"You are my strength, strength like no other. Reaches to me"

im back - for a week now and the two weeks there was great. so many things happened/was done, don't know where to start.

But will start with my bike lessons first.
(yes, i know how to ride a bike now!!!!!!! can balance and can overtake- i like the overtaking part, but still dont know how to start the bike, and do a u-turn)

The same uncle who taught me how to cycle taught me this time. He was indeed a patient teacher, constantly reminding me that when u change gears i got to give a lil' gas.. etc, he repeated himself alot of times. I only had seven lessons, had fever on wednesday after the practice and it was drizzling on thursday- last day there, so wasnt allowed to ride. Riding the bike is something that i miss the most now. Will never be able to ride one/get a licence here. Asked my dad if i could get one last time but he doesnt allow, and i know he'll not relent.

bike lesson #1:

was extremely nervous, actually had more like a mixed feeling, excited plus scared, had 2nd thoughts about it. but still went on. I sat in front and tito was at the back, he talked to me about the gears, and that the difficult part of learning the bike is to start it, cos this one has a clutch and he mentioned in the later lessons that the bike's too big for me. He started the bike and held the sides of the handles, beside my hand.

Practiced on the road in the village first before he brought me out to the highway (didn't object out loud tho in my heart i went, "the highway???!!!!its just the first lesson!"). Tito didn't take out his hands from the handles and he went "She, if i take out my hands, i think we will collapse". which was true, cos i felt him reducing the pressure a two times and the bike swayed.

Riding bikes in Iloilo at 630-7pm is a rather, i don't know how to describe. Around that time, the insects will fly around, and we don't ride with helmets there.

So just imagine the countless of insects hitting my face, my hair, my ears while riding. Of course i can't be a girl about it, had to endure all the painful slapping on the face. And i'm not kidding when i say its painful.

bike lesson #2:

Tito got the bike started (he starts the bike, gets it moving first and then i take over) and when i took over, for some unknown reason, i was squeezing the bike's hand brake and i didn't realize it, though i felt something feels wrong, until we were at the highway and when he went "She, don't squeeze the ano (what is that), the handbrakes!"

Tito held the sides of the handles for quite abit of time, then he held my arms, and finally released his hand. So there! I had my balance and i was riding on my own. =) But of course being such a good uncle that he is (reaaally felt so safe with him), each time heavier vehicles past us he holds my arms.

Riding the bike on my own! The feeling is indeed exhilirating, with nervousness too: was praying over and over again this simple prayer "Lord, protect me, protect tito, protect the people around me". Since it was only my 2nd lesson, and the first where i was riding on my own without tito holding the handles too, i was riding at 40km... and i was preety satisfied with riding at 40. My eyes would always look down to see the speed that im going and if i saw that im nearing 45.. i slow down.
Tito went "You know She, when i ride to the city i ride at 120km" my reply "Oh.." and then he went "But your a beginner, so its ok" - making me feel better probably.

I know, i know, its super slow. BUT ITS JUST MY 2ND LESSON!!!! IN THE HIGHWAY!!!! and it felt fast cos remeber we dont ride with helmets, so with the wind effects, i convinced myself that riding at 45 is too fast.

bike lesson #3

This time we practiced at the same area we went during the 2nd lesson. It's a straight road leading up to another town (mountainous). Of course, my speed increased. =) So we practiced on that same road, back and forth riding on the same road. And some villagers have nothing to do at that period of time, you'd see alot just sitting outside their houses along the road doing nothing.

So each time we ride past them, their heads follow us. And whichever direction i ride from, i'd see all of them looking at me, it gets a little nerve-wrecking because of the many eyes watching, plus surely they've come to realize that im actually learning how to ride the bike. So we were practicing till it was getting dark (the road has no street light!) so we had to get back, tito also mentioned that the people staying in this area are not to be trusted: kidnappers etc.

We practice for quite a long while each time, so whenever i get off the bike, the ache i feel on my body and my right hand, wouldnt be able to walk properly for awhile.

bike lesson #4:

You know the straight road i mentioned above, the same road leads up to another town, up a mountain. The road gets extremely "curvy" and climbs up a mountain (not a huge mountain tho, and not exactly a hill too). We did ride up on my 2nd lesson but tito decided that we turn back because the roads dangerous for beginners, drivers have to be familiar with the road, because youd be turning right one moment and then turning left the next. So far when i practice there, i'd ride straight until a certain point, and make a u-turn.

But this time, tito allowed me to ride up, of course he asked me if i wanted to, which i did want. Was happy that he asked if i wanted to try riding up, because that would also mean he had a level of confidence, that ill be able to ride ok. There were certain extreme steep points where he'd hold my arms, or the handles, cos' according to him "If we fall here, its bye bye to us". And because we were climbing up the mountain, the air was good. Cooling, fresh feeling and it wasnt sunny at that time. Rode all the way up to the town centre, which was empty, kinda looked like a ghost town, where we made a u-turn to go back.

Okay, so the subsequent bike lessons was great too, shall not blog about it, but there's just this one thing i want to add:

Before one of my lessons, Janan wanted a joy-ride (He'd sit infront of tito, pretending that he's the one riding the bike, and im sitting behind tito) so we went around the village and on the way back, there was this group of highschool girls, secondary level, walking infront. One of them heard the bike turned and shouted "GUAPO (handsome)" only to find not a young guy she expected to see, but my uncle - they had eye contact too cos we were passing them already. She actually flirted with my uncle! No, she actually flirted without even knowing who she was flirting with! Laughed out loud immediately, sure she heard me but a highschool girl! 3-4 years younger than me. Hmm...


Family picnic/beach outing:

Filipinos, whether or not they can sing, LOVES to sing. You find lots of open air karoake "stations" or something, at almost every eating place. I've got this cousin, Amiel (love him loads) who loves to sing too, but he cant. =) i sound mean, but its cute seeing the way he sings, with so much feelings with his throaty sometimes squeaky voice when he tries to reach higher ranges, but ill cut him some slack, he plays the guitar fine with an amazingly good memory of the chords of songs =).. he never fails to crack us up when he starts singing.
After swimming and eating, decided that the older cousins go and sing. So we, together with some younger cousins and titos and titas hogged up the karoake station. Sang song after song, all taking turns or even singing together. Joy, Melasel and I scored a 100. The mike's good too, picks up voices at a distance.

We hogged the station up till a man came over and sang a song, then we took the mike from him after he was done and continued singing. So we did this taking turns thing with the man, he takes one song, we take one, then he takes another one, till he passed the mike to his young daughter, probably 5 yrs. And the way she sang was fantastic. Tender age and yet such powerful vocals which attracted many many people to watch her.
The young girl's strong vocals and the crowd made our family decide to stop hogging up the station, not cos we were too tired to sing, no, more so because we were too ashamed to sing after that. =)


Family facts:

In my previous blog entry, i wrote about the family expanding each time we go there for a visit. This time i counted.
Grandchildren/Cousins: 21 of us. The eldest- 19 years (me), the youngest- 3 months.
7 boys. 14 girls.
Mum's siblings: 9 of them. Mum's the eldest. Two aunts. Six uncles.
All married except for tito bobot and Joy. Ive got jokers for uncles too.

Lola and Lolo are still so strong, tho Lolo looks more weary now, he aged alot since his visit here in 2004. Its Lolo who does most of the cooking for the family everyday! Enjoy his food.

Other than these immediate family members, we visited some of mum's cousins. So met many "2nd cousins" - a term common in Philippines. A 2nd cousin is the child of your parent' direct cousin. e.g. my future kids and harjane's kids will be 2nd cousins.


Creepy-crawlies:

(1) The lizards there are disgusting, more so than the lizards here! I simply detest lizards. But thankfully there weren't any gheckos.
Was napping one afternoon, when i felt something relatively big crawling past my thighs. Opened my eyes, saw a lizard on the bed. THE THING THAT CRAWLED ON ME WAS A LIZARD! its amazing i managed not to scream.

(2) 2nd to lizards, the next thing i detest are frogs. Needed to relieve myself so went to the toilet, closed the door and sat down and that was when i realized that there was a huge frog at the side of the toilet. My eyes was on it the whole time. STUCK IN A ROOM WITH THE FROG! and the thing it started moving towards the door!!! Once i was down, the only thing in my mind was how was i to get out, i couldnt ask for help cos the doors lock from inside, cant possibly expect lolo to break open the door and catch the frog so i can go out. Cant run out cos the frog's infront of the door. Again, thankfully there was a gap underneath the door for the frog to go out, it managed to squeeze out, i open the door, saw the frog still outside, hesitated and jumped past it.


Otherwise, Philippines was great, definitely a good break from Singapore with our family over there! Will blog more about it in later posts.
Miss it so much, i feel like i left my heart there. Miss the people, miss the lifestyle. Each time i go there, or go to places like it, i leave my heart there. Sure Singapore has all the comfort i can ever want, i can ever get, but there's just something about this places: villages, poor, little comfort, that makes me wanna come back.

Maybe its the people i dearly love.. maybe its the simplicity of life. The joy, the satisfaction they have despite hardships. Or maybe its because i just grow to love easily.
i dont know, all i know is, my heart is still there.