Going Home in Sorsogon City

Mar 26, 2008 10am. I left Manila via JVH ordinary bus with Papa, and my two cousins(Unik and Macmac). I was so excited yet a little bit nervous since I didn't go home for more than two years already. What should I expect? What will happen on my 4-day vacation? Will I meet my old friends and will they recognize me or will I recognize them? These were the questions behind my mind while I was on the bus going to Sorsogon.

My trip going to Bikol was a little bit scary since the bus driver was so playful that he even drove so fast and what do you call that "banking" even on a zigzag road near the cliffs. But other than that our trip was quite not tiring since we enjoyed watching the view but suddenly saddened when we passed on one part of Quezon where a lot of landslides had occurred during storm Reming and Milenyo. Since it was the longest trip I ever had for the past 2 years, my butt was aching already and I felt quite bored sometime. Finally we reached Sorsogon City proper @ 11pm and there my tita ana, tito cards and their 2 kids were waiting for us. We hurriedly load our baggages on his tricycle and head towards Sorsogon National High School to fetch Dimple. It was the SNHS graduation ball/Seniors' Night.

When we arrived at the entrance, 4th year students were happily dancing and outside the gate were the parents and guardians waiting for their kids to go home. I still knew the teachers in-charge at the entrance and hey! they recognized me but forgotten my first name. hehehe! So we had a little chat(good thing I had a smooth trip or else I'll be smelling so bad) hehehe! Papa that time was getting irritated already because we've been waiting for Dimple for almost 30minutes. It was his first time to fetch his daughter from a party so he didn't understand that it can reached till midnight. After an hour, Dimple finally decided to go home. It was the first time I saw her wearing a dress and well all I can say was, the dress fits her.

It was so dark traveling from Sorsogon City proper to Bacon District and noone was on the street. @12:30 we reached our small nipa hut/store. Hehehe! As expected Mama's still awake but Ate(who went home on holy week) was already sleeping on the 2nd floor??? It wasn't a 2nd floor actually. Coz it's as wide as a queen size bed only with 5 steps to go up. Ok since I forgot to take some photos of our small house, I'll describe it.

• Front View: near the highway was two benches made of bamboo on each side and the small sari-sari store. The door was located at the one end of the bench at the right side and when you go inside, passed on the curtain to reach the kitchen/bedroom. Hahaha!

• Inside: at the back of the shelf where we put the goods were: clothes,pillows,cosmetics etc. while on the left side are the kitchenwares and bottled waters. @the middle was the 5 steps going up the bed. Hehehe! Since that was only 1 meter away from the ceiling, we need to put a mosquito net so that worms or other things from the anahaw won't fall directly to us. Haha!

At first I thought I can't sleep on that area since Me,Dimple and Ate were going to sleep there and the bed has no foam. But when I got there, I was wrong coz as soon as I lay down, the next thing I see was, It was already 10am. hahaha!

When I go out, some of my neighbors were having a chat with my father and when they saw me. the first phrase they said, "NELDA ANG TABA MO NA!!!" and my first reply "I KNOW!". Then I was assigned to watch the store and so bad that I don't know the price of the items. Good thing my cousin arrives to help me.

Before that, I forgot to mention that before going to bed, I changed clothes on my Lola's house since there's no bathroom in our house. Hehehe! Tita Besing, Melvin and Mamay were awaken and as expected, Mamay hugged and cried when she saw me. I think it lasted for 30minutes. By the way, I and Ate grew up in her care and not seeing us for a long time is so hard for her. She became thinner, older and lots of tantrums hehehe! but one thing that never change is we're still one of her favorite granddaughters. Hehehe!

Ok here's what I observed in my hometown. No childhood friends waiting for us except Elena. Why? Because most of them are currently working in Manila,Batangas,Cavite or Laguna and some have their own family already and migrated to other places. The children before were now taking the life we had before. They grew up so fast that I hardly recognized them. Houses if not new because of the previous storms that hit our province, were destroyed. A lot of new and unfamiliar faces passed/bought in our store and maybe we both have the same question in mind. "Who is he/she?" Of course a lot of them doesn't know or recognize me also. Even Kuya Marlon, one of my fave cousin, didn't recognize me at first sight. I kept on changing according to him. Hehehe! The way I look and talk, I become fatter, laugh so often, smiling always and not as shy as before. Same reactions with my other Lolas. But Elena had her own when she saw me after her duty at the Hospital. "ATE NELDA KAMUKHA MO NA SI KUYA ALBERT!" OMIGAS!!! I can't accept that. hahaha! peace Bert!!!

I never saw a former classmate in elementary and High School(except Crisanto). However, some of my teachers still know ME? Some of their lines were:
"HISUS! Pagkataba mo man LIZA." LIZA??? Mam, ako po to c NELDA. ahahaha!
Then one time, during the recognition day, I was running so fast coz the program had started already, I bumped to a grade 1 teacher and said, "Nelda luway luway lang, grade 3 pa lang naman." Whew! I thought I was late..wait she recognized me even she didn't become my teacher.

Earlier than that, @6:30am of Mar 28, that was the big event. Me, Mamay and Mama went to market to buy some goods needed for the banquet. We went to the wet market to buy meat and hotdogs. There's only one stall selling hotdogs and a young man is the vendor.

Nelda: "May tender juicy pa ba?"
Vendor: "Wara na tabi."
Nelda: "Ano na lang igwa?"(oh di ba barok na ako magbikol)
Vendor: "Beefies at Vida"
Nelda: "Cge pabakala 3kls ng Beefies."
Vendor: "Ay kulang na. Pwede Vida na lang iba."
Nelda: "Cge ilan gabos?"
then 3 more buyers came so his attention to us was diverted...I got a little bit irritated since we're the first customer to buy...I'm having this irritated face when suddenly...
Vendor: "264 Nelda." (huwaaat!!! did i hear it ryt?!)
Nelda: (whispering to Mama) "Ma, tinawag nya ako. Tama ba?"
that young vendor is smiling foolishly while entertaining his other customer...after few minutes..maybe he can't take it anymore...
Vendor: "Nelda...ako ung kapatid ni Perla."
Nelda: "HA?! GEM?!" he nodded.
Omigosh!! How come it's Gem. He's so manly. The last time I remember about him was he's gay-looking. We had a small talk afterwards. Gem was 1 year older than her sister, my elementary friend/classmate. I used to go to their house during our elementary days. When it's time to left, someone called me.

Anonymous: "Ms. Dichoso, bakal na sira."(bili raw ako ng isda)
when I turned my back...omigosh!
Nelda: "Filsan ika iyan?!"(he's my schoolmate in BECS,elementary)
Filsan: "Amo. Nagtitinda na baga ako mga sira"...etc

Hayz, I felt so happy afterwards. I met some old friends also like Janet Edwin(Gem's classmate),(ate's ex bf and 1 who treated me as bestfriend before), Erwin(the 214, but he's married now) and Jomar(who took a vacation also). During the 3 1/2 days stay in Bikol I found new friends also like the pasaway group and met some of my relatives and cousins on Dimple's graduation.

The thought that always came out of my mind whenever I spent vacation in Sorsogon was..."There's no place like home..." and I always left with tears in my eyes.