Kapatirang Pinoy

Up till now, I am still catching up on the sleeping hours I’ve lost while preparing for our activity for the month of June, the Kalayaan Sportsfest 2008, as the name implies, its our own way of celebrating the Philippine Independence Day through sports even though we are thousands of miles away from home --- and what else can unite Filipinos (other than Pacman!) but our love for Basketball.

During the last week prior to the event, a lot of people turned up in Kuya Boy’s house every night to help with the printing of the souvenir t-shirts and the players numbered shirts. It's heartwarming to see the generosity of fellow kababayans, with their time, efforts, and money to make this event successful. I can really feel that they want this to be fun for all of us. Everyone is pitching in, offerring assistance in every way. Nakakatuwa! Nakakataba ng puso!

Of course, mawala ba ang mga atribida sa buhay!!! grrrr.....

20th June 2008. Friday morning, we were up early even though we finished off printing t-shirts at about 4.30am....I already got a wake-up text from Kuya Boy at 7.30am....Kaloka na! We all trooped to his house.... Oh my God! I still have to blow the balloons!!! (i-career ko na lang yata ito talaga! promising career talaga sya!) At least, we were able to catch the last ferry out from Male at around 11.30am (its Friday, during prayer time there are no ferries till 1.30pm).

More than a hundred Pinoys based in Male and in resorts went to Hulhumale either to play (we had an Inter-color tournament --- blue, white, red, gray) or to cheer (gaya namin!). For those who are not playing, we also had souvenir t-shirts that we sold for Mrf 50.00 (its cheap na especially if you factor in the sleepless nights we spent printing it!!!) in different colors. Sabi nga ng isang boss ko who was in Hulhumale that afternoon for a relative's birthday, "I knew you would be there coz there are so many Filipinos!"

(with Melissa, Ate Tess, Kuya Boy, & Kuya Carlito --- the four of us "bisdaks" were the loudest!)

Tiredness seeped out from me....well, I also took Red Bull.....hehehehe....all I was concerned about was how to shout loud, who to heckle, whom to laugh at.....hehehe....in fairness to the players, they showed us a good game!!! Feeling ko nga, I was back in the province and watching an Inter-Municipality tournament with all the sigawan in the world! hehehe

Ang sarap ng feeling when you see people enjoying, the smiles you can see from their faces, its really priceless --- definitely worth the pagod and lack of sleep!