Nostalgic Mode

I'm in the middle of reading Young Sherlock, Black Ice when I had this nostalgic feeling of remembering the house I grew up when I was younger before starting school, to late elementary years and high school.

It's the house my father built literally in his own hands. It was a nipa house with a living, kitchen and dining area on right side, and the two bedrooms elevated on the other side. There was an elevated outhouse at the back and charcoal stove just behind the kitchen area. At one point, there were also a small chicken coop where my parent kept some for eggs and meat. Our water was from a deep well right outside the kitchen. We had to boil it all the time in a kettle that has very thick sediments because of the high acidity of the water in the area.

What prompted me to write just now is the memory of my room. It was a functional room next to my parent's room. I can literally climb over and get to the other side. I really don't remember much about that room except that it was the room where I had to stay for days when I caught the chickenpox. I had to spend my time coloring books, eating, sleeping and maybe there was a book that was made available at one point. It would have been a bliss if there were more though. The consolation was that I was able to eat my favorite store-bought bread, Skyflakes and RTO (Royal True Orange). Now that I think of it, most of those might have been on credit from the neighborhood store and that I had already consumed enough sugary drinks back in the days of my youth. The Coca Cola Bottler's company had a very bustling warehouse in our area.

Going back to my room, the bedrooms were just next to each other, with entrances at the opposite end of the small hallway. The wall that connects the two rooms had built-in closets on each side. Mine was a small one. I didn't have a lot of clothes so there were still a lot of space in each shelf. I could clearly remember that it was easy to shove the clothes off at the back of the closet so I can use it as steps to climb up the walls. That pretty fun except the top, which isn't really easy to clean, was a bit dusty. And not only that, there were always some lizard or gecko poops around. Yet, it was still fun to climb and look out at the other room.

The room has two windows, one on the neighbor's side and the other facing the outhouse at the back, along with coconut trees in the woodlands, where my parents would sometime plant cassava.
The window is a typical kubo window. It's basically just a simple opening with a retractable window held by a wood to keep it open and a big nail that one drops in the hole of the window to keep them closed at night or when it rains hard. The window is also made with bamboo mats as most all the walls of the house.

I remember looking at the windows while listening to chirping birds on good weather, listening to the rainfall or thunders during storms. There's this feeling of security inside one's room while at the same time being aware of what is happening outside. There were also mornings when I would wake up and hear my folks already going about the day. Those were the days when I don't have a care in the world, not even having to go to school.

There's this part when I was really younger that I remember that we had a tenant in the house. And a family at that! I don't know what the father does but the mother was a doctor. There were three little girls, younger than me. They occupied the bigger room and now that I think of it, I guess my family stayed in the smaller room which became my own room years later. I guess we shared the rest of the house being that their mom is busy with hospital duties and the kids one of which was still a wee one. How it came about or how long it lasted, I am not sure. They didn't stay that long I guess coz I remember the guy coming home drunk one time and we were spared from the couple's fights after that to say the least.

How they managed to stay in the bigger room was a mystery to me. I mean it is spacious yes, but it's all there was except for the built-in closets and dresser. My parent's closet right by the door had the a-two-door closet and simple three-level shelf with doors. On the left side is a dresser that my father also built-in for my mother. There wasn't much there except for a mirror, a few powders, lipstick, a few others and that ubiquitous blue comb that I remember to have existed until I was all grown up. There were two windows, one looking out of the front lawn and the other facing our neighbors, my cousin's house. We can see each other through the windows and I remember making some can and string telephone to use across the bamboo fence as our toys. There was also a small balcony jutting out at the front corner where a tree can be reached to climb on if one dared to do so.

Hmm..time check. 4:30. I might have been writing for almost an hour by now and I'm getting hungry. It's time for something else.

Before I finish this one off...we lived in that house on and off starting when I was a wee one. We lived at my grandparent's when I was in early elementary (1987/88 to 1991/2) then back there again in 93 or 94. We had to move out to my grandparent's again to live with my grandma after my grandfather passed away. And had stayed there for the longest time til left and got married. So basically, around preschool years and adolescent years were spent in that childhood home. Those were all just good memories. I like the place better than the other one to say the least. The other one felt just ...a house. Cramped room, hardly any window with a decent view, except when my father built the roof deck where I was able to hang out with some friends back in my teenage years. Oops! That's for another post.

Signing off! 

Bail Out

One thing I've learned about some pips here...they often bail out. I think it's a common nationality trait? Is it because we come from the same culture that we take for granted our fellow countrymen? I, myself, is a bit guilty of such sometimes. But not as often as some, I hope. 😉

I must try to develop the integrity of not going back on my word, however light a thing is. It's not a good habit to keep specially if something will take a bit more planning on the other person's part. 

But living outside one's comfort zone does change a person's character or the way he views the world. It helps up weed out the the not-so-good cultures that we grew up in.

 

Well, it just came up again. I really don't mind much about today coz I kind of gotten used to such but there's this feeling of deja vu all over again. 

More interesting ideas on culture here.

MS Mom Diaries

So I just got off the phone with the Korean English teacher and we spoke in Korean. I mean he did. And it's a he. Om..

So the salient points that I understood.
We live in the countryside. Most kids' English level are not really..well..let's just say that it's different from city kids.
Now, how can I give my son a chance to maximize his potential if the environment that we live in is like this without having the need to move? Or paying an academy to teach something that I can teach myself? I've already outsourced the math now and I think I really need to look into handling the writing skills as well as other life skills that he will need. There should be another way. And I don't want the factor of not having enough money to do so.

All I want is to let him be able to hone his skills to be a better student, a better person.

Remnants of the Winter

Be a person like a fallen leaf

in the early morning frost

Amidst the cold and chill

Keep your sparkle until the sun comes out.

I took a quick stroll after dropping my husband off in the morning. I thought that it's already warm enough for morning exercise but I was wrong after one round. It is still cold as evidenced by the frost on the ground which I just noticed as I got to the shady area and saw the frosted leaf.

The leaf is not exactly in its pristine state and there are even holes but it still looked pretty. It managed to keep hold of the sparkle that the winter has left it. It reminded me of people who despite  of "imperfections" in their lives still have the sparkle. There's still something good going for every person. It's just inspiring. 

posted from Bloggeroid

Lunar New Year Duty 2018

Notes:

Youngest DIL here and uses the foreign card most of the time since Korean hubby is not really that keen on attending these at least twice year things (fam structure is a bit complicated to say the least.) Went to the recent lunar new year and heard in the "family meeting" that the oldest son wanted to have everyone do more than the two basic. It seems that they have to do the "ceremonies" like more than twice a year before because they're trying to cover 3 generations of fore-fathers. And because BIL1 has one unwilling and complicated son, and both him and SIL1 are getting old, needs extra help to complete the ceremonies. But instead of doing at least 3x, on top of the regular 2x, he "proposed" to do it all in one. So that means, 2 regular ones plus at least 1 more. Other SILS were like, WHAAT? Me being the youngest and foreigner at that...well...These are all news to me.

That's how the lunar day summarizes. Ah..on another note..Even if I totally don't dig such ceremonies, I do like to be able to help my nice SILS and the entertain the MIL since they were just in the inconvenient culture to be born in. I don't think they expect much from me as I am pretty useless in the kitchen anyway, but I'd be a willing helping hand if available. I just don't like all the drama and the irony of all women doing all the work while the men just sit, talk and bark orders (at times.) The way I see it, the ladies are the power house so if they decide not to do any of those stuff all together, then I doubt if the men can manage all those food. Unless they choose to order-in everything.