Off to the City of Pines [and hugs]

Day one has been so overwhelming for me. From Pasay we travelled to different parts of Pampanga to meet some of our relatives. We even talked about having a reunion next year as what I mentioned on yesterday's post.

First top: Mabalacat, Pampangga

I have met some of my grandma's sisters who decided to migrate from Leyte to Pampanga. They worked there, have gotten married at eaely age and eventually forgot about finishing tertiary education. For me, this does not sound new because decades ago a number of Filipina women are focused on building a family and taking care of it as the children grew into mature citizens of the country.

In line with what they shared, they eventually asked few things about it such as how young I am, whether I got married early or not, and a lot more. I smiled to them and said, "well, I have not hit the jackpot yet. I am turning 25 this June." They also asked what makes me busy and I told them, I tend to travel, write, and paint, and then blog about it. I am just happy as to how open-minded they are. These folks do not pressure me in working hard for the government.

We talked about it over lunch on Lola Editha's humble abode. A lot of things between them had changed and I thank God our paths crossed despite the fact that it took almost 50 years before my dad has seen all of his aunts residing in Luzon together with their respective families.

Second Stop: San Fernando, Pampanga
From Mabalacat, we walked some few meters to ride a jeepney that would lead us to the terminal station for a minibus ride to San Fernando.

It was very hot inside the jeepney and I could not stop but to close my eyes although the jeepney ride was short. My grandmothees wwre both laughing at me. I just told them then that I have not gotten any sleep that is why I grab all the opportunity to take naps during our travels.

Inside the non-aircon minibus, I was asleep. It was pretty hot since I sat near the window. I woke up very disoriented from what was going on. It was then when my brother told me that we were already in San Fernando.

We were welcome by everyone with such warmth. As I look upon the faces of everyone, I realized that we resemble a lot from each other.

I was seriously closing my eyes as we tried to walk to San Matias for dinner. I was entertained by a cousin who is still seven years old. I really find her fascinating because she is also a Korean Pop Culture fan just like me. She sang songs like DNA by BTS and some songs of Twice.

I must say that the prices for small vehicles in San Fernando is way cheaper than of Mabalacat. The prices on the former was fixed unlike the latter.

As for dinner, we have bulalo, grilled food, leche flan, and a lot more. We were also listening to the news while eating.It was fun having dinner with my relatives but my eyes were already bloodshot red! I needed to go to bed.

Lola Terry said we should stay in Pampanga for the meantime. I like her idea, but I do not think it would be feasible. If we opt to travel to Baguio later, we might have no place to stay. So from San Fernando, we decided to travel to Baguio City, the City of Pines

There were a lot of people inside the terminal, most were going back to their provinces. We then looked around for a vehicle that would take us to Baguio. Glad we found one .

We rode a van heading to Baguio. I was afraid that if I fall asleep, I might bump my head on a wall. But anyway, I badly needed one so I opted to sleep.

I would wake up eventually from my sleep, but then when we reached Baguio, it was so cold. It was already three in the morning, the same time as I wrote this blog entry. The streets were already sleeping. I might as well take some sleep.