CHANGES AT HOME

Last time I went home to Tagum City, I noticed a few changes. Some were good and some were uhm... neutral.

For the latter, I noticed that my cousins who used to be live with my parents are not there anymore. Since their eldest sister Criscel had finished her degree in Criminology and has now actually found a job as a police officer, they moved out and rented a small place downtown. Criscel wants her two sisters to continue college, thus, they looked for a place right across the university. Our place was relatively far from civilization so it was a sound decision. However, I was just sad for my parents since they now have no one to assist them in the house chores, or in manning the sari-sari store. We also used to have an adopted family member, Bryan, who was also very helpful around the house. However, he moved out as well after he finished some short courses on automotives and also on electronics.

*sigh*

So anyway, there were also good changes.

having a blast with the karaoke, with my aunt Berna and her family :-)

First, Papa was able to finish building and renovating a house in our second lot (right behind our house). It was his project, and he worked on it for a few months.

Papa giving me a tour

the house - ready for occupancy

Papa originally planned to sell the two parcels of land that we own (aside from the one where our house is built), especially as my seaman cousin is very interested in building his house near ours. I opposed Papa though. I told him we might be able to make some steady income out of it. And besides, Land continuously appreciates.

MY FIRST MALAYSIAN

http://www.business-standard.com/newsimgthumb/thao_airasia.jpg

Just this year, Malaysian airlines Air Asia joined the fray of the already stiff local flight competition. It is a budget carrier just like Cebu Pacific and Air Philippines that targets passengers who are willing to give up flight conveniences (e.g. extra baggage, insurance, on-board meals, etc.) for a surprisingly low airfare. Being the natural stingy that I am, I booked my Davao vacation in Air Asia. Guess how much I paid for a roundtrip ticket.

P1,500!

It is a far cry from PAL’s ~P10,000. While in college, Mama always booked me a PAL ticket despite the dizzying price tag because she wants her unico hijo to come home safely and conveniently. And now that I’m working and I pay for my tickets, I never looked back at PAL.

HOME SICK HOME: Idiotic, Nostalgic, and Adventuresome

our family residence at Tagum City, Davao del Norte

IDIOTIC

It was the last weekend of August. I was pretty giddy while on that idiotic evening flight to Davao. I remember I was all happy and excited whilst reading the Sunday paper and sipping some house coffee. I will be seeing my family! Aside from seeing my relatives and friends, I will be meeting my high school batchmates for a day of extreme activities (ziplining, wakeboarding, etc.) in Davao City. I couldn’t even care when my flight seatmate noticed my odd grinning, I was just excited.

I tried to read my paper, just to be compliant with my Sunday routine. However, my eagerness made it difficult for me to focus on the articles. I only managed to remember two news clips.

NEW YEAR, BUT NOT NEW PRACTICES

I don’t know about you guys but we sure have our family practices every New Year’s Eve. My mom told me when I was young that those things might be just superstitions to some, but it wouldn’t hurt if we try to bring in good luck. Especially as we welcome a new year.

Let me enumerate them to you as you might want to employ some :

1.       Wearing polka dots. Every year-end my mother dons a clothing spangled with dots. May it be a dress, a blouse, or a duster like the one below, Mama always wears one; and I notice it’s always red and white. It is believed that these dots symbolize wealth as they resemble coins.

Apologies for the blurry images. It was hard to keep Mama still.

 2.    Jingling coins. Mama said jiggling two dozens of a kind of coin would bring abundance in the coming year. I used to jiggle one-peso coins. Now I jiggle ten-peso coins. Maybe mom thought that since I’m a grown up now, I should use coins of higher worth.

3.       Being loud. Since using fireworks is not too big in Davao in the last decade, we don’t have them at home. Although, I heard that the firecrackers ban was lifted in our city this year. The last time I saw Papa lit a Judas’ belt was when I was twelve-ish. I kinda missed it, to be honest, however it is always wiser to use safer methods of making noise. You can blow horns (“torotot”) or rev up your cars just like what we did. I believe being loud is a way to ward off evil spirits.

4.       Having round fruits on the table. I remember Mama arguing with a friend on whether there should be twelve or thirteen, but I don’t remember which one they followed in the end. I also forgot to ask Mama about this last week. I believe the round shape of the fruits symbolizes eternity and longevity.

5.       Drinking water with roses. Mama submerges exactly three rose petals in a glass of water. Then at the stroke of midnight, each member of the household will have a drink from it. Mama said it keeps us all together and intact as a family, no matter what happens. This practice is pretty rare. Aside from our family the only other people I know who practice this is... no one.

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     Here are other pictures I took that night.

 

Tagum City Christmas tree. This was once the tallest in the country. I don't know if it still is.

I saw quite cheap but tasty chicken downtown and bought them right away

my poisons

Mama, Nanay, ang Uncle Mek-mek

Shaolan, Bryan, and Christine

Alejandro with his girlfriend

Co cousins

My entire family

My parents

MY TIME YOU TAKE

I was intending to write about the latest movie (3D movie at that) that I’ve seen in the big screen, My Soul To Take, and talk about how rubbish it was. However, I realized it was too crappy to be discussed. It was supposed to be a horror film, one of my favorite movie genres. Only it wasn’t.

Much to my surprise, I discovered just now that it was written and directed by Wes Craven, the same cinema legend who brought us the classic horror series The Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and The Hills Have Eyes. I wasn’t pretty much conscious during Freddy Krueger’s haunting era. However, the latter two movie series are some of the most memorable for me.

Rotten Tomatoes rated My Soul to Take a whopping 9% and commented that Craven might have come back from his filmmaking rest too soon.

With this, I’d like to post the pictures that I took right before I watched the movie. I was with my childhood friends Allen Jay and Allen Jeff dining at Teriyaki Boy at Trinoma.

Allen Jay resides in Valenzuela while Allen Jeff is currently finishing his IT studies in Cebu. He paid a visit to his now Manila-based family, thus the occurrence of our childhood circle’s mini-reunion. The rest of the gang didn’t make it as they are all spread out in Mindanao when this happened.