Bravo Ms. Carol Bacera!

(This is a repost from my Friendster blog dated October 21, 2008.)

I just watched her on Wowowee. Clap! Clap! Clap!

You might ask, “Why does bechay make a fuss about her?” or you might ask this way, “Who the hell is she?"

Well, I know her and I saw her dancing fabulously on national television today! She danced at her very best! She doesn’t know me (Sigh!) But I personally know her sisters. :) Carol and her family live in Barangay Karaos, San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, Philippines. Next to her place is Barangay San Isidro, which is my beloved barangay. Karaos, formerly called “Motorpool” was once a part of San Isidro. And it was my late Dad who recommended for its “barangayhood” who was the Barangay Captain that time. Hmmm. It seems that I am tackling history now, hehehehe!

When I turned on the T.V. and pressed the remote control on Channel 2060 which is The Filipino Channel, Wheel of Fortune segment in Wowowee was already on its halfway. Willie was interviewing a gorgeous lady and a stunning guy. I could see that they are some kind of a performer or a dancer because of their outfit. When the camera was focused to the woman, I frowned. I thought I knew her! When she greeted her children and her family in Barangay Karaos in San Francisco via t.v. I was right then! She is Carol Bacera!

Anyways, I have seen her dancing in person once or twice only and if my mind serves me right, that was during Araw Ng San Francisco Celebration and or that was during the Association of Barangay Captains (ABC) Christmas Party many years ago. She was always that graceful and gorgeous!

When she and her dance partner Gerard danced together, the studio crowd gave them a deafening ovation and they requested for another dance round! Bravoooo! So they danced Rumba and the crowd was carried away with their performance. I admit I was carried away too! Willie thought them as a perfect combination and because of that, he gave them a perfect score! Not only that. He gave them a 20,000.00php in cold cash! Though she didn’t make it to win the game, for me she was the winner!

As her kababayan, I am so proud of her! I wish her good health always and more luck!

Keep going Carol!

It Snowed Here Today!

It’s like a dream come true to me.

Wooow! I got to see the snowflakes fell and got to touch the snow on the ground here for the first time! I have seen this only in movies! When we got here in US last April, I got to touch a “leftover” snow along the road going to Round Mountain but the feeling today was quite different.

I woke up around 6am today and it was still dark outside. Hubby came home around 7:00am and he told me that it snowed last night. I thought he was just kidding me. I went back to bed and curled up to keep me warm while waiting for Brenda since we agreed to walk at 8:30am on Fridays and Saturdays.

I woke up again around 8:15 then I noticed that our room seemed bright. When I peeked at the window blinds, I was really surprised! Oh My GOD! The yard was covered with snow! And when I looked up at the neighbor’s roof, it was also covered with snow! I ran towards the living room shouting to Jen and Jun about what I saw and they were laughing at me, they said I was too late because they already saw it and enjoyed the scene earlier. Oh gosh, I was late!

Anyways, Brenda came and we headed for a walk. I wore 3 layers of thick jogging pants aside from my warm wear and I wore 3 layers of sweater with hood, a bonnet and a thick gloves. Brenda wore same stuff too. We looked like Ninjas. Well, gorgeous ninjas! Ahem!

While walking, I got to appreciate the wonders created by God. Everything was white, the roofs, the yards, the trees and the flowers. The cars that parked outside got snowed too. Everything looked white, bright, pretty and amazing! The wind blew way too cold! Brrrrrr! I felt like I was a child taking off my gloves once in awhile and touching the snow in a car, in a plant and even in a fence! I scraped snow in a parked car and made a snowball and I played with them in my hands. I embraced the cold air, I laughed and I really enjoyed the beauty around me! I got really crazy! Brenda and I laughed together! She was happy to see me laughing and playing with the snow. She said I have not seen the whole scene on winter yet and wait until snow is 2- inch thick from the ground! Well, I don’t think I can still survive to walk when that time comes, yikes!

While exposed to the cold environment, I got runny nose and I was already shaking. And I thought to walk backwards to get rid of the cold wind that blew on my cheek, hehehe! But I was wondering how the ants, the rabbits and other animals and insects have survived in cold weather like this. I could not imagine!

Brenda said that according to the advanced weather forecast, it would be warmer tomorrow so there will be no snow. She added that it got snowed earlier this time, it is usually get snowed here only after Halloween so maybe we will have a bad winter days ahead.

Well, we will see. I cannot wait to see more snow in the next coming days!

I wished my family and friends in the Philippines will experience this! They will surely appreciate this wonderful thing on the other side of the earth that God had created!

God Bless everyone!

We've Got our Green Card!

At long last, my teenagers and I got our Legal Permanent Card or what we called “Green Card’. At first, I thought its color is green but it is actually not :) Well, I experienced a lot of encumbrances before I got it.

I mailed the application last May 20, 2008, four days after we moved here. I got a Notice of Receipt less than a month after, then Notice of Appointment for Biometrics followed. I almost messed up my Biometrics because we were more or less 5 minutes late on our appointment time. We got lost for a million times in locating the Immigration office and it was a very humiliating experience for me and for my teenagers. Hubby was at work that time so my very kind sister-in-law took us there.

Anyways, the Biometrics was done on the 1st week of July. Afterward, I waited for the notice of the interview schedule and after a month I got it. The schedule was set on the last week of September. We waited for more than 2 hours in the Immigration Office and the interview was held briefly. In less than a week after the interview, I got a “messed up” Welcome Notice. It appeared there that Jun and me are Jen’s derivative, which was wrong because they are my derivative. So I called the USCIS about it but I was not able to get hold of them. I called them a million times, gosh, but to no avail. I was so real upset that time and I even had a serious argument with my hubby because I felt I was the only one who was trying to fix the problem. He was actually doing his part, trying to call the USCIS every now and then but it resulted the same. I became grumpy out of frustration. I even ranted and have had so many complain with him. I was bored, lazy, hot-tempered and impatient. And I did not attend ESL for 2 days. I was real bad that time. When I browsed their site, I found out that the phone lines of the USCIS were not working and they assured their clients to fix the problem as soon as possible, whew!

My husband finally got hold of one of the customer service officers of the USCIS the other Friday and informed the error. The customer service officer assured him that it will be taken cared of and he gave us reference numbers to be used when we make follow-up. He advised to wait for the green card and see it there is still errors. It may just a clerical error and the green card may come out clean. Hubby asked him if we are qualified to get an SS Number (for employment) since we already have the welcome note and he said we are qualified.

So we went to Reno last Tuesday to get SS Number. We could get the number in Elko though, which is nearer in Winnemucca but we liked it there in Reno since it has Asian Stores there where we can buy Filipino foods.

But we were frustrated when we got there. The SS officer disapproved the application. Geez. We waited there for 2 long hours! They wanted the green card as supporting document. There was nothing we could do about it so we went shopping and stayed there overnight as planned.

We stopped at the Post Office and checked our mailbox on our way home. the following day. There, hubby got 3 envelopes from the USCIS! The Green Cards! Yeheey! When I checked them, I thought there was no error at all. We were all too happy and we thanked the Lord for it. But wait, hmmm… hubby found out that Jun’s gender in the card is female, hahahaha!

Brenda took us to Elko to get Social Security Number this morning. And we finally did it!

GOD is good!

Now that I already have my green card, my next mission is to apply for a job and get hired.

Wish me luck!