I will be honest, I was not very excited for this upcoming trip to The Philippines. I wanted to stay in Montreal in order to find a job and be set. However, my parents really wanted me to be there, especially because it has been so long since we've all been to The Philippines together. It was only a few weeks before the trip that I have decided to tag along.
Although my interest in visiting my motherland was fairly low, I was quite excited to get back in a plane and be in airports. I just enjoy going in the airport. It may be the interactivity, the people, I am not quite sure, but I simply love being there.
The whole trip was very long, especially the flight of Vancouver to Manila, about 14 hours if I remember correctly. But that was done, the plane has landed, and we have arrived at Manila's International Airport. The airport seem to have a lot of improvements in comparison to my last visit, which I quite did not like. We picked up our baggage and headed out, and out the door was two of my cousins and my aunt who was there waiting for us.
At first glance, you can see just how much the country has grown and
improved, last time I was in the Philippines was five years ago if I
recall correctly. Our first meal was in Tagaytay. A city high up in the
mountains. It's a beautiful place and very clean. The daughter that lived there, whom also served us, was a beauty! I can still picture her right now. Unfortunately, I did not get the chance to take a photo. XD
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| (Our first meal in the Philippines) |
After roughly an hour drive from the place we ate, we then arrived at our newly built home, and we quickly reunited with many of our relatives. The humidity was insane for the first few days. Only a couple of days later, we had the chance to visit SM City of Lipa. Our cousins accompanied us. We bought quite a few things and had tons of fun in the arcades area.
For the next three to four days, the rain just poured down. On that fourth day, it was the blessing of our new home. I had no idea even random people whom I never knew or met would attend. I later on learned that on special events, early in the morning, people would place loud fireworks. This is like a signal to let the people know there is something going on. I'm guessing these kind of things only occur in the provincial area. For such thing to happen in the city would be chaotic.
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| (Yup, I probably know less than half of them...) |
On the process however, I got to meet a few people, and even see family friends from Montreal, who themselves where in the Philippines for vacation. I even got to meet somewhat of an attractive girl there. ;) Nonetheless, my first week turned out a lot better than I thought, despite the rain. Also, some do say that it is a blessing from above if the rain pours down on special occasions, especially on weddings.
“I am more and more convinced that our happiness or our unhappiness depends far more on the way we meet the events of life than on the nature of those events themselves.” - Karl Wilhelm von Humboldt
