Fiesta Time...

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It's almost May 1 in the Philippines. It's Labor Day there on that day but for the town I grew up in, it's also the peak of the fiesta celebrations. I was just chatting with my niece and she said that they're planning in visiting our relatives in the barrio next to ours. Come May 15, it's the fiesta in my mother's hometown in Bulacan. She grew up in the town where they have the Carabao Festival. We used to brave the throng of spectators just to see those carabaos kneel.

Now I feel a bit homesick. Last week, I got this email from a high school classmate. Remember I mentioned about our batch's Silver Jubilee? Well, she mentioned that they are going house to house visiting our former classmates to encourage them to participate in the activities of our high school...and they do the 'visits' during the fiesta celebrations! That made me miss home and high school days. It's not often that I wish I'm home but this is one of those few times I wish I am.

More than the food that's overflowing during the fiesta, I miss the time we spent visiting our friends' houses just to do some reminiscing of our elementary and/or high school days.

I've been away from home for about 7 years now. But before that, I was in Taiwan teaching for 4 years. Since our school year there is from August - May, I also missed a lot of the fiesta celebrations. That makes it a total of 11 years...wahhh!!!

Somebody take me home if only for a day! Just make sure it's one of those 'fiesta' days.