Thursday, May 19, 2011

5 days to go : Nabas aklan

At last! we're home! we're then in Toledo, Nabas, Aklan.  The place where I was born and where Mark's Father's side clan lives and this is where my clan lives too.
As a tradition, we went house by house to get their blessings by doing "Mano Po" a wonderful filipino tradition.
Mark and I traveled a lot.  We rested on that day and went to my mother's side family in Ibajay, Aklan to get their blessing and invite them.  Then went to Rev. Filamer (our officiating minister) to clarify things about the ceremony.  We discussed a lot of problems that might come our way including the hassle of getting married in Boracay without getting married in the church.  We decided to get married first in the morning of Saturday in Ibajay full Gospel church and have the ceremony in Boracay.  That's it! 
We went to boracay afternoon that day and talked to the personnel of Tropical Guest house where our wedding ceremony and reception will be held.  We got some problems but we were able to fix it right away.
This is one of the unforgettable experience I had in Boracay, We slept in the under renovation apartment of Uncle Ronnie in Boracay.  No electric fan, no bed, full of mosquitos and dusts from the cement and woods.  We slept beside the construction workers, and Mark's cousins.  I did'nt have enough sleep.  if Mark didn't get a cardboard and fan me i will really not get any sleep.
The next day (3 days to go), we went to Kalibo... travel here and there... wheeew!

7 days to go : iloilo trip

Manay babylyn (Mark's eldest cousin in his mother's side) fetched us in SM iloilo...
She's pretty, and I'm older than her by 1 year i think... lol !
We stayed in her house in Alta tierra (I think that's the name of the subdivision).  There was wifi there but all we did was to eat, talk and sleep.  Waiting in Manila airport for 7 hours made me really tired.
The next morning we left Manay's house early and headed to Concepcion, Iloilo ( cool, the place is my surname)  to visit the whole sobrevega and puerto family.  Shocks! we spent 4 hours travel in the bus!  The bus was so slow and stopped by every corner of the road. 
It was relieving when we reached the house to see a very welcoming family where mark grew up.  I didn't feel any awkward situation.  It's like I've known them for so long.  All I and Mark did there was to eat, sleep and sing videoke. 
The next morning, ( 5 days to go before our wedding),we traveled again. This time, 3 hours travel going to iloilo proper and 6 hours going to Nabas, Aklan.  And you won't believe it I never slept even a single second.  Wanna know why?  because Mark Was sleeping on my shoulder!!!!!  He's not well trained in a long bus travel.  I was afraid he might vomit so I endure the trip without closing my eyes.  Uhm.. I can't sleep in the travel without leaning my whole body on a person beside me.  I just enjoyed the surrounding with the fresh nature while listening to the music on my fully charged phone.
All in all, I love our iloilo trip meeting Mark's wonderful family 

Saturday, April 23, 2011

It was frustrating to learn that our flight was cancelled after arriving here in the airport at 11am. 
Relieved and thankful after knowing that they have assurance flight at 6pm.  Though we'll have to wait for 7hours here, that's a lot better that go back the next day.
I have a mixed emotions today.  Im nervous, really nervous--tight budget, pessimistic attitude and stressed.
Will I be beautiful on my wedding?  will there be some unexpected problems?  aaahhh...
Aside from that I'll be meeting Mark's relatives in Iloilo for the first time.
Will it be the same scenario when I met Coco's Family before?
I truly love nanay Monet (Coco's mom) when she welcome me warmly when she met me.
His Aunt did not approve on me as I read her face.  His grandpa was really nice, very hospitable and easy to talk to.  And the scariest, his grandma.  She told me that she still didn't like me for her grandson.
I did my best to win their hearts...I visited them often though it was really awkward. I noticed when I became a professional teacher; they all liked me right away, was it because we were still students before that they didn't approve to our relationship? I think so...
Anyway, I really love Ramos family, I am truly thankful by the way they treat me until now.  They still treat me as a family.  I am still invited in birthday parties and Christmas gatherings of their family.
Sometimes I feel sad that they will not be my extended legal family anymore but in a positive side, I will now have a bigger family!  Mark's family will now be mine too and Coco's family will always be my family in my heart.
Don't get me wrong when I talk about Coco a lot.  I am not acting like an unfaithful fiancee of Mark.
I know that Coco might read this and his family too and I want them to know how much I loved the first man in my life and that love conquered the hatred I felt for being betrayed 3 years back. 
I love Coco but I'm not inlove with him anymore. He's a brother to me.  I definitely forgot our past but I will never forget him as a good and genuine person. We're just not meant to be.
On the other hand, I didn't realize that I will be deeply inlove with Mark the way I'm feeling it right now.  Funny to say, we're the perfect two. I can't explain much but he's the best guy for me.  Maybe soon I will be able to describe our tandem. 
They said ex-lovers can't become friends... I always believed on that.  Maybe soon I will discover if that's really true.  =)
I'll get back when we arrive in Iloilo... hopefully I can get a good signal there =) byebye

Thursday, April 21, 2011

8 Days To GO!

To be Continued...

With my confusion, I broke up with Mark.  I just told him that I want him first to be closer with God without me.  It was also time for me to think and decide.  Though we broke up, Mark still calls me as often as he used to. 
I continued to meet Coco, trying to discern whether he's the one for me or not.  Are his promises meant to be broken?or what not..
It was a repeated hurting situation... I was happy being with my ex-boyfriend but I'm hurting his "not formally girlfriend" that time.  They had this "Mutual Undersdanding" yet uncommitted.  The same with me...uncommitted. 
Speculations came after one from my ex-boyfriend's friends.  Someone was telling me the rumors spreading out in their church.  I was deeply hurt to be texted by their Pastor's wife as if I'm good at hurting people. 
One day, an old friend (Jimmy) contacted me through yahoomail.  He said he was then in the Philippine from Dubai and he wants to meet me.  Jimmy was my former suitor.  He courted me while we were working together in French baker and that was like months before Coco became my boyfriend.
So, Jim and I met and had dinner together. 
One day when Jim called me, I asked him to help me burst out my feelings.  I wanted to open up and be relieved with pain. 
We went out and drunk liquor. After 3 glasses of beer I got dizzy and I wasn't even able to burst my feelings.  Mark called and Jim answered it!  OMG! I didn't know what was his reaction, he's miles away from me. I can move my hands but not my head, it so heavy and I wanted to vomit.  I took my phone and called up ate jelly(my housemate in the boarding house) to fetch me.  Few minutes after, someone fetched me... I didn't realize right away that it was Coco until I vomitted again and managed to open my eyes a little. He brought me to the taxi.  Coco and Jim we're talking and agreed to bring me to the boarding house but I refused, i told them to bring me home.  Well, they were so afraid to bring me to my parents with that state.  So there... the rest is a story. 
The next morning when i woke up and saw Ate Jelly's worried face, she gave me the phone and said that mark was on the other side. "hello" i said.  Mark asked a lot of questions and he was angry!   I was so scared and I really promised that I will not do that sneaky thing again!
What happened next?  I just went with Mark's decisions.  We became on steady again and he told me that he'll be resigning from his job and go here in Manila.  He wants to marry me right away.  Oh no... im not ready for that.  But i want him to see that i was regretful with what I did.  I agreed and started canvassing the materials for souvenirs and invitation with my bestfriends.  December 2009, I gathered strength to tell Mark that I didn't want to get married yet and promised him that I will not drink again especially with a guy friend.  It was an easy conversation, he believed in me! The next month, That was January 2010, He arrived here in Manila.  There was no more chance for me to see Coco and i knew I'll be missing him so much.  Sometimes I sneak out to text him but Mark always caught me.  We fought here and there... yet one thing that really made me love mark until today and made me love him more and more each day was his forgiving heart and sacrifices to win my heart.

 It was a rough road for Mark and I, simply because I can't leave my past.  I was nailed in the memories of my 6 years relationship with Coco. 
Let's see what happened next...


 It's a day before our flight to Iloilo!
Having a problem how to pack my wedding gown and Mark's tux.  The box sponsored by Ms. hernandez was too big and I don't know if we'll be able to carry it to the airport.  The box is too pretty to be left in the baggage counter.  hmmm...

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

9 days to go!

Just finished repairing my wedding gown. Yes, I did it my own =)
Mark will be having his stag party later and I'll be cooking carbonara for the boys.

Going back to the story I mentioned on my last blog...
So, we're on our way back to Manila when I received a text message from Emk that goes this way, "hi andrea, how are u?' and i replied, "hi, my problem ba kau ni coco?"  I asked her that question because I noticed a pattern...whenever she texts me, Coco and her are fighting because of me. 
She asked me if i'm fond of twilight saga and if he gave me dvd, book or e-book of twilight.
I said "why are you asking, i bet you dont want hear my answer".  Then she told me that lately, coco is talking a lot about twilight yet both of them are not really interested with the movie and the book.
I wasn't able to reply right away... My heart beat so fast and the memories about coco flashed back in my head.
I remembered the day we watched twilight movie in gateway.  I love the movie so much that I kept on looking for the book so I could read the detailed story.  When he learned that I was dying to find the book and that I was even borrowing it from my students, he took my laptop and returned it to me days after with e-book of twilight saved in my file.  He is really good with surprises.  I can't explain how happy i was, yet days after reading it, i complained that my eyes got strained and my eye grade got higher. Then surprises come after one.  He sent me Eclipse and Breaking Dawn books in school.  He left it in the guard house without showing himself to me.
I stopped myself form going back to those memories that will just make me miss coco.  Anyway, we were not on steady when we watched that twilight.
Wait for my future blog where i'll be telling the details of our break up....  =(
Now, let me go back to Mark...
As I've said, i liked him so much... We text and call each other day by day till my bestfriend, Lara and her older sister called for a Boracay trip 2 weeks after our family vacation there.  I got so excited because i'll be seeing Mark again.  We went back to Boracay April 5, 2009... me, my sis in law, my big brother and my niece, rain!Lara and ate jang arrived the next day.
It was early morning when we arrived Caticlan and it was still dark.  I saw Mark waiting for us in the terminal.  He was even more glowing than the first time I saw him, seeing his smile makes my heart jump in excitement. He took my baggage and greeted my company then brought his sight back to me.  Shocks, he's so cute.  He told me to pretend to be an aklanon so we could pass by the entrance without paying a terminal fee.  I did my best to sound like a native aklanon but i failed.  The lady guard said we dont't look like aklanons, i fought back to the lady guard and even asked if she wants to see my birth certificate to prove that i was born there.  Well' the lady guard just scratched her head and allowed us to pass.  Great! we saved 200php  =)
We stayed there for 1 week.
The island hopping day came... we scheduled it on the day when \mark is available so he could really tour us around.  We rode in a boat and of course  he sat beside me =) good to wear my shades, at least he won't notice how many times i'll be staring at him.. hehe
first Itinerary, Island cove... picture here and picture there.  I feel so "kilig" whenever we had picture together especially when he touches his arm to mine. 
Finally, we went snorkling! i love to see those pretty colorful fishes!
Before going into the water, i notice Mark put on sunblock first...  I dont want to get turned off so I just asked him why does he need to put on sunblock.  Then he answered me, "My skin is my capital, i need to look good and flawless in my work".  oh yeah! he works in a hotel..  ok, accepted i liked him! =)  we went down to the water and started to watch the sea creatures from the top of the water with our goggles. 
well, i don't know how to swim so i just stayed around the boat making sure that i will be able to keep my hold on the bamboos connected to it.
Mark probably noticed me alone while everyone is enjoying meters away from the boat.
He held my hand and helped me explore.  I can't explain how i felt the way he held my hand.
I was amazed to get in the middle of the sea! there are even more sights in there! But wait,
Mark is not wearing a life jacket! I was even afraid to move from my place with my life jacket and yet he goes here and there without it! He went down the water and took corals and star fish for me.  It was really fun especially seeing his topless body.  He was really attractive with his well built shoulders, arms and chest. Plus his skll in swimming, i feel like he'll be my knight in shining armor when i got drown there!
There was no doubt, he made me happy for a while and i forgot the pain in my heart. I badly needed him.
One of the last nights in Boracay, I will never forget it, when we sat on the sand and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder and told me that he loves me and he gave me a bracelet.  "This is the first time that i felt this way to a girl"he uttered.  I saw the sincerity in his eyes.  But deep in  my heart, i wasn't really sure about how i feel for him.  Yet, i need him... so i will not push him away,  i will make him deeply in love with me the way I wanted Coco to love me at that time.  and that's the beginning of our relationship. 
When we went back to manila, probably Coco missed me so much... hehehe (feeler)
Coco asked me to go out more often but I told him that i met a man in Boracay and I liked him so much.  Coco tried to win back my heart, i know he still loves me and he doesn't want to lose me.
Sometimes i felt so guilty to still go out with Coco while I am technically Mark's girlfriend.  Mark never forgets to call me on his break time from work, in the morning when he wakes up and in the evening before he sleeps.  Months after, Mark asked me to marry him, i didn't take it seriously.  Maybe he just said it because of his infatuation and impulsiveness.  I told coco about it.  Of course he showed a sad face, a pittiful face.  He told me to wait for him until he had fixed the issue about emk.  (by the way, emk and I are now friends, i don't have anything against her)
On day, While i was having my breaktime in school, our school guard called me up and told that someone
left a gift for me.  I was thinking that it might be a bribe from a parent of the student who failed in my class.   With my surprise, i saw a note after opening the gift that goes this way, "Andrea, don't get married yet"
I knew it! it was from Coco, he sent me a complete set of christian inspirational movies.  Fireproof, my most favorite one, Flywheel, Faith Like a Potato and Facing the Giants.
My co teachers made my love life an object of fun.  Almost everyday, they will tease me of being torn between lovers.  I just went with the flow, i laugh with them but deep in my heart i was confused.  Will I wait for Coco or I will open my heart to Mark....
Let's see what happens on my next blog!
Got to go, i'll be cooking for Mark's stag party... byebye God Bless!