Okay...I just got back from a small gathering. It's funny how after a year, we still are invited as guests and asked questions like, "Do you have a Santa Claus?", or "Do you celebrate Christmas?". I always thought that only our students are curious about these things. So again, every Filipino there was asked to introduce himself and to tell them something about his family. I think most of them spent a good 3-4 minutes and I just said that my mom, my sister and my dog are in the Philippines and my dad is in Wisconsin. Basically, I have a boring life; I don't have much to tell. They were so polite they just asked me what kind of dog I have.
Let's see...these are the things I heard today from my fellow Filipinos working here:

We started with Silver and she told everybody how we were culture shocked the first time we got here. She compared our students from the Philippines with the students that we have here. Big Difference. She then told them about her husband who came here about three months ago and about her daughter who will be here after she graduates from highschool.

Then it was Stella. She started by saying that she was the last Filipino to arrive here and that her baggages were misplaced for some reason in the airport. She ended up buying clothes from WalMart just so she could wear something else in the house or to school. She told them about her educational background (got her Master's Degree in Australia) and that she worked for four years in the Philippines prior to that.Her sister used to stay in New York (she now resides in L.A.) and Stella decided to stay there as well until she got the job to teach here in Bastrop.

Of course like I mentioned, I didn't say much during my turn. What I said earlier was pretty much what I told them. So when we were saying our goodbyes, one of them told me, "So you're the shy one". Nah! Maybe I am but it's also because I hate speaking in English for one whole day. I mean, that's all I speak in school and somehow my mind is trained to speak my native tongue after school hours. Well, you know that's not true. I really just have a boring life and nobody should be interested with that story.

Next is Rissa. First of all, she was praised for doing a good job in their school. She knows one of the people there and I think they even work together in some program for the school. She talked about her daughter who will be with us May of next year. Of course they all knew that we are moving together in one house so they asked where it is located.

Janet is the noisemaker of the night. At first she was talking about her scary driving skills. Not scary as in the-fast-and-the-furious scary. Scary in the sense that she is careless. She told them that she took the driving test three times before she passed it. Janet also mentioned about her family but always tries to convince everybody that her family doesn't want to live in here because they like the city life. She also mentioned that her son had four girlfriends already and that she just allows them to experience things like that because she never had those when she was younger. Earlier at Mrs. Peterson's office, she talked about one of the teachers in BAstrop High that was transferred to Delta as a paraprofessional. It was just hilarious that instead of saying paraprofessional she said " So she is already a paranormal?". Hahahaha! C'mon, that was really funny. She also said that her children like to ride bikes, the real bikes. Wait a second, is there a fake bike? Ok, that wasn't very funny. There were even times when she was introducing herself that she would tell everybody that life is unfair because she's not with her family. Ok I wonder why.

Ronald came when Janet was talking about her life. He is really the life of every party. He has a lot of stories to tell and tonight he told them about his Rose theater experience which was really outrageous. I guess he didn't know much about how we were introducing ourselves so all he said about himself is that he's single. Nope Ronald, this is not a dating game. Hehehhe!

Eden was the last to arrive all she said was "my husband is here right now so I am happy". OO na! Of course she mentioned her kids too.

All in all it was okay. I was still starving though when I left the place. I thought it was going to be weird because Ronald was there but it was okay.

After that, Mrs. Peterson and I went to Rissa and mine's new house. She was so amazed on how lucky we are to find a place as cheap and as beautiful. She was even very happy about the neighborhood and knew some folks who live in there. I feel happy that she likes it.

So that concludes my day today. I have done my midterm tests although I still have to make copies tomorrow. I'm sure tomorrow's going to be great. Hmmm...maybe not since I was assigned to babysit Tess' kids after school tomorrow because they will pick up her sister-in-law from the airport.