Provincial Wedding

Travelled 5 hours (back and forth) to Nueva Ecija to attend a wedding of a friend from SFC. If she wasn't a really good friend, I would not have made the effort. Morever, when I learned a few minutes BEFORE THE WEDDING CEREMONY that I was going to sing in the mass and that there was no keyboardist. I had to do everything a capella and by memory. I wanted to rant at the organizer and my friend for not giving me due notice, but I just held onto my irritation and did as they asked. I wish I had ample time to prepare because I was not satisfied by my performance. I just held onto the thought that 95% of the guests do not know me at all.

Provincial weddings are very different from urban weddings. There's the food for one. By my estimates, the family of the groom slaughtered a dozen chickens, a couple of pigs and probably one baka (forgot the english for the animal where beef comes from. Is it too early in the morning?). Unfortunately, due to the quantity of the food, quality (taste) was sacrificed. There were so many different viands, yet they ALL taste the same. It would induce queasiness for the weak in stomach. Moreover, if your stomach is not used to it, their water could make you sick. When I saw where they got the water, I almost got sick. Fortunately, my tummy (except for being at times, lactose-intolerant) is made of sterner stuff.

There were so many things I complained and could have complained about, but just seeing my friend so happy makes those reasons unimportant and irrelevant. Her life is something which can be made into a movie and seeing her with people who loves her once again reinforced my beliefs on the power of love and God.

Throughout the whole event, I could not help but think how my own wedding would be like (that is, if ever I'm going to get wed). I have a rough list of everything, but one thing that's really important to me (other than the groom) is the wedding ceremony. I don't care much about the reception, it's the ceremony which has to be special and I've been thinking of ways how to make it special.

Anyway, I'll give it more thought when I get to the bridge. All I know is that we're still enjoying the journey, but we know that there will be a bridge somewhere at the end of this road. When and where we reach it, that remains to be seen.

ROAD TRIPS

Summer is definitely here. Not only is the sweltering heat an indication, but the proliferation and popularity of halo-halo and ice-cream. During our travel yesterday, we were craving for halo-halo or anything that would ease the heat. It did not help that I was dressed in semi-formal attire. That does not stop me from looking forward to the different road trips that we have planned this summer. There's the Pagudpod trip with my family, the Puerto Galera trip with my friends, and the Tagaytay trip with my other friends.

I'm looking forward to these trips because my boyfriend will be joining us (hopefully for the Pagudpod trip as well. He's still hedging about it and I'm trying my nagging best to get him to go). I'm anticipating the time when I can show him the historical and beautiful places here. For a Filipino, he has seen more of the places outside the country than inside. He's been to Hongkong, Europe and the US, yet he hasn't been to Puerto Galera. I found that very sad, that's why I'm going to do my damn best to show him what he has been missing.

One thing that I would really like to do is go on a church hopping trip. I love churches. The older they are the better. There's something majestic and magnificent in seeing an old church. I love to touch the old walls for it makes me feel like I'm going back in time. That those walls were somehow a testament of the history of man and that by touching them will make me feel like I'm touching my past as well. Maybe someday in the future, I'll be able to do that.