Tiwi 2015

I didn’t realize that my usual Albay homecoming falls every 12^th of December until the See Memories function of Facebook allowed me to see it as it is. Except for one year when my cousins were here for the holidays, my 12^th of December had always been for Albay. Thankful to the recent sideline project I got, I was able to fly to my second home.

The flight was uneventful and since I just got to the airport straight from work, all I wanted to do was go through the day and be home for dinner. Unknown to me, Lola refused to take lunch because she wanted to join me for lunch since she thought I will arrive just in time for lunch.

A Saturday before typhoon Nona hit PH, the weather in Albay was cloudy with scattered rainshowers but there are still times that Mayon had been cleard of clouds.

The only tense-filled activity I did was to think of gifts for the kids at a very limited amount of time since I have to rush to the terminal and avoid being left behind the city for the last trip to my lola’s town. I didn’t bring any pasalubong, so I had to rush to the mall and buy a few stuff for the kids. For my lola, it’s automatic cash, for my titas, it would be whatever I have on my bag in exchange to whatever I can find around the house, sometimes even nothing for them. It’s kinda hard to give them gifts since they can afford most of the things I wanted to give them.

Whenever I am in the city, I make sure to eat at this local diner. 

After a plane ride, a tricycle ride, a quick lunch at the local diner, speedy shopping spree, a jeepney ride to the terminal, a short wait for the van to be filled, a short notice for a Jolllibee stop, another jeepney ride, then a pedicab ride, I am home.

I am home!

I don’t have a bed nor a room of my own anymore since they had built a new house. Since my little cousins decided to sleep with me, we just had a mattress laid out on the sala. We woke up early and since it was a Sunday, we went to the beach. When I am here, I try to do the usual things I do when I used to live here. Waking up early. Helping in the kitchen or in the pigpen, feeding the chickens, and going for a morning walk by the beach. Lola used to ask me to water the plants in the garden, probably to make grow fond of gardening and all that stuff. Also, it was the first time I came home without Lolo. 

Shot taken very early in the morning at Baybay, Tiwi, Albay. 

I had made plans to meet a few people over the course of couple days, one small reunion with a few high school friends and the other one with a very close college friend.

The trip back to the place where I spent my teen years (seven years) is always something I look forward to as I get a chance to go back where I started my dreams and be grateful to the all the people who had helped me. It is always refreshing, relaxing and recharging.

Tiwi will always be my home.