My holiday has come to an end; this is my 7th since I moved to Australia last January 2007.
Ten years have gone by... or if I add up all those years I spent away from the place I once officially called 'home', it's actually been 15 long years of physical absence!
That 'home' is now my holiday destination and finding it could, sometimes, potentially get hard. The vegetation has significantly gotten lush and thick along the highway thus making the appearance of the landscape quite different from the time I last saw it. So despite my exhaustion after taking 4 plane rides from Melbourne and finally a 3-hour PUV trip on the road, paying attention would be necessary so I could spot and get off at the right location.
Every time I arrive at my 'holiday destination', there's that strange feeling of like coming out of a time capsule-- it's like I had been frozen for a while, thawed and awakened, then I feel like I am entering into an old place that's very familiar to me!
Yes, welcome embraces were still warm and, actually, tighter but some things have obviously changed. Those kids have become grown-up teens, some faces have become wrinkled and those otherwise grey hairs are now regularly dyed. Ageing and vital-organ failure have gradually worn a pair of knees out; and if others are thriving with the aid of haemodialysis machines, there were those that have, sadly, given up and permanently departed.
Geographically, our place still exists but a lot has changed! There are relationship bridges that have been, thankfully, constructed but there have been some freshly acquired wounds that resulted to a few unwanted walls being built.
Several humble shelters were erected, and though renovations had been attempted-- ancestral houses have ended up dilapidated.
I LEFT BIALONG YESTERDAY MORNING-- that little village where I didn't just simply grow-up but most of all-- the place where I learned most of the important lessons I need in life... and where the greatest memories of my childhood were made!
My family and close relatives are aware that my nationality has changed but before I boarded the public utility van yesterday to commence my trip back to Australia, they sweetly asked me (with their tears held back, I knew), "So, when are you coming back home to visit us again?" I had managed to smile but opted not to answer the question.
I have stepped back into my 'time capsule' once again (I am typing this aboard SQ 227) and I wish I could also lock my birthplace up in a time capsule so every time I come 'home' (as what my loved ones would prefer to call it), everybody and every family historic structure is still there-- alive, healthy and still standing tall!
For the meantime, all I can do is lock them up tight and safe in my heart.
.
Ten years have gone by... or if I add up all those years I spent away from the place I once officially called 'home', it's actually been 15 long years of physical absence!
That 'home' is now my holiday destination and finding it could, sometimes, potentially get hard. The vegetation has significantly gotten lush and thick along the highway thus making the appearance of the landscape quite different from the time I last saw it. So despite my exhaustion after taking 4 plane rides from Melbourne and finally a 3-hour PUV trip on the road, paying attention would be necessary so I could spot and get off at the right location.
Every time I arrive at my 'holiday destination', there's that strange feeling of like coming out of a time capsule-- it's like I had been frozen for a while, thawed and awakened, then I feel like I am entering into an old place that's very familiar to me!
Yes, welcome embraces were still warm and, actually, tighter but some things have obviously changed. Those kids have become grown-up teens, some faces have become wrinkled and those otherwise grey hairs are now regularly dyed. Ageing and vital-organ failure have gradually worn a pair of knees out; and if others are thriving with the aid of haemodialysis machines, there were those that have, sadly, given up and permanently departed.
Geographically, our place still exists but a lot has changed! There are relationship bridges that have been, thankfully, constructed but there have been some freshly acquired wounds that resulted to a few unwanted walls being built.
Several humble shelters were erected, and though renovations had been attempted-- ancestral houses have ended up dilapidated.
I LEFT BIALONG YESTERDAY MORNING-- that little village where I didn't just simply grow-up but most of all-- the place where I learned most of the important lessons I need in life... and where the greatest memories of my childhood were made!
My family and close relatives are aware that my nationality has changed but before I boarded the public utility van yesterday to commence my trip back to Australia, they sweetly asked me (with their tears held back, I knew), "So, when are you coming back home to visit us again?" I had managed to smile but opted not to answer the question.
I have stepped back into my 'time capsule' once again (I am typing this aboard SQ 227) and I wish I could also lock my birthplace up in a time capsule so every time I come 'home' (as what my loved ones would prefer to call it), everybody and every family historic structure is still there-- alive, healthy and still standing tall!
For the meantime, all I can do is lock them up tight and safe in my heart.
.
