antecoitus

Tomorrow night, I’ll probably buy
fast food or go to Garfunkel’s and walk around again. I am even hoping that
nobody invites me to go shopping with them or anything. Maybe age brings
introspection, or another possibility is that I am intuitively withdrawing from
intense social contact in order to recharge my batteries. Even if you like it,
it can still get exhausting at times. On Friday, I’m spending the whole day in
the b r I t I s h museum and c o v e n t garden (I still cannot remember why I
never went to the b r I t I s h museum before). The only complaint I have of
this visit is that my internet connection from the hotel (including the
wireless connection) is at 10mbps. I can run faster than that even if you get
me high with THC. Thus, I’ll probably have to post this one backdated. I know I
said I might not be able to update for some time, but hey, sometimes I’m just
unable to shut up.

*On Thursday, the last day of the
training, I ended up having Chinese and Caramel Macchiato with one of the other
trainees from e g y p t. (There is Starbucks and Pret a Manger in every
corner). The day after, since my flight was still at nine in the evening, I
opted for an early breakfast, checked out and walked to the b r I t I s h museum
for a highlights tour, for five straight hours. I arrived in p r a g u e at
midnight. Wojtek and a run-of-the-mill snowstorm welcomed me. Winter finally
came.

For the past two weeks, I’ve had
several 7am flights. This meant that I had to be alert at four in the morning
just to be at the airport at half past five and enslave myself to security
checks and the hymn of ‘do you have any liquids, creams or lotions in your hand
luggage?.’ My appraisal with my manager seemed fine, I thought I scored myself
a bit high but my manager slightly increased it even. He must be overcompensating
for my trip to r o t t e r d a m for the appraisal. At least I got to see
Joanna, my closest friend from the program whom I haven’t seen in three years.
The last time was in s I n g a p o r e when she was still fresh on expatriation
and complaining about how boring the city is. Now, she thinks s I n g a p o r e is the best place in the world, and
b o r a c a y, the most beautiful in s.e. a s I a. I only had the chance to
have a couple of hours with her over cappuccino before I had to go for a
business dinner which lasted until midnight.

Then I saw the Baretto clan in c o p
e n h a g e n  =) — Mark, Stella and
John Rae, plus of course Mama El, my favorite pretend big sister in the
world. We met at Sam’s bar on Saturday
night where we threw caution to the wind and made a quartet out of Livin’ La
Vida Loca, na dinaan lang talaga sa stage presence. Mahihiya si Ricky Martin.
Stella and John Rae were the favorites of the crowd. Apparently this quaint
karaoke bar is one of the most favored spots by the little fabulous clique of
Filipino expats on my A-list. Bakit nga naman hindi, masaya at walang
pakialamanan. It was sushi and fried noodles for dinner and a lot of coffee
after. I had great fun that night and it made me miss Manila more. I stayed for
three four more days after that night for more chika with mama El, the birthday
party for Stephen (mama El’s son) and the training. I wanted to see them again
but didn’t manage very well since I had a sales dinner on Monday night, and a freakishly
long four course dinner with too much wine on Tuesday. Buti na lang
si John Rae sinamahan pa rin kaming lumabas ni Elmer, dahil kaunti na lang
mabubuang na ko sa pagod.

Now I’m back in p r a g u e, dumped
with work for the last two days since I came back. Hindi ko
akalain na sobra na pala ang pagod ko. On Thursday, Wojtek playfully
punched me in the arm while we were sitting in bed and I fell on my side. Nawalan
ako ng malay, hindi ko alam kung kailan ako nakatulog. Nakakalokah! Akala
siguro ni Wojtek nung una na-comatose ako. Ukinamfwet. So today, Saturday, I
decided to stay home, I unpacked, we cleaned the flat, watched the English
Premier League and a movie (Crank) and did my laundry. I’m unusually jumpy and
emotional, I found myself on the verge of tears (literally) when I opened
Borris (that’s our computer, I named him – Borris Dellowski, sa kin lahat may
pangalan) and didn’t find my movies. Wojtek went to the Thai place for lunch
alone and I was left at home with a bowl of guisadong munggo which I cooked and
was frantically searching all the folders for my movies. When Wojtek opened the
door, I blurted out ‘you wouldn’t erase my movies without telling me, would
you?’ , my eyes brimming with tears. To which he answered, ‘no sweetie, I burned
the movies on CDs so we can free up some space, look at this one – see this one
is Party Movies’, he says while showing me one of the CDs on the desk which had
Acidhouse, Studio 54, Trainspotting, Go and Human Traffic written on it. Naiyak
ako. Punyeta! Bwisit na bwisit ako sa pagpapa-girl, nakakahiya. Maghisterya ba?
Naisip ko tuloy sa taas ng hormone level ko baka kaya tinubuan na ko ng isa
pang fallopian tube.