From Jillicious to Jill's Issues: Blogging from Bora (Part Two)

Jan 13: Day 4 PM
I got here last Saturday. It was my first time to land on Kalibo. Whenever I went to Bora before, I always went straight to Caticlan. The bad thing about landing on Kalibo is the 3-hour drive to the Caticlan jetty port. Since we already had a slight delay in Manila Terminal 3, we were only able to arrive at the port at around 4pm. By then, given that it is January, it has already gotten very windy. So the boat ride to the island was quite a rocky one.

I was really hoping that the organizers booked us at a fairly nice hotel. Unfortunately, we weren’t. It wasn’t on the beachfront and it was really shabby. But what can we do? See that’s what I mean. Working in Bora is totally opposite to what most people would presume. Like I said in my previous blog, I never fail to get the reaction “Wow, sarap naman!” every time I’d tell someone that I’m off to Bora for work. I beg to disagree…

What’s so “masarap” about being in a really nice island but you can’t even hit the beach because of the hectic work schedule? What’s so “masarap” about being booked in a threadbare inn with musty smelling linen? What’s so “masarap” about being in Bora, the island of canoodling couples, when you’re alone, stressed out and missing your husband who was supposed to be with you in the first place?

*Sigh* Anyway, my husband and I are okay already. It wasn’t entirely his fault that he isn’t here with me. It was also a mistake for me to expect too much from him. I knew from the beginning that it was a long shot for him to get a leave approved right after a long holiday season. We knew that God wanted to teach us a few more things about our marriage.

Indeed, being married doesn’t end at “You may kiss the Bride.” It’s only the beginning of the many things – big and small; happy and sad – that would come our way. One of the speakers at the event that I’m working on here talked about Overcoming Crisis. And he said that the first thing to do is to understand what the word really entails. He said that the word Crisis in Chinese can be written with the 2 characters Wei Ji... Wei is Chinese for Danger while Ji is Chinese for Opportunity. The speaker said that the problem with most people is that they only see the danger side of the crisis and forget that it actually comes with an opportunity.

Then it hit me about my fledgling marriage. This Bora Crisis, as I would call it, definitely put a threat to our relationship. Albeit not massive but you know in marriage, it’s the little things piled together that make a mountain of conflicts. On the flipside, it also provided the opportunity to miss each other and think about what why we love each other in the first place.

For the past days since I’ve been here, my husband admitted that it was so hard to move around the house without me. He didn’t know what to do with the laundry… and with all the little domestic details that needed attention in our humble abode. He also said that it was cold in Manila and it was even colder without me beside him in bed. He said, he missed me… he was lost without me.

These words even just made me want to come home sooner than I should. Sigh. Here I am, writing this in my minute spare time, with my feet buried in the cool damp sand. It was also chilly here in Bora especially at night. Imagine Tagaytay weather. Brrr! I’m not kidding. Of course since I didn’t expect this kind of weather, I only brought beach clothes… itty-bitty shorts, tanks, capris… nobody told me that I’m supposed to bring a parka! :p

Bora in January is different. I always come here during summer and this is my first January visit. It’s actually a good time to come. People are lesser. None of those promotional, commercialized, and over-the-top concert party tours by Coke, Nestea, SMB, etc… Although it’s Ati-Atihan Season, the number of people is still way lesser than the usual summer crowd. It is actually a good time for a real vacay. Argh, now this reminds me again why I wanted my husband to be here. Okay change topic.

Anyway, in a few minutes my phone’s going to ring again and I have to get back to the Boracay Regency Ballroom to prepare for the next activity. I’ll talk about my project next time.

Meanwhile, here are some snapshots taken during my very sparse spare time...