Category Archives: beginnings

music corner

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It truly was a productive long weekend, mostly with home prepping. Dining table delivered at last by Watanabe Furniture Shop, the friendly neighborhood shop although i’m yet to decorate it. As expected, dining table came in pieces. Watanabe-san and his apprentice set it all up and gave us, as part of their service, the Indonesian malong that they used in their display. Yay!

The two DIY bookshelves (each as tall as Atsushi and twice his width) were also delivered and it’s already 95% filled as of last night. Yet, we’re barely 1/4 done in arranging the books. Some books may have to be sold/donated/thrown away. We ordered for 2 more bookshelves and thankfully, they’re not DIY so it’ll be easier. Yes, it’ll be a home cum library and I am not complaining. A lot of Atsushi’s books are really interesting with a WIDE selection of topics, making me want to learn Japanese and fast. MineĀ are more on fantasy and novels. šŸ˜€

Anyways, we also DIY-ed the shelf for the mini-music corner. Bought it at Tokyu Hands and since we want to get immediately started on organizing the mini-corner, we opted to carry it home instead of having it delivered. See how truly thoughtful the Japanese customer service is. They put a foam on the bag handle to protect our hands. How thoughful!

Japan is probably the DIY-country, where you can DIY a lot of stuff. Found the perfect corner stand I had in mind albeit we have to DIY it. But it was pretty easy to assemble so it was just perfect.

Behold, the stand adjuster – just in case you have uneven flooring.

BEFORE: Music corner withĀ a boxful of music scores.

AFTER: Tada! šŸ™‚

The music scores kept piling up after this shot as we “unearthed” more scores in the other boxes. We’re yet to look for four (yes, four!) guitar stands for Atsushi’s guitars but as Hubbie said, maybe we’ll just display two, for now. Atsushi told me to try and learn playing his base guitar – I have never been as pressured…HELP!!!

Oh, just now, we had another earthquake. Thankfully, the music corner held.

idea

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Had some idea in mind. I know I’d be pushing too much what with my hands being too full with home organizing and our wedding in a month’s time. ButĀ I want to do this. I hope though the idea would come to fruition.

getting started

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As what Hubbie posted previously, we’re now together, and we’re so thankful for it. Now I just have to secure my reentry visa and hope there’ll be no hitches so I’ll be able to return to Manila to do the last minute preps for our wedding. Both Japan Embassy in Manila and Japan Foreign Affairs here already assured us there’ll be no hitches but still, I want to be on the safe side… šŸ˜€Ā 

Will try to post next time all the documentations involved with myĀ migration and hope it’ll be of help to those who are also processing their papers. And I have to make time as well in making a feedback (and I have to find that feedback paper as well for their contact details!) to CFO’s PRISM. The way they handled and have handled Japanese spouses deserve setting aside some time to give my feedback.Ā Please do expect a 2 page letter or so from me. When..uhm…until I have everything settled here.

Now, on to happy things. Hubbie welcomed me with one of my favorite things. Now, already 5 days after, they’re still as beautiful and fresh-looking as on the first day. Atsushi really did treat me like a pricess on my birthday. šŸ™‚

i'm already 5 days old!

We’re trying to get our home organized and styled and it sureĀ can be quite overwhelming!! But I am having a good time so I sure am not complaining. My most notable changes so far are the kitchen area along with the counter area and the bathroom sink (two places in the house thatĀ I am most particular with along with the toilet of courseĀ – they should be clean always, as much as possible!). Tidy frog can help me do the job.

Yesterday, I went to Maita Ward Office for my alien card registration. Walked from Gumyoji to Maita to try explore the place. Came along a furniture shop and finally found the dining table that I’ve been looking for. Eureka moment, yes! It’s wooden and it has chairs that has a slim,Ā elongated back, which would help us exude the effect of having a bigger place than it really is. The wood color is quite dark but the chair upholstery is white so it’s just perfect. We can also have a light-colored table runner to, again, help us in bringing the effect of a bigger place. It’s quite interesting that the store people used a malong (traditional in Mindanao) as a table runner. It’s a sign?? hehe. It’s quite expensive though! And so of course, I asked for a discount – me in my broken Japanese (or more like one Japanese word at a time) and the store clerk in pure Japanese. We somehow understood each other though. He said that if I buy the one on display (it is in very good condition actually) and not have a new one made, we can have 30k yen discount (we can already buy two cabinets with that discount!). They’re open on saturdays so I can bring Hubbie along this weekend and hope he’ll like it as well so we can have a dining table already.

It’s just funny though, my audacity to do some haggling even when I only know a smattering of Japanese words. haha. Well, bringing along a calculator, or using your cellphone’s calculator is the only secret actually. All store owners, in any language probably, knows the english word “discount” šŸ˜€

The washing machine-dryer takes 6 hours to finish though, using the automatic mode. Totally not electricity efficient and not environment-friendly. Have to experiment using the washer only and try hanging the clothes outside. I worry about environment yo…

thankful at chicboy

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Chicboy’s Cebu Lechon Liempo sure is not healthy. And it sure is one dish that bride-to-bes and groom-to-bes need to avoid.

But I had one of my best meals yesterday as i was havingĀ Chicboy’s Cebu Lechon Liempo. It’s notĀ only because the liempo is so flavorful and tasty. But as I was having my very late lunch there yesterday, I also received one of the sweetest news that i’ve been waiting for for eternity (technically 6 months, and more excruciatingly, the last 3 months. šŸ™‚Ā  ) Yes. Visa!!!

Would always remember that meal. And how funny and embarrasing it was haha.

And we’re thankful. So thankful. šŸ™‚

a purpose driven life

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Just finished packing the first dhl box that will ship my stuff to Japan. How many boxes it will take, I’ve no idea yet. A European porcelain doll is in it (i wonder how we can display my doll collection in our apartment), DVDs/CDs, books, photo albums, gym clothes (yoga mat would have to be in the next batch), swimsuits, cocktail dresses.

Was about to close the box when I saw that the book The Purpose Driven Life was left on the paperbag where I kept some of my books. I bought this Rick Warren book during my long stint in Singapore some five years ago. I leafed through the pages until I came across my scribble on one of the reflections:
“made a life changing decision today – I accepted the 7 months assignment to Japan.”

That made me smile because that decision to go back to japan,straight from a Singapore assignment certainly was a life changing decision. That 7-month assignment lengthened to a 2.5 years assignment that totalled around 6 extensions. On my last extension, I was only asked about it less than a week before my flight back to Manila. So you see, my daily farewell parties were in full swing already.

But you know what? It was there in that last two months of my extended assignment when our (atsushi’s and mine) dream-turned-reality started to unfold. Totally unexpected, totally serendipitous.

So yes, accepting another Japan assignment was a life changing decision. Had I turned it down, I wouldn’t have known happiness as I have with Atsushi now.

But then again knowing how hubbie and I are soulmates, we would still have had found each other, albeit at a later time. I think and believe, that our fairy tale would still come to pass, even then.

9 years

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Last Friday, January 28, I celebrated my 9 years as a Process Engineer. And indeed it is a celebration. For I believe that God has blessed me with a career that is truly fulfilling for me. Ever the drama queen that I am,Ā that very day and now a SeniorĀ Engineer,Ā I also submitted my resignation letter; sort of like my way ofĀ “coming to full circle”.

Today was my last working day in the office. When I got home this evening, it was only then that I realized that my last working day and my first day as a “freed” engineer (please, i’m not saying this in the pejorative sense) coincided with the last day of theĀ previous Chinese Year (okay okay i’m not Chinese, just having some drama and trying to make some correlation here hehe). In some sense, it’s like i’ll be working on a clean slate or a clean drawing board this new year. A new year full of promise, full of hope, full of exciting things yet to come.

At this point you may be wondering why i’m posting this in our wedsite and not just on my personal blog. But no, wait.Ā Today also marks the first day that I’m totally Atsushi’s dependent. Well, until after I get to find a job again, hopefully. And for somebody like me who has been a very independent person, who has totally relied on the abilities God gave her (and on the opportunities God gave her) to earn her keep, feed herself and help provide for her family, being dependent like this is a major crossover. One that I have to learn and yet to fully grasp.

And yes, this isĀ part of whatĀ marriage is about. It’s about shaking you in your old comfort zone to bring you to a yet better comfort zone. It’s about shaking you from what you’ve been used to, leading you to better experiences, newer places, meeting new people. It’s about having faith – faith in God that what you’re doing and about to do isĀ part of God’sĀ beautiful plan for you; faith in your husband that he will love you, take care of you and provide for you; faith in the goodness of the people around you; faith in the future that something really good is in store for you.

And of course, yes, there’s love, great love.

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Feb 5: Was cleaning my workspace today. Found a lot of diskettes from a long-gone era. Haha. Gosh. Ancient.