during and after the storm
last Friday, i remember myself being so excited for the next day. Saturday was suppose to be a movie date with college friends. Cheka and i even offered to pay for Malorie's expenses for that day just so she could ditch her work to join us (hahahaha). i stayed up all night, watching videos on Youtube until 3am. the rain's falling down nonstop since i left work at 6:30pm but i never thought it would result to a massive flood. that's why i was shocked to see flood flowing in front of our house when i woke up at 8am that Saturday. Ate even told me that she just got home at 7am and my Kuya couldn't get to leave the house to go to work. Mama also cancelled all of her appointments that day.
i was to irritated by the typhoon and i even initiated a conversation about looking for a new house in a different location (like...in the south?). Cheka and i even decided to just push the plan even with just the two of us since Malorie was not permitted by her mom to join us. but in the end, we decided to cancel everything because i said that the water just kept on going up. for the time being, i played games on Facebook but then Kuya called me to take care of our puppies since the flood will definitely coming in. i frantically looked for a box where 11 puppies can definitely fit. when i found one and i went back to our backyard to get the puppies, i started crying and freaking out since a lot of cockroaches started to appear and i was so scared that they might start crawling at me the moment i bend down to get the puppies. good thing, my father went to me and ushered me inside the house, hence, he was the one who took care of the puppies.
when i got back inside the house, the usual stuffs that must be brought upstairs during flood are being gathered. and since they don't want any distractions, Ate made me stay put upstairs (only moving when they call me for some additional help). the first time that they called for my assistance, i was surprised that the water is already inside the house because as far as i know i only stayed upstairs for less than a three minutes.
after we got everything into safety, i went back to my room for some more games and Ate went on her room to get some sleep. after 30mins or so, i heard Kuya shouting my name again and i was surprised to see the youngest daughter of our neighbor Angela is with him. Kuya instructed me to help her wash up so i accompanied her to the bathroom on her 2nd flr (this is the 1st time i appreciated the said bathroom). good thing, she's already a highschool student so she doesn't need some assistance on taking a bath, haha. instead, i knocked on Ate's door to ask if she have some extra clothes since my Ate's body is smaller than mine and her clothes will definitely fit Angela more. hehe.
what is so stupid of me is not putting the plug on the laptop while i was using it. so, yes, it ran out of battery especially when Kuya turned off our electricity. tsk. the only socket working is the one where the router was plugged. tsk. after some hour or so, Angela's mom and two older sisters arrived so she was more at ease already (she was so stiff while sitting on my bed, i couldn't get her to relax! hahahaha).
another wave of panic went over the people in our house because the flood went up another notch. normally, the maximum height that the flood would reach inside the house is the 3rd step of our stairs (to those who have visited our house, you know what i mean) but then it started to go up to the 4th step so Kuya quickly carried our TV upstairs while Mama took off the wires of the PC so that they can easily be brought up. they gave up on the refrigirator since they know they won't be able to bring it up even just on one of the steps of the stairs since it was so full of other stuffs so they just focused on rescuing the foams of the beds but because the water is really rising fast, Mama wasn't able to save some of her clothes (when i say some, it means a cabinet full of clothes - she has more upstairs so no need to worry much:p) and ours too (the dirty clothes that were on the bathroom that was supposed to be washed up that Saturday).
when we finally got everything in place, we waited for lunch time (i watched some news on Kuya's phone - yes, the TV-phone - so i was able to find out that the rain will only last until that night). we only have three canned goods and rice that was cooked that breakfast. good thing, our neighbors have more canned goods so we have a full lunch in a way. the electricity was turned off by Meralco for good also. just then, the water went up again causing for the refrigirator and the tables began floating. the refrigirator fell on its back. tsk. then Mama was having a major panic attack because her bag that has her money cannot be found (she found it after lunch though, under the waters in her room downstairs:p).
the rain finally stopped that night. Angela's dad also finally joined us after making sure that their stuffs next door are all safe (somehow, they said that their TV have already began floating:p). i was able to take a bath despite the cold water. because of my awesome suggestion, they brought the stove and gas up so that we can cook food upstairs (haha. i must say that it was really cool!:p). we had dinner and i slept at Ate's room with her and Mama while Angela's family (all of them) slept at my room (i really must say that my room is really indeed big). my dad started cleaning up the water that night too so that the workload for Sunday will somehow be lessened.
so Sunday! whoohoo! we had breakfast and we started cleaning up. Angela's family went back to there house as well so that they can clean up their house as well. it was so tiring especially since there's only little water to use since all of the houses are using water as much as they could. dealing with mud is such a headache and moving from place to another is really hand (we have to avoid slipping since we don't know what we might hit or where we might fell). Kuya ventured to go out the village to buy some mops and dustpans and food as well. good thing, we were able to bring the stove back where it belongs, hahahahaha. Mama prepared dinner and i took a bath. Ate massage my legs and feet with some oil before we went to sleep. i still sleep at Ate's room while our parents use mine.
then came Monday...i'm so desperate to charge my phone so that i can text my manager, Ms. Joy, that i won't be able to go to work. so i told Mama that i would go out to look for a Ministop (where there are charging stations) to charge my phone and there's as well if they want to. but Mama don't want to give me hers so we used the new laptop (good thing it has 5 hrs worth of battery) to charge her phone and my iPod as well (hahahahaha). but they still allowed me to go out since there are a lot of things that need to be bought and we can't afford to wait for Kuya to come back (he went to work, grrr).
after breakfast, i left the house. i waited for 15 mins to get into a tricycle, i just waited in front of our house since walking on the streets is so impossible due to the slippery mud. i boarded a jeep and went to Sta. Lucia but i have to get off halfway since the jeep could no longer push through the rest of Imelda Ave because of the vehicles parked on the sides. so i walked all the way to the mall. i even saw a dead dog while i was walking, it was covered with mud, poor thing. tsk tsk tsk. when i finally reach Sta. Lucia, i saw the Q Plaza (popularly known as Tropical) and saw a lot of people in line towards Mercury Drug. i remembered then that Kuya's girlfriend works there and she told us that flood also got in there. my eyes diverted to National Bookstore which is just beside Mercury and i saw lots of books being taken out of the store, so bad....there are so wet from the flood as well.
anyway, i went straight to Robinson's where there's a Ministop. unfortunately, it's temporarily closed so i went straight to the mall. not all of the stores are open so i went to look down the basement and - oh goodness! - it was filled with flood. the grocery is in the basement so i start to panic. i mean, i didn't walked all the way there just to go back home with nothing! so i went to Sta. Lucia, posters saying that the grocery in Sta. Lucia Grand Mall is open. so i went there but i have to wait in line before i get inside. once i got in, i quickly looked for the stuffs i have to buy (good thing i have them on a list) and i'm constantly praying that it won't go over P1500 (that's the only money i have!:p). after buying everything, i went to the cellphone stalls to charge my phone and also my sisters, i only charge it for 20 mins since i can't stay long outside. so when i was on my way home, i got stuck in a major traffic until Karangalan. i thought i would me walking home again because i can hear the jeepney driver saying that he's running out of crude oil...good thing i got to our village before that happened. haha.
when i got home, they only have lunch. they were telling me that they thought i already ate at the mall and i was like, 'with the money i have? how will i?!' although i was already thinking of buying a bucket meal from Jollibee. hahahaha. after i ate my lunch alone. i went back on helping them clean up the house. i was also able to text Ms. Joy, hehe. and once again, i took a bath after working and ate dinner and slept. knowing that i have to go to work the next day (which is today).
all those things happened while we don't have electricity. hopefully, by now, Meralco already switched our electricity on. sleeping last night was such a pain because it was so hot! tsk tsk. so right now, i'm in our office, charging phones once again. tsk tsk tsk. i was able to arrive here before my shift, traffic was good awhile ago since i got here in less than an hour (could the traffic be that good even though there's no typhoon?). wonder what's waiting for me at home...hmmm? still more mess? i think it will take a week before we got everything back into place...