LOH 146: The last time I hangout with my Friends in Cebu as a Pregnant Woman before flying to Europe

Hi, Ladies of Hive! I am back again for the contest. So, I am excited to share to you the last time I enjoyed hanging out with my friends before flying to Europe. I understand that the question asked for the last day I got out with friends. But I have different set of friends that I could not meet up for one day.

When was the last time you actually got out for the day and enjoyed being with friends and doing something fun that you wanted to do?

To answer the question, first, I was away from Cebu for almost two years which I lived and stayed in Palawan from 2017 to 2019. I was away for some personal reasons. I also went backpacking to Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia and fortunately, met my husband while traveling in Phuket 2018. I went back to Cebu but unfortunately, my mother died in my arms in 2019. My husband who was my boyfriend back then never got the chance to meet my mother. My husband and I met again in Bali, Indonesia and spent our 3 months together to Singapore and Palawan. In Palawan, we learned we were pregnant. After Palawan, he had to fly back to Paris and I to Cebu.

I went back to Cebu announcing my pregnancy. Most of my friends and relatives were shocked because they haven’t met my then-bf now husband in person. They only saw him on my Facebook updates. Of course, I was unmarried so some relatives were not really happy with it. And my mother just died in February 2019 and we learned we were pregnant in July 2019. Everything was so quick.

My grade school and high school friend, Maria Ana

When Maria Ana learned I was pregnant, she sent me a message on FB to visit me and also for life updates. She apologized for she didn’t came to visit during the wake of my mother as she was busy at work. She lives in a far away town in the south of Cebu. She brought me some fruits and cake for the pregnant woman. How thoughtful.

Jan, my online job mentor

Jan was the first person I told when I flew to Cebu from Palawan. I stayed with her in her apartment together with her son and her girlfriend for a few days before I went home to my town. They came to visit me and my home town and we enjoyed having dinner. Also, because of her, she opened the door of opportunities for me to enjoy working online with my laptop.

Alieth who always adopts me in Cebu City

Alieth was the videographer and photographer of my Pregnancy Memoir in Moalboal, Cebu.

In the photo, she was wearing orange. We did some meetup with other traveling friends. Every time I went for a medical check up in Cebu City, she offered that I can stay with her. Even before I was pregnant, I can always stay at her place.

During the freediving trip with Alieth, it was the last fun activity I did in Cebu. I was very thankful to her being my dive buddy and for taking amazing photos and videos for my pregnancy memoir. When I got home, I got my passport with visa.

Angel, a blogger friend

Angel is not really a long time friend. Just so happened we love blogging and we have common friends in Cebu. She congratulated about my pregnancy and she asked if we could meet up at IT Park in Lahug to talk about my travels and life updates. It was easy to open up with her as if we were long time friends. Later on, her previous student joined us for dinner.

Unexpected meetup with Liz

Liz loves to hike mountains. When I was having lunch in Chowking, she and her friend made a stopover so I was happy to meet her in my hometown.

High school and college friends, Rachellyn and Jeaneth

Unfortunately, I can’t find the photo with them but we were in our hometown chatting about our life updates. The other friends were not available so these two made time to see me.

College friends with Arcel and Jacqui

It was my last night in Cebu so we decided a last minute meetup at Ayala Center Cebu. I also did some last minute shopping for winter clothes so Arcel and Jacqui helped me which boutique to shop. Later on, Jacqui had to go back to work and Arcel stayed with me. Before we parted ways, Arcel prayed for me and for my pregnant tummy to have a safe trip to Europe and safe pregnancy until the baby is born.

I realized it could have been fun if it was a baby shower and despedida party to gather all my friends in one place. But everyone was so busy. I was also busy flying to Manila for the visa processing and getting back and forth to see my ob-gyne. Most of the time, I was alone walking around. Fortunately, I was all fine even flying out of the Philippines. I was just very happy to see my Cebu friends in different days. I think I would feel overwhelmed if everyone was around me because for me, it feels better to have a few crowd and a peaceful conversation.

Thank you @jamerussell for the beautiful question. Check out the contest here.

Still blogging from my iPad mini,

Roxanne