Onsyor Blues

Don't you just love it when you can find the perfect song to what you're currently going through?

Ako ang nakikita, ako ang nasisisi
Ako ang laging may kasalanan
Paggising sa umaga, meeting ang almusal
Bago pumasok sa opis
Kapag nangangatwiran, ako'y pagagalitan
Di ko alam ang gagawin
Ako'y sunud-sunuran, ayaw man lang pakinggan
Nasasaktan ang damdamin.

Ako'y walang kalayaan
Sunod sa utos lamang.

Paggaling sa opis, diretso na ng Sterling
Wala naman akong aabutan
Wala doon si Arvin, wala doon si Ceejay
Si Glenn ang naghihintay
Pagtawag ng barkada, sa kanila'y sasama
Lagot na naman paglarga
Kapag nangangatwiran, ako'y pagagalitan
Di ko alam ang gagawin.

Ako ang nakikita, ako ang nasisisi
Ako ang laging may kasalanan.

Brewed Iced Tea?

The Chicago office pantry...

I like it better than the one back home. Water and ice dispenser, brewed coffee (may decaf and french roast pa), and Swiss Miss hot choco packets. There's one thing though that I still can't figure out:

Brewed Iced Tea.

First time I was there, I pulled a 16 oz styro cup from the dispenser on the wall, poured out some brewed iced tea and added ice. Nilagyan ko pa ng straw.

Pwe! Ang pait! Yun pala tea lang yun. na may ice. (Iced tea nga naman diba?).

I had to put in lemon juice and sugar pa pala (stupid). In Manila kasi you just get it from the dispenser then drink agad. Here, tinitimplahan pa... and it's not iced tea mix + water + ice. Here it's brewed tea + lemon juice (in packets) + sugar + ice.

My second stab in making iced tea was worse. I put in too much lemon juice. Pwe! Ang asim! It tasted more like lemon juice than iced team. Third try, I added too much sugar. Inistraight ko na lang para di sayang.

I think it only started to taste like iced tea in my 7th try. It still tastes awful though...

Life, Weather, Bridges and Water in Chicago

So many random stories I don't know where to start. So many things have already happened but haven't got time to blog about.

So... where do I start?

Life here in Chicago is cool! Office is just 2 blocks away, we have a nice chilly weather, people are nice and living here also has given me a feeling of self accomplishment since I have to do everything here on my own. No maids, no labanderas, no cooks... just me. I'm not really good at it yet but I'm getting the hang of it.

***

Like I said, the office is just a 2 blocks away and walking there hasn't been a problem for me. I enjoy walking in the cold weather, walking through downtown Chicago, staring at the buildings, breezing through pedestrian crossings, gazing at occassional limos/porsches/bmw's that drive by and just freezing my nose off in the process. I like the cold. I walk outside on a 12 C degree night (plus wind chill factor) with just a T-shirt and a thin jacket tapos sa tabi pa ko ng river naglalakad. This afternoon, I walked all the way to Old Navy to look for an office jacket and I noticed I was the only one with just that attire. The others had fur coats, leather jackets, super kapal jackets tapos I'm still in my "Baguio Attire"...weirdo...

***

I had a blast last night. It was just the second time I actually went out and tried to have fun in Chicago. The first time was when Ceej, Che and Ann (someone I just met but feels like I've known her for years) walked around Michigan Ave. This time, it was supposed to be a big welcoming event for me and Che with all the Accenture onshore people all the way to Chinatown that was reduced into a Kat & Arn gimmick (even Che was busy :(...) Kat toured me though the north part of downtown Chicago and we went to four of the would be my favorite spots here. The first one is the 8-storey Sports Authority building 2-3 blocks from here which has all the sporting goods you'll need. Back in Manila, I looooove sports shops even I'm not yet cleared to play. So many stuff I wanted to buy - caps, New England Brady jersey, baseball mitts and it was the first time I saw skis, skiboards and other stuff that's not available back in the RP. Right across that is the biggest McDonald's I've been to. It has two floors, plenty of seats (some hi tech and some are lounges), a dessert and coffee bar, a McDonald's museum and escalators! Cool! We didn't eat there though... we ate in the other building across that - Portillos. Haay... my first Chicago burger/fries/drink combo. I just ordered for a "cheeseburger, large fries and large coke" which in Manila is just a snack for me but I ended up with a huge burger with everything on it (talo pa Big Mac), a bag of fries and a BIG styrofoam cup of coke. I used to devour these things in under a minute but that one took me a while to finish. To walk off what we ate, Kat and I went to John Hancock Centre just in time before closing time. What a view! It was one of the few places where you can view Michigan, Indiana, Wisonsin and obviously, Chicago. Great place! Cool gimmick though she was just a one-person welcoming committee. All the walking took a tool on my knees though as it was the first time it was stretched for a looong time. Jes' cool!

***

When walking to the office, I always walk through a drawbridge to cross the Chicago river. The bridge has this pedestrian sidewalk that rattles and clangs when cars drive by. The sidewalk is made up of thin steel sheets and there are crevices where you can see the river below. Sometimes I have the feeling that these sheets may not be connected properly to the bridge and stepping on the wrong side of the sheet transforms it into a trap door. One time, I was walking through that bridge, all smiles as usual then suddenly this bus sped by, violently rattling all the metal sheets. Ayan napamura tuloy ako.

***

The bathroom faucet has three settings. There's "Pucha that's cold", there's "Pucha that's hot" and there's just plain "pucha...". I'm still trying to figure it out. I think the cold water is the default water and hot water comes 10-20 seconds late. "Pucha that's cold" setting is my first choice in the morning. Not that I wanted it that way but I always forget in the morning that Chicago water is cold. Manila water is lukewarm (...and dirty). By the way, Chicago water is one of the cleanest in the US. I'm still getting used to drinking straight from the faucet. Anyways, the second setting, "pucha that's hot" is really really hot. Coffee water hot. Yes, it's steaming. Get the idea how hot that is? Now imagine showering with that in the morning... ouch. The last setting is the curveball setting. If you expect hot water, it comes out cold. If you expect cold water, it comes out hot. "pucha" nga naman diba?

Walking through Wacker

Me and Ceej on the way to Che's in Michigan Ave.



Ann, me and Che

Touchdown Chicago!

After weeks of stress, of training and practicing answering questions in front of a mirror while maintaining a smile (ala beauty pageant), of indecisions and one week of panic buying... finally I'm here.

I will (and already do) miss so many things back home - my family, my hamsters, my car, etc... which is why I arrived here not entirely happy but I didn't wanna come here and just sulk on my decision of leaving home. I came here to work to, enjoy as much as I can and to try not to let MyScheduling blow up.

For all those na di ko nasabihan pala... my apologies. Everything happened so fast, as in faaaast. I'm here in the Chicago... and if I owe you something in Manila, I'll pay you back in a few months. :P I

As usual, the journey was excruciating. The checkin line for Northwest in NAIA was a mile long, I terribly lacked sleep and I had to carry around a clunky laptop bag and a full sports bag all the time (note to self: either carry a light bag or make sure it has wheels). I just wanted to make sure I do everything right so Che and I don't end up in China (or Timbuktu). By the way, we ran into Cindy who's my S20 blockmate back in college (what were the odds of that?!?). First time I saw here since... Gokongwei days. :)

Finally we were out of Manila and arrived in...

Nagoya,Japan!

Well, there wasn't anything special here. It was only a 30 minute wait


[Nagoya] Cindy and some handsome fellow...

After that it was the horrible, turbulent flight to...

Detroit, Michigan!

It was one of the most horrifying sights in my life... the wobbling wing of a Boeing 747 as the plane violently shook up, down, left, right spilling flight attendants' coffee and tea filled pitchers. Oh, did I mention I love watching "Aircrash Investigations" in National Geographic? It's not a good idea to watch that before your flight. Anyways, I only got a few minutes of sleep because of that. The movie was kinda good though: Monster in Law, XXX 2 (The movie ha... di yung rating), and March of the Penguins. There was an oldie show earlier but I ditched that for my Calvin and Hobbes comic book. Upon reaching Detroit, my legs were wobbly, my eyes were puffy and my tummy was like "what the hell was that?!? there's no way that was beef". Cindy went ahead to her next destination while Che and I had to wait for almost 2 hours for our next flight, which I didn't really complain about - we needed rest.


[Detroit] The view from the seat where I was waiting...


[Detroit] Che and the same handsome dude...

Detroit airport is cool. A walkalator and a mono rail! The shops were good though it was expensive as expected. My first purchase was... a $1.75 bottle of Sprite. hehehe

After 2 hours, we left and was finally in

Chicago, Illinois! (aka the Chinese village of Tsi Ka Gaw... sorry Karlene hehehe)

We were too drained to take pictures already. Weather was good. Not hot, not chilly... just right. The welcoming committee of Ceej, Ann and Arves were there which was a welcome sight. The cab driver who drove us all the way to our apartment was interesting. He looked like a musician. Inside the cab was a poster for a Brazilian Latin music group's CD launching or something. The person in the center looked familiar... wow! he WAS a musician. Kaya pala pag sakay namin nag play agad sya ng latin instrumental CD. Maybe he was plugging it hehehe. Shrewd. Finally I met some of things I heard so much about but never saw in real life... The Sterling, The apartment (which I believe was the apartment also of previous onshore people), our office building and the "Oh my God, cell phone yan?!?" MyScheduling Chicago Primary Support phone. Also, now I understood Mahar's latest blog entry... it did smell like chocalates here. (I can now imagine my dad making a joke where the punchline will be "Chicogolates"). Just a few hours in and I already owe Che 20 bucks and Ceej a burrito. (Thanks Ceej! Sorry natulugan ko kayo...)

Haaay... after months of preparation and stress, we're finally here. For now I can only sigh and smile. :)