Post-vacation sadness
I always had trouble saying bye to vacations, even as a child. I am no stranger to the "post-Philippines hangover", as my Tita eloquently put it. As I flew back home on my 26-hour trek from Philippines back to the United States, I almost felt a surreal confusion - did I really just spend two weeks in the Philippines? How is it over already? Did it even really happen?
The sadness usually lasts a week or two, with the first few nights being the worst. The fresh memories of seeing my baby cousins and my little sister feel both bittersweet and far away. Eventually, as I settle back into my routine life, the vacation high fades away and I go back to my wake up-eat-work-sleep routine with the pangs of homesickness hitting fewer and far between.
But while I'm still in the "Manila hangover" phase, I'd like to speed up the process by listing my US-based blessings:
- My cats are here, and they are bothering me with a vengeance. Lambert likes to sleep directly on top of my head; a persistent behavior that only reinforces the old wives' tale of cats trying to steal your breathe. If we were in the medieval times, the village midwife would probably tell me that I need to get rid of Lambert ASAP because he's 100% definitely trying to kill me. Or something.
- I'm planning an upcoming Seattle trip with two of my besties. Very, very excited for this one. I haven't been to Seattle since I was a kid and still lived in Portland, Oregon.
- Cellular phone data. This is a lame one but living off of mall WiFi in the Philippines made playing Pokemon Go VERY difficult.
- Enjoying American treats without paying the premium import tax. You aren't going to be able to find strawberry-chocolate limited edition Oreos in the Philippines, I'll tell you that. And good Mexican food. A decent burrito is unheard of in the Philippines.
Gosh, the list isn't very long, is it? Maybe I can add to it later when I'm feeling less of the Manila-blues.
