30 and happy...

Ok, I now revealed my age. There’s no point in hiding it.

I got my first birthday greeting from my mom, my siblings and my nephew. Talking to them makes me feel more homesick than ever, and I never felt more alone than ever in my life. I started asking the question if I made the right decision…

But then I just shrugged the thought and looked at all the blessings I have in my life. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, I always believe in this. I treasured my family more when I was away from the Philippines, and felt the strong bond in the family no matter how far we are from each other. I don’t have the right to feel sad.

I had a pre-birthday celebration from my very old friend Carol. We’ve been friends since 8 years old and nothing seemed to change even after 22 years. She’s been my regular weekend-hangout friend, driving from Indiana to downtown Chicago. Our Sunday went by so well that everything we planned was right on schedule, believe me, we are not these kinds of people, we'll either be late in a planned event, or just be too lazy to do it. But from going to church, to doing measurements in my apartment… then lunch… then movie, everything we did was just right on time! Can't believe it. She treated me out on Tavern on Rush - service sucks but we still enjoyed the day and took a good pix with the big wine glass vases at the back.

I also had a wonderful lunch with my colleagues whom I never expected them to know that it was my birthday. Yann (my ex boss) told Bill (my current boss), who then told all the rest of my colleagues in the office about it. They gave me this beautiful flower vase and had this grand day candle. I am grateful to feel so welcomed by the team.

I had another surprise by getting these colorful flowers from Joy. She never failed to make my day special, even if we’re so far away already. BFF gal!

More messages, more phone calls received from all my favorite people.

As I was about to leave the office already, I opened the gift which Brian handed to me. I thought the gift was from Brian but did not expect that they were all from the people I worked with in Warsaw! I was laughing so hard when I looked at the gifts… see this…

everyone seems to relay the same message... men and dating in chicago... Don’t worry, men will come... it will have to be a matter of time.

I turned 30, feeling so lucky to have a wonderful family, very good friends and colleagues all around the world. I never felt more contented in my life.

Happy Birthday My Love - Chee Paine

Hi Janice, happy birthday. Miss you...

happy birthday!!!

hope you have a good one =)

It's the beginning...- Little Lulu

Jafong!!! Happy Birthday. I won't mention the age na kasi nga it's the beginning ang title of the blog dibuzz...
I miss you na! It's just not the same feeling knowing you're not on a short trip anymore but rather, in Chicago permanently. We don't see each other everyday but it just feels weird knowing at the back of my mind that we're not going to see each other till October. Sometimes, I still hope my phone will ring and there you are "forcing" me to have dinner with you on a condition that it finishes up in 30 mins because you have another meeting to go to... hectic life of Janice Fong...
Saw the blog you posted and it's soo nice to read a long blog from you, coz it means you finally have time for fun and for yourself outside of work!
Chicago, is indeed, a good change for you. Just remember that if you miss work, Singapore is the place to go for!
Happy Birthday and I am happy to see the new beginning...=)
Love life next time ha...Criteria is no more than 40 years old. Chee Paine is 30 something btw.
With the fat baby bonus offered by SGP government, I suggest you come over here to get pregnant. Haha!
Cheers and see you in Oct! Hope that you're still the old gullible Janice. Don't get too smart please.

Birthday!

Hi Janice,

Happy Birthday! I hope you have a wonderful time there in Chicago with new and old friends. Since now you have more time on your hands (ahem, ahem), you can go out all night painting the town red. Okay, maybe not so late.

Take care and hope you have a great start on another year.

Cheers!
Ther

Happy Birthday

Hi Janice,


On your birthday I wish you much pleasure and joy;
I hope all of your wishes come true.
May each hour and minute be filled with delight,And your birthday be perfect for you!


Take Care!
Anil

Happy Birthday!

Time flies, birthday again. May your brithday wishes all come true! =)

Brandon.

Happy Birthday Janice!!

Hope you're having a swell time in Chicago, remember don't get 'swept' away by all the work and/or wind there ;-)

You missed a CS current + ex PS gathering yest, courtesy of the great CP... we had lots of lafs and good food! Pity you were not there physically but at least there spiritually (via Wena).

Cheers,
Jason Liu

36/24

i missed posting the last time, but hey, here's another chance...i've got a lot to thank you for... for welcoming me here, for introducing me to Joy...sayang lang, not enough time for chikahan.... hehe...

12:01 AM August 25 on my clock, you've got the privilege of enjoying your birthday for 36 hours...haha.. technically, starts manila time... but since nandyan ka, your day ends 12 hours after ours do... soooo, ENJOY!!! 

happy birthday! :-)

-maja...err, maje pala :-p

HAPPPPPPY BIRTHDAY Janice...... I hope your enjoying your time there! Keep posting.

Uls

HAPPY HAPPY ??th

BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!!!

Enjoy your big day. We'll set off some fireworks, throw a party, and blow ?? candles in your honor. We'll send you pictures and ensure we stay within budget so you won't fall off your chair when you see the bill.
Remember: "The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."

P.S. We miss you here. It's never the same without you around. Just the same, we know you're having a blast in the Big City. Please do get occassionally drunk on my behalf. Ensure you save some for my visit next year.

Love,
Joy

Good Two Weeks...

I am not a blog writer, but I was very touched with all the messages I got here in this blog site (a very ingenious idea again from my ever creative friend Joy). Ther, thanks for designing this site! It fits me so well – do you know that some of my JLL friends are calling me pinky? The background reminds me of the name again.

I promised Joy that this will be my way to keep in touch with all my friends back home in the Philippines and in Singapore to keep them posted on what’s happening to my life, even if I am several thousand of miles away now. She has always been influencing me to create my own blog, but never did I ever attempt to do it. Now, she won the game and got me into writing.

I’ve landed safe and sound in this Windy City, it’s been two weeks already since I’ve been here… am sharing my stories now.

Day 1 – Raymond, Joy’s cousin and Teg’s boyfriend now, picked me up at the airport. I had a fancy dinner with him at McCormick & Schmick’s. First time I tasted a bloody mary drink here, never thought a drink would taste this good with Tabasco sauce!!! It goes well with seafood.

Day 2 – Oakwood is still the same old fancy apartment – I got a good 1 bedroom apartment. (There are times when I get scared when it is so quiet in the place that I have to blast the sound on the TV. I blame Wena because she reminded me of the ghosts stories in Oakwood.) I decided to have a walk around the city. The weather was so perfect even for a long walk. Saw some places which made me reminisce the last time I was here in Chicago with my friends.

I passed by Lalo’s – laughed at the memory of how I got fixed up by my friends for a friendly date here.

I met Lianne at the Accenture lobby - it’s still the same old Accenture building. I will never forget my roots – this is where I grew up for 4 years… although I can say I am still quite immature, or naïve so they say.

Saw a lot of Filipino onshore staff at the lobby. There are still a number of them! I love the idea that it is just 6pm and everyone is already heading home, which is just the normal time for everyone and sometimes even a bit late already for Americans. You can never do this back in Accenture Manila. Leaving by 6pm is considered very early!

I had dinner at Portillo’s with Lianne – got their famous hotdog and Lianne’s favorite Chicken Alfredo Pasta. Their serving are still so big! Oooops, I have to mind my diet, I don’t want to go back to the Philippines in October at April’s wedding wearing a garterized gown (Wenzy gave out the idea that I should have a garterized gown on his wedding as everyone gains weight when they move to America!) It’s true but I need to prove this wrong.

Day 3 – My first day at work. The team took me to a fancy restaurant for lunch! I have a great boss - Bill - and very nice teammates. Loving it here so far…. They all have nicknames... but named me J-Dog - easier than remembering whether Janice is pronounced as "Janice like how all Americans do" or "Janis like Janice de Belen in the Philippines - which is my real name"

Hanged out with my friend Lianne for dinner. She has gone back home to Manila now. Less one person to hang out with again. Guess what she is eating here…

it’s not even her bachelorette party yet… this is just how desserts were prepared at Café Iberico.

You can order it longer.

Day 4 – Gym gym gym. I am inspired by my sister Julie, Joy and Wena to do this.

Day 5 – First Friday w/o anyone to hang out with. Missed my family and friends… don’t think I’ll spend dinner alone on a Friday night in Singapore.

Day 6 – Started apartment hunting. They have a free service for apartment seekers here who can drive you around to look for the possible units. I loved one apartment in East Ontario, feared of losing it and not finding anything that can meet its standards that I just had to pay for the application fee that same night to reserve it. They said it’s a girl friendly apartment. My boss Tim said it’s the doctors nearby that made it girl friendly – and warned me to stay away from boys!!! They don’t want me to get pregnant and leave Chicago.

Day 7 – I went to St Francis Hospital to visit Tita Violy. I can’t believe I made it and travelled 1.5 hours away from downtown all by myself. Thanks to google map, it was an easy ride. Tita was still her same old jolly self, full of stories even if she has lots of tubes stuck in her body from the hospital. Saw Popeye’s and just had to eat there. I only realized afterwards after somebody telling me that the place was a ghetto area!!! That’s why there were so many mighty’s (sounds like maitim for Tagalog), and didn’t see a single white person eating at Popeye’s except me (although I am a white Asian). And I was wondering why the comfort rooms had signs that you will get jailed if you used it if you’re not a customer of Popeye’s. I thought it was like that in all fast food centers in the US…. hehe.. Now I learned…

Day 8 – Went to Verizon and got my phone line! I met a customer service guy who had the same bday as me… and also nearing the big three oh oh…only he looked a lot older than me. =) It was the longest customer service he did for the day cause of all the stuff he had to do on my phone, I was the last to leave the store.

Day 9 – Dinner with Gwenny and her fiancé!!! I am glad I met Gwenny the day before she got married. Matt, Gwen’s fiancé posed like a stranger behind the back of two girls taking picture here.

Day 10 – Greek town dinner with my colleagues – although the waiter was not Greek but Ukrainian (Trish – I know he is not from UK). As we were about to leave and go to the Metra station with our friendly DBA Laurie, my boss Tim caught me looking at a boy and warned me saying “Stay away from boys – he is only a kid!”

I was only staring because he was running too fast and thought he might get hit by a car – promise!

Day 11 – Chief vs Bears. Watched a pre-season football game at Soldier’s Field with Bill, Vignesh and Bill's friends. It was my first time to watch a football game live, and Bill was so nice to bring us along with his friends.

We had a good view at the front seats but I still had a hard time understanding the rules. =) It was a perfect weather at the football field. I got carded by the way for buying beer, they still think I am under 21, wooohooo!!!

Here’s Staley posing for me...

I can’t believe I am having fun on a weekday again. Now I know why I love Chicago.

Day 12 – Dinner with Ariel and Raymond. We’re talking the gay lingo again. Ariel was convincing Raymond to convert himself to be a gay, after all somebody said that all guys are gay, it was just a matter of time on when they will realize it. And telling Raymond to call him when he realized it. What a pick up line!

Day 13 – Party at Market Days – it was a gay event. I can’t believe there are so many handsome gay guys, I felt so devastated. We have a whole bunch of Filipino community out there – I went with Ariel, Raymond, Carol, my high school friend, and friends of her friends… until we got a whole bunch out there. I bumped into a schoolmate who told me I looked familiar and was worried that word will spread in LaSalle with him being gay – man! he looked so handsome (or pretty shall I say) with Pantene model hair - he’s not on this pix though.

Day 14 – Brunch buffet at John Hancock. We took our time eating and had this area all by ourselves, then took a good pose on this window area with the waiter trying to click like almost 6 cameras all for the same pose. We don’t want to share our photos amongst ourselves. =)

I had a good two weeks - I met several interesting people in a short span of time. I promised my friends when I left Singapore that I will live the most out of life... and I am trying to keep that promise.

Sorry this is long… I'll cut it short the next time. -Janice