Author: Rochelle Sy Chua

Japanese Lessons – March 3 2009

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 4, 2009

Yesterday’s lesson is an interesting one.

We were showed several videos that are sooooo funny & cool. Truly a good way for us to learn Japanese. Here they are:

Video 1 (Mary Had a Little Lamb) – This is a cute one! Very catchy and easy to memorize

Video 2 (Learn Japanese Numbers 1-20) – Hip Hop! We were really laughing so hard while trying to sing with it!

Next, we were shown how to write in Kanji. Kanji is about chinese characters used in Japan for writing. Since I’m chinese, this is pretty easy for me. We were given handouts to help us practice in writing those words in the right order.

Here are the pronounciations:

1 (Ichi)
2 (Ni)
3 (San)
4 (Shi/Yon)
5 (Go)
6 (Roku)
7 (Shichi/Nana)
8 (Hachi)
9 (Ku/Kyu)
10 (Jyu)
11 (Jyu Ichi)
12 (Jyu Ni)
13 (Jyu San)
14 (Jyu Yon)
15 (Jyu Go)
16 (Jyu Roku)
17 (Jyu Nana)
18 (Jyu Hachi)
19 (Jyu Kyu)
20 (Ni Jyu)
100 (Hyaku)
200 (Nihyaku)
300 (Sanbyaku)
400 (Yonhyaku)
500 (Gohyaku)
600 (Roppyaku)
700 (Nanahyaku)
800 (Happyaku)
900 (Kyuhyaku)
1000 (Sen)

Lastly, we learned about Hiragana Vowels.

Information overload but this is really a fun class and I’m sure. All of us we’ll be able to at least remember several Japanese words. I’m really glad I enrolled here.

The International Movie Review

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 3, 2009

I was planning to watch “He’s Just Not Into You” but apparently the theater that is showing it only has twin-lover seats. Since I’m with a friend, why would we watch it there right? weird…

Anyway, we ended up watching “The International”. I got word that it is a good movie. As expected, it is indeed Good! Since the day before I watched “Confessions of a Shopaholic” w/c is a feel-good movie, it’s time to watch something serious & action-oriented.

It is a story about 2 people (an Interpol agent & Manhattan assistant district attorney) investigating corruption on a bank called International Bank of Business & Credit (IBBC). This stars Clive Owen & Naomi Watts. They uncovered several illegal activities that IBBC is doing like money laundering, arms trading & government destabilization.

Pretty well done and I don’t feel the time at all. It’s just sad that since the movie is about 2 hours long. I need to go to the washroom, I was really trying to wait for the movie to be finished but I just cannot take it anymore hahahahahaha! So when I went to the washroom finally and came back to the theater.. I realized that I missed the last 15minutes of the movie!!!!!! Sooooooo saddd

So anyone would like to share what I have missed? awww… I might need to watch this again when a DVD comes out… so sad that I missed the most important part in the movie hehehe.

Verdict: 4/5

Official Website of Rochelle Sy Chua where she talks about her travel experiences in Taipei, Taiwan, Philippines and Asia, as well as her adventures in food and restaurants

Hai Chinese Restaurant & Bar

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 1, 2009

Hai Chinese Restaurant & Bar

G/F SM Marikina, Riverbanks Center, Marcos Highway, Brgy. Calumpang, Marikina City, Philippines

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We went to SM Marikina Mall to attend the Wifi Testers Bloggers Event. After we registered, we were asked to pick a spot, restaurant or cafe to go online and check the connection.

We have chosen Hai since our blogger friend is there. We stayed in the restaurant for like 3 hours hehehe. I was pretty hungry that time and was excited to eat especially good food.

We were served first with this free snack, pretty salty in my opinion (too salty actually).

Ambiance is okay but I’m a lil bothered with the girl manager in the restaurant. She’s like seeking too much attention. It even went to a point when she shouted out sooo loud with the sole reason of being shocked by something. It’s quite irritating hehehe.

Here are what we ordered:

Pan Fried Fish Fillet with Garlic in Superior Sauce (Php295)

I enjoyed other fish fillet from the other chinese restaurants but this is okay. Pretty generous serving so I think it’s worth it.

Salt & Pepper Squid (Php200)

I’m a lil disappointed with the taste of this dish. I guess I always try to order this whenever I go to any restaurant that serve it. And I really didn’t like this version. It’s just too soft in my opinion and I think it lacks taste.

Plain Rice

Mango Sago (Php70)

This one, I SUPER enjoyed!!! It’s uberly delicious & yummy!!! This is the highlight of it all. It’s served in a large bowl, I really liked this one!

SM Marikina Bloggers Event

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On March 1, 2009

My blogger friend Sonny invited us to this event. This is the 1st ever blogging event I joined & I’m glad I did.

I didn’t know that there is a group existing of Pinoy bloggers! I really hope that soon I’ll be able to meet most of them so I can be “in” in the group (if you know what I mean).

I’ve been blogging for quite sometime but I still feel that I’m a “newbie” in the bloggers world. My Alexa rank is soooo low that it really makes me sad

Anyway, the event is sponsored by SM Marketing Department. They wanted bloggers to test the WiFi of the mall. Take note, SM Marikina is WiFi enabled for the WHOLE mall & not just cyberzone. This is I think the only SM Mall that is WiFi enabled mallwide.

So first, we register in the booth then we can go around the mall and pick a cafe, restaurant, anywhere within the mall & blog away. Then at 5PM, we were asked to proceed to Cyberzone event center for the Raffle, an Asus Laptop!

My friends and I didn’t win but congratulations to the girl who won, I heard it was also her birthday so I bet she had one of the best birthdays ever hehehe.

Just to give feedback on the WiFi connection of SM Marikina. If there are only a few people using it, then the connection is really fast. At around 2PM when we arrived, the connection was blazing fast. I was so impressed that I thought of going there regularly. After 1 hour though, the internet connection went down real fast and it became intermittent. I guess the 10GB kbps is still not enough for a big mall like SM Marikina. But still a good move by SM, hope they make their other malls like SM Megamall, SM North Edsa, Sta. Mesa wifi-enabled mallwide too.

Chili’s Bar & Grill

Posted by Rochelle Sy Chua On February 27, 2009

Chili’s Bar & Grill
Greenhills Shopping Center, Missouri St. corner Nevada St., Northeast Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila (02)727-1143

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A friend helped me by setting up this dinner for me to meet his blogger officemate. I really so wanted to improve on my blogging coz I believe I’m not doing everything right. I was able to get a lot of tips and I’m excited again in blogging. I just hope in time, my blog will be recognized… wishing wishing wishing…

Here are what we ordered:

Grilled Pork Chops (Php405)

This is what I ordered, I was too hungry at that time that I thought I can eat 2 whole pork chops but was only able to finish just one.. I guess I’m more excited in filling up my mind rather than my stomach hehehe.

Grilled Salmon with Garlic & Herbs (Php605)

8 oz salmon fillet.. Looks good. I’m just not the salmon-type of person hehehe.

Grilled Steak with Roasted Herb Jus (Php450)

Bottomless Lemonade (Php95)

This one I enjoyed hehe.

I remember that I used to love Chili’s because of it’s “Caliente Catfish” but apparently, they scrapped it from their menu. And I felt not much people are going there anymore. When we were there, it’s dark because the dining section beside us were closed.

BTW, they have free wifi now.