ALL I HAVE TO IS WAIT.....

***** THE ROOM temp says 22 degrees C! It is much colder outside.... Naku! PASKO na nga! ***** SEPTEMBER usually sports these sudden change as the mercury dips little by little down and down....until Winter arrives. IT ALLOWS refreshing time in bed, with the temperature just right sans the electric fan or the aircon. IT ALSO MEANS longer time in bed as the weather seems fine to linger and dream of days to come. THE WEATHER reminds us that CHRISTMAS is near and that spending the Holidays in this Buddhist-dominated country is like spending that Great Feast in the middle of nowhere. **** HERE, the locals just eat CAKE for Christmas. They think that singing "Merry Chrismas" and later eating the cut-up cake is enough. They do not know otherwise. Besides, work continues here on Christmas Day. *** I REMEMBER my LOLO whom we called one Christmas Day from Inang Bayan. He said he was out working. As a little child, I wondered then: didn't they celebrate Christmas? When I got here and spent the Holidays a decade ago, I realized they have the loneliest Christmas, ever! NO ONE seems to mind. But of course! Their belief is different. Although there are a handful Catholics here, most are non-believers. They look at Christmas as a commercialized season often utilized by big department stores andsupermarkets. I DECIDED THEN that if ever I decide to live in this Land, I'd have to assert that I be given the chance to go back home for the Holidays. Kahit man lang sa panahon na yun, I can be happy among my relatives and in the homeground. ** THIS YEAR I will put up the PAROL [CHRISTMAS LANTERN] I brought last February from Manila. I will show them what decors we have and arrange the whole house... .just to establish that "MOOD"..... Tignan ko lang kung ano ang reaksyon ni JIJI, ng ibang kamag-anak dito, my friend Naoko, at ng mga super-gulong estudyante groups.... * BUT THAT COULD WAIT.... I have just changed the classroom motif to that of HALLOWEEN. I have placed the KABOCHA [PUMPKIN] I harvested from the Garden as part of the decors. And I have prepared sweets for the 'Trick-0r-Treat' part of it. * OH WELL... all I have to do is WAIT.... and WAIT... go on WAITING.... and WAIT SOME MORE..... *****