The Balikbayan Box, bow...

Does the name sound familiar? The only time I remembered seeing one ages ago, and I mean ages! Was when I was young, probably first grade and my uncle, who was a doctor based in Saudi Arabia came home and he opened this huge box, well there were many boxes, but this one was special because I think there were chocolates there. That was my earliest memory of a balikbayan box.

And now, its my turn to send my family something that I earned and worked hard for and hopefully, they'll find as much pleasure as I did in buying them.

Before my actual packing started, I had read blogs and looked into forwarding sites to find some tips that a newbie like me need to know. I've read countless horror stories, so I'm crossing my fingers that the same fate will not befall my little balikbayan package.

I actually started buying things a month after I arrived here. I started with bags, canned goods, toys and even tried ordering online because thinking of lugging them around (since I don't have a car) was just too much of a hassle, not to mention backbreaking? lol. So, months came by, and my excuse was, I didn't have a car to buy a box, to finally, not having a box yet and now that it's here. I don't have an excuse. I just need the time to prepare my box and then send it home where my family is hopefully looking forward to receiving it.

There was this unusual tip (although, I haven't tried it) of a balikbayan sender, and I suppose he is an expert at it, was putting rice as a filler in between the nooks and crannies of the box. Other than the actual contents, you've given them rice too, lol. I'm looking into that. And then, there's one where you put a plywood at the side of the boxes as support. That, I can understand. Pretty much. Imagine your box at the bottom of what, 4 or 5 balikbayan boxes that are just as heavy as your box or maybe even heavier. Oh drat, I wish my box wouldn't be like that. Lol. I'd hate for the electronic toys to get squashed. The only thing I can do though, is make sure there's bubble wrap or wrap them around clothes or towels, which was also another suggestion. I've already eyed the old comforter that I got as a padding for the top. Whoopee, at least I don't have to throw it out. Oh yeah, ma, you need to wash that when it gets there, lol.

Alright, first step, the box which is double walled something something for extra strength. Check.

Next, writing the name of the recipient all over, check. Hey, did I spell the Philippines right? Or is that the right spelling of the recipient's name and address? Hehehe...I'm sending it to my brother-in-law in Metro Manila so at least I won't have to pay for provincial rates and there's always someone home because the nanny is there. Check. All sides have names. Hurrah!

Next, put a lot of tape. Again, the research helped me give an idea as to what kind to use. I would've used the 3M really strong one thing but it was more expensive. I still used 3M and it was the acceptable packaging tape. Duck tape or masking tape are not acceptable. Glad I read up on that. And yeah, use up all the packaging tape as much as you can. I know that they're going to strap it, but I want to make sure that if someone slices open my package to steal stuff (again, based on the horror stories that I've read on a forwarding company here and back in the Philippines, grrr...) then they'd know that it was tampered with.

And in relation to that, when i finish packing, I will take a picture of my box so I have proof of what it looked like and email it to my sister, the picture, not the package lol. And yes, I have a list of items that I sent which I will print copies of so that I have my own copy as well as the forwarding company's copy. And again, send a copy to my sister as well.

I haven't finished putting tape all over and that's going to pretty much occupy me in the evening tonight after coming back from school. (It's not a work day but my desk in school is just clamoring for attention. In fact, where's my desk? They're all papers!)

So that is the story of my balikbayan box, which is still a box for now, but hopefully will be filled of goodies for my family.

Now, off to shower, geez, did I just smell myself? Lol, kidding, I haven't broken a sweat in a long time here, its just so cold, yeah, I know someone who'd contradict me and say, that's not cold! That's sweater weather!! Nah ah....

To be continued...

Midyear Recess is over!

Yup, the short, but well-deserved midyear recess is over! The next break would be in spring break, just in time for my birthday...hehehe...whopee...but back to the grind. Meetings galore, reports to make, plus oh yeah, report cards to make. Time to rack my brain then. Oh well.

Hmmm...what have I done during the break? Well, basically nothing, lol. That is what a break is for anyways. Not do anything, but just laze around the house, watch movies online until your head feels like exploding, lol. Oh yeah, see my doctor...glad to know that I'm in good health, well, before I went for my physical anyways, because my tummy lately hasn't been cooperating. Is it because I'm well fed? Lol and trying to purge myself of my soda habit. Bad tummy. Now i'm back to guzzling my favorite soda, well til supplies last. Hopefully, when I get busy with work, my tummy will be the last thing on my mind.

And what else? Listening to music til my ears hurt, lol. I think the best part was just to be bored. That's a luxury I haven't had in a long time. I would've wanted to start packing the stuff I would have to send in my balikbayan box but I don't have the 3M tape yet and the pentel pen. Hehehe...Learning as much as I can about packing. The most interesting tidbit I read was someone actually putting rice in between the nooks and crannies to stabilize the box. Well, what do you know, you're sending home too rice...hehehe...Or putting plywood at the sides of the box to make sure that it doesn't collapse. Try imagining your box at the bottom of what 5 other boxes? Well, something to that effect though. That did make me thing about the toys I was sending. Will they be squashed by the time it gets to my family? Lol.

Oh yeah, I did see a video that happyslip about these boxes. Pretty funny, sang to the tune of 12 days of Christmas. Of course it was paid for by a sponsor which suggested that sending money is the best gift rather than the box. But then again, what is the charm of the balikbayan box? It's the thought that counts, lol. I'm a horrible shopper though. Anyways, we'll see if I can actually fill the 20x20x20 box that I have. If not, there's the dollar store, lol. Or if worse comes to worse, the rice to fill out the rest of the space. Lol.

Times like these...

Its raining cats and dogs outside. With the wind to match...lol. I think the last time I heard the wind roar like that was when I was in SD. And burr, was it cold then. It's also cold here but it probably doesn't match the coldness in SD.

As usual, I woke up late without the sun in my eyes since the blinds were closed and the sun never really came out. I listened to the rain and the wind beating on the windows in my room. All snug and cozy like a caterpillar in a cocoon, lol. And like the proverbial cocoon, what drove me out was hunger. Today, I decided to forego the usual rice and have my frosted os and milk. With that all consumed, my usual glass of juice. This time I had Dole Peach and Mango juice. Then I had my vitamins and calcium tablet. And then it was back to bed. Playing neopets and listening to music and watching Wish Ko Lang. Times like these, when the rain just seems to go on and on and with the wind too chilly to be out, Filipino programs transport me back to a time in my apartment in Las Pinas or being at home with mom. All I lack is the food, yummy food that my mom prepares. I can just imagine the "utan" or the sabaw, or tinola. Yum yum. I miss home when the day gets depressing like these. I wish for home, the noise, the cats, the dog, my sisters, my nephews, my friends...even SM.

But then again, what's to complain about? In hard times like these, I'm just grateful to have a job, for now. To be able to talk to friends even if its just online, or to simply annoy my bf on the phone, lol.

Thank goodness for the little things in life.

Kaiser Permanente

Today, we left school early, nope, we weren't playing hooky. I even emailed the principal to sort of ask her permission that I needed to go with a friend for a doctor's appointment. Besides, we do spend more than the usual time in school when we have IEP meetings so I figured I will more than offset the time that I will leave early with the upcoming IEP meetings that I will have, mostly Tris too..uh oh.

So, we left, went home and then went to Kaiser Permanente. Wow, the complex was really huge. Practically everything is there, which is good. Parking wasn't a problem and they even have valet parking, talk about sorta like a hotel, lol.

We went to the second floor and we found Internal Medicine, 172. Our doctor, well, general physician was the same except that I had my appointment sometime next week during the break for a physical while Leila's was more of a more serious and urgent nature.

I wasn't that bored waiting. I had a magazine to keep me company. I just hate the smell of the hospital though. And at least the lines weren't that long when she had to go to the Lab to have her blood drawn. Hehehe...I did sneak in the wrong restroom. I should've used the other ones, but I just needed to go. Anyways, I am a patient there too, since I have a KP card, lol. Just not at patient at that time.

Ohh, no...

Day 1

Oh yes. I am thinking of giving up my favorite pop. I know I can't go cold turkey so I'll do it slowly but surely, lol. First thing I've done is not to buy them when we went to Target today. Instead, I got something more nutritious? hehehe...like Dole juice and again with trying to lose some weight, hey, I look moon-faced, lol, oats, fruit loops, milk and hmm...yeah, the rest I got from Trader's like salad, sliced apples (I'm too lazy to slice them, lol) and soup. I still can't let go of my comfort food, lol. So that will have to stay for now. The next on my list? Well, as soon as the weather starts getting better, how about a nice walk around the neighborhood.


Day 2
I started the day with cereals and milk for breakfast and Dole juice...yummy...Soda, just for recess and lunch. Just a small bottle anyways. If I act grouchy the rest of the weeks, well I'm on withdrawal from soda...hehehe...uh, I'm just so glad next week is vacation. At least I will spare most of the kids, and er...the people I work with from that? Hehehe...

My Favorite Things

The other day, I thought about the things that I like. Well, I'm a pretty predictable person, lol. Boring, some people might even say.

Favorite pair of shoes: Airwalk Tabitha boots
Jeans: Exhiliration skinny jeans
Shirts / Sweater: Anything Old Navy (I swear I've got all Old Navy tops, from tanks, shirts, cardigans, sweaters, puffer coat, bag. The only thing that I don't own that's not ON, jeans...)
Chocolate: Lindt Truffles
Phone: My Nokia Phone with my Fave 5 T mobile subscription
Thing to do: Go online, read, and just not do anything
Season: Autumn / Winter (Right now, I'm obsessed with keeping myself warm so all I do is buy anything autumn / winter which is on sale)
Song: Anything Pink (I think this is just a phase)
CD: Compilation of CD I got from SD (hehehe)
Grocery: Trader Joe's
Store: Target!
Clothes: Old Navy
Camera: My Kodak MX1063
Apple gadget: Macbook and my Ipod Shuffle (Hmmm...small but very handy)
Soda: Of course, Coke a Cola classic but I'm going to try my very best to wean myself away from it!
Car: Leila's Yaris (hehehe, I'm loyal but the Prius she got as a loaner was fabuloussss)

Oh yeah, I totally miss my family back home! (Not that its related, lol)

We have moved!

Yes, we have officially moved in, and out our old apartment. Well, we moved most of our possessions yesterday but today, we went back to our old apartment, cleaned out some left over things aka leaving them in the dumpster or by the dumpster so other people can take them, like we did months ago. After which, we turned in our keys to the Leasing Office and then we were off, not to the sunset but to our new abode.

Moving was certainly a different experience, well, like Pinas, except we had to do it ourselves. First, Leila had to go to U-Haul in Mountain View, well it was more like in Sunnyvale. Her friend drove her car through the freeway and voila we were there in minutes. Going back, we took the safer route through El Camino and Hollenbeck. Then when her brother and nephew arrived, we started bringing our boxes to the U-Haul. The heavy items were the couch, 2 cabinets, and boxes, I know mine were my books/training materials. And then the luggages with our clothes. We barely fitted in everything. Leila left some of her food in the fridge. We figured we'd go back either in the afternoon or evening or Sunday.

Unloading it was much faster / easier. We borrowed our Manager's grocery cart and loaded it with lots of things. Then brought it upstairs. We have an upstairs unit, right above the manager's unit...hehehehe..no jumping up and down for Leila and me then.


While we were resting, we started checking the switches and outlets. We were baffled when the outlets were not working but the lights were on. Hmm...I know I called PG&E to start service on that day and when I checked their website online, it said that service had started on that day too. Uh oh.

Leila took a nap and I got busy putting away stuff in the kitchen from the cutlery to the plates, pots. And then I started putting away my clothes in the closet and emptying the boxes as well. I was tired but I
knew that I had to do it then and there or else I will end up with a disorganized room come Monday and it won't be til the weekend that I will be able to complete packing. Uh oh, that I wouldn't like at all.
So with things put out of the way, I decided to try to go online and find if I can hook through someone else's wi-fi connection. And yes, there was another linksys aka free connection close by. I checked PG&E, chatted with my bf to complain about the cold, Facebook and Friendster. Oh yeah. At least there was internet. I had to stop though when the battery was at 30%. Then I started to feel the cold.

Finally, I couldn't bear the cold so I called the manager even though it was late. She was also baffled as to why. I tried the circuit breaker, nothing. And she tried it too, and nothing. She turned on the switch for the meter and still nothing. She thought that maybe it would take 24 hours before PG&E would turn on the service. Oh no, it was really cold. So after Leila woke up from her nap, I told her we should probably to go our old apartment and sleep and at least we wouldn't feel so cold. She agreed and we started packing some stuff. I got my sleeping bag, a couple of blankets, a change of clothes for the next day, toiletries and my laptop and charger. Figured I should do that at the other apartment so when we come back the next day, I could still use the laptop.

So there we were, sneaking out of the apartment, like thieves. I was all bundled up wearing my long coat and sweats and jeans over my shorts so I needn't change when I sleep and Leila was the same thing too, with her huge luggage (she had brought dirty linen to wash), pail of toiletries and other things. We tried to be really quiet but ended up making a bit of a noise because we were just too funny. We stuffed it in her Yaris and ended up folding the chairs to make room for our things. I've never seen the Yaris filled to the rafters, lol.

The streets were deserted going back to Cup and we went through Blaney. There were lots of stop signs along the way and like the good citizens that we were, we did the "California stop." What is that? Well, where you stop and you actually end up moving forward, lol. That's what Alicia told us is the Cali stop and that's what officers look for. Hmmm...alrighty then, when in Rome, do as the Romans do. In this case, when in Cali, do it the Cali way. Light and bubbly, oops, not that. 

So we got to our old apartment safe and sound. I spread my sleeping bag in the room, turned on the heater and went to sleep.

 The next day, my body was aching from all the lifting and carrying and also from the uncomfortable sleep on the floor. I showered and started clearing up old stuff we had left behind. We finally left to go to church. We had lunch at our favorite TK Noodle. I ordered an extra wonton soup aside from our usual #24 since I felt really awful, with a headache to match too.

And when we got back, we talked to the ladies in the Leasing office about what to do about a left behind bicycle. Poor bicycle, abandoned by its owner. We didn't have plans of bringing it with us since we didn't own it. So we decided to leave it by the dumpster for other people to take. There was also the old table, electric fan (again, not ours to take), a couple of "urns" as i call it and then we threw the rest of the stuff away. I turned off the breaker except for the lights and then it was time for us to return our keys.

I went inside the Leasing office and gave the lady there our keys. From the mailbox, amenity keys, front door keys and also the storage keys. Apparently, an old room mate had not returned her keys even though she had "moved out." Well, what do you know? I'm not actually surprised. If she had left us in the lurch with her financial obligations, then a darned set of keys probably doesn't mean anything compared to hundreds of dollars. So, nothing new there. But the irony of that is that, here is a person, a teacher at that, who seemed to be God-fearing, and all that jazz, and she can't even extend a basic courtesy of returning keys for which she has no use of. One can only wonder at her motives? Why would she need to keep keys when she doesn't live there anymore? Oh well, I will not waste my time on a person who doesn't deserve it, certainly not my respect.

So off we went, to the jam packed Yaris and we went home to our New Home Sweet Home and it certainly is sweet. San Jose, our home sweet home...sweet!!!!

Oh yeah, we finally figured out why we didn't have power for the outlet. Seems like PG&E didn't turn on the other switch. There's supposed to be two. With that on, yeah, we have officially moved in...I love the heater, furnace...lol...