Something green, cold, nice, big and new.

First step in Canada was at the Toronto Airport. It only took me around 10 minutes at the Immigration up to Customs combined, not longer than expected.  At the Immigration Office, the lady just asked me where I would be living and what my husband do for a living. She asked me casually how we met but I think that was part of the interview. Next thing I knew, she was giving me a copy of my Certificate of Permanent Residence already. I passed by a helpful attendant who gave me a warm welcome and provided me some useful manuals and brochures for someone who is new in Canada.  I got a tote bag and a Canadian pen along with them.  So, I was ready to get my 2 big luggage bags and there was this friendly Babylonian cartman who helped me get my heavy luggage bags. He said it would take me an hour at the Customs but guess what? It only took me 2 mins or shorter and there I was really eager to see Ross at the Area C.

There was my Ross all-smiling and waiving at me as he approached me.  Relieved, I was to see my husband and I did not have to worry how to text him since I run out of load and my 2nd phone card could not be loaded.

It was at 8 degrees then but thank God I did not freeze as I thought I would. We drove 1 and 1/2 hours to Woodstock and along the way you would see lots of birds flying across  the highway, pine trees, green grass everywhere, clean highway and the welcoming sun.

When we arrived at the house, we had our first breakfast together in Canada. See photo attached.  After that, I opened my 2 gifts from Anniversary 2008 and Christmas 2008 just sitting there waiting for me to be revealed. I got a spa package and one I need - hair dryer. :)  Ross knew what I want before I could ask for it… most of the times. :p  I also got my card as usual. It is always the best thing for me. I love all of Ross’ cards. I got a pile of them.

We could not wait for the next day, I did not have to rest. I was too awake and not tired. We went to get my Social Insurance Number similar to the SSS in the Philippines.

This was my first day in Canada.

Then the rest of the days of the week I have done the following:

WEDNESDAY, May 6
- Went to London to apply for a Health Card but will do that after 90 days as you are required to have stayed at least 3 months to apply for one
- Went to an Asian Food Market and looked for some ingredients for sinigang; able to buy okra, tamarind mix, and camote tops
- Visited grandma at the countryside which was only 5 minutes away from home. Yes, it is amazing how easy to access the countryside if you live in the City of Woodstock. I also met Uncle Jerry and Papa (or Grandpa). They were all very warm to me and  I would say, Grandma was so cool.  Uncle Jerry went to Grandma’s quickly just to meet me and went back to work and Papa arrived after awhile and was as happy to see me, finally. He was very sweet too and took pictures of me and Ross and with Grandma. See pictures soon.

THURSDAY, May 7
- Opened a bank account at Scotiabank and yes the difference is, the line here isn’t as long as falling in line in a bank in the Philippines.  They are not as busy but they had 3 tellers on duty. Ross thought it was slow that day, but i thought it was fast. - Went to visit Carolyn and met her 2 boys - Jacob and Zac. Carolyn was very friendly as expected and the boys were so adorable and sweet. Jacob was like a man in a kid’s body. He was not afraid to hit anything - railing, table, ground. I think he is Wolverine, indestructible. hehehe. He can’t talk yet but he knew very well to say “bye”.  Zac was very sociable. He was entertaining me a lot.
- Left my purse at Carolyn’s. waaaah! So embarrassing.

FRIDAY, May 8
- Went back at Carolyn’s and was able to meet Chad (Ross’ cousin, son of Aunt Wendy). We talked about lots of things - food, beaches, family, Ross, etc. It was fun and we will be going back there this Tuesday night for dinner. Carolyn is cooking. She is very known for cooking delicious meals.
- First time in Wallmart to buy nail cutter and facial soap.
- Went for a drive in the rain right before bedtime. Ross likes the rain and you can see that he was really having fun and it was fun to see him having fun.
SATURDAY, May 9
- Did the week’s grocery with Ross. Our very first one together. We went to Food Basics and Zehrs. You know what amazed me? Everything comes in big packs, containers, even the vegetables! The tomatoes, onions and green peppers were as big as a baby’s head.
- Went house hunting and looked inside model houses. One house was with elevator. It was fun!
- First time to cook and I cooked green beans (or Baguio beans) the Filipino way and Ross liked it.
- We watched home video “Romeo and Juliet” and it was like watching it in the movie house with the all-surround audio and big screen.

SUNDAY, May 10
- Went to Grandma’s and met Monica, Ross’ cousin. She was very friendly too. We have a picture together taken by Ross. Will post soon. I thought she was single but she has 4 kids. She asked me if I want to borrow one. heheh. She was funny.
- Had an eat-all-you-can bfast at the Oxford County Hall. It was organized by a club with all men as members. They are known to doing charity work to help hospitals, schools and other community needs.
- Cooked my very first adobo and it was yummy and Ross loved it. I felt very accomplished.
And now, it is a Monday, May 11 and I realized, I think I lost track of my niece’s bday. I am supposed to call her. Huhuhu! Well, i will just do that later when she is already awake.  Ross is at work and he would be home in a couple of hours. Just cleaned the house, did the dishes and stopped by to update you of what’s happening here.

Nothing to worry, no need to miss me. I am just the same… just with my husband now.

I love you all … my family, brothers and sisters, my sister-in-laws, nieces and nephews, and my friends back in the Philippines.

Until the next update!

Hugs,
Mayette

You wake up at 5:30 am         

Prepare for work and leave the house before 7 am.

Go through all the traffic in the morning for about an hour or more.

Arrive in the office at 7:50 am and immediately open your pc and prepare a gatepass for your training manuals.

Realize your boss is not around to approve your gate pass… look for an alternative approver.

Give instructions to City Service on what to do with the manuals.

Rush to the training venue at 8 am.

See problem with the set-up of the tables and chairs.

Redo arrangement.

Meet facilitators.

Set-up their laptop and projector.

(aren’t you tired yet?)

Finish the set-up, receive another problem — her pc won’t play her DVD.

Set-up my back-up laptop with DVD player.

Stay to make sure it works. 

Trainor finds it too inconvenient.

Call for help from IS.

IS fixes it… i am happy.

It is not the end yet, follow up AM snacks.

Go back to the office to follow up manuals.

Deliver manuals.

Stay for a couple of hours then leave to buy lunch. Not just an ordinary lunch… they are vegetarians. Imagine?

Go back to the office.

Check some emails.

Answer emails.

Arrange meeting with GM.

Meet with the GM.

Go back to training.

Attend to facilitators’ demands.

End of training, still solving some concerns.

Scout for possible hotel to transfer guests.

Present alternatives to boss through text.

Can’t send message. Try again. Again. Still failed.

Send again later.

Rush to City Sports to play darts at 7 pm.

Play til 9 pm.

Go home.

Contact boss to follow up.

Get approval.

Contact facilitator again for updates.

Call hotel to book facilitators.

Finally, I eat my dinner at 10 pm.

Still not tired, talk to my Rossy Dovey.

I am not tired anymore! So, i write this blog.

Now, after getting my best medicine and stress reliever who is my husband, I can sleep smiling again.  Thank God, I have my lovey dovey Rossy.

Bad for you, you got tired from reading my long list. Let’s all sleep now.

I will now log off and wait in bed for my good night sms from my hubby, so i can finally sleep at 12 midnight.

From a LONG DAY, to a COMPLETED DAY!

After the heartbreak, it is time to move on. When I lost the phone I liked a lot, I felt really bad.  Imagine a hot water being poured one your head, that’s how I exactly felt when I learned my phone got lost. 

I was sad for many reasons: 1.) That was the very first phone I bought that was not monophonic and that can only be used for texting and calling; 2.) I still had to pay for it in the next 5 months; 3.) The taxi driver or passenger of the taxi who got it, was not honest enough to return it.  But just like being dissappointed and being sad after breaking up with a boyfriend, you have to think more positively, learn from your past and move on. So now, I am moving on.

I wanna thank you Florante for making me laugh that day I lost my phone after telling me I made you happy since you still were luckier than me because you lost your phone after 2 months of buying it.   Oh yeah, but stop rubbing in that I lost it after one month from purchase.

Thank you Alveel for hoping with me that the one who got it would return it by sending a text on how to contact me and that we would give a reward… i think the Cebuano didn’t work.  The one who got it is probably from Mars. Thank you too for letting me use your old phone.  Yes, you are right, you buying a new phone had a purpose.  :P 

Thank you to all my friends Cym, Zhy and Joan, as always, for empathizing with me. You really are my friends.  Thank you to my sister Kathy who gave me the number of Globe so i can block of my sim though I did not tell her right away why I needed the number… I did not want to hear you telling me that I was too TanGA.  Thank you for my sister Malu for greeting me with a smile when I reached home which made me feel better and for not announcing it, or else my dad would have surely given me a long sermon. 

Thank you to my husband for making me laugh by telling me to buy exactly the same phone so i would feel like I did not lose my old phone.  Thank you for not making me feel bad about myself.  Thank you for understanding what I felt.  Thank you for always knowing what to say and do just to make me feel better.

Though bad things happen, good things come too. It is okay to feel bad for awhile but not for long. I am moving on. Let’s move on.

After all I have done to you, after all the love and care I have given you, you just dissappeared without saying goodbye.  You used to please me with all my requests, take photos of me, play my favorite song, wake me up every morning, remind me of my schedules, we used to share alot of nice stuffs together.  You used to be always there for me. But now, I am here feeling alone, not sure if you are ever coming back.  Should I hope for you to return to me? Or should I just accept that fact that you are never coming back?  I miss you alot. I won’t be able to sleep well tonight because of your loss. I am not sure if I would be better tomorrow.  I would never get over you… MY Cellphone, until I finish paying you off in my credit card in the next 6 months.  Call it charge to experience, or worse, to my credit card. Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

I used to keep a diary since I stopped playing "patintero" right in front of our yard and shifted to less-physical activities when I went to college.  Those were the days when I started to have crushes, when I felt more pressure from school and even more from my parents to do better in class, when I started to get frustrated with how less I have met the expectations of my family.  For somebody so shy then, my closest friend would be my DIARY until somebody (wanna know who? hehehe) attempted to read all I had wriiten there, behind my back. From then on, I stopped writing and resorted to simply speaking up my thoughts and opinions which I have gotten used to, for so long now.

Now, I miss my diary but I am not planning to keep one. However, I find this blog good enough because through this, I can just say anything I want, whether it’s right or wrong, get comments and know other people’s thoughts if I get lucky to catch their attention or simply keep a record of how I think and have something to read and laugh at when I have nothing else to do.

From now on, I officially want to start writing down my thoughts again. It can be therapeutic.  Thanks to BLOG!