I Am The Only Catholic In the Family

 

I posted this on PEX a week ago, and to my surprise, it created a buzz in the whole Realm of Thought world. Which is why I am posting it here now. Let me know your thoughts. :D

I was baptized and grew up Catholic -- Going to church on Sundays, fasting during lent, etc. Basically, my family practice what normal Catholic does.

Until I went to Manila to work and while I was at the city, I found out that my family change religion. My mom and my sisters are now born again Christians. I really have no problem with it however every time I go home to the province it feels weird going to church (which used to be a family thing) alone.

I really don't want to get converted, however my Mom started introducing me to their church by having bible studies at home when I am there, she also introduced me to their pastor, and sometimes she quotes the bible when we have dinner.

Anyone else in the same boat?

Konohagakure

I checked on the things that I will bring - all my important documents, my uniform from work, clothes, shoes, and a lot of guts.

Manila has been a part of me. It opened a lot of opportunities and challenges that really taught me to become who I really am. If not better, definitely stronger. I will miss the city.

But right now, its time to go home.

How I Tolerate My Extended Family

There are things in life that you cannot choose – one of them is your relatives.

Compared to my mom's family, I am really not close with my Father's folks. When I was still a kid, I never really get excited every time I will meet them. Every time there will be a reunion or a gathering, I make excuses, but since my Mom told me that we are a "family," it still feel that being in such events will be an obligation.

I never understand my Father's family. In one of the events I attended, you saw them happily helping each other cooking dinner but after one part of the clan left the house, the rest will start talking about them. My mom and I will just exchange glances after I let out a sigh of how complicated our clan is.

In my family, everyone has secrets. And everyone's secrets will be revealed, either accidentally or intentionally. Someone will say something nasty behind his back and I really don't like that.

Extended family members can be really frustrating.

I have this uncle who now lives in California. After I saw him on Facebook, and since we are "family," I sent him t usual, Hi Tito, Kamusta? Only to be given an unexpected reply. After he said hello, he said, sino ang magulang mo? Okay, he doesn't know me, but maybe he just doesn't remember me, right? I was still polite when I said the name of my Dad. Finally, he remembered me. The next thing I ask was where he is residing in California? Since I used to work in a BPO, I have an idea of American geography, but he was nice enough to answer me, pag sinabi ko ba sa iyo, alam mo ba ito? I went offline after I read that.

I told my Mom what happened and she just kept on laughing while I told her how irritated I felt. She just reminded me to never talk to my Uncle again because that uncle has a nature of really irritating people even though he is not doing anything. True.

When I celebrated my birthday last September, while I was so happy with all the messages posted on my timeline, I noticed that my Uncle greeted me. He said, Happy Birthday Relative.

That one, I cannot pass. I remove my Uncle on my friends' list afterwards.

There are things in life that you cannot choose. One of them is your extended family. Though I know that I am at the stage of my life where I have the opportunity to change things, I'd rather not do anything with them. Because even though that they say nasty things behind each other's back and they don't know who is their relative or not, they are still family and they are part of the shadows that I need to embrace. 

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Oh, Please do check My Universe! Follow niyo na rin po. Thanks. :) 

Canda

Before I almost forgot how to define the word “vacation,” I spent the last four days in the province where I was born. :D

Sariaya is a province before the capital of Quezon. It is a three hour drive, I mean, bus ride from Manila that is if you want to get to the town proper, huh. :P My extended family live in a Barrio which is still a 20 minute tricycle ride from town. The name of our Barangay is Canda, and I don’t even know where the name came from. I will not say that it is remote, because there are a lot of other Barangays which is farther from where we live.

It is a place where farming is really the main source of income, where the only concrete road is where the vehicles pass, where the dogs are not even chained, where people sleep at one in the morning and still wake up at six AM, where the phone’s signal is really drag, where people are friendly, and where everything seems so simple and relax.

The picture below is our nearest neighbor.

Yes, if I will estimate it, its close to a hundred yards. My cousin and her family lives there, and if you want to call her, since she doesn’t own a cellular phone, you have to do it the old fashion way. Shout! Haha.

I have a lot of stories to share. But since I just arrived in Manila, I think it is proper to rest first. Haha!

Sweet Dreams

Title from Beyonce

The Supermarket is an hour and a half away from where we live in the province. It is always tedious going there. My mom and I were shopping for leche flan, a favorite during Christmas. Our family love all things sweet.

I placed five condensed milk on our basket, my mom then looked at the price and said, Ay, mas mura dun sa suke ko sa palengke, doon nalang tayo bumili.

I returned the milk on the cabinet. We then went to the aisle were the sugar can be find. My mom got it this time, checked the price, and said ay, dun narin tayo bumili nito sa palengke, mas mura doon. All I can say was okay.

I then picked the Cream that we will need for the Buko Salad. My mom checked again the price and when she was about to say something, I interrupted her. Haha! Mama, hindi tayo nagbiyahe ng malayo para bumalik lang sa palengke, ako ang magbabayad nito kaya don’t worry, okay?

She just said, Alam ko naman na ikaw ang magbabayad nito, kaya nga gusto ko doon tayo bibili sa mura para mas madami tayong mapapakain sa libre mo. Pati ngayon ka na nga lang umuwi, magbonding muna tayo ng mas matagal.

All I can say is, Tara na nga! We left the supermarket buying nothing. :)

My mom really has creative ways of getting into my nerves, but she also has wonderful ways of making me smile. I think I got my impulsiveness and weirdness from my mother and I am really proud of that. :)

Mothers really have the best job in the world. Too bad, I will never be one. Hahaha!

Happy Mother’s Day to your Mom!

Photo Credit

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The Emo Blogger's Happy Blogging Challenge: Happiness and one of the Five Senses

• ןıuǝ oɟ ɟןıƃɥʇ: Happiness and Olfaction, A Series
• citybuoy: hearing
• The Orange Wit: Sweet Dreams 

Day 06: The Cooking Disaster

Day 06: My worst cooking disaster involved _____________ and this person/these people…

Quick post.

It’s really hard thinking the best cooking disaster that I should post. Cooking has never been a talent, so definitely, if you will ask me to do something related to a stove, there will be a disaster. But there is a particular incident that I always remember.

When I was ten, my mom told me to watch the rice cook. She told me that she will just go to the market to buy ingredients for a viand. She promised that she will be quick. I really felt excited doing that, finally, my mom trusted me with something. Her instruction was clear, once I see the rice boil, I will make the stove’s fire run on low just wait for the rice to cook. Pretty easy right?

My mom left and I was on our kitchen waiting for the pot to boil. The problem was I never know how long should I wait. I look at the pot and noticed that nothing was happening. I noticed that the fire isn’t turned on high, and I know that for water to boil quickly, it should reach its boiling point. So what I did was to turn the know on maximum so the water will boil quickly.

I then heard my youngest sister cried, and since I was the oldest, I checked on her. When I went to the living room, I saw my three sisters watching TV, the elder two were laughing and the youngest was crying on a McDonalds commercial. She was covering her eyes and crying horribly because she doesn’t love clowns that much. Blame it on the clown that terrified her on my 7th birthday party. So what I did, I turned the TV off which make the two other children cried with the youngest. I told them to be quiet because I was doing something however they don’t stop, so I have no choice but to turn the TV on and prayed that McDonalds will never show up on the screen.

Then I noticed that all of my notebooks were scattered at the living room. My sisters have this habit of playing with my school stuff, they draw on every notebook that I have, break all of my crayons into two and remove all of the erasers on my pencil. However that time, what they did was worst. They tore the books pages and I really can’t help but be upset. But since they were kids, all I can do was fix my stuff and hide my bag somewhere in the room.

Suddenly, something smell weird, something was burning. I then remembered the rice cooking so without much hesitation I ran to the kitchen checked on the pot and there it is. The rice cooking doesn’t have any water on it and the rice grains doesn’t look good, it looks hard. It already have a brownish color on the sides, the pot was also black and I really don’t know what to do.

Good thing my mom arrived and when she found out what happened, I know I was in trouble. However, she just laugh at me and kept on telling me that it was okay and what I did was way better than the first time she cooked rice. :D

The next day, she just bought a rice cooker so the incident will never happen again.

Day 05: The Wedding

I anticipated that I will be using the alternate question for this day. Here it goes.

Your daughter tells you she is bringing home her boyfriend for dinner. When they arrive, she introduces you to a man who is not your same race. Sometime during dinner she announces that they have been married for the last six months. What bothers you more? The difference in race or being excluded from the wedding…

Honestly, like PM, it will not be a problem with me.  She can be a marry a Martian and as long as she is happy, I will be the happiest Dad possible. There will be a little problem though.

My mom, my siblings and the rest of my Mom’s extended family.

We are a typical Filipino family. My grandmother has 12 children and all of them are close. Like they really back each other up whenever something went wrong with someone. I think this is a normal trait to us Filipinos and I am really proud of it. It is also something that they taught all of their children, and right now, all of us are close. All 45 of us, you got it right, my grandmother’s grandchild is 45. Haha!

Everything has to be a collective effort. If someone got married, a family will sponsor the dress, someone will spend for the invitations, if a family does not have money, he helps out with the preparations. A nephew will celebrate his birthday and the same thing happen, someone will spend for the cake, the ice cream, someone will buy the ingredients for the spaghetti that my mom will cook, and someone will be a clown to entertain the kids (ehem!).

I remember when I graduated. Since me and my mom were struggling financially, I opted to just have a simple lunch with my family however my relatives didn’t allow that. After the ceremonies, my cousin picked us at our house in Cavite and drove us back to Sariaya where a feast was already prepared. It was the best graduation party ever!

Which is why I love my family so much, including my extended family. Our parents taught us that though we rarely see each other and we don’t know what was happening in our lives, no matter what happened, we have to make sure that we support each other. We all learn to watch each other’s back.

Before this post bore you, I will go back to the question. Since weddings are important to us, if this happen, I will already anticipate a chaos. I know that some feelings will be hurt but definitely we will still go back to the things that we learned from our grandparents. If ever this happen, I know what my relatives will do. Though they were already married and having a great time, I am sure, my family will prepare another wedding for them.

And whether my daughter likes it or not, she will wear another white dress, walk on our old church’s altar, and have the best wedding reception of her life. With me and close to 100 people that will definitely support and be happy for her.

The Best Days

I still don’t understand why people here wake up at 5:30 in the morning. Who wakes up at five o clock, right? However the cold wind is biting, like needles piercing thru your warm skin. I love the sweet morning air in Sariaya, it is so refreshing. However, the provincial environment makes me feel so slow, and I am not used to it.

Then I hear her voice, she was shouting my mother’s name.  I think that it is the only name she knows now. At the age of 92, it still surprise us that she can still remember her mother’s name though she already forget how to pee and defecate properly. She doesn’t even remember the people around her. She gets irritated easily. My nephews and nieces went to the house yesterday and she was shouting asking them to leave because they were so noisy. One morning as I pass her bed, she started shouting at me telling me that she doesn’t know me, and she just asks me to leave. Every time I checked on her, she will always be like that, as if I was a complete stranger to her. Since my grandmother gets hysterical every time she saw me, my mom told me to just stay out of her way, which I did.

It saddens us seeing her that way. She was just lying on her bed, having a hard time to even sit. The other day, she just said that when she died, she wants her wake to be a feast. Monday, we will serve spaghetti, Tuesday, pansit, Wednesday, chicken soup, Thursday, Chicken Sotanghon, and on Friday we have to serve Pansit habhab. Nakakahiya daw sa mga bisita niya, she said. She continued, saying that we should get her a good coffin so that she will not fall, she already said where she wants her grave to be in, and we should not even worry because there will be money that we can use for her.

However, my mom, my aunt, and I are used to this. My grandmother giving us instructions on the things that we should do and us telling her that she will have another birthday and we promise that it would be grand. We told her that everyone will be there, it will have all of her favorite foods, and we will all wear her favorite color – red. However she just said that we should just save the money for the wake.

I watched my mom remove her beddings while she continued talking. She started calling my Grandfather’s name now. My mom will always be teary eyed while my aunt and I will just watch.

Zaida (my mom’s name), alagaan mo ang sarili mo ha. Wag mong papabayaan si Nita (my aunt) ha, magtutulongan kayo.

My mom just remains silent while she continue fixing my grandmother’s stuff.

Alagaan mo ang bahay, wag mo hahayaan na may ibang tumira. Pero pag yung apo ko na paborito, papatirahin mo ha.

My Aunt and I stare at each other. Surprisingly, my grandmother has a favorite grandchild. It was so intriguing because my grandma was never known to play favorites. She bitches on all of her family members in a caring, funny and tolerable way. She loves giving out orders and she makes sure that what she wants, she gets. We started to smile as we eagerly wait for a name to be called by my grandmother.

Patitirahin mo si Lourdjenn ha.

My Mom then looked at me while my Aunt and I started laughing. It’s nice knowing that my grandmother remembers my name though she doesn’t remember how I look like. Now, I understand why Karen while smiling on that old McDonalds Commercial.

Yes! Very Karen ang peg!

I miss you Inana. RIP.

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The Emo Blogger's Happy Blogging Challenge: Amnesia

• ןıuǝ oɟ ɟןıƃɥʇ: Amnesia, A Series
• citybuoy: blackout
• The Orange Wit: The Best Days

Candles

Kagagaling ko lang sa bakasyon. Two days akong nanatili sa Sariaya dahil ayaw ko ng dalawin ng aking lola. Ngayong naranasan ko na kung paano maparamdaman ng isang namatay na nilalang, lalong tumibay ang paniniwala ko sa mga bagay na supernatural.

After ng work, deretso na sa Sariaya. Hindi ko na tinaon sa mismong araw ng Undas ang pagbisita, alam ko kasi an magiging crowded na ang mga sementeryo noon at sayang naman ang double pay sa 31 and 1, hehe. Nakarating naman ako ng Sariaya ng matiwasay, pagod at sobrang puyat nga lang.

Dumeretso na ako sa sementeryo baka umuwi sa bahay ng pinsan ko. Okay naman ang panahon na yun, walang araw, maulap at feeling ko hindi uulan. Pagdating ng sementeryo, bumili muna ng kandila para sindihan.

Ang daan mula sa kalsada papuntang sementeryo ay isang eskenita na pataas. “Himlayo” ang tawag ng mga kababayan ko sa sementeryo na iyon, kasi sa sobrang layo niya sa kalsada, pakiramdam mo hindi matatawag na himlayan ayun. Kinabahan pa ako kasi ako lang ang naglalakad paakyat. Pormado pa naman ako kasi kagagaling ko lang sa work, pero bahala na, masyado na akong pagod at puyat para intindihin pa ang pag-iisa.

Ng makarating ako sa puntod ni lola, dumilim ng konti ang langit. Sinindihan ko ang kandila, at biglang umambon! Yeah, ang maaliwalas na araw ay naging ambunin. Sumilong muna ako, since ambon lang naman yun, anytime, alam kong hihinto din siya. Kinausap ko nalang si Lola from a far, humingi ng sorry dahil ngayon lang nakadalaw, humingi rin ng gabay para sa mga desisyon, at higit sa lahat, humingi ng protecksyon para sa mga susunod na araw.

Humina ang ulan, at sinubukan ko na namang sindihan ang kandila. Hindi ko pa nadidikit ang lighter ko sa mismong wick ng candle, bumuhos na ang ulan. Yeah, kung kanina ambon, ulan na ngayon. Pinilit kong sindihan ang kandila, kaso ayaw na talaga, basa na siya kaya nga nga nalang.

Tinanong ko ang lola ko, kung bakit ayaw niyang magpasindi ng candle, siyempre hindi na akong umasa na sagutin ako. Kaloka kapag nakasagot pa siya. Sinabi ko nalang wag na siyang magtampo kasi babalik ako anytime soon.

Ang weird lang talaga ng nangyari. Hindi ko maisip kung saan ako magsisimulang isipin kung bakit nangyari yun.  The universe is really weird, hence, I love being a part of it.

Ghost

I hate nightmares! Well, who doesn’t? The last time i've experience was a couple of days ago, it was weird, moving, sad and altogether, uncomfortable.

My grandmother joined our creator last December, it was also the last time I cried. We were not that close, but, we were okay. She was the typical grandma that will spoil her grandchild but will be the one who will be so mad if you do something out of the ordinary. Hence, I love her.

Grandma showed up on my dream. You’ve read it right; she appeared on my dream that eventually turned out to be a nightmare. I’m still wondering why it ended up that way. All I can remember was I woke up gasping for air, I don’t know what to do and it was really not easy sleeping again.

I still don’t understand why I reacted that way. She was my grandmother and I even acted like a scared mouse. I should be happy that all of the members of my extended family, I was the lucky one chosen to feel her presence. But, all I ended up was a coward individual not wanting to experience that again. Come to think of it, someone who is already dead will show up in front of you, will that be okay?

All I can remember was my Grandmother saying my middle name, over and over again. She also mentioned that she was having a hard time on something. Dreams will always be dreams; they will never be easy to understand.

I immediately called my cousin and she just said that I should have a mass service dedicated to her. Then, I called my mother who told me that since we are nearing All Souls Day, that maybe the reason why she paid me a visit. I then felt the sudden urge to go to Sariaya (in Quezon), hopefully I will do it next week.

Before I sleep, I just offered another prayer for my Grandmother, for her soul to have peace with our Lord. I also said an apology for over reacting, and I also promise to pay her a visit anytime soon.