THE PAMPANGA TRIP ( continuation)

When the Viron Bus reached the entrance to the North Diversion Road ( also known before as a SuperHighway ) it slowed down before it would make a 1-minute stop for passengers who would like to disembark. A number of vendors scrambled to the door and windows hoping to make a sale with the passengers."Mineral, Mineral!!" meaning mineral or bottled water. Or SITSARON ( pig chips as my grnadaughters call it ) ..No time to buy anything, I had to jump out before the bus might take me straight to Manila.

My reception Committee was a group of three young girls, still in their Senior year in Computer Science. After a brief "Hello, how are you?" we rode on a passenger jeep headed for the Dau Poblacion. They looked OK and I invited them for lunch at the Nepo Mall, a franchise Mall found in almost all big cities through out the Philippines.Edith is the name of my friend's younger sister who was asked to meet me since her sis was working. The two others are her friends who are familiar with the place where I would get down.

The way to Dau was the familar narrow two-lane road dominated by tricycles and jeepneys and a few cars. At first all you see are the banana trees, or acacia trees; once in a while you will see a clump of bamboos. Beyond these screen of shade trees would reveal a pretty pastoral view. Green fields are seen on both sides. On our right would be the blue profile of Mount Arayat, a noted hideout of HUKBALAHAPS, a well known group of rebels who do not obey any laws of the country. They are mostly bandits ( so I heard ) just like the time of Robin Hood and his Merry Men in England. King John's counterpart would be President Arroyo of the Philippines although I am not telling that she is as corrupt as the brother of Richard the Lion Hearted. It will not be fair for me to be telling political views in this entry since I am not living in the Philippines right now..So far, the HUKS ( shortcut for the tongue twisting name ) do not seem to pose any kind of threat. They live peacefully in unknown spots of the forests girdling Mount Arayat. They have their womenfolks and children too and some peole say sometimes the men folks would ask for rice and vegetables from the nearby villages so they have something to eat.Of course, they always bring their high powered guns during these collection tasks to ensure a good turnout of "revenue." They can not hold jobs, naturally They have personal reasons for joining the movement, mostly economics.. Jobs in the Philippines are so scarce that many kids learn how to sell, beg, forage the garbage to pick up recyclable stuff which they can sell to a middleman. Thus the emphasis is in education, at least a University or a College diploma.

The three ladies with me were quite lucky they are in College. Edith's parents are in Alaska but since they went to the US as seniors, they could not send money to their children here in Pampanga. Jean, the other girl have parents in Europe; she enjoys amenities like regular allowance and a good house to live in..Edith hopes against hope she could be sponsored as an Immigrant to Alaska also but she is 22, nearing the cut off age for children to be sponsored by parents. All of them like to get out of the country at any cost, at any way..They were asking me to find them prospective husbands in Canada..I told them the women in Toronto outnumber the men..

We had lunch at a Pizza restaurant inside the Nepo Mall. Surprise, surprise, they had blue colored Pepsi which we did not have in Toronto. The mall had 4 floors. Half of one floor was a karaoke area. You pay 5 pesos for a number of songs, you hold the mike and you have to sing regardless whether you can hold a note or not. If a singer is good, a big crowd of shoppers would suddenly appear to hear who is singing..If a bad singer takes over, the crowd dissapears as quickly as it appeared.

That evening they brought me to this hotel which is not really a classy one, but heck I just want to spend one or two nights there. There was a single bed, an air con, a phone, a TV. But it was not the DUSIT Hotel. Oh heck, I was tired and needed a shower. So I registered at the desk and signed for a single room. When the female receptionist saw my 3 companions, she gave them a dirty look. She thought they were hookers spending the night with me! Edith said she and her cousins will pick me up the next day to attend a baptismal ceremony in their barrio in Magalang, one of the towns under the shadow of Mount Arayat.--#

****

Later today, I will post some photos and stories of the visit made by Mia and Emma to our house last Feb. 12. Fr. Bob was on holiday so it was Fr. Louis, a Franciscan priest who celebrated the Mass. Miguelita was the Reader, Mia was the Psalmist and this Sunday all 4 singers were there: Caitlin, Emma, Kim and Mia..Fr. Louis topped his sermon with a funny ( but meaningful ) fable about the mouse and the mouse trap. Will relate it today in a separate entry.

In the afternoon, Caitlin came over the house for a couple of hours to join Mia and Emma. I lent them my video cam and the use of my Digital recording room. They locked the door, of course so they can have privacy for their fun. I showed them how to use the equipments in the entertainment room so they can record their singing digitally on blank DVD-Rs  which I can always convert into a CD-R later. Now a days, kids are such geniuses in operating high tech equipments and Game consoles. Heck, I never had these when I was a kid in Asingan!

It was fun listening to them do their thing inside the TV Room..Afterwards, we went across the street to buy some chips from the Korean store. Then we watched and listened to the playback of their live recordings while munching our chips. A very good day, I would say..

TTFN!