Tuesday, June 19, 2007
2nd day in the philippines
2:35pm Wed, May 23
Awoke to the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster. Yes, a real live rooster going off at 6am. And it lives right outside my window. And no, we're not in the provinces. We're in Quezon City, a large city in Metro Manila. I've recovered quite comfortably and quickly from any jet lag I may have had. We went to SM-ShoeMart, otherwise known as the Mall. Looked for barongs for the groosmen and found a design that I liked. I'm excited to look for more wedding materials tomorrow at Divisoria.
We had lunch today at my papa's brother's house- si Tito Obet. Oh my gosh, ang saya-saya (how festive/happy)! I met my cousins and my nieces and nephews, some of whom are my ina-anak (god-children), I just found out. It was so cute how they call me Ninang Tootsie - totally heartwarming to feel so welcome despite the many years we haven't been home. The atmosphere was so fun and loving. Also very simple, with no pretense, not stuck-up at all, like some other families. It was simple, good food. Half of the men had no shirts on cuz it was so hot. It was almost provincial, but soo happy. The one nephew, Tikyo is his name, he asked me, "Bakit ka palaging nag-iingles? (Why are you always speaking english?)" "Eh," I told him, "Kasi taga-america ako (Because I come from America)". The same nephew told me later, "Bakit ganyan ang buhok mo?" (it was up in a loose, messy bun) "Parang kulot na basa pa. Eh mukhang pangit eh." (It's like it's curly and still wet. It looks ugly.) Tawanan kaming lahat! (We all laughed so hard!) Tapos a little later, I found all the little kiddos nakadikit sa 'kin, showing me the makahiya plant, tapos looking through pictures on our camera and asking me kung sino daw doon sa pictures. Napapractice ko talaga yung tagalog ko. Lalo na doon sa mga bata. Ang sarap usapin talaga. At parang proud na proud sila na ako ang ninang nila. Ang sarap ng mga bata dito, talagang full of respect and reverence for their elders. And it totally makes me want to take care of them. I'm gonna give my inaanaks $10 each-i know it will be pretty big for them already.
So we went to visit nanay finally. It is, after all, what we came here for. She's okay, and seems happier that we're here. But she keeps speaking of when we have to leave. And then she gets sad. Tapos, eventhough she's blind, she looks like she's crying. She wants to go home so badly, but she's not strong enough. Oh my gosh, tapos they have to elevate her leg para sa hip niya (she broke her hip kasi). Eh their ghetto-ass style of elevating her foot was to put the thin egg crate padding on her foot, then wrap a rope (a straight up rope, not like a medical bandage or anything). Then they have the rope on a pulley system weighed down by a sand bag. My god, she started complaining na may sugat siya sa paa niya. Wala namang makitang dugo o sugat yung mga nurses, so they left it alone. Per pag tanggal ng padding nung doctor na tita ko, yung paa niya, may guhit guhit na! She's got bruises where the rope was totally constricting her foot! And she was bleeding inside her skin. God what the hell kind of hospital is she in?! It was hard to leave her like that. She told me how it wasn't even her hip that hurt, but it was her foot! Aughh, the stupidity! If anything like that happened here, I swear someone would have been reprimanded or even fired. But to them, that's the best that they could do.
Awoke to the cock-a-doodle-doo of the rooster. Yes, a real live rooster going off at 6am. And it lives right outside my window. And no, we're not in the provinces. We're in Quezon City, a large city in Metro Manila. I've recovered quite comfortably and quickly from any jet lag I may have had. We went to SM-ShoeMart, otherwise known as the Mall. Looked for barongs for the groosmen and found a design that I liked. I'm excited to look for more wedding materials tomorrow at Divisoria.
We had lunch today at my papa's brother's house- si Tito Obet. Oh my gosh, ang saya-saya (how festive/happy)! I met my cousins and my nieces and nephews, some of whom are my ina-anak (god-children), I just found out. It was so cute how they call me Ninang Tootsie - totally heartwarming to feel so welcome despite the many years we haven't been home. The atmosphere was so fun and loving. Also very simple, with no pretense, not stuck-up at all, like some other families. It was simple, good food. Half of the men had no shirts on cuz it was so hot. It was almost provincial, but soo happy. The one nephew, Tikyo is his name, he asked me, "Bakit ka palaging nag-iingles? (Why are you always speaking english?)" "Eh," I told him, "Kasi taga-america ako (Because I come from America)". The same nephew told me later, "Bakit ganyan ang buhok mo?" (it was up in a loose, messy bun) "Parang kulot na basa pa. Eh mukhang pangit eh." (It's like it's curly and still wet. It looks ugly.) Tawanan kaming lahat! (We all laughed so hard!) Tapos a little later, I found all the little kiddos nakadikit sa 'kin, showing me the makahiya plant, tapos looking through pictures on our camera and asking me kung sino daw doon sa pictures. Napapractice ko talaga yung tagalog ko. Lalo na doon sa mga bata. Ang sarap usapin talaga. At parang proud na proud sila na ako ang ninang nila. Ang sarap ng mga bata dito, talagang full of respect and reverence for their elders. And it totally makes me want to take care of them. I'm gonna give my inaanaks $10 each-i know it will be pretty big for them already.
So we went to visit nanay finally. It is, after all, what we came here for. She's okay, and seems happier that we're here. But she keeps speaking of when we have to leave. And then she gets sad. Tapos, eventhough she's blind, she looks like she's crying. She wants to go home so badly, but she's not strong enough. Oh my gosh, tapos they have to elevate her leg para sa hip niya (she broke her hip kasi). Eh their ghetto-ass style of elevating her foot was to put the thin egg crate padding on her foot, then wrap a rope (a straight up rope, not like a medical bandage or anything). Then they have the rope on a pulley system weighed down by a sand bag. My god, she started complaining na may sugat siya sa paa niya. Wala namang makitang dugo o sugat yung mga nurses, so they left it alone. Per pag tanggal ng padding nung doctor na tita ko, yung paa niya, may guhit guhit na! She's got bruises where the rope was totally constricting her foot! And she was bleeding inside her skin. God what the hell kind of hospital is she in?! It was hard to leave her like that. She told me how it wasn't even her hip that hurt, but it was her foot! Aughh, the stupidity! If anything like that happened here, I swear someone would have been reprimanded or even fired. But to them, that's the best that they could do.
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quotable quotes
-
"To try is to risk failure. But risk must be taken because the
greatest hazard of life is to risk nothing. The person who risks
nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing. He may avoid
suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn, feel, change,
grow, live, and love."
~unknown
"It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues."
~ Abraham Lincoln
"live a life that others will remember years from now, NOT because it pointed to you but because of how it pointed to the One who made you."
~ Mark Hart, the Bible Geek
"we grow up learning to become self-reliant, but really we need to be God-reliant"
"we could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different colors....but they all exist very nicely in the same box"
"never wound hearts that love u, never give them the endless pain, because wounded hearts are like roses that never bloom"
"there comes a time when we have to stop loving someone not because that person has stopped loving us but because we have found out that they'd be happier if we'd let go"
