This movie came as a surprise.  I did not expect it to move me to tears… Tangled is a Disney movie about Rapunzel– yes the girl with the long hair who dangles her hair from the tower.  The kids and I went in the movie house like a bunch of teenagers.  Just imagine me and all my 4 children noisily walking the dark movie house– our hands balancing buckets of popcorn and drinks each.  And oh, don’t forget those 3D glasses.

My son Tyrell is turning 5 in a few weeks.  Since our schedule is tight this month because of my work, I decided to celebrate his birthday 2 weeks earlier. Having spent some time at Ridgeview with my friends Jaja, Pam and Ginee, I knew that my children would love the huge pool.

Last week,  my children and I spent the weekend at Ridgeview Chalets.  Since SM was just a short drive away, we went there for our meals and was surprised with the new offering — 3D movies!  If I am not mistaken,

Several weeks ago, my children and I found better, healthier and tastier dessert in SM– Red Berry Frozen Yogurt!  What I love about Red.Berry are the whole range of fresh fruits and toppings to choose from.   My children went gaga over the sprinklers, but I went and got myself a tub with kiwis, strawberry and raspberries.  Having frozen yogurt beats eating icecream.  Healthier and tastier than calorie laden icecream!

My children and I were walking in LimKetKai Mall and was disappointed to find the place affected by the darn brownout.  So because the city is on rotational brownout, half the mall was on blower and fan while the rest was on aircon.  I really should not complain, but if you are with children, you do not want them sweating out and heaving in the heat, right?

Anyway, looking for a place to eat was challenging as half of the restaurants in the mall was without airconditioning.  I was thinking of eating at that Chinese Dimsum place in Robinsons, and we retreated once the musky and warm place greeted us.  Forget the dimsum, hainanese and soy chicken…  We moved on…

We walked all the way down and I thought our best bet would probably be Cafe Laguna.  But before we reached Cafe Laguna, I noticed this place in colorful Mexican theme.  The place have this fancy looking ceiling fan so  we decided to try the place out.

Since I lost my mobile, I was pretty lost.  When the internet connection is bad at home, I log into Smart GPRS or Smart 3G connection in the city to check my email.  As you all know, I earn my living as a Webworker and I have alot of emails to monitor and sometimes, impatient clients wanted response pronto.  Not only that, living in a rural area where landline application takes a year for approval, I thought what the heck, lets go start checking out Globe and Smart for a postpaid plan since I did not want to spend a dime for another mobile and postpaid plans offer mobile phone discounts.

I started looking through the website of Smart and Globe, checking out the postpaid plans more closely.  Honestly, I have been a Globe subscriber for almost 10 years and only stopped being one when we moved aboard.  Anyway, so I started preparing the documents needed to go with the application.  2- IDs (so I took photocopies of my passport and US issued credit debit card; 1- Utility bill (so I prepared by Internet statement which is paid in advance); Proof of Income (photocopies of my payslips including certificate of employment signed by my clients);

Armed with all the requirements and confidence that since I am already a Globe Broadband subscriber and a former Globe Postpaid Subscriber, my application will be approved immediately. Boy was I so wrong…

It was a day I will remember for the rest of my life. I woke up with a wet floor. I went to the kitchen and found my floor was flooded with 2 inch water. I was shocked to discover that the flood water has gone inside the third room of the house. I quickly ran outside to check and found that the rain that started at dawn has not stopped. Since the kitchen was wet, I quickly boiled some eggs for the children since I did not want them to go outside of the room because the kitchen and dining area was wet with rain water. That was at 6am.

Thirty minutes after, I walked out of the house and went three houses down and bought some canned goods from my friend’s sari-sari store. I found the husband of my neighbor cleaning out the canal outside of our houses. He asked me if water has gone inside my house, and I said yes. He told me his wife is coming over to help me. An hour after, Mylene, my neighbor’s wife came in and told me she’s going to help me. Apparently, it has been 4 years since the last flash flood in the area. This small information dismayed me since the likelihood of recurrence is definitely higher. Mylene and her daughter lifted my double bed and elevated it on the single wooden bed in my second room as they fear my bed will get soaked in the flood water. Since my second room has 2 single wooden beds, my console table from Mandaue Foam was raised on top of the bed and important books were moved on top of it.

At 8am, the water has reached my ankles and I called my sister in law in the city to arrange a vehicle for us. She quickly responded that the rains in Cagayan de Oro was also very strong. I called my aunt who lives a few meters away from us and she said the water is building up in her place and she said she is busy clearing up their things from the 1st floor and Basement to bring on the 2nd floor. She asked me if my things were raised already and I said yes. She told me to stand by and wait for the weather to improve.

At 10, the water has climbed to my calf. I started to worry so I texted my husband and told him we were in a flash flood and we are going to move to higher grounds. I did not get any response from him.

At 10:30am, my neighbor Emma and her husband came and told me to move to their house– they have a second floor. I told her to take the my older children first and I want to wait in the house and see what happens. At this point the water inside my house has reached my knees. I quickly packed clothes for myself and the children and took my important documents like passbooks, passports with me. Some of my important documents were bagged up and we lifted them and putted them on the highest part of our heaviest cabinet in the room.

11am. I sighed and decided to leave my house for higher grounds. My PC, printers and other important items in the house were all moved on top of the dining table. My sofa was also raised. This was also the time when my fridge fell and floated on the flood water… Emma, grabbed my Whirlpool fridge and with sheer power, she lifted and dragged it to the corner of the dining area and used my dining table to pin the fridge on the corner.

The sight outside was unbearable. The water has almost reached my waist. I walked through the muddy flood water with Ia on my hip. I couldn’t find my slipper inside my already flooded house and decided to walk through the water barefooted. The men in my street were busy carrying their belongings to higher ground. TVs, washing machines and the like. Some were carrying their children and some were busy taking their cows from the field to safety. I walked to Emma’s house which was only three houses away from mine and I saw their vehicle in flood water.

My children and some of the neighbors children were inside Emma’s house. As children, they did not understand the seriousness of the situation and they were playing around the flood water. I told my children to get off the water and I cringed and almost cried just thinking about the bacteria, and other nasty stuff in the water.

At 2pm, Emma and her husband decided to return to my house for my PC and printer. At this point the water inside my house has almost reached the dining table. The rain has not stopped at this point and I told them not to worry about the other things anymore. The important thing is the fact that the children and I are safe.