Christmas Vacation

I am just wondering how many of you are going somewhere for a Christmas vacation? My hubby and me will be spending Christmas in another state together with my hubby's parents. It is exciting to thing about traveling somewhere. we just hope that the road is not full of snow.

I am sure that many will be traveling this week to visit loved ones in other places and spend the holidays with them. Wish everybody good luck and best wishes. Happy trip and Merry Christmas.
Many are wishing that the Christmas day would be a white Christmas with snow on the ground.
I love the snow but I hate the cold. Lol.. I hope everybody will be enjoying.

Merry Christmas to all.


Soak the red dot in vinegar.

Christmas is here

Four days from now will be the most awaited day of the year, the Christmas day. All people in the world will be celebrating this significant day of the year, the Christmas day. This is the day where most of us will give gifts to remember the love of God to all man kind. The son of God was born to this earth as human as a gift of love to all sinners. He was born to save all mankind from sin. This is the reason why most of us give gifts on Christmas day to our loved ones, friends and relatives to show our love like what God did.

People are busy wrapping gifts in this memorable event of the year. Christmas parties here and there. Some people said Boiled peanuts were the ceremonious gift they could share to their loved ones. I have no idea why they considered boiled peanuts as ceremonious gift but the most important is the love that goes with giving. The value of the gift is not counted most but the sincerity and love of the giver is the most important.

I am wishing that your Christmas is the best among the rest. Give love on Christmas day.

Boiled peanuts were the ceremonious gift

Merry Christmas

It's Christmas time again. Time to give and forgive. hahaha.. yes this is the time to make friends with those whom you had misunderstanding. It is good to mend the friendship before the year ends so that we can start another year with gladness. It is not healthy to still harbor ill feelings and grudge upon entering the new year.

Many people said, it is easier to forgive but to forget is really hard to do. Well, time also is a great help to mend broken relationship and make friends again. Give love on Christmas day and to make it happen we must learn to forgive and forget. It is not an easy thing to do especially if the hurt is severe but with God's help, we can do it.

Giving love on Christmas day that is the best gift that we can give to our loved ones. Material gift is useless without love in giving it.

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Cultural Differences Between Filipinos and Americans

Cultural Differences Between Filipinos and Americans

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The Wise Use of Time

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Black Friday Mania

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Immigrant's Life in America

Immigrant's Life in America

American Wedding and Philippine wedding comparison

Wedding style in America is far different from the Philippine wedding. In the Philippines, the groom's family will be responsible for almost all the expenses for the wedding. I was surprised when I knew that here in America, the parents of the bride are the ones responsible for everything and that the groom's parents have nothing to worry about the expense. Wow!! that is very opposite from my country.

Another thing I observed was that most wedding in America, are very simple compared to the Philippine wedding. Decorations are simple there are some that no decorations at all but in the Philippine wedding? decorations everywhere, flowers, with big backdrop in the stage. Participants are only very limited into one or two in American wedding? Reception is just simple for most weddings in US. But in the Philippines? Oh my!!! You can see the wedding party on both sides in great and colorful attire from the kids to the old. hahaha Not only that!! the wedding participants are many. Some have 4 little flower girls, some have little bride and little groom, they have bible bearer, and covenant bearer. They will have 4 bride's maids and 4 groom's men. Wow!! Plus the maid of honor and the best man. Can you imagine how many people Will be marching the isle? Not only that!! they also have principal sponsors in 16-20 pairs the most. It makes the ceremony too long.

hahah you can just imagine how many people will be served during the reception? Plus all the invited guests who sometimes bring another uninvited guest. It is very stressful to the host of the wedding party. They usually serve a big dinner when there is a wedding in the Philippines. But in America? oh!! just cake plus fruit punch and vegetable salad, is enough for them to eat after the wedding ceremony. Wow!!! what a big difference. Well, there are others also who serve big dinner on their wedding but it is really different from the Philippines. Anyway, I like to attend both. hahaha.

Trip to Tennessee

I am excited to see Tennessee again. It will be my second time to visit the place. The last time was during winter and I did not enjoy because it's too cold for me to go around and see the place. Now is so exciting because it's summer time. You might be wondering what this trip for?
Well, we will be attending a wedding. We might not have lots of time to go around because of the event, like rehearsal and other activities but am still excited to think about visiting another state. Wow!! I hope this visit will be a memorable one. hahaha

The only thing I don't like in this trip is the long ride. 6 hours on the road whooh!!! The sad part is me and hubby can't take turns driving because my license had expired already...hahaha not really a license but just a permit to drive.. hehehe I can drive short distances like going to walmart, to the church heheh but to other states? I will be sacred to death. Just to see those big trucks on the road? made me feel nervous all the way. There are many things played in my mind when I am on the road driving specially on busy streets? I wish I am living in the area where there's no other car running except mine..

But anyway, this trip would be fun.. I am excited.

Freelance Writing

When I heard this words FREELANCE writing before, it makes me feel so hard to believe I can do it. Writer? oh no!!! that's too hard.. hahaha.. But since I am not employed for almost 4 years now, I have no choice but to try anything (legal hehehe) in order to make money. Sometimes, it makes me mad because I have a degree but it is just so hard to find job now in this tough economy. Earning online is very popular now a days so I tried my luck joining these people who find their way to earn in the comfort of their homes.

What I did? I searched on the web of ways to earn online. The good thing is that people shared their reviews on certain sites they were engaged in, they give their positive and negative insights. My principle is, I will not join a site unless I know that it is 100 percent legit. I want to see the proof if they really are paying. It is not a smart idea to spend time thinking, researching of what to write and then it's not worth the time you put in. I have a long list of sites to check until I found several legit ones.

There was a site which caught my interest. I am so curious to know how this site will help me find something to spend my precious time. When I go to the site, there was a list of all work from home jobs that anybody can apply if they think they are qualified. As I see it, there's no way I can qualify from all those jobs posted, that's what I thought. Well, since I have been writing to different websites, I might try freelance writing job. Would I qualify for this? I asked myself.
Well, there's no harm in trying. When I click the freelance writing job, I was directed to a site familiar to me because I keep on hearing this from other writers but I did not pay attention to this. The first thing I do was to read the FAQ. I was bored again but I tried to control my boredom because I am serious of making money. I really need it. Well, I find it interesting but I still not convince to sign up. I search in Google the reviews about the site. Wow!! lots of positive things I learned from the site. I finally joined and glad I was accepted and now I am writing to some clients.

Working in this site is enjoyable and challenging too. Your are paid according to the ratings you will receive from the editors and from the clients. The good thing is they will accept writers though you are not a native English speaker. I was confident to join because of that. haha!! What I like is that, your pay is deposited right away to your pay pal account as soon as the client accept your writing assignment. Cool stuff!! I like to see my earnings grow every time I submit my assignment. The interesting part is that writing assignment is not limited. You can write as many assignments as you can do everyday. They will not give you specific assignment, you can select in different categories you are interested in. That's cool.

What inspired me in this site is that, its' easy to reach pay out. You can request payment when you reach $10 which is very easy to get and they will pay twice a month .Wow!!! You can reach it in few hours of working. Isn't that interesting? But if you are a US resident, you have to submit your W9 for tax info. Very common in legit sites hahaha. I can recommend this site to those who enjoyed writing and love to earn just at the comfort of their home.

But this site is challenging. You are reminded of improving your grammar, punctuation, capitalization, etc. It simply means, improve your writing to avoid rejection and also it will help to raise your rating to get higher pay. When your rate is high, you pay goes with it.
Good luck and see you there.

I Find a way to earn from home

It is very frustrating when you are just staying home and not earning anything. I had that feeling for 2 years since I arrived in America. I keep on hearing people say, they earned using their computer. Oh!! that's an interesting challenge for me because I am not an Internet savvy but I tried and tried. I am not a born writer but I tried to write to different websites that accept any topic I want to share. Oh!! I was thrilled when I received my first pay of my article.

Well, since writing is not my line of interest in the first place, there were times that I am short of ideas of what to write. What topic would I share? So, then I stopped writing articles for a while and joined a paid forum. This way I will not be pressured of grammar and spelling and whatever.. Lol. I earned anyway but not as much as article writing. It is fun to join forum specially if you are paid doing it. You are free to say what you want to say, without any pressure dealing with editors hahaha. Then, later on, I get bored. I look for another way where I can earn more bucks.

I make friends on the web by connecting to some writers, making comments on their write up asking questions, then somebody told me she is writing on ehow. I was curios about the site.
She did not recruit me to join but since I was curious I search the site and learn more about it.
Then, I started writing articles on that site . Most of my articles were recipes because those were easy to give steps on how to do it. My earnings keep on growing as I put in more and more articles. What is interesting in this site is that even if you will stop writing, you will still earn residual income. The more you work the more you earn. Well, I become bored again and stop contributing for a while until they transferred their writers to another site called Demand studious. In there, you will be paid higher if your article pass their editor's standard and that makes me feel more hesitant to write hahaha...

Anyway, I am enjoying even if my earnings as of this time are not that big as what others disclosed in their blogs. I am wondering how to do that? My problem is that, I don't like to read long instructions of what to do and how to do it in some earning sites. I have found lots on the web but I have no patience reading their complicated FAQ's. hahaha.. but what I can say is that, you will really earn if you will spend your time looking for legit earning sites.

Retirees' Fun Activity

Some people said, it is boring when you retired. I think, it is when you are not involve in any fun activity once in a while. There was an amazing place I went last night with my hubby where most people in there were older. I could see only very few people ages below fifty most of them were like 60 to 70 years old men and women. They are enjoying themselves dancing with the music made by some old folks also who played musical instruments. I said,, WOW!! This is a good place to go when I retire.. hahahaha...

I could see the happy faces of the old and few young men who played different kinds of string instruments. Guitar, banjo, base, violin, mandolin and dub roe. These men also alternate in singing with the accompaniment of the string instruments. Oh!! it was really fun. I was just amazed watching the old men and ladies who keep on dancing to the tempo of the music. They have different steps that go with the different tempo. They sway their bodies here and there with their complicated steps.. hahaha.. sometimes those old ladies look funny when they can't
go with the flow. It seems they were enjoying it. Their shoes has metal that make sounds every step they make.. hahahah... It's so noisy in the area where they had that gathering.

The place was an old barn but it is wide and can accommodate around 50 people or more. There was a lady in the string band who played different instruments. Oh wow!! she was the only lady in the group. Actually, these players come from different areas in the neighboring places. They don't have practice or anything like that.. nope.. whoever can play musical instruments is welcome to join. They were really good musicians because they just can go along whatever is the music they could think of playing. Wow!!

That was really a good place for fun!!! of course for young and old but all I have seen there are retirees. Their music also are for their age.. hahahha.. country music, folk song style. But I enjoyed watching them.

Celebration

Fourth of July in America is a day to remember the civil war happened centuries ago. I just wonder when I first came to America, people were so excited for this date to come. Well, I don't care because I have no idea why? Then on the fourth of July we went to a place in Winston North Carolina where lots of people crowding in the area where there was a celebration in commemoration of the civil war. Lots of fire crackers flown in the air. Oh!! what a site. It was so wonderful and Gorgeous.

Unfortunately, we were not able to go near the area because there are lots of people that we even had a hard time looking for parking space. We ended up parking in a very far distance and it took us almost 30 minutes walking from where we park to the area where the celebration was held. It is so fascinating to see the sky ablaze with colorful sparks. Very wonderful experience.

Yesterday, the 4rth of July, we never go anywhere to watch fire crackers. Hubby just lit up some little fire crackers at home and we celebrate the 4th of July just right there.. hehehe
It was fun watching him lighting those little things and he run away after lighting it afraid to be caught by the sparks or fire in it.. It was funny to watch him.

Anyway, Happy celebration. I know everyone is home because Monday is a Holiday I think.

Titanic Experience In Orlando Florida

Titanic is a well known ship of long time ago. I remembered when the Hollywood actors portrayed the Titanic experience and it was a hit that earned millions of dollars because many people want to see how it happened. The Titanic ship which was known to be unsinkable had sank, why and how? Many people are interested to know. That is why when that film was made. it was a big hit and earned millions of dollars.

I am also interested to know but unfortunately, I was not able to watch the movie but I am fortunate enough that I was able to visit the place where they made up a history for the Titanic experience in Orlando Florida. When we arrived to the place, we bought a ticket for our tour inside the place where they made the portrayal. We paid $30 each if I could remember it right? that was $30 per head. After an hour of waiting for our batch to come in for the tour, we were ushered in. Check it here. We were taken to different rooms. It is so beautiful and fancy.

It is interesting how they made that place where it looks like stars at night, in the side of the ship. Gorgeous!! What caught my interest was the list of all the passengers who were in the ship when it sank. The names of people who had survived were highlighted. There were lots of passengers who died than those who had survived. The most people who had survived were the ship crews and the most passengers who perished were the 3rd class passengers. The first class and the second class were not that many and the survivors are more than those who died. Interesting to know the history of Titanic. You can visit the site and see it for your self.

Trip to Florida

Florida is 9 hours drive from our place, North Carolina. We headed to Florida on May 18 to attend a graduation ceremony in Forest Lake Academy in Orlando Florida. It is a tiresome journey driving all the way without stopping except when we get gas or when we need to use the bathroom. We just bring our lunch and eat on the way. We left at 11 am and we arrive at 8pm.

We immediately check in to that Hotel close by and we stayed there for 4 nights. It is a nice place where we are at because it is peaceful. Since the Graduation will be on Saturday and we arrived there Wednesday night, we have 2 days to go around and enjoy ourselves. We went to the Aircraft Museum and spend almost a half day there, watching the displayed old planes used during the world war etc. Then we had our lunch just in the museum restaurant. They have a nice food there and the price is right.

Then we proceeded to the place where we saw the Titanic experience. Titanic Ship is very popular because it was known before to be the unsinkable ship. But unfortunately it sank. We had a tour in the Titanic portrayed ship with an energetic tour guide who explained everything that had happened during the Titanic time. It was a huge ship with different classic rooms.
Rich people have their area and the common people passengers have their places too.

We had come to the place in the ship where they displayed the list of all the passengers in Titanic who had died and those who had survived. Ad I look at the average of those who survived are from the crews of the ship. Of course they know what to do b where something happen to the ship because they are ship crews. Lots of passengers who perished where from the 3rd class passengers.

It is sad to think about it. But then it is a lesson for us to remember that we can trust Only to God not to men no matter how brilliant men are in creating that unsinkable ship, god has the final say of what will be the future of that ship.

Get Back from the Philippine Trip

Actually, were back in May but I was so busy with many things and I was not able to come here and share my experiences. Am glad I am back because it is too hot in the Philippines. Everyday is almost 100 degrees temperature and there is power cut off everyday. We are having a hard time sleeping at night, it's too hot and we have no air condition at home only electric fan which is still not enough to make us comfortable. But anyway, we had fun with our month visit there.

It is just funny because when we get back here in US, it is still cold. We use our coats hahaha. It is spring still but the temperature is cold in our state. I don't know in other states. But in the Philippines, all over the country is hot.. hot.. hot.. and power cut off.

We had a nice trip back with KOREAN air. I like the service of Korean airlines. They are taking care of their passengers very well. They are always checking if we have something to drink or if we are alright or need anything. It's a long trip. From Manila to Korea 4 hours, from Korea to Washington DC 14 hours the longest. But I am not so tired because we have our own tv screen in our seat and we can watch movies all the way if we want to. It is great!! I have fun.

I wish I can come back next year. Then we should save another thousand dollars for fare. Now we are trying our best to work hard so that we can save money for the next trip.

How to Make Simple macaroni chicken salad | eHow.com

How to Make Simple macaroni chicken salad | eHow.com

Excited for My trip back to the Philippines

Yahooooo!!! in almost 4 years of dreaming to be back home, finally the time has come. Five days more to go and I will be there.. hahaha . On the other hand, worried about the people who will be asking me pasalubong. You know? Filipino mentality!!! In their minds, all people who will come back Balikbayan as what they commonly said, wherever they come from as long as they are outside the Philippines they are balikbayans.. People are expecting that they all have lots of money because they are out of the country. WRONG impression. I wish they know how hard it is to live in a foreign land and job is not always promising. Much more if you have a family of your own to take into consideration.

Anyway, that doesn't matter. As long as I can visit again my home land and see my relatives and friends that's the most important thing. It is funny to think about this but I keep on smiling when with my plan to hide from people who are expecting pasalubong... hahahah... I don't want to disappoint them. I don't know what is the best solution to this attitude of Filipinos who keep on asking. hahahaha... Maybe they don't really mean it.. I mean not seriously!! just a joke to them but JOKE with meaning.. hahaha...

The sad thing is that when you can not give those who will ask, they will say comments like, tihik, nausab na, dalu na.. hahahah... I hope they would never do that. I can understand these attitudes but I don't tolerate it. If I have to say something I will do it just to keep their mouth shut. hahaha.. Sorry!! just stressful to think about it. We are now in the state of financial crisis and depression because of our present situation globally.

Nice feeling to be back home to ride jeepneys and tricycle hahaha... No problem of waiting for a personal driver to take us anywhere.. lots of public rides.. yeheeeyyyy!!!!

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At least I can Drive a car now!!!!

Driving has been a problem for me when I first came. I am dead scared behind the wheels. I have never experience driving a car in the Philippines and I never dreamed to be a driver of anything.
When my husband first taught me how to drive, I am scared because I really don't know how to manage myself, in what direction am going to turn the wheels Oh my goodness!!! He can't believe I don't have any idea about it. hahahah!!! then he said that I have to try using the lawn mower tractor just for me to be familiar with turning the wheels to any direction so, I did and I made it in a few hours of practicing. Then he let me drive the car, he was riding with me in the first few minutes then later he let me do it by myself but only in our drive way going back and forth. I do it everyday, just in our driveway. I am driving fine in our driveway because I am the only one but when we go out to the road Oh my!!! I get nervous. I feel like that the coming traffic would hit me then I close my eyes hahaha... Oh!! it was really a nightmare experience for me.. hahahah I want to just drive in the back road not in the highway. When my husband started to talk about driving and let me do it? I have all the reasons in the world so that I can't be on the wheels hahaha.. because I am scared. It is really a stressful thing for me.

It took me two years to be able to gain my confidence on the road. For two years, I keep on praying that somebody would be willing to drive with me on the highway, not my husband because the more I will be scared when he is with me, He keeps on making comments that make me more nervous and sometimes he raised his voice, he has no trust in me thinking that we might be crash if I will be the one driving because I am nervous all the time.. hahaha.. That's why I believe what most people say, DON'T LET YOUR HUSBAND TEACH YOU TO DRIVE, because he will drive you crazy hahahah!!!! Anway, I learned a lot of things from him when it comes to driving and traffic rules. Then comes a time that God hears my prayer. A lady friend offered to go with to practice driving on the road. She comes to the house and pick me up then we will go somewhere for the whole day. That's how I gain confidence driving on the highway. Many times she helped me to fight my fear. There were times that I don't want to drive because I am scared but she is very patient with me hahahah!!! the thing she did is, she will not really drive, she wants me to drive or else we can not go anywhere. She will just sit down in the passenger's seat hahaha.. I was forced to do it myself and that's how I learned. As the days go by I was able to overcome my fear and can manage to drive following the speed limit unlike before that I drove 25 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour speed limit hahahah.. the drivers following me keep on blowing their horns because I am too slow.. hahahah but now? I sometimes go beyond the speed limit. I have no driver's license yet just a learner's permit. The sad thing is that, the engine of my car broke down before I was able to get my license. I stopped driving since then. I will not drive any car except mine because I am used to it.

I will wait until my car would be fixed then I can drive again. We have no budget at the moment to fix it so, I will just wait. I hope I still have the confidence to drive when my car is done.

Preparing for the mission trip to the Philippines

We are now close to the time of our departure to the Philippines doing missionary work. When this plan of having a crusade in the Philippines was shared to me, I was so excited to join because this is the exact time where I can go back home. I was not able to visit Philippines since I left on 2006 almost 4 years now. It has been planned a year ago but I have no idea since that time of what I will be doing. Just few months ago I have decided to do the VBS. When our group leader knew it, he make me the in charge of the VBS program. That's where I start to have stress much more when I knew that they in the Philippines already have almost 200 kids enrolled in the VBS program. WOW!!! I started to panic of what I'm gonna do with that 190 kids? I started to pray and God has the answer.

Someone asked me to help in the children's program here in our church during a one month crusade and her program for the kids is so wonderful. I ask her if I can have her program so that I can use it for the mission trip. She gladly said yes, and eventually she help me to prepare everything for my VBS program in this mission trip. She is a craft lady and we have lots of craft activities for the most part.

At this time, we only have 4 weeks more to go but I still have to prepare lots of materials, cut outs, photo copy, lining up the activities for the program but I enjoyed a lot. Many people had asked me if I am now excited to go home and see everybody I left there but I said, not very much. My focus now is not really to have a vacation but to do mission work. I will think about meeting friends and relatives right after the mission work.

God is always good preparing a way for every plan we made.

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