lost and found by Jeneen R Garcia Published on 29 August 2009 From the large window of my room, I see the garden blooming with roses, hibiscus and petunias, magnificent red-black butterflies alighting to sip the nectar from the heart of them. A box of cherry tomatoes grows outside on the balcony, the stalks bent, heavy with fruit. It is August again. As typhoons sweep through the Philippines, summer shines its lovely face upon the usually chilly northern hemisphere. Two years ago on a humid August night, I was sitting by the sea on Dumaguete’s boulevard, d reaming of Germany as a newfound friend asked if I would want to come and visit. Summer had already passed in my part of the world, yet freedom and possibility tasted just as fresh. One year later, I found myself standing at the wharf of San Francisco in California upon the invitation of another unlikely friend. The newfound friend had become a distant dream, but now Europe was a reality. I had just received a sch...