pictures of my last days

i am finally back on home soil and with it, closing a chapter of my life. after 16 months of being away from family and friends, i am again back home. it feels weird to be sitting in my old chair and on my old table, in my old room, looking around for the details in my home that made it familiar. i am probably again trying to adjust to being in this place again, amidst the same sounds, sights and smells that i grew up with. i have to again get used to the sounds of the telephone ringing, to the horns of the jeepneys driving past our living room, to the children playing tag in the streets and the blaring of the TV coming from my dad's study. i have to remind myself that here, there won't be calls for prayers, no hindi music from the radio stations, no apple smoke from the shisha smoker, no thursday night outs, no arabs walking around. i would also have to remind myself of no vikki greeting me a good morning when i wake up, no leni calling me in the middle of the day asking how my day was, no macveen raving about the latest episode he downloaded, no rosemary asking me for the latest gossip, no surya to smile at me. no walks into H&M, no sitting in the beach waiting for the sun to set, no clubbing with friends, no craving for kare-kare and actually having it.

my heart aches so much i don't know where to begin. it beats to two rhythms, of joy to be with my parents and family again, but of sadness that i had to leave the family i had made for myself.

my last meeting my church mates

dinner with devrim, fatima and vikki at nando's

with vikki, leni and paul at uno's (o mac, im wearing the malo sweater na!)

breakfast with vikki and leni on the day of my flight at the airport. we befriended a swiss national who missed his flight, jurg, who just spent the past 3 months backpacking in australia. resigned from his job in zurich as an accuntant, flew to aussie and is now considering to be a ski instructor either in canada or argentina. now that's living!