Homecoming 2006

What I hate most during trips is packing my things up. I know how to maximize space as I experience every time I send a balikbayan box to the Philippines but I still freak myself out every time I need to fill up those luggages before hopping in the bus or plane that will bring me to my destination. This time was no exception.

It was Sunday, August 6 and it had been arranged that my friend from Hong Kong will come to my place early in the morning, say 9 am. I was supposed to do the packing the night before but due to some things that I had been pondering through the night... and ... oh, yeah, due to my internet addiction, I wasn't able to get any sleep. So as I was still copying and pasting files from my external hard drive to my laptop which I would be bringing with me to Manila, Ate Rachel rang my bell. Around 24 hours later, I would realize that I didn't finish copying files to my laptop, thereby missing the chance to show to my family and friends my life in pictures for the past 11 months that I've been away from them. But, luckily, a few days after, (of course, still in Manila), I would discover that I had almost every picture file in the recycle bin. Blessing in disguise!)

I asked Ate Rachel to go with me to the supermarket to buy last minute pasalubongs. Good thing was, I was invited by some primary school teachers as an informal guest speaker in their cultural exchange program a few days ago and they handed me 5,000 yen (approx. 2,500 pesos) as royalty. So I bought a few famously branded Japanese chocolates and looked for my siblings' request-what they call as the "tatak barko". It was actually Bourbon's chocolate-filled cookies with ship imprints as the design.

Having no time to eat lunch, we proceeded to the church after unloading the stuffs that we bought from the supermarket. Afterwards, we dropped by the souvenir shop in the train station to buy another set of last minute pasalubongs. My night was spent with Ate Rachel, Ate Hanie and (Kuya) Elmer eating spaghetti as my despedida and a month-in-advance birthday celebration. Ate Rachel helped me packed my things and we went to the bus station together with Elmer.

I reached Narita International Airport around 6:30 am with the check-in counters still closed. Having nothing to do, I checked in as the counters opened. I forgot to charge my mobile phone's battery last night so I sneaked and charged it by plugging my charger to the boarding gates electric jacket which supposedly for cleaning purposes only. Luckily, no one noticed me.

We had a stop over at Hong Kong and curious whether my phone will roam in HK, I turned it on. A few seconds later, I received a call. It was from my school, asking me to sign the scholarship form for the month. Gosh! I completely forgot it. I was about to accept my not that so lucky fate of not receiving my August allowance as a result of not signing the form when I recalled that I have my name stamp at home. I immediately called Elmer and asked him the favor of signing my form using my name stamp. Good thing was, Ate Hanie, suggested to me to leave my room keys so that if ever emergencies (like this) happens, we could still do something.

With my mind already relieved regarding that allowance, I reached Manila at around 4:30 pm. My mother and brother Patrick were waiting for me at the airport. We went to the Baclaran church which was near to the airport and it was such a good timing since a mass was said at 6 pm. Then, we went to SM Manila, where my sister Pamela works, and my sister Carmina was staying for the day to wait for me.

After Pamela's day at work was called off, we took the LRT to Monumento. We had dinner at Chow King in Monumento. (Thanks Pamela for that one!) We went home around 10 pm and that concluded my first day in Manila buy sharing stories with my family.