newport to bermuda race

 Being a newcomer in Bermuda, I never knew that there is a race happening every 2 years that starts in Rhode Island and ends in Bermuda.  Apparently, I have a lot more to learn about the traditions of Bermuda.  Luckily, I came at the year that the Newport to Bermuda race is happening. 

I found out about the race through a colleague.  He likes sailing so he was up to date on sailing events in Bermuda.  Living in a small island with limited activities to choose from, G and I went to the yacht club to see what he was talking about.  After fighting our way through a throng of spectators and sailors, we found ourselves at a dock filled with perhaps million dollar sail yachts that evidently traversed the treacherous waters of the Atlantic.  Most of the sailboats just reached the port so a lot of the sailors are in the midst of tidying up their boats, doing their laundry or just enjoying relaxing under the Bermuda sun. 

I have never been close to a sailboat in my entire life and I was amazed at how huge and luxurious they are.  After seeing the entire fleet, I can’t help but wish I could set my foot on one sailboat just to see how it is inside.  But being with a guy isn’t really the best way to try to do that. 

That same day after work, I asked some of my girl friends to go back to the yacht club with me.  My intention is just to show them what I saw earlier in the day and take some pictures of the yachts as well.  But walking with a group of girls on a dock full of men sailors definitely worked its wonders and we eventually found ourselves aboard some of the nicest yachts in the race. 

Above is the first yacht we got the privilege of seeing.  I thought it was already big but they said their yacht is just mid-sized and not as luxurious as the other big yachts docked at the other end.  They actually told us to try to get ourselves into one of the bigger yachts so they could see them too. 

After our first tour and some tidbits about sailing, we walked on and another group of sailors asked us to hop on their boat.  This one was a lot bigger, neater and more luxurious.  It was called “Mischievous”, which was sailed by 16 men from Newport to Bermuda.  I was impressed!  16 is a lot of manpower!

This is a picture of the interior of the 2nd yacht.  It looks really sleek but I don’t think my pictures gave it any justice.  Anyway, following are the pictures we took from outside the boat.

The guy in blue, Mark, is the owner of the kickass boat. 

Wishing it is my boat…

These sailors, including Mark and the guys from the 1st boat are so nice enough to accommodate us and give us a primer on sailing.  We actually learned that sailing is more complicated than it looks.  There are a lot of things to remember including the color of ropes.  This is Evan’s cheat sheet on their yacht:

Honestly, I don’t remember a thing about sailing because I know from the start that I’m too lazy for it.  But these sailors are so nice, down to earth and so unselfish for making people ignorant of sailing (like me) tour their boats and educate us. 

And yeah, not only girls are allowed to tour their boats, kids and their dads too. 

adobo!

 We (G and I) recently realized that we have been spending a lot on food lately so we decided to eat out less, translation, I should cook more!  The thought of cooking actually put me in a lot of pressure since I haven’t cooked anything aside from pasta in a long time.  Also, we’ve always been guests to one of our colleagues, who I must say is the best cook I’ve ever met in my entire life.  Phew!

G actually asked me to cook a Filipino dish and the first thing that came to my mind is adobo.  Aside from loving and missing this dish, I thought it was really easy to assemble — all I need is good old Silver Swan Soy Sauce and Datu Puti vinegar. 

So we went to the Filipino section of the Marketplace and I was surprised not to find all the Filipino goodies in the same section!  I thought I was gonna cry but when we were looking around, we found it moved to a different and bigger area of the store.  Yay! So I was able to buy my toyo and suka and I can’t resist getting a can of Purefoods chunkee corned beef as well as a bag of dried mangoes (which I ate right after paying).

I really miss all the Filipino food!  I think next time I’ll be cooking pancit canton both instant and not! 

Going back to my adobo, I googled recipes of adobo at work and I was surprised to find different versions of it! Some put more vinegar than soy sauce while others do it the other way around.  There are also some sites recommending putting only 2 teaspoons of each.  I was confused!  So I ended up just doing it the way I know, which is “tanchometer”  (Thanks Kim for the term!).  I also put some Sprite in it to make it a little sweeter and make the meat more tender. 

After an hour or so of prep, my adobo finally came out of the stove over rice and G loved it!  Yay!  It is his first time ever to taste Filipino food and I’m so glad he liked it!  We also ate the leftover after 2 days and he agreed that the longer it sits in the fridge and the more times it is reheated, the better it tastes. 

Oh, and just to compare prices here’s how much I spent on the ingredients here in Bermuda (all in USD):

• Silver Swan soy sauce - 5.19
• Datu Puti Sukang Puti - 4.39
• Pork - 5.80
• Purefoods Chunkee Corned Beef - 5.49
• Dried Mangoes - 2.99

Syet! E magkano lang ang toyo at suka sa Pinas?! 

bermuda summer

   People have always been telling me that summers in Bermuda are phenomenal and they are all right!  Since summer started, my weekends have been fully booked.  There’s not a weekend where I don’t have a social engagement that I feel that the weekends are even shorter! 

My fantastic weekends normally start with Friday happy hour, which starts right after work.  I’m definitely at the Princess at around 5 hanging out with fellow expats while looking at the gorgeous Bermuda water.  Happy hour is actually what you think it is — drinks are cheaper!  That is, of course, in terms of Bermuda prices.  How it works?  You’ll have to buy tickets (which actually look like stubs you get from Time Zone) at the entrance for drinks and hamburger or hotdog then you’ll just eat and drink and drink until the sun goes down at around 830-9ish.  At that point, people will then move on to Lemon Tree, which is another cafe that has happy hour but at a later hour than the Princess.  It’s pretty much the same thing but it set in a park, which I find kinda cool.  Lemon Tree is happening until closing, that is, 12 midnight then people will head on to the Pickled Onion or Cairo or they’ll be too drunk that they’ll just head home. 

On Saturdays and Sundays, we definitely take out the boat with friends and go around the island if the weather is good.  I never really went boating before and now that I do, I’m thinking, why the hell didn’t I do that before?!  But yeah, I have to remind myself that boating is really expensive in the Philippines that’s why I never did it. 

This is my boyfriend’s boat, which we worked hard on for several weeks to get in the water in time for summer…It’s all worth it! 

Proud boat workers!

We normally spend one whole day boating.  We would drive around the island and explore areas not normally reached via land.  I just love it since we could go to a secluded romantic place or to a very popular area depending on our mood.  The possibilities are limitless.  We could go fishing, just sit around and eat or sleep, jump in the water with our noodle, lie on the beach, or just hang around with other boats, which I find the coolest! 

After a whole day on the boat, there’s always a party to go to — birthdays, leaving the island, hen night, or just a party for no reason at all. 

At the end of my weekends, I’m pretty exhausted and sleep like a baby.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all.  I really love the summer here in Bermuda even if I’m getting darker and darker every week.  

another week…

I’m so glad it’s Friday!  This week has been really crazy!  Monday, we had hurricane Bertha, which they eventually called tropical storm Bertha disrupting our so far peaceful and utterly lovely summer.  It was supposed to hit the island Saturday but it decided to take its time and hit us Monday, which I kind of prayed for thinking that work will be suspended.  But lo and behold, work was not canceled.  A lot of other firms closed their offices by midday though but we’re not one of them, which made me even more disappointed.  But oh well, what can I do.  They said that it’s just like one ordinary winter storm so it’s no big deal.  But I really don’t think so.  First, the wind was so strong that I could barely walk.  Then, some asshole in a car was so insensitive that he just flew by so fast and splashed water all over me on my way to work!  I’m sure he saw us because we were 3 people walking down the street and I’m pretty sure he noticed all the other cars slowing down on that curve.  Grrrr!!!  And worst, while typing along in my little cube, I could feel the earth shake like there’s an earthquake every minute or so!  But oh well, at least we all made it alive. 

Day after the storm, it’s as if nothing happened.  The only trace of hurricane Bertha were the leaves and some twigs scattered on the streets.  It’s hot and humid again that you just want to run to the beach and dive into it’s nice clear water.  Of course, I can’t.  I went to the bank instead and started sorting out my finances.  I opened another account so I could use that for my monthly expense and make sure that there’s a material chunk left for the future for whatever reason.  I also opened a supersaver account, which earns more interest than a normal savings or time deposit account.  I just have to commit to contribute a sum of money every month for 5 years and I’ll have compounded monthly interest.  Not bad.  At least I’m sure that at the end of the day, I still have some money left from my stint here in Bermuda. 

There is nothing extraordinary about work really.  But while asking the managers for something work on, I just realized that I wasn’t just asking for work so I can charge something but I was asking because I want to immerse myself in work or to put it bluntly, because I enjoy it.  Ok, I am enjoying working.  But I am not exactly sure if it is the work itself or just so there’s something to occupy my mind and save me from boredom.  But does it really matter?  At least, the important thing is I’m faring better than when I first got here. 

I just finished 3 clients today.  Rare for this season.  But I did crank it up!  Yeah!  It’s Friday tomorrow!! Yay!  But I have a stye

bermuda online resources

Migrating to a new country is extremely hard especially if you do not know anybody who has previously moved to the same place you’re moving to.  Bermuda is a very small island with a very small population, hence, there is a very slim chance that you would know somebody who has previously moved there.  I am lucky though since I have a close friend who recently transferred to Bermuda with her then boyfriend, now husband.  Even so, here are a few links I found very useful before and even after moving here:

• http://www.e-moo.com/Welcome.aspx  E-moo is a very useful site where one can search for apartments for rent, items for sale, events, jobs, etc.  It is Bermuda’s version of America’s famous Craigslist.com.  I personally found this site the most useful even before I arrived at the island since it gave me an idea on how much my cost of living would be.  I learned from my friend that the most significant expense I’ll have would be my housing so I was mostly looking at the rentals at that time.  From the various ads I saw, I had a rough idea of the amount I would be allotting for my housing expense.  I initially wanted a studio apartment but it is very rare to find a nice and cheap one so I opted for a houseshare.  It was more practical in price, there are more options and at least I will always have someone to talk to, just in case. 
• http://www.weather.bm/  Weather is always an important consideration. 
• http://bermynet.com/  and http://blackandcoke.com/ Sites that give a glimpse of what’s happening in Bermuda’s social scene.
• http://www.royalgazette.com/siftology.royalgazette/index.jsp Update on the more important things that’s happening in the island.
• http://bermudayp.com/ I found my dentist and other doctors in this site.  Note that finding doctors here is a real PAIN IN THE BUTT and getting schedules set is even harder!
• http://www.limeyinbermuda.com/ A Bermuda expat’s blog.  Aside from living in the island itself, there’s no better way to learn about living in a foreign land but from a fellow expat who has come to live in the island earlier.

These are actually the sites I visit everyday at work.  Having small breaks in between always brings my productivity up