A Day in the Life

ROOTS

I've had the mini-series Roots queued on my Netflix for quite some time, and I finally got a chance to watch it. Amazing. I don't know if it's shown in schools nowadays. I don't remember watching it when I was in school, but I think this is something everyone in America should watch. It really gives you an idea of what happened back then. If you haven't watched it, watch it. It's long, but well worth the time.

That led me to thinking about genealogy, which was further fueled when I watched "Who Do You Think You Are" on NBC. The show follows celebrities who trace back their ancestry. I watched the Emmitt Smith episode, which was even more interesting after having watched "Roots." The other celebrities they follow this season are Matthew Broderick, Susan Sarandon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Lisa Kudrow.

I'll be travelling back to the Philippines in February and am wondering if I could at least trace a little bit of my history back since both my parents came from the same town. I wonder how good the archives are though. I know at least back to my great grandmother on my mother's side. So I've started constructing my family tree. It's kind of fun!

Philippines Dec. 28 2008 - Jan. 9 2009

This holiday season I took a trip to the Philippines for (1) my cousin Franco's wedding, (2) to visit relatives and (3) for vacation. The pictures speak for themselves, so instead of going through a play by play of my vacation(because that could get very boring) I will just comment on the highlights and observations.

Highlights
1. Seeing all the friends and family I hadn't seen in 10 years -- especially my Tito Ito, who had a stroke about 7 years ago; Tito Abner who is currently battling throat cancer; my nieces and nephews.
2. Visiting all the places I grew up in especially in Calauag.
3. Eating yummy food! Although I have to say I have had my fill of Max's and Jollibee(both of which we have here.) I did not get to eat Santol or Lansones, but I did have a consolation prize of Mangosteen. I just learned that Santol is "wild mangosteen" while trying to find links for the blog. And I just learned that they may have Lansones in Hawaii....interesting!
4. Franco and Monica's Video Montage by Jason Magbanua because it was such a pleasant surprise and the music was Tonight, Tonight by the Smashing Pumpkins
5. The boatride around Calauag Bay(see pictures)
6. My 300 peso($7) haircut and hot oil treatment!
7. The bottle game(see pictures)
8. FoodStreet. There was this fast food place in Baguio that sold street food(fishballs, kwek-kwek--deep fried, battered, fishballs and quail egg respectively in sweet sauce-- etc.) The good thing about this is you know you won't get sick from the food because it's pretty well regulated, whereas on the street you don't know where that sauce has been and how long it's been sitting out there.

Observations

MUST HAVES
1. TOILET PAPER: 80% of the time there will be no toilet paper in the public bathrooms; NOR will they have toilet seat covers. So carry it in your purse, backpack, what-have-you; it's a lifesaver!
2. ANTIBACTERIAL GEL: You will also notice that most places may or may not have soap. If you don't want to have raging diarrrhea, it's best you bring this along.
3. BOTTLED WATER: Please don't drink the water. My uncle got VERY sick from drinking the water.
4. LOOSE CHANGE: Yeah, carrying around pesos in 1000 and 500 peso bills doesn't help you if you want to buy something on the street or tip someone. You need coins.
5. A DRIVER: If you don't have a driver, you can't go ANYWHERE. If I could somehow figure out the highways and the roads there, I would be good to go; but I think this is an impossible feat. Plus I'm pretty sure I would get into a major accident.
6. CELLPHONE: I have no idea how we got around and communicated before. The phones there are all prepaid, and it costs about 1 peso(less than a penny) per text and 9 pesos/minute. Our sprint phones didn't work there, plus we had no loose change(see #4) so we had to borrow money from the porter to make a phone call for our ride home from the airport.

THINGS I NOTICED
1. Filipinos use random big English words, that make sense, but no one in America uses them in that context. When I was checking out of the hotel room, the desk clerk asked if I had any "consumption." After about 5-10 seconds of heavy thinking I realized she meant if we had taken anything from the fridge. I wish I could think of more examples, but I thought that was funny/interesting. I guess another one is "Comfort Room" instead of "Bathroom or Restroom." "Comfort" is similar to "rest" but I don't know where that came from.
2. Filipinos love their religious statues; sometimes I think to the point that it may be idol worship. It was kind of disturbing to watch people bring their handkerchiefs up to the glass casing(not even the statue)---the glass casing of the statue and look up longingly and sort of worshiping it. I guess in these times of hardship people need a lot of help, but sorry to say, I don't think those statues are going to help you.
3. Things are CHEAP in the Philippines! I got manicures and facials for under 10 bucks and those people came to the house! For less than a dollar I got a meal that had rice, sausage, a pancake, a coffee and egg! You can build a house from the ground up for around $40K. I saved more money while I was there than I would have if I were at home.
4. I know why people in the Philippines don't usually gain weight. They eat small frequent meals. It's definitely about portion control. Those that were bigger tended to eat ALL THE TIME and eat alot. At one point we had gone out to eat, went to another house, only to eat some more. But I wouldn't expect any less. You just have to watch your portions.

That's all for now. Should I think of anymore, I will post addendums.