I have traveled to many places during my breaks from school. When I was at these places I felt like I was in a whole new world. At times I find myself looking back at my many moments I have experienced. The memories are so vivid in my mind and I wanted to express how I felt at that instant.
A vivid memory I have is when I was at the Philippines. I was 9 or 10 at the time when my family and I went. My cousins from my mom’s side of the family lived there so we stayed at their house. Their house was in Manila which was a very well known area in the Philippines. The scenery was beautiful and there are so many mountains and palm trees. There was definitely a tropical feel. It also felt like the clouds were so close that you could touch them. I often caught myself staring at the sky because I wanted to know how it would feel like to be up there. It was very breath taking.
Where ever I went, I was greeted with smiling faces. At first I was nervous to talk to them because I didn’t know Tagalog, but I soon realized they knew English so I was relieved. As I ventured Manila with my family, people would be running to cross streets and they would be moving in and out of stores as if it were routine. I loved just watching them do their everyday tasks. I definitely felt like I was in the middle of a city and that was very exciting to me.
Manila wasn’t the only place I visited while I was there. I also visited the country side of the Philippines. I didn’t really know what to think of the country. There were vast plains and hills I hiked up to explore my surroundings. We stayed at my great grandma’s house while we were in the country. I liked being there, but we had to put up mosquito nets while we slept so we wouldn’t get bitten. It was an interesting experience. When morning came I saw a lot of lizards on the walls and it didn’t scare me at all. My dad was the one who wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. It made me laugh knowing that he was scared of them.
We eventually left and we were back in Manila. It rained while we were going back there. There was a heavy pour, but it stopped instantly. It was kind of funny to see all the people on the streets running for cover in the rain, but when it stopped the sun just came out and everything was so bright and sunny again. I wished that would happen back at home because I thought that it would be fun if it happened. I’ve never seen rain like that since then. A visual like that would never become a fading memory for me. The smell of rain was so different to me and I would love to experience that again.
Another memory from the Philippines is when we went to the beach. It was so different from other beaches that I have been to. Volcanoes were out in the distance and I couldn’t stop myself from staring. I even stared at the sand underneath my feet. I wasn’t used to black sand, but it felt so good to walk on. I even rested on it for a while. I buried my siblings in it and made sand castles. It was also fun to swim in the Ocean, but I had to get used to the salt water. It was really easy to float with the waves and just stare up at the sky. I would get attacked by the waves when I ran into them. It made me happy to get soaked and my siblings joined me while our parents just watched.
After we played around on the beach, we got to go on a canoe and paddle into the ocean. It was really pretty and calming to do so. You could see the fish clearly in the water and it was one of my favorite things to do while I was there. The sun was setting and it made the sky turn into an orange-purple haze that I gazed at until the sun was no longer visible. I will never forget being in the Philippines because it was so different from being at home. The weather was amazing and the scenery was so beautiful that it took my breath away. I would love to go and visit there again when I have the chance.
