hail and snow!

the last two days have been pretty exciting for me even if i just stayed indoors most of the time.

i heard a mild tap-tapping at my door as i was cleaning my room. when i opened the curtains... ta-daaaah! ice falling from the sky.

so being the ignorant asian that i am thought it to be snow. i opened my window and staring out of their windows were regina, tom (canada) and patchar (thailand). to tom, it was nothing new but for the asians, it was magic!

it was a bit quick, but then sometime in the afternoon, it was a longer one. i finally buzzed for regina because such a moment called for a photo op. and photos we took! despite looking like we just got out of bed (oh... we did just get out of bed)., we didn't care! it was fun!


i thought that hail was just a fluke because most of my friends who've lived in europe told me that it never really snows in the netherlands. most of the time winter is just wet and rainy.

but the fates would have it that i tick off another box in my things to experience before i die... it snowed! for real this time. with snowflakes that just melt the moment they hit your hand. and it fell quieter and prettier than hail. the flakes don't fall straight down, but kind of hover here and there in the air before they hit the ground.

i wanted another photo op and buzzed regina's floor but no one was answering. despite being ungloved, i decided to take a look at the outside world.

there ya go... i wasn't the only excited one. the indonesians were going around town taking pictures of the snow too. it's great to know that somebody feels as excited as you are at that same moment. like an invisible bond holds you together at that moment.

so with all courage, i decided to go out and take photos outside. eyob peeped out from his room and i forced him to come out of his den and join me. then ruth (american) and nick (german) peeped out of their rooms, and i asked them to come out.
and when you have big kids like us all together in a snowy day, what do you get? snowball fight!!! the fight ensued. just a few snowballs and my ungloved fingers were already numb. nick was kind enough to lend me his gloves to thaw them out, but it had a high price. he hit me in the face, the back, the head. and of course, he just had to stuff ice on my shirt. tsk-tsk!

mel saw nick from her room and jumped out of the window and joined in our fun. wheee!

it was a really, really wonderful experience. wet but very enjoyable and exciting and something that will make me smile a lot when i remember it.

i just hope it doesn't snow everyday so i don't get used to it. it would be great to be excited by it everytime it happens. LOL.

for now, this is how i feel...

howard was right

when studying, don't have pictures on your table.

there weren't any pictures on my table, but there are photos on facebook. i reviewed some photos from the philippines... and boy, was that a bad idea. apart from taking time from studying (which has been terribly neglected since the beginning of term 1b), it made me miss people at home, especially jan.

i really don't want to go to the path of longing for home. i am still constantly excited by the thought of being in europe, of fulfilling this lifelong dream. this morning, i took an hour going home from church because i decided to take a detour by the lake and boy, was autumn beautiful! the shower of leaves was absolutely magical and charming. i would never had experienced such a moment in the peens... but it would have been more magical to have my husband with me at that moment...

i've been experiencing so much and doing so much here in europe. and so much of it can not be captured by words or pictures, no matter how i try. i feel like a grown-up and a child at the same time. so it makes it difficult to share with jan and i don't want him missing out on my pruning and growing... neither do i want to miss out on his.

the weekly revelries at the ISS are always enjoyable, but like all parties... it leaves me feeling empty when i go back to my room on my own. i should have had jan with me... and seeing and hearing about the exciting things happening makes me miss him more, wishing for him more and more.

sigh.

i do not feel lonely. not at all. i am glad that the pinoy mafia enjoy each other's company, enough for us to keep (in)sane from all the emotional stimulus we are all experiencing.

it could be the weather really... because the thoughts of home come more frequent now. while i enjoy winter dressing, i have always been a tropics lady who enjoys the sun kissing her skin. and every day has been getting colder and colder that my skin sometimes gets numb. and maybe that's why the emotions are stirred more. it calls for warmth that the body does not get. and i mean that warm fuzzy feeling... lol.

sigh.

sleepless in den haag

the sandman may have forgetten to pass by the ISS for the last few days. many of the students have been suffereing from the lack of sleep lately for various reasons. the cause of my sleeplessness has been a reuniting with dorm room internet. i'm starting to think this may not be a good idea after all. i've been indulging in my guilty pleasure of brainless reality tv for the past week.

however, tonight is a different reason for me. my mind is so alive right now. it often happens when the moon is full, because i am the moon's fool. she's toying with my thoughts, whispering sweet nothings.

tonight luna tells me, "i let you taste some of your dreams. relish it. be free."

and i do feel as free as the bird from that photo i took on a nine o'clock setting sun during my first weeks in the netherlands. and i do feel that i am having a taste of my silly little girl dreams now that i am here.

silly little girl dreams like wearing coats and boots and sweaters which would have been crazy to do back at home (but i do miss wearing flip-flops to anywhere). silly little girl dreams like seeing europe and discovering if it is as pretty as i see in the pictures and read in the books (it is but it has made me appreciate home more). silly little girl dreams like seeing what autumn is all about, and walkin on a pile of fallen yellow and orange leaves and seeing trees die a little each day knowing they are just asleep and are waking up in a few months (but i miss the regularity of sun up and sun down).

dreams can come true not necessarily in ways you imagine it to be.

there are the realities that pinch once in a while. cleaning the room, doing laundry, cooking meals. things that aren't going to happen by themselves. there are days i hate it terribly, and there are the days when i just grin to myself and realize... "dang... independence, you taste a bit funny sometimes!"

there are the realities that actually bite you hard. readings, papers, exams. and i would go, "oh yeah... that's what i came here for. better do those things too."

then there are life's little surprises. if you are just open enough, it can be quite beautiful.

maybe it is premature to say it only two and a half months into the program, but i have been constantly amazed by the people in the school. the multicultural set-up makes ISS doubly exciting. there is so much to learn and discover just by talking to people! that's not even talking about classes yet. i am always genuinely excited to engage with people everyday.

i love the mix of the pinoys i am with. we are as surprised as everybody else at how well our sisterhood (sorry boys, we outnumber you!) is.

i love the other friends i already have made and wish to get to know them better. this is the kind of globalization the rest of the world needs! to remain steadfastly faithful and in-love with who we are, yet embracing the Otherness of the others.

i can not ask for a better way to discover the world.

i feel so blessed right now. :)

(but then it would be absolutely perfect to have my husband here too. my quiet, stoic jan to offset all the restless energy i have right now. LOL.)

i used to only read you in books...

mr. organ grinder.

you just made my trip to prague all the more memorable. tee-hee! too bad you did not have a real monkey with you. but nonetheless, it was great to see you out of the story books i used to read as a child and into reality.