my nephews graduation day

i almost forgot yesterday was my nephews graduation day, finally high school na siya next school year. ang tagal ko na palang pinapaaral si pat, 6 years sa elementary grades at 2 years sa pre-school, 8-9 years pa para mapatapos ko sa college, hay, this is my life. i'm willingly happy to help them. kaya siguro the Lord is giving me a good job and career to support my extended family.

good thing that papa bear is supportive of me on helping them, siya pa nga nag provide ng konting handa for pat kahapon as per his email. mukhang fiesta sa bahay kahapon, sayang i miss the fun.

i'm wishing that he can finish college and support his sibling as well, right now pareho ko silang pinapaaral, ok lang makakatapos din sila. i'm fullfilled whenever i can help.

dinner at dooby's grill cafe

last night was a blast! we had a middle eastern mediterranean dinner at dooby's grill cafe, where we feast on meat kebabs, choices of beef, chicken and lamb and some salad and dips that are new to me, like tahini dip, baba ghannouj dip etc.... interesting part of it when after an hour of chikahan and tawanan, our big bosses pala is cooking something fishy for us esp for men.

we were all shocked to see the belly dancer on her sexy outfit dancing on top of our table, kaya pala biglang naging dim ang mga lights, grabe, 1st time ko makakita ng ganon, in flesh! and what can you expect ang mga boys, (btw, my counterparts are mostly men - 3 lang kaming female sa team) halos lumuwa ang mga mata. my boss gave us 5 one dollar each para ilagay sa bra nung belly dancer - she's mexican at masyadong game. pati nga yung counterpart ko from kulim na vegetarian, hirap kami lagi hanapan ng resto na bagay sa kanya eh nakisali rin sa gulo, we were all shouting to him na, hey that's meat, he said back - i'm after the pleasure not the flesh ha ha ha!

the dance was quite decent though sensual - pero sabi nga its an art. hai, those are just one of the happpy moments here in chandler. i'll post pix once i'm done with my stuff.

flight to phoenix

now that i have taken enough sleep last night, i'm in the mood to blog about my long and tiring flight last week.

due to cost cutting measures, my travel agent resorted to book me economy flight from manila to phoenix via cathay pacific and us airways. i have 3 connecting flights, it took me more than 19 hours to reach chandler.

my firts connecting flight was via hk - departing manila at 11am, waiting time at hk airport is quite long 3 hours that was i thought, but never did i know that from the terminal where i was landed i still have to go through series of strict inspection and a train ride before i could finally reach the terminal to where i'm boarding my connecting flight to los angeles (lax). flight is long haul from hk to la - approx 12.5 hours, food is quite good but i've never taken any sleep as the plane is full and i'm seating at the middle, where i need to be disturbed when the person on my right near the window needs to go to cr (hai, it was very tring) and i felt dehydrated as well.

when we were finally landed in LA, waiting hours of connecting flight to phoenix is 2hours, but entering to LA is much harder than in hk. i need to ride a shuttle bus to transfer to immigration area where my finger prints and photo will be scanned, likewise my luggage should be check-out from cathay and check in again at us airways, the inspection is twice as hard in hk, i need to open my luggage in front of the custom official, likewise my handcarried bags and my cooler (where my insulins were kept) need to explain that i am a diabetic person and showed my certification of bringing syringes and lancet with me. after that i need to ride a shuttle again to transfer to domestic airport for my connecting flight. boarding process is also confusing as it is self service, my confirmation code is not valid so i resorted to ask help from the check in counter, then proceed again for a series of inspection at gate 8. due to long process, i almost missed my connecting flight, final call for boarding was already announced while i'm still at gate 8 inspection area. whew! that was hard, i need to walk as fast as i can to catch the plane.

that was unforgettable! after the hard time i must enjoy my stay here...

i'm quite adjusted

finally, i've had a good sleep last night, when i arrived hotel at 4pm, i took a nap until 7pm, i'm supposed to attend a team building at fiddlestick tempe but i was totally exhausted and having a terrible headache so i requested jeff to drop me back at springhill suites before they proceed to tempe. i had a sumptous dinner at shabu fondue near my hotel and window shop at circuit city after.

i think, my body clock is quite adjusted in the us timezone, i'm feeling better now and happy that i somewhat had taken full rest last night.

i'm having a good time today - later we will have karaoke dinner at dooby's grill cafe, my first team building dinner was held at buca di beppo (italian resto) near elliot.

i'm beginning to like the place though...

it finally hit me

yesterday i was feeling melancholic and ended up the day figuring out why. i called back home thrice and cried after i talked to papa bear. i missed my family so much, i don't know what happen to me, homesickness has strucked me because i was too far from them. i was never like this when i'm on biz trip, it could be the place where i am in right now. chandler is a very quiet place, malls are closing as early as 8pm, wala tuloy akong mapaglibangan dito. shopping is the only way out to release my boredom. sana matagalan ko dito.

vegas trip

been to las vegas last saturday - it was cool though too tiring as it was 6 hours long drive from phoenix. (12 hours 2 way drive) place is quite messy (gamblers & drinkers) are everywhere, but it was really cool.

we have visited treasure island, bellagio, eiffel tower, ceazar's palace and flamingo - it was worth the trip!

will be posting some pix once i'm done uploading.

jet lag

it's been a week since i arrived here in phoenix but still can't have a good sleep. i have been trying to be really tired the whole day by shopping around, but sleep is still out of my way...

today is my 1st day at work (chandler 7) - hope i will not feel sleepy the whole day (my boss is here - i should not be caught sleeping...)

i missed my family back home....

baby bear's graduation day

march 16 was baby bear's graduation day - as usual stage parents kami ni papa bear, siya in charge sa video coverage ako naman sa camera. everything went well, except when baby bear repeated some lines on her opening prayer, ako ang kinabahan, pero poise pa rin ang bata, natapos naman ng maayos ang prayer niya. super proud mom ako while watching her on the stage. (choir member din, mana sa daddy niya)

we are still in the decision making process if she will continue her studies in that school;she will be in grade 1 this june, or she will enroll in IS Pudong, i have yet to know if they will still accept enrollee in may since the classes already started last january. (this adds up to our dilemma)

everything will be answered once i got back from my US trip as the hr there will discuss to me ftf all the packages on my one way transfer - am still negotiating if we can use relocation term as project base rather than one way transfer. benefits from relo is much higher than the latter.

May the Good Lord guide us with the right decision. Amen!

all is set for my biz trip

finally, i got my passport today, together with papa bear's and baby bear's passports. new brown phil passport has a significant improvement than the green ones, name and picture appears on the 2nd page and it's laminated and colored (pinaghalong japan & us visa ang itsura) class na ang dating, unlike before na handwritten lahat ng information.

later today, will do some last minute shopping (pasalubong to my friends in chandler). am looking forward to a safe trip and memorable vacation in vegas. excited na ako.

us trip

all is set for my biz trip next week, except for my passport (ngek) bakit kasi last Feb ko lang naisipan na i renew, little did i know na ako pala ang rep for our ftf in chandler. anyhow, pina pa work out ko sa agency namin to expedite the passport release. excited ako to shop, mababa dollar conversion ngayon. my friend is also inviting me to spend holy week at vegas, dapat sa baguio kami nila papa bear at baby bear, na cancel tuloy, di bale pagbalik ko na lang babawi ako sa mag-ama.

ma-mi-miss ko uli sila, halos every quarter me trip ako di pa ako nasanay - everytime magpapaalam ako kay baby bear, dami kong suhol para payagan ako at di mahirapan ang paalaman sa airport.

ok, until next week - will blog about my vegas trip - 1st time ko dun.

thank You Lord

words are not enough to describe how happy i am, thank You Lord for all the blessings you have given me, i know i can't thank You enough!

God is so good!