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by Carmelita Cochingco Ballesteros.
January 21, 2011
Going home to the Philippines after 10 years of overseas teaching? Half of it spent in workaholic Singapore? What would you look forward to if you were in my place?
Long hours of uninterrupted sleep. No lessons to prepare; no classes to teach. Long conversations over unhurried meals. Leisurely walks around the neighborhood. Peace and quiet.
* * *
I accomplished my academic duties as a Visiting Lecturer at the National Institute of Education in Singapore on December 10, 2010. I would be completing my visiting appointment on December 31 and was allowed to use my remaining leave. Thus, my repatriation and flight home was scheduled on December 19.
From the 11th to the 18th of December, I sorted my belongings in my office and in my faculty apartment, supervised the packing by a moving company, did some shopping, bought a new laptop and transferred files from my office computer, had lunches and dinners with some colleagues and friends, and served in church-related activities at the parish of St. Francis of Assisi.
I rushed here and there, had little sleep, and essentially ran on an empty tank. I didn’t realize that it was impossible to cover 100 kilometers with one liter of gasoline. I nearly gave up on December 18, the day before my flight.
But giving up was not an option so I prayed harder. By God’s grace, I made it to Singapore’s Changi International Airport on December 19 at 7:00 a.m. and touched down at the scruffy, historic, and surprisingly functional Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Terminal 1, in Manila at 2:00 p.m.
My family picked me up from the airport, took me home, then rushed to an evening appointment. They were busy the following week managing a birthday event. In fact, I had to run some errands myself.
So on December 24, we were dead tired. Nevertheless, my daughter-in-law managed to put together a lovely dinner at home. We declined invitations from friends and relatives and we all retired to bed by 8:00 p.m.
On Christmas day, we filed into the car at 9:00 a.m. to hear mass at a nearby chapel. But the priest had called off the scheduled mass. So we drove southward from our home in Bacoor, Cavite in search of a church with a Christmas mass.
When we arrived at the La Salette Seminary in Silang, Cavite, the mass was about to end. Our patch of land in Mendez, Cavite was nearby so we decided to go there, instead. We’re developing a garden and a grotto, and construction is ongoing. We wanted to make sure that the materials and equipment were secure. The workers had gone home for their Christmas break.
An aunt and a brother who live in Nasugbu, Batangas, my hometown, texted lunch invitations. We drove on from Cavite to Batangas and had two lunches in two homes.
At 6:00 p.m., we finally managed to hear mass at the Our Lady of Lourdes Parish Church in Tagaytay City, Cavite. Although it was a windy and cold evening, it was warm and cozy inside the splendidly decorated church.
* * *
More than two centuries ago, Joseph and Mary were on the road on the day the Child Jesus was born. Joseph and Mary had accepted a most extraordinary vocation as human parents of the Son of God, the Word made flesh.
What vocation is waiting for me and my family? We don’t really know.
When the garden and grotto are completed in the cool countryside of Cavite, where the fog descends at four in the afternoon and gazillions of stars light up the sky at seven in the evening, I pray with all my heart that everyone who will come by to visit will experience:
Long hours of sound sleep. No work and deadlines. Intimate conversations over lovingly-prepared organic meals. Meditative walks around the garden and enlightening reflections at the grotto. Most of all, Joseph and Mary’s humility, healing and wholeness, and the fullness of the peace of Christ!