My Kind of Life

A Taste of Nueva Ecija

What a way to start my sembreak!

I never imagined that someday, I’d bring my friends from Manila to my hometown. That perception of mine was changed in just a snap of a finger. Haha

First, it was only my friend Charmnain Orejola who’d come with me back to Gapan for a quick vacation for three days. When we were talking about it in the last few days before the semester ended, I thought it was some kind of a joke and a not-so-serious conversation. On Saturday afternoon, 16th of October, Mhay confirmed that she’ll be going with me. I didn’t know what to feel as I read her text message but I knew that both of us were excited for it! I asked her to invite few of our friends more so we could enjoy more. She thought of Eric Ferriols and Justine Navato then I said OK. She invited Eric on my behalf because I don’t have a contact of Eric. Mhay and I also invited Justine who during that time was still asleep. Haha Eric was sure to come with us the nest day but Justine wasn’t still replying until he confirmed that night that he liked to come along with us too. Yes, there were four of us who traveled from Manila to Gapan City on the 17th!

I was like a tour guide to them, an amateur one. LOL As soon as we got to Gapan, I brought Mhay, Eric, and Justine at a kid’s party. It was Matthew’s first birthday on that Sunday. Matt is Wela’s younger brother. We stayed at the party for few hours and got back at our house for dinner and to prepare for another night out. As we wait for the clock to hit at 9:00pm, we killed time by looking for a store that was still opened at that time to buy some food from. We walked through our street and as we headed back home, there was a black out. We thought that the supply was cut because of the storm that’s coming our place that day. We sat in front of our house for a bit and talked about random things that were really hilarious. When the supply of the electricity was back, we prepared ourselves again to get to Patio de Liz. We ordered a lot of food sagain even though we just had our dinner at home before we left. We enjoyed the night talking to each other, taking pictures, laughing, ordering more foods, and listening to and singing with the band performing for us guests, and drinking! Haha Eric, Justine, and I had one bottle each of Red Horse, 500 mL. :)) It was past 2:00am when we all decided to get home. I can say, that night was fantastic for them to start enjoying their stay to our hometown. It was unforgettable, I must say!

On the next day, the 18th of the month, I couldn’t remember what the time we woke up was. It was kinda late since we slept very late the night before that day, plus the gloomy weather because of the typhoon Juan. While eating our breakfast, we agreed that we’d just take an hour of rest before preparing for Cabanatuan. We were at my room, lying on the bed, waiting for the clock to strike at 11:30am, and the the three of them fell asleep! If I had fallen asleep too, maybe we’d never get to Cabanatuan. Yeah, we were already late for that day’s itinerary. Haha But nonetheless, we pulled it off. We left our house at past 1:00pm, even if it’s quite raining already, and rode a bus. We walked around NE Pacific Mall as we figure out what we should do there. Haha We ate pizza, went in different stores, and we even tried to play with the machines at World of Fun. Haha We exchanged all of the tickets we won with the hair pins and a ring for Mhay. After that, we looked for a bar where we will stay and eat our dinner in outside the mall. After we found one, we rode a tricycle to go to Cakeland, a pastry shop that satisfies the sweet tooth of each Novo Ecijano. I introduced them the breads and cakes that seem ordinary but really far more delicious. I thought they liked ‘em! Haha Justine and Mhay bought also boxes of pastries to bring with them when they get back to Manila. We stayed there until 7:00pm and did some random things, one was when Justine poop at the CR’s. That was funny because he was scared to the CR alone. He asked me to come with him but I only stayed OUTSIDE, of course. Haha I think, it took him 10 minutes to discharge what he needed to discharge. Another was when Mhay bought a Justin Bieber magazine as a gift for Justine! Haha That was cool. LOL Anyways, when we got back to the mall, we walked around a bit and played at Tom’s World at Robinson’s. That’s another fun thing we did there! Haha I think our pictures will speak for the excitement we had as we play around like kids again. Haha Then, after going there, we went at Zapp’s, a bar and restaurant in Cabanatuan. We ordered a lot of food and had our dinner there. We also had two buckets of beer, which I think were responsible for making me decide to tell to Mhay a BIG secret of mine, my latest addition to my long list of crushes. Haha They thought I got tipsy and very drunk. Little did they knew that I was acting that way on purpose. Haha I mean, I intended to look like that and be like that because I couldn’t tell them of something that ruined my mood for that night. I wouldn’t tell what it was. It’s case sensitive. LOL So as I was saying, we were there until past 1:00am, I think. I’m not sure of the time anymore though. When we reached home, I was still behaving “bad,” only lesser than I was earlier. Haha And, unluckily for me, I did something wrong that I upset my twin, Justine. I threw the heaviest pillow in my bed and accidentally, he was hit. :( He lost his mood, and I felt very guilty. I said sorry to him through text and he replied that it was just OK. But still I knew that there’s something behind that OK so I felt really sad and disappointed with myself. We slept and woke up at between 8:00am and 9:00am and ate our breakfast the next day, Justine’s 19th birthday!

Woot! My twin turned 19 on the 19th in my hometown! Yay. It (the celebration) was a first time to both of us. Or, at least, for me. Haha It’s not important anymore though. Haha So, just few minutes after we finished our breakfast, we were off to Walter Mart to buy food and snack that we would bring on our swimming. Chips, drinks, candies, marshmallows, cakes, chocolates and a lot more were what we bought! Justine actually spent for most of our food as a treat to us. Then, we went at our town’s plaza where we bought grilled chicken and grilled fish for our lunch. My mother cooked Caldereta for us but my Twin doesn’t eat such food so he did not had a taste of my favorite viand. We rode a jeepney as we go to Almon’s. It was already around 1:00pm that time. I was worried becasue the resort might not be opened to public because it was storm signal number two in Nueva Ecija. But Typhoon Juan was kind to us! He was about to leave the country by the time we’re going to swim to celebrate Justin’s birthday. It was quite dark around because of the weather so I thought we would be the only people who’ll be there when the resort was on operation. Luckily, it was but there were few who were already there before us. When we got a cottage, we just arranged our things a bit and started eating. Before we started to eat, we sang a happy birthday song to Justine. After that, we started eating and drinking then we went off into the pool. Haha All of them were amazed with the “killer slides.” Haha Justine said he’d definitely try to slide but he did not. He was afraid! LOL That made him the chance to over come his fear, even if just for that day. Haha We swam and swam and swam foe hours even if the sun was not out o warm us! The wind chilled most of us. Some stayed in the pool a little longer than the others until at night. But, it was an unforgettable experience to all of us. Not to mention that the storm signal was two and we still managed to celebrate Twin’s birthday swimming! Yes, we swim it all the way to the bones! LOL We stayed at the resort until 7:00pm and reached home before 8:00pm. Since it was early for us to sleep and we want to spend every minute of Justine’s birthday enjoying, we planned to have a DVD marathon and partnered it eating pancit canton. As one wait for one to get up from bed to go buy pancit canton, one fell asleep and the other one too. Yes, we ended up sleeping instead of watching movies due to tiredness, I think. That was how we ended the birthday of my Twin - sleeping. Haha

Everyone woke up the next day at past 8:00am then ate our breakfast afterward. 20th, the day when everyone was all set to leave for Manila and go back to their normal lives. :( Even if I wanted them to stay longer, they couldn’t because they had other businesses to finish. This day was the saddest part because there’s no way I could stop them to leave. Nevertheless, I’m thankful still that this unexpected event in our lives remains not only in pictures and in thoughts but in our hearts most of all. I’m hoping that sooner or later, they will come back to here and do everything all over again. I’m looking forward to it and am praying for it to happen. I loved it big time.

P.S.

I’ll miss sleeping with them at night with twisted positions just for all of us fit on my bed. Epic! Haha :))