Stress relievers

Cebu’s horizontal and vertical developments is progressing too fast that I often myself lost in places where I used to frequent.

This is not a criticism.

I am writing this with a sense of wonder of the places I have visited the past months which I did not know (still) existed.

Six years ago, Jeff and I had a meal at Golden Prince Hotel, a prime location in the busy uptown area.

It was the place where Jeff and I talked and planned about getting married.

We proposed to each other and we accepted each other’s offer.

I remember this with a fuzzy feeling and butterflies in my stomach.

Six years later, I passed by the area and it looked different from the outside.

Curiosity got the better of me and so on our twins’ fifth birthday, we stayed in this hotel.

What a transformation!

The staff are warmer than how I remembered them to be six years ago.

The hotel is also embracing Cebu’s culinary heritage.

I once heard someone remarked that Cebu has no culinary heritage to speak of.

I guess the person needs to visit Golden Prince to experience this.

Thank you Mr. Benny Que and Mr. Aaron Que for exhibiting pride of place with your hotel!

Another surprise is the pocket garden at the Central Block of the Cebu I.T. Park.

There are benches and a place for children to run.

This is in addition to our current favorite: the Havaianas Playground at Ayala Center Cebu.

I totally love this spot and I enjoy seeing my children running, swinging, jumping and sliding from the monkey bars to the see-saw to the slides.

I had the chance to be the lead facilitator of the formation program of the 2018 search of the Ten Outstanding Students of the Philippines Central Visayas last May and we spent two days at the Cebu City Resource Management and Development Center (CREMDEC).

CREMDEC is run by the city government and is located in Barangay Taptap, 40 kilometers from Cebu City.

It is a great place for reflection and learning. Tasty and filling dishes are prepared by the locals.

I wish they will also entertain individuals like me, who need the solitude to focus on finishing writing projects.

As a mother in desperate need for green spaces, I love SM Seaside’s SkyPark and the breathing spaces they give to my tired soul after long days of going on field or planning/implementing advocacy project. I go to SM Seaside City Cebu for this purpose.

Cebu leaders badly need to get their act together to solve our traffic, flooding and garbage problems.

Enumerating that in one sentence is a painful exercise

But we are blessed that we have slivers and glimmers of hope in the places and projects I wrote above.

They are not exactly the solutions to these woes but for a person, who is often stuck in two-hour traffic from Cebu City to Liloan, any form of stress reliever is welcomed.