SANTA IGLESIA CATEDRAL - VALENCIA, SPAIN

ANNUAL BRAG LETTER

I finally finished mailing all the Christmas cards. This year I cut the list down in half by not sending to those that I have not heard from the last two years. Next year I might even learn to send Christmas eCards.

In keeping with the tradition, here is my "braggin' letter" included with the cards.

"We hope 2008 was a peaceful year for you and your family. We wish you a blessed Christmas and a New Year filled with good health, love and happiness.

CP and I celebrated our 19th Wedding Anniversary with a Western Mediterranean cruise. We visited Portofino, Italy; Nice and Cannes, France; Valencia, Spain, then cruised the Mediterranean Sea to Malta, then onto Tunisia, Africa and an extra 3-day in Rome after the cruise. You might wonder why celebrate 19th Anniversary. We say why not 19th, why wait for 20th or any other year. Isn’t every year worth celebrating?

Our other highlight was attending Game 1 of the Stanley Cup to cheer for our Beloved Detroit Red Wings. The Red Wings won their 4th Stanley Cup Championships within the last 10 years.

We keep in touch with our families in New York, Michigan, South Carolina, Colorado, Texas, and Wisconsin thru phone calls, email, blogs and Facebooks. I finally have my very own Facebooks but I rarely checked the page or do anything with it. Currently we are both employed, not sure how long in this uncertain economy. Our investment is very conservative so the setback was not too bad and with a few dollars in savings, we hope to weather the storm.

We do keep our servicemen and women in our prayers and appreciate their sacrifices keeping America safe and providing freedom and liberty to the world.

May peace, love and happiness fill your heart and your home. We hope you will keep in touch and look forward to hearing from you."

VALLETTA, MALTA

Our visit to Valletta, Malta was very enjoyable and educational. We saw the Grand Harbour (photo above) as the ship approached the island. Located midway between Europe (Sicily, Italy) and North Africa, Malta was ruled by many foreign conquerers such as the Phoenicians (Canaan, an ancient civilization similar to Greece, the modern day Lebanon, Syria and Israel - the Bronze Age maritime power), Romans, Arabs, Normans (the Normandy from France), Castilians (northern Spain), French and Britains. The island is well-known for its oldest free-standing prehistoric temple structures in the world. In the center of the Mediterranean, Malta has no rivers. The island water supply comes from natural underground such as wells and desalination plants (modern technology provides extraction of salt from sea water before it is pumped into a reservoir).
Malta gained independence from the British in 1964. Valletta is Malta's capital city. The above photo was a view from the Barraka Gardens overlooked the Grand Harbour. Malta's official languages are Maltese and English. Italian is widely spoken and Arabic language has influence on the Maltese pronunciation. Our tour guide, Maria, and the driver, Mannuel, spoke British English. And people in Malta drive on the left as in England. It took awhile for me to get used to seeing traffic coming on the right or our bus driving on the left as if going in the wrong direction, without screaming outloud :)
My husband had a special reason to enjoy being in Malta as the parents of his best friend, AC, from the 5th grade were originally from Malta. CP and AC were childhood friends and they used to live on the same street in Detroit, Michigan. AC was the best man in our wedding. AC was born in Detroit and his family moved to Malta for a few years when AC was about 6 years old. The parents decided that America was much better for the family and the children, so they moved back to the States permanently and only visited Malta on vacation. We thought how surprised AC would be when he received a postcard we sent from Malta as we did not tell AC in advance of our trip.
It would be interesting to watch the movie, Gladiator, and see familiar city walls and recognize fortifications in Malta as the island was a substitute location when it was supposed to be Rome. The colosseum in the movie was built with plywood and temporary building materials plus computer graphics. This is nothing new in the movie industry as most of Rambo movies were filmed in Thailand and the people who were supposed to be Viet Cong or Vietnamese all spoke Thai or non-Vietnamese language.

Photos (above & below) showed the great legacy of the Knights of St. John starting with the fortified city of Valletta and the unique design and architecture of many cathedrals and churches. These deep walls that were built in the 15th century, despite heavy bombing during World War II, still stand today.

VALENCIA, SPAIN

On June 31st we arrived at the port of Valencia, on the east coast of central Spain. The bus ride took about 20 minutes from the port to the city centre with a stop for photos at the futuristic Arts and Science Centre (photo above). The Centre includes a science museum with inter-active exhibits (we did not have time to go inside so we just had to trust the tour guide that the exhibits were great for both adults and children). I thought of my brother and his son as they would have enjoyed playing and learning at this museum. There were also the "Hemesferic" planatarium and the oceannarium (top 2 photos) which again based on what the tour guide told us "a spectacular underwater city of the marine life". We spent about 20 minutes in an open garden across from the planatarium. When we tried to cross the street to get back to the bus on the other side of the road, while my husband and I waited to the traffic lights, other people decided to run across and one of them almost got hit by a group of motorcycles. Here is my report - people in Spain also drive on the right side of the roads as in the States.
After leaving the modern city centre, we visited the Cathedral Metropolitana, the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, the central square of the old town with buildings of mixture architectural styles of Gothic, Romanesque, and baroque. The Cathedral is known for supposedly as the home of the Holy Grail from which Jesus shared communion with his chosen disciples at the Last Supper. I enjoyed this part of the tour as I was more interested in seeing historic churches, not the typical modern, sprawling and industrialized city centre.
My Spanish came in handy when I was not sure if I had to pay to use public restrooms. As I walked towards one of the toilets, a lady stopped me and she said "Un momento". So I said to her, "Dinero necesita?". She said no so I waited behind her. Turned out, she was waiting for her daughter. Almost 20 years later, two words I still remembered from my Spanish courses at Hunter College were put to practical usage!

CONFESSIONS OF A RUNWAY MODEL

No, I am not a runway model. I never was. I thought the title would be catchy because of the recent news about the banning of chopstick skinny models in Spain. Other countries including the United States plan to follow the lead. This issue has been around for a long time. We all know that the fashion industry set an impossible standards for average women who want to look good in the same clothing worn by the models.

In 1992 I received an award from Federal Express. The company sent a markup artist, a professional photographer and a representative to take my photo for the company's magazine cover. The photographer mentioned that a modeling agency in Grand Rapids, Michigan was looking for an Asian model and he suggested I send a photo to the agency. I did and the following week I accepted my first modeling assignment.

It was nothing glamorous. I had extra makeup, different hair style and a few different outfits for a local department store. I was paid $150 for two hours of standing still and trying to look pretty. Other assignments following were a training video for Amway Corporation and another employee orientation video for Upjohn Phamarceutical Company.

All of the modeling assignments did not require a beautiful face and a body with all the right measurements. My husband always tells me that I am beautiful. I know that I am average looking and with the right amount of cosmetics and a little of dress up, I could be considered attractive. I am aware of men looking my way at social events and have received a few flattering compliments. For a middle age married woman, I tried not to wrap up in the physical aspects. I am not like some women who are gullible when other compliment that they are sexy or that they look so young.

Of course I could never be a runway model. I am only 5'3" and considered overweight. With a round face and a flat nose, I don't meet the standard requirement of exotic pretty face. What I don't care for is when someone calls me "shorty". I know other people, men and women, who are much shorter than me. When attending functions in the Asian American community, with my high heels, I could tower over many men. Of course, when standing next to my brother L, I am always short compared to his 6' frame.

At a recent event, a business associate touched the top of my head and said that I was so cute. I firmly told her that was very rude of her and that her behavior was inappropriate. I also told her that I was offended and did not wish for the incident to happen again. She apologized and repeated that her action was prompted by the fact that I was so cute. I firmly countered that her action was offensive to me.

As the saying goes, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Whether a person is skinny or well-built, short or tall, attractive or average looking, it is most important that we accept ourselves the way we are and not allow society, fashion magazines, television commercials or another person decides how we should look or feel about ourselves.

So here is my confession, I never was a runway model, I would never be a runway model. I am happy with being healthy, able to see, talk, hear and function without needing assistance from anyone. And this afternon I will pamper myself with two scoups of ice cream. It is my Life, and I will enjoy it. Go ahead, You should enjoy Your Life too.