A Flight Like No Other

I’m back with tons of stories to blog about! I haven’t been able to post anything for almost a month since we were busy preparing for our semi-impromptu trip back to the Philippines. We weren’t planning to take a vacation until December but due to hubby’s business requirements we decided to take a break from the island life and re-join the hustle and bustle of our native land.

Unfortunately, only hubby’s plane fare was covered by his company so for a while I wasn’t sure I would be able to join him and Raine (since Raine is below 2 her fare is only 10% of the adult rate). The plane fare from Marshall Islands is even more expensive than the fare from the Philippines to the U.S., would you believe?! Luckily, we were able to find someone who was selling his “miles” credits for half the price. The only catch was that the flight was not a direct one to Manila (i.e., Majuro-Guam-Manila), like the one Raine and I took last December coming to MI. It was a “hop-on” flight, which meant it would stopover on 4 other islands before landing in Guam and then Manila. Due to this, we were apprehensive that the flight would be too tiring for the little one. Hubby was familiar with the route and said it was pretty tiring and painful to the ears, what with the constant landing and taking off, every couple of hours. We prayed hard that Raine’s little ears would be able to take it.

The day of our departure we were up and ready before lunch for the 12:55pm flight. However, we found out that the plane was delayed and we would be leaving later in the afternoon. Continental had arranged for us and the other passengers to stay overnight in Guam due to the delay. We waited in the airport for about 4 hours as the time of departure kept getting pushed back further and further. It wasn’t a very comfortable wait since the airport didn’t have air conditioning or any form of entertainment to keep us occupied. But like most kids, Raine still found ways to amuse herself. I brought her two favorite stuffed toys and a few books to keep her entertained.

We finally took off at 5:30 pm. It was indeed a flight like no other, we felt like we were in a school bus with wings because every stop passengers would get off and new ones would take their place. From Majuro, we went to Kwajalein, then Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuk and finally Guam. At every stop, airport security checked the plane’s interiors and made sure all the carry-on baggage were accounted for.

Surprisingly, Raine was a good baby through all those stops. She slept most of the time, even during the landings while me and hubby were busy yawning and chewing gum to relieve our ears from the pressure. She was her usual inquisitive self, leafing thru the magazines, pulling on the tray table and giving our seatmate high-fives. She was a very happy baby, thank goodness. We arrived in Guam at 3 am and were billeted at the Hilton for the night.

Since our flight to Manila was at 6 pm we had time to rest and get our strength back from the looooong flight the previous day. We enjoyed the overflowing breakfast and lunch buffets at the Hilton and were even able to take in a little bit of pasalubong shopping thanks to a friend who drove us to the outlet stores.

The delayed flight turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we were able to recharge our weary bodies from the tedious "hop-on" flight in a 5-star hotel no less! Although I hope our return flight to MI won't be delayed, another free stay at the Hilton wouldn't be so bad either.

A ...ty-twoNA Party

For hubby’s birthday, friends bought him a huge tuna which our resident expert cook, Tintin, cooked in several ways. Being the “domestic goddess” that I am (NOT!), I don’t know the exact names of all the dishes but I found it really amazing how one kind of fish could be cooked in so many different ways without people getting “umay” with it. We had barbecued tuna, fish fillet, spicy tuna in coconut milk, sweet & sour tuna, sinigang sa miso type of tuna soup and fried tuna with sesame seeds and herbs. Wow, that’s six different dishes! I ordered the ever-reliable pancit bihon and lumpiang shanghai too for good measure.

Needless to say we had a feast! I’ve never been much of a fish-eater, I always joke with hubby that I must have been a mermaid in my past life. But on that day I had a lot of fun sampling the different fish dishes. Tintin could definitely give Rachael Ray a run for her money.

Hubby and his office buddies played poker until 2:30 am. Raine was in her element. She always enjoys it when there are a lot of people milling around. She would dance around to the music, go to her favorite Titas to be carried and pretend to be conducting her own poker game for one.

Entertainment and recreation facilities are very limited here on Marshall Islands but sharing happy times, a sumptuous meal and being in the company of good friends is the best R & R hands down.

Adventure is our tradition

On Maundy Thursday my Dad sent me a message thru Skype, “For the first time in 34 years, your Mom and I are home alone this holy week…”.

I was in Marshall Islands, Arlette was in Baguio with her in-laws, Sonny was in Tagaytay with his fiancé and her family and our youngest, Anthony was in the U.S. preparing for the Medical Board Exams over there. My parents were feeling the emptiness of their once-full nest.

Holy Week was usually spent together as a whole family. We would go out of town from Maundy Thursday to Black Saturday, somewhere not too fancy or far away. Subic, Batangas, Tagaytay, Cavite. My mom always made sure that although we’d be on vacation we would still take some time to observe that town’s Lenten activities. We would visit churches in the area and sometimes even join the procession and prayers. Last year we all went to Island Cove in Kawit, Cavite. It was an extra special time because both “apos” were present. Annika was almost 2 then and Raine was just 5 months old.

Holidays for me are all about spending time with family and friends, whether at home or out somewhere special. It’s the time to relax, have fun and be with the people you love.

This past Holy Week was certainly a lot quieter and simpler this year for my parents and for my little family as well. We just stayed home for the most part but we did get to attend the Easter Vigil Mass and was pleasantly surprised that it was conducted much like the way it is back home. At least that is one tradition we were able to observe and keep.

On Easter Sunday we attended a lunch party by the beach. The cool, ocean breeze and the company of neighbors, colleagues and new acquaintances was a welcome break from being cooped up in the apartment. Although we are far away from the homes we grew up in, we are grateful for the friends we have here who help make our days all the more enjoyable.

Being somewhat newly-married (2 years, 4 months and counting!), hubby and I have yet to really start traditions of our own. But every year is an adventure in itself and it's exciting making our own traditions as we go along.

April Fooled

It wasn’t intentional but it might as well have been since it happened on April Fools’ Day. At about 11:15 am the power went off in our apartment. I had steaks baking in the oven and was about to put some rice in the rice cooker. Raine was happily watching The Backyardigans on TV. I was bummed of course, we just had a power outage the previous Friday and I was surprised we were having another one so soon. Sidenote: About once or twice a month, there’s a 5-6 hour brownout here on the islands. They say it’s part of some maintenance or electrical work they are doing, I’m not really sure.

I called up hubby to tell him to bring some lunch since I wasn’t able to cook. I was hoping that the electricity would go back on by 4 pm. Raine took her usual afternoon nap but awoke after just an hour probably from the heat. I had been fanning her with one hand while I read a book with the other. Raine and I went to the veranda to cool ourselves. Thankfully, there was a nice breeze and I put Raine in her stroller and gave her a bottle of milk to drink as we enjoyed the view.

At past 5 pm I decided to call hubby and ask him if he knew what time the power would be restored. It turns out that our apartment was the only place where there was no power. I called a friend who lived in the apartment across the street and she said they had electricity all day. Suddenly, I noticed that our neighbor’s air conditioning was turned on. I went outside and the stairs’ light was also on. Across the street our neighbors’ homes had their lights on! Ours was the only one in darkness.

I called up the Marshall Electric Company (MEC) and after getting transferred to three people I was able to get someone to come to the apartment and see what was wrong. The person I talked to promised to send a lineman in 20 minutes. Hubby arrived and checked the main switches to see if the electricity had tripped or something. He went outside to check on our meter with a neighbor. When they went to the meter room they saw that the door was forcibly opened and our meter had been removed! We were puzzled, did someone steal the meter? If someone from the MEC had gotten it why would they have to break open the lock on the door? We called up the accounting department of hubby’s office to check if the bills for the apartment had been paid by the company and found out that the bills were paid on time so there was no reason for MEC to remove the meter.

It was past 8 pm and we were already pissed, the 20 minutes had stretched to two hours of waiting. The lineman that was promised was nowhere in sight. We called MEC again to make sure someone was on their way to the apartment. Hubby went outside to wait for the lineman. At about 9 pm the electricity went back on. At last!

Hubby came back to the apartment and said he had seen the lineman reinstall our meter. The lineman asked him, “Are you Paul Wright?”. What the *#&@! It turns out that it was our neighbor, Number 3 who’s electricity should have been cut and not us, Number 2! Argh!

Goodness, what a day! We were April Fooled indeed.

Our Little Energizer Bunny

Raine is turning into a very precocious toddler. Just recently, she was able to push a chair all the way to the front of the fridge all by herself. She then climbed the chair so she could reach the colorful magnets on the top half of the fridge! Good thing hubby and I saw her just in time.

Raine is such a bundle of energy, she’s our very own energizer bunny. She was up until 3 a.m. Saturday and Sunday night as well. Hubby and I were both so sleepy already but she was still wound up. I thought for sure she would sleep early Sunday because she slept so little the previous night and only napped for an hour in the afternoon, but there was just no stopping her.

Although the apartment has 2 rooms, the 3 of us sleep in the same room. We moved the other mattress to our room for Raine to have her own bed. To keep her from rolling off, we placed it against the corner wall. Her bed is flanked by our bigger bed and a long chest of drawers. Raine loves to go up and down both beds, hide under the covers until we “find” her and play with her stuffed toys. Unlike when she was a baby when I would rock and sing her to sleep, now she falls asleep on her own. The only problem is she’ll go to sleep only when she wants to, despite our bedtime rituals. Lately, I’ve noticed that she plays with her dolls more animatedly. She would get a couple at a time and pretend they were talking to each other then they would end their “conversation” by giving each other a kiss. It’s really hilarious watching her do this.

Sometimes despite her colorful toys and books, she prefers going thru all the cabinets and drawers she can open. I’m actually running out of kitchen storage space because the ones she can open are now empty. She used to take out all the pots and pans and pretend to cook her books or toys in them. Sometimes she would get the canned goods and other food items inside the lower cabinets and line them up on the sofa.

When she does something naughty or misbehaves (throw food on the floor, bang her sippy cup on the coffee table, chew on her books, etc.) I scold her and let her know that what she has done is not good. Sometimes she seems to understand and becomes quiet, but more often than not she would look at me with her big, round eyes and act like so sweet and innocent that I just have to stop and smile.

Everyday my little energizer bunny displays more independence and I see the baby rapidly turning into a little girl. It is only when she sleeps that the baby in her sometimes returns. She loves to sleep with her back against me or her Daddy’s. I know she’s tired and sleepy once she lies down, rolls around until her back touches my chest and snuggles up until she’s comfortable. Sometimes she takes my arm and wraps it around herself like a warm blanket. Within minutes she’s fast asleep.

I miss the baby that Raine was but watching her grow into a lovable tyke is something I look forward to everyday.

Making friends while increasing your PR

I never thought having a blog could also mean making new online friends. Only in the 21st century huh. I'd like to thank Pat for the Friendship Chain and Anna for the Linky Love tags.

Friendship Chain

~~Begin Copy~~

This is the easy way and the fastest way to :

1. Make your Technorati Authority explode. 2. Increase your Google Page Rank. 3. Get more traffic to your blog. 4. Make new friends.

Rules :1. Start copy from “Begin Copy” until “End Copy” to your blog. 2. Put your own blog name and link. 3. Tag your friends as much as you can.

1. Picturing of Life 2. Juliana’s Site 3. Hazel-My Life, My Hope, My Future.4. Jeanne-The Callalily Space5.My Family is my Life 6. My Charmed Life 7. To the Moon and Back 8. My Happy Place 9. I am Dzoi 10. 100% Kelly 11. Shopaholic Ties The Knot 12. One Hundred Eighty Degrees

~~End Copy~~

I'm tagging Agnes, Danie, Eileen, Faye, Jan, Jenn, Joanne and Mari.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linky Love

Cut and paste the following starting here.

I have randomly selected 5 of you below to be tagged and I hope that you will similarly publish this post in your blog. You will have to tag 5 other bloggers and just keep adding on to the list. (Do not replace, just keep on adding! Yes we hope it will be a long list!)It’s real easy!

Tag others and see your Technorati Authority increase exponentially!The benefits of Viral Linking:- One of the fastest ways to see your technorati authority explode!- Increase your Google PageRank fast- Attract large volume of new traffic to your site- Build your community- Make new friends!

The Strategist Notebook, Link Addiction, Ardour of the Heart, When Life Becomes a Book, The Malaysian Life, Yogatta.com, What goes under the sun,Roshidan’s Cyber Station, Sasha says, Arts of Physics, And the legend lives, My View, My Life, A Simple Life, Juliana RW, The Callalily Space, Petra Summer in Blue, Confessions of an Army Wife Bless’ Sanctuary Happy Life, http://bless519.bravejournal.com/, La Place de Cherie, Chez Francine, Le bric a brac de Cherie, Little Peanut, Pea in a Pod, The Creative In Me, Me and Mine, Pinay Mommy, Expressions from the Heart, TeacherJulie, Sweetbites by Bang, Paul, Toni and Lance - Bridging the Distance, Our Growing Family, The Uncensored life of me, My Untamed World, Something Purple, A Detour, Something Purple, Wifespeaks, Coffeenchoclate - Anna, One Hundred Eighty Degrees

I am tagging Jennie, Anne, Pheng, Rhea, May and Emz.

Raine Moments

Baby Raine, as her almost 3-yr. old cousin Annika calls her, is now 16 ½ months old. Not much of a baby anymore. She’s about 27 lbs now, quite chubby for a little girl her age, and showing more of a personality everyday. She has just recently learned how to give Mom and Dad a kiss, complete with a “mwah” sound. For awhile she would only kiss her stuffed toys. She also knows how to do the flying kiss, although, since I taught it to her to say goodbye to her rubber ducky after her bath, she would only do it in the bathroom. Her Dad taught her how to remove his socks and put it in the hamper. It’s really funny how she excitedly removes them when Rynor comes home from the office and she goes to our room to find the hamper to put them away. When she opens her books she starts pointing at the drawings and babbles away, as if she’s reading the words or making up her own story. To help her fall asleep I would often rock her stuffed toys to sleep, hoping she would want to do the same but she just picks up her toys one by one and hands them to me again and tells me to “meme” her dolls. Sometimes she does it herself, she takes 2 toys at a time and sways from side to side while she says “baby, baby” to them softly.

Her first word like most babies was “Mama” and then when she learned to say “baby” at about 11 months, she loved to say it about 100 times a day. When we got to Marshall Islands one of her first words was “dirty”. She seems to have a fascination with dust and dirt as she likes to pick up things on the floor and put them in her mouth! Gross, right? I’m always telling her not to do this because it’s dirty and that’s how she must have picked it up. Haha! She loves all kinds of music. Whether it’s pop, jazz, classical or hip-hop the minute she hears music from the TV or radio she would start dancing. She would move her body up, down, side to side. She would bob her head and raise her arms with a big smile on her face. It’s really a site to behold.

Raine also loves animals, especially dogs. Whether she’s watching Baby Einstein or Animal Planet, she would get excited whenever she would see animals on the screen. She would point at the TV and say “Oh, oh!”.

Sometimes when we are sitting together either on her bed or on the sofa she would stand up, go behind me and wrap her arms around my neck to give me a hug. She also likes to put her face very near mine and pucker her lips slightly, meaning she would like a kiss. Our little girl has so many adorable little antics and you can already see her personality emerging, but these are my absolute favorite Raine moments.