Day 15: Major Culture Shock
Posted by Brandon Lagao | Posted in The Prodigal Lumpia | Posted on 5/18/2009 09:26:00 PM
This morning we woke up, check out, and headed to breakfast. My grandparents said they wanted to take me to a "real" breakfast, while everyone else ate at Jollibee. It was some expat restaurant called Margarita Club. They spoil me like I am still a little kid, it's funny. Breakfast with them was cool though. We talked a lot about random stuff and they assured me that my Dad is doing much better now that he is here. He told me that last night, but it was nice to gets some confirmation from my grandparents. My grandma is a really cool lady. She has good style, she is funny, and she gets pissed off pretty easily, which is funny to me. And my grandpa is probably one of the coolest people I know. He is pretty much the most lovable, crazy old man i've ever met. He talks slow, he is goofy, and he cracks me up quite a bit.
After breakfast, we met everyone else at the mall and then headed to their hometown in Paniqui. Paniqui is about 3 hours north of Manila, in the Tarlac province. They told me that Paniqui translates to "Bat" in English. I honestly didn't know what to expect about their home. My grandpa would periodically bring up that the house isn't finished yet. And then the rest of the family would mention it too, but they also explained about how big the house was. My family here is pretty well off since my Grandpa is retired US Navy and he gets money every month that goes much farther here in the PI. They have two cars, when most others don't even have one and they have a maid. As we drove through their town, it looked pretty similar to all the rest of the smaller towns i've seen. The first thing I noticed was that there was way too many tricycles here.
So as we pulled up to their house, I can honestly say I was in a bit of shock. Obviously, I didn't show any concern because it would have been disrespectful, but on the inside I was like "Get me out of here!!!" In my head, I imagined something different and this situation was worse than what I had originally thought. Being that I already downplayed it alot in my head, made it worse that it was worse than my expectations. The only thing that is really done is the roof. Everything else is concrete, the floors, the walls, everything. Some windows are done, but mostly all the openings in are covered with netting. The roof and the walls are fully attached to each other yet, so that that all around the house had to be covered with netting. But it obviously really doesn't work given the fact that there are a bunch bugs and a few lizards running around inside the house!
Once I got inside the house, a very real feeling of culture shock set in. This is my family and this is how they live. The makeshift kitchen is outside, where they cook all their meals on a wood stove. The dishes are done outside and hung to dry. They have a little farm in the back, so there are some ducks and roosters running around. They have a pet cat that just had 3 kittens, and they have a pet dog, that had 3 puppies. Oh yeah, and my Dad warned me that there are huge toads that jump around the place at night. Yuck.
There are 3 different families that live here at my grandparent's house, but that is pretty normal in this culture. The 3 families are: My Grandma, Grandpa, and their adopted son Marc, my 12 year old uncle. My Dad, his wife Gia, and their son/my little brother Quentin who my grandpa nicknamed "Jampong", long story. And my Auntie Gigi, her husband Uncle Bog, and their daughter Joy. They also have a made named Dai.
As expected, dinner was great. My grandparents are great cooks and even planned out a rough menu for all of our meals while I am here. Keeping in mind that its somewhat disrespectful to turn down a meal, I have a feeling all my time in the gym is going to be countered with the time I spend here. Before dinner and after dinner, my Grandpa, Dad, Uncle Bog and me all sat around outside by the kitchen and had some beers and brandy. While we were waiting or helping out with the meal, we also have what they call "Pulutan". It translates to finger food and Pulutan is basically the equivalent to what peanuts are to beer in a bar setting. It's just not right to drink without having some sort of Pulutan.
After dinner and after more drinks it was time to shower before bed. This was probably the hardest adjustment of all. The shower does have a shower head on it, but my grandpa warned me that more often then not the water pressure is so low that it doesn't work. When we first arrived I took a shower and it worked, at night when I took a shower, it did not. So when it doesn't work what you have to do is fill up a bucket from a spout that is closer to the ground, and use a little plastic pot to pour the water over you. The water comes out of the spout slowly, so the whole process just flat out sucks...and oh yeah, no hot water either unless you boil it first.
My sleeping situation was that I shared a bed with Marc in my grandparents room. It's the only room in the house that is almost done and the only one with air conditioning(or as they say in the PI- "aircon"). And actually, it is the most comfortable sleeping situation since the 5-Star Dusit in Manila. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure out how to adjust to living here or just get out of here asap!
After breakfast, we met everyone else at the mall and then headed to their hometown in Paniqui. Paniqui is about 3 hours north of Manila, in the Tarlac province. They told me that Paniqui translates to "Bat" in English. I honestly didn't know what to expect about their home. My grandpa would periodically bring up that the house isn't finished yet. And then the rest of the family would mention it too, but they also explained about how big the house was. My family here is pretty well off since my Grandpa is retired US Navy and he gets money every month that goes much farther here in the PI. They have two cars, when most others don't even have one and they have a maid. As we drove through their town, it looked pretty similar to all the rest of the smaller towns i've seen. The first thing I noticed was that there was way too many tricycles here.
So as we pulled up to their house, I can honestly say I was in a bit of shock. Obviously, I didn't show any concern because it would have been disrespectful, but on the inside I was like "Get me out of here!!!" In my head, I imagined something different and this situation was worse than what I had originally thought. Being that I already downplayed it alot in my head, made it worse that it was worse than my expectations. The only thing that is really done is the roof. Everything else is concrete, the floors, the walls, everything. Some windows are done, but mostly all the openings in are covered with netting. The roof and the walls are fully attached to each other yet, so that that all around the house had to be covered with netting. But it obviously really doesn't work given the fact that there are a bunch bugs and a few lizards running around inside the house!
Once I got inside the house, a very real feeling of culture shock set in. This is my family and this is how they live. The makeshift kitchen is outside, where they cook all their meals on a wood stove. The dishes are done outside and hung to dry. They have a little farm in the back, so there are some ducks and roosters running around. They have a pet cat that just had 3 kittens, and they have a pet dog, that had 3 puppies. Oh yeah, and my Dad warned me that there are huge toads that jump around the place at night. Yuck.
There are 3 different families that live here at my grandparent's house, but that is pretty normal in this culture. The 3 families are: My Grandma, Grandpa, and their adopted son Marc, my 12 year old uncle. My Dad, his wife Gia, and their son/my little brother Quentin who my grandpa nicknamed "Jampong", long story. And my Auntie Gigi, her husband Uncle Bog, and their daughter Joy. They also have a made named Dai.
As expected, dinner was great. My grandparents are great cooks and even planned out a rough menu for all of our meals while I am here. Keeping in mind that its somewhat disrespectful to turn down a meal, I have a feeling all my time in the gym is going to be countered with the time I spend here. Before dinner and after dinner, my Grandpa, Dad, Uncle Bog and me all sat around outside by the kitchen and had some beers and brandy. While we were waiting or helping out with the meal, we also have what they call "Pulutan". It translates to finger food and Pulutan is basically the equivalent to what peanuts are to beer in a bar setting. It's just not right to drink without having some sort of Pulutan.
After dinner and after more drinks it was time to shower before bed. This was probably the hardest adjustment of all. The shower does have a shower head on it, but my grandpa warned me that more often then not the water pressure is so low that it doesn't work. When we first arrived I took a shower and it worked, at night when I took a shower, it did not. So when it doesn't work what you have to do is fill up a bucket from a spout that is closer to the ground, and use a little plastic pot to pour the water over you. The water comes out of the spout slowly, so the whole process just flat out sucks...and oh yeah, no hot water either unless you boil it first.
My sleeping situation was that I shared a bed with Marc in my grandparents room. It's the only room in the house that is almost done and the only one with air conditioning(or as they say in the PI- "aircon"). And actually, it is the most comfortable sleeping situation since the 5-Star Dusit in Manila. Hopefully tomorrow I can figure out how to adjust to living here or just get out of here asap!
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