The Final Countdown

Is it my turn now???

It's a little under a month till we leave for the trip of our lives and I think it's time I did a post of my own. Silan is showing off her incredible writing skills and it's my turn to show the world that I can't write. I haven't written anything proper in ages seeing as I'm an engineering student now. Not that there will really be anything proper about our blog but still, I will try my best not to put to shame all the hardwork Crofton put in to me all those years.

As you can only imagine, with this trip looming over our heads, it's been hard to focus on anything. The fact that Silan got out of school almost a month ahead of me didn't help at all. Besides work and bonding with her little child (I use the word child much too loosely), she's had, what felt to me, all the time in the world to discuss important concerns such as visas and vaccines. Being a child myself, I couldn't resist the temptation and chose to talk for hours on end instead of studying for tests and doing homework. Now that that's all done with, I've started up a proper countdown.

I have plenty of time to dwell on every itty-bitty detail regarding out trip. With nothing better to do, I come up with some really great questions such as, "What coloured underwear should I bring?" and "Is it REALLY important to wear sunscreen?" Unfortunately, it isn't exactly easy discussing these key questions with Silan as she's in Vancouver (as always) and I'm nowhere near Vancouver (again, as always). We can only do our best to talk online at the oddest of hours, repeating ourselves many times over because chatting online isn't the same as chatting in person. You'd think that after the years of experience we have with talking over msn and now gmail, we'd have it down but we're definitely far from it. It actually may spice up our friendship a bit seeing as we only really fight when we misunderstand each other online. And by we I mean I; basically, I get mad at Silan and she just waits till I forget about it. Maybe that's why our communication skills are not improving...

While Ghana-filled discussions with Silan are once daily at the very least, the first real heart to heart with my dad concerning this trip occurred recently. His intentions though, seemed somewhat off-target. At lunch today, while trying to sort out whether or not any of the food contained nuts, my dad made it a point to tell me that he'd recently looked up Ghana and found that peanuts are an important part of the Ghanian diet. He then followed that up with the usual "Is there a hospital near by? Do they know about your allergy?" I'd seen this type of talk from both my mom and Silan's parents as they all tried to dissuade us from going on this trip but this was the first from my dad. I knew he really cared about me though, when he told me that if Africa wasn't my cup of tea, I could come home and work here in the Philippines for him. He also added that Silan was welcome to come too. I didn't have the heart to tell him that Silan and I had made an agreement that we wouldn't go home even if we were downright miserable (There are very few conditions under which we'd leave and I don't think our parents should hear this otherwise they might not let us go in the first place!).

Our trip to Africa came up again at dinner, this time the circumstances were more light hearted. My older brother made it a point to ask whether or not my dad and stepmom would be making another tip to Africa (and whether or not he could go) and my dad replied, "Only if Janelle sends us a telegram saying she's dying. We'll go to Africa and save her and then go on a safari!" My stepmom added, "Do that! Send us a telegram!!" We also discussed the prospect of meeting up in London while my father's on business and Silan and I are visiting her older brother Tynan. I mentioned that we'd be staying with Tynan and my dad turned to me solemly and asked, "Does your mother know you're sleeping with a boy??" Oh dad, if only you knew (JUST JOKING!!!!).

Silan always concludes with these meaningful and what I think are, incredible sentences but I'm no Silan so I'll end with this:

What do you call a man with no arms and no legs in your pool?
BOB!!!!!

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