viva panglao!

we have to stop meeting like this.

i'm here and you're there. you're reading my thoughts and i just let you. you didn't even ask me but i just opened up and let you in. you're starting to know me yet i have no idea who you are.

i must be lonely. i'm getting intimate with this laptop that it freaks me out. damn it. i wonder what's on tv. i'm not sure but it seems like i haven't touched the remote in weeks. after the dog, i think the remote is man's best friend. oh well, from one monitor to another. go figure. what have i been doing? my social life is at a complete standstill. i gotta get out of this island.

let me tell you a little about this island. just a little for now. this is panglao island. somewhere southeast in the province of bohol, the philippines. this has been my home for a year now. it is home to the now world famous chocolate hills. no small thanks to philippine text brigades, email campaigns and posters in numbers that would shame some senatorial candidates. if i'm not mistaken, it ranks fourth in the list of the new seven wonders of the natural world. just ahead of tubbataha reefs in the sulu sea. tops is palawan's subterranean river.. mayon volcano is slowly sneaking into the list. woohoo! three out of seven! go philippines! go bohol! go panglao! yes, go. get moving! get your lazy ass up and start shaking things up a bit. i know panglao ain't makati but hey, wake up man. let's get some action going on here! please!

okay stop. i shouldn't complain. this was a choice i made and so far, it hasn't turned out to be a wrong one, so i'm still in good shape. true, the days are longer here but that's okay, i guess. people here seem to wake up earlier than i can ever get used to and at the end of the grind are in a race to get to bed. my biological days aren't quite in tune yet. it's like i'm going through a really long jetlag. maybe people here go to bed early because they get drunk early. bells are ringing.

typical in most provinces, every man's patron saint, saint michael, does not wait for happy hour to start putting the locals in a merry making mood. sometimes, i would ride to work at ten in the morning, and i would see these merry makers gathered together in their favorite micromini stores already in the thick of things. it is not wise to stop and buy at those stores at those times. not even if your neighbor's pet's life depended on it. i say that because geez, a beer is a beer, are you kidding? it is customary that they offer a drink to anyone who comes at spitting distance of them. it is also customary that, when offered, one should accept. i love that custom. but one has to forget about hygene and the risk of infection. they will offer a drink "tagay" style. merry makers need very little to enjoy saint michael's joyous bounty. they need just enough ice and a glass. operating word here is "a". meaning one glass for everyone to share. so, to accept a drink from them, means to drink from a glass after everyone has deposited their dna's in it. and one must not visibly cringe on thoughts of backwash or technically smooching them. if offered, one has to just take the glass, chug it, show gratitude and be on his way.

it is even less wise to say "sorry guys. i don't drink beer." else, these slightly altered men, with true and tested hospitality shall offer their much beloved concoction, the tuba, usually reserved for late afternoon cocktails. tuba is a local drink made of coconut tree sap fermented for two weeks. it is, in strict qualification, vinegar. not too potent though but very sour. the kind that shuts the eyes and distorts facial features long enough for one to imagine kicking himself in the head for not drinking the beer instead.

okay, where was i? oh yes, panglao. it's beautiful here. the people are genuinely friendly. i have been all around the country and it is here, only here, that when i say "thank you", people say "you're welcome" and mean it! i love the people here but sadly, i don't feel like i belong yet. panglao is a tourist destination. the island's biggest industry is tourism. they're all here. from everywhere. foreigners have also settled here. i am not treated like a foreigner. however, i am not treated as a local either. i am still a person from the big city, different from everyone else here. i have yet to meet a migrant manila native. i find that odd. the only manila people i find here are tourists. i love it when i see familiar faces but they're never around long enough it seems. maybe i'm not looking hard enough. or maybe i'm looking in the wrong places. or maybe there's just nobody here. i'm looking for someone to talk to. someone who can relate to what i have to say. someone who will understand what i'm talking about but will not just take my word for it. someone who i can have a stimulating and enlightening conversation with once in a while. i haven't found the kind yet.

although sometimes, i feel alone, i am not lonely.

i've got to do something. exercise comes to mind. scary. maybe i should pick up a new hobby. but what? there's hardly anything to do here. and people don't do anything here.

perhaps what makes my stay here most difficult is not so much that i'm looking for something or someone that isn't here. or that i'm not a local. it's the language. i speak very little visayan. i can pick up a little on a conversation and on occasions will demonstrate fluency. but disappointingly still can't quite engage in a lengthy discussion. lengthy is defined as three or so sentences. i look local. heck i'm already beginning to smell local. but i'm just not. and i certainly don't sound local. it wasn't like i didn't expect this. i knew this was going to be very difficult. but that's okay i guess. what's the fun in easy, right?

what doesn't bore you, a wise man said, will bore you soon enough. i will be back.