Living In

Coming home at midnight from church* I find a note on the kitchen table for me: “There’s an unhealthy fruit salad in the veggie part of the fridge. Check it out.-HH”

Hehe. That made me grin. It’s my friends, the German couple with the Filipino family name. I’ve been living in with them for a week now.**

It all started last week when they arrived straight from the airport on their flight from Europe, and I sent them away. Yes, I did! Hehehe! I had them literally drop their bags and made them go away, shoo shoo. For at least an hour and a half, I said!

It all sounds terrible and un-Filipino like in hospitality, but ‘twas utterly necessary, believe me. They arrived a bit earlier than expected on an evening that capped a mad week of putting things in order – some construction and electrical work, some carpentry, some putting things away and a lot of continuous cleaning! And to put it bluntly, I wasn’t done. My files were still strewn across the floor. Yes the dust covered floor and I stank after a day of cleaning.

An hour or so later, with help from friends, the place was in order and we all succeeded in half-scaring the European guests out of their wits. “Surprise!” everyone yelled, when they returned from temporary exile.

So, now it’s been a week of meeting up at the dining table in the kitchen or even on the stairs, chatting long into the night or over morning coffee until it’s time to run to our respective appointments and schedules for the day.

It’s comforting to hear other people moving about in the house, to have impromptu in-house coffees and snacks, as well as the space and freedom to spread ourselves around without getting in each other’s way.

And it’s mighty convenient to have a six-footer in the house when the light bulbs need tweaking. Hehe.

Merry Christmas, Emote Gal and HH. Great to see you.

_____
*or to put it more accurately, coming home from browsing at a bookstore after coffee after a church Christmas cantata starring friends
**because roommie abandoned me early in the Christmas season!