Let me take you through some photos I took during my whirlwind trip to the Philippines with my Lola and Lolo!
In the morning, we went to Naic, Cavite where my Lolo was born and lived until the age of about 4. We met up with Gil who is my Lolo’s cousin. They had just sold the land that belonged to my Lolo’s Lolo. Gil surprised everyone and passed out a portion to all of the nieces and nephews.
This was outside the church that we met in in Naic, Cavite.
We walked down the street, which were all so colorful and inviting! The church was only about two blocks away from the house that my Lolo was born in.
Lolo used to tell my sister about a red fruit that he would eat but for awhile he couldn’t remember the name of it. But I asked the new owner of the house and they cut down the makopa tree a couple years before. It was cool to me to see the trees here and the coconut tree not pictured and place it in my memory with the stories my Lolo has told of his young childhood. And for me to think that maybe the same coconut tree that was there, fed my Lolo when he was growing up.
The new owner of the house let us have a tour of the house. For his job, he roasts lechon on the contraption in the picture. It has an area to put around 10 pigs, maybe more, now I can’t remember. Then there is a steering wheel type thing that turns all the pigs so they are evenly roasted.
My mother’s cousins were spoiling me because I told them that I really love fruit. Here is Kuya Gary buying some bananas that tasted amazing! They had hints of pineapple, dragon fruit, and kiwi as well as banana. There are so many different types of bananas!
This was another tasty treat! A little different which my taste buds have always chose food on the different side. It was pickled green mango with a sweet fish sauce.
Pretty soon after we had the meeting at the church, saw my Lolo’s birth house, and walked around the town a little bit, we went down some side streets to a house and had a huge meal set out for us!
This was the woman who hosted us and served us the meal, her family members made the food too. I still don’t know how she was connected with our family but I think her family was related to or family friends with Gil because I think he was staying with them (Gil lives in the United States in Texas).
My Lolo is so cute! When he is eating these day, he will say “My pouch is full” or “Hmm, I don’t think my pouch is full yet” referring to his stomach. Dementia isn’t a negative thing, it is just different.
There was so many yummy foods! And different items that are not readily available in the U.S.
It was really awesome to eat together because my family members were reminded of different experiences together and so I got to hear lots of stories!
Yummy and pretty purple squid!
Ate Hasmin chowing down on some yummy food!
This time that I got to spend in the Philippines shows me how food grounds people to place and brings people together. In Pilipino culture, food is really important and to see what would seem like a stranger invite us into her home to eat food was really different than in America. I think this is another impact of individualism versus a collectivist society because in this setting, because there is less of a distinction between family and other, even though we didn’t know this woman, we soon would. She invited us in because one of her friends/family was related to us which made us family or close as well. Also, just the notion that she would feed us and she would get fed in the future. It is not a hyper individualized fight for survival or to rise above and be better than those around you.
Through this experience I felt like I was welcomed in, in my family and culture. To wrap it into Pilipino/American/APIA ties, this culture of welcoming people in and food being a place to serve each other and share stories definitely carried over to America.
Let me also say that I got to go to the market in the Philippines and it was amazing! My roll of film accidentally did not get put in my camera correctly so none of the pictures that I thought I was taking came out.. I was very sad. But the market was a warehouse type thing with low hanging ceilings that stretched on seemingly forever and they had booths with lights strung around them. There were sections of meat, produce, seafood, and snacks. There were so many different kinds of seaweed and fruits, and all parts of meats. It was quite the experience and I loved being able to be in that environment with so many sensory experiences.