I started a blog few weeks ago and was so into it that I was able to write three in a row. I had another one in the process but everything was put on hold because I had an unfortunate news that my mom was sick. This is bittersweet to say, but because of that, I am finally going home in the Philippines after 15 years. It was so hard for me to leave Chicago because I've never seen my younger daughter cried so hard. It's the first time for me to go away without the whole family.
My flight started from Chicago to Los Angeles (4hrs), then Los Angeles to Beijing China (13 hours), and lastly from Beijing to Manila (4 hours). Oh yes, 21 hours in the plane sounds exciting (NOT)! How do you think I survived in that long flight? First, I watched tons of movies in the plane and then I set my highest score playing Candy Crush and Bejeweled Blitz. Oh my eye-hand coordination was as fast as a lightning! I tried to sleep in the plane but it was just super hard to get comfortable so I just had few cat naps. Luckily, I found some fellow Filipinos and we kept each other company from walking long distance to catch the shuttle to transfer terminal, to waiting a long time through immigration and security, and hanging out for 4-7 hours layover in between flights. At least that made our travel less brutal.
So after a long flight, not to mention losing one of my luggage bag, I'm finally home in Philippines! It looks so crowded now and everything seems so small. I could hardly find our subdivision because there's so many establishments. It's so traffic everywhere and people drive like CRaZY! I can't drive here anymore because I'll be so scared to have accident. There's no lanes, it's bumper to bumper, the vehicles cut anytime they want and the pedestrians are everywhere.
The best part of my vacation is that I get to see my mom and dad. They live here in the Philippines. I last saw my mom 3 years ago when she came to Chicago but I haven't seen my dad for 20 years. It's because he was a merchant marine and when I was in the Philippines, he was out of the country for work and when he went home, I moved to US already. I also saw my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends too. Though I stayed most of the time in the hospital to take care of my sick mom, that didn't stop them from visiting me. I felt so loved! It was so weird to see them all grown ups with their own families already. How time flies!
Food Trip! OMG, I can't tell you how happy I am right now to eat DELICIOUS and authentic Filipino foods. I had Jollibee (it's our Version of McDonalds), Max's (Shrimp Gambas, Crab Fried Rice, Fried Chicken, Chopseuy), Gerry's Grill (Crispy Pata, Pork and Milkfish Sisig, Pansit, Green Mango with Shrimp Paste), exotic fruits such as Lanzones and Santol. I also had taho (tofu drink with vanilla and tapioca), Siopao (white bun with pork fillings) and many more. No diet here because we order everything in the menu like there's no tomorrow! I still have few days to fulfill my cravings. Oh my, I sure feel my clothes getting tight on me already.
I'm hoping to post some pictures in this blog but it won't let me and my husband is not here to help troubleshoot. So for now, I will just keep it like this and will probably post pictures separately. I will have another blog about Philippines next week. Hopefully we'll be able to go check out some places before I go back to Chicago.
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