RANDOM: Missing the Days

I've been to my old blog site and I read a lot of my past posts. When I was in the Philippines, I travelled a lot. I have an out-of-town trip almost every month. With each trip comes a blog post. I remember the places, I remember the people...mostly, the people. I have been to lots of places and the most memorable ones are those with good company. That is one thing missing here in Palau. I am not saying that I never enjoyed the company of anyone here but it's just...different.

Here, people are always busy. Most people have work six days a week. I miss hanging out with friends on the weekends. Back home, even if you don't leave the house, as long as you're with friends, have good conversation, it's a moment worth blogging already. Now, it's really different. How I wish I could hang out again with friends and make good memories with just the simple things.

I love my friends here, don't get me wrong. I have a set of friends from the office, from badminton, and from church. However, with over one year of stay here, I could only count with the fingers of my two hands the times that I really cherish. I'll try to enumerate:

1. first road trip to babeldaob
2. trip to ngatpang
3. winning my first badminton tournament and going to seabird cruise to celebrate
4. playing dota with the boys and basically hanging out with ruben and kuya dan
5. bern's birthday
6. first fun dive
7. hanging out in the old airport one saturday afternoon with eds, bert, and laverne
8. long island swim with arsie, jane, and kuya frank
9. conversation with berns when i asked for advice regarding my career
10. celebrating my birthday with my church mates

Ok, so at least, all my fingers in my two hands would be counted. Then I realize, it's not too few after all. I still have to say my two trips to Ngemelis were equally memorable, the time when Kuya Roger randomly treated us to Nayong Pilipino, the time when we ate lunch three times, Friday nights with Jane, Manio, Mayshell, and Vani. I've already had lots of moments.

I guess I just took a lot of them for granted. There were some things in the list though that I purposely avoided because of things that I don't really want. I guess what I'm missing is the consistency of the persons involved. I miss having friends whom I could comfortably text when I feel the need to hang out and be available...and if that friend is a guy, I want the kind who is willing to hang out not because he likes me, but because it's just fun. Hayyy....should I just go back to the Philippines then?

EVENT: Sweet 27 ♥

I rarely celebrate my birthdays. This is by far the biggest celebration I ever had. The celebration started in the office. Just had some snacks before lunch with the officemates and Karen who has the same birthday. In the picture below, she tried to make herself look smaller because I'd definitely look like a midget next to her if she didn't.

with Karen (we share the same birthday "but many years apart for sure" according to her)

pizza and ice cream, perfect combination

with the officemates. can you tell who's not palauan aside from karen? :)

In the evening, we had another small celebration at home. It was originally intended for my badminton friends who greeted me on my birthday (I kept my birthday a secret so whoever greets me gets an invite).

part 2 of the celebration at home

what the heck is going on here?

with my badminton peeps

with the badminton boys

the entire 1st batch

After a few hours, I was surprised to hear a knock on the door and four of my church mates came, the boys' group. They had a guitar with them and sang to me. Sweet, eh?

serenade from the 2nd batch

A few minutes after, another batch of boy friends came, a mixed group. My friend jokingly asked where my girl friends are and I said I don't have a lot. Then he said it's so obvious that I'm actually a boy (I hit him with my slipper). I'm a tomboy (for my Filipino readers, a tomboy is not a lesbian), obviously even until now that I'm a grown woman.

with mah boys ;) 3rd batch

Still later, someone knocked and a bigger group came and they brought cake with them, the bigger group Filipino group from my church.

from my loving church mates :)

final batch

On Sabbath day, I went to church and surprise, surprise...my girl friends are all wearing black too!

we all wore black to church, not planned 

Ate Elba, baked me a cake and she even prepared 27 candles for me to blow!

3rd part of the celebration after church

We had our potluck in Palau Mission Academy open gym. They tried to make it really special, they even picked some flowers from their yard to be centerpiece.

a feast my loving church mates prepared for my celebration

home made cake (gift)

These are the gifts I got on my birthday. So nice!

2 cute skirts, 1 sarong, and a pair of clogs

2 palau shirts and 1 palau mug

I really felt special the entire week. Unlike most people who dread getting old, I am always thankful and proud whenever someone asks for my age. Not all people get to live as long as I am living right now. I am happy with everything I have in my life and I know that more surprises still await. I have God to thank for everything! I missed my family though but thank God for the internet, it somehow bridges the gap the distance makes.

Improving My "People Skills"

I am at the extreme ends of emotional string. When I feel attached, i totally feel it that I sometimes have separation anxiety. But at the other end is the i-dont-care-at-all attitude. How i wish i have that skill of other people where they can maintain their closeness to everyone they had moments with.

Right now, I'm trying to adjust myself and try to be interested in the lives of my friends that I don't see anymore. I learned that the mere act of "liking" their Facebook status could open up a conversation, that with just that one click, people would feel that you are still a part of their lives and they are a part of yours. 

I should do this more often. It really feels good, after all. So, if you would just excuse me, I have Facebook statuses to like.