Golden Birthday

Family. The entire weekend was reserved for my mom's side. The entire weekend was celebration after celebration. First a Birthday, then an engagement, but let me not get too ahead of myself.

Early Saturday morning, I went grocery shopping with Tita Bennie. The Market is just like what you saw on TV – vendors attempting to sell you their goods, stores left and right, and people everywhere. The market reminded me a lot of India, especially whenever my Auntie tried to bargain for the price of the food. I loved how every good was not a fixed price, unlike the goods in the US. As I recorded the marketplace, the vendors would stop me and encourage me to record their products. Then, I would shyly move away and follow my auntie.

After lunch, my auntie and I went to the salon to get her hair and makeup done. I didn’t want to wait for the whole time so I left and walked around. I noticed that most of the sari-sari stores (neighborhood stores) were ran by Lolas (grandmas). Most of the tricycle drivers were predominantly young adult males. These two jobs – store owner and tricycle driver, at least in the province, were shaped by gender. I didn’t see a male work in the sari-sari stores or a woman drive a tricycle. I don’t think there is anything wrong with that, I guess it’s just the norm.

Sari-Sari Store

 

When we got back, we got ready. By the time we finished, it was 6 PM, the start of the party. Of course we ran on Filipino Time since we couldn’t find someone to pick us up because everyone else was running late. By 6:30 PM, Tito Ian picked us up and we came into the party looking like the party just started.

My mom introduced me to so many family members that I could not remember. Honestly, I felt embarrassed to forget them, so before we got into a lengthy conversation, I would tell them that I had to leave since I was the designated “videographer”. Don’t get me wrong, I really wanted to reminisce and have the “remember this… and that” conversation, but it felt too much of a shock for me. I am no longer the small eight-year old kid that left the Philippines, and I didn’t really know how to communicate that to them. On top of that, my Tagalog was broken with mixed English words in between phrases.

Whenever I took a break from videoing the celebration, I talked with my cousins. It’s so reassuring to have people around my age to relate experiences. They filled me in whenever I asked them who was who, so I didn’t look as clueless. They recalled the times we hung out as children (which I couldn’t remember most of the time). They shared stories of school and their families. I loved how easy it was to catch up with them.

Cousins with the Birthday Girl

Wacky Wacky

By the end of the celebration, my uncles, auntie and cousin sang. We were like the Filipino families I saw on TV, the ones that sang and dance. I really want music also incorporated into our parties in the States along with the long tables of Filipino food and long, endless conversations.

I am so glad to be home.