Interview Me

Chats of imom recently got this meme on her page. I thought this was a nice post and thought about doing it myself too. So here are the questions that imom gave me for that interview, I almost felt like a Ms. Universe contestant :) *with matching wave and flying kisses*
Sorry imom it took a long time to answer the questions.
1. You've been blogging for a few years now. In fact, you're actually one of those who inspired me to blog. Tell me why you love to blog. What has blogging done for you?
Yup I've been blogging for almost 2.4 years now. I find blogging actually quite practical, of course also very interesting and quite addicting. Practical because I can just do one post and the rest of my friends (from all over the world) and family can take a look at it and know what The V. and I are up to without me writing so many emails to all those people. This was actually the main purpose of my blog. But nowadays I use the blog for other things. Basically to just write down anything I think of and share it with the rest of the world. I've been getting to know some people too through blog hopping the past few months and I'm enjoying this friendship that still has a lot of potentials. Although I've been blog hopping a long time, I used to not leave comments and may be considered one of those "lurkers" but this I've changed the last quarter (only! learned that it's a bit impolite to go through blogs without saying hello) which probably led me to get to know new people. So for my other readers out there, hey leave me a comment or two, you might think I don't know you but the net is quite a small world, I can see you (insert evil witch laugh here). Blogging is also educational, I get free nice and tested recipes from those food blogs I read, get practical travel tips, see good photographs or read some interesting trivia of any sort. It can also be addicting because I follow some blogs like a soap opera junkie :)

2. Back in high school, we used to write letters to each other. Do you still write letters and send them through snail mail? Or has the habit changed with the times?
I do still write letters not so much like I used to because emailing made it quite impractical to write snail mail. But in the church where I go here in Germany, we do some kind of missionary work with the Prisoners in Thailand. One of the aspect of this ministry is to write to the prisoners to give them hope and to encourage them in their Faith. Even if they are prisoners and have sinned they still deserve love and encouragement. Aside from that I write mostly Christmas, Birthday cards (if I remember them!!) and what I love most - writing postcards when I'm on vacation. This is a way to bring my friends and family with me whenever I travel. Through my postcard they can get a glimpse of those exotic places I've seen.

3.You and The V love to travel. Aside from your home countries, Germany, Philippines and Bulgaria, which of the places you've been to would you like to live in and why?
As of the moment The V. and I would love to live in Tuscany, Italy if we could have the chance(how I wish). We fell in love with the place, the people and the food when we were there last May. We used to love Singapore because it has the Asian culture but has the European infrastructure but later on we realized that it would be too hot and humid for us. Well who knows this might change in our next travels.

4. Still on the subject of travel, tell of one extreme situation you and The V encountered while on vacation. (It may be the funniest, scariest, worst, best, etc.)
Traveling is very important in one's life (this is my opinion) we might not be rich with huge sums of money but travel experience that we try to get as much as we can. So this question is quite hard because from all the many experiences I don't know which one to narrate but here goes a long one so bare with me.
This vacation took place in Lisbon, Portugal 2004 or 2005 to be exact because it happened on New Year's eve, between 2:30 a.m. - 6:00 a.m.. The V. and I had this fabulous New Year's Eve dinner (the most festive we've had actually), there was a huge dinner that started from 8:00 p.m. served in I lost track counting how many courses, topped with a fireworks display from a boat in the middle of Tejo River. Well that place where all this took place was not so near our hotel, in fact we needed to take a taxi to go there (which was for me already risky, I don't like taking Taxis anywhere in the world). Despite my anxiety we managed to arrive safely and not rubbed off from the taxi fare. We celebrated that nice New Year's Eve with all the works, when finally I thought it's time to go home to avoid too much crowd. Half of Lisbon's population was probably there because fireworks are only allowed in 2 locations for the whole city. Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones who thought about this. A super, super long line both in the taxi and bus lane awaited us. Recalling my experience in the Philippines taxis this time of the year are not reliable (drivers party too much) and thinking of the dependable public buses in Germany, I urged Vlado that we go to the bus queue. Ha! So much about that, we waited and waited and waited. The Night Bus scheduled to come at 3:00 a.m., 3:30 a.m., 4:00 a.m., 4:30 a.m., 5:00 a.m. didn't come. The Taxis came(in slow motion pace) but too late for us to go change our lane, the line is super, duper mega long we can't even think of leaving our Bus Queue. This was one of the toughest decisions to do, to leave or to stay. Can you imagine what kind of mood we were at this moment, winter night/day without any jackets/coats on, waiting for nothing, tired and a bit drank from partying, in a sea of people who cannot speak english (so we cannot really ask what the hell is wrong with the bus! Nevertheless, I enjoyed watching all the natives around us while The V. kept complaining) About 5:25 a.m. I told The V. ( now sulking and super irritated who blamed me for my super idea of partying with the fireworks) that I needed to go the toilet and he should stay there at the line and call me on my phone if the bus comes. So I hurried to go to the toilet and made my business in a jiffy, went out of the door, who do I see there? Of couse my dear husband!
Me: What the ??!!!#@@!!! I told you to wait there for me, what if the bus comes?
The V: What the ???!!!!!*'##@@@!!! We've been waiting there for almost 3 hours. No chance of getting a bus!
Kind Stranger also probably our angel: §""!"nnnoo???!!!! !!!!!!?????.....!!!(in Portuguese really loud which I didn't understand )
Me: Come now, I think she's telling us the bus is there!!!
The V and I hurried taking 3 steps at a time probably to reach the bus. Thank God for the kindness of strangers, we were able to take that 5:30 a.m. bus (the normal day bus not the night bus). I don't know what ever happened to that night bus.
That bus drive was really one of the nicest one we took that trip, it took us around Lisbon and its outskirts. I would never forget that face of that woman who went down the stairs (she probably observed us too during the 3 hour wait and have seen the V was so irritated !) that she took her time (and risk losing a place in the bus) to go down the stairs, way down the hall, to the toilets to call us.

5. You've received speeding tickets. What is the fastest speed you've ever been ticketed for? Have you conquered your fear for the Autobahn? Do you see yourself driving on it soon? (You might want to give us a background on the Autobahn phobia. :D ).
Haha, the fastest I got was 6 kilometers over from the limit, instead of 60 I drove 66! Oh what a way to get a ticket (yikes, almost embarassing actually).
Nope I have not conquered my fear of the Autobahn, I'm still driving my daily route for the past one year, work - home, home - work. When I need to go to Frankfurt or other cities, I just leave the car in the train station and buy a train ticket. I don't see myself in the next few months traveling in the Autobahn but I see myself checking out other routes - but still in the country roads.
My Autobahn phobia was due to an accident in October 2003, of course in the Autobahn. I wanted to change my lane when The V. thought I was getting too close to the railings and "helped" me with the steering lane. The rest is history. Our car was totally damaged but we were safe.

Thanks chats for coming up with these questions. It toook a bit long to answer them but I really liked your questions. For those who want to be interviewed by me, here are the interview rules:

1. Leave me a comment saying “Interview me.”

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.

3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.

4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.

5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

What are you waiting for?