Rome Trip Teaser....

Guess who we saw in our most recent trip to Rome......

It was an out of this world experience.... I'll go into more details soon :D

Charlie's Antics

We went to Bratislava, Slovakia last Friday for a short trip and to attend the CFC European Conference. After the conference, we visited some malls (of course that will never be out of any trip we have) and I was so giddy to find an early learning centre store there within a mothercare outlet.   I have always liked their products so I grabbed a couple of toys that I felt little Charlie would enjoy. One of the things I got for her was a set of math cards with animals on them. Different kinds of animals were used to illustrate math equations. It was a bit advanced for her age (she's only 2) so I just opted to ask her how many animals were in each of the cards. Our play time turned out to be one of my little one's funniest comeback hahahaha....

Here is how it went:
Mommy (showing Charlie a board with 2 dogs): how many dogs are there?

Charlie: twee (two)

Mommy (showing a card with one cat): how many cats are there?

Charlie: een (one)

Mommy (showing a card with 10 cows): how many cows are there?

Charlie: DAMI! (Many!)

Toink she is right that is indeed a lot of cows hahaha, my little one is so funny!

Hunger Games

One of the luxuries I get to enjoy when I’m on a long holiday in the Philippines is that I get to binge on books. The bookworm in me was such a happy camper during our 5-week long holiday. I managed to dive through 7 novels in the span of our holiday…. Oh what a treat.

One of the books (or series of books) that I have read was the Hunger games. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book, although the concept of the plot was quite disturbing, the delicate way the author handled the storytelling was very effective and didn’t make the story too gory or morbid. In the beginning, the idea of a love story developing within a plot where everyone has to kill each other didn’t seem to make sense to me but I must admit, after reading the book, I bought it.

This is the reason why I was really excited to see the film when it was screened. When I saw the trailer, I wasn’t convinced that Jennifer Lawrence would make a good Katniss but after seeing the film, she more than gave justice to the role. While reading the book, I was also for team Peeta but when I saw the trailer, I was so tempted to shift to team Gale – he was such a hunk!

What I liked about the film:
 - I really loved how they portrayed the Capitol and the people, the capitol was more extravagant than what I imagined it would be but the people were as eccentric as I thought.

- The fire retardant costumes were amazing. I was having a hard time picturing this while reading the books and the film translated this really well. It was subtle yet spectacular.

- Katniss somehow managed to look very strong and yet vulnerable, she conveyed emotions very well and I really liked how her character was translated in film. I think Jennifer Lawrence did a great job.

- The hi-tech control centre of the arena. I wouldn’t have imagined this, it was so cool. - I liked how the movie didn’t have to be so gory and gruesome yet managed stay true to the essence of the book.

- Cinna was an amazing character in the movie. I didn’t pay much attention to him in the books but I really liked him in the movie.

What I didn’t like

- I felt that Katniss and Peeta didn’t have much chemistry. Even when they were kissing I didn’t feel anything between them.

- The way the Katniss and Peeta’s past was conveyed. I understood it because I read the books but I guess for someone who didn’t read the book, the wasn’t clear that Peeta threw the bread to the pigs to try and help Katniss, but then again that’s just me.

- The chirp of the mockingjay, I just imagined it differently perhaps.

Hunger games is very entertaining, I’m so looking forward to the next movie!