No matter how well (or not-so-well) I had planned my gap year between my Bachelors and uh further studies; there are just some things in life one cannot control. Like falling out of love and having to change those plans slightly…or falling in love unexpectedly vey soon afterwards. My rollercoaster took me for a wild ride in the beginning of the year, but then again, who doesn’t enjoy the occasional looping or free fall. During one of the coldest winters I have ever experienced, I had to write my Bachelors Thesis, find a new tenant for my apartment, pack up my life into (many!) boxes, renovate little bumps and bruises my dear apartment had suffered over the three years I lived in it and wrap up all the various contracts, accounts and paper trails one accumulates in this modern day society. All the while getting to know and falling more and more for a certain somebody, without whom I probably wouldn’t have survived those months without completely loosing it. He protected me when my To-Do lists threatened to cut off my limbs, he herded my moving boxes and belongings into his apartment when they threatened to run amok and he warmed me in the evenings after my Bachelors Thesis had sucked all the life out of me during the days spent chained to my desk, drowning in books. I cannot say that the timing was right for Mr. Right, but ignoring it would have been all kinds of wrong. And although my plans did not change, new ones were formed and a ticket for an island vacation was booked.
In April I left home to come back home and cried tears of sadness and happiness. Raise your hand if you know what it feels like to be homesick while you’re home… I know there are some out there who understand me. Manila hasn’t changed, aside from the buildings that shoot up like beanstalks. And being back felt like being in a time warp, like being 17 again, only with less connections, less friends left. The three month internship at my former school was fun and gave me a bit more insight into the daily life as an educator. And it did help steer my thoughts on becoming one into a more definite direction. I’m not saying I am definitely not becoming a teacher; I am now just more open to discovering possible alternatives; ready to check out what else might be out there for me.
After two week family reunion, of which five days were spent on the paradise island Siquijor, my significant other landed in Manila, I opened the door and ushered him into a whole new world – my other world. The three weeks he spent here allowed me to see the Philippines through his eyes, bathed in a whole new light. Despite the occasional culture shock that shook our vacation, I got to rediscover the beauty of the country and learn once more to be in awe of a paradise I had come to regard as usual. We spent a week on Sangat, out personal King Kong island, part of the Calamian Islands, which seemed like big boulders strewn into the deep turquoise waters of Coron Bay, topped off with lush dark green. I (finally!) got over my fear of the deep blue and we got certified together in Puerto Galera, experiencing the ocean like I never really had before… After falling in love in three hectic months in Berlin, we got to fall in love all over again in three blissful weeks in the Philippines. Who knows what lies ahead, but I hear three’s a charm…
Note: Have Love, Will Travel together…Will travel alone, but have love nonetheless.
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