One Month, Five Days

This is how long Mike and I have been here in freaking cold Auckland.  Freaking cold for people like us who hail from the tropical islands of the Philippines, and Singapore - which is just as warm.  It's freaking cold here because we arrived during winter, but it's not that bad.  I'm actually starting to like it!

I feel bad for not posting for the last 3 months.  A lot of things happened, each month worth remembering.

On June, I went home to the Philippines for a three-week vacation.  The highlight of which was the road trip to Pagudpod with Mike, Mami, and Kuya Panoy.  Although the rainy season beat us in getting to Pagudpod, it was a particularly memorable trip because I got to spend it with Mami.  Might take a while before we bond again.

On July, Mike and I went back to Singapore to spend time with family and friends.  It was a good month mostly because I got to attend to my auntie duties to my dear Keyla.  For a month, I got to be her yaya.  Every moment was sweet and I wouldn't mind doing it again and again.  For the last two weeks, Mami and Wawin also went to Singapore so we could be complete prior to our departure for New Zealand.

You probably couldn't imagine the agony of the day we had to part.  Everybody was in tears, as if we won't see each other again.  Partly it's true because we don't know yet when we could be complete again.  It sounds really dramatic but it's true: every single day, I dreaded for the day we'll say "see you again"... and it came.  But hey, everybody survived :).  Nobody had a heart attack and we are all fine as I speak.

A special shout out for our Singapore friends: Jan, Marco (and Marco's mom), Ann, Raffa, and Gina for being with us at the airport on our last day.  They became our family in the absence of our "real" family.  Somehow the "real" family disappeared and nobody was there to send us off.  Unbelievable :p

And now I sit here, smiling, being very thankful for how "easy" the first month has been.  Fairly easy.  God is good!

On the 21st of July, we landed safely in Auckland.  I am the queen of paranoia.  I imagined that the customs officers would ask us to open all our luggages while they scan every item.  I imagined I would stammer trying to defend that we don't have any suspicious article in our bags.  Capital P for praning.  Getting out of the airport was really a breeze.  I felt that the officers were all very friendly. Even the security dogs were friendly!  There was really nothing to be scared of :)

Philip, Mike's best bud, gave us a quick tour of the city.  The city was a melting pot of people of different races.  Loved how I was reminded of Zurich.  It must be the weather. :)

On the 2nd day, I was down with flu and a very bad cough.  Hanep!  Great timing :p So I was pretty much helpless and boring for our six-day stay in the city.  The blessing here is that Mike didn't catch the terrible virus.

On the 7th day, we found an apartment in a suburb (Mount Wellington) that we now share with flatmates.

And the  best news is that Mike and I found ourselves magically employed :) Mike is working part-time and I will start working on the 1st of September.  Somebody received very special birthday presents, right? :)

Everything else that happened in between is just so sweet.  Grocery shopping using carry-on luggage (we don't have a car :p), cooking meals, going to nearby parks, walking under the sun (and having migraines afterwards), shopping for essentials, going to the not-so-nearby mall, jogging... all sweet.

We now look forward to spring.  I now declare: good things happen on spring :) and also on summer, fall, and winter!  Love love love!