A letter from Saudi Arabia

Dear Manong Vic,

 

Please allow me to call you manong. I don't really know much about you, except for the wonderful things that I read from your page. I am sure that you don't know me but like you, I am also from Asingan – the old town we both love so profoundly. I was born and raised in Dupac but has since left and lived somewhere else - some twenty years ago. Probably, our only links are Ms. Costes who was my science teacher in Rizal Academy (not even sure if you're related) and my uncle Ben (Soloria) whom I read about in one of your previous blogs. Though he was my growing-up idol, I lost contact with him since they migrated to Guam. The last time I heard from him was during my college days when he gifted me with a Civil Engineering Design book which I had since put to good use and which I treasure to this very day.  And so, seeing him featured in your page was a real pleasant surprise. If he is unable to read this message personally, please extend my warmest greetings to him.

 

I presently work as an expat structural design engineer in the middle east, where the way of life is in extreme contrast to ours, so you could probably understand my yearning for anything that's Filipino, especially if Asingan-related. Same craving brought me to Pangasinan.org and on to your page.

 

I strayed quite accidentally into the Asinganian Journal and never intended to stay long. But your vivid and compelling prose evoked in me so many fond memories of Asingan that I have to indulge myself longer, and to visit repeatedly. I read your heartwarming stories about the old laundry days in aragaag, the damortis, the karumata, the old bridge, etc and the nostalgia freak in me is transported back not only to those old places of yore but also to those days - long gone - back when life was so simple and so uncomplicated. (How did we managed to mess it up so thoroughly?). The images that flood back to mind with your every word remind me of all the wonderful people of Asingan that I am so blessed to have encountered. I read Ogie Diaz's high school recollection and its like reliving my own (mis)adventures with my barkada, only in much more humble circumstances.  Who says that time-machines are still on the drawing board? Asingan, after all, is not just the place and the physical edifices. Its not just the familiar streets and the neighborhood. It is us and our collective memories of the lives that touched ours and that peculiar culture that flourished as it can only in Asingan.

 

Thank you for the superb storytelling. Please keep writing portraits about our hometown, both in the past and in the present. A lot of us who are not gifted to write, I'm sure, appreciate what you do - that is keeping the memories of old dear asingan alive.

 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

 

Engr. S__________ _______________

Dubai Emirates, UAE

 

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Hi S_______,

 

Having not asked formally your permission to reprint your e-mail, I deemed it better not to use your name to protect your privacy but I could not pass the chance of publishing it because  e-mails like yours are some of the motivating factors that keeps me writing too re: our beloved Asingan..Thank you for your warm e-mail...

 

Congratulations for doing such a fine work abroad..Your command of English is also very commendable..and inspiring for the upcoming batch of the new Asinganian generation...

 

Again, a heartfelt THANK YOU!

 

Vic