vacation mode april (part 1)

and it’s spring time—well, summer here in the philippines. and i hear spring’s pretty messed up in europe. eitherway, it's easter.

april entered with the usual april fools “celebration” and i found myself jaded about the practice. but the first week of april was more about something else to me.  wednesday night, april 3rd, i was on my way to Bicol with gen and dingdong’s father and grandmother. went there to be his ninong in his baptism. quite tiring trip—bus ride until the next morning, overheating tricycle ride, good tricycle ride, and motorcycle ride—to mhaelord’s family’s home was worth it. relaxed for most of the thursday. slept, watched a pig get…umm…prepared for it’s life’s purpose, played kick ball with the kids, and relaxed a bit more. since we weren’t able to see each other via skype, mhae called from time to time using a skype call to mobile subscription.

friday, the Mass and Baptism was in bikolano but i think i absorbed most of it. back home, a fiesta celebration. i’ve had great food since i arrived the day before, but it was during lunch time that i had the papaitan i’ve been wanting. alas, it was great. had a couple of shots of gin with the father and later a couple of shots of emperador light with the brother and their respective friends. went home later, escorted by gen to the bus station. bus was to leave much later than expected so i let her head home before dark. my xperia’s charge was low but good thing the friendly kuya kalbo at dltb let me hang out in the sales office place something to charge my phone.

maybe 3/4 the way home, i thought to myself, i’m cool being able to go on a 10 hour provincial bus ride alone. well, spoke too soon. 2 or 3 hours later, i missed my stop, mantrade. no worries, got off at a more convenient place, osmeña cor. arnaiz, and my father picked me up with my box of pasalbong at the nearby 7eleven. and it was saturday. later that day, after even more sleep, i asked the choir to assist me in finishing the suman, green bananas, and casava rolls. they were very helpful. i loved having a day and a half without cellular signal, the not so warm feel of the province in the mountains, but still, i’m a city boy who has his love abroad. ah yes, skype. what joy it brought to see her again online after just phonecalls and texts. and i felt she was really very happy with me going to her province.