Thursday, December 14, 2006

murphy's law (2 days to go...)

at long last, i received my schengen visa from austrian embassy last tuesday. it's really amazing how murphy's law works (whoever the hell is murphy?!?). after the passport incident, we were really hoping against hope for the visa to be granted. we know we don't have any problem getting approved, but getting the visa on my passport was another matter.

the embassy lady was really mean. she stressed out that unless i have my permanent residency id when the visa arrives, i will not be able to get the visa. and that was really tricky since we don't know when the id will be available. with the help of my father-in-law and my husband, we got a tip to ask for help from the netherlands embassy since we will be transiting on amsterdam also. everything seemed to be working well until we went to apply for it.

the netherlands consul okayed the letter from the immigration police. they didn't need to see the physical id, so it was ok. but due to some technicalities (first border of entry is austria, by car), the consul denied it. but at least, they were humane and gave us hope. very much unlike the... well you know who. anyway, as we were about to leave the holland embassy, we got call from ERI saying the id has arrive. they had to pull some strings, we don't know what kind, but we were happy. it was a friday so we had to wait 3 more days to get it.

now murphy's law has started... the middle name on my id was still my mom's maiden name. the police said only the name and surname are important, but who knows right. again, we have to hope against hope. luckily, the austrain lady didn't mind that little thing at all (or maybe she just didn't notice. so i got my visa, but not without another of murphy's law. the transit visa starts 2 days after our departure! funny, ei?! well, we just waited a few more minutes to have it changed. so GOD is still good. now it's just 2 more days and we'll be on the plane to beloved philippines. or so i hope... hehehe! oops, i don't want to jinx it.

it's should be a happy ending. and i'm very happy. see you soon PH!!! :D

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

first fall

*kablag*
minela: "oh my gosh!!!"
*loud crying*


6 months, 3 days, 6 hours and a few minutes after alex was born, it happened -- her first fall.

it was lunch time. hubby was home installing the lights. my nilagang baka just wasn't ready yet, and alex was getting cranky. so i prepared milk and fed her. then she started pushing (read: making uu). we stopped feeding and went on to change her, then i threw out her nappy.

it was getting late for lunch and hubby is gonna be late for work. i checked on my nilagang baka and started preparing for lunch. then it happened. she cried (but not as much as when she got her ears pierced), she was definitely shocked. we tried to calm her down as best as we can. being a good girl that she is she calmed down after a few rocks and kisses. when she stopped crying, as her mommy, i couldn't help but cry. maybe i'm even more shocked than her. i still couldn't shake it off.

she's sleeping now. but her doctor said we should still observe her until tomorrow. so every ten minutes or so, i still check on her. they say, accidents are normal to babies her age. but nothing could ever prepare parents for this kind of shock. long before, i have dreaded that this time will come. now it did, and i'm still in shock.

my brother told me once how i fell off the bed when i was a baby. i was sleeping and he was supposed to be in charge of me. being the young boy that he was, he left me to play outside. then he heard my crying and run to me, put me back to bed, and hoped for me to stop crying. now, i am married and have alex. maybe 25 years from now, alex may be trying to calm down her own little alex from her first fall. sigh! maybe it's just a phase babies (and most specially mommies) have to go through. but i'm really hoping this is not just the first, but also the last.

GOD is good

there has been many instances that i have proven this. you know those days in college... at the end of each semester i would feel desperate thinking i would fail at least one of my courses. but year after year for four years, some miracle will happen and things turn out really good for me. well except for my last semester, which was my fault. but that's another story.

anyway, the point of this is that at least once in you life you will feel helpless. you cannot do anything but to surrender and let fate decide. that's what i did when i lost my passport. when we realized it was missing, after four hours, we did the best we could. my hubby and i went back and searched every nook, corner, and even garbage cans, along the path we went through. but it was really gone. we even went to police to try and see if somebody has returned it. nothing...

i really didn't know what to feel... sad? angry? hopeless? so i just felt numb. i just hoped and prayed. it was really all up to HIM. but i wasn't really expecting anything anymore. i just surrendered everything. whatever will be, will be.

the following morning, by some miracle, my in-laws called my hubby and told him that police called. somebody (bless him, or her) just left my passport in some police station, several kilometers away from where we lost it. but that didn't matter. the most important thing is we got it back.

now, my application for transit visa is all in order. they said, they will process it. although, in case i get approved, we will not be able to claim the visa unless i have the permanent residency id. and that is a very big problem... we still don't have it. the immigration police says it takes 2-6 weeks. so there's nothing to do but wait and see, and hope that by the time the visa arrives, the id is ready.

again, i surrender... because i know GOD is good.

Friday, November 24, 2006

the saga of my beloved passport

i got my first passport when i started working for a multinational IT company in makati. it was one of the requirements. it was delayed though, due to some technicalities.

it's not a big deal, it's just that we found out i'm not properly registered to the civil registry. i was still recorded as Baby Girl Rada! hehehe, ok so it was a big deal. we have to go through the process of late registration and the rest is history.

my first passport took me to places until it was time to renew it. it was supposedly easier this time. no need for personal appearances and the likes. just hand your old passport to a travel agency and they can do it for you. or, it should have been like that.

i had to do it personally because i had to do it in a rush. luckily, leslie was with me. we were going to travel together and both our passports were about to expire. so we had to spend half a day in queues (submission of application, verification, payment, etc., etc...). after one week, it was ready and i will not have problems with it for the next five years of my life. unless....


i got married!!! moreso, to a foreigner. naturally, i had to go with my husband to his home country. so it was best to have my passport amended/renewed to reflect my new surname sooner than later.

as you might have guessed already, i needed more requirements. i had to take two MRT's, from end to end, walk through three malls (and not do shopping), pay PhP250.00 (twice!), attend to an NGO seminar for spouses/fiance of foreign nationals, and get some "precious" certificate. so afterwards, it will be five years of peace.

think again!

this morning, i had to wake up much earlier than usual to go to austrian embassy and apply for schengen visa so that i could fly out from vienna back to my beloved PH. take note, i already got the ticket and we have all the requirements. except, they needed my permanent residence id, which i don't have yet. we managed to get certification from immigration police and planned to go back on monday. two weeks after that, we are hoping that the pages of my new passport will be adorned by another visa sticker. that is, if we find it.

yes, my beloved passport has gone missing in action this morning.

so sad! :(

Thursday, November 23, 2006

my daughter has celebrity look-alikes?!

just for fun, i tried putting my baby's pic to search for celebrity look-alikes. surprisingly, it returned surprising results (pun intended). but i like that we both look like zhang ziyi :))

my celeb look-alike?!?

don't know half of them... but why does Pops Fernandez look more like Regine Velasquez?!! :))

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

there's no such thing as an ex-con

that's a line from Prison Break. the lead character, Michael, told his brother that Charles was right when he said there's no such thing as an ex-con. they were successful to break out of Fox River Penitentiary and are now in pursuit of D.B. Cooper's stash, a.k.a. Charles. but things started going wrong and Michael has gotta do what he's gotta do...

anyway, this line struck me so much while i was out on the veranda smoking. then i started thinking, maybe there's also no such thing as an ex-smoker! :) curious ey!