Anyone with roots in another country has very likely felt the desire to go back there, to re-experience where they came from, and as a 2nd generation Filipino immigrant, visiting home is a must for my family.
It all comes back to me recalling it, my last visit to the Philippines a few years ago. The enveloping heat I felt as soon as I arrived, the homely organic architecture, the hustle and bustle of the surrounding Tagalog conversations that I could only sort of understand - it was an experience before I even went anywhere. If the place you come from is that different to where you are, the memories of your homeland can completely mentally take you out of where your life actually happens, where you live. In my case, the UK and the Philippines feel like different worlds altogether.
'After years of dealing with heavily pixelated FaceTime calls where neither of us can understand each other, it was nice to be able to reconnect with my extended family and reflect on how many things have changed...'
It was enriching to visit beautiful sites like the paradisal islands of Siargao and Cebu with their warm, mesmerising blue oceans and thriving local culture. I even went surfing for the first time and, not to brag, did it pretty well. I will say that it was weird to see an abundance of food being sold around that, in my normal life, is usually constrained to home cooking and any Filipino function here in the UK, but I did cherish it while it lasted. Another observation I found is that dogs and cats, stray or not, freely roam the streets in many places in the Philippines - almost walking themselves - and I'm proud to say that I definitely made a few four-legged friends throughout my time there... sometimes I wonder how they're doing now.
While I loved absorbing the Philippine's tropical atmosphere and sights, there is of course one thing that always necessitates trips to your home country: visiting family. After years of dealing with heavily pixelated FaceTime calls where neither of us can understand each other, it was nice to be able to reconnect with my extended family and reflect on how many things have changed (or stayed the same) from the last time we saw each other. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins - I grew up seeing my friends always being able to visit their relatives on a moment's notice. Meanwhile, whenever I got to see mine, I was effectively a different person every time, which made spending time with family in the homeland even more precious - seeing their house change, their lives change, younger relatives growing up, older relatives growing old, all through the metaphorical snapshots of their lives that is our occasional visits. When I next visit them, I too will be a different person once again.
Given that I was in the Philippines for an entire month the last visit, there is so much more I can talk about, but I think I've summarised the feelings that my experience gave me quite well. I love visiting the place where I came from, engrossing myself in its culture that I only get a taste of back in the UK, and really connecting to the places and people that act as my roots.
I look forward to the next time I go home.
