PASKO SA PILIPINAS

     Christmas..


When we see, hear, speak of the word, memories flood our minds. We look forward to this day as the best day n our lives. Comes flashing the childhood memories, happy moments with our loved ones. receiving gifts, great and small, things that we wanted the whole year long. Longing for the usual things that binds us most, especially loving each other.


Here in the Philippines, we have probably the longest Christmas celebration ever in the world. Carols were played over the radio on the onset of the BER months. As early as September, too, decors had been placed all over the houses, streets were lighted with glittering lights, and each child practices the carols to sing to the every neighborhood. The sweetest smiles come to afore. The spirit of Christmas is felt in every corners of the malls. How glad! How amazing! Lanterns were being displayed. Multitudes of lights flood in each and every home. It is a FIESTA!

 I remember that, during my childhood years, Inang and I are going to the church to hear the dawn mass, the misa de gallo, simbang gabi. I could still smell the sweet scent of the dama de noche as we pass by the streets in the 9-day church service. We wake up as early as 3 in the morning, I never take a bath that time because it was so cold, i just wash my face and brush my teeth and am ready to go. Inang would tag me along because I was the religious child in the family. My siblings would not come with us. It was the most exciting experience I ever had in my childhood. And inside the Church, people filled every space, and because it was cold, I unusually liked the warmth of the body next to me. Each and every morning that happens, and after the service, Inang and I would go to the nearest bakery and buy pan de sal, so hot that the butter would easily melt.

 As we go home, we would walk again for a kilometer or so, still dark, but I am not afraid though because Inang is with me always. We would talk about my dreams, and with her comforting words of wisdom, she would say the most beautiful words I have ever heard in my life. Words of encouragement and love. Arriving at home, Tatay would have boiled water for the coffee, and there and then, the whole family would have shared the hot pan de sal, butter oozing from it, as we gorged happily, and plan what we are going to do for the day.

 I always remember the best noche buena that we have had. Since it was lean month for my Inang and Tatay to earn money, still they have afforded to buy us some gifts. I was lucky to have  a toy gun, with pellets, and my brother and other siblings had a share of their own. During the 9th day of the misa de gallo, me and Inang went to the church to celebrate the mass, and I have heard beautiful carols by the church choir. oh, how lovely they sing the songs. It really uplifts the heart and the soul to a new and renewed feeling! The mass has ended, we went in peace.

 We left the church filled with gaiety, and hope for the next year. For more blessings. As usual, we went to the bakery and bought the same amount of pan de sal, and since Inang and Tatay liked balut, they bought for us. We laughed because it was so simply amazing for us to have that balut in our midst for noche buena. As we arrived home, we could not wait for the time that we have to eat together, celebrating Christmas with simplicity, hearts on fire, with love and caring for each other. The best and the tastiest Christmas. The 25th of December, Christmas morning, Tatay dressed the native chicken and we had a simple salo-salo together.

 Many years have passed and the experience of that Balut Christmas still becomes fresh everytime I celebrate the season. How wonderful it is to have parents like them, sacrificing each centavo for the welfare and enjoyment of their young! Today, the celebration of the season may not be as simple as my childhood years, it had become more complicated, intricate, sometimes to the point of being absurd. There is no more balut on the table, no more pan de sal, no more coffee. And no more parents to share all these things present...not simple but complicated.

 But still, me and my sister and my pamangkins would somehow try to fill in the gap of longing for my parents, and as if they were still here to celebrate with us. The only thing that has changed it the kind of celebration we have had... no more no less... they are still a part of the celebration for in our hearts, they will be here forever.

 As we celebrate the day Christ was born in Bethlehem, we should always remember that sumptuous foods, glittering lights, beautiful decorations, new things, and a lot more that has become a symbol for Christmas to us are nonetheless, unimportant if we are not gong to celebrate as the way it should be. Giving, forgiving, love and care... should be the first things that will remind us of Christmas, as the way Jesus Christ, in His innocence have exemplified in us. These material things would soon pass, but the true spirit of Christmas would always be in our hearts.


MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERY ONE.

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Sa Mol, Nakita Din Kita

sa mol
nadoon ako kanina
maghapon
nagbabakasakaling andoon ka rin
kasi excited akong makita ka
ano na ba ang itsura mo?
gumanda?
pumayat?
umaliawalas ang mukha?


sa place na una tayong nag EB noon
doon ako nakatayo
bawat tao sa escalator
inaabangan ko
ngunit d ko nakita
anino mo man lang.
sa may elevator ako pumunta
nagtunganga
habang minamasdan
mga tao sa pasilyo
baka ikako andun ka
ngunit wala pa rin.


gumawi ako sa foodcourt
naalala mo ba
kung san tau nagdidate dati
tusok ng fishballs at kikiam
sabay sip ng palamig
na parang bang angus steak
and red wine sa mamahaling resto
tinitignan ko ang mga tao
kung andun ka
pero wala pa rin.


lumabas ako
humithit ng philip
nakadalawang stick yata ako
habang nagmamasid
sa mga passers by
nagbabakasakaling wala ka pa sa loob
at andun ka
ngunit ganun pa rin
di kita nakita.


ano ba talaga
'di ka man lang magparamdam
ahhh... isipin ko na lang
na nakita kita
dun sa may escalator, sa elevator, sa foodcourt
na miss mo ba ako?


ilusyon na lang
o mapait na katotohanang
wala na taung dalawa?


o kung meron pa man
bakit di ka magparamdam, sinta?


pahabol....
nakita kita sa terminal ng van....
may kasamang iba!

THOUGHTS AND NOT SO SIMPLE THOUGHTS

the crowd....
the trees....
the building...
the ambiance...


travelling for hours every day and looking at the same soothing views excites me most. the river that i pass by makes my thoughts go back in time as to where, six years ago, me and my friend, have to trod everyday of our lives in Tayug. and why not? i really enjoy the moments riding at the back of the motorcycle and having the view full in my eyes, with all the rain water on my face, and yet i could really hear myself laughing at the childish experience.


what is really amazing is that, when i came back to the school that has given me much opportunity to enhance my knowledge and talent, the place has changed a bit... and the town was almost unrecognizable. many were called but few agreed to stay, as they say, it has been a backward little town on the east of my province, but they were all proven wrong. malls had been erected, and there were some fastfood chains to boast. but that those were just some of the treats that this town would give.


when i first stepped on the campus, it is still the same that i have left years ago, but there are buildings, new and i could still smell the aroma, if that is what may i call it, of the cement. the building is roughly made, yet habitable, but with the efficient management, in a year or two, it would be much of use, and with facilities to boast.


i could still imagine the garter snakes falling to a crowd of women talking and sharing their lives one afternoon,when the winds suddenly blew hard, and with that, they just laugh it off without even being scared by the thought. or during the rainy and stormy days, pupils would bathe in the rain and play on the stacked rain waters in front of their classrooms, happily, and innocently. it is still fresh in my mind, us, the male faculty members would love to stay at the makeshift house made of light materials such as bamboos and corrugated galvanized iron, but still we are happy with it...as we could do nothing but to stay. the thought of going to attend the daily mass before going to attend my class is such an adventure for me, for, rain or shine, i would not fail to do so. there is so much more to tell.


i was so saddened when the school administration have said that i would be re-assigned to the campus after six years of being at the main. the thought of leaving the people that i have learned to love and to care for, and the students who have become my friends eventually, was the initial reaction to the pronouncement. but in a way, it had become a challenge for me. i just thought that everything has its reason and purpose.


and when the classes started, i was so surprised that the students were still warm in the welcome, as well as the faculty members were so warm and pleasing. i thought, i could adjust to the renewed environment easily, and i am slowly making a success to that.


i am enjoying the sights. i am enjoying the feel. i am enjoying everything. when it seems that everything is in its lowest, i will just think that i am going to make it. that is positive thinking. that is what my attitude is. i will never be alone because i am with friends to cheer me up, and i am with the nature. it is cool. it is wonderful. it is warm all at the same time.

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