Anyway, what sorta made me laugh was an e-mail from a good friend who is the US now. Her life there was soooo funny (and kinda an eye-opener for Pinoys in the US and Pinoys who dream of living in the US, thought-provoking, lahat-lahat na!) that I thought of sharing them here. While reading it (especially her letter about dating), I suddenly remembered Ally McBeal. I never knew that she is a true-to-life Ally McBeal until now! And I love her more because of that! The thing is, I miss her even more...
Here is the excerpt of her e-mail about her life in the US. I withheld her name for anonymity. I used Janet Peters since it is the name that she is using there to sound "American". Laugh at her stories and hopefully, get some wisdom behind it.
May 25, 2006
hullo!
kumusta na kayo? pasensha at ang tagal tagal kong di nakapag-email sa inyo =( yung pc kasi dito sa office may malupet na firewall ... sobrang lupet na kahit na pwede kong basahin yung yahoo emails ko, hanggang dun lang. di ako pwedeng mag-reply. di ako pwedeng mag-delete at balita ko pa, if parati kong bibubuksan ang yahoo ko, posibleng tanggalin yung access ko dun. so in other words, once a day lang ako pwede magbasa ng yahoo mail. shet. kaya naman top priority ko talaga ngayon ang bumili ng laptop. (sigh ... gastos!)
tama nga sabi nilang lahat, laking mura ng laptop dito sa estados unidos. yung nga lang, shempre, canvass to death muna ako bago ako mag-invest sa laptop. ang pinakamahal na ok dito ay umaabot ng $1,000 (P51,000) at pinakamura na ang $500++ (P25,000++). so first sweldo ko, laptop ang una kong bibilhin para parati ko na kayong makaka-usap (ym) at makikita (multiply) at ma-e-email!
malamig dito nung dumating ako. first week ko dito was very cold. (shiyet, kala ko ba summer na?! lintek!) ... this week is better. i can go out wearing normal clothes. am indoors naman most of the time ... i only go outside to smoke (thank God may mga yosiholics din dito). yung nga lang, mahirap din maging generous sa napakamahal kong yosi! kailangan tipirin hanggang december! no way am i paying $5 (P250) for a pack of cigarettes! potah! no way mennn!
all my officemates here are pinoys..... as in lahat po sila! mas madaming girls kesa sa guys and yes, we also have our share of gays as well. =) of course, i had no idea he was gay ... he didn't seem gay at all ... someone had to tell me that he was gay. (well, we all know naman that my gaydar is almost non-existent so let's not be surprised). unfortunately, walang cute. (darn!)
my housemates (hahaha! feeling pinoy big brother ba?!) are ok din. 5 of us share a two bedroom unit. it has two bathrooms (one has a bathtub! yey!), two bedrooms (3 of us share the master's bedroom while the other two share the smaller bedrooom), a kitchen with everything in it (ref, oven, dishwasher ... we still have to buy a microwave), a living room (with 2 single sofas and one director's chair ... we still have to buy a tv) and a living room with a round table (we still have to buy chairs) ... obvious ba na ang dami pa naming kailangan bilhin? haaaaay .... bigla kong na-miss ang precious mircrowave oven (which i won in last year's office christmas party), ang precious tv ko at ang precious kong dvd player at ang pinaka-precious sa lahat -- ang sony radio/cd player ko ... waaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh .... *sniff sniff* well, at least nakabili na ako ng blow-drier so good hair day na ako parati! =)
wag kayo ma-shock ha pero alam nyo ba na 6am pa lang ay gising na ako? =) palakpak naman kayo para sa kin! =) major feat yun noh!! ang tanging dahilan lang naman kaya ako ganun kaaga gumising ay dahil ayokong mahuli sa banyo. shempre, i share the bathroom with two other girls so, hello, i can't take my sweet time in there anymore noh. medyo naninibago nga ako coz i never had to live with so many people. even if i want to get my own place, it's way too expensive. if ako lahat, wala na talaga akong ipon.
anyways, morning ritual ko is to wake up early, take a bath, cook lunch -- naknampucha! hahahaha! gulat kayo dun noh! of course i know how to cook! (am not that great but at least i can cook ... yung isang housemate e itlog lang alam lutuin!) wala naman kasi akong choice. di kaya ng powers ko maglakad in my heels in this cold weather noh! (heels kasi corporate attire kami dito ... huhuhu) unlike sa dati kong mga opisina na may malapit na starbucks and ministop and 7-11, dito sa ---, ang pinakamalapit na pwedeng kainan ay kasing layo ng greenbelt (from mile long ... or kasing layo ng shaw to st. francis square). if naka-slippers lang ako (wala kasi akong flats), at kasing init ng metro manila weather dito, siguro, pag-tya-tyagaan kong maglakad ... e hindi po ganun e. tapos, buti sana kung mura din sa mga lintek na mga fastfood chains na yan noh! shet, the other day, i ordered a meal at wendy's (grilled chicken sandwich+fries+drink), $6.00!!!!!!! that's 300 pesoses! so luto at baon to death na lang lahat, dammit!
ang mura lang dito ay make-up! (ang dami ko na nga dinala, bumili pa ako ...haayy ... please, pigilan nyo ako!) di na ako oily skin, ultra mega DRY skin na ako ngayon! fuck. halos minu-minuto ko kailangan mag-moisturize. kaya pala bentang-benta mga moisturizer dito! shet, baka di tumagal yung stock ko ng goat's milk! haay ....
i have my own little corner cubicle ... yun nga lang, i don't have that much office supplies yet ... i miss MY office supplies ... i just have one big mirror (vain vain vain) and my yellow starbucks water bottle (thank God i was able to bring that!) and some post-it pads and all my purple pens. that's about it. i miss everything else. flat screen yung monitor ko and it's big. i have my own hi-tech telephone ... it's so hi-tech i have no idea how to use it. i know it's mine coz my name is on the small computer screen.
speaking of names, am not called (real name) here ... they asked me to change my name coz it had to sound 'american' ... and since someone else was already using (real name), i ended up with : janet peters! bwahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! punyeta! utang na loob!!!!!! wag nyo na alamin kung saan galing yan. ang gusto ko talaga ay jen pitt. maraming tumutol ... este, lahat po sila ay tumutol! ok fine, whatever! di rin sila pumayag sa ashley judd. so ayun, janet peters na lang. grrrrr ....
saksakan ng mahal manood ng movie dito. last friday, buong office (around 20 employees lang kami) ay pumunta sa amc cinema at nanood kami ng da vinci code (ang tanging comment ko ay sana nanood na lang ako ng OVER THE HEDGE ... yung lang). $9.00 yung lintek na movie at $7.00 naman yung gigantic popcorn with gigantic drink. so a total of $16.00 (P800) ... shet panset! with $16, pwede na ako nanood ng walong movies sa megamall!
saksakan din ng mahal ang mga damit. pumunta ako ng gap at gusto ko sana bilhin lahat ng kulay ng tank tops na nakita ko ... nakapag-pigil pa naman ako .... so i ended up buying a purple scarf for only 0.97 cents (less than 50 pesos). sabi din kasi ng officemate ko, may gap outlet dito so dun na lang daw ako bumili =) by the way, halos lahat ng gap apparel dito ay made in the philippines! ano ba?!
dapat natuto na akong mag-drive nung nandyan pa ako ... kasi po dito, walang public transportation. as in WALA! we're all dependent on the other officemates who have cars. hatid sundo kami pero staff house to office to staff house lang. anywhere else, makiki-favor kami or makikisabay if that person is going there. yung pinakamalapit na kmart (parang sm dahil mura dun) ay 30minutes away via lakad. since batong-bato na ako last sabado, my housemate and i decided to walk to big kmart ... buti na lang the weather was ok. linakad na lang namin at namili kami ng hangers and other supplies ... buti na lang magaan yung hangers kasi kailangan din namin maglakad pabalik.
kwentuhan nyo naman ako! wanna know what i'm missing! =)
miss you all,
janet
1 comment:
Hi Jheck.
I could relate on some stuffs written here.
I arrived here summer at parang sa Pilipinas ang init without the humidity. Pero ang una kong napansin is ang tagal ng sunset. Eight pm na pero mataas pa rin ang araw kaya di ako nakakakeep track ng time.
Super strict din ang security sa office kaya di ako masyadong nakakapagbukas ng webmail at chat. Nakaorder na ako ng laptop last week so by next week balik na connection ko. Sa office, melting pot ng iba't-ibang lahi- may kano, may pana, may hudyo (na hindi kumakain ng ibang food aside from kosher), may pinoy, may ruso, may chinese at may pinoy chinese. Para kaming United Nations sa office-ibat't ibang kulay ng balat, mata at buhok.
Staffhouse naman. Since puno na lahat ng staffhouse pagpunta dito sa New Jersey, nagrent sila ng isang room sa bahay ng isang pinoy para sa akin. OK naman ang room. Remote controlled ang light at ceiling fan at may radio. Wala akong roommate at solo ko yung banyo (yes may bathtub sya). Mabait naman ang pinoy family na tinutuluyan ko di nga lang masyadong makuwento which is ok na rin. I have a key so kahit anong oras ako umuwi pwede.
Kung sa Manila eh inpossibleng makita akong gising ng umaga. Dito, lagi akong nagigising ng 7 am. Around quarter to nine ang dating ng sundo ko at by nine o'clock ang dating namin sa office. Usual breakfast ko is bagel with creamcheese at house choco (for a total of two dollars). Dito sa NJ, parang ang bilis ng oras, kauupo ko pa lang, basa ng kaunting mails then lunch na. Minsan di na ako naglalunch kasi di naman ako gutom lalo na kung panay utos ng pana kong katrabaho. Mas pala-utos pa sya sa manager ko na nagpappunta sa akin dito. Nakakainis na kung minsan kasi lahat ng inutos ng boss nya sa kanya pinapasa sa akin considering di ko naman sya boss.
Dito importante talaga marunong ka magdrive. Since di ako nagdadrive, di ako makagala kung weekend except one weekend na nagpunta kami sa Central Park New York para magpicnic. Masaya kahit nakakapagod. After that, punta naman sa Metropolitan Museum then sa Chinatown. Nag-bus lang kami papunta ng New York and from there, puro subway trains na lang kami.
Til next time...
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