A New Chapter

After my blog about snowboarding and greeting the new year 2010, I wasn't to write online again until 2010 was coming to a close.  I eventually had to fly back to Manila shortly after my New Year's adventures in the mountains of Slovakia (though I was able to try cross-country skiing as well in Czech Republic before the winter ended), and went back to my life in warm, sweltering Manila.  And prepared for a three-month trip to New York City that summer of 2010.  

Interestingly enough, I never did write a blog about my Big Apple experiences. But I had enrolled for acting class that summer, and I found my nose stuck in a book everyday, reading one play, and then another.  I wrote little snippets in my notebook that time though, when I had the time.

But here we are now, 22 days after having arrived in Prague for the 3rd time, and this time, for the long-haul (to borrow words from my casting director, who used the phrase to describe my stay).

I have only one more flashback left, and it's not from too long ago. They are my first set of reflections from when I landed here in Prague for the third time.  This was written on the 26th of February 2011...

Just a few quick thoughts of outstanding impressions, as I begin a new chapter in my life, begin this marriage that has been waiting to start since three months ago when we P and I were wed, and finally beginning our lives together in his home country.

     First, a few thoughts about food - oh,  I enjoyed the main meals on both flights.  The first was Bangus (milk fish) in Adobo (a vinegar and soy sauce mix that is a Filipino specialty) butter, and the choice I made on the second flight was Mutton Curry. I couldn't help it, I was headed to Europe away from Asia, I had to make as many Asian culinary choices as I could. Not that Prague doesn't have Asian cuisine. The world is now so small, I can just go down the block from our flat in Prague to a Chinese restaurant. But it must be a mental need for it, and I loved my Asian food choices on the plane. Never understood people who complained about "bad airplane food that taste like cardboard," because I do enjoy my airplane food, in their cute little compact cases, all hot and steamy and flavorful. I quite enjoy it!

     And then there was setting foot at the Prague Ruzyne Airport, and the sight of familiar things from my last three months of living here last winter greeted me - familiar signs like the Relay shop you could find at every train station (kind of like your 7-11 or Mini-Stop), or the pub with a large Pilsner Urquell (a popular beer brand in CZ) over it - just made me feel like I was coming home, to my second home. This was no new, strange place, but a place I had been to before, and it felt strangely like home somehow.

I was finally going to be with my husband, and how sweet that was to me.

Yet I admit that as the plane began its descent down to Prague, I tried desperately to put down in words just what I was feeling, which was a contradiction of emotions. There was sorrow at leaving so many things behind, a life that I had known all thirty years of my life, yet the excitement and joy of beginning this new chapter of my life which had been waiting to begin. Really hard to describe, and I am afraid that despite my love for words and talkativeness, that I cannot quite find the words to describe how this feels. Although at the NAIA airport back home in Manila, I finally fully realized why they say that "parting is such sweet sorrow."

     Because it is. There is nothing like parting which shows you how greatly you are loved, and how greatly some people who you love so deeply love you back. I never embraced my little brother (who's not so little since he stands 6 feet tall) while crying before, but I did. There is a great well of emotion that just opens up as you say goodbye. Even though you know it's not goodbye forever, but just for now, till we see each other again on my next visit.

     I am jetlagged and have been awake since 4.44am , Prague time. Now it is nearly 7am, and the late winter sun is finally rising, and I think I will conclude this little essay, and go on beginning this new chapter of my life.