Gem's Insights

I was thinking of getting a Back-to-School-for-Teachers loan at a credit union here in Gallup. I was told the union will ask for a contract (for SY 2012-2013, as proof of employment). Well, it was Monday and in my mind I still have 4 more days of vacation. I wasn't really ready to be seen in the office with jeans, slippers and shirt yet! lol! but WHY NOT?!, so I decided to drop by the office to get the contract. A lot of cars were parked outside, meaning most of them have gone back to work already, which made me wonder.. but then I had no plans of meeting people or visiting my place in the office. I had blinders, I will just see the secretary and go! Armed with a smile on my face, I went and signed my contract. Never mind what I was wearing, Lol but LO and BEHOLD! Stated in my contract was my start date which was supposed to have been the Thursday of last week! Oh my! Left me with no choice, I had to see my boss to confirm, he negated. Ok. Good. But checking the salary scale.. it f...

Some of you may have read my recent post Some bi***y behind-the-scene story . Quite a story, yes? Well, who's the victim and who's responsible? Here I was writing it all down but the point is, they may be sharing their own points of views too with their friends. We all have our share of stories. Who ends up the victor and the loser, is the question. But does it really matter? My point:  People will always have something to say. Either you accept it as true or negate it. If I am affected (and really affected!), I'd rather confront the person involved than go to all my friends asking for comfort, I'd rather talk to the person and have everything settled than go to all channels, whispering behind backs! - It will not solve anything - promise! Since I may have unconsciously hurt their ego, (and really, many are not so sensitive about this, sometimes we are already hurting people with our words and actions and NOT know about it! - INDIFFERENCE! I am guilty of being ...

Maybe, I have this vision that professionals especially Americans in general would be mature and FRANK enough to be able to communicate their feelings, thoughts and what-have-you about something to your face. Well, I guess, not. At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter where you are. People are people. Some mature, most immature. Some straightforward, some timid. Some frank enough to say what they need to say, others talk behind your back.   We were having a discussion one day, and well, the topic was about immigration. The Canadian commented about Americans NOT really wanting to do commoners jobs like farming and all the other blue collar jobs. Here I was, loudmouth and tactless, commented, well, "I think, because most of them have this superiority complex and I-know-it-all mentality." The discussion continued. But, I just noticed after that how aloof they were with me! Mmmm.. true enough! Two of them may have gathered all the other men and women of their race and...

Funny how my husband would always push me, mmm, the correct word is, FORCE me to do something more with my life. He says I am wasting my time with Facebook, and he isn't delighted with that! He's got this big belief in me that I could be so much more and do so much more. In his mind, I need to do something now. I need to stop procrastinating and just push myself to the road less taken. Of course, I resist. But, due to a change of heart... We are here at Socorro, NM for 5 days (my family's with me because of free housing) to commence my becoming a graduate student of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. It feels like home! Maybe, the passion for learning and learning some more, is just within me! I loveeee it! So, back to my story. I was burning my eyebrows last night because of too many write-ups!!! (plus Facebook! lol) and went to sleep like 1 AM already. I woke up to a big breakfast of fried rice, eggs and sausage! Hehe My husband prepared it all (one time, he d...

I've mentioned in my post Kaibigan sa America   that I would rather be with Filipinos than be with OTHER RACES during free times, weekends, holidays and socials. If given no choice but to socialize with them, I feel safer if there are other Filipinos in the room with me. Coming here, I've become anti-social in a way! LOL! Well, first and foremost, what will I say? How will I socialize? Speak up and tell stories? translate galore!!! Be friendly, act friendly and be a friend? I do not know where all these are coming from, but COMFORT ZONES. Not sure why, though. It's the unknown that is making me back out, thus the post To camp or not to camp? Well, TODAY, thanks to my every supportive husband, I've attended the end-of-the-year-party with my colleagues at work ON MY OWN! I've invited Filipino friends to come with me, even Filipinos who work in the same building with me, to no avail, they don't want to come too! Armed with "I-can-do-this- attitude...

Was it a curse or a blessing?   THE STORY: Evey year I change schools since coming here in the USA! 1st Mid/High School taught. **Ring! Other Line: "Hi, ... we'd like to interview you for a position..." Me: "Huh? Why? I remember signing a contract for the next SY with my school..." Other Line: "No, you were in the surplus list.." Me: "Huh?, will it be alright if I call you right back, let me just verify with the district..." True enough, my name was on the surplus list... GOOD NEWS: I was placed after the interview.   2nd Mid School taught. **I'm sorry but we will need to let you go, the district's restructuring and since you are on a visa, we can't take you in... GOOD NEWS: I was placed after an interview with another HS (3 days after the "sorry we can't take you in anymore" story") 3rd HS taught. **No letting you go story, but I let go, my 2nd year with them. Long Story! GOOD NEWS: We moved.. beautiful place! ...

Naisip ko lang... noong punta kasi namin dito sa America, lima kami, at madami kami galing sa isang agency.  Since bagong salta sa ibang bansa, kami kami na din ang naging magkakaibigan.. instant friendship nga.. isang connection lang, ang agency.. Ang galing talaga mag adapt ng mga pinoy, iba level pag makipag ugnayan (tagalog na tagalog hehe); kasi minsan ung boss ko dito sabi, magkakilala na ba kayo sa pinas, tanong nya sa akin tungkol sa bagong guro na galing sa ibang state na kakahire lang, sabi ko, hindi, now ko lang na meet hehe..  parang ang dating kasi palagi e matagal na kakilala... o siguro ako lang un hahaha... Aba, nung Kinder ako na awardan ako na Most Friendly, hahaha... siguro ang daldal ko na noon pa man (mmmm, hanggang now pa din naman) hahahaha So balik sa kwento, ayun kasi ung mga mapipili mong maging kaibigan dito sa America, sila na kasi ung tatayong pamilya mo e... kasi kayo kayo lang dito, wala ang mga tunay na kapamilya at kamag anak... Dit...

Being a visual learner, what helped me and is still helping me remember what I want in my life is through vision boards! Back in Lucena, Philippines prior to the USA opportunity, (and I blogged about it in my other blog My Dailies -entitled Powerful Thoughts ) I would really cut out magazines, pictures, photos and words with emotional impact on me! - and make a collage out of it! Here are some! This one I created back in 2008 just because I was so eager for my family to join me already!   There was even one where I just doodled a car (because I have not one yet; did not even know how to drive then!), a driver's license,  Licensure tests passed, and a drawing of me picking up my family at the New Orleans Airport! - GUESS what?, it all came true! Here's the latest, I made use of the images found in the internet and just made use of MS Paint!  Through my vision board, I know I am activating the Law of Attraction! By just doing this very simple activity it is as if my...

Los Angeles, California here I am! Thanks to friendship! :) (at Tony P's Dockside Grill) at California Yacht Club Beautiful place this is! I had the grandest 10 days of my life. I had only been in the US - New Orleans, Louisiana for 6 months and so this was a treat! Thank you to all my sponsors!  You were all awesome!:) 3/30/08  Check out my Los Angeles Adventure! My Disneyland Dream Universal Studios Trip Los Angeles Adventure: Civic Center Los Angeles Adventure: Wilshire/Western   Los Angeles Adventure: Vermont/Beverly Los Angeles Adventure: Pershing Square Los Angeles Adventure: 7th St/Metro Center Los Angeles Adventure: Westlake/MacArthur Park Los Angeles Adventure: Hollywood/Universal City Pasadena Trip! Hollywood Fever :) Beverly Hills     Spring Break - Part 1 here ! 

Got to believe in Magic ….  I was given a free trip to Los Angeles during my 1st Spring break here in the USA! Here was my diary... March 21, 2008 New Orleans International Airport 8:45AM Awaiting departure to Atlanta, Georgia.. going to LA, California. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Yamanashi and IRH for the round trip ticket…  ... here I am… doing a first time again in my life! – traveling from one state to another, on my own!! kind of liberating, scary at first or more of excited?  I am just starting my 10-day spring break journey, on a Good Friday! , (thanks to RSD for the laptop, it keeps me company as I await my flight!), and I know the experience that I’ll have will simply be dreams coming to reality… telling me that indeed, we simply got to believe!:) And so it is.:)  Atlanta International Airport 1:22pm Time difference indeed. Left New Orleans at 10:35am flew for 1 hour and 22 minutes, arrived at 12:57noon..  And here I am, still waiting, thi...

It was really like a roller coaster/helicopter ride! From teaching Filipino high school students in the province of Quezon, Philippines to teaching Black American students in the hurricane-stricken state in the US (It was in August, 2005 when Hurricane Katrina took most of the beauty of New Orleans - it was just two years ago then - and you could still feel the sadness and depression the calamity did to the state.) We needed to cope, adjust and understand the situation fast! We were placed in the under performing schools to teach Special Education students. We had to learn the Black American culture, language and system of doing things. It was a real challenge. From working with different nationalities, to adapting the "inclusion" type of service, to understanding slang, to coping with the student's unique behavior, to adjusting to our new way of life. My Dairy during one of my "roller coaster" moments. "It is a continuous challenge to be an effective and ...

Sharing you with what it felt like to be living without my family by my side, two weeks after the Phils to USA journey. The price I had to pay for wanting my family to be together. I live one day at a time. I live by God’s graces, blessings and surprises each day.. I cry hearing God’s words in Mass… secretly I cry singing God’s songs in Mass.. secretly I do not have my own concrete plan.. it is all God I can only do so much… But God would always hear my voice, our voices my laughter, our laughter as I, as we hide the pain inside being away from our families and yet.. seeing the beauty of it all… begging to make haste the time.. yearning for the places to merge, hug people we love.. And yet.. in my heart it is all part of the plan. A vision untouched waiting to be realized. I live one day at a time… For that is the only thing I can do And what seem impossible becomes possible.. for I’ve seen real angels being sent every time, each time, always. A part of the plan. Part...

http://pinoyteacherstories.com By this time, we learned our assignments, we were attending schools, befriended our colleagues, in the process of adjusting to school rules and regulations, educational system, language and most especially, our students! Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to tell stories, as I would have wanted, because of some privacy issues.  The thing was, coming from the "3rd world", and then teaching the "1st world", was both an opportunity and a blessing. We all have our own set of values and character, and it was all up to us, to instill, to empower and to change whatever we can. Either we were able to enculturate or we were enculturated. The good thing about our group was that we were able to keep our purpose and our goal: to bring our families here and to do our jobs well so "Filipino Teachers" are spoken well of.  What inspired us and allowed us to survive our first year were weekends, holidays and long breaks! We traveled galore...

http://pinoyteacherstories.com (Snippets of the adventure!~) I remember, on our very first day in New Orleans, Louisiana, we were looking for sari-sari stores! There's none!!! Unlike in the Philippines where you see stores in every corner?  Here?, none (you miss it, but after some time, you get used to it!) ~   We have no car, since we just came. What did we do? You think we would hire a taxi, NOT! We walked! Yes, we were the only ones walking too!!! LOL! So we "paraded", with "umbrella", under the heat of the sun! (We could feel people at their cars, staring! Care to the world… this is America, remember!?!) ~   Alas the mall! We toured some more, and thought, "so, this is the mall? THIS IS THE MALL!?" (Mmmm.. malls are more fun in the Philippines! truly!) ~   What about food? Let's see... Chinese Food Budget meals... $7.59 (2 viands meal) $8.59 (3 viands meal)  “What’s the current exchange rate?” “45.00 pesos” OK, here goes... 7.59 X 45.00 = Php 3...

http://pinoyteacherstories.com ... and then the airplane landed… I didn’t know what to expect!!! “The land of milk and honey!, The land where dreams come true!, The land of abundance! - Here I come!!!” I was just pumped up seeing all sorts of people, hearing different languages and smelling different odors!LOL! Funny, I was one of those Filipinos who perceive that America will make me an automatic money-maker! (As in the moment the airplane lands, I am rich! LOL!) I was imagining the golden roads (exag! LOL!)… and that I could act like a millionaire! Super LOL! “Mabuhay!, Kumusta na kayo?” a tall, dark and old man spoke from behind us… A Filipino!!! –working in the airport!!!... I was so happy to see one!, wait.. one more, there was another one over there!... and another one! … and then it dawned on me.. the many Filipinos who were in America already. Nice… I was happy to listen to their stories… like a sponge, I was the eager learner, I just took everything in… The weather? It was Sep...

I was so excited! Well, it was actually a mixed feeling!  At that time, I was with Louella (a Special Ed Teacher too)   We checked in our baggage first. No problems. It was around five o’clock in the morning, still early so we went outside again to eat some breakfast, took some pictures and after a while, we said our goodbyes. We then walked towards the immigration line.   Confident, excited, anxious… and then I was asked, “Where’s your travel permit?”  I was dumbfounded! I didn’t have one!  My mind took a 180 degree turn!  How will it ever be possible for me to secure one at 5 am!!! I immediately mouthed the words, “travel permit??!!” to Louella, and she immediately whisked me away from the line.  I wasn’t able to think clearly. I knew it was impossible to have one at that time! She took a deep breath and then asked me to follow her. She walked towards another immigration officer! (why didn't I think of that?!) She headed first this time.. afte...