The Girl Who Lives On Mars: All Aboard the Plane

11-11-11: Last year of the same date, I went to my mom’s province for the first time in 15 years: Iloilo City. It’s rather unfortunate that I didn’t get to blog about my experience at the time, so I thought of sharing it today.

November 11, 2010 at around 1 a.m. my cousin, mom, and I were busy getting ready to go to the airport and making sure that we didn’t leave anything that we will need on the trip. Some time in September, my mom and my cuz were asked to perform at their school in Iloilo for the alumni event. They were always asked to perform because my cousin’s an amazing singer and my mom’s a fantastic ballroom dancer. And in early October, out of constant persuasion from my dear cuz, Angel, I finally agreed to also perform for the said occasion. My cousin’s a natural born singer (she’s like a Whitney and Celine Dion combo) so I agreed to sing a duet with her because I thought her spectacular voice would drown my poor excuse of a singing voice. We chose a pop song by Lady GaGa & Beyonce called “Telephone”, which was a real hit during the summer.

We actually didn’t practice much during the break. But just one week before the event, we decided to go to a recording studio to record our duet because we had also decided to do a choreography for the performance. There wasn’t much dancing, it was just mostly acting out to the song and we had our placings. Thanks to my mom’s dance instructor, Jaja, btw, for the simple yet, far from dull choreography. So we had 4-5 choreography practice sessions at nights after school. Talk about last minute, huh. I guess we really work better if we cram—most of the time. We also added a few of our own moves for the performance—a little creative opportunity.

Anyway, back to the trip. We went to the airport around 2 a.m., as of I remember, and we met Jaja there. Angel and I roamed around the airport and took photos of ourselves for our album.

We finally went aboard to the plane around 4:40 a.m. (I think) and I was so excited to reach our destination. Whenever the plane takes off or lands, it always frightens me a bit—that’s why I listened to my mp3 at the time. (Yes, I’m one of those stubborn passengers who do not abide to the rules when inside an airplane). Finally we were off, and I continued to listen to music to soothe my nerves. Soon after, the sun rises, and I was mesmerized by the breathtaking view outside the window. Yeah, I’m one of those people who appreciate the beauty of nature—it never gets tiring. I started to secretly take photos of the clouds in the sky, despite the constant reprimanding of my cousin. Lol.

When we finally arrived at the Iloilo City terminal, haha, everything was suddenly, small… but in a good way. Iloilo is such a small but a happy city. Despite its size, the city is kind of complete in a way. It has malls, shops, stores, beaches—I mean, wow! I love the fact that you can get to a beach within a half hour, more or less! It felt good to be in another place—another city besides the daily humdrum that Metro Manila offers. Iloilo city may be quiet, but I enjoyed every minute of my stay there because I got to visit my grandparents, I got to see the Villa Beach and eat the most fresh and palatable seafood dishes and of course, I was excited for our performances.

We went straight to my grandparents’ house the moment we arrived in the humble city. I remembered the house to be a bit bigger the last time I went there, or perhaps I was just smaller back then. Their home was already dressed with Christmas decorations—courtesy of my grandma’s artistry expertise. Unfortunately, I didn't get to take a picture of all the decors.

Our first day in Iloilo City, my mom was already busy with planning for our performances for the event on Nov. 13, 2010. She was busy making appointments with the transportation, the beauty salon, the video, the school, and her two own dance numbers to deal with. My cousin and I just relaxed and enjoyed the days ahead, and of course, the seafood galore. I remember that it was lunch, and there was a plateful of prawns, and a plateful of alimasag. I was busy devouring the prawns and Angel was busy consuming the latter.

We also got to visit a few malls during our three and a half stay in the city. And in our second day (Nov. 12), we got to go to the Villa Beach. Our grandparents went there with us to have our lunch at the Breakthrough restaurant. More seafood came pouring in and we were soon engulfed with every bit of the delectable delight. There was also this particular seaweed called gato that our taste buds took pleasure in. It was so fresh and scrumptious! Our trip pretty much consisted of eating a lot of seafoods—which was a dream to me. We also had a few picture-takings!

That night, we attended a party at the school—the alumni event was for three days but our performance was for the Saturday shindig.

Angel & my sexy mama

I was quite surprised when around 9 p.m., the party was over and a lot of people were leaving! Usually in Manila, parties will take until around midnight. Guess I forgot that we were in a province, but it was good timing because at least we get to have a good night’s rest for the big day ahead.

So, third day came, Nov. 13, 2010, and it was like a hurricane for my mom. It was finally performance day and everyone was really busy. We already went to the beauty salon early in the afternoon.

Angel- the singer!

my grandma
Around 5 p.m. we were all finished with being made up and we went back to my grandparents’ house. We wore our shoes for the performance and rest there for a bit. Around 6:30 we finally went to face the music. The event started around 7 or 7:30 p.m. and there was a huge crowd.

There was a number of performances and my mom was the first of us to perform. Backstage you can see her really nervous and panicky. She started with the Rumba and it was divine.

There was an intermission and then it was Angel’s turn to enchant the audience with her extraordinary voice and her charisma as she performed a Chinese song for her solo. You can watch her fantastic performance here:

After another intermission, it was my mom’s turn to perform her second and last number: the Samba! She was on fire!

After her number, there was another intermission and Angel and I were supposed to go next, but after a turn of events, we waited so long at the back stage—we waited, and waited, and waited until a few minutes before midnight and we were suddenly called to go on stage! Imagine how exhausted and sleepy we were while waiting back stage!

The moment I went on stage, I wasn’t sure if I could remember all the choreography; my mind was asleep. There I stood, waited and waited until after 30 seconds, the music went on! Wtf!!!

Soon, the music finally started and Angel went to the stage and there we were-- performing in front of a huge crowd that we hoped were still in the mood to watch our number. Because of the exhaustion from waiting, I forgot a lot in our choreography and I also forgot a lot of my own actions that I conceived before. But I tried my best to get all the energy back inside me. And so I went with a mood to kill and I tried to give everyone a kick-ass show (even if I had no ammo to fire).

The performance was like a blink of an eye! It was so fast! Imagine a month of thinking about it, and a number of rehearsals and wow, it was finally over! I couldn’t believe that we were done.

You can watch our performance here: (I was sleepy & exhausted at the time so please excuse my poor performance! lol.)

After our performance, Angel and I weren’t certain if our family loved our number because we weren’t that up to it and I made a lot of mistakes in the choreography (Fortunately, I managed to adlib a bit… I hope it was good enough). Angel was naturally, AMAZEBALLS!!! So anyway, surprisingly, they loved it.

We went to eat at Chowking (of all the places) afterwards because my cuz and I didn’t get to eat dinner (I wasn’t really hungry but our grandma cajoled us to eat). We finally got a good night’s sleep after the chow.

Nov. 14, 2010- Our flight to Manila was around noon. Angel and I woke up around 7:30 a.m. and we hurriedly got ourselves ready and went to the beach to get last minute picture-takings because we didn’t have ample time 2 days before.

It was already 9:30 and it was time for Angel and I to go back to our grandparents’ home and see my mom. Time check: 10 a.m. and it was time for us to leave. My grandma and my mom cried when they said their goodbyes, I tried to control my tears.

When we arrived to the airport, Angel and I had a few picture-takings to kill time before our flight. We ate Bulalo for breakfast.

Finally, it was time for us to board the plane and away we flew.

And after 45 or so minutes, we were back home. I guess it was good to be back in Manila, but I felt like a part of me was still in Iloilo.

I really could not believe that our performance was finally over. Despite a few technical difficulties of the music and the fact that we waited for two hours back stage, it was a fun performance. I hope there would be more soon. There’s never a doubt that Angel will have more performances because she’s really a singer (she always joins and wins at singing competitions). After a few days, the photos and video of our performances were delivered to us and I’m glad that we have a memento of the exciting night that we all had. Hope there will be more performances soon because I feel like a different person when I’m on stage—a better one (even if I’m not). Lol. So, till then for another adventure!

PS. Happy birthday to my dog, Bouncy!!!

October 3, 2010

We were virgins—pristine, naïve, clueless, and a little scared, but the crippling sense of stimulating heat took control over our mind and body. Our senses were tingling from anxiousness. It was our first time, indeed, to go to a winter wonderland.

The very moment we stepped on the sub-zero land of South Korea, my friend and I had immediately felt the Seoul winter chill creeping down our shivered spine. It was on the 26^th of December 2009 and the temperature was a frostbiting negative five.

Having to visit a foreign country once again after thirteen friggin years got my excitement level jumping up and down like a teenage boy in heat. The garments I brought were not exactly arctic gear material. My coat was for autumn and the boots I bought were not snow-proof—they were suede. The amount of money that I had was the one that cajoled me to think that I can survive the unforgiving North Pole weather.

It was a group trip; we had three buses for everyone of us. We also had our own Korean tour guide in each of our heated buses to tell us all about the capital of South Korea.

Dining in Korea for the first time is a tad difficult if there are no spoon and fork condiments. Their chopsticks are made of metal; they’re really thin, flat, and slippery to use. We found them tricky to grip even if we knew how to use the Chinese ones. Despite the arduous struggle with their chopsticks, we still managed to ravenously chow down the piquant dishes and steaming hot soups to heat up our quivering, near-frozen bodies.

Breakfast at the Co-Ex hotel in Seoul would be dreamy. There’s nothing like a divine buffet to wake up to and start our day with. There was a wide selection of bread from bagels, baguettes, to croissants. Two to three different soups were prepared to awaken our heavy-eyed senses. There was an array of American breakfast meal that consisted of deep-fried crispy bacon, creamy scrambled eggs, and succulent American sausages. There was also a set of Korean grub that was laid out such as Kimchi, which was their most prized dish. Desserts that were offered were cakes, French pastries, fresh fruits, and strawberry or blueberry yogurts. To wash it all down, there were orange and grapefruit juices and hot coffee to compliment our palatable breakfast.

Strolling along the sidewalks of Seoul was tough during winter. The roads were slippery and we would definitely freeze to death because we were used to a tropical climate. I could only look at the snowy Seoul from the bus or in our hotel window. Everything was dressed in white. The sidewalks, the trees, the buildings, and the cars were covered with the wintry frost that resembled champagne powder. Every detail of this immaculate scenery was picturesque.

In one of our trips, we were taken to the far side of Seoul to go skiing. It was a blue bird day as we were taken to a ski resort. We rented ski suits that are very thick and boy, were the skis heavy!

The ski resort was packed with a whole lot of skiers on the slope that kind of looked like ants climbing up and down the anthills. Our group went to the beginner’s slope, since we were all first timers.

As I walked step by step, I found it grueling dragging my feet that were attached to the heavy skis. My friend, who was quite an athlete, was already gracefully skiing her way, easily learning the sport by herself. I suddenly felt the need to at least know how to move so I wouldn’t be left out and have “loser” stamped on my forehead. I tried my hardest to summon any muscles and strength (if there were any) in my feeble physique. Finally, after much exertion of pushing with my arms, I had managed to budge inch by inch.

Seeing how pathetic I seemed to be, a companion in our group helped me and slowly pushed me down the small slope to let me experience downhill skiing. As I skied, I felt the cool zephyr rushing through every bit of my body and blowing me away. The chill was absolutely invigorating. Seeming to think that I knew how to ski already, I wanted to challenge myself to a higher slope. So, I left my group and went alone as I slowly dragged my feet to the other side of the resort.

A sea of unfamiliar faces was on the other side. The slope was indeed, higher than the bunny slope that our group was stationed at. As I readied myself for the higher slope, all I could think of was “let’s freaking do this!”

As I skied down the icy hill, the nippy gush of wind gave me a thrill that I never have felt before. For one brief moment, I felt very much alive than ever! And in a blink of an eye, my excitement instantly turned into nerves as I didn’t know how to stop. Finally, two Koreans made me come to a complete halt as I bumped into them and fell down with my derrière on the snowy, wet ground. I did let out a mere “sorry” to the two Koreans but they simply shrugged and went away, leaving me on the ground-- helpless beyond belief.

I waited for a kind stranger to come to my aid as I sat on the damp ground with my face exhibiting seven shades of red. Much to my dismay, nobody even bothered to look at me. I immediately felt eruptive rage to the entire Korean race and at the same time, I was wallowing in complete and utter humiliation as I felt trapped into an abyss of shame. A few minutes later to what it seemed like a thousand years, my friend spotted me and helped me get up back to the surface.

Despite my impression that the inhabitants of South Korea were self-absorbed, snobby and weren’t ready to give a hand to people in distress, my experience was worth it. I had finally gotten out of the Philippines even for just a bit. I got to come into contact with snow even if my body did not have the fortitude to make snowballs, let alone snow angels due to the harsh iciness. I even got to live through a negative seven temperature that seemed like a freezing point by the near end of our journey. My soul was finally unearthed within me; I had felt rejuvenated once again from this much-needed trip.

Skiing was the cherry on top in my Korea tour. The fall I came across did not hurt me at all; in fact, it taught me to ameliorate in the sport. I would go back to Seoul if given the chance, but only because of skiing. It is after all, the nearest country that has ski resorts. The revitalizing sensation from the sport got me wanting more of it like a cannabis drug that takes you deep into the depths of felicity and making it your oasis, your own little world.