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!