My parents used to bring me and my siblings to Luneta Park when we were young. For my cousins who are then living in Cebu (they are now based in NJ, USA),  going to Luneta is a dream come true. But for us who are just living around Manila, it’s just normal to visit Luneta at least once or twice a month. Funny is that my former grade school classmates said it’s kind of “cheap” to spend a weekend in that place because there you can see a different kind of  ”love birds” kissing and hugging as if nobody is seeing them.

Anyway, I was curious about the meaning of Luneta so I asked my father. He said, in Spanish luna means moon, so luneta means little moon. You see, in the olden days the mentioned park had the shape of a half moon so the Spaniards called it Luneta.  But Filipinos called it Bagumbayan or New Town in English. Another thing I learned was that my father took a Spanish class in college which, according to him, was a mandatory subject during his time. Today, it’s only English which students need to take in order to graduate.

If you will ask me, Luneta is a great place to visit It’s free and the place is a witness to many historic events. There you can also see the famous monument of Jose Rizal, a political figure and a national patriot. Speaking of which, it makes me wonder if America has a national hero? My friend said “of course! what do you think of Superman?” Haha. Very funny! Seriously, I’m glad to know that there is a replica of the Rizal Monument in Madrid, Spain. You can find it in Avenida de Las Islas Filipinas. Found that information from AskYahoo.

I should have done this months ago but my full-time job and freelance writing assignments are always stopping me to accomplish my plans for this blog and for my other blogs.

First plan is to delete all Tagalog posts and start writing again in English. The reason behind this sudden change of mind is because I realized that writing in my mother tongue only shows what a nonsensical person I am. And besides, the PR2 of Manila Street is just being wasted since paid-to-blog websites only accept English-written blogs.

Second plan is to change that car in the page header to a picture of a famous structure in Manila like Luneta Park or Manila City Hall or anything that is considered as a popular symbol of the city. Perhaps, Quiapo Church? What about the Malacanang Palace?

Third is to start begging for guest posts from fellow bloggers or just anybody who can contribute to this site. Yes, I’m begging you please submit articles about Manila. I doubt if anyone would be interested but my requirements are quite simple:

1. Must be written in English with acceptable grammar.
2. Must be relevant to Manila. It could be a photo with a simple story, news or just about anything which is related to Manila.
3. Minimum of 300 words in length and a maximum of 2 links to your website.
4. Must be original and not yet published anywhere else.
5. At the end of the post, you have to include a short author bio or a short note about yourself (you may include this in your 300-word post but it should not exceed 100 words).

What do you get in return? Well, nothing. LOL. I can’t offer money because in nearly two years of keeping this journal, I never earned money from it. If you are a blogger, you can benefit by linking to your homepage but if you don’t own a blog, you can now become a blogger by authoring posts in my blog! This is your chance to practice your writing skills Joke. I really have nothing to offer except for friendship.

How does it work? Simply send me your article or photos through this email: ilovesterndal@yahoo.com with the subject line of Manila Street Guest Post. I’ll read it and don’t worry because I’m not picky so you actually have a 99.99% percent chance of getting approved. And the article doesn’t need to be bookish. The simpler the better.

Thank you so much in advance!