Thanks to dear jetlag, it is now 05.40 Southeast Asian time (22.41 Central European Time) and I am still wide awake in Hongkong. I will make my way to the Philippines tomorrow, or rather, later at 10.40 and my soul shell is still living in CET.
Instead of staring into the dark, I thought I should just write and share, before I forget all the details of the arduous journey from Budapest to here.
Fate was a bit determined to give me a hard time while getting out of Europe. I arrived at the Ferihegy airport exactly an hour before the flight and had a hard time locating where the departure area was. Found it, went straight to the Qatar Airways counter and was greeted with a smile and a "Jo napot!" to boot. Great, handed in the check-in paper (which was not useful at all) and was asked to produce my passport. Here goes: "Do you have a visa to go to Hongkong?" "My country has an agreement with Hongkong and we don't need any visa." "Are you sure?" For a second there, I started to doubt whether there was a new rule against visa-free entry and immediately fished out my old passport to show my previous admittance to HK without any visa. Holycowmoley. Why don't these airline staff even have a handbook or database to consult on visa requirements? Sure, they pass on their own doubts to the passenger and there was no point in the question and answer portion, because they were already quite convinced that they should be doubting what ignorance has conveniently allowed them to doubt. Not good.
Next up: credit card number. Berlin office said that the credit card has already been verified and erased the credit card number on the verification form but apparently the credit card number is still required. Had to do a panic SMS to my younger sister, who was already in HK en route to home. Thank God for family, my cousin also graciously lent his mobile to my younger sister who was fast enough to send the credit card number.
And then security check. This cream cheese that I brought got me into trouble. I forgot to take it out of my bag before the security check and, naturally, my bag went into the privilege lane - free shedding of its own skin, it was turned inside and out only for the security to find a pack of cream cheese, which unfortunately had to go inside the big black trash bin. I even offered it to him, "You can have it, it's not opened yet!" ack but nevermind about people starving, the cream cheese must go to the bin and join the Rakospalota landfill. Argh.
Finally, customs border control. Chose the slow lane and was asked the age old question: where have you been before coming to Hungary? Because my passport did not have the stamp that I entered Hungary - I was in another EU country. And for a brief moment there, I considered not going back. I muttered under my breath, "Fookit. I'm not coming back to this wretched place!" Who needs depression? The 5 invitations I got for one fine day this coming weekend, I never got while I was in Germany or Hungary. There are just not so many options to diversify your life in these two countries. I don't want to take away anything from Bonn or Budapest, just to clarify, it's not so much about the place, but the people. I don't have that many loved ones in either place. And there's even one less person, now that Tita Angie's moved on to heaven.
The passing away of Tita Angie helped me put things into perspective. By all means, let us save the world, save the climate, but leaving the world a better place includes taking care of the people who matter most in your life. Scoff, even, at prioritizing just your better half, happily putting aside other people in the world - this is not the way life should be. Inspired by the words of Alexander Supertramp, "Love is only real when shared."
Love is only real when shared. Not really sure whether it's a good thing to be rid of a better half, but I think it's always a worthy endeavor to give the same level of attention to people before and beyond your generation. People who do not share your wavelength, but love you nonetheless. Damn looking forward to coming home tomorrow, I mean, later in a couple of hours. My grandma, my aunts and uncles, and most especially my funny happy family are waiting for me. I really, really miss them.
