We sat there, 

under the gloomy skies, 

Winds blowing, leaves moving,

We sat there,

Just silence.

If you can't be with them...

... BRING THEM WHEREVER YOU ARE!

The past months in Palawan was good but not great!  In terms of nature, I am in one of the good ones in the country (I can't say it is best, I still have to be convinced).  What makes it not that "great" in general?  MY FRIENDS ARE FAR AWAY!

So somehow, I have managed to accept the fact that I am far from friends who are just in the country and abroad.  And now I have devised a plan on how to be with them even if I can't be with them wherever they are.  I have started to bring my friends one-by-one here in Palawan.

My former Decentralization Programme (DP) colleagues were often here.  We managed to bring DP in the Province.

Some friends and new friends have visited me here already and some are still coming back...  That makes me happy!

But the biggest move would be that of my friend Arthur!  He is really moving here.  Follow his adventure on his blog: Palawahnsinn!

Who's next?

Fernweh forever!

Fernweh (n) wanderlust, a desire to travel, a longing for far-off places

Sitting here in my office and thinking about those places I want to go back to and places I want to discover.  I constantly check Skyscanner for flights. Mentally planning a trip.  

I miss the smell of trains, the feeling of being in a a place for the first time, the touch of breeze from a different sea, and the thought of being a stranger!  Ah... that is LIFE!

But I have to sit here in my office, stay on this island, and work.  Not that I am complaining. It's just that there are things that I would wish to do again in this lifetime that I can't (at the moment).

I want to be 21 again! I want to just run to the next bus station with my backpack and head off to whichever place the bus is going.  Those happy-go-lucky times!  Those crazy-amazing experiences!

Some day, I will be back on the road and discover myself once again!

Mid-life Concernments

At 31, I can say I have accomplished a lot. So, no worries about tomorrow anymore.  I never did worry about it anyways.

But at 31, you see people your age who are at the "peak" of the cycle - married, with kids, investment/s (house, car, etc.), masters/doctorate, and maybe some maintenance medicines.  I don't have any of those.

At 31, I am still constantly travelling for work and for sanity (reason for the inability to find a boyfriend).  And kids, well, I can't imagine having them (I cannot take care of anyone else than myself).  The only investment I have is the investment for the future of the community I help (almost all my savings go to my personal initiatives).  I still plan on finishing my masters (or enrolling for a new one).  And I am healthy --- conditioning to separate work from personal life paid off (I work on the weekdays + I laze around on the weekends = lesser stress life).

But at 31 and working on projects, I can't help but ask myself about the near future (after the project).  What will I be doing then?  Where will I be?  Will I have enough savings (whatever is left) to support me if I am again in the unemployed side of the scale?

Though at 31, I think I can still do a lot of things.  Well, I can offer a lot of things.  I can go back to consulting.  I am pretty good in project management and there are a lot of development projects in the Philippines.  Or I can teach art focusing on recycling.  Or I can sell cakes and breads for a while.  Or whatever.  There are a lot of options.

However at 31, just like most of the people I know, one should think of a stable stage in the cycle and stay there for a while.  I am still not on that part. I am still on my way up.  How high up, I don't really know.

I'll just wait for when I am 32 then  let's see if these are concerns still.

Palawan Countdown

I will be officially done with my work in Metro Manila and will start with the new program by the 1st of July!!!

I am really happy about this change and opportunity to explore another part of the country, live there for some years and be a local once again.

There are however some things that I would miss living in Makati City like:

• Beni's Falafel - surely the best falafel I had in the Philippines and it is just a few steps away from my place
• Friendly people in my area - I will definitely find friendly people in Palawan but I will definitely miss the people from the laundromat, guards in A. Venue Mall, the nice people of MNL Hostel, the baristas in Socialicious Tea and CBTL, the jeepney "barker" every morning to work
• Culture and the arts - Metro Manila is one of the very few places one can see theater plays, ballets, musicals, and the like
• Bravo Best Foods - a very affordable, cozy, and highly accessible micro-brewery to my place
• Weekend Markets - I will miss Salcedo and Legaspi weekend markets

What I won't miss would be:

• The crazy traffic
• The air and noise pollution
• The swarm of people in malls and just about everywhere

It was good two years BUT it is really time to move on! And I will be back from time to time, for sure!