Restore the Churches! Restore Bohol!

Philippine towns, more often than not, trace their beginning with the establishment of a church. That’s why the old churches are usually located just across the government building at the poblacion. Old churches are the silent witnesses of the comings and goings of time. They house the souls of the town and in their halls generations after generations of Filipinos were baptized, married and were given the final rites.

The destruction of old churches in many towns of Bohol due to last year’s earthquake is a painful blow to Boholanos. Losing their churches left a big hole in their hearts.

Loboc Church, before and after the earthquake. (Source: Bahay ng Diyos Foundation website)

Rebuilding ruined houses is not enough. Their spirit has to be rebuilt too and one way to do that is by restoring the old churches ruined by the earthquake. Bahay ng Diyos Foundation is doing just that and they are now in initial stages of restoring the heritage churches in the province of Bohol.

(Source: Bahay ng Diyos FB page)

Bahay ng Diyos Foundation is a Catholic organization that focuses of rebuilding, renovation, and refurbishing of churches and religious facilities around the country.

The restoration of heritage churches in Bohol is one of the many projects of Bahay ng Diyos Foundation. Their project map shows that they have projects in Pangasinan, Palawan, Bicol Region, Zamboanga, and Davao.

Rebuilding churches requires money and other resources. That’s why Bahay ng Diyos Foundation is calling on those with generous hearts to help them in their endeavour. Please visit the Bahay ng Diyos Foundation website for details on how to support their projects.
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End of the Month Roundup - June 2013

The month of June is the busiest month that I had so far.  I was so busy with office works that I neglected my blogs. The result is that I only had four blog posts (one of them is a paid post) for this month.

Having most of my time eaten up by my work is disappointing. I feel that I lost balance and other important activities (religious life, wedding prep, blogging, pro-life activities, family time, etc.) can’t fit to my 24-hour daily schedule. If I can only forego sleeping then maybe I might be able to tackle non-work related tasks. :-(

I want to apologize to my fellow bloggers of whom I haven’t visited their blogs for a long while. I am glad that few of you kept on visiting my blog even though I failed to drop by your blogs. I will do my best to make it up to you in July.

I went to another beautiful place this month. A work-related activity gave me the chance to visit and tour the beautiful island of Bohol. I finally saw the world-famous Chocolate Hills.

Well at least all of my busyness and stress paid off.

I will talk about my Bohol trip next year after I finished all of my scheduled posts for my Thailand and Olongapo City trips.

I talked of two interesting places in Bangkok for this month. I featured the Holy Redeemer Church and the Lumphini Park.

Holy Redeemer Church

Holy Redeemer Church is unique for imbibing Thai architecture styles. This is a beautiful church. My only complaint is that the altar is also in Thai style.

Lumphini Park is a big park in the heart of busy business district of Bangkok. Many people go here to relax and exercise. There are some interesting views here but the best things that I saw are the crows.

I hope that I will be able to balance my time in July. I know that it will be hard because there are so many things that keep on coming my way. I pray that the Lord help me in everything.

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P.S. I want to send my “thanks” to Average Jane for giving me the list that she used for her wedding prep. I’m very happy to receive it from you Ate Tin. Thank you very much for the big help. :-)

Pinoy Food Trip: Kalamay from Bohol

Two weeks ago, my very nice boss gave me a Pinoy food that I have never tasted for a long time. This Pinoy food is called as kalamay. The kalamay that I received is quite different from the other kalamays that I already tasted. That kalamay came from the province of Bohol.

I eat kalamay since I was a kid but it is my first time that I ate one that came from Bohol. I am curious about this Pinoy food because that is the first time I encountered it. It is an interesting Pinoy food because it is packaged inside a coconut shell fastened by a red strip.

Kalamay is a Pinoy food that could be found in many places around the Philippines. There are many variations of this Pinoy food, according to the region where it came from. kalamay is made from grounded rice, grated coconut, brown sugar, peanut butter and margarine.
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Packaged to look like Easter Eggs.

The kalamay that was made in Luzon is sticky and sweet. On the other hand, the kalamay that my boss gave me is very sweet and very chewy. It is also very sticky, just like the rugby glue. I just ate few spoonfuls before I gave up because of its sweetness.
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 Kalamay from Bohol is very sticky.

I have never been to Bohol, but thanks to my boss, I already tasted one Pinoy food that is famous from that province.

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Information about kalamay came from Wikipedia.
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