Home for the Fiesta: Diyandi Festival

it's almost end of october now. walastek! di man lang nakapag-oktoberfest sa pinas....

anyway, nakapag-celebrate naman ako ng fiesta sa amin. Iligan's Diyandi Festival was a week-long celebration in honor of our patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel. although i only got towards the end part of it, the culmination of the festivities through its parade and Kasadya street dancing competition.

stayed for a few days in manila to do a bit of shopping (as my mom sent me on an errand for some early christmas shopping habang wala pang christmas rush). went home on a sunday, the 26th. my package from dubai came the day before. i already sent some stuff for home about 6 weeks before so that i wouldn't be burdened with a lot of stuff in my baggage. so it was really very timely. it was like i brought a big balikbayan box along with me. and i happily opened the package bringing out one surprise after another. though i had like two jumbo bottles of Pantene shampoo that got spilled onto a few blouses i sent, and so had some clothes washed before they get stains all over them.

kuya, chi and langga arrived on tuesday and quickly asked to watch the march in the city streets. sayang, would have loved to get one of those shirts they sell in the Mugna. anyway, here are a few pics from our city fiesta.

and with relatives coming over for the clan's meeting in preparation for the annual clan reunion.. and of course, just for simply hanging around with loved ones.

Where to Next

here's another ee cummings work. am in the mood for a little bit of poetry right now. 

travelling or vacationing sometimes does that to me. the peace and serenity you 

experience somehow sets the mood for it.

somewhere i have never travelled

somewhere i have never travelled, galdly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which i cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though i have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skilfully,mysteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,i and

my life will shut very beautifully, suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility: whose texture

compels me with the color of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(i do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens; only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody,not even the rain, has such small hands

Bakasyon Muna

matagal-tagal din akong nawala dito sa blogging world.

sobra akong naapektuhan sa init ng klima dito sa aking sulok ng mundo. even with the toolbox talks we are getting on the job about preventing heat stress/stroke, pakiramdam ko hindi talaga kaya ng katawan ko ang sobrang init. as if it can be helped... eh talaga naman kailangan kong lumabas at mainitan sa airport during my flight inspections.

it even came to the point na nag-n-nosebleed na ako at parang mag-c-crack na ang ulo ko, na para bang hihimatayin na ako. sobra!!!

so i handed my application for leave and was granted a month's vacation which i spent where else but home. it's been a long while since i did nothing but stay home and spend R&R moments with my family. good thing i've reached 18 months at work already so now eligible for that leave. i only took casual leave (about 2 weeks) last feb when i went to vietnam with my family for my bday. this time the resource planning (read, $$$) has not been that difficult since it's a paid vacation (tickets and all). lucky me!

see me here much too happy as we were travelling home from the airport.

will be posting pics of this bakasyonista on my next entries.