Pulburon

It was late afternoon on Monday (15/10/07). The scene outside our office building has turned gloomy. Dust particles seemed evaporating. An impending sandstorm was looming in the horizon. In a short while, it would be raining…. of 'pulburon'. (Pulburon is a kind of powder milk candy popular among Filipino kids and resembles the color and appearance of sandstorm dust).

Then it came.

As viewed through our office window, strong wind began beating hard, lashing mightily on trucks and pick-ups on the road, and sending clouds of dusts into the air, blurring the immediate surroundings to near zero visibility. In their pick-up trucks, after another day of grueling work (and dollars, so they say), oil workers (locals and expats) arrived one after the other, jumping out of their vehicle and dashing off to hide in the comfort of their accommodation blocks, well, after having immersed themselves in 'pulburon'.

Thankfully, after an hour or so, this mid-October sandstorm has weakened by the time we were readying ourselves to attack the mess hall (our eating place here), of course for the dinner of the day and not because of the incompetent chef though he himself may be attacked one day if he does not mend his awful cooking ways (haha).

As I was about to lap up the smoldering broiled 'lapu-lapu' (kind of fish) served with lemon- soy sauce dip, the thundering storm has resumed with its pounding this time with a mini tornado-like force, pummeling the mess hall’s window panes and doors, and depositing next to them mound of dirt, dust particles and pile of dried leaves windblown from both the nearby tennis and basketball courts.

Moments passed and our mess hall invasion was over. Although each tummy was now full of mess hall stuff, we had to move quickly along the shortest route possible back to our individual shelter to avoid the swirling pulburon from being ingested as an extra pang-himagas (dessert in Filipino).

Back in my room after having my usual trip to the shower and now reading the day's Inquirer printouts, while watching pretty Pauleen on TV dance to 'Kagat-labi' tune(Filipino Channel), I felt the pounding continued, though it was much much stronger than it was minutes back. My accommodation trailer felt as though it was shaking, and I thought I heard the bolts securing it from its concrete base creak a bit as if their strength were being tested to the limit.

Hammering heavily on my modest dwelling, dust particles of the tiniest size have begun permeating into my room like water seeping through even the smallest of openings. Then after a little while, the satellite failed and as a result lovely Pauleen disappeared. Since I was in no mood to read, I decided to call it a day and prepared to sleep.

As for the 'pulburon', tomorrow morning Sameer, our Moroccan houseboy, as usual would have his hands full with vacuuming works to get rid of the annoying 'pulburon' now piling up little by little in every corner of my room.

To be continued.