Tomorrow

In less than 24 hours, I’ll be at the airport again, going through the complicated processes of boarding a flight. Again, I will be alone in this trip. Again, I will withstand the screechy engine noises of the airplane. Again, I’ll be eating airplane food. Again, I’ll scan the flight attendants to see if I, err, can see familiar faces. Again, I’ll either fall asleep or watch crappy blockbuster movies they play onboard. Again, I’ll try to tune in to Mandarin Pop Station only to find all the songs bland. Again, I’ll try to write something down while in the flight cabin, but only to scrawl incoherently. Again, I’ll be flying north until I reach Taipei, Taiwan.

I’m going to Taiwan and I’ll be staying there for a week. I’ve planned this as a vacation, but I also want to see my aunts and uncles, my cousins, and, most importantly, my sister. My sister and I have been living in different countries for more than 5 years, and though we often exchange emails, we rarely get to see each other since then. Right now, I’m definitely going to cherish her rare days of being at Taiwan, as it’s rare for her to be in Asia these days.

I’m stoked! I like Taiwan. I expect to bring home a lot of souvenirs again, plus a lot of fats. Everytime I go to Taiwan I splurge on mangas, anime merchandises, books, gadgets, toys and music CD’s - they are cheaper and in greater supply in Taiwan than in Philippines. I am also thrilled about eating their street foods that even those high class restaurants from Philippine’s Chinatown can hardly compete with. Yes, my usual activities when I’m in Taiwan are to eat eat spend spend.

But eat eat spend spend isn’t all I’ll do next week. I’ll be following my sister as she goes about doing her job, which is managing a traveling entourage of musicians. We’ll be sightseeing at Taiwan’s many tourist spots, and I might befriend these musicians (if I’m not feeling grumpy) and hear them play classical music. It’ll be fun. I can hardly wait.

Now if only this week would end sooner, not only so I can fast forward to a livelier time, but also because this week has been a wreck. I swear, I’ve not had a week as bad as this for a while now. I came to work late twice. I was drenched by an unexpected thunderstorm twice. My meeting with someone was postponed twice. And this Friday didn’t arrive cheerfully; if anything, I feel like dangling.

So this is what’s happening: when I think of today I frown, and when I think of tomorrow I grin. It’s funny how two days so immediately close are so polarized. Then again, there’s always the hope of a better tomorrow.