Today is US Election Day

This is my first time to write a blog about politics and to write about my personal political views.

I am a politico myself. It runs in my blood. I was appointed as barangay official and served for 4 years back home and my late dad was a former Barangay Captain and was elected ABC President that automatically made him a member of the Legislative Body in the municipal government.

Today is a historic day of the U.S. They will elect for a new President and for Vice-President. They also elect people for other offices like Senators, Members of Congress and many others.

There are two political parties rival here: The Republican Party: John McCain/Sarah Palin and the Democratic Party: Barack Obama/Joe Biden. When I got here in U.S., it was the time when the Democrats are still choosing between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to represent the party. I was confused that time since I came from a different system of the government but hubby patiently explained it to me and by watching news on TV all the time, I was able to at least, understand its nitty-gritty. I witnessed the presidential nomination of Barack Obama. The Republicans, on the other hand, already nominated John McCain, when I got here.

I only have simple description on Republicans and Democrats. In my point of view, Republicans believed that less government, less government control. Democrats however, believed the “from the people, by the people, for the people” kind of government system. Again, this is just my point of view :)

As usual scene in every election, political ads have been posted everywhere; the candidates and supporters have been very busy in the campaign. Political views from prominent people have been solicited and featured on air in AM, FM and XM Radios and on TV as well. Presidential and Vice-presidential debates were held. I witnessed them all and I learned many things from it particularly about U.S. government.

While I am writing this post, millions of people are lining up to vote. I already have an idea on how the voters will cast their votes because two weeks ago, the ESL Class had toured the county courthouse. The county clerk discussed the political structure of the U.S. government with us and she taught us how to cast our vote in different ways: electronic or paper. We were given a chance to vote using the hi-tech voting machine. I voted for Benjamin Franklin :) I saw neither McCain nor Obama names in the choices :)

If you have poor hearing, the voting machine has a built-in hearing aide; if you are unable to use your hands, you could use your mouth by using a stick that looks like drinking straw for that purpose. If you don’t want to line up on the election day you can vote through mail, just make it sure that your ballots should reach in the courthouse before the election day. And also, you could vote early if you want, early voting was held last October 18 and ended last October 31.

There are different polling places in U.S. namely: schools, churches, malls and convention centers. You can bring anybody with you in the booth as long as you are comfortable with him or her, in fact, you can bring your children with you as well. By the way, Election Day is not a holiday here.

If I could vote, I would vote for Obama. I like his platforms and programs on 95% tax cut of working families, on war, on the economy, health care, veterans’ issues, energy, and education and on working women. Also, I think he got brains.

In fairness to John McCain, I like his sense of humor :) His stints at SNL are just plain funny and if you guys saw him in that charity event that he and Obama gave funny speeches, for me, McCain certainly won that round. His recent interview with Larry King was also funny.

Nevertheless, whoever wins, I am sure that the Americans will support him 101%.

And whoever loses, he will always be a part of this historic event of this country.

May the best man win!

Trick or Treat?

Halloween or “Trick or Treating” happened every night of October 31st here in U.S.

Americans celebrated it with a big bang.

As early as August, the stores would sell Halloween decors and scary outfits for kids and there were for adults as well. Jack O’ Lantern made of pumpkin is a common décor here. And as early as August, Moms are crazy looking for their children’s outfit too. Nathalie was one of those mommies J. She bought cute witch outfit for Jaka with matching devil’s horns headband.

As I go take long walks six times a week, I have observed how the Americans decorated their porches and yards with scary stuff. There were giant pumpkin balloons, giant black spider in web, skull with candles, giant ghost balloon, skeletons in a made it appeared grave with “RIP” in it, giant witch, different sizes of bats and other silly stuff.

Halloween Parties or “Spooktacular” Shows and Magic Shows are also common. Hubby won free two tickets from the mine and he was excited for Jen and Jun to watch it but unfortunately, we forgot it because we were too focused on the trick or treating.

Around 5:30p.m yesterday, hubby, Jen and I went to Wal-Mart store to buy more bags of chocolate candies, we already bought five big bags last September but they were yummy so we ate the two bags. We saw Nathalie and Amber, her stepdaughter together with Jaka and Amber’s kids: Michaela, Khody and Tristian in the parking area. I was so happy to see the kids with their outfits! Jaka looked cute on her witch outfit, Michaela wore her other version of witch outfit with its famous long triangular black hat, Khody was so cute in his pirate outfit but the cutest among them was baby Tristian, he was Nemo, the famous fish of Walt Disney’s. Each of them got a huge bag for the candies except Tristian because he got a small size pumpkin shaped canisterJ. They were indeed so cute!

I thought they were there to buy something but I found out that they were there for treat or treating! And I really went with them while hubby and Jen headed to buy more chocolate candies. The store greeter gave them candies. The saleslady in a witch outfit in the Jewelry section gave them candies too J. She took picture of baby Tristian sitting very cute inside the shopping cartJ. Wal-Mart employees wore their Halloween outfit too; I saw two fairies, witch, ghost, etc. I saw a long-legged lady wearing black mini skirt with matching red fish nets stockings and black boots, not to mention her Red velvet Dracula’s cape J. She was not one of the store employees. She was a shopper like me J. In fairness, she’s sexy and gorgeous! There was a whole family for trick or treating who really dressed-up! The mom wore a bluish polka dots dress (I couldn’t figured out what character she was trying to portray). The dad wore all white outfit with an ugly face and a long white beard. I couldn’t remember their children’s outfit J. Nathalie took picture of them maybe I could post it here later. There were more children coming in the store with different cute outfit. They looked excited and happy!

Nathalie and her group left ahead and they said they would go to Brenda’s house then to our house thereafter.

When we went home, they were already there! Hehehe! Jun had already given them candies but we gave them with what we bought earlier and we posed for a photo souvenir. I don’t have the picture yet as of this moment because we used Nathalie’s digicam.

It was already 7:00 o’clock and there was no second batch yet. I checked if the light on the porch was on, according to Brenda, if your porch’s light is on, that means that you allowed trick or treaters. It was on. Hmmm. I felt sad that time. I am afraid that nobody would come. I don’t want to keep a basinful (small size) of chocolates and candies. They were intended for the trick or treaters. Jen prepared the camera because her dad told her if somebody knock on the door and say “trick or treat!” Jen would say, “Before I will give you candy, may I take a picture of you first?”J Hehehe!

Few minutes later, the doorbell rang and I was the one who opened it and before they say trick or treat I already gave them a handful of chocolates, I was too excited JThere were two of them only, they were both girls. They ran towards their mom screaming because they got a lot of candies from meJ.

Afterwards, I stayed in the room with hubby watching TV and we heard our doorbell rang many times J. Around 9:00 pm I went out to the living room and I saw that the basin has still candies on it but only less. I smiled. When I checked the camera, I was happy to see few pictures. I was satisfied. I told Jun to turned-off the light.

Then we tried some of the remaining chocolates and candies. They were yummy!

I wished my nephews and niece were here to enjoy trick or treat and to enjoy chocolates and candies!

A 15-minute Visit to a Retirement Home

(This is a repost taken from my Friendster blog.)

It was just a short visit.

It touched me spiritually and emotionally.

And it taught me lessons in life.

While penning this blog, my heart is still bleeding. I cried earlier.

Ten minutes ago, Brenda and I went to a retirement home to visit her neighbor named Frances whom I had also met once during the celebration of the Fourth of July at Brenda’s house. She is in her mid-80s. She was rushed to the hospital in Reno for a mild stroke last August and stayed there for almost two months. Every now and then Brenda updated me about her. Last week she told me that Frances was moved back here from Reno but stayed in Harmony Manor, a retirement and a rehabilitation home that is a walking distance away from Frances’ house.

So Brenda and I agreed to visit her for a few minutes after taking long walks. Brenda baked pumpkin bread for her.

When we got there, my heart became heavy that I couldn’t get myself inside the building having thoughts of what I heard from friends and what I saw in movies about the place like this. I had an indifferent feeling. A lady in an open office smiled at us. The place was clean and everything was in order. There were plenty of books and magazines inside. There were more or less five old folks doing something in a kind of living room across the open office. They smiled at us. To me they looked trying themselves to be happy. We headed to Room 406 to see Frances. She was not there but I saw few of her comfort belongings like cute stuff toy, a pretty warmer given by Brenda, etc. We went back to the open office and ask about Frances and she replied that she was in the Physical Therapy room and she showed us the way.

We headed to the therapy room while my eyes were wandering around. It was my first time to visit such place. There were old people coming towards us and they smiled and we greeted each other. There were wheel chairs in every corner. The entrance of each room has label on the names of the patient with corresponding pictures. I saw a picture of a very old man who is trying to project a smile. I could see a child in him. And I remember my grandfather back in the Philippines. He is 95 years old. It made my heart heavier.

The therapy room is like a fitness center. I couldn’t tell what are those exercise equipments inside because they were new to me but I am sure that I saw treadmill. There were televisions in two corners. The patient could watch TV while doing their exercise. I saw Frances and a therapist in the center of a two long round bars that serve as support while the patient do the walking exercise. I could see that Frances was very happy to see us. She smiled widely. We didn’t want to interrupt her so we told her that we would wait and would watch her so we took a seat. While observing her walking too slow and her hands were holding the bars, her body trembling trying to stand stiff while the therapist supported her body, I had tears in the corner of my eyes. I tried to hide them. I could see that she was doing her best just to carry herself for a walk. Oh God, I almost couldn’t stand it so I averted my eyes in the other part of the room. There was an old woman doing her arm exercise and someone came that looked like her daughter. They smiled at me. Frances requested to take a rest to talk with us. The therapist had a hard time putting her into her wheel chair.

I was happy that she still recognized me. We talked. She hardly pronounced a word but I could still understand what she meant. She said her goal is to get back to walk so that she could walk going to her house. She said she was happy that she was moved here thinking that her house is just a walk away from where she is. She said she was excited to use her new dishwasher her husband bought for her. She is excited that her husband is very busy now preparing for her coming home very soon. I was really touched.

After a few minute of talk, we bid goodbye. Brenda hugged her and I held her shoulder before we left. I had teary eyes but I still was able to read these words in the wall that caught my attention: COURAGE, DETERMINATION and ENTHUSIASM. They are visible for the patient to read while they are doing the therapy to encourage and challenge them. It really made me cry until I got back in the car. Brenda said she felt the same way too. In a cracking voice, I said to her that when she and I will get old and sickly like Frances and we stayed in a retirement home, we will just hope that somebody would remember us and would care to visit us. She answered, we will visit each other :) Her answer made me smile with tears. I didn’t know that I am an emotional person. All my life, I thought I was very strong and tough but I was totally wrong. With this experience, I really discovered the other side of me.

When I got home, I shared it to my daughter what had been transpired in my visit to Frances. She listened seriously. She felt sad too and then said “Post it in your blog Ma”. I did.

The lesson I learned is that Courage, Determination and Enthusiasm are not only for those old people who were trying to make their lives longer but also for everyone who struggled to make their lives better and meaningful.

It was just a 15-minute visit but it really touched my heart, my mind and my soul.

I hope this post touches yours too.