Filipina Soul

In honor of Blog Day, I went blog-hopping to find 5 blogs to feature here at Filipina Soul. It took me a while because I didn’t want to point you to just any blog written by a Filipino. I picked the following 5 blogs because I believe they have something to offer our readers. I hope you enjoy them!
For Love of the Bean – Law student Ira Paulo Pozon chronicles his experiences in “the numerous coffee shops” in Metro Manila. Lots of photos, lots of coffee and desserts, and lots of good reading too.
Komikero Komiks – The online journal of …read more

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Hey folks and friends,
The Asia Blog Awards has nominated Filipina Soul for the category of ‘Best Philippine Blog’ for Q1 2006-07. Yay!
Do please vote for us. Polls start opening in September, which is in a few hours by Philippine time. Our “prize” is a lot of link-love from people like you.
And, also, because we love b5media, please also vote for these two other blogs:
‘Noodles and Rice’ for the Best Asian Food Blog Award
‘Let’s Visit Asia’ for the Best Asia Travel Blog Award.
Thanks!
What exactly is the Asian Blog Awards?
Here’s the rundown from their site:

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My bad. To those who tried to view today’s post entitled “Byahe Tayo” my apologies. I couldn’t get the YouTube video to show, so I’ll fix this first… It’s my first time embedding something, and I can’t make it work yet… Actually, anyone want to help me, so we can all see the video properly. It’d be a shame to miss that!

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I think we as serious Filipino bloggers are finally getting some front page.
Blogging is serious business. At least for me, it is. Although writing comes naturally for me, it’s not always easy to pick a topic and write about ‘whatever’. Especially for a blog as far-reaching and wide-read as Filipina Soul. With my co-author and sister, we cover all sorts of topics, and touch on anything that might be Filipino. We try to be relevant and stay abreast of events and trends. We research our topics, we hold interviews and ask questions so we’ll be knowledgeable. We find out what …read more

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Many who have lived in Los Baños, Laguna have a special place in their heart for THE mountain. Bundok Makiling. Mt. Makiling. The cradle where Los Baños lies. Where mossy forests stand strong, and hot springs abound. The home of the lady Maria Makiling.
Who is she, this woman for whom the mountain was named? She’s a legend. She’s a story. She’s a well-known figure of Filipino folklore.
According to eyewitness, she was a young woman, tall and graceful with big black eyes and long and abundant hair. Her color was a clear pure brown, the kayumangging kaligatan, as the Tagalog say. …read more

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Welcome again to ‘Two Cups o’ Coffee’, our own series of interviews where we casually chat with bloggers over a good cup of coffee, albeit imaginary, and exchange stories and ideas, pick brains or just get some “face”-time in the blogosphere.
We continue our conversation with RUTH SCHAFFER from Germany, of b5media, and author of Let’s Visit Asia and Eating Fabulous. I want to focus now on her life as an expat, and how that works for her.
FILIPINA SOUL: You’re raising a family in Germany. How do you infuse our culture into your life as an expat?
RUTH SCHAFFER: I will always …read more

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I have been working on a scrapbook album about my early working years, right after graduation from college. Looking at my photos from that time has brought back a lot of fond and funny memories.
My first job took me to La Trinidad, Benguet, home of strawberry fields and Benguet State University. It was the lowly sweetpotato that gave me 2 years worth of plant breeding experience and backbreaking work. But it also gifted me with foggy mornings, travels to and fro on unpaved mountain roads, clean cool air, unmatched views from mountaintops, visits to out-of-the-way towns, weekend jaunts to Baguio …read more

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I shared my experiences in a previous post; exactly, what was I feeling?! Culture shock. The term describes the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. Dr. Carmen Guanipa of San Diego State University explains it as “the lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, and not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate”.
Here are the symptoms:

Sadness, loneliness, melancholy

Preoccupation with health

Aches, pains, and allergies

Insomnia, desire to sleep too much or too little

Changes in temperament, depression, feeling vulnerable, feeling powerless

Anger, irritability, resentment, unwillingness to interact …read more

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I applaud a decision by the media censorship body, popularly known as MTRCB, for suspending a documentary for airing an episode showing a father and son using drugs.
The ABS-CBN’s “The correspondents” had an episode that aired in June called “Ang Pinoy Rasta” (The Filipino Rasta) where a young man was shown smoking marijuana in front of his father, who also confessed to smoking the illegal drug with his son.
MTRCB said that the episode depicted that smoking marijuana “is an enjoyable activity…sending a strong message that [it’s] okay.”. The ABS-CBN network countered that the documentary was not about drug use but …read more

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We have a spaghetti dinner almost once every week in my home. It’s easy to cook, doesn’t require a lot of ingredients or preparation, and it’s always a hit. While I can vary the basic recipe if I want to, there are two things that must never be omitted. Hotdogs and sugar.
Yes, we put hotdogs in our spaghetti. Slice it, nuke it, add it to the sauce. The more hotdogs, the better. No one cares much if there are no meatballs or ground beef in the sauce, as long as there are hotdogs. And sugar. Pinoy spaghetti is sweet, like …read more

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