Only the fine things

The front of the museum

After dinner last night, my Ate Liza told me that she had a great itinerary planned for me the next day. Her and her husband are very much into the arts and healthy dining so today she decided to take me to one of the Philippines first contemporary museums, showing works by Benedicto Cabrera (BenCab) and several other nationally known artists. Many of his works depict Filipino life and culture in many themes through the decades that show the transition towards modernization. This museum specifically, is committed to the promotion of the arts and preservation, conservation and protection of the environment, as well as the culture and traditions of the Philippines

This museum was built on a promontory and commands a breathtaking view of the organic gardens and rice terraces

One of his favorite works, inspired by psychiatric patients

Inspired by the turbulent 60s and 70s of Filipino discrimination

signs and immigration to the West

Tribal wood carvings from when he was in Sagada

My day trippers: Auntie Rose, Auntie Abbit & little Lindsay (who I swear looks like me when I was little)

The Domestic Help,

One of the Philippines' major export is labor. Thousands of Filipinos work abroad to send money back home to their families, one field that is stereotyped for Filipinos is the domestic helper

In the gardens; it is gorgeous here!

Once we were finished viewing the gallery, we headed out to Baguio City proper and had a great vegetarian lunch with my cousins Mara & Jan who were on their lunch from school and work. The place was cleverly called "Oh My Gulay", gulay meaning vegetables in Tagalog. I really enjoyed the ambiance of this place, it’s exhillirating being in the midst of the artworks of filipino artists, the twists and turns, the eclectic, the absence of structure, the patch-art-work, the journey, the ever-changing. Some parts of the gallery look like a scene from a Dr. Seuss book with un-straight lines and un-perpendicular corners.

I forget what everyone got, but I got the Tofu Lumpia Salad =)

Stuffed and ready to rest, we stopped by my Ate Liza's house to unwind a bit. An hour later, we were on the go again to the nearby nursery to attend her son's assembly and award ceremony. We watched these 3-4 yr olds dance to gospel songs and the Wonder Girls' Nobody dance routine. This song is seriously HUGE in Asia right now, way to go Kpop!

The award ceremony. To the right is my nephew who's growth spurt is definitely working faster than the rest. He was crying moments before the assembly because he thought we weren't going to show up. He's so cute!

After the ceremony, my cousin decided to take me on a grand tour around the St. Louis University Campus and the university hospital she works at. She thought it would be a good place for me to visit since my dad and almost every member of our family is so integrated with the community there either because they are currently attending students, alumni and/or working at the university. My cousin specifically is both a doctor and a professor at the university, so while we were on the tour it was really interesting to see the genuine rapport she had with her students and patients.

The day is not over! We had dinner with everyone in our family and watched Filipino soap operas, to top off the night, my cousin and her husband took me out for a late night drink at their favorite spot called Kaffeeklatsch and a live band was also playing cover songs here as well.

The married doctors, my Ate Lisa & Kuya Roel

Catching up with my cousin was great today, it was very nice to experience other aspects of the Filipino culture, especially in the arts and learning about my family's history here in Baguio. I enjoy these times where you have genuine conversations and sharing warm moments with your family members and really reflect about how fast time has flown.

Only a day left to spend with my family then off to Cebu on Sunday!