A Feeling Of Nostalgia. 94

It's Thanksgiving day today, at least for the Americans - thanks to former US president, George Washington, who proclaimed every fourth thursday of November as Thanksgiving day in 1789. This means that everyone in the trading floor is all set for their dinner tonight with friends and family, no trading at all, no market, no trades and exchanges to book, no reconciliations, no conversations with fund accountants, in short, no work today (wohoo!).

Earlier, I met my Auntie Cynthia (who came from Davao) at the Manila Hotel - they had this PAMET convention and it happens every year-end. The moment I saw her at the lobby, after a few months I got separated from my hometown again, I rushed in and gave her a massive hug - so massive that I wanted to feel Davao again. She was with my Mom's friend, Edna, and we moved our way to Ayala to shop. While traveling (huge thanks to Manila's traffic as we took 2 hours to Makati - well, it was rush a hour, what could I say?), we were talking about my family. She told me that Mom is fine, my brother is still "pasaway" and just recently bought a drum set, my lolo is already old (at 86) but still healthy, my younger cousins are still looking for a job, my nephew, Isaiah, is already 2 years old, our home is still pretty unchanged, and Davao is still a good place to live in. I miss everything about Davao and I miss everyone back home. Thanks to Auntie Cynthia for bringing Davao to me. She'll be going back home this Saturday.

I remember the time when I was in grade school that Mom would always remind me to wait her to fetch me up after school hours - she was afraid as I was prone on talking to strangers. I had this experience when grandma asked me to buy some toiletries at a nearby supermarket. A woman asked me if I could let her find the items that I needed on the list grandma gave me. She even asked if I could give her the money as she would do all the job. I gave her a 500 peso bill and waited at the counter. I was pretty amazed then that some people had good hearts to help kids like me complete the tasks. I was even prepared to tell a story to grandma and mom what happened at the store. I waited for 30 minutes, then an hour, then I asked myself why she was taking so long. I still waited at the counter though only to find out that I was tricked as I was told by the security guard beside me. I cried and asked help from the ladies at the counter. They couldn't help me as they thought that the woman who deceived me had already left the store. Kids like me didn't have any idea about the use of this unscrupulous trickery to deceive others. I was just 10 that time. I walked my way back home while shaking in fear thinking that grandma would scold me. But they just laughed their hearts out after hearing my story.

Oh well, I can't wait for the holidays as I am already booked for a flight back home. I'll be seeing my family and friends again and I know it will be a blast. This will be the first time in 4 years that I will be celebrating my Christmas with my family again. I miss them so much.

And yeah, 94 days to go and you'll be home. Pretty fast, huh? I feel that swiss time is ticking fast today. I know that it contradicts to what I have said on my previous entries. Oh, did I just say swiss time? swiss? watch? haha. lol.