Back to reality

The subject line of the first email I received from my professor this semester read: “Welcome back to reality!” Ain’t that the truth! After spending two weeks with friends and family in Houston and Seattle, it’s a shock to the system to be back:) As expected, when you take a leave of two weeks, with VERY limited access to email and the internet in general, work piles up pretty fast! Just sorting through the emails and prioritizing which letters to respond to first was a task in itself:) Having a work account separate from a personal account helped it some (sorry friends, I had to check off all the work stuff or else I won’t have a scholarship...hahahahaha).

The trip was very productive in a non-academic way. For the first time in a long while, I didn’t go off for a vacation with a school bag full of readings and books that I read on the plane or any free chance I got. This time, I left all of that at home, except for my presentation for the conference. I traveled light in that sense:) I actually got to do all the tourist-type things and enjoy my visit—almost stress-free!

Houston

I think this visit was very important for John. He was able to fill in gaps about family history and learn more about his maternal ancestry (sometimes more information than we needed to know too!). I think it was nice for him to hear stories about his Mom too (he lost his Mom in the 1990 earthquake in Baguio). We stayed with Mom’s elder sister and her family. We also met Mom’s college buddies who had A LOT of stories to share. The first time they saw Anna’s picture, they said that she’s definitely the carbon copy of Mommy Elsa. And sure enough, we looked at the old albums and I have to agree, Anna could pass for a younger sister:) We stayed for 10 days and we had something planned for almost everyday that we were there. So much for sleeping in! hahaha...but it's all good. We had fun going to the NASA Space Center, Galveston Island, Museum of Natural Science, Bush Library in College Station, Kemah Boardwalk, the Water Wall, Museum of Health and Medical Science, listening to local music at Brasil Bar (reviews here), shopping at the Galleria, and not to mention all the FOOD. hahaha. John's aunt is a great cook! Plus of course all the Christmas and New Year parties we attended. Yummy! I'll upload the slideshows when I've organized the pictures...I'm thinking it will take a while. hahaha

Seattle

Officially, we were there to attend a conference. But we managed to meet up with several people to maximize our time:) We stayed with my cousin and John's best friend, Arlene. It was so much fun to spend time with her again. I lived with her in Manila for quite some time and when the three of us are together, it's a laughfest. So glad we got to do that. Thanks again Arlene for letting us borrow your car, touring John around Seattle, and of course, the trip to the Space Needle.

My Auntie Lotte (who hasn't seen me since lower school) also got to meet John. She treated us to a great lunch at Todai and John enjoyed the sushi bar a lot. hahahaha. Before checking in to the conference, I also met up with Faye, my batch mate from Brent. Our high school graduation was the last time I saw her...a full decade ago! Wow. Not much changed though. The time I got to spend with her was way too short for all the stuff we had to catch up on. But even that short time was great! As far as business is concerned, K-State rocked at the conference. My good friend Eunju won best paper and we were all pumped! Jane, another grad student was also nominated.

So overall, Seattle left a VERY positive impression:) It felt a lot like Baguio, actually. We don't mind the rain...hahahahahha. We really are hoping to see you all soon...for a much more EXTENDED time:) Stay tuned!

And now we're back...sigh...at least I'm recharged...I think:)

Happy new year, everyone!