stats and roots

islands visited: 9 (luzon, cebu, mactan, panglao, bohol, olango, nalusuan, panay, corregidor)

photos uploaded to my portable drive: 890

mosquito bites: too many to count

halo halos consumed: too many to count

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this weekend's trip to bicol was really wonderful. to think there is a beautiful place where when you look out across the landscape all you can see are coconut and banana trees or rice fields...and that's where most of my family is from. yesterday i was in libmanan, my mom's hometown. our stay was short, but i got to see where my grandpa's farm was and the corner store where the whole family worked (my grandparents, my mom, my uncles and aunts). my oldest cousin owns the land now and sells animal feeds in the store. the highlight was when my mom went behind the counter and started telling me stories: waiting for my grandpa under the box of salt to open the store at 4am, watching her admirers as they rode around the block a few times, waving to her boyfriend who worked in the store across the street..."this was me behind the counter," she said.

and as i tried to fall asleep last night, i couldn't help being overcome by emotions of humility, gratitude, and love.

a long awaited return

this trip arrived faster than i anticipated.

as the plane descended on a grey Manila dawn, the sentimental side in me suddenly realized that it has been a lifetime, literally my lifetime, since i have touched down upon this land. twenty-two years since i inhaled the warm breath of the motherland. setting foot into a land that i visited before i could even walk, before i could even remember.

it's been a good return. many things familiar, many things foreign, but altogether home.

livin' our dreams

this shows distance x speed...the downward slope between 5k & 10k were the classic hills of sf

thanks to my fans who texted/messaged or got up at 6am (or earlier) to cheer me on. =)

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if ever there was a time to do what you gotta do or do what you want to do, the time is now...at least for me.

this concludes the half marathon training edition of the camilleeon chronicles. soon to begin (with a sfo 10:30 departure tonight)...the philippines edition! i don't know how much internet access i will have, but i will update when i can.