tied down by pre-booked accommodation.  

Happy Wednesday!

Love & light,

Arni

{P.S. This is a scheduled post .  Day 8: Blog Everyday in May Challenge. I might be somewhere in the terminal of Hong Kong today while you read this post.}

The uncertainty of going back, settling in my birth country, being away from the one I love and losing a loved one.  These scare me the most.

I'm flying tonight, on my way back to the Philippines. This time, I'm on my own for one month. It saddens me to be away from my husband. Being apart is not foreign to us, but I know I will miss him a lot, even more this time around. Last year, I was even away for a longer period. The solace of knowing that the purpose of this trip is for our future brings me comfort.

I will go back to another island in Palawan to find land and obtain more information that I could use in preparing a move there. I have never set up nor run a business before so this is also scary for me. 

Gauging the past events, it seems, there's a pull for me to return. After, my search of home and letting go , I have a strong feeling, I need to go back and prove all these false thoughts I have back there wrong. Only then, I think can I move forward. 

So here I am about to dive into the fear. Wish me luck.

What scares you most?

Love & light,

Arni

Travel Fund

{Warning: This is a long post. Grab a cup of coffee and read on}