What Am I Doing Here??

Eversince I got here, my life has changed three hundred sixty-degrees! Compared to when I was in Davao and the long list of things-to-do, I am reduced to just being at home… No, I am not complaining. Not at all!

I have learned to "breathe" here. A few cars, no traffic(and no traffic lights?!), little pollution. I noticed that the air is a bit different here. As Gilbert my college classmate put it, "fresh morning air touched with the heady scent of cow…poo" Oh,I’m sorry. But it does smell that way some times. :)

I have learned to walk slowly. It is slow-paced and laid-back here. Mountains and fields are a particularly common view. And in the mornings, there are a number of different bird "chirpings" waking us up. Aside from the cows and chickens…:)

The evenings have their own chorus though..and there are some I can’t identify. They actually say that there is an old lady who emerges at night in a different form?!? Manang pointed her out to me one afternoon and how my hair raised to its end!! Really!! Hehe. Enough of that. Where was I….

What am I doing here? My answer, "search for a new life, the simple life" :) And survey says!

1.) It’s out of character

2.) I’m out of my head!

3.) What I did for love?! (Well yes, that’s true,too..hehe)

This is the first time I came to know the real meaning of "neighbor"…

One of our neighbors volunteered Buko for Tommy’s birthday. They have a farm and asked somebody to gather coconuts. There I saw 69 year-old Manang Nila on her knees happily scraping away its meat…and Judy,her niece, offered to bake the birthday cake!

One evening, when I thought I heard footsteps on the roof (it was only the boys and I then), I called our neighbor and within seconds,Judy’s husband was at the gate.

On my birthday, my newfound friends were also there to celebrate with me..

Have I said this already? I love this place! I have grown to love it and its people…I wish I would never have to leave…

Addie, Jan. 9, 2007, Ozamiz City