Home sweet home.
Home is always there deep inside the heart of every living individual just like the famous saying “There’s no place like home.” . It’s been exactly a week since I went back here abroad and I still feel kind of homesick. I miss home, my hubby, my Mama, my sisters, my adorable nephew Hanz, my cousins, my nephews and nieces, my Aunts and Uncles, my family and close friends, my loved ones. It’s been a long time since I felt like this. Up to now I still have a vacation hang-over, I miss a lot of things, people, moments with them. Do you ever have those times in your life where you wish that you could go back to the days that you really enjoyed most. The time when everything was not so simple then but looking back on it…..it was? I am having one of those days today.
Being an expat in China comes with a lot of advantages – you experience a completely different culture, meet people you’d never normally meet, learn a new language (well, maybe) and basically have the adventure of a lifetime. But no matter how much one loves China, there are always going to be those certain things from your home country that you miss the most. Family and friends obviously top the list for most people. But many expats find themselves missing things they had never even considered before. Homesickness can strike at the weirdest times, but when it does it can be a powerful force. And no matter where you’re from, there are certain things that you would really miss just like I do.
Not to go into too much but I miss home so I rush through my journal to pen the “lists” of the things that I really miss!
- I miss waking up in the morning wherein there’s already breakfast served on the dining table with yummy-licious foods like toasted hot pandesal with all kinds of palaman especially my all-time favorite tender juicy hotdog haha, or sinangag (fried rice) with eggs, tocino, tapa, tuyo or all sorts of breakfast ulam (dishes), most especially we eat altogether as a family.
- I miss my Mom asking me to buy things, stuff for her early in the morning from all those “tindera/tindero na naglalako” around our subdivision whom she happens to know all since she’s a popular, regular suki, I really miss the way she takes good care of me.
- I miss my younger sisters and their kakulitan, for being with me in almost all the “lakads” that I had. I miss our shopping galore, whenever we go out, being their Ate, “daya, ako ang laging taya lolz.“
- I miss the adorable sweet smile of my dear nephew Hanz, this baby never fails to brighten up my day, I miss seeing him in his crib early in the morning and playing peek-a-boo with me saying ” Wah” but now my sisters taught him to say ” Bah”… haha ( I hate them for that, just kiddin’).
- I miss Mommy Becca, Tita Agnes, Tita Aida, my Titos’ including their family, the way that they would show their hospitality, for making me feel home, for the delicious home-made recipes whenever we gather together and for inviting me over to their home and all our talks about life.
- I miss my cousins spending time with them, going out with them, I remember our gimmick days and our photo taking sessions and never ending chikahan.
- I miss my love’s relatives, Joseph’s family for always making me feel welcome and part of the family especially to Tatay, Ate Beth, Ate Belen, Ate Maydee, Kuya Wakali and his youngster kids Lee Anne, Kim, Zsara Fiel as well and the rest of Conde family, for their support and hospitality whenever I and hubby will have a visit in Quezon. Thank you so much.
- I miss the kids, baby generation in our clan all the babies ” Hanz, Jaeden, AJ, Angel, Macoy, Iya, Bea, Mark, Abbie, Janna, Marvin, Dominique and the rest.”.
- I miss my best friend Thine and her hubby Ver especially their baby, my cute inaanak Yuan.
- I miss the noise of being with my family, shouting here and there as if the person you’re talking with is at the other side of the mountain, our laughs and all the happiness and excitement of being surrounded with people that I love.
- I miss our videoke, KTV moments, singing out-loud.
- I miss the huge malls in Manila where you can find almost everything that you want from a bunch of restaurants, things to buy, cinemas, gimikan. I miss SM Baliwag, Walter Mart our regular hang-out. I miss the traffic in EDSA, I miss shopping and buying groceries with a very long list haha.
- I miss having long drive on the highways of SLEX, NLEX, EDSA traffic jam together with my Joseph kulit.
- I miss going to church for the Sunday service, singing Filipino worship and praise songs.
- I miss the warm, tropical weather wherein I don’t need to wear a lot of thick clothes.
- I miss the breeze, nature, awesome view, food, restaurants in Quezon and Bulacan especially Buddys Restaurant which I would strongly recommend to everyone for its authentic, delicious Pinoy recipes.
- I miss sleeping late at night, watching telenovelas and our midnight snacks.
- I miss all our adventures, food trips like the tapsihan, pasyal trips, kulitan moments, I miss being surrounded by all of you.
- I miss kissing my Mama, my younger sisters, my nephew Hanz, my love, my hubby. I miss being hugged. I miss being taken care of. I miss their presence.
(this post is really a tear jerker for me…)
I just simply miss being with all of you, There’s nothing like being with family and loved ones in the place where you grew up and will always love. I am never the type to wish to rewind time to change things, but I just want to daydream a little about yesterdays. I miss those times. Family, friends, places, memories. Most of the time…I miss it, terribly.
I still remember how excited I am, having the thought of going back home after a long time, from the time the plane had touched down on NAIA up to the time my one month vacation was over, I never had a dull moment. Now, I’m again counting the days until I have my next vacation, adventures in the Philippines.
My sincere thanks to all the people, my family and friends who made my stay, my vacation a blast, unforgettable, worthwhile, fun, fun and truly remarkable. A million thanks to all of you, for all the love and care.
To my dear friends, people that I’m not able to meet and see, my apologies, hopefully on my next visit I’ll make it up to you guys, for it always feels like time isn’t enough to do all the things that I want and see all the people that I miss.
Most of all I want to thank God for answering my prayers. I know, I believe that He’s the Only One Who has willed for me to spend time with my loved ones, to be finally home after all these years. He knows that’s something in my life that I longed for to be with my family. That’s one of my prayers, dreams. He knows, understands the longings of my heart.
Thank YOU LORD for fulfilling my dreams. Thank you for blessing us close family-ties.
How about you? What is it in your life that you used to be excited about? Are there dreams that you’ve pushed down, goals that you’ve let go of? Too often, because those dreams seem to be taking a long time, or because we’ve been through some disappointments, we become complacent. It’s easy to just accept the fact that “it’s probably not going to happen for me.” But just because you gave up doesn’t mean God gave up. Remember God never aborts a dream. He always fulfills His promises! That dream He placed in your heart may be pushed down by disappointments, setbacks, failures, or rejection. But know this; the seed is still alive. The promise is still in you. You just need to get your fire back! That dream may look like it’s dead in the ground, but really, it’s just been planted. That means it’s coming back. It’s going to flourish! Our attitude should be: This may be taking a long time, and maybe I don’t see how it could happen, but I know God already has the completion date. Let’s not give up on our dreams, our prayers. Let’s not to go through life without goals, passion, or enthusiasm. Let’s get our vision back because God fulfills His promises, truly He fulfills promises.
We may not have the best of everything we can possibly imagine and desire, but we are all given the opportunities to earn them for ourselves, if we just let go of bitterness, hopelessness; anything is possible and attainable. As you make it happen, learn to value and be contented of what you have foryou are still better and blessed more than you’ll ever know. How blessed we are on this side of the world, we have our family and loved ones, most especially we have our God, our Almighty Father.
So follow your dreams, create direction, be inspired, believe and always have faith in God, always have Him as your partner in everything that you do.
Before I end this post I would just like to share some words of wisdom:
“ Don’t forget that God has filled your heart with dreams. When you choose God’s path to those dreams, the doors will open. God wants you to be happy more than you do. ” .
Riz's Poetic Soul 