The countdown is official. This is the second to the last Music video in my series that I will be posting. When we get to the final one, then you will truly understand why I am placing a number of them in the Health & Wealth topic. (That is outside of having an off day due to events.)

Of course, we all have our memories tied to this music popular in the Philippines whether it is family or friends making them look funny or actually pulling it off.

So how does this fit into the category of health? If you lived in this area of the USA, you would quickly recognize how many people can only dream of this level of mobility!!

Anah

Life is the best teacher if one is willing to listen to it and not let our own desires, attitudes and opinions get in the way of the lessons to be taught.

At the end of last year, two dear uncles of mine received the call with one leaving behind 8 children all under the age of 18 with their now widowed mother. Then days before Christmas the heart and soul of my extended family in the Philippines received his call home and left us quite suddenly. Yes, that made for a rather somber Christmas for the family especially for those of us in other countries who could not be there.

But now there are a growing number of truly good, kind hearted people receiving the call. I like to view it as a reward for a life well spent as a real Christian should. I may never have met the first man who took his call last week but I saw the impact his life had on many. The father of a friend of ours was called home last Monday and we celebrated his life on Wednesday July 16th. From the testimony and photos you know he was truly a special man. This weighed heavily as I know my time with someone I love so dearly will draw to a close all too soon.

Then the two fold news came on July 17th. For another friend, his father received his call on that day to be reunited with his wife and son. So that friend whose wife had also recently lost her mother just a year ago must begin on the journey through life with his wife with only friends as a guide. May the lessons of their parents have been learned well.

Also, an Aunt of Goryo’s, who was one of the few to have fully accepted me into the extended family here in the USA when even his ”kapatid” didn’t, received notice that she will get the call soon as well. She has but a few months, weeks or days left with us before celebrating eternity and awaiting her beloved husband when he receives the call in the future. I must say I have not met someone with a kinder heart filled with good intentions than her.

She will be missed as will all. There will come One Sweet Day when my hubby and I will also receive the call then we can rejoin those who have paved the path ahead of us.

Do I believe in heaven and in Jesus? Yes, I do and so does my hubby. We do so not out of blind faith but with numerous evidences that lead us to our convictions. So while I may have a heavy heart for a bit, I know I will be seeing these special people in the future once again.

Anah

Yah right, any Filipina knows better than to believe that sign on the door when it is on a Filipino Government related place (Filipino Time). But I should fill you in on what this is about.

As I mentioned in my Been To Chicago post, we went to the Philippine Consulate Office in Chicago, Illinois. The trip itself was far from fun but this is about the time spent at the Office and a heads up if you are looking into renewing your Philippine Passport.

We finally arrived and got to the 21^st floor of the building where the office is. Of course, the building only has 21 floors and their office was next to the fan room that cools the whole building so it feels like the Philippines up there lol.

It was my turn at the window and they rejected the passport photos sabi mali daw and said I needed to go down to the passport photo service on the 15^th floor.

Sabi nong Ale: “Ay miss, sa 15th floor pwede ka don mag pa pityur!”

Sagot Ko: “Ate ano ba yan, sana naman po nakalagay yung tamang instruction sa website ninyu- sayang $20 pa naman tong passport photo ko kasi sabi blue background at yung photo size naka lagay don sa passport requirements.”

Ale: “Sorry po, Ako’y matagal na po ako dito nag ta trabaho at picture nyo po eh mali - sorry po balik nalng kayo pag tama yung passport photo nyo. “

Well, great it was 12:30 and I knew the photographer would be out to lunch. That is what that sign on the door said. (Alam nyo naman sa atin, pag lunch time- sarado ang opis!)

So we waited the 30 minutes and kept watching for a Filipino to show up from the elevators. Then we waited another 30 minutes until I took the photo. The flash of my camera went off and low and behold they were in the office the entire time!!! Then yung mamang photographer nakasimangot; parang galit sa mundo! Hay nalang!

So I got my photo taken but you need to have a shirt with sleeves and a collar on. This caused an issue because I didn’t come prepared as we already had spent money on passport photos following their crazy directions. The reasoning was they updated the requirements in June 2008 but the directions are not updated on the websites. (Hello po, July na po tayo ngayon. June last month na po yun, kakainis!!)

This ordeal required my hubby to run down to the 1^st floor and buy a shirt so the photos could be taken. Then come back up and pay this guy. Oh, the name of the place was Philippine Passport Photo Service located at 1530 in the same office building.

If you live in the states of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin and are looking to renew your passport, do not bother with getting your photos done elsewhere. They will be rejected anyways. You know how it works. Just go straight to that photo service and they will automatically accept the photos even if they do not fully meet the requirements.

Eventually the process of turning in papers, signing my name and giving my thumbprints got done in 3 ½ hours just in time for the Chicago rush hour traffic. ½ hour for lunch daw!!

Oh yeah, the friendly office lady said Friday is the highest peak time so avoid going then. Monday –Thursday with 4 hours to spare is what it will take. Go early and get ready to wait.

Anah

The Philippines is a nation of 7000 islands. One thing many are accustomed to is the water. It can be a great deal of fun swimming in some of the better beaches or scuba diving to enjoy the tropical fish in their environment.

So it is something to consider to bring back into your environment if the budget so dictates. The concept is to have aquarium saltwater fish and live coral together in an aquarium in your home to bring back a taste of the Philippines.

The fish that reminds me the most of the waters around General Santos are the Tangs. In the wild, those are beautiful fish. Their colors dance in the waters as they swim around the coral. It is truly a sight to behold.

How one can get those saltwater fish raised in captivity and transported to the USA would make for some tricky logistics for a saltwater fish store to figure out. I can say that is one business venture I will leave to those already in it.

Now what wall can we break down to install a large aquarium so I can have the reef and fish in my bedroom looking at me? Hmmm, I think the landlord might overrule such actions. Here’s for future home designs!

Anah

In my few years here in the USA, I have seen big cities and small. I have lived in cities of 10,000 people but close to a metropolis and visited towns as small as 500 away from everything except the cows.

Today (Thursday) I must report this has been an incredibly long and tiring day. Today, I had to get my passport renewed at the Philippine Consulate Office in Chicago, Illinois. The post for Friday will go over the lovely joy at the office and what to do and avoid so that you will not get a repeat performance of our day.

So with that in mind, this is how our day went.

To start it off, we woke up a bit late. The clock said 8 am so we had to rush and get ready. We were tired from staying up until 1 am making certain I had every paper they could ever ask for as a “2 hr 36 min” drive as according to Yahoo meant we did not have the luxury of coming back for forgotten papers. So now we raced to get ready with all of the papers ready and food for the day packed. Off we went to that big city called Chicago.

Initially, the drive wasn’t that bad until we got a little of the way into Illinois. Whoever planned the road construction did not give a great deal of thought to the sequence of work. (Goryo’s on the road complaint.) What it did accomplish is to massively slow us down. The 2 hours became a near 4 hour trip to get there. Let me say trying to navigate downtown Chicago during the lunch rush hour is not fun for two who are geographically challenged. (We get lost easily.) But we got there.

My hubby joked that the 4 hour drive would be met by a 20 minute meeting and process. He was hoping that but he did not know how the Philippine Government works. Yup, it doesn’t matter that they are in the USA. They are just as slow here as they are back at home. Let me summarize it by saying I was quite frustrated but I reminded myself that it is best to be kind and nice and things will go faster.

Finally, we were done and out of the parking garage at 3:30 pm. I was not thrilled the bill for parking equaled our weekly grocery budget. The purpose of the trip was fulfilled and we were on our way into…Chicago rush hour traffic. We met the 7-3 crowd going home from work on the roads and those who got done at 4 pm and 5 pm and 6 pm…

Heck, it took us 2 hours to go 20 miles and 2 hours and 45 minutes to get the heck out of Chicago itself. We had to stop and go to the bathroom because the traffic jam was so long and boring. 7.8 miles in 30 minutes is a miserable pace. But after a 4 hour and 30 minutes to get back home, we reloaded, packed our bags so we could drive another 3 hours and arrive at 11:20 pm to say “Happy Birthday” to Goryo’s Mom.

Hay nalang, what a day. Now you partially know what has taken me so long to update my blog. I’ve been to Chicago now. I prefer living with the cows hehe.

Anah

As a friend of mine has reminded me due to her current experiences of coming to the USA, the first year was a most interesting year for my husband and me. So how does this count as Life Here & There? The first year is about Life Here while your heart and mind are back There.

Nearly any Filipina can tell you, the first year is loaded with emotion. The first emotion is of sadness as you fly away from the life you knew and had to say goodbye to your family. It is replaced a bit by apprehension and excitement about what the new world you are going to will be like. Will it really be like what the two of you IM chatted about? Words are one thing but how will I react to it? Will I be stared at? Will my height, my looks, my skin color bother those in my future spouses relatives? Will he really be what he was like when he visited?

Then comes the day of the wedding which is a combination of feelings, the feelings are happiness and sadness. Yes, this is truly the man you wanted to marry. However, his family is here and no one of mine can be here. Sa Pilipinas, you know your family will be there and you have the comfort of that support. Here you are alone. That is the most haunting aspect to the first year. Everything you knew is gone. Everyone you knew is thousands of miles away. Life is radically different here. You are alone (except sa asawa mo). This isn’t your culture.

So in the first year, what can the men we are marrying expect? They can expect us to be going through the grieving process during the first year or marriage. We cycle through the 7 stages of grief of the anger, pain, through a partial acceptance that this is what life is here. Then Christmas hits and we are reminded of the family thousands of miles away and we try not to cry. Yes, the emotions of homesickness, especially if something happens to one we love back and home and we can’t be there, hit really hard.

Tampo is quick to show up at just the slightest wrong choice of words by you. It is only partially your fault. The emotions are up and down for us as we adjust to the differences.
So with all that in mind, men should memorize this song as the lyrics are quite correct.

Hello, you fool, I love you. Come on join the joyride….

Anah

I thought I would merge the Health and Wealth together in a very practical way. We have all heard that we need to exercise more. I agree. Life in the USA is unfortunately not all that physically active unless you have a job that keeps you active. So you need to find the time and money to burn off those calories.

How do you do it with the tight finances or budget restrictions limiting your options? Do you find a way to budget in the membership fees for a gym, factor in the gas to get there and time to utilize it? You can but it isn’t necessary.

How about spending lots of money to have an awesome home gym? Well, I do not have a lot of money to spend or physical space to put an item in so that option is out for us. So what do you do?

First, you modify your diet so your larger meal is at noon and you avoid carbohydrates and sugar filled foods in the evening. If your tummy doesn’t have an easy source of sugar to breakdown while you are sleeping, it will turn to the stored fat in your body. But diet can only take you so far. What about the exercise?

Well, my entire exercise routine and all of the various items I use cost me a grand total of about $150 over the span of 2 years to acquire. I’m quickly toning up and trimming inches to get back to being physically fit and limber. Hey, I used to climb the coconut and bamboo trees before. I need to get into proper shape so I can climb them again.

How on earth can I do it for under $150 dollars? The equipment I have is a couple dance videos, a bicycle, and three items that slide behind the couch with ease. The other equipment I use is our floor, doorways, and gravity. The most effective exercises come without using anything but the floor and gravity. The bicycle was acquired by selling something else we didn’t need and using the money to purchase the bike. No net loss in our bank account. The videos are for the cold and rainy days and most of those were given to me or garage sale pickups. The other pieces of equipment I got by doing online work for rewards so a bit of time invested to get exercise equipment at no net loss to our bank account again.

What are these ultra cheap exercises? Well, you’ll have to wait a week because this entry has hit the max word limit for the day. Hehehe!

Goodnight po,

Anah