Life, Escapades, Notions, Great people: April 2006

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Exporing my town

It was my first weekend since I moved in to my apartment. Ian, who is also my officemate, started moving in to his apartment which is just below mine. How convenient!

Vince drove here again this weekend from Chicago. After doing groceries, we decided to have a small barbeque since the weather was nice. So Vince bought chicken fillets and kebabs. With the $3 bbq that we bought, it took

us an hour or so to get the stuff done haha! At first, it seemed that it couldn't cook the food and Vince almost bought a $20 one. But, oh well, we just waited and it turned out ok.

Last Easter weekend, our good friend, Mark visited us too. He lives in Columbus, about an hour away from Miamisburg. He has a pick-up car and it helped us carry all those groceries and stuff that we have to buy for our apartments. We looked for a

good bar nearby and we tried at Charley's which is a good restaurant naman. Though it was Good Friday, we drank beers pa rin but I stayed away from meat. Haha!

On Saturday, we went to the Dayton Mall hoping to find a good place to have lunch. Pero we ended up in their food court and ate Taco bell (miss ko na rin to). It was actually a big mall with lots of

stores na gusto kong pasukin. Pero I wasn't really in the mood to go around kasi wala akong pera. Haha! They had this picture taking with the Easter bunny for the kids, too.

After the mall, Vince and I went to look for a coin laundry. Though, I have done this already with him in Chicago, I was actually having fun doing this kasi ang bilis talaga ng mga washers and dryers. Tapos ang galing pa maglaba ni Vince haha! Sanay na sanay!

At night, we just decided to order Donato's pizza and wings because we got tired from the getting stuff done with our apartments. We drank beers in our hotels (we were staying in our hotel pa back then) until early morning. Mark was drinking so fast, we couldn't keep up with him.

So ayun, Easter Sunday, we decided to attend the 1230 am mass at St. Henry's church. We weren't able to

make the 11am mass and so while we still have time for the next mass, we had breafast first at Bob Evan's. I really like having breakfast sa restaurants kasi I like their breakfast menus. Last

weekend Vince and I also went to have breakfast at Perkin's and had a hearty meal of omelette with french toast and hasbrowns. And this time at Bob's, I ordered for an omelette again and biscuit and gravy. So, see, puro kain talaga ako tapos inom pa. Ano ba to!

And after the Saturday bbq, Vince and I

went to watch a movie. It was also near our place and at Best Buy where Vince got my tv and his new laptop (hmpfh! hehe!). I won't say what movie kasi walang kuwenta. Hahaha! But I had a few laughs pa rin. In any case, what I really wanted was just this big cherry coke, huge popcorn and nachos with cheese and jalapenos. So, that wraps up my exploration... of food and drinks haha!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Let there be light!

It's my first night to move in to my new apartment. There are only few times when unpacking is fun and this is one of those times.

After 2 and a half hours of putting my things in their right places, I felt hungry. I didn't plan on cooking (besides there's really nothing to cook haha!) since I'm getting tired and so I just grabbed a pack of instant noodles that I bought from Manila (Nissin's ramen) for an easy satisfaction. As I was trying to toast a bagel (it couldn't fit in my toaster, imagine!), after the noodles were cooked, viola! Lights went out! At first I thought I broke the circuits of my apartment because of my cheap toaster. I should've chosen a more expensive one and that can fit a bagel. And so I hurried to my balcony and checked the neighbors. Lo and behold! All the lights were out in the whole apartment complex of Hidden Lakes. What a disaster! I heard people say that this is the first time they experienced it. People were out in the streets, tried to get hold of Mike, our maintenance guy, some drove off to eat out and drink, and me, all alone, soaked inside the apartment. What made it worse is I left my cellphone in my hotel and can only get it back until tomorrow. What a bummer! So, there I was, having a candle-light dinner, with noodles and untoasted bagels, in my newly rented dining table, with placemats from Greenhills (which I really like, btw). Never did I thought these scented candles would be my guiding lights in these darkest hours.

It's more than an hour or 2 now and there seems to be no signs yet. So much for my excitement of moving in. But come to think of it, I still feel excited! What can be more exciting than this? I'm all alone, no cellphone, no internet, no tv, but I'm here...in my new humble apartment! And I can fall asleep very well with lights out...but then...there came light!

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Sweet Home Chicago

Before finally going to Ohio for my first project, I was able to drop by at Chicago again. Everything happened so fast, passed the client interview, packed my stuff (I knew I needed a box, not to mention the 2 luggages that I have), flown out the next day.

I remembered I just visited Chicago last weekend to attend Vince's bball friend's wedding. We were late in the reception but we're still able to have dinner. I'm not sure if this was the first time I've attended in US. Apparently, if you want to give cash as a gift, your gauge is like the cost of having the dinner by yourselves (so mga $100).

We were also able to witness Chuck's and Jeanine's new house which I call a mansion. It's really huge!!! They just started moving in their furnitures and stuff. They have 2 living rooms, 1 with a fireplace, a dining room, an office room, a sleek kitchen with top and bottom ovens,

1 huge master bedroom with 2 walk-in closets, the master's bathroom has 2 sinks, a lovely bathtub with a big window pa, 3 guest rooms, a bonus room with a 50+ inch tv! and much more.

Don't leave Chicago without hanging out to a bar with your friends. We went to Saloon on a Saturday, an Asian night party. I met with some of my closest and old time friends Gwen, Lianne and Layla. Gwen's blogsite shows a group picture of us. We drank and danced for hours. It was really been a while since my last clubbing. I was also able to hangout with Enrico, Allan and Vince's sister Lia at a bar in Lincoln Park.

It was so nice catching up with old friends.

Two of my favorite restaurants in Chicago are Singha (Thai) and Chipotle (Mexican). I loved Singha's beef basil beef and Chipotle's Burrito Bol (with spicy beef slices). I was also able to

hang out with Tony, Vince's dad at Monk's before going to Ohio. It was also timely, Brent was in Chicago for work.

Also, before going to Ohio, Layla visited me at Vince's apartment. We had a good talk about her love life.

Hopefully, my next project will be in Chicago. Despite the cold weather and the wind, my heart will still remain here (besides from Manila, of course!). Well, it's just a 4 hour drive from Ohio anyways.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

My last day in Matawan

Finally, I got a client already from a month-long wait - interviews and worries. You couldn't imagine how worried and pressured I was. Definitely, moving in to a new country is difficult, yet, so exciting and worthwhile especially when you have 'families' around - Vince, the Carlos family and my housemates in Matawan.

We had dinner in TGIF. My boss had all smiles when he heard that I passed the client's interview and so he treated all of us for dinner. It was a fun evening. Had gotten to know more of everyone in my company (syempre, one month ba naman!). Everyone was supportive. I'm so excited working with a new company and living in my apartment in Ohio. I hope my housemates also get their projects soon.

Marce, Ian and boss Jit

With Dennis

Saturday, April 01, 2006

Strolling in Matawan

Today, me and my housemates, Ian and Dennis, decided to do some walking in our neighborhood. The weather is beautiful again. I can really feel the spring now. There's really not much we can do here because we don't have cars and we don't have money yet to rent one. Hahaha! Kawawa naman kami. But if you go around town, there are nice places to go to also like nicer and bigger shopping malls, theaters like in Menlo Park.

This is taken from the mall strip near our place. Konti lang ung shops. It's a 5-10 minute walk from our place.

In front of the guest house.

Sa may sala...

and kitchen...

These are the people I live and work with while waiting for our projects to come. This maybe the last weekend for the 3 of us together. We've been so anxious already to start living in US with our new jobs. Hopefully, we get our projects soon para maka-alis na kami sa bahay ni lolo :-)

Life, Escapades, Notions, Great people