I've recently come back home from a trip to Butuan City with my girl and her sister. She wanted me to meet her parents. It's not that we're gonna get married but she wanted them to know me first hand. We shipped out Oct. 22 which is a Thursday. To be honest, I've been anxious since The week before that. I was thinking to myself, what if they don't like me? what if they find something unpleasant? The anxiety grew by the second when I was on board that Butuan-bound ship.
6:30 in the morning on Oct. 23, a Friday, the boat arrived at the port of Nasipit. We were greeted by my girl's Aunty Aking, her mom's sister and her Uncle Lando. They never said a word to me at first just plain "Hi's" and "Hello's". When we arrived at my girl's parent's house, her parents were there. Her mom said hi, but her dad just took 1 glance at me and never spoke a word. After talking with Kate and Hannah, he went off to work. This was the atmosphere until around 8:30 in the mornin. Around nine in the morning, They started cooking since that day was also Xiera's confirmation rite. There were a lot of things to do since they did expect a lot of visitors so I decided to lend a hand. I was slicin' onions, paring potatoes, peeling carrots and lots of stuff. It is here that i had my first conversation and that was with Hannah's aunt who acted as their nanny when they were little. She talked a lot aboput their family's history and loads of other stuff. Sir Ondix (I never got to know his real name. everybody calls him by this name) who was an excellent cook shared in the conversation. He's a native of Pardo so we talked a lot about Cebu. Then lunch came and Xiera's classmates came and so with the rest of the relatives. There was quite a lot of faces to meet. After lunch, Hannah's grandma on her mother's side decided to get to know me better. She's a very gracious woman, well-mannered and very soft spoken. The tone was as if she was giving our relationship a blessing and this was the first time I breathed a sigh of relief.
The afternoon came and some new faces came. They were her mom's batch mates sir Gibson, Sir Jojo, her uncles Mitchell and Marwin. These were the guys who interviewed me a lot, made me laugh, I cracked a joke and made them laugh, and basically made me feel at home. When her Hannah's Dad decided to skip the afternoon shift, her uncle Marwin made a great conversation that the her dad and me shared in. It was the turning point that her dad already felt comfy talking to me after that. Her mom also shared in the conversation and this was the conversation flow for the following days.
The following day we woke up a lil' late and headed to the beach. It was really good. The beach was so clean but the sand made the water dark. It is also near a delta where the river meets the sea so you'd get the picture. But the view was spectacular. The company? the best! we even played mahjong by the beach. It was great. Hahahahahahahaha. And oh, we never get to spend a day without a minimum of 1 lechon. how's that? hahahahahahaha. This is a long one so if you want further details, talk to me.
And to Gian who had a milestone, Kudos to you. wehehehehe. Sirs Gibson, Lando, Jojo, Mawe, Ondix, Mitchel, Marwin and Maam Aking, Maam Julie and nanay and all others I failed to mention, thank you so much for the wlecome and time well spent in Butuan. Words aren't really enough to show my gratitude, one of the best vacations ever!
