Counting Down My Manila Days

I am down to my last 5 days in Manila, counting today. By this time on Saturday I would be getting off a plane in Seoul, Korea to catch another flight to Chicago, IL.

My older sister is finally getting married! She, together with her fiance, has made the wise decision to hold the wedding ceremonies at around the same time as Thanksgiving this year so friends and relatives from all over the state/country/world only need to fly in once and celebrate Thanksgiving, their wedding, and a family reunion all at once.

Our year-long preparations for this trip is almost over. It started with my sister's vacation here in June 2007 when they told Ma of their plans to get married. As soon as we knew, we made arrangements to get our US visas. Ma, May (my younger sister) and I went about our own ways to request for birth/marriage/employment/bank certificates (whichever applies). We made the appointment at the embassy, and waited for our scheduled interview. All this time, Ma prayed every novena she knew and went to all the Christmas masses just so her wish could be granted.

On the appointed date and time, I flew in from Cebu to stand in line outside the embassy, anxious and a little scared just like the many others trying their luck to get to the US. This was the point of no return. We will do our best, and the rest is up to the fates. Ma's prayers must have worked; we all 3 got visas good for 10 years!

Now the hardest part is over, and all we had to do was wait until we were ready to go. That time is almost here. Just one more workweek, then we are outta here! I guess it's a blessing in disguise that I am not working right now. If I were, I would only be able to stay for 15 days. That meant I would be spending Christmas here alone. But as it turns out, I can stay as long as I want (until my funds run out, that is) because I have no job to come back to. Whoever thought being out of work was a good thing?

So now that I am free of corporate responsibilities, Ma and I have decided to spend Christmas AND New Year's over there. After all, who knows when we can go back to visit?

So for now, I am still dreaming of a white Christmas. In another month, I would actually be living it!