My Hometown Mercedes
“Is this a dream?” This question pops in my mind seeing a familiar but strange place. It is early in the morning, and I feel very uncomfortable. The sticky feeling of humidity on my skin and a homey scent of the air as I open my car window attest that I am back home. My hometown, Mercedes, is a small town in a tropical country, the Philippines. My hometown is far away from where I live. I am finally home. The uncomfortable feeling from travelling exactly 8,207 miles from USA is now changed to excitement. Looking at the great view of fresh morning sunshine brings back to me my recollection on this place for the past five years that I have been away. Now, I am excited to add more memories to what I called my biggest closet. I called my hometown my biggest closet because it is where I kept my memories since I was young. I cannot wait to explore the new things, old places and of course, what I miss a lot; the food.
As I drove down the road, I saw a big, tall arch made from stone and decorated with very colorful indigenous materials made by locals. Big letters are written that says “WELCOME TO MERCEDES”. I remember years ago it was only made with wood and not very attractive; unlike now, it is very welcoming. Something has changed, but a good change. I noticed it is still where the queue for tricycles starts. Tricycle is a popular means of transportation in the Philippines especially in small rural towns like ours. It is a motorcycle with a fitted single- wheeled sidecar. It is used to transport people in and out of the town and it is used to be my only means of transportation when I was young. I cannot wait to try riding in one of those again.
Aside from the queue of the tricycles beside the arch, there is still the familiar view of the very huge rice field with a roaming cow on it. And passing through the rice field and the big arch is my old school, the Mercedes Elementary School. It is now painted with a very bright yellow color and adorned with colorful flowers and trees. I happily went inside to see the new changes and my old classrooms. I also came to say my regards to my old teachers. As I am walking inside the school, I saw a lot of changes. The school now has a very nice and huge garden and is decorated with different flowers; there is also a big playground beside it. The rooms the I used when I was young are now more organized and modern. It has computers and a big screen for meetings. As I passed by my old classroom, I met my teacher when I was in 5th grade. She is now the principal of the school. I sigh with great happiness and think of how time flies so fast.
Before heading out of the school, I remember a very good place just view minutes away from my school. Me and my siblings used to here very early in the morning to wait for the sunrise and collect seashells. It is a bay that is located at the back of my school. When I arrived, I could already smell the briny scent of the air. Its calm waves and soothing ambiance made me very relaxed. But while looking around I saw some changes around the bay area. It is now being renovated to be a tourist spot. There is a very tall seawall on the side and very long avenue that connects three towns in my province. It means more tourist will come to visit our small town. Change is not always bad, but I am just a little sad because soon the privacy of my small town will be gone. I just hope they will maintain the cleanliness of the place.
The fishy scent of the sea air makes my stomach growl. It reminds me of the best thing that I missed in my hometown, its food. Its fresh seafoods, fresh fruits and good healthy foods. I decided to visit Mercedes Market. In this market, you can buy fresh caught seafood and ho to the other side of the market where the restaurants will cook the seafoods for you. And this food will be best enjoyed with family and friends. In our town, a table manner is famous; it is called boodle fight. In boodle fight, diners use Filipino way of eating with their hands. Food is lined beautifully in a big banana leaf without serving plates and all the diners will eat together at the same time. This is what I missed most in my hometown, good food and good people around me.
Coming back in my hometown is a dream come true, experiencing new things, meeting new people and doing things that I missed about my hometown. They say “family is what makes a place your home”. My hometown is my home, it is my biggest closet, where my memories are kept forever. I may not be living here right now or in the near future, but surely this will be the last place I want to be.
