Chad De Guzman is a 17-year-old Filipino guy living in the Philippines with his mother. He's the captain of a volleyball team in his school, and is a traveler. Though he's funny, quirky, go-with-the-flow guy, he's pretty emotional when it comes to h...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A year has passed, and I was supposed to be enrolled here in the Philippines for my senior year. However, life had a plan for me. Junior year was quite memorable. I was one of the top students, and we won almost all the volleyball matches against the other schools, and we celebrated a lot by having a night-out or sleepover with the team. It's just saddening that I'm leaving all this fun, these memories, here in the Philippines. About 2 hours from now, we're boarding to USA.
My mom has prepared all the documents needed, as Bill consulted the school in Maine on how would be the process for a transferal of student from another country to there in the US. There isn't really a lot of requirements, and those are all easy to get, but they are strict with it. So before Bill booked a flight for us, mom obtained all the requirements to get me schooled there.
Now, here we are at NAIA Terminal 3, waiting for our flight. Max and Sophie were with me earlier just before mom and I entered the airport. Sophie was crying but Max was telling that it's not like I'm going to leave them for good. Mom had to interfere and tell them that we'll be back in the Philippines soon. I wonder how soon it is. Leaving them is like leaving a part of me – volleyball, the school, my friends, my relatives. And yes, it's not like I'm leaving them for good, but do you know that feeling where you always want to be where you currently are, like you're just contented on whatever you see and have? It may not be much, but this is home. It will always be.
"You can sleep," mom tells me as we take a seat on one of the crooked metal chairs, wrapping the rainbow shawl around her slim neck. "We're early. We still have two hours left before we board, and it's an 18-hour plane ride."
"18-hour? Puta."
"Language." My mom scolds me. I make a peace sign to her.
"Sa eroplano na lang ako matutulog." I tell her and she nods her head. She opens the jar of small tamarind candy she's brought for us to munch while we wait. It's her favorite. "I'm missing my bed already."
"We'll arrive there soon, and you can sleep all you want."
It's 2 in the morning here and even though I have enough sleep, I still feel sleepy and groggy. I've consumed two sweet coffees and none of them kicked in my system to keep me awake. This is actually the first time I'm going to ride an airplane, and it excites me. Though I'm a bit sad as I can't share this experience with Max and Sophie. We haven't even left the country yet I'm already missing them. They have been there for me, especially Max. He will definitely receive a lot of stuff from me when I come back here.
Two hours have passed and the announcer tells us that we're ready to board, to have our passport and tickets ready and for inspection. Our luggage have already been taken care of. My heart races and a smile tugs on my lips as I finally see the big airplane awaiting us, parked along with the other big airplanes. Someone leads us to plane. We're assigned at the J12 and J13 seats, and mom promised me that I get to sit on the window seat.
