Last Monday, hubby revealed to me that his two teammates who are also waiting for the family residence visa for their families has been released, while, ours have not with no explanation whatsoever on its status. The thing is, hubby submitted the requirements way earlier than them, and that pisses me off!

I can't simply understand how come ours is still not available. But then again, I chose to believe that maybe, just maybe, God would not let us go there now. He has His reasons.

With that, we booked hubby's ticket for a 3-week vacay here when we chanced a much lower airfare that the previous days airfare rates.

We are hoping that our Visa would be released anytime before mid November so we can all go together, it would spare me a lot of stress traveling alone with a 4 year old kid tagging along with me.

So we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Yes, we're still here.

Unfortunately. Our Visa has been delayed. All the requirements were provided to the company last July but Ramadan came and most of the people went on vacay. Then came another "roundabout" -  its a long story so I will dubbed it as "roundabout".

But we're hanging in there. Still being positive that if its the right time, and the God permits, it will be available.

While PATIENTLY waiting for it, I'm burying myself with a lot of balikbayan boxes. We are allowed to send 300 kilograms of personal belongings and mind you I had to fill more than 10 boxes. Basically with our clothes, shoes, toys, cooking utensils, small appliances and anything I could think of that would make my life there easy.

I even purchased folding guide for clothes, shoe racks, and a lot of cooking tools. I soooo love Gourdos!

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Hubby decided to go home for a 15 day vacay in case our Visa would not be released until next week. Airfare is expensive for such a short trip but homesickness is something you CAN'T just ignore. We were prepared to be away from each other for 3 months, but its nearly 5 months now.

Good thing Hubby is given their airfare allowance for 2012 on a pro-rated basis so the airfare would be covered by this and not by our piggie bank.

I have been very busy with a lot of documents lately.

Having my diploma and transcript of records authenticated by DFA in preparation for working was a breeze since I employed the services of PPT Teleservice, shell out Php 1,200 for he two documents though. But I'm not complaining since I hate going to Manila myself, I would rather pay for a 3rd party services that to personally go there.

Next is having to line ip for 3 hours for updating my SSS ID, and I will not even have to see the new card until our next vacay here since card production will take 3 months, do they process the cards in the moon or something? Hays.

Gladly my Mum got Hermione's Baptismal Certificate for me, saved me a few trips to the Church since they had Hermione's 3rd name by mistake, instead of Amidala it became Amilada so the Bishop had to approve of this tiny correction.

I also went bank-hopping to open peso,dollar and trust fund since its best to save here, not for interest but for accessibility in case of emergency.

I finally undergone medical test and boy I was so nervous the whole time.

I had a baseline medical test last April and I scored high in cholesterol and createnine, meaning, I need to cutback on high-choles food which is undoubtedly difficult since I'm a meat-lover.

My weight is 126 lbs. then, I started cutting a bit here and there but not totally depriving myself of meat, carbs and sweets. It was only last August that I seriously done some dieting, I would have veggie salad for dinner most of the time or have dinner with less rice. But during weekends I would binge for burgers, friend chicken and pizza haha. However, light eating during dinner seems to do the trick, as I would weight between 116 lbs to 120 lbs now.

Last Sept 19, I decided to have my medical test so when the Visa arrives I can immediately endorse it to the embassy for stamping. I went to one of the accredited medical center in Makati which I think is reputable enough not to make money out of me. There were horrible stories wherein OFWs or those acquiring residence visa were subjected to undergo a lot of expensive not-really-required-medical tests saying that they have health problems and would not release their medical certification unless they shell a lot of money for these non-sense medical exams/procedures.  Worst is that some even need to bribe the medical test center! My hubby was a victim of one of the medical test center who forcefully required my hubby to take a vitamin  for 10 days and more re-test to bring down his very very slightly elevated bilirubin which their own doctor said that its "clinically insignificant".
So you can just imagine what my 24 hour of waiting is, knowing the possibilities of some medical test center might screw my medical test so I had to be careful in selecting the medical test. Before I went there I had another personal medical test c/o of my health card last end of August and I ace it. You would want to do this, in case the medical test center you step on would want to take advantage of you, there would be a proof from another medical test facility that you are FIT.

I chose Abakkus Medical Test Center in Palanan Makati, thought its a bit of a challenge me getting there since I'm not fond of Makati really, I easily get lost, it was worth it. The facility is clean, the staff are nice and efficient, the line moves very quickly. I had CBC, Bloody Typing, Xray, Dental, Eye, Physical, Interview, Psychological Test, Urine and Stool Test. I was able to complete all of these in 3 hours. I was asked to call back after lunch the next day, and so I did. My heart was pumping hard as they check on my file and was only relieve when the person at the other line told me that I'm fit to travel and may get my medical certificate.

So I was soooooo ecstatic, I celebrated it by eating a LOT hehe. The medical certificate is valid for 2 months, I paid P2,150 for it. I just hope the visa will arrive before it expires.