The Life of a Toyota Wife

Richard flew to Manila yesterday for a weeklong business trip. So Yan and I will be home alone for the next couple of days. Bummer. This is going to be one very long week for me.

You know, I should be getting used to my husband's business trips by now. He's been going in and out of the country for as long as I can remember. But I guess the fact that we are thousands of miles away from home with no family and friends makes being left behind more difficult for me.

When Richard went home last Monday to tell me that his trip has been confirmed, I was stunned. It felt like a ton of bricks fell from the ceiling and landed on top of me. That's how bad I felt and my husband probably felt really sorry for me so he told me that Yan and I can come with him. I should be thrilled, but the thing is, this trip's confirmation was so last minute that we didn't have any room for it in our budget. After making a mental computation of the expenses that our trip will incur, I decided to stay at home instead. Besides, my friends will be arriving in a couple of days so it shouldn't be so bad.

Still, I feel bad. Before leaving the house yesterday, I gave Richard a big hug and asked him not to go (it's a long shot, but what the heck?) and he told me, "I'll be back before you know it. You should just go shopping para malibang kayo". That's sweet, but suddenly the thought of going shopping even with my husband's blessing does not excite me. I'm going to miss him a lot. I already do.

You see, the best part of my day is sometime between 6:30 and 7:30 in the evening. That's the time when Richard comes home from work. When he goes through the front door, he lights up the entire house with his big smile and enthusiasm. From that moment on, he will talk non-stop about anything and everything that happened to him during the day. Talking is his stress relief. Now that he's out of the country, the house will be a little more quiet save for Alyannah's occasional babble.

Sigh...I guess Richard's business trips is one part of being a Toyota wife that falls under the "I hate but there's nothing I can do about it" category. It's similar to gaining weight: you hate when it happens but there's really nothing you can do about it, except drown your misery in a bowl of vanilla ice cream with butterscotch and whipped cream.

Oh well, I hope "before you know it" happens soon...

We miss you, sweetie! Take care always! We love you!

The Trip to Thai Immigration that Never Happened

Something funny (and nakakainis at the same time) happened to us last Monday, 06 April 2008. We were supposed to go to Thai Immigration Office to have our passports stamped for Visa extension. I actually found it weird that we had to do this right away when we've only been here for less than a month, but Richard said that TMAP-EM's HR wants to do it all in one go along with his other co-workers, so we're left with no choice but to go with them. A TMAP-EM shuttle will pick us up at the lobby at 8:30am along with the other ICT's (Inter-company Tranferees) staying at Oakwood.

So we woke up early, ate a quick breakfast, got dressed and went down to the lobby to meet with the group. But when we got there, no shuttle was in sight. Richard's Indonesian co-workers were not around either. The only person that we saw was Benny, the Malaysian guy we met at the train station last Saturday.

At that moment, Richard knew something was not right. Toyota is always on time; tardiness does not exist in their vocabulary! He couldn't believe the shuttle wasn't there yet. I was thinking the shuttle just got stuck in traffic. So we waited at the lobby -- until 9:00am.

It turns out that Toyota cancelled the trip to Immigration. They said they left a message at the front desk but we never got it. I think they cancelled it last Saturday -- that was the time we were out, and the same time we met Benny at the train station. That explains why he didn't get the message too. The person from HR said that she asked the Indonesian ICT's that she was able to talk with to tell the others that the trip was cancelled, but she didn't give them our room number. Smart move.

Sayang, nag-bihis pa naman kami....

...at nag picture-taking pa!

Good thing Benny was there! He was able to contact the other Malaysian who was already at the office. That's how we found out that the trip was cancelled. Kung hindi, namuti na mga mata namin sa kakahintay. Hehe!

Richard's First Day at Work

Today, 01 April 2008, is Richard's formal assignment at Toyota Motor Asia Pacific Engineering & Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TMAP-EM for short).

The plant is an hour's drive away from our place. There's a shuttle that picks up all TMAP-EM employees residing in Oakwood at 6:40am (7:40am in Manila). So as early as 5:30am, Richard was getting ready for work. Yes, my husband is as punctual as the Japanese! He's been working in Toyota for 13 years and he's never been late. They start work at 8:15am, but he's in by 8:00am. If you accumulate tardiness of 60 minutes in a month, you'll be suspended. I always tell him that if I were to work in Toyota, I'd be fired on my first week! Baka nga on the first two days pa lang one hour na late ko. Haha!

Good luck, Sweetie on your first day! Go and kick some ass!