A Family Reunion

When we got home last night, my wife had to jump back and make a double turn, spooked by what she saw as soon as she entered our gate.



I have never seen a manananggal in such a lil wendy hair and smile. Must be some rushed school project is what I thought. This chiz curl inspired creature could have been more of a character straight out of sesame street than one to be used for scare tactics. But still, my scared (pride on the line) wife disagrees. LOL NO worries there, it is almost halloween anyways.

Speaking of November 1, it has been a year since that impromptu reunion and inuman of sorts that our family had in Batangas. It is by tradition that the whole Magti clan will be gathered in the old Lino and Mariquita's abode every All Saints / Souls Day. Typically, the whole family will pray for our dearly departed and then have a salu-salo consist of whatever is put on the table by our Tita Mercing and Tiya Lucing. But last year was different, as it was more special. This was because two memebers of the family were to get married in a few weeks time. Maris was to marry Allexis, while yours truly was to be tied to my now wife. So it was also the day where we were able to introduce the about to be members of the clan to the whole gang. It has never happened before also that after the prayers and the salu-salo there would be an inuman. It started with about 2 to 4 younger members of the clan sitting in a semi-circle with beer at hand. After some time, the elder ones amongst the cousins joined in. It was a night of laughter. It has been a long time since were like that. Last time I think (but without the red horse) was when I was still in gradeschool when our granmother Mariquita was still living and singing songs about the tamarind tree. It was really a fun night with Kuya Jun and Kuya Boy serving as "bangka" while Ninong Gonie through the sponsorship of Kuya Father Alex as "taya". When the night ended, every one realized how memorable it was, that soon talk about doing it again after one year came up.

To be honest, I am excited. I am not sure if it is going to be the same as last years. But still I am looking forward to that day. I just hope I do not have to go to work which would really be a bummer.

The Hosts:


Prayer time:


And then these:

Calamias Childhood Memories

[o]

I happen to see from FB some relatives whom I have not seen in a while. It so happened that these guys used to live two houses away from our own house in our hometown. Now they are far off living Down Under. After browsing some of their pictures, nostalgia started to creep.

The place where we grew up in is a little barrio in a small town of Ibaan, Batangas. Everybody knows everyone as almost all are of blood relatives. It is almost as if the whole barrio was owned by our "mamay sa tuhod" who I think the name is Guillermo Rabino. I used to hear stories of him like when he is at odds with someone, he would tell him not to set foot on his land or else something might happen. The threathened will then have to go around the whole barangay just to go to what is beyond our great grandfathers domain.

As young kids, we had nothing to do as there used to be no internet, phone lines were only connected during the latter part of the '90s. The main source of income for most people are farming and the usual "paglalako". And so as kids we got used to playing in the fields, swimming in a very very small river and playing backyard games. The closest guys I grew up with are my cousins. These guys are mostly my second cousins. The bunch of us used to call ourselves the Paltik Gang. The oldest among us I think was about 11 years old only when we started to call ourselves such. Paltik is how we in our area of Batangas calls a slingshot. I had fond memories of those days when we would go from fields to fields playing like soldiers armed with slingshots. We will always target our grandfathers fruitbearing trees most especially the mangoes during summer. It is also during summer when we always get to setup a mini-beach in our area locally called "layon". Since the only flowing river that we have in our place is narrow and not deep at all, what we used to do was to create some sort of a dam that will allow the water to overflow into the banks. We would then pile more and more rocks along the waters path to make it deeper. I remember how these mini-dams were given names like Julian Beach, Arong Beach, Haba-Kipot etc. But there was always danger in putting such dams everytime. This is from our palu-palo wielding kakang's, tita's, tiya's, ate's and lola's. This is because the same narrow river is also the place where our older women relatives are washing clothes. And by us doing the dams this creates tension as the water normally gets muddy whenever we youngsters are doing our little picnics. We are not allowed to dive into the water as long as they are not finished. Oh I cannot count anymore how many times Kakang Soledad and Ate Nita (not my mother) would come after us wielding their "pambugbog" because we used to constantly disregard this unwritten rule. Now that I am thinking about it, "hehhehe sorry po".

Ohhh there are lots of stories, beautiful and exciting, and all these I miss so much. Not that I again will run after jeepneys at night naked like what we used to do when we were young. It is just that these memories should be kept and should be told to our grandkids also. I miss being young and living the life that our lolo's taught us. One day though, I promise, I will write a book about all those experiences. And that will be complete with all the characters involve especially the the members of the Paltik Gang.

My Parents are Off to Auckland

This is the farthest that my mother and father is able to go to. I wish I am with thm to see the experience one of the highlights of their life. Thanks to my Kuya Louie, they are now in New Zealand.

I have always wished that I can give my parants this kind of a gift. I envy Kuya Louie that it is him and not me who could provide them the luxury to travel. I remember when I was still in school, I told my parents that I will buy them a car and have the house gated. I have not fulfilled them yet and I am not sure if I can still.

My parents are the most wonderful people that I have been closed to. I love them and I miss them too. I hope they enjoy their stay in Auckland. And one day I hope to provide them such a travel also. How about a trip to Divisoria? I think they'd be happy about that also. They are such grateful people, I don't think they'd mind.