Recall..

Sunday, Mar11:

I boarded the plane with a heavy heart. The flight was uneventful except for times when I tried to hold back tears while in the plane (twice!). These instances were: when the flight attendant officially announced our flight to Manila while still in CDO airport and when the pilot announced our arrival as the plane taxied on the tarmac in MIA.

I had invited a friend and her sister for a sleep-over in my hotel room, in advance. To keep me company. Unfortunately, they weren't able to join me after I checked in the Prince Plaza 2. But I cannot allow myself to wallow in misery, so I did what a girl needs to do: I strolled to the nearest mall, some 20 meters away from the hotel's entrance, with the intent to window shop..and got lost in the thick crowd. Literally.

I got lost while trying to retrace my steps back to the hotel. I had gotten myself too engrossed scanning the rows and rows of books, skimming through some of them in a bookshop (in my hope to turn feelings of negativity to something very positive) that I completely forgot of the time. I had decided to make best use of my time; and reading is a luxury I rarely allow myself when at home, so I might as well do so while here. But I guess I had gone overboard (smirk!) that I had to take the long and unfamiliar route because by the time I was done with the bookstore trip (with a book in hand), the mall entrance nearest to the hotel was already closed.

Wrong turn somewhere brought me outside to a deserted street. As I wander in the complex, I carefully looked skyward to make out the hotel building among these giants, but the buildings outlining the sky seem unfamiliar and unpromising. Anxiously, I quickened my pace, scared of getting mugged in a dark corner. The only comforting thought I had was the fact that I was walking in the streets of the business center of the Philippines (Makati). And although not 100% assured, I could at least calm my nerves and think that if there’s one place gov’t peeps make an effort to secure, this would be it; otherwise it would affect the business climate in the country. After making few stops to ask the way to the hotel, I found myself breathing normally in my room at past 9PM. It’s also at this time that I discovered I had a missed call from hubby.




Monday, Mar 12:

The office from my hotel is a 15min walk. We – me and a switch guy from Cebu who is also attending the same training – walked our way to the office. We easily merged into the throng of mostly professionals (job-seekers and the employed lot, alike) in a walkway (which passes through carparks after carparks) just across the hotel to an underpass, that brought us in our company’s main office, the Tower.

The training (first day) was a whirlwind undefined and I found out that I need to practise more on Linux. (If I can find time when I get back home.)

At the end of the day, I walked back to the hotel alone because the guy from Cebu went back ahead of time (we were checked-in in the same hotel). And although I felt I could use some company on my way to the hotel, I told myself that I just have to get used to walking alone this same route and back for the next 10days (and memorize the route to keep myself from making wrong turns as I did today) . While I passed buildings after building, the thought that I’d be seeing my brother (from Abra) tonight was making my steps lighter and quicker.

Tuesday, Mar 13.

My brother slept in my hotel room last night. Good thing because the internet wasn’t so helpful (I ran out of patience because I couldn’t make posts in my blog..heheh). But I’m happy that we have had the time to catch up on each other’s lives (he only comes home once a year, usually during December).

He’s going back to the province tonight and I’m glad my friend (and her sister) will be staying with me in the hotel. Actually they’ll be staying/sleeping in my room in daytime because they will work (as call center agents) at night. My friend goes to work few minutes before midnight and her sister, at 9PM. So at least by the time they go to work, I’ll be so sleepy that I will no longer have the time to feel lonely.
*******
I walked to work alone. You should have seen me huffing and puffing on the way to the Tower, all because of trying to reach the building at the shortest possible time (just for kicks!). And then I made a wrong turn in the underpass (where there are 4 points of exit/entrance) near my office, which brought me in the other side of my destination. I was forced to find somebody among the scurrying pedestrians and ask for some direction.

Going up the 33rd floor (where our training is held), I swore I looked so flushed in the face that you could play “spot-the-difference” in the elevator and surely in less than a sec, you would spot me standing out among the crowd like a red ripe tomato. And with the grains of sweat forming in my forehead, I did stick out prominently like a sore thumb.

2nd day of training wrapped up before 5PM and I headed straight to the hotel all by myself (without missing a turn).