How curious!
I just found out that there is a hot spring in Singapore called the Sembawang Hot Spring which used to be frequented by gamblers who took baths for good luck.
Wikipedia tells me there is no known explanation why the hot spring even exists. Coming from a country where hot springs pepper only the periphery of volcanoes, I am intrigued and looked at the topographical map and found nothing extraordinary. No fault lines. No lava-spewing crevices. Hmm. I’ve been here over six years, and I learn something new every day!
…
A few weeks ago, in the height of the F1 fever – massive flood, real-life drama and devastation tore through Manila. After all the panic, anxiety, desperation of trying to prompt for rescue and a lingering trauma of helplessness, I wept. It was heartbreaking to hear what my relatives went through and I pray that no one in the world would ever have to go through any of that – any more.
I was glued to the news, my computer, and my phone for days. Waiting. Nothing could give me peace. While I watched people literally bouncing all over the place from the excitement of the F1 races, my mind replayed images of cars and buses floating on the streets like paper sail-boats. Do you have any idea how that feels?
To feel conflicting emotions, and so many of them all at once?
I thought how blessed the people here in Singapore are. Virtually no imminent natural disaster, except perhaps for blue-moon lightning bolts that could fry someone alive (knock on wood). Aftershocks of the Samoa quake rippled a small ebb in parts of the country, thankfully, not to a damaging degree.
In Manila, being so used to earthquakes, typhoons, floods and volcanoes erupting – at the front door of my apartment, I kept a bag. A torch, a bottle of mineral water, a bag of cookies, slippers, an extra-shirt, plaster, a small radio, some money, my rosary, medicine, and an address book. Living alone, I had to be prepared for anything.
One time, in the middle of the night – there was an earthquake and I was with my sister Lu. For some reason I had presence of mind, even if I had been drinking that night. I grabbed my purse and shoved everything from my kitchen table in it. We ran down four flights on the fire-exit ladder only to find it padlocked. We had to run back through a swaying, dark corridor with people pushing and screaming. I remember the haunting sound as the building walls moaned, plates crashing to the floor, and the feel of the cold, shaking floor on my bare feet.
When we got to the street where everyone was huddled, and after surveying the skies as we ran away from swaying electrical wires – we stared at each other and burst out laughing until we cried. My sister was dressed in what seemed almost a lingerie. Before I slept I had dotted my face with Oxy. 1/2 inch perfect dots. What a sight we were! Haha. I opened my purse for tissue and found that of all things to save from my apartment, I saved my un-mailed Christmas cards. It was hilarious! Funny as it was, I resolved to make life simpler should anything else happen. That’s why the emergency bag.
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Today, I filled two bags with pretty, but old clothes knowing that other girls my size might have better use for them. They will be starting life from scratch, I wanted to help some way. I folded each piece and wished happiness and hope to who ever wears them. I practically tumbled to the donation centre, and though the freight company who ships the donations have reached their quota of free-shipment, they kindly took my package with a smile and said they’ll find a way. There was a bunch of people there, and when I looked at them to speak – their eyes spoke the very same emotions I’ve felt for the longest time. For all the times I’ve felt so disconnected from the world, I am so thankful that inside me is the heart of a Filipino.
