before i begin, i would like to apologize for taking this long to finally talk about my recent US trip.  things have been hectic since i arrived, and i still haven't been up to speed with everything that is going on at work.  on top of that, there are things that are happening currently that i would rather discuss after the series of posts about my vacation.  it won't make a lot of sense–story-wise–talking about things happening today, then go back a couple of weeks, and then go back to the present.  this ain't no back to the future remake, so i'd rather tell things sequentially correct.  a short disclaimer though, these next couple of entries for sure will be long reads, so please don't say that i didn't inform you beforehand.  anyway, enough with the intros, so here it goes:

november 16, 2007 – day one – departure flight – "one looong day" – all i was thinking upon waking up was, "i never thought this day would come."  my mom offered a mass for the safety of our trip that morning at 7AM, and since i haven't been going to mass for quite a while now due to my work schedule, i went with her to church.  our flight was scheduled later in the afternoon, so i still had half the day to make some last minute arrangements.  i got cash, shopped for groceries, talked to some friends via sms, and finalized the luggage i was bringing along with me all in a span of four hours.  after lunch, we then headed to the airport.  all that time, i was thinking, "is this really happening?"  different emotions ran through me like fast traffic on a well-paved highway.  upon arriving at the airport, my mom bade goodbye to my brother and sister since she'll be staying longer than i am and we headed straight to ticketing.  i was still feeling surreal as we checked our baggage, cleared immigration and waited for our boarding time.

the flight to taipei was faster than i expected.  i was trying to recall the feeling i had 10 years ago when i first traveled by plane and the one thing that stood out was that feeling it does to my ears.  other than that, the food, the service of the stewardesses–i noticed they were a bit… old–and the ride itself was smooth.  it was cool looking outside the window while taking off and how the houses and buildings grew smaller and smaller as we went higher into the air.  we landed at taipei international airport at around 7:30PM and we went to our transit gate.  it was quite far off from where we landed because we had to take the skytrain to the other terminal were our departing gate was.  but since our departing flight was more than four hours away, my mom and i took our time and marveled at the monstrosity of the airport.  upon arriving at our gate, my mom just took a seat and waited, sometimes talked to fellow filipino passengers on the same connecting flight, while i decided to shoot my first video journal using my mobile phone.  i also had my phone's roaming service activated, so when i turned it on, there was a signal coming from TW Mobile, which meant that that network supported my local network at home.  i wandered around as well, and found a free internet station so i checked it out.  i wrote an entry and browsed through the web for about an hour then i went back to the waiting lounge near our gate and just listened to music on my ipod.

after what seemed to be six hours instead of four, we finally boarded the plane for san francisco.  there were lots of other passengers, mostly asian, who also boarded the plane.  after about half an hour, the plane started to taxi to the takeoff runway.  "here goes that feeling in the ears again," i said to myself after the pilot hit the forward thrust lever to send the plane barrelling down the runway.  meals were served again a couple of minutes after takeoff and the in-flight movie, transformers, was shown.  i fell asleep on and off during the movie and there was turbulence most of the way.  my mom had trouble sleeping because of the plane shaking, while i dozed off and on, as if the turbulence was rocking me to sleep then waking me up again.  the flight was pretty, pretty long to say the least.  i got up and went to the lavatory to stretch my arms and legs just once during the entire trip.  i forgot the titles of the two other in-flight movies that were shown, but from what i recall, those were not something that had star power written on it.  i was awakened by the captain's voice announcing that our plane was approaching san francisco.  i peered through the window and saw the bright lights of the city slowly coming into view.  it took about another half hour before the plane started it's runway approach and i was able to get a night time bird's eye view of the land i last set foot upon 10 years and six months ago.

as the plane's wheels touched the runway and slowly came to the arriving gate, all i said to myself was, "i'm here… i'm here."  maybe i was trying to convince myself that this really wasn't a dream and that i'll be stepping off into a world halfway where i came from.  i finally got my legs walking again as we headed to immigration.  my mom and i were the last passengers on our flight to queue up the immigration line since we both stopped along the way to go to the restroom.  i also turned on my mobile phone and AT&T's network came on.  while i was talking to my mom about going through immigration, i noticed that another group of passengers from a succeeding flight came queing up the line.  i didn't make a big deal out of it, and just proceeded to wait in line.  as i was surveying the surroundings, i managed to look at the line behind me, and lo and behold, of all the people i would be running into this part of the world, it was… my boss.  he was having a conversation wth the person directly behind me, so out of courtesy, i called his attention.  we shook hands and i introduced him to my mom.  he came from a non-stop flight from manila.  though i knew that he was also going to the US the same time i was, he was supposed to be flying in yesterday.  but he explained that he was a chance passenger and the flight yesterday was fully booked, so he took the next one.  his father was an airline pilot, so his airfare was free… lucky bastard.  there were two sets of immigration areas, one for US citizens and the other was for visitors/foreigners.  the line on our side was getting long, so the people at the other area decided to accomodate the passengers of the flight right after ours, so my boss went to that side (thankfully).  he told me that he also brought his mobile phone with him and that he'll try to get in touch with me and ask me go along with him and his friends.  i just nodded back at him with the feeling that he was just telling me that out of courtesy, perhaps.

my mom and i breezed through immigration and our passports were both stamped "may 15, 2007," which meant that we were given six months to stay.  we also had no trouble with our luggage at customs, then we were finally out.  i felt overwhelmed as i stepped out of the no re-entry zone, like there were things i wanted to express, but i didn't know where to start.  my mom then called her cousin (technically, she's still considered a relative, so i call her aunt) who was supposed to pick us up and was told that she was on her way and that it'll take another 20 to 30 minutes before she gets to the airport. 
so we waited until only there were only a few of us who arrived were left.  as i stepped outside of the arrival area to have a seat on one of the benches, i felt that old, chilling feeling of 10 degrees centigrade which kinda felt different, yet comfy in some ways.  i observed the surrounding area and wandered off a little until my aunt arrived in a new 2008 mitsubishi lancer which was the first time i saw such a vehicle and i immediately fell in love with it.  we exchanged pleasantries and then loaded our luggage in the car and off we went.  vallejo was around more than an hour's travel by car from the airport so my mom and my aunt immediately started talking.  i was still silent and waiting for the feeling to sink in that i am finally here.  it was around 7:30PM local time (pacfic time), still on a friday, so i realized that i experienced the longest friday i ever had.  i also dozed on and off during the car trip and finally, we arrived at the house where i'll be staying for the next six days.  even though my mom and i were both weary from the 13-hour flight, we still stayed up late at night getting settled into our room and having conversations with my aunt.  i also sent a message to my brother telling him that we have arrived at our destination safely.  we had a light dinner and more conversations of what we'll be doing during the coming days and we finally decided to call it a night.

as i settled into bed wearing jogging pants, an inside shirt, a long-sleeved thick shirt, socks, and covered by two blankets, i still can't believe that i'm actually at that part of the globe.  i had no feeling of jet lag since my schedule at work is the same as the time frame where i was, so it's as if i never left.  questions like, what will happen tomorrow?  where will we go?  who will i meet?  what will i experience?  ran through my mind.  i decided to let everything play by ear and see how things go, taking it one step at a time.  'twas a very long day, yet the journey has just begun.

on part two, my trip to oakland, first taste of good food, and meeting relatives that i wish weren't…