The Dance of Life

Hyeah, well gotta start packin’ again (unending packing as always).
We’ll be traveling tomorrow morning to California via the Greyhound bus. I thought my 16-hour flight from Cambodia to Canada is the longest ever but wow! This trip to L.A. will be even longer, it’s more or less 36 hours, so it makes no different now. I just hope Helena can handle this long road trip. No problem with me and Mike and Rick, we’re all used to traveling. Helena’s been traveling ever since she was a baby, even when I was pregnant with her but this will be a long bus trip and usually not a very comfortable road trip but hopefully this trip will give us no problem.

We can’t wait to see our friends, Lynn and Rey, get married. Helena, most specially, in her beautiful flower girl dress.
I remember when I was preparing for my wedding, I felt excited but at the same time doubtful or maybe more like… nervous. I took my time getting everything done that I found myself and my girlfriends chasing ourselves and people to get everything ready the night before my wedding day. It was so damn crazy and hilarious.

Getting married is a serious business it’s not like one of those stupid relationships that we experiment on & where we drew a stupid conclusion whether it was exciting or boring. It’s a long-term commitment - for better or worse (boring or exciting). There will be lots of changes and unless a couple is ready for that kind of metamorphosis of life then there shouldn’t be any marriage.

There will be a possible change of career, location, education, income, expenditure, savings, household chores, how to spend holidays and that’s just to name a few. Once you’re married, you’re married. You will now make decisions together, lots of giving and taking between the husband and wife. From my experience, some of these factors may even result to being disenchanted of hopes, bitterness and let downs but these feelings won’t stay if a couple know how to compromise. Your hopes and dreams when you were still single should not fade away just because you got married so husband and wife needs to encourage and support each other to have a better, satisfying, happy and successful marriage. The biggest advice I can give is to communicate often and try to understand each other because these problems causes havoc and that’s something we wouldn’t want.

I’ve seen a lot of couples ended with a divorce. I’ve seen a lot of couples remained in love as they got older. So it’s a matter of communication and trust. Stay in love, a simple appreciation and respect from each other. A simple word of “hi’s” and “hello’s” and never go to bed with an angry heart or with a pout. These are the secrets to keeping the marriage alive.

Now back to the trip, not a lot of clothes this time, we’ll be staying in Los Angeles only for a week. Have to bring things to keep the little girl busy though or else she’s going to make everyone go berserk on the bus!

A special thanks to Lynn and Rey for helping us pay for this trip.
You guys are so sweet and kind, can’t ask for more!
We’ll sure have an enormous fun, fun, fun when we get there.
Can’t wait to see you on your wedding dress, Lynn….
We’re so happy for the both of you!

I wish I could attend Carol’s wedding too I hope she understands. It was all planned, we were gonna go but unfortunately some things just don’t come through and it really sucks because I didn’t want to miss her wedding. Carol, please know that I love you and I am very happy for you.
Even if we can’t be there, we are thinking about you and your wedding and looking forward to view your wedding photos and to your email on how the wedding went.

Manang Lorna, it was a fun chat this morning. I always chatting with you, you always make me laugh and fee better. And so nice to hear from you, Yvonne. Enjoy your holidays!

Thanks to everyone who keeps in touch, I will be sending more photos on the trip later. Please be with us with your prayers as we travel that our trip will be safe and free of any harm.

Always take care everyone and have a wonderful day!

From Cambodia to Canada
July 11-12, 2005

Although our trip was exhausting, it was pretty smooth and safe. Last Monday, Lorna, Julie and Neary drove us to Pochentong Airport, we took some photos then we departed at 7:40PM.. There was no problem with our luggage and we didn’t pay any overweight charge. Actually, we could have brought more. Before we left the house we had to take a lot of stuff out of our luggage at the last minute because we were so worried of being overweight, but Mike was right it’s always better to play it safe.

We arrived in Bangkok at 9:00PM. Our next flight was scheduled the next day so we had to stay at the airport and checked in at the airport’s Dayroom. We wanted to go out to the city but with Helena getting sleepy and cranky, we just hung at the airport and checked in to the Dayroom just after midnight (it was the only time they had vacancy). It cost us around $80 for an 8-hour stay which was much less than we anticipated. The next day, we felt better because we were able to catch on our sleep.

We left Bangkok at 9:50AM, Tuesday and arrived in Hong Kong at around 1:30PM. I must say I like the Bangkok airport way better than Hong Kong airport as it has more choices of restaurants, more interesting with all the trendy shops and child-friendly waiting areas. Helena wanted to eat at Popeye’s chicken so we had our lunch there. We all enjoyed our chicken and fries. We hung out at the airport for 3 hours then we had to catch our final flight which was the longest. We didn’t go through immigration anymore as I arranged all of that in Bangkok. I’ve learned my lesson when traveling with a child, you really have to do everything fast and in advance to avoid hassles and the long line up so since that was all taken of we just took our plane ticket ready and straight to the plane gate.

We expected a lot of complaining from Helena as she gets bored easily so made sure all her toys and stuff are easy to grab. But she slept most of the flight and she had lots to entertain her while she was awake. Helena and Mike talked about Canada and about Rick but I was too sleepy to join the convo so I just fell asleep.

Traveling with Cathay Pacific was fun, every seat has its own TV and lots of movies to choose from. Mike watched Fight Club while I watched Wedding Date and Helena watched different children movies. It’s nice to have our own TV on the seats, it made us all busy. We even watched a couple of Friends episodes. During our meals, we had pasta, omelet, fruits for dessert and Helena enjoyed some noodles and bread. I’m not usually crazy about plane’s food but I certainly enjoyed this one.

Of all the traveling we’ve had in our lives, this was by far the longest and the most exhausting flight. By the time we arrived in Vancouver, Helena was refusing to walk. She was crying about her cheeks being sore. Canada welcomed us with sore and painful cold burn on our cheeks and lips. So much for excitement!.

We had 5 luggages to pick up and 4 hand carries and plus we had to carry Helena… (She said she was too tired to walk). It was a good thing there were always those trolleys and luggage strollers ready. We went through immigration and customs and there was no problem at all. We declared Mike’s samples of bags for the business and they checked them and that was it. No sweat. Thank god, no more immigration to go through.

We took the 40-minute bus ride to the BC ferry. The ferry ride was awesome. The island views were spectacular. It reminded me a lot of the mountains we used to hike in the Mountain Provinces in the Philippines. Soooooo cold…bbbrrrr. We were only able to take a few shots though cuz we had to keep an eye on Helena. She was running everywhere. She even made a few friends in the play area. It was easier for her to communicate cuz they all speak English unlike in Camby. And weather is exactly what we missed. A little colder than Baguio, more like in the mountain provinces weather temperature. This time of year is the perfect time for us to come so it gives us time to get used to the weather before it gets too cold and we will get to actually see real snow. No more fake snow….
We arrived in Vancouver at 4:00PM, Tuesday. Hey, wait a minute, isn’t that the same day we left Hongkong?! We’re going back in time, haha! I checked my watch and it was already Wednesday in Cambodia.

The bus ride and the ferry took 2 hours and 20 minutes. We arrived in Victoria terminal at 7:20PM, where Rick was waiting for us. Helena ran to gave him a big hug and since that time she wouldn’t let go off Rick… she even refused to listen to Mike or me, (at least for that time being). She had a lot of stories for her uncle Rick. We didn’t want to spoil it for her, she was just very excited and I was happy for her. Mike and I liked the weather and so damn clean. No more pollution, no more beggars following you around, no more crazy traffic, no more noisy high-pitched singing everywhere that are hard to understand. Lots of Pine Trees! We’re surely loving it!

We had to take 2 taxis to get to Rick’s apartment cuz of our luggage but not too far. His apartment is so cute! But unfortunately, the landowner doesn’t allow any kids in the building so we might have to move to a different apartment at the end of this month. He said the building is made of woods and easy to hear children running and shouting and that he didn’t want any of the tenants complaining. Besides we need a bigger space, now that there are four of us.

I was observing Mike since we landed in Vancouver, I’ve been married to Mike for 5 years now but seems that I am just starting to see the “hidden” part of him. He’s very comfortable and confident in this country, It felt good seeing him handling all the talk at the immigration and at the customs (which was usually my job every time we traveled in Asia). This is the part of him that I’ve been longing and wanting to see, and which he almost never showed me, his confidence. I guess for the fact that he was a foreigner in Asia, he was too worried and paranoid about things. For a long time, I had been his confidence and I thought I’ve been very supportive. But now it’s my turn to rely on him on that part, I am the foreigner this time. This is all very challenging but also very exciting for us.

For a while, I might just be a housewife and I’m excited about that too, I mean I get to JUST worry and take care of Mike and Helena and Rick and no worries about work, how cool is that!!!! Now I got 3 babies, Mike, Helena and Rick, to take care of and that’s just fine.
I will give you more updates and pictures next time, we have to continue unpacking and we need to sleep.. I’m falling asleep as I type here. Rick is gone for work and Mike and Helena are fast asleep. I’m going to hop on and join them so I can get rest, too. This afternoon, we might go to the market to buy some food. And on Thursday, we’re going to meet Mike’s relatives; they’ve invited us for dinner.