11.19.07

Manila Manila

Posted in 2007 Mosaic at 7:07 pm by Miracle ♪♫

13th of November
In the pre-departure area with the whole family including Papa
and Mama’s adopted children, Lester and Haidee. We flew PAL (Plane Always Late). The flight delay was the mainspring of
Dandi and Lester’s foolishness with their camera phones… thus provoking me to
dub Lester a new nickname – “Torts.”

Torts [Tawrts]
Both verb and noun.
Origin: from the words distort,
distorter, and distorted.

Several hours later, we made it to the urban sprawl of Manila. Oh wow, Dandi vs. Haidee, and Lester vs. Me,
made it through the trip without crashing the plane! (Misha behaved more than
any of us. *blush*)

It was already duskish when we reached Greenhills and our ever
reliable room with a view at Le Gran… and it does not take a genius or
clairvoyant to predict where I went next. FullyBooked at Promenade – walking distance from Le Gran!

Oh Fraaaanz, look what I got on my first day! =P

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14th of November
We visited the Literals since it was one of Papa’s main
“missions” to Manila because unfortunately, Uncle Tiny was sick.  It was a relief to see him in better condition than expected. We arrived at
their house after staggering hours of traffic.

“Uncle Tiny” is a very big man… and his full name is Tiny
Literal. *gasps* How did that come to be?! He is literally not one bit tiny!

With Auntie Febes, Uncle Tiny’s Wife

Later that afternoon, we checked on Papa’s works at The Met
and I got frittered away with the Hidalgos and Amorsolos.

Even though Lester and I have our “sibling rivalries,”
(haha) he and Haidee were so kind to treat us to dinner at a special Vietnamese
restaurant in Fort Boni where the food was superb and the red wine was, um…red. =P But the biggest treat was when they brought me to a five-storey fully
booked FullyBooked. I was about to
plead, “can I just stay here for the entire trip?” For a birthday present, they even bought a
hard-bound publication of one of my favorite classics, Pride and
Prejudice. Awww… *sniff sniff* Thanks
Les and Haidz.
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15th of November
Day of Papa’s exhibit and Misha’s birthday.  The skies
seemed unable to contain the bad weather up there for there were some whose
hearts were cold and gloomy enough that day. It was a very wonderful experience for Misha who was blessed to be unaware
of every irksome situation that surrounded him. He was even the one who brought life to the exhibit when he performed
beautifully on the violin. Everybody
loved him – even Mdme. Ingrid Santamaria. As for details of the exhibit, I shall refrain to elaborate for it will
only distress me. The exhibit was a
success to those who were oblivious to what went on behind the scenes, but all
I can say is that Papa’s works do not belong there.
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16th of November
Hmmm… the sunshine burst through the clouds like
chrysanthemums. My 23^rd birthday.
I started it with a prayer/resolution and
everyone seemed to have put yesterday’s despondency behind. Everything was bright…
I even met “Lightning” and poor lightning had to experience shaking my damp, cold pianists’ hand which I
successfully avoided the first time he streaked through my sky. Hahaha ;-) Thank you for everything, dear Lightning… although it’s corny and cliché, I must say, you lit up my day! hehehe =p 
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17th of November
While we were still in Dipolog, Mdm. Ingrid already offered
her home as venue for our violin lessons with Sir Jeffrey so she could also
have a chat with my parents. Naturally,
I would have immediately declined… but etiquette required me to concede. So for me it was a dreadful day when the
great Ingrid Sala Santamaria would witness my inferior violin playing. However, she was so gracious, so kind, and so
warm, that I instantly forgot the dread the moment she stood at her door
smiling like a magnanimous queen.  She
even served us food, gave a tour of her museum/home, and made us feel very
welcome.  I was even more rewarded when after hearing
Misha play, she complimented on Misha’s performance and commented that I taught
him “very well.” I was walking on air…
and that’s not all… while I was having my violin lessons with Sir Jeffrey, she accompanied me on
the piano! So yes, the feeling was a
mixture of happiness and nausea… hahaha =P

I was also glad to see Sir Jeffrey who in my opinion has
changed so much for the better… (except when he still managed to tease me about
a certain performer of the Arpeggione Sonata.) Man, I turned beet red in front
of Mdm. Ingrid!

All in all, it was a pleasant musical evening and everyone was
light-hearted. Amazing how music suffices in uniting different characters!
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Well, that’s about a week’s worth of blog entries.  I’d rather not go through the details of a canceled flight on the 18th and being redirected to the Cebu airport before finally heading home to Dipolog today on a plane navigated by a pilot having the surname “Viola.” (!!!)

The important thing is that we’re home and very grateful that God provided us all our needs.

Home sweet home - sweet home blanketed in an ample layer of
dust after a week in Manila, sweet quaint house that would seem like an
unsightly wooden speck amidst Manila’s skyline, sweet residence that usually
blocks my nasal passages with sanitary dust
while I clean up after a trip. Yes, when
you live in Dipolog and visit Manila,
one can actually say there’s such a thing as sanitary dust… this kind of dust doesn’t clog up your heart or your mind.

This was my balm throughout the whole trip.
I Thes. 5:18 =)
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