Taking one trip at a time...

I love out-of-town trips. I love going to, exploring and getting to know different places (and people). Traveling would always give me a kind of high that's comparable, let's say, to a high that one gets when he joins a contest and wins it! One of my greatest dreams in life is to travel and visit every single country in the world. I want to go back-packing one day, and I'd like to start here in the Philippines. I want to set foot and see all our towns, cities and provinces here in the Philippines. Weeee! Just thinking about it excites me to no end!

But, of course, before I can actually do all that, I will have to save a lot of money. So, right now, I content myself with little out-of-town trips with family or with friends. When I do get the chance to go traveling or to go on an out-of-town trip, I see to it that I have a great time.

Last weekend, my friends from the Department and I (there were six of us) went on an out-of-town trip. After working our butts off non-stop for 6 whole months, we finally got the chance to go out, relax and just have fun. Thanks to the long weekend we had due to All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day! We went to Cagayan de Oro. Compared to MSU, Cagayan de Oro is much busier and, well, more bustling with life and activity. But, we went there to have the change that we all wanted and felt needed. We wanted to just stop thinking of work for a few days and just concentrate on relaxing and having fun.

Being English majors and, now, teachers, all of us were really excited about going to the bookstores and book-hunting. It's great when you go to a bookstore with people who actually appreciate books as much as you do because you can actually take your time and even compare notes and exchange opinions about certain books. See, if you go with somebody who doesn't like to read and who doesn't understand why you have to take so much time deciding which books to finally purchase, you would only end up leaving the bookstore both pissed off or, at least, one of you pissed off! So, needless to say, my friends and I spent around 60-65% of our whole time in Cagayan de Oro having agreat and fun time at the bookstores.

We also went to and checked out what the Kagay-anons call the Night Cafe. Starting 9:00 in the evening, they'd actually put tables and bars in the middle of what, during daytime, is usually a very busy street and just hang out. The whole street is converted into a strip of food stalls, little open bars, as well as stalls that sold all sorts of things. Shoes, clothes, accesories, cell phones, DVDs and VCDs, etc. It was my first time to actually go the Night Cafe. It reminded me so much of Bangkok's Night Market. It was fun. We just walked around and looked at some stuff. And then, we decided to go back to the dorm-type hostel where we stayed.

In the hostel, we played Taboo and Ice Breaker until the wee hours of the morning. It was so much fun and we also got to know one another so much better. It was also a chance for some of us to just let out their feelings and frustrations. After the games, everybody felt good.

That was basically how our trip went. Yes, we got what we went there for. And more. It was especially nice that we were able to really bond. It's always better to have a good relationship with people one works with, isn't it? As we were heading for the bus terminal, we were all wishing that we could go out more often. And, we decided that for our next trip, we will go to Camiguin! Weee! So, Camiguin, just you wait... The English People are very soon coming to paint your fine sand red! :)

Special thanks again to the Hoo-Haa Girls, my uber-wonderful firends: Sharifa, Asral, Blessa, Melissa and Ailannie. To more trips! To more games! To more laughter! To more money! Hehehehe:) Cheers!

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The beautiful Junior Faculty Members of the MSU-English Department...