Ria and Karl

Finally, after 2 and half years (roughly) I get to hug, talk and see Ria again. She looks good, still sporting that pixie hairstyle and still the same Ria I knew in college. And at last, I met Karl, who I've been hearing and we've been talking about since he asked Ria to accompany him for that concert.

We met in McDonald's and I heard the slang. She doesn't speak English like a Filipino anymore. I guess I would too after 2 years. We still talk on top of each other, leaving poor Karl trying to follow our Taglish conversation. I met her parents, and as predicted, they didn't remember me, since I only met them once and it was a long time ago. We finally head over to Greenhills and started to look for the things on Ria's list to buy. We got impatient only after an hour and leave her mom to look for the stuff to buy. Greenhills tiangge is a haven for very patient shoppers.

I shouldn't say anything, since he's not my boyfriend and it's no business of mine, but then again, I can only say good things, so why not? Karl is nice, friendly, patient (one would have to be, when Ria's boyfriend) and made me laugh a few times. Already scored points in my book when he made me laugh the first time, but I am already resolute to convince Ria to marry him when he made me laugh the second and third time.

We went to UP Diliman after, and acted like the tourists that we -- they -- are. Take photos of the Oblation, the Ampitheatre, the Carillion and even the Sunken Garden. Ria even bought squid balls to complete her UP reminiscing. But Karl has to have the UP tour and experience a little slice of life in our beloved state university so we rode the Ikot Jeep (which to our amazement, costs 6.50! It was only 1.50 or 2.00 when we were still studying there, as far as we can recall....we're really getting old if we're mistaken or we're correct and it was that cheap then!) Funny because we didn't think that we should warn Karl about what to do when getting down a jeepney. We didn't think there was a technique. It must come naturally to Filipinos.

I missed Ria. And I was sorry that I couldn't see more of her when she was here in Manila. But then, when we got together, it seems that we already know what's going on on each other's lives. It seems time and distance couldn't keep two best friends apart.

That knowledge warms my heart and reassures my soul. After all, life is certainly easier to face when you know for sure that you have your friends beside you, even if they are miles away.