Our Journey To Forever: There's No Place Like Home

Yes! I am finally back! And I say there's truly no place like home...

I've been away for five (5) long and agonizing days. Being my first longest trip by land, it was such a real ordeal. I had my period. It was one of those times where I hate being a woman! I also was suffering from tooth abscess. The day before the scheduled trip, my dentist was supposed to extract my tooth but I informed her that I will be having a long trip the next day. So the extraction will be done once I'm back. She prescribed some meds to give temporal relief to the pain I was feeling.

The entire trip was a disaster. The accommodation given to Region XII delegates wasn't "humane." We were housed at a public elementary school where water was so scarce. It wasn't even clean. Water availability was the first thing I've feared with this trip. I knew all along the place isn't as progressive as any other municipalities in the country. Being my first time, I felt like we were evacuees.

The school...

A snapshot of the classroom which became our home for 5 days and 4 nights...

The first night, I wanted to take a bus and go back home. I had so many rashes from mosquito bites. I can't even have a good night sleep. But of course, the circumstance was a real test of character. I had to think of the competition the next day.

Gosh! I wasn't even seriously thinking about the competition. That was my first time to play darts where scoring and hitting your target matters! I played for the fourth place but CARAGA Region beat me. Region X came out strong in Darts Single Women's category and was declared the champion; ARMM came in second.

BUT no one can beat my boss for the Men category. All other 5 regions tried but failed. He's declared champion! Wohohohooo! I wish I could play as good as him. One day... hehehe! (May balak, hahaha!)

All's well that ends well.

I tried to enjoy the remaining days of my stay in that "God forsaken" place. Good thing Mystique's Mom, my lovely Tita, was there, too. The 2nd COMELEC Mindanao Goodwill Games ended with a grand display of fireworks.

The event gave the field personnel a little break from the monotony of doing election-related works. More importantly, it was able to foster camarederie and enhanced relationships among and between COMELEC personnel of the six participating regions in the Island of Mindanao (Region IX, Region X, Region XI, Region XII, CARAGA and ARMM).

The 3rd COMELEC Mindanao Goodwill Games shall be hosted by Zamboanga, Region IX in 2010.

Opening night...