First Month

Today marks our first month in the US. I can't really say that I'm already 'in love' with our new life because if you look at it, it really hasn't started yet. We have yet to start work with our new employer as we're still waiting for our intern licenses to come out. Although, the California Board of Pharmacy has assured us that our licenses will be released in 2-3 weeks. But until then, I am just somebody on vacation. *grins*

Our first two weeks were spent on relaxing, getting over jet lag and spending time with family. We are currently staying with Jerome's parents who have been nothing but generous, supportive and welcoming of their new daughter-in-law. *blush* Dad and Mom has guided us in every application process that needs to be done in order for us to start work ASAP - from our social security numbers to our credit card applications. I am just one lucky girl to have such wonderful in-laws.

We also visited Lolo Boy and Tita Trina's family in San Francisco. It was nice catching up and seeing how my cousins have all grown so fast over the year! It was also extra special to meet the newest addition to their family - baby Hanna. :-)

We also got together with our closest cousins, Ate Kathleen and Karl, in L.A and spent more than a week at their new house. The three of us plus Kaye (Arvin came much later into our lives. Haha.) literally grew up together. From learning how to ride bikes to going on our first unsupervised gimik at Hard Rock (it was the IN thing then, hehe), we experienced them all together. And now as we have grown older, the comfort of being around them hasn't faded.

As expected, L.A. was F.U.N.! It was even more memorable because my best buddy, Rachel, came with us! Back in college, we made a pact to go on a foreign trip before either one of us got married. Since the plan didn't push through, this is the next best thing to it! So there, we all went tourist-y in Hollywood, Beverly Hills and Disneyland. Haha.

I also had the chance to spend some quality time with my highschool kabarkadas, Tylou and Clarice. Tylou is now based in L.A. while Clarice lives in San Francisco. It was a blast making chika again about each other's lives especially now that Tylou is a soon-to-be mom and Clarice's family just moved to a house that they can now proudly call their own. That plus me filling them in on with details about our wedding, it was just chika all the way! Ang saya!

For the more serious stuff, I am proud to say that we have accomplished quite a few milestones over the past month. First, with the help of Jerome's dad, we were able to buy our first car. A Mazda CX-9. :-)

Plus, we were able to receive our social security numbers in less than 2 weeks, got ourselves US numbers and iPhones (woohoo!), bank accounts with Bank of America and applied for credit cards.

And most of all, I've been learning how to cook! Thanks to Jerome's mom who has been patiently teaching me her delicious recipes.

Not bad for our first month, don't you think? :-)