I know that this entry has been long overdue but I think its still worth posting :-)
Honestly, I had mixed emotions about going home. I'm excited to go home because I would finally meet my family and friends after 5 months of working here in Malaysia. But when I found out that we had to celebrate Christmas in my mother's hometown in Cagayan, I was not happy. That meant that we had to travel for 10 hours on the bus a few hours after I arrive from Malaysia. It was tiring right?
And so it happened. On December 23, my parents picked me up at the airport and we went directly to the bus station where we met Jen and Lois, my cousins who are currently staying in our house, who took my luggage so that they can bring it to Bulacan. Since it was a few days before Christmas, there were lots of passengers - some who were able to get the tickets by lining up at the ticket counter at 4:00 AM (that's what my uncle did so that we could get tickets); while the others were hoping that they could catch a bus if 1 passenger missed the bus. Anyway, there were 8 of us who went home that night - Uncle Llano, Auntie Genie, Auntie Linda, Zaira, my cousin Ryan (cge na nga kc big boy ka na haha!!!) and our family. It was a long trip and it was freakin cold inside the bus. It's a good thing that my mother was really prepared because she brought sweaters, bonnet, socks and blanket (laging handa! ahaha!!). It's a good thing because we all managed to survive the 10-hour bus trip to Cagayan. The bus departed at 9 PM and we arrived in Tuguegarao at 7:00 AM.
It was refreshing to see the familiar surroundings - all people are speaking Ibanag and there are tricycles everywhere (Tuguegarao's main transportation is tricycle). Also, since we're in the province, people greet everyone. It's been 4 years since I last visited this place (the last time was when my grandfather died). We went to Aunt Luding's house where we had our breakfast :-) Also, it felt good to be reunited with my cousins, Mark and Suzette with whom I hang out with everytime I go back in Cagayan.
After filling our tummies with longganisa, fried rice and milkfish (yummy Filipino breakfast!), we went to Penablanca, my grandpa and grandma's hometown. I felt nostalgic because I remembered how I spent my childhood every summer in this place. For someone who grew up in the city at that time, it would be a nightmare because there was no electricity, I can't understand their dialect and we always had monggo everytime we eat (good thing I was a cute little girl when I complained or else..). It was not bad because there were lots of things that I did with my cousins - swam the river, picked fruits from the trees, climbed a 30m hill, played in the corn fields, slept in my grandpa's nipa hut, hunted for duck eggs (sa itikan) and explored the Callao caves. Everytime I leave this place, I always cry because I had so much fun.
When we reached our ancestral house at Penablanca, I saw everyone - my aunts, my cousins and my nieces =) I was tired after my 24-hour trip so I really didnt mingle with them. I just slept and slept (malamig kasi). I just had enough energy in the afternoon and my cousins spent it catching up while wrapping the Christmas gifts. There were around 20 of us in that house so it was fun.
A few hours before Christmas eve, everyone was sleeping. Aunt Emie, who came from the church, woke us up because nobody prepared the noche buena yet. And its 30 minutes before midnight! So everyone was rushing in the kitchen. At midnight, we started the occasion with a prayer led by my father, who was already drank. A blooper happened because he fell asleep in the middle of the prayer and there was a 5-minute silence (which left everyone wondering what the hell happened). It only ended when my cousin shouted "Amen". It was an icebreaker and everyone was laughing as we hugged each other. After that, everyone distributed each one's gifts.
The next day, a lot of people came in to receive gifts as well (namamasko). That morning, we visited my grandparent's tomb. In the afternoon, there was a brownout (yeah on Christmas day) so we can't do anything. Out of boredom, my cousin suggested that we climb the hill and go to the river once again, to relive the things that we used to do when we were still young :-) My nieces tagged along with us and they had so much fun, in fact they don't want to go home.
Unfortunately, my family had to leave at that night for Manila because I had lots of things to do and I had 1 week for my vacation. Though it was tiring, it was one of my memorable Christmas, it allowed me to go back to my roots and reminded me what are the important things in life.
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