Just when you thought you got me all figured out...




“In 1621, as the Pilgrims and Native American Indians celebrated a three-day feast with their bounties of corn, wheat and pumpkin pies – so is the birth of Thanksgiving…”

That’s what our hosts’ improvised play suggested as the history of U.S.’ biggest holiday. With some decent grades in my history subjects, I was not to buy that romanticized version of the feast's origin.

But whether folklore-ish or otherwise, I sure enjoyed my first, and probably my last, Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day Thursday was spent over at our manager’s house in north Houston – in a quiet, suburban neighborhood very much like the provinces outside of Metro Manila. It was an hour ride from our apartment but we are to be rewarded for the long, stressful journey by the feast that’s waiting for us.

Pumpkin and apple pies, baked spinach and beans, mashed potato and gravy, cranberry and blueberry pie, cornbread, ham, Blue Bell vanilla ice cream and turkey – I had a sudden regret of having breakfast before the service picked us up.

All servings huge and delicious, I just can’t understand what’s the big deal with the turkey is. I mean, it tastes very much like chicken - nothing grand, fabulous or new about it. I would still settle for chicken in any given time of the day.

Or maybe I just expected too much. Maybe the reason why I didn't fowl-y enjoyed the experience, hehehe! (Corny pa rin Ü)

After lunch, our hosts decided to tour us around the woods and the river where we are treated to a nature-tripping escapade. It would have been great if we had seen some deer (not only their tracks), wild hog or any animals with four legs but we sure learned lots about trees and shrubs – sycamores, oaks, chestnuts, pines, moss and even poison ivy. I just can’t remember which is which except that venomous vine.

Still, it turned out to be quite a unique and wonderful experience when the trip is punctuated with a rather surprise appearance of this little wonder – an armadillo! It’s one of the cutest things I ever saw. You have to forgive my taste but I really like these armored cutie and have been dying to see one ever since reading about it in encyclopedia.

I hope to post some pictures soon so you can see for yourself how cute the armadillo is.

Good day everyone. I miss y’all!Ü


Howdy!

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How’d yah all doin’?

No. I haven’t acquired the Texas’ southern accent yet but we (me and the group) have so much Houston going on around us that we certainly feel like we’re like the locals already.

It’s been five days since we got here and things are proving to be very exciting.

First thing that we got to enjoy immensely here is (drum roll, please…) what else but food of course! I never had so much Mexican food in my entire life but five days of living here, I felt like I have tasted every popular, fattening and spicy Mejicano food there is – tortilla (which they pronounce as tort-ee-ya), tacos and nachos, chicken bourbon, orange chicken, jambalaya, quacamole, salsa, enciladas, fajitas etc. And everything here is served on large and humanely gluttonous servings. No wonder Americans are getting fatter and bigger by the day. I wouldn’t even be surprised if I gain some weight here.

What I also find so interesting is that there are loads of cars here in Houston. I estimated that there are probably more cars than people here. Everybody seems to own at least one and you wouldn’t find anyone walking on the streets except for a very ones that I’ve seen. A stretch of one interstate highway to the office from our apartment is lined up with hundreds of used cars and trucks (all brands and models) on sale. Our counterparts here in Houston told us that they turn over their automobiles in every two years. That explains the booming business of selling second-hand cars here. (Trivia: when I say ‘trucks’, I meant those big SUVs and pick-ups I usually see in Manila i.e. Expedition, F150, Tahoe etc.) The only trucks I know before learning about that are garbage trucks.

We’ve been on the look out for winter clothes here as well. I was able to find a really good jacket from Old Navy for only $13, tax included (price tags here is exclusive of tax, so everything is multiplied by 185% to get the total cash outlay). That’s really cheap, don’t yah think? (just trying the southern accent here, hehehe)

Shoppers will have a grand time here if they know where to find. Some items were really cheap you but of good quality. It seems like they have gotten sales-crazed like us Filipinos. And there’s one huge sale to look forward after Thanksgiving. Woohoo! I really can’t wait. I even have my dollars ready.

Well, that’s just about it for me here. As much as it seems that I’m having a great time here in the Lone Star state, I really miss home.

But I most definitely miss someone special. I hope he does miss me, too.

I miss you all!Ü


Off My Chest

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Count two days from now and I might be composing blogs from the other side of this planet.

I’m trying as hard to not talk about it (here in my blog or in real life) but I just can’t get over the fact that I’m leaving the country really soon.

You bet that this coming Saturday would be one of the most memorable days of my life – my first international trip! I’m off to Houston, TX to undergo a 40-day training for my new employer. How lucky can I get, huh?!

It makes me wonder what some of my former officemates would say, who had the nerve to say that it was just a trick my new company is known for – luring potential employees of a promise of trainings abroad. I almost had doubts of my new company’s abilities to fulfill its promise because of these losers. But I was dead decided to leave that sorry place – where all I got was frustrations and self-doubt.

It was also really unfortunate that I have come across this creature who sure made my stay in that company very forgettable. If JoMS has Rica Peralejo, I have IT.

This entry is actually for you, IT.

I just realized that if not for you, I wouldn’t be here in the first place. For that, I will be forever thankful. You bossed and manipulated your way around to realize my downfall. And now you’re starting to reap your rewards, I’m miserable and I’m going to the US to work. Get that?

As luck and fate would have it, I’m going. Got my visa approved, accommodations ready and online tickets printed, I guess there’s really no stopping the trip now. Too bad, you’re still rotting in the only sorry place that would accommodate you.

I had second thoughts on posting this. I really wanted to spare my readers to all these negativities. But you just had to say those words behind my back. You didn’t realize that your malicious retorts would find their way towards me, do you? I thought that me quitting my job is enough for you to live, I thought wrong.

I wish you a life.

You know what, IT really suits you. It sounds like sh** - exactly like you.



I really love this skin! And if you happen to hate reading stuff with a black background, sorry but there’s nothing I can do here. The best thing for you, probably, would be to wait ‘til I get sick and dead tired of my latest template unless you really dig the non-sense mouthfuls I write in this page.

This template looks really good on my new flat-screen office PC. I can’t imagine having this one on my previous job’s desktop, which is frustratingly so Jurassic that I vacated my post.

That’s a joke, of course. But I’m really glad that I’m not using a double-monitor PC anymore.

To say that I’m inspired to work now would definitely be an understatement. I just love going to work everyday (though I’m just on my seventh boarding day here) and prove myself. I’m literally raring to make things happen this time. There are so many things to learn, ideas to nurture and talents to develop in this very dynamic work environment. I never thought that the words ‘workstation’ and ‘office’ could be very inviting.

Speaking of workstations, my new work area just had to be the most spacious one I had by far. Compared to the last one that I had to strategically position myself in front of my computers (double-monitor, remember?) so as I can have as much of the limited space, I can now move around very efficiently and effectively around here. If my metric skills are accurate, my station now is nearly twice as spacious as my last one.

Aside from the ample working space, I had this station on my first day, almost fully furnished. I got two cabinets, complete with the basic office supplies and keys. I’m also going to be using a phone set complete with caller ID, speaker phone, call forwarding and conferencing features, voice messaging, and headset. I even have my own trunkline now!

And I’m not only talking about myself here. There are 70 of us newly on-boarded employees and all of us are getting all these perks! It’s just very uplifting to know that there’s still a company who values and invests for their people…people meaning ALL those who are part of the organization – investing not just for the bosses and other top ranks but everybody.

I really, really want to make the best of my stay here. I even imagined getting old here but that’s getting ahead of myself. Five years of job-hopping and searching, I hope that I found my home at last.


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