Hi Hive, sorry for being gone for quite some time! Trying to write things to be able to keep myself same through this trying times. Honestly, on my end, I was expecting a strong typhoon coming, but I was not really expecting this big of a tragedy. My family putting a big trust on the home we built, we were not being able to prepare for anything, not even stocking up for food. Even on the day my sister, and I, were out to have some ramen.
The time the storm came, I was literally was sleeping when my sister woke me up saying that there was no electricity already. I remembered it was around 8pm. The winds are already sounding so loud. It was making a howling sound, it was not the same as the previous storms I have experience. All I can mutter during this time is that can the storm calm down. Later on, I heard a loud sound, it was like the wind trying to rip our ceiling. My room was underground, so I went up to check on it. When I went to the main floor, it was there I saw half of our roof was rip open. Our terrace roof and garage roof was completely torn and rip to non-existent.
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ODETTE AFTERMATH
Looking at the aftermath the next day totally broke my heart. This was the home I grow up at. Seeing its current condition totally made me hopeless. Not to mention, we have to find a place we can relocate since the house is not livable as of the moment. My siblings, with the minimal network connection we had, contact anyone who can provide temporary shelter for the family. When we have found a place, my parents refuse to relocate, no matter how hard we convince them to come with us. As much as we don't want to leave them behind, I can't certainly stay because I easily get sick and the condition of the house is not safe for me.
To top it all off, the day after Odette was supposed to be my first day of my freelance job, after trying to find for close to two months. Not only I have to worry about our well-being, both physically and mentally, I have to worry about where I can work. I talked to my employer about giving me one extra day to settle everything, good thing as much as they want someone to work immediately they were considerate about my condition.
The next day, my work starts at 1 pm so the whole morning with the little money I have with me, asked a taxi driver to drive me around the city, and maybe I can find a café that is operating. Luckily enough, the café at Andok's Mabolo was open and has a stable network. It was a costly first week of work, but I have no choice since I really want to keep the job. It was really not easy and since lines at the ATM are still long that will cost time, time that I don't have, so I need to find an alternative that will not cost me much. With the laptop, good thing we lived across the barangay hall that offers free charging. Accidentally while going to buy groceries I figured that the place has stable mobile network enough for me to do work. So I got my work situation figured out for now.
The biggest problem we have is drinking water. It is totally important other than I have a very sensitive digestive system, my nephew needs clean drinking water. We have 3 gallons, which we are sure won't last us for a week. Hoarding was real on the first day at the groceries. My brother, who works at Mactan Rock Industries where they process water for consumption, visited the water plant and sadly a tree fell on the processing plant, so they can't operate. Good thing, there was 1 gallon of drinking water, so he was able to bring that home. Still not enough, and we are running low on gasoline. My brother waited in line from 4:30 am to be serviced at 12:00 pm.
The first two weeks were not easy. On top of it, Christmas was coming. Christmas is very important for our family since it is also my grandma's birthday. It was not very easy, and to say that the situation did discourage and beat me up is an understatement. It was after a good week for me. I felt going back to square one. Being on survival mode is not for everyone, and at the start I really thought I won't have it in me to continue. The most painful thing was seeing the pain in my parents' eyes and the thought that they have given up. They were not even coherent to talk to. Thankful for my younger brother who stepped up and took the responsibility. I know it was not easy for him, too.
Now that it is almost a month since the typhoon came, I had few realizations in my mind. It did humble me, and it made me to take mature decisions not because I want to, but because I have no choice but to take them. I have seen through this time how strong I am, even though every night I have to cry. I just hope that we all can survive this and can bounce back stronger. We still don't have electricity, but water is quite easy to come by now, even if we have to wait when the barangay can provide free water.
I have always been hopeful for new years, saying whatever challenge it will bring, I am ready. But for 2022 all I want is for a kind year. Nothing but opportunities and growth. To all typhoon Odette survivors, may we recover from the trauma this brought.