Hello Everyone and welcome to Forward Flight!
(By the time you all read this I'll be heading to the Philippines.)
I’m excited to say that even though I didn’t get to see as many people as I wanted I still got to see people that I cared about. If you didn’t see me before I took to the skies then it’s okay. It’s the thought that counts! Besides, I know that most of my friends are antisocial and/or introverts. That alone makes it difficult to get a lot of us together in one spot. Whether you saw me or not I want you to know that I still care about you. No one deserves to not have someone that cares about them!
The plan is to update you every once a week on Mondays. Tuesday my time. I chose Mondays because a lot of people don’t look forward to Mondays. I don’t exactly have a professional way of writing this blog. This will be more of a casual, “Hey by the way! I’m doing okay!” sort of set up.
I know that a lot of you will have questions over time. You can either comment on the post itself or go to my ‘Ask Questions Here’ page. There you can ask me questions and I’ll receive them through my email. I know that some of you wanted to Pen pal me and I’m not against it but being able to send me mail in the Philippines is either expensive and/or difficult because of the postal system. When I have an update on this I'll let everyone know. Until then, if you want to email me directly you always can. I'll answer as soon as possible. I'll have my email at the bottom of this post.
Here's a question that people keep asking me.
When are you coming back: The plan is to go there until school ends so the general trip will be around two years or so.
There are other questions that I've been asked and I don't mind answering. Overall, this experience is one that I want to share. I'll be flying with my aunt and my mother. We'll be leaving Wednesday, April 25th, at 12:50AM (Or, 00:50) and getting to the Philippines on April 26th at 11:40AM (their time).
It's weird to think about the time when traveling but try not to put too much thought into it.The actual travel time that will pass for me is about 25 hours. However, when you look at it from a timezone perspective only eight hours will pass.
I'll make sure to let y'all know what I do in Taiwan. Another question that has come up since I've told people that I'm 'moving' to the Philippines is "how are you going to get your stuff over there?" The answer is quite simple really. I won't be taking my 'stuff' to the Philippines. Here in America a lot of people like to be attached to their belongings and their 'physical' things.
For me, there's no need to bring most of it. Or hardly anything to be honest. All I need to bring is a weeks worth of clothes to last until I can get to the store. I’ll need the minimal amount of toiletries, a journal to write in, and the CD I invested in.
There's no need to bring my posters, my boxes of journals that I've finished, the mass of books that I've collected, and ect. I won't be bringing these things because as much as I like my personal 'stuff' I don't 'need' them. After all, what's stopping me from being able to buy more clothes in the Philippines. What's stopping me from buying the essentials in the Philippines? Nothing! That and, it's cheaper so why not?
These last few weeks have been exciting. I got to be the center of attention even though I’m not one who likes to be in the center of it. Alan (my boyfriend) and I went to New Mexico for our last anniversary. I know that a lot of you wonder what he thinks and what we’re going to do. Honestly, it doesn’t matter what we decide because that’s between us. There’s a lot to think about when looking into a distant relationship. Now, I want everyone to listen to this because this will my only answer. If anyone ask me about my relationship or relationships I’m going to tell them that it doesn’t matter because they’re not part of that relationship. If anyone comes out to me and tells me how much they feel for me I’m going to tell you that I don’t care. There’s no way around it. I’m going to school in the Philippines and my focus isn’t on a relationship. I don’t want to answer questions about any of my past relationships. If the subject so happens to come up and I talk to you about it then that’s fine but please don’t insist that I tell you about my relationships because I won’t.
New Mexico was fun. I got to spend three whole days with Alan and once we came home I had to focus on saying goodbye to everyone else. I got to see my best friend and another close friend on the 19th and then stationed myself at The Gathering Place (a place in town where I could go play card games or meet up with friends in general). I didn’t plan on attending the Pre-Release for Dominaria but since I won’t be planning on playing Magic The Gathering in the Philippines I figured, why not?
For those of you who were able to attend I want to thank you. I had a great time playing different games, eating snacks, and overall socializing with people that I enjoyed spending time with. I was hoping to see more people but I don’t know what I would have done if I had run into more people that I needed to spend time with.
When I sent out invitations Facebook thought I was spamming people and that’s why I didn’t send out too many when I tried to re-invite everyone. It made me sad that I had technical issues but that’s alright. Anyone is who connected to my Facebook is always welcome to message me I have my Instagram linked up on my blog as well. I don’t mind adding people on my Facebook as long as I’ve met you. If I haven’t met you I probably won’t add you on Facebook but you’re welcome to follow me on Instagram. Let me know that you came across my blog and I’ll follow you back.
After today I’ll be posting an update on Mondays at 12pm (-5 UTC/Central Time). Let me know what questions you come up with and what things you want to see. For example, I have a friend who wants me to find out everything about Arnel Pineda (the lead singer of Journey), Now, I won’t be 100% focused on only finding out what I can about him for her but it’s a fun side quest for me to take upon while I’m there.
Say that you’ve never been to the beach. I’ll take a video or take pictures of one in response to your request. I want to know what y’all want to see while I’m over in the Philippines so please don’t be afraid to ask me about whatever comes to your mind.
Till Next Time,
Shinar/Cho/Dj
