The Canadian Hottie

It is summer here in calgary so it can be really warm sometimes.
(though not as warm as the in the Philippines, and not as humid...)
When temperature reaches 28celsius you can expect to see a lot of meat outside.
Particularly white meat, coz they LOVE to bathe in the sun.

We don't have beaches here, so people sunbathe wherever.
You'll see half-naked people everywhere. Even downtown!
I remember seeing 2 blondes walking down the street in bikini tops and pek-pek shorts.

But it is not always a pretty sight.
One time, our neighor, an old lady, was watering her plants in a t-shirt and a bikini bottom.
Susmaryosep.

ANYWAY, come to think of it, it has never been a pretty sight for me.
(I did not consider the bikini blondes sight mainly because i'm a girl.)

Until this one:

He is cute. He is lean. He has nice abs...


And he reads! Awww...

(no. i did not talk to him. i just sat across him and stalker-ishly took his picture. sorry girls. i don't know his name, nor will i recognize him next time i see him with his shirt on.)

The C-Train

i don't know why, but my sister and i always enjoyed riding trains. in the philippines, we rode the new mrt from quiapo to cubao and then the old mrt from cubao to ayala, just for fun. and we even planned to ride the really old north rail transit from tutuban to... ummm... wherever it leads.

but then, we're in canada now. (plus the fact that i'm not really sure if the north rail transit actually operates for real live passengers) so our new dream is to ride it's transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway.

some say that it's expensive. i visited it's site and i think they're mainly for freight now. so since we can't do that in the near future, we decided to ride the C-Train instead.

the C-train is the local LRT here in calgary. it's the train i ride everyday to work. anyway, since we've only rode it from our place to downtown, we decided to ride it from end to end: somerset to dalhousie, city center to mcknight.

the ride to dalhousie took about 1 hour and 21 stops. we got off and walked a little bit. mejo nahilo ako dun eh. we were supposed to wait for another train, para maiba naman, but the train we rode took so much time to leave, so dun nalang din kami sumakay, we just got in another car.

anyway, for the trip to mcknight, we had to transfer to another train. kaso, halfway along, we felt tired na. faye was hungry, i was dizzy and i needed to pee. so we decided to head back. next time nalang.

total: we rode the train for about 2 hours and went through 53 stops. nakakapagod din pala.

however, tiring it may be, the sites we saw were amazing! we took as much pictures as we could, but no amount of pictures can give justice to all the places and things that we've seen.

tracks of the canadian pacific railway

the mall where i work
i just walk from the train station, towards that mall

39th ave. station

erlton stampede station

on cemetery tunnel
creepy coz yung taas ng tunnel is an actual cemetery

downtown

view from the dalhousie station

the calgary tower

notice the mountains
sayang, snowcapped dapat sila eh. it must be the lighting, or cloudy lang siguro.

Not Destined for Stampede Yet

on thursday, July 10, it was my day off so i decided to go to the stampede park. it'll be over on monday and i won't have any more day off till then. so that will probably be my only time to go to the ever-famous stampede.

but then it was cloudy all day.
and it rained.
nevertheless, i met up with my sister in DQ (where she worked) as planned.

before leaving the house, i was seriously contemplating about whether or not to bring the cowboy hats. this almost made me late for the bus.
so i was hurrying to get to the stop on time, then i realized i forgot to bring the camera. (but i did bring my cellphone and it has a camera so i thought: ayos lang no need to go back for it...)

anyway, the driver forgot my stop so i got off a little farther than i was supposed to. it was there when i realized i might be having a bad day..
but i shrugged it off so i would not further attract any negativities. (as i have learned by watching "the secret")

so i finally met my sister, we rode the train and headed to the stampede.
by the way, rain has started to pour. and we were really hungry.
so the thought of going to the mall instead, has occurred to us.

but i wansn't losing hope. this might be the only chance i have to go this year.
so when we got to the erlton stampede, we got out.
we were standing on the entrance, it was raining, we were so cold...
and paying $13 for something we wouldn't enjoy anyway didn't sound good to me at all.
so we turned back and headed to the nearest mall.

my parents were lucky enough to go to the stampede, on a sunny day, free of charge.
here are some of their pictures to show you what it's like:

there are rides, which of course, they didn't try.

my folks in cowboy hats

a rodeo show

ps: i asked one of my co-workers why the horses and bulls on rodeos go berserk. and she said that: "their testicles are tied, plus they have someone riding their back. so basically it's just an animal having a bad day."

Close encounter with a shoplifter

so i was working at the till (aka cash register. i only discovered that after 2 weeks of working here in canada...) and this tall gangsta' looking guy comes up and asks how much these (he was holding a pair of black airwalk dots) shoes are. i did a price lookup in the register/till and told him it was $49.99. he asked me if they were on sale and i said no. then his wife, who was beside him, gave him the 'no-it's-too-expensive-we're-not-getting-that' kind of look (apparently she wears the pants in the relationship) and handed me a dora-the-explorer flip-flops (presumably for their kid) i rung it in, and told her that it was $12.99. and then she goes: "but there's a sale tag on it for $3.00". the sale tag was kinda loose so i kinda was doubting it. but then again, tagging has been a mess lately so what the heck, i decided to change the price.and then i asked if that was all they were buying. she said yes while giving her husband an annoyed look.

so she paid for it with a credit card, i had her sign the receipt, put the dora flipflops in a bag, put her copy with it and put the store copy in the drawer.

when i looked up. the husband was 10 feet away from the store holding the airwalks.
i was stunned and confused. is he taking those shoes away?
he looked back at me and we stared at each other for like 2 seconds and he walked away.

he was already gone when i realized what actually happened.
i didn't even considered running after him. (well he was 2x my size so i guess deep down inside i knew that running after him by myself wouldn't do me any good.)

but, anyways, i did tell the manager what happened. and he didn't suggest that we run after him either. (though i think we should have. the manager was a tall guy and he could probably take that moth@$f#$k@r down.)

i couldn't believe what happened. minutes after, i still feel so bad. maybe i should've said something instead of staring at him. or maybe i should've chased him (but keeping a good distance...) but the manager told me not to worry much about it.

hope kharma will get to that a#@h$#e

Calgary Stampede Parade

it's time to get all westerned up! calgary stampede is here!
unlike the "ultra stampede", nobody dies in this one.
and it's actually a happy occasion!
they call it the greatest outdoor show on earth.
with the rodeo, carnivals, concerts etc.

so on the start of the stampede: july 4th,
there's a parade downtown.
it's a good thing it was my scheduled off day.
si faye naman, nag-absent talaga.

so we took a train, and dun palang, dami ng tao.
they were all in their cowboy hats and western attire.
i know, we might consider it baduy,
but they all look so happy getting "westerned up" na parang nakakahawa ang energy nila. gusto ko na tuloy mag cowboy boots.

syempre we saw a number of marching bands:


cute vintage cars and weird vehicles:


first nations people (what we know as native indians like pocahontas):


and of course: lots of horses and cowboys:


because there's a lot of horses participating in the parade, we can't avoid the presence of horse poop in the streets.
in fact, isa sa mga inaabangan namin ay kung sino sa mga marching band ang mamalasin na makaapak ng tae.
kasi diba, their in a line so parang ang hirap umiwas. plus, if they're playing an instrument, mas mahirap mag pay attention sa nilalakaran.
but in fairness, onti lang sa kanila ang minalas.
hmmm... mukang alert ang karamihan sa kanila.

here's the sweepers cleaning up the poop

but ang pinakanabilib ako is with the army as seen in this video:

ang galing no?

anyway, the parade lasted for almost 4 hours.
well, di naman sila as in sunod sunod like the parades in the philippines.
may mga interval between entries and floats so you appreciate each of them.

and it wasn't that crowded.
not like in manila na nararamdaman mo na yung hininga ng nasa likod mo sa sobrang siksikan. here, everyone maintains a reasonable distance. plus it wasn't that warm, kaya presko parin. walang bumaho sa crowd. ehehehe...

Filipino Store

maraming pinoy dito sa calgary. AS IN.
everywhere you go, may pinoy.
di pa ko nakakasakay ng bus na wala akong nakakasabay na pinoy.
and sa foodcourt, sa department store, sa grocery...
well, nagkalat tayo.

and as expected, meron din ditong filipino store.
actually, dalawa pa nga eh, one sa south and another sa north.
yung pinuntahan namin is sa south, mas malapit eh.

anyway, you have everything filipino there:
knorr chicken sopas,
lucky me pancit canton,
mang tomas,
bagoong balayan,
sunsilk,
eskinol,
curly tops,
flat tops,
chocolate mallows,
chocnut,
chippy,
clover chips,
turones, etc...
oh! and goldilocks cakes and mamon!

and may mga posters and ad na everything pinoy.
it's like a pinoy headquarters.
they have ads for homes for sale and for rent na filipino yung landlord.
tas may mga job ads din.
may mga announcement ng pinoy radio and tv. (yes merong pinoy radio station pero weekends lang.)
and mga concerts ni basil valdez, zsa zsa padilla, gary v... atbp.

eto sample: parokya in calgary

at saka pala pwede ka rin magpadala ng package to the philippines.
pati narin pera.
ehehehe....

so mejo natuwa talaga kami sa place na yun.
we bought mang tomas, sangkatutak na lucky-me instant noodles, chippy at v-cut.
at si mommy, di pinalagpas ang eskinol.

right:Philippines, left: Calgary

First Canadian Job: Sales Associate at Payless

oh yes indeed!
hehehe...

that's my pin for work. we don't have uniforms. just a dress code and a declaration of love for shoes. well, i'd probably wear that pin even if i didn't work at payless.

yes. that's my first job here in canada. i'm a sales associate (aka: saleslady) sa Payless Shoe Source. our store is located in a mall here in Calgary, so mas fun unlike in a detached store in the middle of nowhere. before i time-in for work, i go window shopping. and minsan after work din. hihi...

you read that right. i am having fun!
it's a no-brainer work. once you've memorized the rack plan (yun yung arrangement ng shoes sa store) and some customer service protocols, you're good to go. i've been to law school so memorization is a piece-a-cake.

so what do i do there? syempre sell shoes. ehehehe. which is easy coz it's a payless store. the concept behind it is, it's a selfservice shoe store. the shoes are displayed according to size and if you want to buy a pair, you just take it from the shelf and bring it to the counter. so mas madali dito. you can just leave everyone there to find everything for themselves. unlike in the philippines na nakatago lahat ng left shoe so you have no choice but to call a saleslady.

anyway, for the past few days, i've been memorizing the rack plan. (kids, womens, men... dress, sandals, casuals, sandals, athletics... dexter, predictions, fioni, airwalk...) so incidentally, i do stocks narin, which i like to do. i clean the shoes up, meaning, take the unnecessary pieces of paper sa box (yung mga nakasuksok sa sapatos na bago...) and then i put them in their proper places in the rack. simple! you don't need a law degree to do that. ehehehe...

and just recently i've been taught how to till (aka work the cash register) i like this one too except when they pay for cash. kasi naman up to now, nalilito parin ako sa mga coins. at suklian. (dahil nabobobo ka sa math sa law school... bigla tuloy ako na-bilib sa mga jeepney drivers ah...) so fave ko when they use their debit or credit card, which is a lot more often naman than cash payments. so ok narin.

nga lang, when i do the till, i hate doing returns. dun din kasi yun tas it is a more complicated transaction. (eh diba nga ang goal nga is minimal mental activity?) and they have such a lenient return policy so sa isang araw, you can't help but do 5 returns sa 2 hours mo sa register.

anyway, what i love the most is breaking down shipments. so may dadating na boxes from the supplier, i'll open them up and arrange the shoes according to gender and size. i like it coz sa backroom ginagawa yun. it's quiet and you get a break from the customers. plus nakikita ko yung bagong dating na shoes so nagsusukat narin ako. ehehehe...

so aside from it being a no brainer job, it pays me a decent wage. interestingly, mas malaki ang sweldo ko dito sa payless kesa sa mga lawyers sa pilipinas. but syempre naman, mas malaki naman ang gastos dito. a friend in the states once said, we earn in dollars but we spend in dollars too.

so what happens to my legal profession? honestly, i don't know...
for more than four years i've been trying to become a lawyer in the Philippines. i don't want to spend another couple of years trying to become a lawyer in Canada.
parang i'm just tired of studying and trying to become...
for a change, i just want to BE someone.
right now: a sales associate in Payless.
and soon: a lawyer in the Philippines.

Our New Home

well, it's already been a month since we moved here.
and now, i'd like you to see our new home.

the house is owned by a filipino rin and we are just renting it for a year, or till we can afford to buy our own. anyway, when we got here, it was empty except for the stove and oven, the microwave, the fridge and the dishwasher (which we haven't used until now coz the plates we brought are not dishwasher safe.)
but as days pass by, we are able to slowly fill it up.

the kitchen.
ay ang gulo pala.

the first furniture to arrive was the dining table. the first weekend here, we went out to a potluck party and when we got home, ayun, asa front door namin. astig...
anyway, it was lent to us nung ca-couples for christ ni mommy. they've just met when we arrived nga eh. tas yun, willing na sila magpahiram ng mga furnitures. well, they're not using it naman daw.

the dining table.
syempre ang daming nakapatong. bahay na bahay

next was the coffee tables. anthony, our landlord, visited us the day after the party. nakita nya yung dining table. so sabi nya, he has center tables and side tables na super pareho ng color ng dining table. he'll bring them over daw. so he left, and in 10 minutes, ayan na sya with all the little coffee tables. ang galing. as usual, nakatambak lang naman daw yun sa garage nya. so we might as well use it.

and then came the sofa. kakatawa pa nga eh. it was the same day the coffee tables arrived, someone went here para sunduin si daddy and glen para magbuhat ng sofa. tas napansin nya na may dining table na and coffee tables sa living room. sabi pa nga nya, terno-terno yung mga tables. so sabi ni mommy, wish nya, na yung sofa eh terno rin. sabi naman nya: sige, kung di terno yung sofa, wag na natin kunin. ehehehe...
but syempre, ang lakas magdasal ni mommy. terno sya sa lahat!

anyway, since wala kaming tv, we were bored out of our mind. Bong and Josie lent us a cd player with a radio para naman di masyado tahimik sa house. but a week after, nag garage sale nearby and they found us a 14or17-inch television for $25! astig! oh and anthony found bed frames for us $25 din.

the living room.
see... kumpleto na!

well the mattresses for the bed frames came a week after. there was this agency for new immigrants and they give out mattresses for free! and it's not just the foam manipis na matresses ha. it's the bouncy mattresses. yung two-piece na ang isa eh puro spring and yung isa eh foam. mga less than 2 feet na nga sya pagmagkapatong eh. and with the bed frame, super taas na ng kama namin!

our room.
take note of the bed. yan yung libre. yung gulong sa ilalim, yun lang yung bedframe!

so parang ang gulo ng room namin. ehehehe... faye and i share a queen size bed. tas basically, yun pa lang ang laman ng kwarto namin. but we love the walk in closet. ang saya pala. ehehehe...

anyway, last na dumating yun computer table. nung una, nakapatong yun sa isang side table lang. ok na sya naman dun, pero syempre, any act of kindness is welcome. ehehehe...

the basement.

it's so cold nga lang sa basement kaya wala masyadong tumatambay dun. (btw, our room is sa basement din... so super cold...) but it's super maluwag. so dun nalang sinasampay ang mga nilabhan. (spin dry palang kasi yung washer namin which is kasama rin sa bahay pala.)

so that's our new home. at first syempre we don't feel cozy kasi sobrang luwag ang walang gamit. now, ok na. makalat na nga eh. ehehehe...

mga kapitbahay sa tapat.

mga kapit bahay sa likod

Downtown (Mis)Adventure

On our second day, we went to downtown right? Took a bus, then a train...

Downtown was like Calgary's Makati Business District. And 7th Avenue was it's Ayala Avenue. Yun nga lang, instead na walkway, may free train ride all along the 7th Ave.

Anyway, maganda naman.

We got our Social Security First. It was fairly easy. As usual, maraming pinoy. Parang isang group ata ng mga OFW yun.

We finished mga 11 na. at nahihilo na kami sa gutom dahil maaga kami nagbreakfast. So we walked to find a nice fast food resto. siguro naka 3 blocks na kami pero wala parin kaming nakikita. puro fine dining. and since 2nd day palang kami sa canada, we didn't want to splurge. so tipid muna.

We entered Chinatown mall. hmmm... icky sya. as in parang lumang viramall. di ko inexpect...

the chinatown mall at a distance

So lakad na naman... We were getting bugnutin na, tas si mommy ang bilis pang maglakad. Para syang energyzer bunny. lakad lang ng lakad...

Then we saw this diner. mejo shabby looking. pero sige na nga. mahihimatay na ko sa gutom eh. So nagorder na si mommy. mukang mura lang eh. less than $4 a meal. So we looked for a spot and there i realized, shet, nakakatakot sya ha. it was poorly lit and the walls are stained with i don't know what. imagine, the first stage of diner-dash, in real life. and though i didn't see any people, feeling ko somewhere behind it, may naka-higa na homeless person. and si mommy na CR person, di man lang nagattempt maghanap ng CR.
as in seryoso, mas malinis pa kumain sa mga karinderya along kalayaan. at least dun alam mo na kahit papano, winawalisan yun araw-araw. eh ito, mukang may areas na di na napupuntahan ng tao.

it was too late to backout now. so we settled by the door kung saan naiilawan ng natural daylight. and hope na walang riot na mangyari sa loob.
we totally stood out sa place na yun. family, tas ang ayos ng suot, malinis... buti nalang 2 aussies na mukang turista also walked in. so di kami totally alone sa loob.

Anyway, dumating yung food and it looked good. super laki ng burger. and ang daming fries on the side. but syempre, yung fries lasang pinirito sa lumang oil. tipong yung oil na bago 3 days ago. actually, kung sa malinis na restaurant yun, pwede pa sya. kaso, sobrang dumi dun who knows kung anong nangyayari sa oil during the night.
But the burger was pwede na. i was super gutom na di ko nalang inisip kung san galing yun at kung anong processo sya nanggaling before. i imagined burgoo...

The day after, we shared our adventure kina ate josie and kuya bong. Sabi nya, tambayan daw yun ng mga homeless and don't we dare go into that place again.

daddy enjoying downtown

First Week in Calgary

DAY 1:
Upon landing in Calgary at around 9am, I noticed how sunny it was. Nagpustahan pa nga kami ni Faye kung gaano kalamig sa labas eh. I mean, the coldest that we can think of is parang Tagaytay or Baguio. But no... para kang tumambay sa frozen section sa SouthSupermarket sa Alabang. As in 2x ng gabi sa tagaytay. Na-shock nga yung utak ko at hindi nya matanggap na this sunny can be so cold.

Sinundo kami ng new found friends ni Mommy (via connections sa CFC). We had lunch sa house ni Ate Josie (dating officemate ni mommy) and natuwa kami sa real food. kakasawa na kasi yung pagkain sa airplane eh.

Then we went to our house na. We made arrangements na to rent a house even before we left Manila. Pinoy yung landlord so pumayag sya na upon arrival nalang lahat ng formalities (contract signing, payments...) Anyway, when we got home, nag-unpack lang kami to find the blankets tas ayun, naghigaan na kami sa sahig (carpet naman so ok lang) and then tulog na. that was like 1 palang ng hapon pero antok na antok na kami.

anyway, we woke up around 7 or 8, maliwanag pa. as in parang 4pm sa manila. and they picked us up to go to the superstore para may pagkain naman kami for the night. syempre, sa grocery, in awe kami at first. almost everything was below $5. parang ang mura. eh well hindi pala. kasi magkaiba ang $5 sa P5.

so we got home from the grocery at around 10pm. shortly after, tulog na naman.

DAY 2:
we all woke up at around 3am. grabe. so since gising na lahat, we decided to go downtown.

we went to the nearest bus station which is a block from here lang and waited for like 20 minutes. may sched pa naman. but syempre, super excited, we left mga 20 minutes before the sched. ganda ng bus. we bought bus tickets before hand coz it's cheaper daw. a ride cost $2.50 (so mga 100pesos yun...) tas kasama na dun yung train.

Fish Creek-Lacombe Station, C-Train

i like riding the train. and ganda kasi ng sights. well i liked riding mrt in manila but mejo nakakadepress yung mga makikita mo especially in the guadalupe area.

anyway, sa downtown, we got our social identification number and our health insurance.

we got home ng mga 2pm. lahat kami groggy na sa antok.

woke up at 8pm to have dinner. well i did eat dinner pero di mo ko makakausap ng matino. i was half awake the whole time and very bugnutin.

DAY 3:
again we woke up early in the morning... for oversleeping nagka migraine na ko. so we decided not to sleep in the afternoon. naglakad nalang kami sa neighborhood ni faye. we walked at our back alley tas inikot lang namin yung side namin of the block. pagdating namin, syempre nawala ang antok, but after dinner, mga 730 ng gabi, tulog na agad kami.

DAY 4:
it was a saturday so we went to church nung hapon. then we were invited to a potluck party na puro pinoy family. okay naman. i just felt out of place, kasi kung hindi mga mommies and daddies, kids naman aged 7-12 ang mga bisita. tas lahat sila laking canada na so mejo nose bleed.

hinatid kami pauwi and pagdating namin dito sa bahay, may dining table sa harap with a note. whoa... pinahiram ng another pinoy new found friend ni mommy. ayos.

DAY 5:
the next day, mommy decided to do the laundry. natuwa sya kasi yung labada, paglumabas, semi tuyo na. ako, natutuwa maghugas ng plato kasi warm water ang gamit.

tas late in the afternoon, may dumating na sofa and side table. kamusta naman yun? dumadating nalang bigla ang mga furnitures!

Oh! and pinahiram din pala kami ng radio w/ cd player. Para di naman daw kami ma-bore since wala kaming TV.

DAY 6:
we went to the public library at natuwa ako ng sobra. para kang pumasok sa fully-booked tas pwede ka manghiram. you can even borrow cd's and dvd's eh. and infairness, mejo decent naman ang collection nila. may timbaland, jt... tapos 3 weeks yung due date. saya! went home with 2 books and 2 cd's

DAY 7:
people lent us airbeds on our first night. but by now, slightly deflated na sya so nakakahilo na gamitin. and we were sleeping in the floor again.

we decided to go back to the library kasi wala kaming magawa. returned some of what i borrowed and took home some more. grabe, tuwang tuwa talaga ko sa library.

anyway, by this time mejo nakaka-adjust na kami ng tulog. we were sleeping at around 8pm and we wake up at around 7am. so pwede na. in fact, di ko na nga nakikita yung gabi eh. as it turns out, mga 1030 ng gabi lumulubog ang araw dito. bibo masyado.

STUFF I NOTICED:
Ang daming pinoy. As in never pa ko nagpunta sa isang lugar na walang pinoy. Sa bus, sa train, sa mall... we are everywhere.

Hindi ka ma-O-OP dito, kasi sa labas, mixed-races talaga. as in walang dominant race. you see white people, asians, africans, indians... you name it. as in multi colored ang world dito. anyone would fit-in perfectly.