I finally arrived at Chicago last monday (Tuesday Manila time)! Everything went pretty smoothly and I'm just thankful to God nothing really that bad happened...hehehe....if you've read about my previous posts, you'll see why I'm so damn scared to be here...Oh well...Lemme start narrating how my days had been so far...this will probably be a long post so please be patient...hehehe...

I left manila 7am on monday...was pretty scared coz this is the first time I'll go to US and travel by myself...good thing I had a cousin who works at the airport and he accompanied me all the way to the waiting area...badtrip nga lang coz I had to dispose my lighter coz bawal daw! so no yosi for me til I reach chicago...hehehe...

First stop: Nagoya, Japan...ganda ng airport nila...sobrang linis and parang it speaks so much of Japan na highly industrialized talaga... para shang isang malaking industrial zone...reminded me of CRYSTAL MAZE (the game show)...hehehe...I met this old lady who's also travelling alone...She asked if I could assist her when we reach Detroit kc wala nga shang kasama and it's gonna be a long wait for us... Being the kind person that I am (hahaha! wala lang din kc ako kasama! =P) I agreed... Only to find out later on that she was supposed to be in an earlier flight...

Next stop: Detroit, USA...still can't believe I was really in the US...first thing I noticed, there were no leaves...sobrang dull ng view from the plane..hehehe...namiss ko tuloy ung lush green leaves ng mga puno sa pinas...hahahaha...The immigration in Detroit scared the the hell out of me! Pano ba naman kc he asked me kung bakit daw kelangang 7 weeks ako nandito eh aattend lang naman ako ng meetings! I was caught off guard sa tanong nya kahit na i prepared for that question during embassy interview...malay ko bang itatanong yan ngayon! Tapos magfollow up pa na how can they be so sure that I will not work here for these people that I am meeting! I so wanted to tell him: "Peste! sino ba kc nagpapunta sa kin dito diba kalahi mo??!!!Kayong 2 mag-usap!" Hehehe...shempre, for the life of me, di ko sinabi un noh! Oh well, nanindak lang siguro sha coz when I showed him the supporting papers from RMS eh wala ng tanung-tanong! Ayun, go na ko sa to check in for my next flight...most of the people who were in the same flight as mine wasn't able to make it to the earlier flight so they booked for the 3:03 flight (the one I am taking)...kakaaliw pala ung airport sa detroit, it's so huge there's actually a tram within the airport!hehehe...

At around 3:40PM, plane landed at the chicago o'hare airport...it's a lot smaller than the one in detroit...Met up with Lynne even before I got my luggage...tita gloria was with her...sobrang bait ni tita, papunta pa lang kami sa apartment she was already giving me street directions to get to this and that...medjo nalula ako ako sa dami ng street names!!! hehehe...by the time we arrived at the apartment, my roommate was still not there...so I unpacked my stuff and went to the nearest amex to encash my check...after that, had an early dinner at Big Bowl with that cute waiter who apparently knows how to speak Filipino! I still don't know how he found out that we were Filipinos but hell it sure did payoff coz tita gave him a large tip...mas natuwa pa kami sa kanya kesa sa food that he was serving...hehehe...tita, by the way, treated us to dinner...sobrang ok diba??!!! then we went back to the apartment to wait for ate emily to fetch us...she took us to their house to change clothes and ihatid si tita who's going to the casino...after that, lynne, ate emily and I went back downtown to figure out my way to the office...also went to Dominick's to buy some food supply for the rest of the week...sobrang saya coz even though it's only now that I got to meet tita gloria and ate emily, they were just sooo accomodating! No wonder Lynne loved it here kaya ayaw na bumalik ng LA!

the next day, march 15, I was off to my first day in the chicago office...before I left the apartment pala, I was able to meet my roommate already....she was kind naman as opposed to what I've been hearing before I left manila...she even helped me find chie and assisted me when she realized I was still at the reception waiting for my new manager...I stayed at chie's work station for a while until Rich fetched me and accompanied me to my work station...He was really apolegetic that I had waited so long before they finally arrived...after that, he gave me my laptop and took me to a tour in the 4th floor. After that, we had a meeting with the whole team before lunch. During lunch time, I went to buy a simcard for my phone which cost me 60 friggin dollars!!! boy that's really expensive!!Oh well, I was desperate so I bought it! Then in the afternoon, another meeting with Sandeep who's going to somehow guide us in this ESS stint. Then most of the time were spent setting up my laptop... after office, I met up with Lynne to check out the stores in michigan avenue...boy that was such a looooong walk! We walked through the whole Magnificent Mile! kapagod sobra! first shopping stop: Victoria's secret... bought some for tita erns and ate mel...saka na namin puntahan ung ibang stores coz napagsarhan na kmi... then mineet namin si ate emily who treated us to bennigans (yep, libre nanaman!hehehe)....I ordered for Monte Cristo sandwich which I thought was just similar to our clubhouse sandwich in manila but it turns out parang pang tatlong araw na meal itu!!! those sandwich slices were really BIG!!! twas really yummy! it's basically a deep fried battered sandwich with ham and cheese filling (imagine the carbo and fat!) that you dip in raspberry sauce...yumyum...which reminds, me, I still have a couple of slices left in the apartment! cant wait to go home!!! hehehe....after that, we walked home to the apartment and decided to call it a night...medjo malamig kc so di na kami naggala...

Second day at the office was pretty more relaxed...i discovered this place na parang foodcourt just a stone throw away from the office..hehehe...ang saya...adventure itu...took lunch at popeye's...just wanted to compare the taste of chicken here and sa manila...it tasted better here nga...sobrang juicy nung chicken and malasa sha...pero it would have been a lot better kung may rice!!!!! waaaahh!!! i miss eating rice!!!! i have not eaten rice since yesterday!!!! hayy....gotta find one for dinner!!! hindi ko na kaya itoh!!! :'(
hehehe...OA...wala lang, I just miss eating rice...hayy...after eating, I went to walgreen and bought some stuff: a notebook and an eyebrow trimmer and kitkat for dessert...hehehe...ayun lang...

I better go now...6 na pala...tama na pagpapanggap...hehehehe...

that's all for now...tomorrow's another day and the adventure continues...sa pagbabalik ng THE BUZZ!!! hewhewhew....korni anubayan!