Life of Coming to America [On Hold and Currently Editing]

1 | Airport Madness

[Alex]

One last look. I told myself. Today marks your next step for the future. Mom was waiting for me in the car, she already called me 2 times; 3 should be enough, or we'll miss our flight.

"Alex!" She called me once more. I should go now. But I was afraid to look back if I turn. "I'll miss you, my dear house." This house sheltered me for 17 years now, in storms and in disasters, this house saved my life.

"Alex, for the love of God!" My mom called me for the last time until I finally turned, going to the car. This is it, I'm leaving this country and going to where I've dreamed of living my life.

As I finally got inside the car, my mom just looked at me. I can see tears in her eyes, which makes me want to cry to. "It's okay." She says to me, wiping off the teardrops on her cheek. "I know our house - this house will be missed, and nver to be forgotten." She gives me a pat on the back, and I hold her hand and I looked at her in the eyes, saying "Let's go mom. Or else, we're going to miss our flight."

She finally wipes all the tears away, she grabs to steering wheel and says "Okay hon, let's go."

 I switched on my cellphone to listen to music that will keep my attented before we go to Manila for our flight to Nebraska. "Mom?" I call her. She immediately looks at me and asks "What is it, Alex? You forgot something?" I shake my head and just said "Wake me up when we get there." She nods back to me.

I put my seatbelt on, placed my earphones in my ears, and closed my eyes.

*****

It was around 9 o'clock when we arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in Manila. It was a pretty crowded place. Thank God we're finally leaving the Philippines. The country's capital, which where we are right now, is one of the most crowded cities in Asia, and possibly the world.

Here's the thing, I don't like airplanes. No, I don't have a phobia about riding airplanes, but it's just so...frightning. You know what happened to the recent Malaysian Airline; there's a possible chance there are two terrorists that are boarding with us, or Aliens will kidnap us. And I don't want to drown or get eaten by sharks when the plane was bombed, or get probed by Aliens.

As I was saying, the airport was pretty crowded, I was having a hard time moving because there were people with big trunks filled with food and clothes, then there was this family in front of us and they have three children just running around. I almost hit one of the three twice! And if I do hit it, the boy could have hit his head on the floor, and I don't know what will happen to me then.

Another thing about me is, I'm pessimistic. I always think of something bad that will happen and I just couldn't handle the pressure if it does happen.

As I finally get to sit in the waiting areas, so I got my crossword puzzle I've been keeping for a month now. I'm already finish though completing 248 puzzles out of 250. But the thing is, I don't know the word that means: a thing at which someone excels. And if I can find the meaning to it, I'm finished with the second to the last puzzle and I can move on to the last one.

While I was doing my crossword my mom was just watching a movie that time. I believe it was the new Johnny Depp movie, but I'm not sure what movie it is. But I can tell you this, she just laughs a lot when she watches comedy movies or sitcoms.

Atleast my mom's a humorous person, unlike some moms who are more strict than their husbands.

I then got bored and hungry so I just tapped my mom in her shoulder to ask for money to buy a snack. She opened her shoulder bag and gave me one hundred Philippine pesos, which was about $2 and a few cents.

As I head to one of the stalls, I spot this cute Asian girl looking at me. She's definitely not Filipino I'm sure of that. I guess that's a sign that she likes me. But should I talk to her? Wait, what if she was looking at another guy?

I ordered a hotdog and a coke and (un)coincidentaly, she went next to me to order the same food that I ordered. God, don't tell me she's actually going to hit on me. After I got the food I ordered, she said "Hi. I'm Shaiya." Hmm. Possibly she's Thai or Malaysian. But she isn't wearing a turbin or whatever you call those things Muslim girls wear.

After she spoke to me there was only one problem: I think she's too young for me. She's probably either 14 or 15. No, really, I'm not kidding. One thing my friends told me is that it is hard to know what age a girl is. And as a 17 year old guy, getting hit on by someone who is 14 or 15 isn't something I would want to happen.

Truth? A lot of my friends think I look like 15 maybe that's why. I am Filipino-American-Spanish which probably proves my point.

And I didn't really didn't know what to say. Should I act all nice at her, or should I lie and tell that I'm not interested because I was too old for her.

But all I said was "Hi. I'm Alex. Nice to meet you(?)." No, I didn't really want to meet her.

While I was putting on ketchup (or catsup) on my hotdog she said "Nice to meet you too, Alex. So, what country will you be going?" God, she's trying to flirt with me, isn't she? I mean, she's a girl at all and boys don't actually get these chances where girls go to them randomly and try to flirt with them.

"To, Singapore." I lied. I can see that she's going to grab something out of her bag and I did the most uncanny and somewhat ungentlemanly thing to do:

"Okay, bye." I say and I rushed to my mom. Of course I didn't look back or even telling her before I left that I will be boarding already.

As I sat next to my mom, I can that she smirked and said "So, what happend with you and that Thai girl?" Oh, so she's actually Thai. But she does somewhat have a Malaysian accent. Hmm, I guess Thais and Malaysians have both the same accents.

"I don't really know. I think she's too young for me. She's like 15 right?" I reply to her question while costantly taking a bite out of my hotdog.

She shook her head and said "She's 13." That made me feel ill a bit. Getting hit on by a 13 year old Thai girl sounds really bad to me.

"I'm a bit sleepy." I say. "I'm going to sleep now." I said as I placed my head to my lap and I closed my eyes. There was still an hour before the flight I think.

***

About 10 minutes later I found myself sitting in the airplane. we were sitted in the left-middle part of the plane and we were vert close to on eof the emergency door. My mom finished putting the medium sized duffel bag above us and as she sat, she held my hand and got her Rosary. My mom was very religious and wanted us to pray silently before we take off. But as we were in the middle of our prayers, the plane finally took off. Of course I felt this ensation in my stomach - it was like my intestines were shaking. God, please don't make me barf while I'm praying.

I took a look outside and saw that we were really above by about a hundred feet. I then whispered - "Goodbye Philipppines."