'Bad' tired; 'Good' tired

Right now, I am so fucking tired and so fucking hungry. Never had been THIS tired since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. Nevertheless, I have been so tired since March.

It was the 'bad' kind of tired I felt for five dragging months. I wasn't really physically tired (albeit all the workouts I do), but I was tired in other aspects. Although I am fairly introverted, I still want to be with small crowds every now and then. Five loooong months of having no crowds to be with was a bit emotionally and mentally tiring. Don't get me wrong, I love my family to bits, but seeing and talking to the same set of people for five months on end really got into my merves. The occasional phone calls and video calls from my friends didn't help either, as it was more frustrating to talk towards a gadget than it was to talk to actual people.

The disheartening governance of our public officials also contributed to this 'bad' tired thing. When your country has got public officials who do not listen to sound science and ground-level leaders when they absolutely have to, you know you are fucked. I won't enumerate na what frustrating things our government have done (and not done) these five months (and counting); they're all over the news and social media. You can search them online, but if you love yourself, please don't do that. You see, I also stopped closely monitoring news about our government's response to the pandemic for the sake of my mental health. 

Officially, I was employed for a month then unemployed for four months during the community quarantine. This is another nail on the 'bad' tired coffin for me. Yes I got tutoring gigs both online and home-based, but they weren't really enough to pay all my bills. Plus, my home-based tutorials met their abrupt end when active COVID cases increased in our barangay. I also wasn't built to be a sales person. Tried selling my pre-loved goodies, but then realized that I have got no energy for that. Tried to engage in online shits that promise good money, but I am just too skeptical to continue.

Today though, was a different kind of tired for me. It was 'good' tired. Nah, not just 'good,' but 'goooooood.' I am just some few steps from being officially employed again! I had just passed my training to ba a Math fellow! I had just finished the tasks for my tutoring gig! My sister-in-law and my boyfriend are employed again! My boyfriend has just got his motorcycle! Okay, that's probably too trivial already.

It was liked five excruciating months of being a tambay, then, boom! Opportunities left and right! Blessings from up above! Lifts from down below!

It was really a 'gooooooood' tired kind of week.

The Cagayan Getaway

Day 6: The Departure

Pretty much the same as our trip to Cagayan. Got lost in the way again(I told you everyone in our family has no sense of direction). This time though, we traveled with my aunt and nieces and with the pasalubong.

Duck meat... Napurga ako diyan.

Star apples!

Madre de Cacao

Brotha with the aunt and the niece-s (the other niece was at the back---see her hands up?).

My dad the driver

Love the sunset

Wuzz dizz?

Good girls gone bad... the nieces when they awoke from a night's sleep while on the road.

We passed by Bocaue to purchase some fireworks for the New Year.

Home at last.

So there...

The Cagayan Getaway

Days 3-5: The Stay

Food! Glorious food!

Yeah, we never ran out of something to eat when we were in Battung. We go to one house, they offer food. We go to another, they offer food. We go the another, again, they offer food. AND coffee. Yes, coffee. It's like their staple drink there. We eat breakfast, there's coffee. We eat morning snack, there's coffee. We eat lunch, there's coffee. We eat afternoon snack, there's coffee. We eat supper, there's coffee (but of course, that's a bit exaggerated). They don't make kapeng barako anymore, though, unlike when I was younger. Now they settle for instant coffee.



The Next Generation

Oh, there were soooo many kids there. I actually found it hard to have an alone time 'cause these kids kept on bugging me.

Erika

Chloe, the youngest of the Cannu clan.

JC and Ian

Sons of my cousin. I don't know their names...

Bromance: Ian x JC???

Xyril and Rema

My brotha and the "3 Ilocanos"

Kulitan with the 3 and the camera

Reymar with Mojacko

The Ariel 3D Glasses!!! Hah...

Kids in the neighborhood

This kid's dad passed away a week before Christmas. His dad's body came from Manila to Battung on the 24th. He's very aware of what happened to his dad. When we asked him, "Is your dad sleeping?" he answered "No. He's dead." I feel so sad for this kid...

Flora and Fauna

It's like "Old McDonald had a farm, e i e i o..."

Every meal, my aunt ties this cat. Para daw hindi mangulit sa lamesa. Maingay naman.

These ducks kept on bugging the person who washes the dishes. Haha.

Would a farm be complete without a carabao?

Mother hen and her chicks under her...

They looove orchids. I don't think I saw a single house without orchids there.

There you go...

Next up: The Departure.

Wanna go for a ride?

The Cagayan Getaway

Day 2: First Day in Tuao

My mom's hometown: Tuao, Cagayan.

It's a small town about 30 minutes away from Tuguegarao, the capital city of Cagayan. And our destination in Tuao: Battung, a barangay on the corner of Tuao. Battung actually seem like sooo isolated when you're there. We had to pass thru the broken bridge folks call the "Ferry" first and enjoy a 20-minute kuliglig ride before reaching it. And we found out that there were no FM radio stations whose frequency can reach there. And there were only two TV stations: ABS-CBN and GMA. And cellphone signal is so weak we had to go outside the house to pick it up. And it was sooo cold in there that I had a feeling that winter had finally fell in the Philippines, minus the snow, of course (and just my luck, I didn't bring any jacket or even long-sleeved shirts and long pants because it was hot in Bulacan when we left; I thought weather would be the same in Cagayan).


Anyway, enough of the non-sense (and probably grammatically-challenged) talk. PHOTOSPAM!!!

This is Ferry. The bridge was broken and folks there just use rocks for the bridge to be passable. This photo was taken by my brother on our third day in Cagayan. A Victory Liner bus almost got off the bridge "extension" and fell into the water. I wonder why the local government in there can't fix this bridge for good; they just settle for temporary solutions. This can be very irritating for travelers. Tsk.

Since the bridge was broken, we had to ride the banca to reach the other side of the Ferry.

Since we still had to wait for my uncle's kuliglig, we did some "photo shoots" in the Ferry.

My niece, Jam.

My brotha!

My cousin-in-law, Ate Glori.

With my cousin, Ate Meg, and niece, Jaan.

  When long wait for the kuliglig was over...

Izz the kuliglig! Ready for the ride?

Uncle Rey, the kuliglig driver.

I will always be amazed with this view of the province: coconut trees standing high in looong lines on the far ends of the fields. Wow!

Calesas!

We got in my uncle's house (where we stayed in) at around 9 am, Dec. 23. So that means, we spent 24 hours on the road! Wtf! Anyway, this is the house:

The front 'lawn.'

The restroom/kitchen/laundry area. The toilet's not here, though. It's at the back of the house, just a small hole on the lot covered by sacks.

We didn't rest as soon as we got in the house, though. We went straight to the river after changing our clothes.

My nephews, and my cousins (the tallest one and the one wearing pink) led the way to the river.

You'll mistake the river for a beach because of the coconut trees.

They played agawan buko while I took the photos.

Then the kids had the time of their lives...

So that was our first day. Truly tiring. I went straight to bed when we got back to my uncle's place.

So there...

Next up! How we spent the holiday.