roots
last saturday, one-fourth of my (extended) family gathered and well...ate a lot, and got to know each other. but not very much, since i am the shy one in the family, and i do not mingle even with my first cousins too much. we just did some small talk. so i did not even talk to the second cousins.
my father's father is ramirez, his mom, francisco. last july 29, the francisco clan met again at las pinas. my lola is the eldest of the francisco children, but my other lola, the 7th child called the reunion because it is the first time she went to the philippines in many years. all my lola's siblings came, except for the deceased ones: their families went instead. my lolo and lola has 6 children, with an average of 3 children each. other lolos and lolas had about 4 children each with 4 children each. i won't do the math, i'll just say it was a rather crowded reunion (we ran out of the nice buttered salmon).
there was a lot of people there that i didn't know. me and my younger sibs just followed a rule: if the person looks old enough, then we should mano to them. to make things worse some uncles and aunts were actually cousins and some uncles and aunts although legitimate, did not want us to mano to them. everytime someone arrives, our lola or some other relative would introduce us as apo ni manang auring or anak ni benjie. then they would say, "ang laki-laki mo na ah! ganto ka pa kaliit nung huli kita nakita!" why not? we are hormonally normal children. other cousins also suffered from this routine. then they would ask what year we are in now, and what course we are taking. of course it is normal for me and for other cousins (some of them are working now), but my kuya was a popular apo that night. my lola and some of my papa's siblings were always showcasing my kuya as a cum laude graduate, a UP instructor and a masters student at 19 years old. it's ok, but the way they said it (and the times they said it) was too much.
so, like all family events, the host house brought out wine and beer and all people who are allowed to had a sip or two. one uncle (he came with my lola from US) even offered me a vodka-orange juice drink, which i politely refused. i had a sip of white wine from my mom's later on, but just a sip because my mom does not want us drinking alcohol yet. on the other hand, another uncle went around and offered everyone legal a shot (or more) of tequilla. it was okay, but you don't know this uncle. as a child, i remembered him as the uncle who initiated drinking of alcoholic beverages, lighting of fireworks at new year's and everything naughty.
all i did was eat, watch over younger sibs and well watched people. i saw a lot of relatives which resembled other relatives, both physically or in behavior. there was a lot of alaskadors, which my mom pointed out affectionately, referring to where papa got that attitude.
the night ended after my la salle choir cousin and her friends sang 3 songs for all of us. they were good, although they lacked a bass singer. (they were supposed to sing 2 songs, which was all they can sing due to the lack of a bass singer, but were bullied by my uncle [the one mentioned earlier] to sing a third song.)
over all, it was a nice night.
my father's father is ramirez, his mom, francisco. last july 29, the francisco clan met again at las pinas. my lola is the eldest of the francisco children, but my other lola, the 7th child called the reunion because it is the first time she went to the philippines in many years. all my lola's siblings came, except for the deceased ones: their families went instead. my lolo and lola has 6 children, with an average of 3 children each. other lolos and lolas had about 4 children each with 4 children each. i won't do the math, i'll just say it was a rather crowded reunion (we ran out of the nice buttered salmon).
there was a lot of people there that i didn't know. me and my younger sibs just followed a rule: if the person looks old enough, then we should mano to them. to make things worse some uncles and aunts were actually cousins and some uncles and aunts although legitimate, did not want us to mano to them. everytime someone arrives, our lola or some other relative would introduce us as apo ni manang auring or anak ni benjie. then they would say, "ang laki-laki mo na ah! ganto ka pa kaliit nung huli kita nakita!" why not? we are hormonally normal children. other cousins also suffered from this routine. then they would ask what year we are in now, and what course we are taking. of course it is normal for me and for other cousins (some of them are working now), but my kuya was a popular apo that night. my lola and some of my papa's siblings were always showcasing my kuya as a cum laude graduate, a UP instructor and a masters student at 19 years old. it's ok, but the way they said it (and the times they said it) was too much.
so, like all family events, the host house brought out wine and beer and all people who are allowed to had a sip or two. one uncle (he came with my lola from US) even offered me a vodka-orange juice drink, which i politely refused. i had a sip of white wine from my mom's later on, but just a sip because my mom does not want us drinking alcohol yet. on the other hand, another uncle went around and offered everyone legal a shot (or more) of tequilla. it was okay, but you don't know this uncle. as a child, i remembered him as the uncle who initiated drinking of alcoholic beverages, lighting of fireworks at new year's and everything naughty.
all i did was eat, watch over younger sibs and well watched people. i saw a lot of relatives which resembled other relatives, both physically or in behavior. there was a lot of alaskadors, which my mom pointed out affectionately, referring to where papa got that attitude.
the night ended after my la salle choir cousin and her friends sang 3 songs for all of us. they were good, although they lacked a bass singer. (they were supposed to sing 2 songs, which was all they can sing due to the lack of a bass singer, but were bullied by my uncle [the one mentioned earlier] to sing a third song.)
over all, it was a nice night.
posted by cookiemonster at 4:26 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home