December in Sindalan 4

Early this week Donna and I woke up early for our morning walk only to find out it was slightly drizzling so I went back inside the house to check on my eMails. A couple of minutes later I hear her yelling on the top of her lungs, “Daddy, Daddy! Come out here and check this out!” She sounded frantic so I ran outside to see the most gorgeous, the most perfect rainbow (click on this link for more pictures and to refresh your memory on how they're formed) I have ever seen in my life. So of course I ran back inside to get my camera and started shooting. She kept on saying to try and take a picture of the whole thing but we were so close as if we can reach out and touch it. And the only way to capture an image of the whole thing is to drive to the next village!

If you look close enough on some of the pictures below, you can see the faint image of a second one above the much brighter one.



One of the things I miss about the US is our alumni association's annual Christmas party, most of which were held at our old house in Norwalk. It's always been a happy event with the added spirit of Christmas. This year Cora and Arnold hosted it at their place in Long Beach. Ed and Imelda were nice enough to send the pictures below.



As most of you know, I've been a member of ANASI (Academya ning Amanung Sisuan, International) and one of our goals, spearheaded by another member, Ruston Banal, Jr. from Betis, is to have the provincial government enact an ordinance to encourage Capampangan speaking people to speak their language in public places. Ruston, by the way, is in the process of publishing a coffee table book about his hometown Betis and its church. The newly elected governor, Among Ed Panlilio, wrote a message on the first page of the book. The editors feel that the governor's picture is a bit inapproriate - he was standing, wearing a white T-shirt. They think his picture should at least show him sitting on his desk in his office in the provincial capitol. Yesterday, Ruston and I went over there so: a) he can take another picture b) I can talk with the governor about our proposed ordinance.

We agreed to meet at the capitol at 7:30 am. I was late of course. My PC got infected by the Love virus the night before and I was in a panic. I unplugged the Internet cable and plugged it into my laptop. But the dang thing was asking for a password and it wouldn't accept the password I was typing in so I had to call the SmartBro hot line. This was around midnight already. I sent Eph IMs left and right trying to find out what to do. He told me to reboot and to wait for his eMail. While waiting I was chatting with friend Lilibeth from Germany. It was around 2 am when I went to bed and still no eMail from Eph. Anyway...

Didn't have a lot of sleep so my cell phone alarm snoozed a couple of times by the time I finally got up. I forgot that they have morning rush hours over here as well. So it was already past 8 when I got to the Capitol. Ruston and I went up and got into the governor's office. Before I left he warned me of his secretary, a supposedly grumpy spinster old lady who barks at anyone who she feels is asking the governor for favors. When we got there, she was fairly nice, I would guess in her mid to late 30s. She said the governor was having breakfast so we waited for a bit. When she ushered us in, he immediately exclaimed, "Hi Ruston!" You see, Among Ed was the parish priest of Betis before he ran for governor and they knew each other.

I was talking with the governor while Ruston was taking his pictures. Of course, the day before, Donna has already given me a list on the names I should drop with the governor - my sister-in-law Gay who seems to be acquainted with all the priests in Pampanga (she actually worked with him during his time at SACOP - Social Action Center of Pampanga), their deceased Aunt Sesing who unofficially adopted Among as her son. And he said, yes he knew all of them. He further added, "Ikit ke pa mu y Atching Gay ketang aldo." ("I've just seen your sister-in-law recently.") I also told him about a friend and former Navy buddy Jess Mamangun, now a retired sailor living in Hawaii. And to this he said, "Oh yes I know Jess, he was my classmate in Minalin!" And here I am thinking this is the governor of the province and it felt like I was talking with a long lost friend or something.






I think Ruston will use the picture below for his book.




He told me and Ruston that for our proposal about the Capampangan language, we have to draft a request, turn it in with the provincial legislative body (The Sanggunian) so they can enact it into an ordinance which, he guaranteed us, he'll sign the moment it gets to his desk.

I took Ruston home afterwards to see what Donna was up to. She was gone to the bank when we arrived. Thank goodness Ruston was knowledgeable enough about computers and he was able to fix and get rid of my PC's virus. When she came back, we took Ruston with us to lunch at Cely's and then we dropped him off at SM to catch a jeepney home back to Betis.

Donna dropped by Globe in SM and finally replaced her cell phone's SIM card so she has a new number and she can now send text messages. She's been unable to use her cell since we arrived. It accepts incoming calls and text messages but none outgoing whatsoever since it doesn't have any load and we can't seem to load it.

December in Sindalan 3

We went to church here at the St. Paul Novitiate early yesterday morning for the feast of Immaculate Conception. We were surprised to see Cong Tibs and Atching Olive. He's my late sister's brother-in-law and they're from Montebello, California. They said they've been here since October and they're here till Tuesday. Their children are all in the US so I guess they want to spend the Holidays with them.

Also in church was 'Mareng Tess, one of Eph's ninangs. She and her husband Pareng Romy were supposed to attend the wedding last October but had a last minute change of plans. They had to take care of some business in Guam.

We left the house at around 4 to go to Guagua. Atching Pie's friend Glo Lagman was inviting us for the baptismal party of her grand child along with their town fiesta. We parked in front of Atching Pie's place in Sto. Cristo and waited for the rest of their friends. Then we walked for about 5 minutes to Glo Lagman's house past the Guagua market. This was a town fiesta so it would have been a disaster if we drove through. Traffic was terrible and droves of people are walking around the streets. All kinds of vendors are on the sidewalks hawking various things.

The party was catered by the A La Creme restaurant. It was a pretty impressive spread although the food got there a bit late. They had all kinds of hot shots in the party. We were introduced to the mayor of Porac among others.

They had an extension at the back of the house and they had a young priest named Fr. Jay Layug bless it. Glo Lagman owns the Agua Vida bottled water company. The 1st story of the house serves as a store of clothing material. And I guess the 2nd story is their residence. Not sure where they bottle the water.

After the party Donna was invited by her friends and they went to 'school' while Jack, her friend Remy and I walked around and marveled along with the crowd. Then we went to an Internet Cafe. Jack checked her eMail and she had some legal documents printed.

On the way back to their house I took a few pictures. Sorry, it was night time so they didn't come out too good. But here they are anyway..


I had to drive around to avoid the town fiesta procession so instead of making a U turn for home, I took the longer route towards San Anton, Guagua.

They would have been having the annual JASHS Class '70 USA Christmas Party right now at Cora and Arnold's place in Long Beach. I'm sorry we missed it. But at least we'll be able to attend the annual Class '70 party over here every December 30. Just tell me all about it Ed, ok? How was the Capampangan Day in Panorama and Mon's show at the Catalina by the way?