Convention City
Being in Cebu was like being home in Bicol for a little while. I was surrounded by Aunties. It happened that the Lions Club had come to Cebu City for their annual national convention. My mom was supposed to have come too, but she'd backed out. I arrived in Cebu, having been warned by Mom about the convention, but I forgot about it. Thus, when I got there, the hotels I went to were fully booked! Prices, too, had skyrocketed. I was supposed to sleepover at my brother's girlfriend's place and see my godchild, but she was out of coverage area the whole time I kept trying to call her on her cellphone. Thus, I had nowhere to stay. So I called my mother and everything was arranged. Tita (Aunt) Lita and Tita Josie, friends of my mother's, would let me stay in their room.
It was weird suddenly being surrounded by people I knew from home. But in for a penny, in for a pound, so they say. I ended up accompanying my aunts to the Fellowship Party, then to the Convention Parade the next day, and finally the city tour that another auntie had organized. They also tried to recruit me into the Lions. I eventually remembered (through my mom) that when I was still in school, they did induct me to the youth division, called Leo. I wasn't active then, so I'd forgotten all about it! In effect, I still had a right to be there.
Trying to find Eva A. was an adventure in itself. I was already billetted at a hotel in Mandaue, so it was not too far from where she was supposed to be. I had two addresses: one had a number and was in an exclusive subdivision, and another had just the vague Upper Consolacion address. Obviously, I needed to start with the former, which happened to be her sister's address. The sister and her husband were out on holiday. So using the same cab, I tracked her down in Consolacion. I had the most patient cab driver imaginable, because we got lost.
