Never Trust a Green Light

accident happens....

About the Washington Monument

WASHINGTON D.C. MONUMENT

One detail that is never mentioned is that in Washington, D.C. there can never be a building of greater height than the Washington Monument. With all the uproar about removing the ten commandments, etc., this is worth a moment or two of your time. I was not aware of this amazing historical information. On the aluminum cap, atop the Washington Monument in Washington , DC. , are displayed two words: Laus Deo.

No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument are totally unaware they are even there and for that matter, probably couldn't care less.

Once you know Laus Deo's history , you will want to share this with everyone you know. These words have been there for many years; they are 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument, facing skyward to the Father of our nation, overlooking the 69 square miles which comprise the District of Columbia, capital of the United States of America.


Laus Deo! Two seemingly insignificant, unnoticed words. Out of sight and, one might think, out of mind, but very meaningfully placed at the highest point over what is the most powerful city in the most successful nation in the world.

So, what do those two words, in Latin, composed of just four syllables and only seven letters, possibly mean? Very simply, they say 'Praise be to God!'

Though construction of this giant obelisk began in 1848, when James Polk was President of the United States , it was not until 1888 that the monument was inaugurated and opened to the public. It took twenty-five years to finally cap the memorial with a tribute to the Father of our nation, Laus Deo 'Praise be to God!'

From atop this magnificent granite and marble structure, visitors may take in the beautiful panoramic view of the city with its division into four major segments. From that vantage point, one can also easily see the original plan of the designer, Pierre Charles l'Enfant ..a perfect cross imposed upon the landscape, with the White House to the north. The Jefferson Memorial is to the south, the Capitol to the east and the Lincoln Memorial to the west.


A cross you ask? Why a cross? What about separation of church and state? Yes, a cross; separation of church and state was not, is not, in the Constitution. So, read on. How interesting and, no doubt, intended to carry a profound meaning for those who bother to notice.

Praise be to God! Within the monument itself are 898 steps and 50 landings. As one climbs the steps and pauses at the landings the memorial stones share a message.


a.. On the 12th Landing is a prayer offered by the City of Baltimore;
b.. on the 20th is a memorial presented by some Chinese Christians;
c.. on the 24th a presentation made by Sunday School children from New York and Philadelphia quoting Proverbs 10:7, Luke 18:16 and Proverbs 22:6. Praise be to God!

When the cornerstone of the Washington Monument was laid on July 4th, 1848 deposited within it were many items including the Holy Bible presented by the Bible Society. Praise be to God! Such was the discipline, the moral direction, and the spiritual mood given by the founder and first President of our unique democracy 'One Nation, Under God.'

I am awed by Washington's prayer for America Have you ever read it? Well, now is your unique opportunity, so read on!

'Almighty God; We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'

Laus Deo!

When one stops to observe the inscriptions found in public places all over our nation's capitol, he or she will easily find the signature of God, as it is unmistakably inscribed everywhere you look. You may forget the width and height of 'Laus Deo ', its location, or the architects but no one who reads this will be able to forget its meaning, or these words: 'Unless the Lord builds the house its builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain.' (Psalm 127: 1)

I received this in one of my email.

4 things about me

Thanks Fe for sharing this cool tag. Its my pleasure to do this tag, thanks and i really appreciate it.

4 Jobs I’ve had in my life:
1. Med Rep
2. Accounting Clerk
3. Transporter (parang movie ito ah?)
4. Service Crew

4 Shows I’d DVR(Tivo)
1. 2 and half men
2. Ninja warrior
3. Whose line is it anyway?
4. Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

4 Places I’ve Been
1. Hongkong
2. Japan
3. Dubai
4. Saudi Arabia

4 Favorite Foods
1. Ilocano Foods syempre
2. grilled foods
3. seafoods
4. chinese foods

I am passing this tag to my fellow bloggers: Dezz, Ice, Virgie, Gie and Mae.

LA Police Gear Website

Being in the law enforcement agency is a hard task, so you must find a good gear to do your task efficiently. This website BDU pants is a great place to find police gears such as BDU Pants. This site offers a variety of tredy police outfits, and if you are interested in buying 5.11 gear then visit La Police Gear website. So, for those persons who loves to serve our country, check out this site and you will find comfortable police gears.

Our new place

the movers(mayflower, key city moving)

Leaving Dubuquethe day of our moving

Finally, after 2 days waiting in the hotel, we just moved in the townhouse yesterday. The place is quiet and safe. We have a garage, storage, 2.5 bathrooms and a patio. The cable company that we called came right away and installed the internet and cable connection, so within 4 hours of moving, we have an internet connection instantly. I was so happy to see that there's a big church close to our place, hubby said it's not a Catholic Church, but by just looking at the design and the facade, I know it's a cath0lic church, and I just confirmed it when I saw the name, Queen of Apostles. And it's very close to grocery stores and mall too, well, by the rising cost of gas nowadays, I will just walk to save. Now, my job hunting process started, I just saw some establishments that might be a possible work for me. So far, so good in our new place, but I still miss Dubuque, the people and the place.

Our new place

Kitchen

dining area

living room

Moving to Wisconsin tomorrow

The big day has come, we are moving to Pewaukee, Wisconsin tomorrow. It's been so crazy, packing, cleaning the house, carpets, making sure its clean so that we can reimbursed our deposit. We are going to be without Internet for a week (it depends if the phone company is quick to install us a dsl connection). So, I probably won't get another post up until week. We will be staying in the hotel for 2 days , because the townhouse will be available on April 24. If there is available internet service in the hotel, it will be great. Anyway, tomorrow the moving company that we hire will come and pack all our stuffs and then we make the drive to Pewaukee We just packed few personal things in our suit case that we will use for 2 days. This is my second time moving, but the first one is not far, it's still here in Dubuque area. And I really hate moving, for packing, the movers will do the job but for unpacking time, there you go, the hardest part of moving. The lifting and arranging of furnitures, heavy chairs, beds, etc. The only part that I love is the decorating part. We were both excited about the new place and our next chapter. And me, job hunting again.

Last Day at Work

they surprised me!

Moments like these always feel weird and sad........

Weird because you're leaving something you've come to know so well to venture off into somehow unknown future, sad becasue you're leaving a lot of memories and will be missing the people you actually spent most of your day with for almost 2 years. I guess, its the relationship you build with them, the good times and even the not so good ones and how they touch your life.

when I entered the lunch room, I was surprised to find this fruit pizza, they said they made it because I love fruits, oh, made my heart melts. During lunchtime they always see me eating a lots of fruits, and it's my main course of meal, lol.

they asked me to wear this corsage through the entire day, oh, my I feel uncomfortable but the students said it was lovely.

I was surprised to find this hanging on the wall when I entered the gym, staffs and students signed and wished me goodbye. That's so touching. All the while I thought, it's just another ordinary day that will pass by and a simple goodbye on my last day. There were some who wrote in Tagalog words. I taught some students tagalog words like salamat and walang anuman.


My fellow staff Heather and me posing with some of the students.

My fellow staff Natalie and me posing again for another souvenir.

These nice people above were my closest, I was seated on Betty's lap, she's a mother, a friend, a companion rolled into one. The smiling guy is Rick, the most approachable person I've ever met, very helpful guy. Julie and Sheila were than a co-workers to me, they treated me as sister, my personal advisers, I learned a lot from them. And how can I forget my grandma Marie, the woman who always wears a red vest everyday, she's a great person, and understands me always.

This beautiful plant with white flowers, gifts, cards, flowers, were some of the remembrance I received from them. I appreciate the efforst of some of the students who made goodbye cards for me, it was really touching.

I'd like to thank all the guys at work for the great ride. It was great getting to know you all, it was fun working with you.

Tag: 20 Questions

I am tagged by Shiela and i wanna say thank you to her for this. Here it is...Here are the rules:Remove one (1) question from below and add in your personal question, make it a total of 20 questions, then tag eight (8) people in your list.List them out at the end of this post.

1. At what age did you marry? I married when i was 26 years old.

2. What color do you like most? I love teal, brown, and royal blue.

3. Have you ever shoplifted? Nope.

4. Where is the place that you want to go the most? Philippines

5. Which part of you that you hate the most? I am impatient and if my expectations will not be met, i can't hold my dissapointments!

6. Ever been in a physical fight? Hahahaha, yes, with my sister next to me when we were kids.

7. If you win 1 Million$ what would you do? I will help my poor siblings, travel the world, give some to the needy one's and save some on the bank as time deposits. I'll just gonna go relaxing...

8. What are you afraid to lose the most? My family and my loved ones.

9. What you loved the most last year (2007). I delivered a baby.

10. How do you cope up with boredom? Blogging, shopping and eating.

11. Till now, what is the moment you regret the most? By not being very protective with my sister and now she got pregnant !

12. Which type of person do you hate the most? Great Pretenders.

13. What is your ambition? Have a home in Canada.

14. If you had one wish, what would you wish for? I wish to just be healthy all the time.

15. It is already 2008, do you have a new year's resolution? To manage anger very well.

16. How did you celebrate New Year? I celebrate it with friends and relatives at home.

17. What do you look forward in 2008? Spend the summer in Canada with my relatives.

18. If your life is a song, what title would best fit in? uhmmm, am still thinking if there is?

19. What "special power" would you like to have? A power to just be young forever.hehehehe!20. My question: What's your most important asset? My smiles.

Now, i wanna pass this tag to Prily, Lynn, Nita, Nova,Veniz, Virgie, Jana and Jona
Posted by Portia at 2:35 PM 0 comments
Labels: FriendshipTags

Dropdown Menu

I noticed lately that my Blogroll is getting longer and longer causing the sidebar looks crowded, there were some blogs that uses dropdown menu for their long list, and I spend time to figure out how to do the same using Blogger Beta. I tried to look at my page elements and it's all the same, no dropdown menu, except the Archive list that has selections. Finally, I came accross this site called Technical Bliss that offers tutorial for a novice like me and not familiar with Html/Javasript. His style were so simple and easy to understand. Now, I can use dropdown menu for my blogroll, I can add as many links as I can. Kudos to Arpit!

PDA

It's not about Parental Drug Association, it's about our Personal Digital Assistant or PDA in the workplace. PDA is a small electronic device which can include some of the functionality of a computer, a cellphone, a music player, and a camera, it's also known as palm top computer. We use PDA in checking attendance of the students at Y(YMCA) in the before and after school age program. We usually leave it at the Y room at the end of each meeting, then use it again in the afternoon. I'm in the afternoon shift, because I have a morning job at the school. Usually I take rest at the Yroom after my work to wait for my shift, anyway it's just 30 minutes waiting, that's perfect for my newspaper reading while taking a break.

This afternoon something weird happened......our PDA was missing. My co-worker, and me were nervously looking for it everywhere in the room, but we had no luck. I was more nervous, all the circumstantial evidence were pointing on me, I am the first one in the room, reading newspaper, taking a rest. Then, it will be my last day of work tomorrow, I already resigned from my job because we will be moving to Wisconsin next week. Or I'm just being paranoid.

Here in this school, no one will get your things even you leave it somewhere, cellphones, cameras, valuable things, it's everywhere, unattended but no one dare to get or attempted to steal those. That's why I can't believe that our PDA was missing. Did I mention we don't have Security Guard in this school? Security Guard is not a popular job here. In fact, all the establishments here in Dubuque has no security guard. So, its' just somewhere, we went to the school office, we inquired who was the last person who went there in the room. They called the 3 person who were the last used the room, and presto one of them got it. I will not reveal his identity here but it serves as a lesson that it's not safe to leave valuable things everywhere.

The importance of Oral Hygiene

Having a great smile and good teeth are so important. Sales people, executive, professionals, performers, students and just about anyone from looking good and feeling better about themselves. I confessed that I was raised without a dental professional checked my teeth. Having a dentist is the last thing in our list, food first. If our tooth aches, we will just do self-treatment like herbal medicines, garlic and pain medicines. We don't care about abscess and gum swelling. As long as our stomach is full and meet our basic necessities.

When I had my first dental check up here in the States, I was so nervous, I knew there will be a lot of work they will do on my teeth. First, they did a lot of x-rays, bite wings x-ray, upper and lower. Then the dental hygienist cleaned my teeth. They knew right away based on the x-ray that I have a dead tooth, and there"s no other choice but to pull it, which I refused because I did not feel anything on that dead tooth, not painful, its normal looking, how come it was dead? The dentist made a simple test just to show me it was really dead, he put an electric stick on one of my "healthy tooth" and I felt a tingling sensation, its painful. Then he tried it on my "dead tooth" and I feel none, no tingling sensation, nothing, no feeling. It means, it's dead. And there's a link on that, it's not that simple that I have just a "dead tooth" They said I will need a biopsy to check if its cancerous. Of course, I felt scared. NO idea that a simple tooth will make a difference. Just found out that there"s a lot of related diseases link to our teeth. So we better not take for granted oral hygiene.

After that, I got numerous dental visits, my biopsy was negative. But since hubby got retired, our dental insurance was stop. And I still have more appointments left. It's embarrassing but I have 2 cavities for treatment. We have to pay for 100% for this, we have no choice, I really need this treatment to save my teeth. I need a smile.

I want to thank Dr. Lattner and his staff for a job well done on my teeth.

Photo of the Year

Holding the sun

Edge of the Hurricane

Fire-Starter

Amazing Cloud Formation

You Light Up my World

Not a Good Day For Surfing

and here ' s the Best!

AND THINK YOU'RE HAVING A BAD DAY AT WORK!!

Although this looks like a picture taken from a Hollywood movie, it is in fact a real photo,
taken near the South African Coast during a Military exercise by the British Navy.
It has been nominated by the National Geographic as "The Photo of the Year".

Great Rebate offers!

This is a good news to the realty world, North Idaho Rebates is offering a sales and buying program where they can give up to a $10,000 rebate at closing to a buyer or seller of any home in North Idaho. I have checked into their program by opening their website and found out that this great offers and benefits were true, legal and accurate. Their goal is to give back to buyers, Cash Rewards Inc. is the company that licenses the programs and have been in the business for over 10 years now. I even contacted their office thru their toll-free number in their website for more informations regarding the program and this is how it works, if your a buyer, they will pay you a rebate up to$10,000 regardless of who the home is listed with so long as you (buyer) retain them as to represent you as a buyer agent in the home selling transaction.

And for the people selling their homes, they will pay them a $3,000 rebate at closing and $10,000 rebate at closing if they don't sell their home in 65 days. This is really a good deal if you are selling your house in North Idaho, you cannot find a firm like this that will work for you and be held accountable. I informed my friend from North Idaho about this exciting offers, upon knowing this, she contacted North Idaho Rebates right away. I will be happy to recommend this informations to anyone I know that can be benefited to this great offer.

So, if your living in North Idaho and are looking to buy or sell your next home or investment property, by using this company, you automatically qualify for the program.North Idaho Rebates is committed to delivering the highest quality of customer service and strive hard on every transaction to exceed your expectations. Their team are skilled and knowledgeable on the market.

More information for this program can be found at http://www.northidahorebates.com/.

Ocean's Eleven

I receive a nice tag from my tukayo, Virgie. She said no cheating, so i started listing people 11 people in a piece of paper so i won't forget. She was right it is fun tag and tricky, I was laughing at myself when I answer the questions.

Here goes: Name 11 people you can think of right off the top of your head. Don’t read the questions underneath until you write the names of all the 11 people. This is a lot funnier if you actually randomly list the names first. No cheating.
1. Jon
2. Daisy
3. Jojo
4. Markelly
5. Mark Jerry
6. Deo
7. Racquel
8. Margie
9. Irene
10. Joan
11. Julie

Now, its time to answer the following questions:
1. How did you meet #4?* I met him when he was born, he is my nephew.
2. What would you do without #6?* I will miss him, his my makulit and sweet Nephew.
3. What would you do if #2 and #6 were going out?* Well, they went out sometime going to the movies, that's my sister and nephew.
4. Who’s #10’s best friend?* I am not sure, she is my teenage niece, it's hard to guess(smiling)
5. Have you ever eaten around #1?* Oh, yeah, he is my husband. .
6. Do you miss #2?* Yes. All the time, specially now that she in a hard time situation.... Shee is my sister, and i love him a lot.
7. Who is #11 dating?*She's my co-worker and married, so I guess she's dating her husband.
8. What do you think of #3?* He is my brother, very responsible father and husband.
9. What do you think of #9?* She's the kind of person who say's a lot of sensible things, a friend you can lean on, gives great advises, a nurse, beautiful inside and out.
10. Who does #2 like?* She is hardworking and very patient mother.
11. Would you marry #8? And who is number 5?* Of course not. She is a Girl-Friend and I'm straight. Lol! No. 5 is my six months old baby nephew Mark Jerry, I hope he will be ok and grows perfectly normal, I'll pray for him.

Well, folks grab this if you want to. I want to share this with shareen , Nedekcir , The Positive Side ,Marilyn, jeanmarie, , Dezz Spices in Life, Nocturnal Blogger, & Avee. Have a great week people!

Cheap International Phone Cards

Good news folks, I just found out this cheap internationalonline phone card to call anywhere around the world, what is good about this is, no connection fee, phone card are delivered online instantly , offers great voice quality and great price value, Buy now get the pin at the instant and 24/7 support. Best quality rates and prices at online phone card. Check it out now and experience the prepaid phone cardsoffer!

Where's the Security Guard?

Bank in DubuquexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxRestaurant

Here in Dubuque, the very first thing I noticed is the absence of Security Guard (sekyu) in all business establishments like banks, shopping malls, and restaurants. Compared to Philippines security guards are every where, even parking lot, lol.. I always kid my cousin whose job is a security guard, that he will never find a job here in the states. Well, I am not sure with bigger cities, like New York or California, etc. but so far all the places that I've been like Chicago, Missouri, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, I never see any single security guard or a watch guard in their business establishments.

Scary thoughts..

When I found out that my older sister got pregnant again, I was so mad. For economic reasons, yes, I was not only mad, very mad. It will be her 4th child, and have a hard time raising her 3 kids. Her unfortunate life started when her husband got an accident last 1996, his spinal cord was badly damaged causing a Hemiplegia, a condition where there is paralysis of one half of a patient's body. That time her youngest son is only a baby and the 2 kids still in the elementary years. The responsibility of raising the family was put on my sister's shoulder, plus taking care of her hemiplegic husband. Being single and working at that time, I was able to help them financially. I can't imagine how will she raise the 3 kids with her meager salary, not enough for a decent life. I help them to the best that I can, hospital emergency expenses, graduation expenses, school expenses, sometimes daily food expenses. Oh yeah, I'm willing to help them and I wish they will help themselves too. And getting pregnant is the last thing that I think they will not ever ever do......

Last October, my sister delivered her 4th child. It was stressful on my part, first I was told that her case is not normal, she had a very low heart beat, in her late 30's and have urine infection. The hospital staffs said that the baby might have hydrocephalus, a condition in which theres an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain that causes the head to become enlarge. I saw some babies with this condition and my heart bleeds upon seeing an infant with a large head in the television. When they saw my baby nephew, he's perfectly fine, and very cute. Thank God, I was happy to know that he's normal. When I saw him on the webcam for the first time, he's so small but very handsome baby boy.

Now, he is six months old, growing and his head is growing too :(. They noticed that his head is not normal, I don't know what to say, I have this feeling that there's something wrong with the baby because my sister had an infection in her urine plus she had no prenatal checkup because that time she was pregnant, her husband was in in the hospital for another surgery in the head(it was last year). She spent time in the hospital to take care of her husband and she did not know she's pregnant. The poor fetus was neglected, and I have this scary thoughts, that maybe the enlargement of the head is hydrocephalus. I was like crazy researching the signs and symptoms of hydrocephalus. I can't sleep, I'm scared, I have plans for the baby, I love him, what if he is positive? Tomorrow will be the schedule for his ultrasound on the head, and I'm praying that he will be negative, hoping its just a normal head enlargement, nothing serious.

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Safariland Holster

I just found this new website that manufacture products for the men and women who patrol our neighborhoods and to those whose job is at risk everyday just to protect us and our families. You can visit safariland holster , they are best known for a quality holster, any kind of holster, be a concealment holster, laminate holster to name a few. You can also finds good cops stuff there like police belts and other components such as magazines and handcuff cases.

Being a cop is not easy job, they need a secure and quality holster that they can use in their duty. Safariland is pretty well-known and has a good reputation for quality. It got a superb review by the guys who have them.

This is the SL holster with ALS. It has level 2 Retention.

A walk in the Mississippi River

It was a relaxing Saturday morning, after a brunch at the nearby Asian Restaurant, we decided to burn the calories that we accumulated by walking at the Riverfront with Sarge. T'was a wonderful experience for me because being here for almost 2 years, this is my first time to walk in here. The fresh air, beautiful view of the river and the cool breeze will perfectly makes you relax and healthier, the reason why a lot of babies in the stroller here, children's having fun riding their bikes, families with their dogs. Now, that it's Spring time and the weather is warmer, hubby and I plans to do this walk every weekend. I think walking while seeing nature is a good stress-reliever plus it's an inexpensive form of exercise. I noticed lately that I'm gaining weight. I was a skinny 98lbs when I came here, now I'm bulging 110lbs., the buffet restaurant is the real culprit, plus no physical activities, I don't exercise.

The beautiful stretch of walkway that you can see above features many opportunites to see attractive staris to the water edge, pedestrian connection to the many attraction on it's route like the floating casino, the historic boat, the Grand Harbor Resort and waterparks, amphitheater, the National Mississippi River and Museum, the Riveredge Plaza, Greyhound park and casino and many more attractions that you can see at the Port of Dubuque. The America's River project for the Port of Dubuque made a good job on this.

The Joy of donating my hair

I always hate having a short hair. The kind of hair I have is the natural wavy type, thick strands, coarse, and full of volume. So, I always make it a point to maintain it long and have it straighten by the professional. It's very hard to manage if it's shorter, above shoulder cut will make it like an apro style, very thick that you can't see my small face anymore, it's all hair! I envy those who have natural straight and thin hair, its easy to manage and can have a the style of hair they want. But everytime I see a short hair woman and she carry it beautifully, wow, I wanted a short hair too! there are variety of styles of short hair. there comes a time that I wanted to cut my hair short if I see a short haired one that is really nice. But, if I remember that my hair is different type from them, even I choose their style, I know the outcome will be not be same as theirs. So, no, no, to short hair ever!


BeforexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxNOW

my long hair before and this is my short hair now, its a nice feeling that your hair is being use by some people who are in need of hair, is

Things changed when I watched a video from the cancer patients that need wigs. They were financially disadvantaged cancer patients across the US who suffer from long-term medical hair loss. A well-established non profit organization called Locks of Love is the one who gathers the collection of hair from donors. From watching step by step, I learned that my hair is very qualified for donation. I felt a sense of guilt upon watching the children who has no hair because of chemotherapy. And here is my hair, useless long hair that needs to be cut but I refuses because of vanity. I decided right away to have a hair cut. And it's a blessing in disguise, that my hubby received a gift certificate from a well-known salon in the community. A $50 worth of hair styling, shampooing, plus 3 different products of their famous brand. Hubby wanted to transfer the gift certificate in my name. He always have a military cut, and he doesn't need the hair styling, lol. We immediately booked for an appointment at Stardust Salon. Both of us wanted a real change, he even told me to have my hair shorter, might be cute for my little face. That statement coming from him made me completely push thru on my hair donation. The salon staff was pleased to know about my plans, and their salon is also an active donor in that organization, they know the step by step procedure. I signed up a form, they help me gave an envelope to put my hair in the plastic container. The feeling of joy, knowing that my hair will be useful to someone gives me a sense of fulfillment.

Leaving Dubuque

Dubuque had been my home away from home. In fact I feel special attachments toward Dubuquer. I came from a country where foreigners are treated as the form of god, high treatment, I don't expect to be treated in similar way, rather I'm expecting a discrimination against my brown skin color and looks. As an immigrant, I'm very different, my accent, my manner of speech, I always feared and feel this sense of being "out of place", especially here in small city of Dubuque that most people know each other.

There is an impression about Dubuque that they are closeminded to immigrants. But all these scary thoughts changed when i first set my foot in the land of Dubuque. From O'hare Chicago Airport where my husband picked me up, I'm anticipating corn fields and very remote, boring rural areas that I will view from the car. But what I saw in contrast is the very beautiful, serene, quiet place, panoramic view that I only see in the magazines. When we passed by the bridge connecting Illinois to Dubuque, the mighty Mississippi River welcome us with a scenery of the floating Casino with a dog in the billboard.

Dubuque Panorama

Since it's already past 6pm when we arrived, the bright lights of the Casino, buildings in the Downtown area really cheered me up, its like welcoming me to Dubuque. I got amused after meeting the first Dubuquer who welcome me with flowers and cake. My husband's friends Joan and Kari, they are warm and very friendly. Made me feel at ease with more confidence. Neighbors says Hi! and wave at you, knowing I'm new to the area.

I got to meet a bunch of good people when I was hired in the Dubuque Community School District, being the only filipino employee there. Table Mound school employees and staff were so nice, I never ever feel this special as a new employee even in my native country, where I experienced a lot of discrimination in the job.(I will make a post about this topic later). Everyone is treated equal from the school principal to the lowest level.

I don't wanna flee away from Dubuque, I want to contribute something to my "home" state that has given me a shelter for almost 2 years.

The world...in photos

Only in China

Only in Hawaii

Only in India

Only in Texas

Only In Thailand

And last, but not least .....

Only In America

I just received this thru email and I just think its hilarious, humorous. Even I found some wrong part of the story, like that isn't Hawaii in America too, and Texas lol. Well, it's a joke, so I just laugh. I missed a picture from Philippines......maybe I just add something like this?

CROWDED JEEPNEYS...

IN THE PHILIPPINES