The Koa Home in Bacolod

Bacolod In January 2011

Why I Love-Hate my Neigborhood

 

       I was antique shopping in a market. I had espied an aqua paint-covered baul in the            middle of a stack of stuff on an upper shelf. The paint looked like it was splashed              on the baul. I asked the merchant to bring down. But first, he brought down what                looked like a box covered with hammered-out tin with a design intended for children. I        found it interesting but was anticipating the baul when ..... deafening music woke me          up! Grrrr!

Like the shifting of scenes in a movie, loud pop music intruded into my consciousness. Music from the loudspeakers of the high school in front of my house interrupted my beautiful dream... Hay, now I'll never know if I was able to buy an expensive antique item which I am cannot afford do in real life! 

I live in a street just off a busy main road but our street is almost always free of vehicular traffic. No engine sounds or horn blasts mar the silence. The sounds would normally come from children playing or calls from the magtataho or sorbetero, and other ambulant vendors plying their trade. Most schooldays, I am awakened either by a young voice singing over the sound system the national anthem or the strong, stern voice of the pricipal admonishing her students to do well what it is high school students are expected to do. In years past, the sound of the machines in the vocational school would punctuate the relative peace and quiet of the neighborhood.  

Drainage.., trees sidewalk, DPWH

Down with the Flu!

Yes, I'm sick! I'm not too sure if it's the flu because I'm not showing all the symptoms. Well, not all at once anyway. Here's a rundown of the unfolding of the ailment:

           First, started getting woozy Sunday evening. This, I attributed to a high cholesterol lunch of batchoy. 

           By Monday, woozy had progressed to dizzy - a mild attack of vertigo which prevented me from going to work.

          Tuesday, my nose started to drip more than usual. Nothing that a boxful of tissue couldn't handle. Or so I thought!

          On Wednesday, I had to force myself to go to work even if I was sneezing violently all over the place.

          Thursday,  there was very little energy left to give a lecture in class as I had also started coughing.

          Friday was spent in bed trying to fight off the virus or bacteria or whatever name the enemy goes by. 

           By Saturday morning, my nose and upper lip area were encrusted with dry, rough skin    from all the nose-blowing I had been doing. When the skin started peeling off later in the day, I thought I was on the road to recovery. I was feeling sort of okay until while taking a nap, I started getting chills. Woke up feverish and surrendered my resolve not to take  paracetamol.

         Today,  I missed my Sunday mass assignment because I woke up with a bad headache. Not the best combination with a still runny nose and cough! Hay!

It's taken me a week to accept that I am indeed sick with the flu! Mothers have a way of thinking they're invulnerable but I guess that's pretty difficult in a household with people spewing out the dreaded germs in every corner! Yes, it's an excuse to stay in bed the whole day but it doesn't seem like resting to me when I have to wipe my nose every few minutes and then feeling bleah during my waking hours!


But I hope to will this ailment away. It has overstayed its welcome! In my mind, I can see it being bamboozled by copious amounts of water, tea, fruit juice, Vitamin C, and saline solution. Then I imagine it disappearing into nothingness as my antibodies cheerfully jump up and down while chanting "Down with the flu, down with the flu!"