there and back again

Just got back from Cebu where I was supposed to attend a conference for BEC (Basic Ecclesial Communities), however, on the way there I fell ill with some kind of flu (bird?). It was an overnight voyage by sea to Cebu and in the middle of the night I awoke thinking I got on the wrong boat for surely this one was bound for hell. The galley full of sweaty slumbering bodies, the growling engine, the stench of diesel. Thrice I wretched overboard into the stormy sea, with each wretching followed by a peace of equal magnitude to the torture that preceded it. With peace comes sleep, only to wake up an hour later to engage in the bitter struggle again. Up and down, toss and turn, spin round and round. Have to get up and move. Get some fresh air. I’m tired, but no place to sit. Can’t lie down or I’ll hurl. Why have You forsaken me? Gotta think of something else besides my agony. 4AM. Everyone else is sleeping, except for the few other lost souls like me who haunt this boat like scepters. A woman paces back and forth. An old man sitting on the bottom bunk crosses himself repeatedly. Oh here we go again... Run, run, run. BLEEEGGHHHHH!!! Thank you Jesus.

So no conference for me. Spent three days at Lola’s sleeping and watching Filipino TV, which is normally crappy but under such circumstances it was bliss. When I got better I spent another day looking for the restroom in the local “Mega Mall” which is mega indeed. At least twice I worked myself into such a seething rage at getting myself so lost that I wanted to freak out (i.e. tear at my clothes, thrash around, and belabor the people and things around me with my blows). But instead I just bit my lip.

After a harrowing many-legged jouney back to the island, I found myself far away from the the stress of a Third World city and once again at home in the Shire, greeted by warm smiles and salutations.