to blog or not to blog

It's been a long while since I blogged, several months in fact though I doubt if my not doing so has any effect on anyone :) I'm not a prolific blogger not because I have nothing to say -- its just that I either do not have the time to do it (preferring to spend my time entertaining my less than a year old daughter or being available for my husband when he comes home from work) or I would rather keep my thoughts private. Besides I don't have a following that needs to be kept updated on what I do most of the time (I subject those mundane and trivial updates for those who follow me on twitter -- poor souls who, by getting my monotonous tweets I think serve their time in purgatory already).

Why have I then chosen to blog after months of silence? I'm not quite sure. I guess it's one way I know to get outside my head and hopefully connect to someone out there in the great unknown of cyberspace...strike a chord of recognition in someone else who might at one or another have felt the way I am feeling now. How do I feel now? Not too bad.

It's been a good day -- pretty mundane actually but its these little pockets of time just being a family that I hope I will remember when I grow old and forgetful about most other things. We attended mass at 11:00 am where Junby plays the guitar for the Filipino choir, had lunch at Ninang Liklik's, then home for a nap. It was warm today so napping with the AC on was a good option. Therese was able to nap for almost two hours -- a major feat these days since she has been sleeping poorly (days and nights) due to her emerging baby teeth (or so I think). At around 5 we decided to go down to the pool. Luckily we had the place to ourselves so we got to swim a few laps, Junby and I taking turns holding Therese while the other swam laps, and spend a few minutes relaxing at the adjoining jacuzzi. It was then time to go home, shower, eat dinner and put Therese to bed.

So why blog now? I guess its my effort to get out of this somewhat melancholic mood I find myself in. I wish I could have blogged about the times Therese first started to crawl or when she started walking around the living room by holding on to various pieces of furniture. Those would have been more upbeat and perky blogs but it was precisely those times I chose to give my full attention to living life rather than writing about it. For those who had to read through this blog, thank you. Somehow you have helped me feel connected even for just a few moments. That's it for now. Don't wish to subject anyone else further to my mundane musings...besides I just heard the baby cry -- time to get back to my world as isolated as it seems to me right now....

Twice in one day...

Unbelievable as it may sound but we have just experienced having our car broken into twice today. Yup, twice in the span of a few hours. This is my first brush with lawlessness here in the US. I am just thankful that none of those I love has been hurt in the process. Yeah, we lost some stuff but "stuff" are replaceable even though some of those stuff were somewhat expensive. Yet I choose to look at these incidents today in a more positive light -- no one from my family got hurt in the process. But my poor husband...Here's how it happened.

When Junby was about to leave for the office this morning that's when he saw that the front passenger seat's window was all smashed up! Smashed up into tiny pieces with a few shards clinging to the frame.
The broken glass you see on the ground next to the car was what was left of the window. We surmised that the person must have seen the mount for the GPS on the dashboard and so decided to steal it since the mount was gone. The glove compartment was open so we surmised they thought the GPS unit was in it. Luckily, Junby makes a habit of brining the unit with him everytime he comes down from the car. So, not finding the GPS unit they decided to take some of the CDs , Junby's MP3 player (which he had just upgraded with a 16MB memory card) and a flashlight that Junby kept in the front. It was a good thing those were the only things the person took. He didn't check the trunk which had contained Junby's equipment which he uses for the choir practice -- his mini AMP, etc. So my poor husband didn't get to report to work since he had to inform the insurance about the break-in, bring the car, which we had fondly dubbed "SMURF" since it's small and blue, to the auto bodyshop for repair and get a rental car to use.

Junby and I were half-jokingly telling each other, this must be Satan's way of destroying our peace since last night Junby and I took part in the parish's reconciliation service and availed of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We thought that was the end of it but nope. More was to come.

Junby left for choir practice which was held at the parish of St. Maria Goretti. I went up to put Therese to bed. At around 9 pm, Junby calls to tell me that the rental car he's using got broken into again! Someone smashed the window and this time took his belt pouch which was partly hidden under the seat. So now he has to inform the rental company that the car has been broken into. What was lost? The belt pouch contained his camera (which had photos of Therese and whatnot, some of which he had not downloaded yet :( ), his cellphone which had his philippine sim and other stuff.

What is going on?!? When I talked to Junby's cousin to tell her the news, she said it could be that the people who did the first job were mad that they didn't really get anything of value from our car and they might have actually watched him, followed him and decided to see if they could get more this time. At this point I don't think its too farfetched an idea. And to think that it was only his rental car that was broken into, and in the parking lot of a church.

What's also ironic is that our apartment is situated in a gated community. The gates are closed at night and supposedly only residents with the remote can get in. Go figure. Just when you think you are quite safe, things like this happen to remind you to be vigilant. Sigh. It's been a rough day all around, for my husband most especially. Yet, I still thank God that nothing worse has happened to him or to us. I continue to pray that this will be the end of it. I can only pray that God will help protect all those I love from further harm. Keep us in your prayers too.

In the midst of all these events, I can still say though that God has been good. It could have been worse...

Malamig ang simoy ng hangin...

That particular line has been especially true as winter sets in here in San Jose, California. I know it's not as cold as it couf ld get in other parts of this country but its cold enough for me to start wearing boots, a scarf, jacket, gloves and woolly cap. The cold and the slowly emerging Christmas lights and decorations make me long for Christmas back home. :)

First Christmas away from my mama, sister, niece, lola and the rest of my mom's family. . .Its times like these that I wish there was a way to bring both worlds together into one space. Maybe someday that would be possible.

It will be a different Chritmas. This will be our first Christmas as a new family -- Junby, myself and Therese. I wonder what sort of Christmas traditions will we institute. Maybe next time I can actually manage to decorate our humble abode with Christmas decors. :)

For now, I hope and pray that in the midst of a foreign land, I too, like the shepherds of old would get to experience the presence of Him who is the reason for the season inspite of the lack of the other things Christmas is commonly associated with. :)

a quick note

It's been a looooooooong while since I blogged. There are so many things that I want to blog about but with a new baby to deal with, it all just remains in my head. I had 25 hours of labor to endure but with God's help and the encouragement of my husband, my cousin-in-law, Karen and the team of medical personnel at Kaiser Santa Teresa, I was able to bring into this world a beautiful baby girl. :)

I don't have much time to elaborate on all the details of her delivery and subsequent four weeks of life so far. Neither do I have time to post all the pictures we've taken of her so far (several shots per day), that's why I've decided to just post here the links to my husband's different sites where you may view the photos of our baby girl. All in all, God is indeed to be praised. Every day I marvel at the wonder of this new life we have been entrusted with.

Here are the links:

First week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=36401&l=1b659&id=751056887
Second week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37285&l=06b09&id=751056887Third week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=38397&l=de662&id=751056887
Fourth week: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39194&l=46e03&id=751056887
Studio pictorial (2 weeks): http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39430&l=eae0a&id=751056887

Check them out and enjoy. When my life settles into a routine (somewhat) maybe I can find time to blog in detail the little discoveries I have each day regarding being a mother and a wife since these are the major roles in my life now.

Keep us all in your prayers!

Simple Pleasures....

Yup, since I'm a simple girl, it takes very little to make me happy. Junby still marvels at my apparent delight in opening letters with a letter opener (there's just something about the sound of paper giving way under constant pressure and it opens in a straight line), or even placing stamps on envelopes (I did warn you, mababaw lang talaga ako :P ). Anyway, last Saturday, we finally received the first wave of furniture we had invested in!

Yup, our little home is starting to become more of a home than a large warehouse :P. We finally got the headboard, my dresser and Junby's dresser and our futon. Pictures? Nah, next time na, when everything is in place. The long weekend was actually very productive for Junby and myself. He somehow got inspired by the expected arrival of our furniture, he started to put together the second of two DVD cases we had ordered via Overstock.com. These were largely for his considerable DVD collection. With the arrival of the futon, he also put together the dining room set I had purchased a month ago from Ikea. It was quite a deal -- a table with four chairs for $199.00.

Since we had the futon already, we could now use the throws from Overstock and the three large pillows from Ikea. It was a tight squeeze though since we had already assembled Junby's chair but we managed. It just motivates me to start working on the other stuff to make space for what is truly essential. Now I am looking forward to the prospect of putting more order onto our closet since I have the dressers for some specific stuff. That's basically what made me happy over the weekend: the arrival of some of our furniture, the fact that I can now start putting some order into things and most importantly, my husband did all these things without me having to ask him twice :) Isn't he sweet indeed? I told him before, I hate nagging and I'm just thankful he's helping me not get into that rut. Also there is such a thing as the virtue of patience which I am slowly....oh so slowly growing in (or so I hope :P ).

After three weeks...

Ok, its been three weeks since I arrived in San Jose, California and I have been meaning to write a post about how things have been but the combination of laziness and too many things happening have become a handy excuse to let the opportunities to blog slide :) Besides, what may I blog about? My days have been pretty ordinary but then I have been learning several things as I went about trying to adjust, etc. I've decided to make a list to come across as somehow being more organized (that being how I want my life and our little home to be the past days).

Stuff I learned in the past 3 weeks or so of being in the Land of Milk and Honey (or so most people believe):

1. Shy away from converting dollar prices to its peso equivalent. Yup, friends I've spoken to before I came here were right, so is my husband -- true you earn in dollars here but you also spend in dollars so however much you earn (especially when converted in peso), most of the things you spend for are also paid for in dollars. So thriftiness is still the key. Its a good thing Karen, Junby's cousin has been bringing me along to all the discount stores and shops here. I've been taking her word for it most of the time when she says something is a good deal. I have yet to know when something is truly a steal. :P

2. Coupons are the way to go. Coupons work here! If we ignore coupons in the Philippines, the opposite is true here. Coupons do help in shaving off several dollars in one's meal, grocery and even services (like getting your photo done).

3. They don't use a 'tabo' here :P I only got our tabo from the Asian stores, which are quite numerous in California since a lot of Asians have chosen to make this more temperate state their home. I still cringe at the amount of water wasted whenever we have to take a shower. One has to let the water run for a minute or two before the heater kicks in and I definitely, do not wish to bathe in ice cold water. So water is flowing uninterrupted while we wait for it to heat up. Sayang ang tubig! I recall the water rationing we have to do in the Philippines especially during summer months in Manila. Hayyy...

4. Leftovers are almost always a certainty when eating out. The portions here are so large that we usually end up taking part of the meal home. Only the Filipinos do that I think. I saw most people leave uneaten food on their plate when we went out and ate dinner at Chilis one evening.

5. In the State of California, driving is almost always a necessity. There were only a handful of cabs around and these I saw when we passed by the SFO airport on the way to Daly City. Most people drive their own cars and since they drive in miles per hour unlike in the Philippines where our speed limit is in kilometers per hour, taking a cab is more a rarity than a necessity.

6. I learned from our Ninang Liklik that the State of California, also known as the Golden State is called thus because the grass in California turn yellow from lack of water thus giving the hillsides its 'golden' color. Actually, if not for the irrigation, much of California would be desert.

7. The sun does not set until latest so far 9 in the evening! This is because its the summer months. They assure me that come October, 6 o'clock in the evening then would be pitch black. Its still disconcerting to realize that its already 8 in the evening and dusk is just settling in.

8. Their offices here are surrounded by trees and nature. Also, the cluster of buildings of a company are called campuses. As expected things are more technologically advanced (i.e. a motion detector is found in most offices. It turns off lights in the room if no motion is detected within the room for a certain amount of time. Part of their energy saving measures).

9. The microwave is an essential part of the kitchen and a wife's life. There are meals that you just pop into the microwave a voila! a meal in under a minute. As for me though, nothing still beats food that is cooked from scratch or at the very least requires some other steps before it can be palatable.

10. Lastly for this list -- cellphones here are used more for calls rather than for text messages. Only the Filipinos text. I guess it ties up with the American way of doing things -- instantaneously.

As Junby says, life in the US is not necessarily better than life in the Philippines. Its just different. Both worlds hold their own list of advantages and disadvantages. What is important I guess is to not forget who you are even as you venture out into discovering who else you can be. :) That's all for now folks! Will post pictures of my trip in San Francisco in my multiply blog. More posts to come in the future, I hope :)