Blue and Yet White -

I have been away from my hometown for 5 months now. And it's really hard not seeing the love of your life for long, especially during Christmas and New Year. The temperature is dropping and seeing some snows falling. Seeing yourself alone inside the flat the company has rented during the entire period of the contract. I do all the jobs. Just to ease the pain, I tried to clean the entire flat everytime to make myself busy. Watching every movie, chatting in the internet, etc. during my OFF days. Good thing that I have a relative (my auntie Norma, sister of my late mother Aurelia). I visited them last December 24-27. After more than 20 years, we saw each other again. We were very excited. I met my 2 cousins (half-Filipino/half-British). And yes, I met also my other auntie (Cristy) who lives in Germany. I met my auntie Cristy when I had a training in Germany the year 1999 (I think). And also when she visited Philippines not so long ago. Here in U.K., they do not celebrate Christmas as we do in the Philippines. It's like a normal day. No big bangs. Then, in the morning of 25th, they do exchange gifts. I guess this is also true during New Year. It will just be an ordinary day. Back to work for me on the 28th.

And Yet Another Storm Came -

The storm that sank my car had stopped and yet another (kinda) storm came to our life. My father-in-law had just finished his medication for his TB and all went well, resting in their house in Mindoro and to start planting trees again. But then, he felt something swelling (and painful) inside his throat and never healed. His daughter (my wife) accompanied him to the doctor one time to see what was going on. That was when they found out that he actually has a tongue cancer. It was long before they finally told tatay (as I fondly call him) that he was suffering from cancer and needed to be removed (he want back to Mindoro after the check-up and everybody lied to him about the outcome of the check-up). The doctors did not (and never did) assure them 100% that tatay could fully recover and prayers are needed. We needed money for the operation. My wife didn’t have enough money for the operation. So I presented myself being her husband. But some of them were either in an investment or a bank that personal appearance was needed to withdraw it. I am here in the UK and could not give them full support. I told her to try and get the money from the investment, since it was way past due. But things just could not get into the right place. We could not just get it right now.

Regarding my investment, I shouldn’t have done that and it was a really big mistake investing it. I should have taken them all last June but my friend (whom I invested the money to) said they changed bank so the cheques that were given to me were useless. She promised to give back the interest plus penalties after a month but did not happen. Now, it has been 6 months after they (her company) failed to produce interest, penalties and the initial investment. She never assured me of anything and ignoring me just like a dead cat in the street. We are badly in need of the money but we can’t do anything at the moment. We haven’t paid the hospital in full and if something happens and we need to pay them (the hospital), the only option is to settle it with a bank which in turn, would carry interest. A year ago, we had a plan of buying a house (or building it since we already have ‘lot’). Right now, my plan to have a house just went down. I am not planning at this stage. Pera lang yan. We can always earn it. while we are still alive.