The Departure - Sunday, January 14,2007

I was finally able to relax a bit when my JAL (Japan Airlines) plane reached its maximum altitude from take-off. I had waited in the San Francisco Intl'. Airport for about 3 hours from a TED (United airlines) flight from Las Vegas and I was totally happy to be on my way. Now, I'm not sure if its something exclusive to JAL, but I thought it was really great to have my own movie screen. As a matter of fact, all seats had a designated LCD screen for its passengers ( it's located right above the fold-out table). There was a selection of eight movies, channels, music and even games. Anyway, me and that remote became close friends really quick. But three movies and about eleven hours later, I was not sad to hear the captain declare our final decent to the Narita International Airport. Ok, so now I was walking the long and many and long walkways of that airport (...did I say long?) with nothing but my boarding pass and the Arrival/Departure monitors to guide my path to the gate for my next flight to Manila. It would have been hard enough to have navigated that place with proper instructions but no... whomever designed the flow of traffic there thought it best to display flight information in both english AND japanese on the same monitor. Why is this hard you ask? Well, you have to find your flight number from a selection of six monitors, then you have to take down departure gate and time. Then ofcourse, you have to double check. But the catch here is that the monitor display changes from English to Japanese every thirty seconds! Hmmm, I guess they figured it was a great mental excercise to help stimulate tired minds after a long flight. But finally after a while, I got the knack of it and I was headed on the right track. It turned out, my gate happened to be on the very last terminal at the very end of the airport. Despite my anxiousness I was confident I was heading the right way. All I needed to do was to follow the Japa-yuki's who were heading there like migrating birds of season. Oh well, so there I was gliding on one of those human conveyor belt walkways when I chanced upon a curious looking fellow who kinda stood out from the crowd. 'That guy looks like a Mexican', I thought to myself. Then, I noticed that the guy I was looking at was also looking straight at me. Then he beat me to the punch when he broke into a wide smile and cried 'Mig'! It was Marco. He was heading the opposite way looking for a place to buy something to eat. So, he brought me to the others where I got to meet Daniel (Noelle's b.f.) and Linda (his mom) for the first time. But it was awesome seeing Thomas, Noelle and Marco again after seven years. Talk about change. So I guess from that point our conversations revolved around updates and pictures until we eagerly arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. I gotta tell you what happened when we arrived.

When we arrived... - Monday, January 15, 2007

I could feel the impatience brewing in everybody as the plane finally docked into a terminal (or was it just me? -nah.). But just sitting there, waiting for the plane doors to open was a real test of patience. However, I managed to pull off the responsible 'older brother' role and guided the group's direction from the back, making sure no one was left behind. Ok, now here we go. Thomas decided to lead the pack. He was then first to see a man with a sign ment for me. I mean, his sign had my name on it. Convinced that this guy was legit, Thomas took the liberty to begin dealing with him. Now you have to understand -I did not see this sign and just imagine how my heart skipped a beat when I witnessed Thomas handing what looked like his passport to a guy I've never seen before, in the middle of the common plaza right before the immigration booths! I mean, WHAT THE - !!! But I guess it was in between when I was about to pass out and going ballistic that the man decided to whip out the sign again to re-identify himself as an envoy sent by Minette's mom (we'll call her Mrs. Marasigan) to specially process our group's entry into the Philippines. Ofcourse, me being the Adonnis of come-backs, quickly regained my obviously lost composure and acted like the casual V.I.P. used to these sort of things. ( Hey -We jumped the long line of the immigration processing....heck yeah I felt like a V.I.P.! hahaha!! ...thanks Minette and Mrs. Marasigan). But that's how our arrival started with a bang. After that, we were met outside the airport by an entourage led by my dad (Yayi) and Tita Mae, Nonong (Peping, my grandfather) and my mom (Cynthia). It was an extremenly joyous occassion, like one I haven't seen since before I left for the states. So we headed to Nonong's house in Quezon City. We got there roughly about 12:30am and so ready to get that party started!

Let's get this party started! ... Tuesday, January 16th, 2007,

As the pick-up we rode turned onto the curb and honked its horn twice to signal the maids to open the garage gate, I could not help but notice how restored the grounds were compared to my last trip back in 2003 prior to my dad going home. I commended him and Tita Mae's efforts, especially when I saw what he had done on the inside. It was like I never left for the states (sniff). The dining table in the main sala (living room/formal dining room) rested where it always was and seemed to formally greet us Balikbayans with its delicately embroidred white table cloth and a variety of ripe tropical fruit and sweets. My Abulita's curio cabinet was there, ever-ready to display the little trinkets and memories that she and Nonong collected through the years. The walls were still trimmed with the same Filipiniana paintings I remembered. But most of all, there was 'the couch'. It was a couch set that had pre-dated this house, going back to our prior house in Macopa St. (ofcourse it had been re-upholstered many times!) If only it could speak, oh what stories it would tell. Ok, anyway! So by everyone's reaction, my nostalgia seemed to have been shared. We all converged around the dining table and did not waste time to taste the delicacies. The room became a chatter house since there was a lot of reconnecting that needed to be done. Finally things began to simmer and the elders headed to their rooms to unpack or call it a night. The house was now occupied by just those eager to party. Without further adue, we began to work on the beer that was prepared as well. I pleasantly shared my first, second, third (...I lost count) with Marco, Thomas, Noelle and Nikki. Now, Jaqii and Chito were also there and for a moment it was just like the old days. That's when it hit me - what I really left behind that day I flew to the states to seek my fortune. This is home. After we had consumed all the beer it was time for us to call it a night. Besides, Jaqii had to be at work the following day and bed time at 4:00 am might make things difficult to get up. Everyone had designated places to stay, but I opted to remain in the living room. I did not want to loose the moment and thought to hang on to it till the end. After gulping the last drop of my San Miguel Light, I slowly made my way to the couch like in the days of ages past and gently laid my head down on its cushion to await the coming of dawn. So ended the first day, embraced by the dark silence, in that wonderful place that I called home.