Uncle Ed

My uncle Ed is the youngest of my mom's original siblings of 4. According to my mom around 1966 he told her that he plans to go to the US. My mom paid no attention to her little brother's crazy idea. After a year my uncle Ed was then barely out of his teens bid farewell to his family to migrate to the US. He was the first in the family to venture offshore and seek his fortune. Life in the Philippines was much different then, it was afterall 40 years ago. Manila is cleaner and most Filipinos are able to eat 3 square meals a day. It is pretty odd during that time to go abroad to earn a living. However, my uncle Ed for his own reasons have decided to make America his new homeland. He served as the ambassador of everything "stateside" for his family.

After five years or so he married a white American named Barbara. They had two children Ed jr. and Severina. He came back to the Philippines to visit two years after the declaration of Martial Law. He convinced his siblings to migrate to the US, especially because of the uncertainty of the Martial Law. After a few years my grandfather joined him in the US. Soon after my Tita Leonie followed them in the US. In 1979, my grandfather died in the US and my uncle Ed accompanied the remains of my lolo to the Philippines. That was his last visit in the Philippines. From then on one by one all my relatives migrated to the US. In 2002 my cousin ate Jojo, her husband and daughter Jolet brought down the number of my clan/family in the Philippines to 5 when they migrated to the US. All of my mother's 4 siblings and their family have settled in the US. All that was practically left here in this archipelago is me, my dad and mom, my brother and niece Phoebe.

After 29 years since his last visit to the Philippines uncle Ed came home to visit. He is going to attend a reunion. He was billeted at the Manila Hotel for one week to attend the grand reunion and stay in our house the next two weeks. Most of my relatives have commented one way or another that my uncle Ed is more American than Filipino. I am not really that surprised since he spent most of his life in the US than in the Philippines. I know of some people who have changed their demeanor after a couple of months stay only in a foreign land:-) However, we have decided that we are not going to adjust anything to suit the taste of a balikbayan. The food that will be served will be purely Pinoy, even though we do eat cereals for breakfast most of the time because it is more convenient and easy to prepare.

Then my uncle Ed came to our house. He spoke in Filipino without a trace of American accent. He calls my mom "ATE" all the time. He ate everything served on the table save for the water unless it is mineral water. The one week reunion package allowed him to visit Pagsanjan, Laguna, Villa Escudero, and Corregidor. However he was surpised to see how crowded Manila and the suburbs have become. He also complains a lot about the fumes the vehicles were belching. One time he asked me to accompany him because he would like to ride the MRT and LRT. While waiting for a ride that will take us to the LRT station he felt dizzy because of the fumes fortunately we are able to immediately hail an aircon bus. He commented that the ride and trains were smooth and good, however the sights are really not nice. Uncle Ed is well travelled he's gone as far south as Australia and New Zealand and as far north as Iceland and a whole lot of other places in between. That's why I know better not to contradict his comment, and besides what is there to contradict ;-(

I was able to get to know my uncle better in his two week's stay in our house. I enjoyed his stories especially his first years stay in the US. I was particularly floored with his MO together with a Pinoy friend whenever they run out of money for R&R. When he was in NY they would usually look and check the Pinay sounding names of the people in the apartment/flat. they would ask if a certain Pinoy is living there. Obviously the Pinay would say no there is no such person living there. Then they would convince the Pinay to join them instead to play bowling since they come from a far place and would rather spend time with a kababayan. At first they would allow the Pinay and her friend to win, then they would convince them to play for a wager. The Pinays wont hesitate even though the wager is for the fee of the games they have played and a dinner. In the end they would ofcourse win and have a free bowling game and dinner by the end of the day.

There were also a lot of stories about overcoming prejudice. However, my uncle Ed is one tough person, in the end he became a director at his work. Two days before his depature to the US he asked us to bring him to Luneta. He had his picture taken beside Jose Rizal's monument. He is a Filipino afterall. He went back home to Nevada last February 7 but made a promise to come back after 2 years.

Green Tea

My gym buddy Peter arrived two days ago from his Xiamen, China trip. He missed going to the gym for almost 2 weeks because of this trip. Yesterday he texted me and asked me to join him at the gym. I came around 6 pm and according to the log book Peter came 15 minutes earlier. I immediately headed to the locker room and before I know it Peter was already behind me. He gave me a packet/bag full of what appears to be tea bags. At a glance I noticed the words Almond and green tea written at the label. I stuffed it inside my bag and assumed that it is an almond flavored green tea. Peter and I worked the treadmill, lifted weights and did crunches like there is no tomorrow. In between gasps for air Peter shared his experiences on his latest trip to China. He marveled at the pace of progress and development China is undergoing. After 2 hours we left the gym and parted.


When I reached home. I immediately took out the booty Peter gave me. I was pretty anxious to taste an almond flavored green tea. When I opened the plastic bag I was kinda bewildered with the "tea bags". To my surprise and upon closer scrutiny the bag did not contain tea bags. The little square things were wrappers that contains to what appears like thin biscuits. And the label actually reads "Almond Snacks (Green Tea Flavor) ". The thin biscuits tastes good and light, you will definitely feel the texture and taste of almonds immediately. However you will not miss the subtle aftertaste of green tea as well. The ingredients were Almond granules, Egg, Sugar, Flour, Maltose, Butter, and Steamed Green Tea. This is something very new to me and another thing I will definitely asks my friends to buy if they happen to visit China :-)

Happy Heart's Day

Woohoooo I am back....
I was gone for more than a month... however, my absence in the blogging scene is not indicative at all of a lackluster existence in this dreary archipelago. To summarize a bit... I have completed two duty rotations in two government hospitals, one in OB ward and one in Male Medical Ward. I hurdled the recent Mid-term exam, played host to my uncle from the US for two weeks, finished 3 books, watched at least 7 movies and frantically tried to keep myself sane when I received an SOS from my dear niece. All these stories you will read in full detail in the very near future.

I have just also learned from my friend Cathy who is currently in France that she have already travelled to Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg the past month after her South American sojourn from Argentina, Brazil and Peru. Geez I was that busy that I lost track of my friend's whereabouts. My friend Jong on the other hand have started blogging as well since January and I am just keeping myself updated with her by reading her posts. Pete my gym buddy have just returned yesterday from his two weeks visit in China... no wonder I cant spot him at the gym. I never thought that being away from a lap/desktop could cause me this much disconnection.

I also find it ubeliveable how much things can happen after just a month or two.... am just now updating myself with some of my friends whereabouts by reading their most recent posts. I have more time to logon and post as I have no hospital duty for the whole month of February. Woohoooo! Anyways, Happy Heart's Day folks.