I've got exactly three minutes to write...

And I am not pulling your leg...at exactly 8am, mag-stastart na akong mag-practice ng piano... pero imposible kasi as I write umaandar ang oras...ang bagal ko pa mag-type dahil ang sakit ng kuko ko...haaaay...kaya siguro mga 8:10 ako magsisimula mag-practice ng piano. I mean, sa pc...7:52 pa lang. Pero sa wall clock namin...ayyy...8 na pala... eh yun ang sinusunod naming oras.

Anyway, weird talaga ang theater... pero masaya! Pinagawa kami ng kung ano-ano na in ordinary terms hindi ko talaga gagawin. OT ako paminsan (or most of the time) sa Kisay... pero mas malala pa doon ang pinapagawa sa amin. Ayoko na i-explain kasi ang daming activities na pinagawa sa amin. Baka 9am na ako makatapos magsulat. Pero masaya siya in fairness, at babasahin namin ang Romeo&Juliet mamaya. Everyday kasi yun, at from 1-3pm, naging 1-4pm... wala palang theater ng Monday according to Ma.

At kahapon ko lang yun nalaman nung isang oras ako naghintay sa labas ng auditorium sa Palma Hall sa UP Diliman. Naka-kandado kasi yung pinto... akala ko nung una, baka kasi bawal na ang latecomers kasi 1:10 na ako nakarating. Pero napag-isipisip ko rin na 1. ang unfair noon kasi lahat ng dati naming session...maaga ako pati yung mga kasama ko at yung teacher ang 15mins+ late. 2. napag-isipisip ko rin na pwede ang latecomers kasi late yung isa kong theater mate nung friday at hinintay pa namin siya bago kami magsimula, at 3. may piano lessons ako ng 1-2pm tuwing Tuesday at napag-paalam ko na iyon pero ok lang naman sa kanila. Habol na lang...

At ayun pala ang reason! Walang theater ng Monday...

Nagtataka lang ako... kung bakit sabi sa amin nung Friday..."See you on Monday..." tapos marami pang nangyari na nagpapatibay na meron nga kaming theater sa Monday. Haaay... sayang na naman sa pagod, pawis, at pera. Hmph!

At least maaga akong nakauwi...at nagawa ko na yung Bora article sa journ.

Magsusulat pa ako ng dalawa pagkauwi ko mamaya. Tatlo ang assignments ko kasi at bukas na ang journ. Gusto ko sana magsulat na ngayon kayalang gagamitin ko ito pang-practice ng piano.

Kahit summer na...cramming pa rin...ang hilig ko kasi mag-procrastinate. I will have to work on that.
Haaay...busy...busy...busy.

Anyway, as promised... mag-popost ako ng tungkol sa trip ko sa Boracay. Bakit ganun...nag-trtry ako mag-post noong mga nakaraang araw ng survey pero ayaw mag-paste ng survey na i-popost ko pero bakit nag-work yung Bora article. Haaaay... i-dedelete ko na lang ang Bora article na pinost ko sa Multiply.

Anyway..ayan. Ipapasa ko yan bukas kay Sir SD.

Bora
By Francesca Llanes

Nothing could beat the feel of the warm, salty water barely touching your knees on a sizzling summer day. Nothing could refresh you as well as drinking a choco banana peanut milkshake while you watch the moon take over the sun.

Ahhh…Boracay. I have heard at least a thousand and one stories about that majestic place before I set foot on its white sandy shores. And it wasn’t until the end of last school year that I was able to taste…heaven…or so they said.

We arrived in Caticlan, Aklan after an hour and a half’s bus ride and I remember hoping against hope that this trip would work as a drug to temporarily make me forget about the problems that I left behind in Manila.

Like, say, for example, my fourth quarter grades which was to be given the following Monday, and which ironically is also the day of our return. What a nice warm welcome it would be.

But then, I guess, my prayer did work because as soon as we stepped down the bus, I did forget about everything, and I mean everything.

There were at least twenty or so boats, each of them, somehow, whispering to me, they would take me away, they said, they would take me across to Boracay…and so I followed.

With my aunt, my mom, and Louise, my baby cousin, we crossed the navy blue waters towards our destination. We are really going to Bora, after ten million years, we’re going at last! I thought.

It was beautiful. The sea, I mean. The last time I rode a boat was when we went to the Taal Volcano. And it wasn’t as beautiful as this. This was much farther from the city so it would be much likely less polluted.

But what about the rumors? What about those things I hear that Boracay isn’t beautiful anymore? Is it true? Or does it depend on a person’s point of view? I have yet to find out.

As we rounded the corner, my first proper view of the island surprised me. It was, well, okay. But I have to admit, I had been expecting something better. So…this is what Boracay looks like, I thought.

Passengers from the boat quickly went down as we rounded towards station 1. There were plenty of people, I could tell. But I expected more. But then again, summer hasn’t really begun yet. It was just the first weekend. The throngs of tourists would probably arrive during Holy Week.

When our boat finally stopped at our destination, I had to stifle a gasp as I realized that we had to go from there (where the water was at least knee-length) to shore. My aunt mentioned this (as she had been here before.) but I didn’t quite understand her when she told us to wear shorts and slippers because we were going to get wet.

At least I followed her advice.

Our hotel was beautiful although I only realized that when we finally walked the length of station 2 (where we were situated) and I noticed that Manila-looking hotels weren’t a fad here. The only thing close to that was Boracay Regency and it wasn’t as grand as the hotels for example, in Ortigas.

Anyway, we stayed at Le Soleil de Boracay and it was one of the few hotels which had a pool of its own (although, again, at that time, I had no idea why they had one since what most people are after when they visit Boracay, is the beach, but the need for it, came along the way.).

We went straight outside to gaze at the sea and the white sand and the purplish sky that seemed to drown what was left of the sun. Our first stop was at d’mall where we ate altangmer (almusal, tanghalian, merienda, my own word for it) and by the looks of it, we were really starving.

The last thing I ate was the, uh, what was it again? Ah yes, the Dewberry tart in the plane, which we could barely call lunch, and to think, that was four hours ago.

But it doesn’t matter. We ordered seafood, and well, even though in ordinary circumstances I would have complained that I couldn’t taste butter in the buttered shrimp, since I was famished, the food tasted like heaven itself. Oh well, so much for Dewberry tarts.

Mama was overly excited. The moment we finished eating, she went straight to the mall, to guess what? Have her nails manicured and so much for first-timers, she ended up being wounded and she swore never to have her nails manicured on Boracay again.

Meanwhile, I was left looking for Tita Odette and Louise who were left in the restaurant. But thankfully, Mama told me to stop looking as they were back in the hotel, watching TV. Great. Really great.

At least I got to see a weekend of life at a place like this, a place swarming of foreigners (most of them men in their 30’s or 40’s, in the company of a pretty local girl), where a “Wanted: snatcher” poster is pasted in a department store, and where if you weren’t carefully, you might accidentally step on a cigarette butt here and there on the white beach itself. It was a first time experience, funny in a way, if not haunting.

I would have wanted to trudge on to this side of the grass, but let’s not stray to the negative (or so, in my opinion.) side of the island. My four night-three day stay there was well worth it, after all, and there were plenty of other things that are nothing short of enjoyable.

Here is a short recap of the things I loved in my stay in one of the most popular tourist spots in the country.

1. The breeze- Alright. Go on. Laugh. What a way to start my recap. But then, I didn’t expect it to be this cold during the night (I don’t usually go to beaches, you know.). It all started while we were eating our first dinner.

Now, one thing that I really loved about our hotel was that during the night they would put the buffet table and all the other seats, outside, so that everyone could enjoy a moonlit dinner. We would always sit on one of those special tables they had, where instead of chairs, we sat on pillows.

The first night of our stay, while eating seafood and a whole lot of other buffet food, the lights suddenly went out. Of course, the initial reaction was, “Ngek! Brownout! Ano ba yan!”

But I guess, I was the only one who noticed everything else (besides the fact that we had a blackout.). It was beautiful. The whole scene of it. There was silence at first, but it wasn’t like everybody stopped talking. But I was hardly aware of what everyone was talking about because I was almost blinded by the thousand---no---the millions of stars that suddenly came into focus.

Nothing, nothing could compare this beauty to anything that I’ve seen before. But the show wasn’t finished. Next came the wind, or the breeze or whatever, and it slashed through my skin, but I was hardly aware of the cold as the wind blew my hair away from my face, because I heard the sea.

I closed my eyes, feeling partly sentimental, as the waves crashed in my ears and as the wind continued to slash through my veins. I didn’t even need to open my eyes to see the stars (and the moon), my mind could already see it without the help of my eyes, or so it seemed like it. And during that five or ten minutes of magic, I was almost sure that this scene wouldn’t fade, that nothing could make it go away. But then, I heard a triumphant shout,

“Haaay salamat! May ilaw na!”

And I opened my eyes to see everyone returning to their food. It was as if I was the only one who witnessed the “miracle”.

And so, after eating, I glanced back at the sky. And I don’t know, but I was almost sure it…well…it winked at me, that whole chaos of silver winked at me, but it must have been just my imagination.

2. Next came the food and the drinks. They were right! The magazines I mean. Jonah’s simply has the best fruit shakes in town. I tried at least three different flavors on my first visit there and it was all so delicious. Although I’m not sure if that was because I was thirsty. As you might have noticed, my taste buds aren’t usually working properly when I’m…what’s the word again? Oh yeah. Famished.

But then, it really must have been delicious. I wouldn’t have come back for more.

The food was great too except for that restaurant we ate in for our altangmer. But I especially liked Bamboo Lounge, which is pretty new and which got us around the beach because we couldn’t find it.

But it wasn’t in the beach after all; it was inside Boracay, where tourists don’t usually go to. And because of this, I got another view on the lives of the locals.

Back to the restaurant, we had to take a five-minute tricycle ride in able to get there. But as I said, it was well worth it. Except for a few misunderstandings between the waiter and Papa, everything else was great. Oh, and I could remember the name! The “Lotus Fried Rice” was terrific. And so was the fish. I am definitely going to try their branch at The Fort.

3. D*mall- Think Greenbelt situated near a beach. There were lots of shops, cafes, and such and I really loved the lights and everything. It’s a crossover between Greenbelt, Eastwood, and well…a beach. Haha…but I’m not kidding.

4. The water and the beach itself. Contrary to the news that Boracay is no longer beautiful, well, I do think that it has enough of its old beauty left for me to go on a second trip. If it wasn’t for the scratch I got during the first day on the water, I would have swum more.

But since, it was salty, my legs stung…a lot. So I ended up swimming in the pool (Aha! I have found the need for it!). It wasn’t as exciting as the beach, but at least, I got to say that I swam in a pool in Boracay.

And finally, the white sand. If only I could paste the picture of my feet soaking in the sand in here. It’s one of the best feelings in the world. The sand is soft and well, so nice to step on (without slippers) and there were some parts of the beach where your foot would suddenly sink (Quicksand…kidding.) and you could feel the sand rising to you knees. Oh heaven! Or almost, it seemed.

But all trips have to end. It was just a weekend trip after all. So it ended up shorter than it should have. But I enjoyed my stay and I guess I would like to come back there, but not until I visit Bohol…or Vigan…or another beach…in Puerto Galera perhaps? We shall see.

Phew! Kailangan ko na mag-practice ng piano. 8:15 na sa wall clock.