Riza Fortuna

I left Manila last January 4 to go back to my new "home base", Guangzhou, China. The past one and a half months saw me starting up my new home, adjusting to living all by myself, experiencing winter (and the coldest at that in China), and becoming domesticated which was never my cup of tea.

It is natural to expect that it can get boring to be living alone. However I have not come to the point of being bored so far. There is just so much to do, so much to explore. Surprisingly, I enjoy doing the mundane daily stuff including the household chores. Well, probably mostly because I did not get to do much of them in the Philippines. I would even say I have now mastered doing house work except cooking. Though the kitchen has become one of my favorite spots in the house, there is so much I can still do in terms of cooking and food preparation beyond the frying and preparing ready to serve dishes.

Doing house work also made me realize one thing: that I am such an achiever. As long as I have goals, there is always something to look forward to. For example, I set the goal to arrange my kitchen and complete the unpacking of my brand new kitchen and dining ware. It took me almost the entire day to do it, but it gave me much sense of accomplishment. There is one watch out with me though, once I have started doing something and like what I am doing, I can get engrossed and forget about time. Even at home I can be a workaholic that I have to schedule my leisure time and ‘force’ myself to just chill out.

Leisure time is largely watching DVD’s. It’s one of my favorite ‘passive focus’ activities that make me forget about my concerns and just rest. Shopping (or window shopping) is another favorite stuff. However, with the cold winter, I avoid going out as much as possible. So other leisure activities that entail going out would have to be mostly done beyond winter.

I also had a milestone at home - I received my first set of vacationing visitors consisting of my friends from Cebu: my kindergarten best friend and a sister from Children of Mary-Mandaue City whom I have not met in years. Such a grand time at home, around Guangzhou, and in Hongkong. Those were the days that I have to go out of the home and brave the winter. Their visit was my ‘pilot’ in entertaining guests; it means I can do so many more but my guests just have to schedule with me ahead of time as I do travel a lot myself.

While I am away from my family, it is easy to communicate especially with the help of internet. Too expensive if one makes traditional phone calls, so I get creative in using other options.

There are some setbacks in adjusting to a life alone in another country. But having Filipino friends and neighbors help a great deal. My pinoy friends come from the same company where I work and I chose to live close them where I can keep in touch with their families conveniently.

As I reflect, what makes everything work is the presence of Someone with me ALL the time. God has been my companion, friend, and family that make my home never lonely despite having only one tangible physical body. I thank the Lord for always having His hand upon me and making His presence always felt.