Tuesday October 24, 2006

October 22, 2006

Today we met most of our LA area members of JASHS Class ’70 USA, namely Roger and Bevs with son Nathan, Rey and Josie, Bert and Merlyn, Ed (Odette had to work), Nestor P and Daisy, Imelda and Dan. We had lunch at the nearby China Star Buffet Restaurant. I called Daniel and invited him to join us but he never showed up. I guess he must have changed his mind when he realized he’ll be eating with us old fogies again. We gave everyone an update on our situation in the Philippines, the new house and the ‘retired’ life in general. I promised Bert and Merlyn I’ll take a peek at their house which started construction October 10 at the Lakeshore in Mexico by SM and report everything back to him. Donna distributed the fund raising raffle tickets we got from our JASHS Class ’70 group in the Philippines.

It felt like the waiters were giving us dirty looks when it’s been a couple of hours and we’re still sitting around talking. So finally, we paid our bill and went home. Bert, Merlyn, Rey, Josie and Ed followed us to Emy and Nido’s place where my sister-in-law and her husband Jack were waiting to see us. I showed them the latest pictures of the house.

By the way, we left the Philippines and got done with all the construction on our new house. When we got here, Emy and Nido’s house is also under a major renovation. They’re adding on a living room, modifying their garage, kitchen, laundry room and master’s bedroom. Although it somehow felt that we never left due to all this construction mess, I still have been feeling homesick within the last couple of days.

Early this morning Donna woke me up and whispered (get your minds out of the gutter people!), “I’m hungry.” So we got up and she fixed some hot cocoa and the ever present Sky Flakes. Then we went back to bed. It felt like it was only after a few minutes when we got a phone call from Kong Paing. It was actually around 8:45. He picked up Kong Mansing and they came over. The three of us went to La Mirada Park a few blocks away and walked for about an hour or so while I told them all about (you guessed it) the new house. We went back to Emy and Nido’s place and we had a quick breakfast, talked a little more, then they took off.


October 23 Monday

It's been a busy day. Shopped some more at Smart & Final, took a look at Sam's Club to see if there's anything we like there. We called the GE people this morning to find out about the conversion kit on our range and they were going to send it to us but they needed the serial number of our unit so we had to call the Philippines and gave Len instructions on how to get it. Talk about phone calls, I also called Janina, Myrna's daughter, who's in Rhode Island for some training with IBM. She's a new hire, lucky for her she's being trained in the US. She's complaining of the cold weather but other than that she seems to be doing OK.

We dropped by Imelda's clinic this afternoon. She gave Donna some sample medication for her ailing stomach. I commented she really looks like a doctor with her stethoscope and white smock on.

Have to run to have dinner with Rach and the boys right now. I'll post pictures later.

Ok, I'm back from dinner - guess where? SAMURAI, that's where!


October 24, 2006

Didn't do much today. Bought a couple of things from Wal-Mart. Also, we called Len early this morning and inquired about the range's serial number that she and Armin got for me. I called GE afterwards and gave them the information. I was told we'll get the conversion kit in five to seven working days.

Donna and I had lunch with my former co-workers Deo and Sharon. We went to the food court on Telegraph in Santa Fe Springs. I had my usual tuna salad which is one of the things I've missed here. Sorry forgot to take pictures.

Early this evening Boy Dizon called to say hi. Donna was taking a nap at the time so she wasn't able to talk with him. As soon as I hanged up with Boy, Dan Garcia called. I didn't recognize his voice at first. He's in Antioch with his son Jonathan visiting a friend. He'll be back in the Philippines early November.

We're on our way right now to have dinner with Girlie who's in town for her Tuesday and Saturday school. Will take some pictures and post them later.