What I did This Summer
Earlier this month, I tagged along with Mama on her business trip to Cebu. I took it as a chance to be reunited with my older brother and sister, who have been based in Cebu for several years now.
But really, the real reason I was begging Mama to take me along with her was so that I could finally experience my first plane ride. The last time I've ever seen the innards of a plane was when I was still in kindergarten, on a field trip to the Sasa Airport. But I'm really not complaining, since being inside closed spaces sends me into a semi-hyperventilating fit. It definitely didn't help that a few days before, I had watched Air Crash Investigation on NGC. Smoldering plane debris. Limbs and luggage strewn all over the mountainside. A bloodied woman yelling, "My baby! My baaaaby!!!". These were not scenes that you wanted playing inside your head as the plane prepared to take-off from the runway.
Okay, I don't want to make too much of it. I got on the plane, strapped myself onto my seat, and convinced myself that God really does exist and will do everything in Her power to not end my life right then and there. So I prayed for my safety, for the plane to stay aloft for the duration of the flight, for the pilots to be sober, for the weather to be forgiving, and for terrorists to be somewhere else but in my cabin. Good to know that my prayer was potent, as I made it to Cebu and back not inside a wooden crate.
Anyhoo, my short stay in Cebu (which also happened to be my first), wasn't that eventful. My brother has work, so he's away during the day. Sister, meanwhile, works at a call center, so she only returns around noon and spends the rest of the afternoon sleeping. Meanwhile, I would sleep in my hotel room until 12. Upon waking up, I would walk to Ayala Mall; but, having no money with me most of the time, I just amused myself by people-watching--which doesn't make the fact that I'm broke any less lamentable. One thing I did notice on my people-watching episodes, though: Cebu seems to be swamped with Koreans. Not that there's anything noteworthy about that. I just felt like writing it. Okay, enough about that.
Oh, and my brother seems to harbor a mild form of resentment toward Koreans. He complains that they always talk as if they have a hard time hearing each other. "Everywhere," he says, "even inside movie houses!"
Other things that happened to me at Cebu:
- Against my better judgment, I took a jeepney ride alone, intending to go to a National Bookstore branch near Fuente Osmeña. Instead, I ended up at a port somewhere. I guess that means I rode the wrong jeepney. Good thing all jeepney routes always seem to lead to either Ayala or SM.
- After disembarking somewhere at Ayala, I again lost my way. I didn't know Ayala was such a huge place. And the buildings all looked alike. But I found my way back to the hotel anyway, so it's all good.
- I was able to see the much-hullabalooed 'ASEAN Summit' lampposts along Mandaue. Tsk tsk tsk. Which reminds me: whatever happened to allegations that our garbage bins were also overpriced?
- I saw Budoy riding a big bike.
Ahk. I told you nothing much happened to me at Cebu.
Labels: vacation
posted by Adobobo @ 9:42:00 PM
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