Why Retire in the Philippines/Marinduque Vacations: An Award Winning TV Soap Opera

Planning to Retire Soon!

If you are planning to retire in the Philippines soon, I suggest you visit several excellent websites on pro's and cons of retiring in the Philippines. However if you want to retire in the provinces, where life is simple, standard of living cheaper, less traffic congestion and pollution, availability of fresh seafood and vegetables compared to the big cities, my island province is the place for you! If this is your first time in my site, welcome. Some of the photos and videos on this site, I do not own. However, I have no intention on the infringement of your copyrights. The photo above is the front yard of Chateau Du Mer- Our Retirement Home in Boac, Marinduque, Philippines

Thursday, December 12, 2013

An Award Winning TV Soap Opera

Voted Best Couple of the Decade in a TV Drama-Christian and Oliver

My interest in soap opera with controversial themes started after I watched the Philippines TV drama, My Husband's Lover(MHL). A Facebook friend suggested that if I like drama in the same genre as MHL I should looked into the German drama titled Verbotene Liebe( Christian and Oliver). To my surprise this drama(Forbidden Love) had been in TV for quite sometime, but I have no idea of its popularity with millions of viewers in Europe and in the US. Luckily old episodes are available in the Internet and I am starting to view old episodes and enjoying it. The topics portrayed in this drama are indeed ground breaking exploring issues that is of interest not only to the LGBT community but to all lovers of soap operas all over the world. Like most popular TV dramas, the series is about Money, Sex and Power. For the summary of this drama series read the Wikipedia.

An Excerpt from the Award winning German TV drama, Verbotene Liebe, translated as Forbidden Love

The series has become well known for its groundbreaking treatment of LGBT characters, presenting bisexuality and homosexuality as normal, and homosexual and bisexual relationships as equal to heterosexual relationships on the show. For this reason, it has become popular with gay and lesbian audiences in Europe and the United States. Ever on the cutting edge, the series is not afraid to tackle controversial issues such as drug addiction and abuse, murder, rape, suicide, adultery, incest, homophobia, alcoholism, HIV, schizophrenia, miscarriage, kidnapping, and sexual confusion.

In 2005, Verbotene Liebe (Forbidden Love) received the prestigious Rose d'Or award for "Best Soap," and in 2010 was nominated for the category of "Best Soap or Telenovela." More recently, the show was nominated for eight German Soap Awards in 2011, winning three. The show is filmed at the Cologne-Ossendorf studios of the Magic Media Company, with outdoor scenes and exterior shots regularly shot in and around Cologne and Düsseldorf. In January 2011,the series began filming in high definition.

Old episodes of this drama is in the Internet. Happy Viewing and let me know if you like this drama and if this is also your first time.

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Fruit Trees in the Gardens of Chateau Du Mer

The Mango Tree-I have three varieties in my Garden-The Indian, Guimaras and Carabao Mangoes My caretaker/gardener informed me last month that due to the El Nino drought in Marinduque, two of my Durian trees died in spite of his vigilant watering. One of the tree was attacked by insects that looks like a big fly but yellowish in color that sucks the sap of the seedling. The roots of the other tree was attacked by ants residing in the soil. However, my other fruit trees, the rambutans( 2), the lanzones(2) and the jack fruits ( 2) trees are doing well. The above eight fruit trees were given to me by Retired General Recaredo Sarmiento of Boac and Lucena., about three years ago. General Sarmiento is the “atid” of my wife. “Atid” is the colloquial term for brother. Evidently, Macrine's father, the late Bernardo Jambalos was the Godfather of General Sarmiento during his baptism and comfirmation. Gen Sarmiento's hobby is orchard planting, reforestation and farming. The other fruit trees in my garden are guayabanos, cashew, avocados, starapples, duhats, ates, guavas, mangoes( 3 varieties) and papayas as well as several varieties of bananas . Of the above fruit trees, my favorite is the guayabanos, also known as soursop tree known for its anti-tumor and anti-cancer properties . The following are photos of the fruit trees. The Durian photo is from the web. Note that it almost look like a jack fruit tree, except that the leaves are bigger and shiny. My desire is to have a passion fruit tree in the near future. You are welcome to visit my orchard and flower gardens any time, if perchance you are in the vicinity of The Chateau Du Mer Beach Resort and Conference Center.

The Rambutan Tree and Fruits

The Lanzone Tree and Fruits

The Jack Fruit Tree

The Durian Fruit Tree