PhilFAQS

Here I am finally, just one step away from my goal.   Those times of sitting down every night, studying my books to attain my goal when I was a student is all past. Well, not quite yet.  There’s one more hurdle to overcome.  Still, I can’t believe I made it this far. I can feel my goal is closer. The journey continues with new challenges and new friends. I know God is always there, to help and guide me.

After going to Zambales last Monday, I went to Manila the next day to enroll at the review center in preparation for the coming nursing board exams his November. I woke up early again and prepared my things. My sister and I left early to avoid the traffic.  But still, it took us two and a half hours to get to our destination.

Ruben, one of my friends who also lives in Pangasinan, is now living in Manila. He is actually my cousin’s classmate in high school, and became my friend since we went to the same school. Another friend of mine is Karen. She is my former classmate in college and is also in Manila for her review.  So I didn’t feel all that nervous because I had my sister and a couple of friends with me that day.   I am not familiar with the places we were going to, but it felt alright. When I arrived at the LRT Central station, Ruben was already waiting for me.

He is now looking for a job in Manila. While having breakfast with Ruben, we talked about the difficulty of job hunting.  We also talked about the things that we miss about Pangasinan. Like going out to the park buying street food, sharing stories about how our days went. We even had sleep-overs in a friend’s house.

I had to do a few chores in preparation for my registration.  It was at the photo center that Karen met up with us.   After this, we went to the review center in the same SM mall.  We didn’t stay there for a long time because there were only a few people who were registering too. The slot we wanted was already full, so we didn’t have any choice but to pick among the remaining slots and got a class that ends at 7:30 pm. When we were done, we went to the Ever Gotesco mall on Recto Avenue where our review will be held. We visited the place so that we won’t get lost on the first day of our review.

photo credit: Jun Acullador

On our way to the mall, I felt something wrong about my shoe, when I looked at it, guess what – the sole of my shoe came off!  It’s a good thing we passed by a mall where I bought another pair of shoes.  It wasn’t expensive, but I didn’t feel good buying myself another pair unexpectedly.

Afterwards, I accompanied my friend Ruben to his aunts’ office in Paco district.  They  thought I was his girlfriend! I found their remark funny because I always thought we look more like brother and sister. They were asking how Ruben and I became friends. They gave me advice how to cope in the city because it is very dangerous when you are out on the streets in Manila. They told me to do well in the review and wished me luck for the coming exams.  I appreciated their well wishes which boosted my ego and made me want to do even better.

While on our way back to the train station my sister texted me, asking me to wait for her after her classes. So instead of going home, we waited for her at Robinson’s mall near her school in the Malate area. We strolled around the mall to pass the time. The place was so busy and crowded with lots of tourists and students hanging out during their vacant period. After waiting for an hour, we met up with my sister at the train station and went home.

That night in bed, I compared Manila and Pangasinan. Manila is a very busy place, full of busy people; the pollution is so terrible, the traffic is worse than I thought.  Fortunately, there’s the LRT to make commuting easier. It is a very exhausting place. Unlike in the province, there is no terrible traffic and pollution.  The town I come from is not industrialized. In Pangasinan, there’s no LRT, no big buildings, a much smaller population and also fewer opportunities for jobs. The provinces is a good place to live.

After a tiring day, I realized how difficult life is.  I realized I should try my best to be independent and strong.  I realized to attain my goals in life, I need to do more than just sit and read my books, I need to keep up with life in a busy city, and I need to prepare for the new challenges facing me.

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A month or so back I had the pleasure of introducing my niece Gia who has come to live with us while she goes to college in Manila.  Gia wrote one article for the blog here but has been a bit too busy with her studies to write more.

Recently, Gia’s older sister Ina came to stay also.  Ina has graduated (got decent grades too, I might ad) from a 4 year Bachelor of Sconce in Nursing program in Urdaneta, near her home in Pangasinan province.  She will now take a review course at an exam prep school in Manila preparatory to sitting her NCLEX-RN (National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.) exam later this year.  So I have two surrogate daughters now … I truly am blessed.

photo credit: arepa182

Ina took a road trip with us a couple days ago up to see here great uncle, my uncle by marriage, Luis.  Tito (Uncle) Luis lives only a couple kilometers from our farm and homestead to be right outside the town of San Marcelino.  He’s a character to say the least, he’s been sick a bit lately but seems to be on the mend … made a very nice trip for us.  I’ll get out of the way and let Ina tell the story.  Please join me in giving Ina a warm welcome to the PhilFAQS family.

Zambales is a historical province in the Philippines which produced the country’s most well-loved president, the late Ramon Magsaysay. Mt. Pinatubo is also located there. It erupted on June 12, 1991, the most devastating natural disaster that struck the country in modern times.

The sky was dark, the earthquakes came. It rained ashes, then stones. I was three years old when it happened and living in the Zambales town of San Marcelino. Despite all that, this place gave me enough happy memories to be remembered.

It’s been 18 years since I left Zambales, and I got the chance to visit there last Monday. The day before, my aunt told me to go with them to Zambales to visit their uncle, Lolo Luis, who is the brother of my Lola Bessie. She wanted me to go so I can take his blood pressure. My Lolo had a stroke last June 12. I was a bit wary to meet him again and actually got nervous while taking his blood pressure. It’s been a long time since I’d seen him and I don’t know much about him anymore. But he looks like he’s approachable. I really never knew a lot about my Lolo, what I only know is he is the brother of my Lola Bessie.

Monday came, I was awaken early to get ready for our trip. On our way to Zambales, we encountered some troubles, and it’s a little bit funny why things happened that way. We were in Jollibee ordering food for lunch, my aunt ordered a dish that would be ready for 7 min. because we are in a hurry, my aunt switched her order to something that required less waiting. While waiting for the orders, the assistant supervisor told us that there is only one order available left. I told my uncle about it and he went to complain about it. After my aunt settled the problem, we went back on the trip. While in the car, my aunt thought she lost her phone. She thought that she might lost it in Pampanga. My uncle parked the car in the side of the road planning to go back to Pampanga to find Tita Mita’s phone but my aunt refused to. Suddenly Tita Mita felt something that is vibrating in her bag. She borrowed my uncle’s phone to check where the vibrating thing is coming from. Then she finally found it in her bag’s pocket. Everything turned out good after that.

photo credit: Sir Mervs

The drive to Zambales through the Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway was beautiful, we passed places full of green trees and fields. The mountains and hills were so pleasing to the eye. I never thought that so close to populated areas like Angeles and the surrounding towns, there was so much verdant, almost virgin areas.

When we arrived at Subic, we stopped by a supermarket within SBMA to buy Lolo Luis some “pasalubong” or souvenirs. In the car while waiting for my aunt, Tito David told me, one great thing I can learn from my aunt was how to treasure and value people who were good to you once, specially during those times when you needed help.

We went back on our trip and finally arrived at Lolo Luis’s house at past 11 o’clock in the morning. Lola Pina was cooking lunch, and Lolo Luis was watching television. I gave my Lolo a kiss on his cheek. Tita Mita, Tito David and My Lolo had some talk regarding our relatives while I was at the kitchen talking with Lola Pina.

photo credit: Puck777

After eating a good lunch of Pesang Hito and Tilapia, Tita Mita showed a raw video of Lolo Casto to Lolo Luis. The video is a project of the Magsaysay Family to gather as many stories of our ancestors from oldest living members. My Lolo Casto is now 94 years old and he had a lot of stories to tell.

Lolo Luis was jokingly arguing with the video saying that some of the stories were wrong. But he sat and listened through all the videos, sometimes even smiling in agreement and just quietly remembering. While he was watching, I took his blood pressure and it was good, good enough for a person with hypertension. After watching all 4 videos of Lolo Casto, we stayed for a few minutes more for feedbacks about the video, and decided to go home so that Lolo Luis and Lola Pina can take their rest.      While we are moving out of the house my aunt told me that Lolo had improved from the last time they went to visit him. She also said that their cousin Ric who is a doctor did a good job prescribing new medications for Lolo Luis.

photo credit: Svadilfari

After saying our good-byes, we went to check out Tita Mita’s pigs which Tita Dhal is taking care of for her. She is a friend of my mom and aunt. They were classmates in high school in the local parochial school in San Marcelino. They live not too far from Lolo’s place. They talked regarding the pigs for a few minutes, while I was entertained by Tita Dhal’s 4-year old nephew, Erol.

It was good that I went along with them. I really enjoyed the trip. I was happy because I was able to visit  Zambales and my Lolo Luis again after a very long time. Zambales is a nice place. That’s why my Tita Mita and Tito David are planning to live there.

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