England Diaries: Day 24

I didn't realise that the time on my laptop is still PH time. I wish it were 4:48PM here now instead of 9:48, cos then it would mean I am in the Philippines. Many nights, I'd wish that one of my cats would wake me up in the middle of the night. I sometimes wonder if they know I am gone, or if they miss me at all.

I am once again alone in this house. James and his parents has gone to work. Today is the first time I didn't kiss him goodbye. I don't know, it's just that I don't feel like it. This morning his mother left more notes. She likes leaving notes with errands on them. This morning it was doing the hoovering, hanging up her laundry oh and let us not forget... that it's a sunny spring day and I should go out. It's starting to get to me. I don't mind the chores, but it's getting to me too. It's so different back home. When James lived with us for a year in the Philippines, my mum hardly wanted him to do anything in the house. Don't get me wrong, we hate lazy people but as soon as James had proven he is not lazy and he'd voluntarily do house chores, we never wanted to him to do anything because that is how we treat our guests. I mean, I don't expect them to treat me like a princess but I also don't want to be treated like a housekeeper. They are nice to me, I am there, but I just realised how amazing it is in the Philippines the way we treat people who live in our house. I do our own laundry, I cook our own meals and sometimes would cook for my in-laws, I do our own ironing and tidying up, I just did not expect to do theirs as well. But that, I can cope with.


The thing that gets to me the most is they try to get me out of the house on my own. James's mum brought it up on my first week here. Yes, back when I had a cough for a good week, when I had a fever and when my skin was peeling off cos of severe dryness. And she brought it up again even after learning of my ingrown toenail.
Yesterday, James's dad tried to get me to go with him and his two brothers to the town centre where there was a little programme for May Day March. He gave me fifteen minutes to get ready. There is no way I will be ready in 15 minutes at 10:00 in the morning with James's uniform still to iron. I sometimes like funfair, but not when I am with 3 men in their 50's, and certainly not at 10 in the morning. He got a little annoyed when James told him I didn't want to go. He should understand, James had NEVER been to it having lived here for 21 years that should tell him something. I'm glad that James stood up for me. His parents don't like staying at home. When they are not working, they are always out: cycling, walking and just out and about. But they must understand that other people likes staying in the house - especially when one does not know a soul and this is not exactly a city with lots of sights to see. You go to the town centre once and you've seen it all. Apparently if you stayed in the house, you are missing out. To be honest, even back home, when I wasn't working, I like to stay in the house. It's not being lazy and as how James's dad put it, it's easier to do nothing. First of all, I am not doing NOTHING here. I am always in the kitchen cooking, or cleaning up. And when I am not there, I am tidying up in our room, and when I am done, I go online to look for jobs. But apparently, that is doing nothing.
Just because I am not an "outdoorsy" type of person does not mean I am lazy, or missing out for that matter. EVERYBODY misses out on things they are not interested in, and hell there is nothing wrong with that. If I ask them if they ever did any cheerleading back in their days, I know the answer is no, I could say 'man you've missed out', but I wouldn't think that because their interest in in walking, cycling and being out. My interest is writing, reading, dancing and cooking, and playing with animals or children if there are any, but in this house, all there is is difference. They seem to think that my survival here will be determined by my ability to go to Sainsbury's on my own, or anywhere with James. I can go to the supermarket on my own with no problem, it's no rocket science. And well, I still need James to go to places here. When we went to Sheffield, he had to take a map with him because he did not know the area very well... But I am supposed to know my way around on my own in 3 weeks?
Sure I can go to town on my own, but I am a bloody walker! I don't like walking just for the sake of it. I like taking walks with James but I wouldn't like to walk around the town centre. It's pointless. I don't have legs for a dander around the town where there are only a number of shops and slightly more shoppers. There are way more shops in SM Clark by far and it's as close to our house as the town centre is close to theirs. And yet, I never walk around SM Clark, or any SMs for that matter, for the mere reason of getting out of the house and walking. I go there to buy something, have lunch with my best friend Sarah, or when I treat my mum or Steffanie out for a meal or something. When I have free time, I would rather read, or write on my blog or just write poems, talk to my family and mates back home on the internet, or just generally surf the net. I love the internet and I don't like walking and cycling just for the sake of being out. And even if today's note from James's mum says that today is a sunny spring day, a good time to go out, I don't give a rat's ass. I had 23 years of lovely sunny days back home, today's sun does not even come close to our lovely tropical sunny day, which sucks sometimes cos it gets too hot :D

Well, I'm going to have to stop writing for now. Remember the note of the day! If they ask me tonight if I've been out in the lovely sun today I'd say 'yeah, out in the garden to hang your laundry up'. They'd be delighted.