December 14th, 2006 I arrived in the Philippines for the first time. I was scared to death. It was the first time I had been out of the United States. It was the first time I'd ever traveled alone. My flight had taken me from Philadelphia to Chicago. Chicago to Hong Kong- Hong Kong to the Philippines. A 24 hour flight all together. I arrived in Manila a little after midnight on the 14th.
When I pulled my suitcase out to the waiting area. There was F.B. & his Mother waiting for me in the crowd of people. His Mom was holding a purple banner with my name on it. It was the first time F.B. & I were face to face. We gave each other a hug and my first words to him were, "You're not so short!" See what happens when your brain is sleep deprived!? He always cracks up when I remind him of the first words I spoke to him in person. (It really wasn't a big deal though. I'm 5'6" he's 5'3") He gave me white roses when I got to the car and waiting at his house was a stuffed monkey I named 'Mr. Unggoy'. (Monkey in Tagalog.)
Blog Flashback: Got to the Philippines on 12-14-06. After a lonnnng flight. About 25 hours in total. I was pretty nervous at all the airports... the Chicago airport was pretty small. But I was scared to death in Hong Kong... that airport is HUGE! I had to ask for directions. I had to take this funny shuttle thing to the check in area. And then they didn't put a gate number on my ticket & I had to go look on the board to find it, and at first it was in Chinese. But then it changed to English. Got to Manila airport around 11pm. And met my boyfriend & his mother at the airport.
3 years into the relationship and we had finally met. After all the roller coasters in our relationship we were finally together. The first night we were together we hugged alot. And we shared our first 3 kisses that night as well. We couldn't believe we were actually together after all this time. It was a little weird at first being together in person, after talking online, through letters & the phone for so long. But things fell into place. We got along so well in person, we were best friends. We felt so comfortable around each other. For our first date. F.B. took me to the mall near his house. We ate at 'Tokyo Tokyo' and I tried Sushi for the first time. Then we got to see our first movie together, 'Happy Feet'.
I stayed for 3 weeks in the Philippines. We got to spend Christmas and New Years together. (On Christmas I was given my ring- though we hadn't decided on getting engaged just then.) We stayed a few days alone in Makati City and a few days alone up in Tagaytay City seeing the Taal Volcano. We had such a good time. It was so hard to say goodbye. I left the Philippines, January 3rd, 2007. When I was standing in line to check in for my flight I got a text message from F.B. saying to look behind me. He was able to watch me through the windows of the airport and would walk along when I did, waving to me until I had to pass through customs... and board my plane...
Some pictures from my first trip to the Philippines:
Blog Flash Back: 12-16-2006
Got to the Philippines on 12-14-06. After a lonnnng flight. About 25 hours in total. I was pretty nervous at all the airports... the Chicago airport was pretty small. But I was scared to death in Hong Kong... that airport is HUGE! I had to ask for directions. I had to take this funny shuttle thing to the check in area. And then they didn't put a gate number on my ticket & I had to go look on the board to find it, and at first it was in Chinese. But then it changed to English. Got to Manila airport around 11pm. Went through customs, got my luggage & went outside. There were a tonnnn of people... I was so nervous. F's mom had made a purple banner with 'Sarah' on it, so I could find them, and I saw F. & Gave him a hug and said, "You're not so short!"
The next day F & I went to a mall near his house. It was 5 levels. And huge!!! Lot's of people. We stopped and walked around a supermarket in the mall. We also had Japanese for lunch & I tried sushi. Then F & I saw the movie 'Happy Feet'. Lol. But it was just okay.
Today we just hung out around his house. And tomorrow we are going to church. And Monday we are off to Makati City for 4 days. That's about it for now.
"You're Not So Short!"
3/19/08
6:08:00 PM