Cosme and Potipot Island

Because I was leaving, we planned to go to galera.
Kaso sabi sa weather forecast, may low pressure area somewhere near mindoro.
So naisip namin, sa north nalang pumunta.

Potipot Island

(photo from clickthecity.com)

We discovered this island called Potipot (or Putipot) somewhere off the coast of Uacon in Zambales.
We planned everything 1 day lang, lahat ng sources namin sa internet ko lang nakuha.
(thanks to travel bloggers)
Hinanap namin kung san yun, we planned the bus ride, reserved rooms...
Fully booked pa nga yung resort na gusto namin at first, yung Dawal Resort.
So dun kami sa Sunbloom nagpa-book.

We were leaving the next day na.
At naka-pag empake na ko.

But on that same night, sabi ng PAGASA, may low pressure area sa Zambales.
Ayos ah. Exactly 24 hours ago, nasa mindoro yun eh.
Sinundan talaga kami. Bwisit.

So we didn't go.
Buti nalang.
Kasi naging full-blown bagyong Cosme na sya,
at namamahagi na ngayon ng relief goods sa mga tao dun .

Pero pramis.
Pagbalik ko dito sa Pilipinas, pupuntahan ko yan.

Solving the Cube

So daddy brought home a rubix cube.
Feeling ko sa tiangge nya nabili yun eh.
Yung tig-forty pesos...
Anyway, na-challenge ako. So I tried it myself.
Pucha, ang hirap pala.

So since everything is 0n the net, I tried to look for tips.
Sabi kasi nila, once alam mo na kung pano, madali nalang.

There are other sites and tips but this one is the easiest to understand.

Tada! I did it!

O ikaw naman! :)

12 Days Before Take-Off

I woke up from my mid-morning nap and realized that there are only 12 days till we leave.
And I have so much stuff to do.
For starters, mom told us to sort our stuff:
those that we'll take to Canada and those that we'll give away.
Knowing me, that will take me days to do.
so I decided to get on with it.


I decided to make 2 piles:
the stuff I'm sure to take, I place in my bed
the stuff I'll give away, I hang in the closet handle.

But I wasn't just leaving for a vacation.
I'll be migrating to another country,
and we are selling the house.
By the time I get back, this house might not be our's anymore, so I can't just leave things and expect to come back for it in two months.

So it won't be just clothes and toiletries that I'll be sorting and packing. I'll have to take anything and everything that I intend to keep owning.

Because whatever stuff that I'll be leave behind, I might not see again.
As a person, I have trouble letting go of anything.

I've held on to diaries, letters and even movie tickets for years.

So this made me panic a little bit.


What about my books? I can't bring them all.

And my picture collection?
How about my little figurines, old cassette tapes, cd's...
the scraps of jeans that I intended to sew into a skirt...
And my tissue collection?
no one would take them for sure.
My personal treasures would end up as someone else's trash.

The fact of me leaving, is finally sinking in. I actually felt sad.
We'll be leaving the house that I've lived in for 20 something years.
But my mom's friend said:
Don't look at the sadness in the things you'll leave behind,
look for the joy in the things that you will find.

Sold our Car

As part of our migration, we sold our beloved innova.

Pero we sold it naman to a close friend so I know she'll be in good hands.

Nung kinuha nga sya ni Paul sa amin, di ko na sya tiningnan. Haay...

ehehehe...

Anyway, we are selling our house too. As well as almost all the stuff in it.

Migration Seminars

Since we were migrating to Canada, we were asked to attend 3 seminars

First was with Canadian Immigration Integration Project (CIIP)

It was a 2-day seminar,
funded by the Canadian Government.


As such, we didn't have to pay anything, and libre yung merienda.
We were grouped according to the province of destination. Our's was Alberta.
So everyone in that session was going to Alberta.

The seminar talked about what you can expect there, tips on finding a job, climate etc...
It was very informative, in fairness.
Probably the most informative of the 3 seminars since it was focused on our destination.
And they have one on one career counselling too.

But I only have 2 comments:

First, they made me feel that they were selling something I already bought.
The trainors are all Filipino-Canadians.
And since they are Filipinos, they sort-off have a license to diss the Philippines.
(I mean, if a Caucasian disses our country, we'd be pissed right?
But if a fellow Filipino does it, it's kind of all right.)
So when they compared the Philippines to Canada,
they can't help but be truthfully nasty, over-selling Canada.
Canada might be a really nice country, but the Philippines ain't that bad.
We have beautiful beaches. And really interesting political system..

Second, they want us to call Canada "home" and the Philippines "our country of origin"
Although I have hesitations, it's a good way to give new immigrants the right way of thinking.
But the downside is that since they are Filipinos themselves,
sometimes they get confused too, and call Philippines "home"
I mean, if you are to convince me to renounce the "home" I've lived in for the past 27 years,
You will have to have more conviction than that.

The second seminar is with the International Organization for Migration (IOM)

In CIIP, you don't need your visa released to attend. For as long as you've applied for a permanent resident visa, you're welcome to attend.
But with IOM, they check your visa prior attending.
And unlike CIIP, it was only for an entire day.
But like CIIP, it was also funded by the Canadian Government.
Hence, there was no fee to pay and merienda was free.

Here, the focus was the entire Canada.
There were people going to different provinces.
So when our trainor asked us to group ourselves according to province of destination,
The five of us (mommy, daddy, brother, sister and me) got stuck in one group.
And it was just us.
So when she asked us to discuss on the stuff to bring, share our concerns and tips etc.
It was pointless. We discuss that everyday here at home.

With respect to informative-ness, CIIP was better.
They were more convincing.
Although our trainor was half caucasian, half Indian (hindu) she wasn't that convincing when she speaks. It was as if she wasn't sure of what she was saying.
But in all fairness to her, she was very pretty and pleasing to listen to.
And she gave as a long list of very useful websites which I really really appreciated.

Third seminar is with the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO)

As you can see, this is a branch of OUR government.
Therefore it was required.
You can't leave the country without the CFO stamp in your passport.


You have to pay a fee. 400 pesos for each person. And there was no free merienda.
And the hand-out they gave was one per family.
Kamusta naman yun, tinipid...

Redeeming factor lang is that the speaker was really good.
And she was very entertaining. So nag enjoy naman ako sa pakikinig.

Ang funny lang is dun sa lobby.
May TV and they were showing stories about the problems of immigrants abroad.
Sort of panakot sa mga nagtatangkang umalis ng bansa.
For me it wasn't effective.
Come on... if you've lived here for 27 years, you know that ain't true.
Sana Titanic nalang or Final Destination yung pinalabas nila.
Dun siguro matatakot pa ko sumakay ng barko o eroplano to leave the country.

Saved by Google

I never thought how useful Google was till a few weeks ago.
I mean, I use it for research and all,
but this time I discovered another very practical use for it.

One afternoon, I was working on an order when the phone rang.
It was for me.
She said she got my name and number from the DLSU data base.
She belongs with a company looking for people with business related experience,
and since I graduated with a degree on business management,
she said I'd be a qualified candidate for their project.

She said they were looking for people who could do part time work on their project,
What exactly that project was, she'll discuss on our meeting.
But I could earn 20-30 thousand per month.
I asked how long would that project be, for I would be leaving the country soon.
She said they have an office in Canada, that I could take it there.

Hmm... That got me worried. And her office was in Ortigas, so that added to my hesitation.
But I agreed to meet with her nevertheless.
She gave me her name and number.
She was Pauline Tating.

After that, I continued on working with my paper.
But after a few minutes, I just got this crazy idea to google her name.
To my surprise, there was a number of blogs about her!

Turns out, she has been calling many people already with the same spiel.
And the project was a marketing strategy involving direct selling and networking!
Some of the blogs called her a scammer.
But I'd like to give her the benefit of the doubt.
It may be a legit selling and networking company.

But the thing is, I was never big on selling.
Whether it was legit or not. I do not want to be involved in selling and networking.
So I cancelled my appointment. I would have just waisted my time.

Thanks to Google and my fellow bloggers,
I saved time, money and effort.

Promoted

In my writing job, the process is:
you request for an order, admin approves, and thats the only time you should work on it.
So there are quite a few of my request that have been denied for various reasons.
Ane reason is that someone else requested it who is better qualified,
another reason is that it has been picked by a premium writer.

A premium writer can pick an order without admin approval.
I guess they have already proved their capability and responsibility, so admin trusts them.

I hate it when a premium writer picks an order that I requested.
I feel that he/she just pulled the seniority card on me,
and it has nothing to do with my capacity as a writer.

So since then, I aimed to be a premium writer.
I met deadlines, replied to customers, etc... etc...
Until I came across a difficult client who gave me a really really bad review,
and caused my Reward:-1

After that, I kissed premium writer status goodbye.
I just concentrated on my reward points.

But on April 21, I received a notification,
stating I have been promoted to Premium Status!
Surely, my hard work and patience paid off!
I didn't get a raise or anything monetary,
I just got the privilege of taking orders without admin approval.
And that's really cool...

Signing of the Roll

I almost forgot that I was supposed to sign the Attorney's Roll on May 2.
I woke up really late so I was super in a hurry.

I got up, put on a dress and left the house.
Nag-commute pa nga ko eh.
Well, saka nag-make up din pala ng onti.

Basta, the point is, I didn't make a bid deal out of it. Parang errand lang for me.

Pag dating ko dun, and daming tao!
May mga nag-pipicturan, at may pamilyang mga kasama.
Wala pang 2 minutes ako naka-pila, I already felt lonely.

And because I was late, last ako sa line.
nasa labas na nga ko ng gate ng bagong SC bldg eh.
Buti nalang nakita ko si Caloy. Pinasingit ako.

Oh. And may dala rin syang camera.
Di ko naisip yun eh.
Malay ko ba na "event" to.
Anyway, since wala rin sya kasama, we agreed na I'll take his picture, and he'll take mine.

Unlike the oath taking, mejo maluwag sila this time.
Pwede magdala ng cellphone, camera pati pamilya sa loob.
Sayang nga eh, dami sanang photo-op.
Sabi pa ng katabi ko, sana sa signing nalang nya sinama yung family nya instead na sa oath.
I totally agree.
Dito kasi, kahit lima yung isama mo, ok lang.

Anyway, I got my Roll No.
Its 55554
Sayang nga eh. di pa lahat 5.

Signing

Thumbmarking

Showing Off (hihi)

Oath Taking

2 pm ang schedule ng oath.

But we have to be there 2 hours before daw for registration.

Ano to airport?

But anyways, i was there at 12:30.

Sobrang init! Tas kelangan pumila ang guests sa arawan.

Buti nalang yung mommy ko may dalang payong.

Girl Scout talaga sya.

So we were waiting there outside.

Mejo nasigawan pa nga kami ng usher.

2pm na daw, so kelangan na pumasok.

Tama na ang picture.

Anyway, mabilis lang sya natapos.

May mga speeches tas singing of Supreme Court Hymn.

Yes. Meron pala nun. Ngayon ko lang nalaman.

Ang importante dun eh accepted na kami to be members of the Philippine Bar.

Nung tinanong nga if there's any objections, natahimik lahat eh.

Pero buti naman, wala na nag-object. Mejo lang ah.

Anyway, the order accepting us, is immediately executory.

Meaning. Wala nang bawian. Woohoo!

Around 3 or 4 tapos na yung ceremony.

Ang matagal is yung paghahanap ng parents.

Pinaiwan kasi yung cellphones and camera.

Pero grabe ha.

I was wearing high-heals and more than 4 hours na ko nakatayo.

Intense ang sakit ng paa ko.

Whenever I sit down, I get this nangimay feeling in my feet. Yung prickly feeling habang bumabalik ang dugo sa toes ko.

Tas kelangan ko pa maglakad ng 2 blocks papuntang Harbor Square kasi coding kami.

Iniisip ko palang, naiiyak na ko.

Pramis, onti nalang, my feet will bleed.

Buti nalang, my mom has driving sandals.

di na nga ko umabot hanggang car namin, pinakuha ko nalang kay daddy.

syempre, di masyadong bagay sa cute dress ko, pero I DON'T CARE.

Anyway, napagsabihan tuloy ako ni daddy about wearing those kind of shoes.

It's unsafe daw.

Hmmm... I never saw it that way.

Parang hinalintulad nya ang pagsuot ng high heels sa pagsakay sa motorsiklong walang helmet.

Pero may point sya.

Dahil paglabas ko ng PICC, gusto ko nang maghanap ng wheelchair.

Unsafe talaga sya.

First encounter with a potato

I woke up one morning and was really really hungry.
Kaso, ang breakfast namin ay sardinas.
Eversince my immersion with the mangyans in mindoro,
(where we had to eat sardines everyday for less than a week)
I swore never to eat sardines again.

I didn't actually swear.
I just feel like gagging whenever I smell it, let along taste it.

But since it has been years,
and the fact that I was really really hungry,
I considered eating it that morning.

Kaso sabi ni mommy, pwede daw ako magluto ng corned beef.
Ayos yon.
Lalagyan ko ng maraming patatas so I won't eat rice anymore.

So naghiwa ako ng patatas. Mejo nilakihan ko yung hiwa para mas masaya.
Tapos sabi ni mommy, lagyan ko ng onting water yung pan para maluto muna yung patatas.
(alam nya kasi na ang experience ko sa kusina involves fried hotdogs and lucky-me pancit canton)

Ok... done.
Nung magevaporate yung lahat ng water, mejo mabilis lang naman pala,
nilagay ko na yung corned beef.
Since mejo luto na yung corned beef from the can, mabilis nalang from there.

Ang saya ko.
Nahihilo na kasi ako sa gutom so super excited talaga ko kumain.

Until I chewed on a piece of potato.
Paksyet di pa luto.

Apparently, nung sinabi ni mommy na lagyan ng 'konting tubig,'
she had no idea on how big the potato slices are.
Dapat pala mejo above the potato ang dami ng tubig para maluto.
Shooot...

Moral lesson:
may rason kung bakit hindi magkasing laki ang patatas sa nilaga at ang patatas sa corned beef.