Elusive light
You drive at night when suddenly a car starts driving next to you. Honking.
You think, what’s your problem?! Can’t you see this is my lane? Scoot!
You keep on driving. Suddenly, another car drives right next to you. Again, honking.
You think again, what’s going on with this people?!?
Suddenly, the passenger window rolls down and a hand starts an open-and-shut motion.
You realize, opps, my front lights are still off at 9pm. And not surprisingly, this is not the first time it happened.
Sulay lang gud
Dugay-dugay na sad na wala ko nagsulti ug bisaya. Di man gani ko kahinumdum kung kanus-a ko nagsulat sa bisaya. Lisud baya uy. Taas (Dako?) kaayo ang temtasyon nga mag-ingles na lang.
Luoy baya ang akong mga anak. Dili pa gihapon kabalo mag-istorya sa tagalog o bisaya. Lisod makapangita ug libro nga tagalog, asa na lang kaha kung bisaya. Wala pa nako gisulayan and Miramesa library pero basin sila naay pipila ka libro. Hay, basta pag-uli nako muagto gyud ko ug National Bookstore or Powerbooks.
Murag kani lang ang akong kaya. Ang akong huna-huna gakapa-kapa.
(Switch to Tagalog)
Baka mas madali. Nahihirapan akong makahanap ng tamang salita sa Bisaya. Nakakapanibago. Nakakagulintang. Una kong lengwahe ang Bisaya at lumaki akong ito ang gamit sa araw-araw.
(Switch to English)
It’s amazing how 2 years of speaking minimal to nil of Filipino turns me into nothing but a tongue-twisted Pinay. I really wish I had the consistency and patience to teach my children my mother tongue. Yet the lack of patience defeats the wanting. Like always. I wonder how helpful our 2 weeks in the Philippines this April will be. I’m sure majority of those talking to my children will willingly revert to English when speaking with them. We shall see.
Divorce (and its lack) in the Philippines
I was leafing through the application document for Report of Marriage. I had a similar document from the Philippine Consulate in San Francisco and NOT surprisingly, the Consulate in LA had a different form AND different requirements. Hmm.
What was surprising though was the following text:
In general, divorces between Filipinos are not honored, wherever the decree isobtained. However, in the case of mixed marriages e.g. between Filipinos andforeigners, Philippine law would allow a divorced Filipino to re‑marry, if the alienspouse initiated the divorce proceedings.
Does this sound fair? It struck me as unfair yet on the otherhand, as a Filipino you are still bound to follow the laws of your mother country regardless of where you are. In that regard, it does seem only fair if you need to follow the same laws as any other Filipino. But what about in situations of marital abuse? You’re throwing out a second chance at marriage if you’re the Filipino seeking divorce of your present marriage. ”You can beat the crap out of me but can you file divorce in case I want to marry again?!?!” Did Rustom and Carmina deal with this?!?! (Showbiz!!)
But then again, marital abuse is pervasive in the Philippines yet divorce law is repeatedly thrown out of the legislative windows. What’s the likelihood of it ever being allowed in the Philippines? Pag puti na ang uwak.
Rainy days and Mondays
I woke up with a hangover and a sudden rush of adrenaline when I heard a sprinkler went off. It has been raining the whole night and to hear a sprinkler suddenly go off made me realized that I forgot to turn it off.
We had a crazy weekend. Carsten came back from the east coast after being gone for 4 days. On Friday, we headed for LA to apply for German visa and to report our marriage to the Philippine Consulate (long overdue!) I needed to report it first before I can ammend my passport. The drive was long and there was traffic most of the time. Another notch on my personal disasters list was when a missing 2 from the German Consulates address almost made us miss their office hours. I wrote down 622 Wilshire instead of 6222 Wilshire. What a disaster! It was at opposite ends of the boulevard (15 minutes away from each other). Whew! Thankfully, my husband is not the type to scream your head off when such inane mistakes are made. He merely shook his head, turned Pussycat Dolls loud and drove to right address as fast he could get away with.
To my relief, we made it by a scant 5 minutes. Whew!
Driving back to San Diego took ages. Traffic was slow and busy in LA even at the carpool lane. To make matters worst (or slower), I was driving. I am the least aggressive driver I know of. I usually stay in one lane (despite its turtle pace). I slow down at curves and I don’t drive over 70 mph. So my husband decided it was time for me to have a few lessons. As soon as traffic cleared, I was practicing my turns and lane switching. I was told to maintain my speed whenever possible and to go with the flow (meaning, drive just as fast as the other cars). After 5 hours, we were finally home.
To our surprise (and dismay), we had a disaster waiting at home. My husband told me that our pool was half empty and the filter was “blown off.” My mind went spinning. Was it because of the newly installed solar heater? Was it because of the 2.5 lbs. of DE (powder-like substance that coats the filter) that I put in 2 days ago? Was there a blockage in the filter? And on and on. You see, the pool is my charge. I maintain it. I check the water balance, clean it and add acid/chlorine whenever needed. The weight of the responsibility for the “disaster” was reeling in my head.
So instead of the restful weekend that our family was looking forward to, we ended up tending to pool matters. I went to Leslie’s for DE replacement FiberClear (which is biodegradable unlike DE), and cyanuric acid. I had a lengthy discussion with the store manager hoping to find some answers to what happened to our pool pump. Carsten tended to filling up the pool (15,000 gallons of water?!?!), cleaning it and the filter.
We had guests over from LA that day too. Gracia, who is my sister’s schoolmate from Bukidnon who is now in LA came with her friend Marie. It was a good break and I was finally speaking my dialect again. I cooked adobo (like always and because I really have limited cooking abilities).
We finally filled up the pool by 8pm (after 8 hours)…. then the next day comes rain and then another day of rain. That was the Monday morning with a hangover.
