VDay = Very Bad Day

late post for vday but i still want to share my experience.
I woke up early that day to prepare breakfast for my swity. He was on a night shift so we planned to eat breakfast together as our vday celebration. Also I had an 8:00am meeting so I hurried to catch the next shuttle going to makati. When I reached the shuttle terminal, (1st bad luck) I stumbled on a broken aisle and almost dived into the ground. Gladly I was able to grabbed on the girl in front of me and managed not to fall. On my embarassment, I just went inside the van and didn't care if it was the shuttle van that we usually avoid. (2nd) When I got seated, the girl seated right next to me step on my foot. That time, I already felt that it was not a good day. I prayed not to experience it the entire day but it didn't happen. (3rd) When we were in NAIA, I realized that our trip is slow. It was the van the we don't ride much because the driver drives very slow and alway grumpy to the passengers when asked to stop. I knew then I won't be able to make it to my meeting.
(4th) Our shuttle route continued until we passed the south super flyover along edsa. Suddenly... the guy in front shouted 'HOLDAP to! diretso mo lang!'. Four of the passengers were holdapers, 3 of them was holding a gun. They've asked for our cellphones.. money.. jewelries. They personally checked each and every bag (every zipper!) of the passengers for any valuables. Before the holpader asked for my bag, I was able to remove my wedding ring and necklace and dropped it inside. I was just glad the holdaper didn't digged much into my it and find my ring. But sad to say he got my IPOD (waahhh!!). After they got everything, they left the van in the overpass near Petron - Taguig C5 area.
We reported the incident to the Taguig police station but there was nothing else we can do to recover what was taken from us. We are just hoping that they will be caught and pay the consequences they've done. The description of the bad guys: all of them were thin, brown complexion, has tattoo in their left hand. One of them looks 35 to 45 year old then 3 of them looks like in 20 to 30 year old. They dressed like normal passengers (office attire; polo shirts and jeans).
At around 11 am, I finally reached the office and talked a bit about the experience to some my collegues. After 20 mins, my lunch buddy kitkat called me to have our ID pictures taken. (5th) When it was my turn, the laptop rebooted. It took several mins to have it worked. Is it me or it is really me??? Oh well.. at about 2:30 pm we decided to just take the day off because I was not able to focus on my work. (6th) But before we went home, Hubi and I dropped by in evangelista because his side of window was stucked open. The power window was not working since the night before. He parked the car since 10pm to 3pm (vday) with the window open. So much for a bad day...

Advance VDay Celebration

Yesterday was supposed to be our bonding day with gian. We planned to take her to a shopping mall for her 'lakwatsa day' but we didn't pushed it through because of some conflict with our errand.
Our initial plan was to get the package 'padala' from Tita Glo (hubi's tita) after lunch with Gian then go straight to the mall. But the balikbayan friend of her tita told him that they won't be available until 6pm. Because of that we got lazy to go out early and decided to take a nap.
I woke up 4:30pm and already had no plan to come with hubi in San Juan. Maybe he really wanted to have a companion that he insisted I come then have our Advance VDay dinner together.

After we got the package, we went to Metrowalk for the dinner. We went to eat at 'Brazil Brazil' as suggested by Bes earlier that day.

It is a buffet restaurant and have the following selection:
Grilled: chicken, pork Belly, pork tenderloin, pork ribs, beef brisket, beek tenderloin, sausage, squid, pineapple, banana, corn.
Soup: seafood with mushroom soup
Salad: mediterranean salad, shrimp salad, fruit salad, and salad bar with 3 salad dressing(ceasar, thousand island and italian vinegrette),
Main Dish: deep fried fished in red sauce, mushroom dish... polanchay veggy... crab fat rice... baked macaroni...
Desserts: fruits(watermelon, pineapple and mango), jelly with fruit, coffee mocha flavored cake.

I tried all the grilled stuff, soup, and dessert except for the main dish and some salad. It was a good experience but we don't think we would visit them again. For me, the meat was overwhelming and the amount of fats/grease that I got from eating it makes me feel sick. I also didn't liked the grilled squid and the italian vinegrette dressing (to sour for me!).

After the dinner, we watched people playing in the mini amusement park. The rodeo ride was fun to watch because some people couldn't stand a second once the bull started to move. The basketball shooting range was exaggerated! The distance and the height of the basketball ring was to far and to high to reach. Oh well.... m not a fan of basketball anyway. :)

The best part of the night for me except for the dinner of course! was our DVD hoarding hehe. We bought 9 DVD movies for only 400 pesos. Not bad! I just wish all of it is watchable. Can't wait for the movie bonding with hubi!

Finally... Australia

After months of inquiries and preparation for supporting documents from Australia I finally managed to send our application to Australian Embassy last Sat. My sister insisted that I should do it myself and not ask for an agent. Primary reason is the cost... 5500 each applicant if we let the travel agency do the lodging for us. While it only costed her 2900 each for the application. So it's a lot cheaper but collating documents and asking it from my brother's family is such a pain in the ass. I have to remind them almost everyday for their supporting documents... have to get it from their place or somewhere near them thinking it's out of our way... provide the application document (which they did not use! grr..) and at the last minute my husband need to get it from their place because they filled up the outdate form they got ages ago. I'm ranting because it showed that they were not supportive in doing the application on our own. At least I got it all worked out.
Overall it's really easy to apply for a visa going to Australia.

Some tips for applying Tourist visa (Subclass 676):
--- Get all updated application forms from this site: http://www.immi.gov.au/e_visa/visitors.htm
Required application docs: Form 48R, Application Document Checklist (it should be the first docs in the application), Form 1229 (Consent Form if minor is travelling).

--- Have a valid passport

--- Complete supporting document: NSO certified birth certificates, certificate of employment (if employed), financial docs (bank statement/bank certificates).

--- Documents from visiting party in Australia: Letter of invitation, statement of general support, financial statements, first page copy of their passport, certificate of employment.

--- To know all other requirements, you can also check infosheet 20 from the Immigration office in Manila site http://www.philippines.embassy.gov.au/. And all supporting documents should have a copy so that they will return original copies.

--- When all docs are ready, need to have a manager's check issued to Australian Embassy for the payment (2900 each) of the application. For group application it can be have one issued manager's check. You can get this in any bank but preferrably in a bank that you have an account.

--- Make a phone call to their accredited Call Center. Each min cost 32 or 52 pesos so it is advisable to have all documents and manager's check ready before calling. The number can be found in the infosheet 20.

--- The agent will get the necessary passport details of each applicant. Then they will inform you that the courier service will get all the application from the place you'd specified. Courier service will cost 320 (picked up and deliver). The agent will also give the transaction number of the lodging. It should be written in the long brown envelop with the name of applicants. Finally have a signature in the sealed envelop. :)

In our case, I lodged our application last Friday then I had the courier service picked up the application forms the next day. Australian Embassy in Manila and courier service are available Monday to Fri (8 to 5 pm) and Sat (til noon). The agent will also inform you that the application process will take 5 to 7 working days (provided all necessary docs are provided).

After four working days, we finally received the result of the application. Gladly all six of us were granted tourist visa to Australia valid for 1 year with multiple entry!!! Lucky us! (my mom... my aunt... my baby gian... my sister in law and my brother). :)

I'm really happy and excited because it will be my aunt's first time to travel abroad. My sis will pay for their tickets except for me, my sister-in-law and my brother's ticket.

And this doesn't end my task in getting us to Australia. I still have to find cheap if not affordable tickets for us. Find dress for mom and aunt, find nice footwear for myself, buy all stuff that my sis would like me to bring with us. And the most frustrating thing I need to do is...... to lose weight!!!

REASON: It's my sister's wedding and she wanted me to standout in the wedding ceremony because my gown is different from the rest of the entourage.