Another Day in UP

At Chocolate Kiss, after the intense workout (photo stolen from Doc Faye's multiply site)

Our tired but happy faces after the ride.

Yesterday I spent the whole day in UP. I started the day with a lecture in a seminar for financial analysts. It' the same seminar where I was a speaker a year ago (read about last year's seminar here), and this year's talk was very stimulating. There were a lot of questions and interaction among the participants, and for that alone I think I did a good job of bringing up the most relevant issues. I'm just glad that I was able to impart helpful inputs for them to do their job well.

After the lecture, The Bike Club (PZ, JZ, SC with kids An and Ai, E and I), with two new members, Doc Faye and her husband AC met up for biking. Doc Faye and AC were far more experienced bikers than we were and so they were able to share some tips to me, the amateur biker. Doc Faye, being a doctor was very helpful, especially by telling us when the cardio exercise is sufficient. Just learned that I would have to at least double my usual routine, and was able to do that yesterday, thanks to my new drill sergeant, Doc Faye :-).

After biking, Doc Faye suggested snacks at Chocolate Kiss, and everyone agreed! I was a good girl and had the chopped vegetable salad, while the rest had mostly main entrees and also dessert!

The Bike Club

This is our growing Bike Club. What better way to stay healthy than be with your dearest friends and their families! Join us every weekend at the UP Academic Oval.

Biking Fun in U.P.

My good friend PZ joined E and I for this afternoon's biking. PZ was way more fit than I am, but we still had so much fun anyway. After biking, we spent some time relaxing and enjoying the U.P. Sunken Garden, something we did not do during our college days.

UP Naming Mahal

Lunch at Chocolate Kiss, Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman

After getting my diploma and copies of my transcript from UP, I've visited UP exactly three times. One visit was when I gave a talk for Financial Analysts at my old college, another was during our high school reunion and another time was when my good friend PZ celebrated her birthday by inviting us to a Sunken Garden picnic!

Today, E and I spent most of the day in UP. Right after my class at 12nn, I rushed to UP where E has been biking since early morning. We decided to have lunch first at Chocolate Kiss at the Bahay ng Alumni. At almost 1PM, the place was full and we had to wait in line for a while. We had Chicken ala Kiev, Hainanese Chicken Rice and Eggplant Parmigiana, and they were all good, and reasonable at P600 for everything!

After walking for a few minutes, we biked around the Academic Oval. It was great! For those who have biked there, following the one way traffic around the oval, you'll know that the side of AS aka Palma Hall is an "uphill" ride and the side of the College of Engineering is "downhill". I thought I was doing well with my biking in the village, but I still had a hard time in the "uphill" side. That only means we have to bike there more often! Everyone is welcome to join us!

Drill Sergeant

After work today, E and I went biking around the village until it was too dark to bike. E picked up speed today, and I had no choice but to follow. Talk about pushing myself to the limit. When we got home, I thought I was going straight into the shower when he said, "Oh no, not so fast, why don't you play 6 games of Tennis on the Wii, sayang naman ang workout outfit mo..."

Oh yes, we finally got our own Wii...

One Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I've almost forgotten how it feels like to bike, after more than 15 years of not riding one (well except the exercise bike at Fitness First). After a shaky start, I got into the groove and went biking with E in our village. I plan to do this at least thrice a week, hopefully somewhere else besides our village. Can't wait until our UP Diliman bike date with dear friends SC and PZ with their husbands.

Biking

E and I are excited about our new "reinventing dates" plan. We plan to spend weekends biking -- and it could be somewhere as near as just within our village, or somewhere scenic like the Fort or UP, or as far as Subic (of course I mean that we will bring our bikes to Subic, and not bike to Subic!).

Biking really reminds me of grade school, when all my friends and I did on weekends was to bike as far as we could! And I also remember Finland where I spent a month as a Junior Counselor when I was 17 in an international summer camp for 11-year old kids. As a JC, part of my job required running errands for the camp, like go to the grocery, post office (no emails then!) and almost everywhere around the small town where we lived. And I had to do the errands on a bike that was so high, I had to literally find something to step on when I get on and off the bike.