Philippines Memories

The Philippines is a beautiful country that my Mother came from. The people were friendly but the trip had a few moments.

We were waiting for our airplane tickets, in an airport in Indianapolis, my sister, started to talk about the recent airplane accidents loudly in front of everyone else. I elbowed her, and tried to tell her that she was distracting everyone. Finally, the clerk told my little sister to shut up. Thankfully, this was before 9/11 so we just went on our merry way. Although, my mother and I never let my sister forget it.

I made a couple of unforgettable moments. We went to my mother's old home called Caribou Island by ferry. The ferry was a boat that was narrow and overstuffed with passengers and all sorts of cargo. It was interesting and fun until we had to get off. At the time, there was no deck and so the ferry had to land as close to the shore as possible and everyone had to be carried out by very strong men. Mother and my sister had no problems being carried.

I would have had fun being carried by a strong Filipino man across the water to avoid getting my feet wet if it weren't for one thing. I was afraid of heights. As soon as he carried me on his shoulders, I grabbed for his neck and held on as tight as I could. I think I was choking him. We barely managed to reach the shore before I got off. What made things worse, was the fact that the guy that I nearly choked was one of my many cousins.

When I, my little sister, and my Mother were going to a Filipino restaurant right in the Philippines, I think in Cebu. That restaurant was not like a tourist place and it felt very authentic. Sadly, the toilets are mostly holes in the ground with no toilet paper.

Anyway, there were street vendors all over the place. I was curious and looked at the vendors. I bought a pretty necklace and said 'Thank you'.

The other vendors turned around and started to move slowly towards me saying "Please buy something." in rough English.

I was nervous, I felt like I was in the movie 'Land of the Dead' only with living and very polite shop vendors. Mom grabbed me and we escaped into the restaurant without having to buy any more stuff.

Those are some of the funniest and most interesting memories I had about that trip. It was an interesting trip that I will never forget.