Angel

     A weekend trip to Atlanta last June 23-25 was more than just the basketball Bong and Enyel had to play.  Unlike the last time, we were able to tour the streets of Atlanta.                       

       Starting off on Friday night, June 23, before heading to donnie’s house, we added a waypoint to the Centennial Olympic Garden.  We’re not able to go to the fountain area since there is an event going on and there are lots of people out there, we just went to the Statue of whoever that was.. hehe.. to take our picture and the fantastic view of Atlanta by night. The tiresome 7-hour travel was forgotten when we came by Downtown Atlanta and we were literally awed by uniquely designed architecture and their lights.  Anyways, buildings in Atlanta are most beautiful by night and are just plain by day.  The lights give them a sort of life.

     After a few minutes of staying at the park, we headed to Donnie’s home where we had sinigang and crispy pata.  We soo missed sinigang, ate Mel’s version is very tastful. Eversince I got here i just cooked sinigang twice, I don’t know why… maybe coz it’s too hard to find kangkong out here.  I might cook one after we got settled in our new apartment (different entry).

     The next day, Saturday June 24, we woke up early to get ready for the  Basketball Tournament in Atlanta where Enyel and Bong joined.  We were pressuring them to win since it took us 7 hours just so they can play basketball.  Nonetheless, they lost in I think, 6 points. In the first few minutes they were overthrown by 26 points, but they made it up to just 6 points with their fastbreaks.  I’m not really familiar with the games’ rules and jargons, but I really enjoyed watching the game and cheering for our guys.  It’s just so sad that only ate Mel, Irene and I watched the game plus the kids, it would’ve been very nice if their (the players’) wives were there.

     After the game, we just had lunch and headed off to the Georgia State  Capitol.  The gold-domed Capitol Building is just as fascinating, with Miss Freedom, a 22 1/2 foot statue atop the dome.  It’s nice to have a bit of a historical tour, only if we know the history of the capitol..hehe… all I know is that it houses the governor’s office and the state legislature and that it is made of Indiana limestone and Georgia marble and it stands 240 feet high from the rotunda floor.  I wonder who was the statue right at the back of Bong riding a horse…

    After marvelling the Capitol’s beauty, we headed off to the mountains.. er… the Stone Mountain Park which took us almost 45 minutes from the State Capitol.   Well, what can I say… the view from the top was heavenly, and the cable car ride was quite an experience…the first one was good, but the ride back was bad… well, we stood side by side with stinking guys.. eew… I never will stand beside any I_d_ _ n ever!!! 

     We rode the cable car at around 8pm, and they were closing at 8:30 which means we have to get in the line for the ride back before 8:30 to save us the energy of going down from the mountain by stairs.  So we just spent about 5 minutes atop of the mountain… the views are as I have said, heavenly… it’s kinda like singing the Carpenter’s Top of the World… well, we’re just on the top of Georgia…hehe…

   The following day was our day to go back to Raleigh, so we went to Downtown once again for the last minute tours.  Our first stop is the CNN Center where we were not able to tour inside  because we don’t have the time to do it anymore… so we just had a couple of pictures outside and at the entrance where different shops stood.  We did a little shopping inside and went out with the usual:  keychain for my collection, fridge magnet for bong’s collection, a CNN shirt for me (I once dreamed of being a reporter) and a collector’s pen for Bong.

     Last stop : World of Coca-Cola.  Well, Coke has been part of every Filipinos’ life, whether here, or back home, and I think the Coke people know this coz right upon entering the building’s 3rd floor, our flag greets everyone right at the doorstep.  The Coke museum was just small, they just featured Coke’s history (malamang!), how the bottles were embossed, and the all time favorite - Coke tasting!!! As if we don’t know how Coke tastes like huh, well, no…. there are 40 different kinds of Coke products here, from all over the world.  When you taste some of the Coke products, like  the Ginger Beer from South Africa (sorry), you’ll know why it’s not available in our country… try it so you’d know. hehe…

     We planned on going to Gaffney, SC for some outlet shopping, but the weather was so horrible that we just went on driving straight to Charlotte where we celebrated with our friends for Anni’s Baby Shower.

So that’s it, a tiring but exciting Georgia trip.  We’ll be back for the aquarium though coz we were not able to get a ticket for this trip (SOLD OUT).  I wonder where our feet will take us to next time.

Ciao!

      We had some friends over for a small gathering last June 18 — my birthday.  Bong’s officemates and their partners came over and some of our friends from Church.  All 30 people (more or less) fit in our teeny-weeny apartment, and with the temperature at 90 deg or more, it was a sweaty afternoon.  We just had merienda, videoke and had some dinner, but what we enjoyed most is that chit-chat.  Stories varying from bosses freaking them out, girls wanted to do some more shopping, going home to the Philippines, going to places here in the US, saving up money for businesses we want to start in Pinas…the list goes on.  Being together, us Filipinos share our dreams of saving up and going back. 

    They (friends) also serenaded me with some funny songs from the MAGIC SING, and I especially liked CJ’s rendition of Bahay Kubo while dancing a traditional folk dance step.  And did I already say that Irene’s Kare-Kare is superb? Well, everyone couldn’t stop digging into the dish that I have to sneak some when nobody was looking and hid it in the fridge..=)   And, well, they brought gifts too!!!  They really are sweet… 

    This is one birthday celebration I will never really forget.  It wasn’t like my birthdays at home with my family, but despite that, me, my husband and our friends had a blast.

  ‘Twas a tiring 12-hour drive from 8pm May 26 to 8am May 27 down south for a Memorial Weekend trip with the Fujitsu people and the couple — Enyel and Irene.  Our friends whom we met at the Bowling Tournament in Cary who then became our Churchmates at the Glory to God Christian Fellowship, Jonathan and Chat, invited us to stay over their folks place at St. Petersburg. 

      The couple took us to the beach to get some tan, as if were not brown skinned at all, and we enjoyed a couple of hours dippin’ at St. Pete’s beach, and yeah, we got a little burned from the sun.  Hours later, when we’re done freshin’ up, they took us at The Pier and watched a lot of people fishin’ from the parking lot.  We did some shopping too at The Pier’s shops.  By the way, Jonathan is an American-Cuban missionary to the Philippines (reason why he’s speaking fluently in Filipino) way back 2001 and married Chat, a Filipina, in 2003.

     The next day, May 28, we rode for 2 hours to Walt Disney World and about 20 minutes more to the Universal Studios in Orlando to drop off some of the Fujitsu guys who find Walt Disney too girly or too kiddy for them.  About 11AM, we’re finally entering the Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom.  We had a chance to visit only Magic Kingdom among the four (4) Theme Parks in Walt Disney World due to time (or days) constraint.  It takes a day or more just to roam around and get some rides in one Theme Park. 

      It was a sunny day with temparature rising to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and we got burned more than we did at the beach.  Albeit, we still enjoyed.  We had a few kiddy rides and a tour of the Haunted Mansion.  From 11am, we stayed until 11PM for the Fireworks, and yes it is GRAND.  It was a day soo tiring but full of fun.

     Next day, May 29 is the Memorial Day, which means Memorial Day Sale!!! We hit Orlando Premium Outlets in the morning, with a hectic shopping schedule of merely 2 hours.  Imagine girls shopping for only 2 hours!!! If my sister were here, she would have panicked..hehe.. peace SIS!  So there we were, rushing from one shop to the other, going only to shops that the Carolina Premium Outlets doesn’t have such as Lacoste (top on the list), Kenneth Cole, Armani Exchange, Diesel, Calvin Klein and a couple of others.  Irene and I are practically sprinting all the way to the stores just to get what we were looking for.  The boys (Bong, Enyel and Erwin) just followed us wherever we went, maybe 2 hours isn’t enough for them too so they might as well not shop at all =).

     It wasn’t long enough that we realized our vacation was over so we hit a 10-hour long drive from Orlando to Raleigh… sigh… it was a 4 day vacation with only 9 hours of sleep, total, ha and no sleep at all during the ride to St. Petersburg.

    On our next trip back, we’re sure to hit another Theme Park at the Walt Disney World, and hopefully more hours of shopping at Prime Outlets (another Outlet in Orlando).  Well, Florida sure is an exciting state apart from it’s sunny hot weather, a lot of Outlets and Theme Parks, I could go on a month long vacation in that place.  We’re looking forward on our next Florida Trip with Anton and Jitjit, Rojie and Zorina.  See ya next time. =)