New home. New friends.

My joyous days in a hotel are over. (Translate that to Tagalog and you know what I mean :P) No more free full English breakfasts. No more free unlimited high speed internet. No more free cleaning that everytime I get home my my bed's made up and there are clean towels in the bathroom. Oh why did it have to end?

I opted for a flatshare instead of living alone because not only it's cheaper, I'd also be forced to get to know other people. It's an opportunity to gain friends here. It's bad enough being assigned tens of thousands away from home, like I'm the only Pinoy in our building. It's even more depressing to cocoon myself from the outside world with December coming up. And besides I figured I can use the extra practice to speak in English at home. Oh diba parang kung sino akong sosyal na kelangan nag-e-english sa bahay, hehehehe :P

So I looked for a flatshare online and I got lucky. I found a house where there would only be two other single professional girls sharing with me. It's a storey house where there are 3 bedrooms one for each of us, a big sala, a dining room, kitchen and garden. It's fully furnished. It's just walking distance to/from office. But what made me decide to get this place was that the first time I met my landlord I immediately felt at ease with him. I reckoned I'd be in good hands with Metrobank, este with him as my landlord. He gave me a lift when I transferred here yesterday and even carried all my luggages up to my room. He even introduced me to a Filipina who's a friend of his wife.

And we immediately clicked with the his Filipina friend. Her name is Nory, short for Eleanor. Nory's actually a Canadian citizen. She immigrated to Canada during her late twenties, and guess what, she was also an IT developer - the reason why it was so easy for her to migrate in Canada.. hurray for us! But that's a "was" because she retired. She decided to be a stay-at-home mom. Nory's so sweet. The night before my scheduled moving in, she called me up at my hotel and offered me a lift. And yesterday afternoon she went here, with her husband John and their 4 year old son Robert, bringing a duvet for me to use and pizza for dinner. And just this morning her husband picked me up so I can have lunch at their house. I almost hugged her because she cooked rice, yey! It's something I haven't had the luxury to eat since I came here.

I stayed in their place for hours, playing with cute Robert (gwapo talaga ng bata, as in gusto ko ireto sa future anak ko!). We then went to Tesco for grocery. She taught me what stuffs to buy, dinner I can prepare on my own. She offered that I can go with them every weekend for grocery since they have a car. They're so nice. I just feel so lucky to have met them. I of course thanked Nory profusely. I guess I can't thank her enough. She just shrugged it off and said "Naku wala yun, alam ko kasi yang pinagdadaanan mo ngayon kasi mag-isa ako ng migrate sa Canada. Alam ko how hard being alone in a foreign country is." My heart swells because of their kindness. I wish someday I can repay that.