June 06, 2007 [09:22 am]
It’s my first day at the Elias B. Lopez Residence Hall at the University of the Philippines in Mindanao. It’s frustrating. I woke up at five, took a bath, ate breakfast, and left the house an hour and a half later. My parents accompanied me to the University campus, arriving at the residence hall around 7:00 am. I started unpacking my belongings and ended at 9. I got frustrated making the bed. It’s difficult to cover the mattress with a blanket, pin it with six safety pins (I should’ve brought eight), and cover the bed with a quilt when a ladder [going to the top bank of the double-decker bed] is blocking the way. Yet I still managed to do it without anyone’s help.
I feel so alone. I feel homesick. I miss my bed, my pillows, the television, the clean comfort room and bathroom, the kitchen… EVERYTHING! I miss every corner of my house. I feel so miserable not being able to do things here, which I can do at home. I was so enthusiastic last night to pack all my belongings and leave. Yet, here I am, fed up with isolation and misery. I feel that the term L-O-N-E-R revolves around me. My roommate, made the first move to say hi. All I did was keep silent and busied myself unpack. When she asks, that’s the only time I open my mouth. I wanted to talk first but I couldn’t. Fear took over me. She asked me in a dialect I barely understood. I answered her but I didn’t have the courage to tell her that I barely understood her language.
I don’t know why I’m frightened, or why should I be frightened. I admit that I am not used with the new surroundings. It’s not the usual thing I encounter everyday in the city. The toilet is dirty, and you need to use a dipper(in layman’s term, tabo at balde). The comfort room floor is too wet and slippery. The shower room is also dirty. The canteen is small and smelly. The only thing that is clean around here is the comfort room at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences building. Every week for five days, I have to suffer living in this remote area.
I complain not because I’m maarte, but the fact that the place is dirty it’s not safe and clean to live in it. I fear touching the doorknob and allow germs to crawl my body. Taking a bath will be useless since the shower rooms are dirty. Food at the canteen will be contaminated since the area is filthy.
My sister told me I should mingle with the people here. I can do that. The only think I can’t do is to live here with the people I’ve mingled with, considering the filthy murky icky residence hall. I think I won’t be able to survive here.
It’s my first day at the Elias B. Lopez Residence Hall at the University of the Philippines in Mindanao. It’s frustrating. I woke up at five, took a bath, ate breakfast, and left the house an hour and a half later. My parents accompanied me to the University campus, arriving at the residence hall around 7:00 am. I started unpacking my belongings and ended at 9. I got frustrated making the bed. It’s difficult to cover the mattress with a blanket, pin it with six safety pins (I should’ve brought eight), and cover the bed with a quilt when a ladder [going to the top bank of the double-decker bed] is blocking the way. Yet I still managed to do it without anyone’s help.
I feel so alone. I feel homesick. I miss my bed, my pillows, the television, the clean comfort room and bathroom, the kitchen… EVERYTHING! I miss every corner of my house. I feel so miserable not being able to do things here, which I can do at home. I was so enthusiastic last night to pack all my belongings and leave. Yet, here I am, fed up with isolation and misery. I feel that the term L-O-N-E-R revolves around me. My roommate, made the first move to say hi. All I did was keep silent and busied myself unpack. When she asks, that’s the only time I open my mouth. I wanted to talk first but I couldn’t. Fear took over me. She asked me in a dialect I barely understood. I answered her but I didn’t have the courage to tell her that I barely understood her language.
I don’t know why I’m frightened, or why should I be frightened. I admit that I am not used with the new surroundings. It’s not the usual thing I encounter everyday in the city. The toilet is dirty, and you need to use a dipper(in layman’s term, tabo at balde). The comfort room floor is too wet and slippery. The shower room is also dirty. The canteen is small and smelly. The only thing that is clean around here is the comfort room at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences building. Every week for five days, I have to suffer living in this remote area.
I complain not because I’m maarte, but the fact that the place is dirty it’s not safe and clean to live in it. I fear touching the doorknob and allow germs to crawl my body. Taking a bath will be useless since the shower rooms are dirty. Food at the canteen will be contaminated since the area is filthy.
My sister told me I should mingle with the people here. I can do that. The only think I can’t do is to live here with the people I’ve mingled with, considering the filthy murky icky residence hall. I think I won’t be able to survive here.
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