A New Acquaintance from Austria

After our visit to Eyan Yu's house yesterday, Edmund Gruenbaum and I went to see Helmut, an Austrian whom Ed introduced to me the day before.

The three of us gathered at Bo's Coffee in Sm City Cebu where we talked about stamps and a lot of things over cups of cappuccino.

We later transferred to Earthweb Cafe where we had two rounds of San Miguel beer. At around 3:00 p.m., we parted ways and wished them a happy trip. Helmut lives in Ormoc City, Leyte.

The two of them will be back in Cebu City to attend Cebu Stamp Club's February 2010 meetup.

A Visit to a Fellow Stamp Collector

It is a rare occasion to get invited to a house of a stamp collector and see all his beautiful collections. Yesterday was one of those times.

Together with Edmund Gruenbaum, Cebu Stamp Club's official representative to Germany and Europe, we went to Cebu Stamp Club Board of Trustee Eyan Yu's house in Talamban, Cebu City to see his treasures.

Eyan Yu gave us an extra-ordinary treat to view his various collections of stamps, coins, die cast cars, model airplanes and choppers.

It was a very interactive morning as he talked about his collections, how he acquired them and what his expensive collections are.

A few hours after the interesting conversations on stamps and coins, it was time for us to leave. Of course, we didn't go home empty handed. Eyan gave me some U.S. stamps to add to my American Presidents on stamps collection. He also gave both of us a copy of the Kenmore Collectors Catalog 2009 Edition.

Photo #1 shows me with Edmund Gruenbaum at Eyan Yu's house, while photo #2 features Edmund and Eyan Yu.

Cebu Stamp Club's January 2010 Meetup

Usually, Cebu Stamp Club never holds a stamp meetup in January owing to the various activities such as the Sinulog and the Feast of the Sto. Niño.

This year was different as we decided to hold the January 2010 Stamp Meetup and agreed to be at the 2nd floor of McDonald's Jones on January 24, 2010 at 2:00 p.m.

I arrived exactly at the scheduled time but was amazed to see Edmund Gruenbaum, David Taylor, Richard Guimbarda, Dinah Potolin, Janice Benolerao, and Eyan Yu already there ahead of me. Sharee Ann Trapa and Marichu Taylor came some minutes later.

Just as in the previous meetups, David gave the club and those who came lots of stamps. The stamps kept everyone busy. He informed the group that he won't be around in the next meetings as he will be leaving for Spain or Portugal before returning to the United Kingdom.

David is Cebu Stamp Club's official representative to the United Kingdom. He mentioned to the club that he will be glad to send some stamps to the members through the want list they will be giving to the club.

Everyone left McDonald's happy with more stamps to add to each one's collections.

Cool German Stamps on Bulletins

It's great to have friends from different countries. Cebu Stamp Club's Edmund Gruenbaum of Germany is one of them. My friendship with Ed began in 2005 when he decided to join the club while he was in Cebu.

If we are not seeing each other during the monthly stamp meetups, we meet at SM City Cebu in some of the resto bars to talk about stamps over a bottle of beer and soda. One beer for me, Ricky Teves and Bob my brother, while Ed settles for the soda. It's quite funny because Germans love beer but Ed doesn't drink beer or any alcoholic beverages.

During his birthday last year, we travelled to far away Barili which is around 60 kms from the city just to surprise him.

In one of our meetings, Ed gave me kilowares of used German stamps on paper. Of course, I gave all of it to the members of the club to add to their collection. He also gave me a collection of German stamps on bulletins.

If the Philippines came out with bulletins with the stamp design printed on it, Germany's bulletins had the actual stamps on the bulletins with a date of issue cancellation. Those bulletins introduced me to add Germany to my collecting interest.

Photo above features a recent Cebu Stamp Club meetup from left: Edmund Gruenbaum, Eyan Yu, Richard Guimbarda, Ricky Teves, Sharee Ann Trapa, Richard Allan Uy, Kenneth Turner with wife Gina.