Tag: Oslob

The Root of Happiness (And How I Found It Around Halloween)

1 Comment

I’ve been listening to Rob Dial’s podcasts. He’s a mindset mentor and one of the things he discussed was about happiness and the root of it or the key to achieving it. He based it on what Will Smith said before that it’s not the material things nor money that will bring you happiness (I think many of us know this already), but it’s peace. Peace is actually what I have been experiencing just recently, around Halloween time. It’s not because Halloween is my most favorite time of the year and this year’s celebration has been the happiest Halloween I’ve had so far (I thought last year’s Halloween celebration was the bomb! Didn’t think we’d top that off this year!), but it’s more than that. 

I’m not sure if I mentioned it here before or in some other diary of mine, but living here in Oslob, for as long as I can remember, wasn’t really a good idea for me because I know and I feel that there are people here who don’t like me
 they don’t like me because I’m with Mahal
 because I used to be married to someone else
 and maybe because I am just the kind of person they couldn’t believe achieved so much in life without much help from others. The way people think here is that you can either only be successful if you work abroad or if you’re married to a foreigner. I’m neither, so, maybe that boggles them. Honestly, I don’t really know why they don’t like me. The reasons I mentioned above are just my assumptions. 

Continue reading →
reduce stress

3 Simple Ways to Reduce Stress During These Hard Times

2 Comments

How are you? We are on the 18th month of this pandemic and so many things have already happened
 deaths left and right
 Covid getting closer and closer to home (if it hasn’t hit yours already
 it surely did mine. 5 of our family members caught Covid and thankfully survived it despite not getting vaccinated)
 businesses shutting down
 people suffering
. freedom getting suppressed in many places around the world
. and all this is starting to get on my nerves. Do you feel the same? Am I alone in feeling this way? If you’re on the same boat as I am, don’t fret. There are ways we can do to try to ride these waves. And we must. I just read an article on Bloomberg that this pandemic can last for a really long time. We can’t just give up, can we?

So what can we do to help reduce our stress during these hard times? Let me share with you some ways we try to do at home to help cope with this depressing worldwide situation:

Continue reading →

ON SURVIVING THE 7-YEAR ITCH ON OUR 7TH ANNIVERSARY AND STRIVING TO LIVE A BEACH KIND OF LIFE DESPITE THE PANDEMIC

1 Comment

As our 7th anniversary was fast approaching, I was tapped by Mommy Ruby of CDO Bloggers Group to participate in a campaign by a certain insurance company. It was about being stronger now despite whatever it is that we are struggling with. What came to  mind was about being stronger than my demons because as I’ve mentioned before, my emotional and mental health haven’t been that well lately. 

Below, I am sharing with you the original draft of what I wrote in that campaign which in a way helped me recognize my power, my strength, and sense of resilience.  

And further down below, You can watch the entire video on how we spent our 7th anniversary despite the lockdown here in Oslob. ❀❀❀

Continue reading →
Sunrise in Oslob

How We Transferred to Oslob, Cebu During the Pandemic

6 Comments

Hello Summer! It’s been a busy 2.5 months as we started our new beach life here in Oslob, Cebu and I promise, I will be catching up on my blog posts and vlogs until I get more current with what’s happening with us. I may still insert some throwback travel posts from the past since I’ve collected a ton all these years. But for now, here is a vlog on how our transfer from Cagayan de Oro (where we lived, half the time, the other half was in Claveria) from Sept. 1, 2017 to Jan. 7, 2021) to Oslob, Cebu happened, how we got quarantined for 14 days when we got here, and what we did while in quarantine (Jan. 9-22, 2021). 

For those who are considering transferring to their respective provinces in this time of the pandemic, you can check out this related blog post:

BOAT TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS DURING A PANDEMIC IN THE PHILIPPINES (FROM CAGAYAN DE ORO TO CEBU

Continue reading →
boat travel

Boat Travel Requirements During a Pandemic in the Philippines (From Cagayan de Oro to Cebu)

2 Comments

The first time we traveled during a pandemic was back in August and it was just within Cagayan de Oro City so the only documents that were required were barangay exit pass for our family, barangay clearance for me and Mahal, and health certificates for us three either from a doctor or the city health office certifying that we were in good health at that time. It was quite easy. This time around though, we were moving from Cagayan de Oro City in Northern Mindanao to Oslob, Cebu which is the southwestern part of Cebu Region. We traveled by land and then by boat from Cagayan de Oro port to Cebu port then traveled by land again for 3-4 hours outside of Cebu City. 

The following documents were required of us (and I assume it would be the same for people traveling by boat between regions anywhere in the Philippines). Just keep in mind that once you have all these travel requirements, their validity will last for only 2 weeks. So you better have your travel itinerary ready and make sure you’re good to go! 

Continue reading →
Lying on the beach

Covid-19: How It’s Affecting My Mental and Emotional Health

19 Comments

OVERVIEW

While most of you have probably been in quarantine / lockdown for about a month or so now, I’ve been imposing it on and off upon myself and my family since I first heard about the coronavirus in the news the last week of January. We were preparing for another batch of Hands-On Mushroom Training at that time when the Coronavirus Outbreak began circulating in the media. My “prepper” instinct tingled and I started having worst-case scenario visions in my head. (“prepper” is a person who believes a catastrophic disaster or emergency is likely to occur in the future and makes active preparations for it, typically by stockpiling food, ammunition, and other supplies.) That was the time I started buying a little bit more than the usual number of masks and alcohol bottles we use for mushroom training just in case the outbreak becomes an epidemic, or worse, a pandemic. And because we had plans of going back to Cebu to set up another Mushroom farm, I almost decided not to go for fear of contracting the virus during our travel. This was around Jan. 25-28 when the rest of the world didn’t care much about  the Coronavirus yet, and much less about preparing for it.

Continue reading →

Horizon

Updates in the Midst of Covid-19: My Health, Tuscany Highlands, Training Workshops CDO, BuQid, Travels and Celebrations

5 Comments

This is probably the longest I haven’t blogged. It’s been so long that I have to read what I wrote last time coz I don’t remember anymore, lol. And it made me cringe a bit that my last post before this was about my health and my suspicion of having Dengue which happened before all this Novel Corona Virus, now called Covid-19, started hitting the news.

Anyway, as an OC person, I want to have some semblance of chronology about what has been happening to me the past several months so this long overdue blog update might be a bit long. Just bear with me. I’ll try to only give you the summaries and I’ll just write more about them, one topic at a time, on my next blog posts. For now, here are the abridged versions:
Continue reading →

Cabugao Gamay

How to Avoid Travel Burnout When Traveling With a Group

3 Comments

Hello from Boracay! It’s already the month of August, known as the “Ghost Month” (kaway-kaway sa mga Bea-Gerald-Julia followers jan
 yeah, I’ve been following their drama too, lol!)  and I just found some time to check my blog. We’ve been traveling from Cagayan de Oro to Oslob, then to Dumaguete, Bacolod, Iloilo and Boracay, then Antique, then back to Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, then Oslob again. I thought of continuing the 3rd part of my Boracay Series since I am here once again on one of the world’s best islands but I feel like I must share with you first this topic that I’ve only experienced now.

Let us define first the word “BURNOUT”:

Burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by excessive and prolonged stress. It occurs when you feel overwhelmed, emotionally drained, and unable to meet constant demand  (Reference: https://www.helpguide.org/articles/stress/burnout-prevention-and-recovery.htm)

Don’t get me wrong. I love traveling! I’ve been doing this since I was 6 years old and I love the entire process of it — from planning our activities and itinerary, to listing down the clothes and accessories that I am going to wear (I like prepping 2-3 sets of clothes a day: one in the morning, one in the afternoon, one in the evening), to unpacking everything when we get to our destination and doing it all over again when we get home. Traveling is just one of my passions and I don’t think I will ever stop, not until I really have to due to old age. Teehee. So, it came as a surprise to me when all of a  sudden I feel so burnt out from all the traveling we’ve been doing. Has this ever happened to you as well?

So, how do we avoid travel burnout when traveling with a group, especially with our extended family? Continue reading →

Road Trip

How to Get to Oslob from Cagayan de Oro Via Car and Boat Rides

19 Comments

We will be going back to Oslob soon and stay at Oslob New Village where we’ll meet with Mahal’s eldest sister, Ate Amae, who just came home from Belgium for her yearly summer break. We’ll probably stay there for a night before we head off touring Visayas (and maybe Mindanao too) just like what we did July of last year when we did the  Bukidnon – Davao – Camiguin – Cagayan de Oro tour which I mentioned in my 2018 Travel Recap.

We will be bringing our car with us just like what we did January of this year when we went home to Oslob for Mahal’s and his mom’s birthday (we’ve been doing that every year since 2016).

So if you’re from Cagayan de Oro and you want to know how to get to Oslob via road trip and boat / roro rides, this post is for you. Let’s go!

Continue reading →

Oslob

Reminiscing My First Time at Oslob New Village Lodge – Cebu Accommodation and Things to Do

18 Comments

It has always been on my mind to blog about Oslob, a quaint and beautiful municipality in southern Cebu. After all, that’s where I met the current love of my life back in March 2012 (check our love story) and which I now consider as one of my second homes because I  can no longer count how many times I’ve been to this charming place known for its whale sharks and beautiful falls. I’ve also mentioned it quite a few times on my blog, particularly when I’d do my yearly How to Travel and Look Back posts, but I’ve never really come up with a detailed blog post about it yet, until now. And this is just the first. More coming as I continue with my daily blogging.

I was also reminded of it once again when I got interviewed recently by BlogMeter Top (the article hasn’t been published yet, I will share once it’s out) and one of their questions was what is my favorite blog post here in MomTraNeur and I mentioned that it was the story of my current love life. I’m a mushy kind of person after all (in case you haven’t noticed yet), hihihi!

You see, I’ve been married for so long before (2002-2012) and it crumbled in 2013. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I will find love again. I never dated. My ex was my first and last. I never had any other sexual encounters aside from my ex. Despite my being “Sexy Nomad” at that time, I really am a naive and conservative girl deep down. Everything that happened after, with my now current life partner, is nothing but miraculous. And the more I look back how it all came to be, the more I cherish our love and the life we have now. And little did I know at that time that it all started in OSLOB.

So back to Oslob


Continue reading →

Going Limitless — Thoughts About Building Businesses and Life We Love

3 Comments

Yesterday morning, before the trip to the farm, Mahal and I had a talk. I told him I was feeling overwhelmed with everything that’s been going on. We are still in the beginning stages of the farm even if it’s already been more than a year since we started setting it up. That’s coz farming is so dependent on the weather, the availability of “ingredients” for the mushroom fruiting bags, the people we hire and fire, the availability of water in the natural spring, etc. We haven’t yet really fully set it up, and we’re already thinking of setting up another business in Oslob — a bar — to complement their existing mini resort, Oslob New Village…

Continue reading →