My Trip to the Philippines
January 25, 2014 (The day of the trip):
Today is the day, I leave for the
Philippines. As I am sitting here at 6:00am (cause I couldn't sleep), many
things are going through my head. I am nervous, curious, full of anticipation,
feeling weird about the whole thing, and of course excited!
Most of you know that I am half Filipino. I
am not going into much detail about my earlier part of my family life but I
lived in a single parent household with my mom and sister. My mom is Caucasian
from Oklahoma and my dad in Filipino from the Philippines. I lived with my mom
and sister. My mom is so wonderful, always encouraging us to learn about our
Filipino roots and will cook Filipino foods like Chicken Adobo, Pancit, and
Flan. I like being different and I like anything that is not usual to me. So I
loved being Filipino! I would make sure everyone knew that, “I was Asian too”. It has always been my dream to go to the
Philippines and explore my other Country. So, when I decided to teach in Korea,
I told myself that I was going to go the Philippines. I didn't think it would
actually happen but I was hoping that it would be possible. And here it is, the
day that I have been dreaming about!
So to jump back to the past for a minute,
my mom and dad met in the Navy in San Diego. We only lived in San Diego until
we were 5 years old and then we moved to Oregon. So, the only time I had spent
time with my dad was when we were babies. The last time I saw him was when we
were 9 years old (15 years ago) when Jessica and I went to go visit some family
and friends in San Diego. After that we didn't keep in contact with him. So, I
won't go into much of that I just want you to get the picture of what I will
talk about next.
Like I said earlier, I knew I was going to
go to the Philippines during the time I was teaching in Korea, but I didn't
know where, when, or with whom. I was just thinking that I would take a general
tourist trip with some friends that I met in Korea at one point. I didn't have
any expectations but just wanted to go. Once I found out that Mandy was coming
to Korea and that she was interested in coming to the Philippines with me, I
started thinking about maybe contacting my father in the Philippines. So, with
the help of my lovely cousins on his side I was able to get into contact with
him. Which means, tomorrow I will be seeing my father again.
How do I feel about this? I am not sure, I
keep talking to Mandy about this and I normally am not actually saying anything
except words that do not make sense and keep repeating to her, “So weird”. So
that is how I feel. I have no words for this situation but that it is, “so
weird”. I am excited for this opportunity to see him again and to see where he
lives. I am excited that I get to go to the Philippines and get to explore and
eat yummy food.
Most of all I am thankful that my Bestie is
coming with me. She has been there for me through this whole process and I
could not do this without her. God is so good and has been blessing me with
such wonderful friendships and opportunities to explore. I pray that one day I
will be able to go to the Philippines again with my sister and mom, so that
they too can explore and see their other Country too!
February 17, 2014 (2 weeks after the trip):
It’s been about 2 weeks since I have gotten
back from the Philippines. It’s been taking me a while to post about this trip
because I have been trying to recover from my sickness and trying to process
the time that I had in the Philippines. As I write this post, I am trying to
figure out how I want to tell you about my trip. I am not going to go through
what we did each day, but the overall trip and my experience while I was there.
As you read before, I was feeling pretty
nervous about the trip but also excited. Mandy and I really didn’t have any set
plans for this trip or any expectations. I was going in with an open-mind and
kind of on the whim. I knew everything was going to work out but really, we had
no clue on what we were doing in the Philippines. My time in the Philippines is
not your normal “tourist vacation”, it was a weird mix of feelings, like I
lived there (kind of being at home) and a bizarre feeling of being a tourist in
this random town in the Philippines.
Let me talk about the Philippines for a
moment and where we were. The Philippines was colonized by the Spaniards and
the Americans many years ago. Through that, you see how Spanish and American
culture has influenced them as a Country. They have hundreds of different
languages but the most common is Tagalog and English. The people there are
kind, loving, and friendly people. I have never met so many people that were so
nice. At first it was weird being called Mum, Madame, Miss everywhere I went…
but now I miss it. I miss their warm smiles and their helpfulness. It was so
wonderful being able to communicate with people, because most people spoke
English, we could have a conversation with people. What, I haven’t been able to
talk to people in English in forever! But it was also bad, because they
understood everything that we were saying. Mandy and I have gotten in the habit
of talking about everything and anything in public because no one in Korea
knows English, but here we had to be careful. The area we stayed at was in the
Northern part of the Philippines. We stayed in the central region of Luzon in the
Province of Zambales in the city of San Felipe. Where we stayed is not a
typical tourist destination. People come to go surfing because it is a coastal
town but other than that there is not much in this little town of San Felipe.
The reason we stayed there is because that is where my dad lives.
Okay, the part you have been waiting for… I
will now start to talk about my time there. Mandy and I arrived in Manila, Philippines
on January 26th at midnight. We stayed at a hotel in Manila and were
picked up by my second Cousin and her boyfriend in the morning. My sweet cousin
Lovely and Zaldy, took a 5 hour bus ride in the early, early morning to come
pick us up in Manila just to turn around and head back on the bus for another 5
hours to my dad’s place. Bless them, what a wonderful family I have. We finally
made it to my dad’s house in the afternoon. I didn’t know what my first
interaction with my father was going to be like. You know you have always seen
those tear jerking moments on the movies where the long lost child is finally
reunited with their parent, well that was not my story. Haha it was the
complete opposite. We finally got off the 5 hour bus ride and were dropped off
outside of my dad’s “Resort” on the side of the road. We walked into his place
to be stared at by groups of Filipinos. I had no idea what was going on, who
those people were, and where my dad was. As we walked into the patio area where
all the people were my cousin points to the kitchen and say’s “there’s your
father”. I look around the room in shock and nervousness looking to where she
was pointing. The things that were going through my head was, where is this guy
that she is pointing to and what am I supposed to do. So I finally spot him and
walked over to him and gave him a hug as everyone watched, then I introduced
Mandy to him and he gave her hug also. Already part of the family! We then sat
down at the table and were served all of my favorite Filipino foods, Chicken
Adobo, Pancit, and Mandy’s request chicken salad. My dad sat next to us and we
had the awkward first interaction conversation. It was a time of a lot of
awkward silences, stares, and the basic introduction questions. At the time I didn’t’
know who my family was or who my dad’s customers were. Side note: my dad owns a
Resort with a swimming pool and karaoke machine. People come for the day to
swim and hang out. So there was a group of customers that were there watching
this awkward family reunion. Even though the first interaction was super
awkward and strange I knew that we just needed to warm up to each other. I mean
it has been a while, so I was still full of hope and anticipation for the week.
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| My Dad and I |
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| My Dad's Resort |
The whole week we were there we stayed with
my dad at his resort. It was a wonderful chill week of hanging out with my
family and new friends. On Monday, we
spent the day with my Cousin Lovely and her family. On Tuesday, it was my “dad’s
day” as they would call it. It was a nice day being able to spend time with
him, Mandy and our tricycle driver (body guard and friend) Brian. In the morning,
my dad and Brian took us to the “surfing beach” and we walked around there a
bit and took pictures. Later on we went to the capital of Zambales, Iba. We
went to lunch at a Chinese fast food restaurant and got Halo-Halo (my favorite
dessert)! Later that night, Brian thought of another place that they could show
us so he picked us up on his tricycle and we went to a waterfall. My dad was
skeptical of there being any water because it was the dry season, but we still
went to check it out. One of my favorite times of being in the Philippines was
the tricycle rides, so I was always up for an adventure. There was four of us
on this motorbike and sidecar so it had some difficult times driving sometimes.
We were in this village area trying to go up this little hill and I knew
something was going to happen. We started to skid and roll down the hill. I was
screaming/ laughing and all the people in their homes got out to see all the commotion.
Haha I was just laughing at how ridiculous this situation was. I suggested that
we just walk the rest of the way and teased Brian the rest of the week about
that. We got to the waterfall and my dad was right, there was no water. But it
was still beautiful and it was a fun adventure. It was nice having that day
with my dad because we were able to talk a bit more and spend time with each
other. After the waterfall we went to the market to get food for dinner. While
we were there my dad was “parading” us around the market telling everyone that
I was his daughter. No one believed him, so I had to tell them that I really
was his daughter. My father is such a funny man, which is where I get my
uniqueness. He was telling us that all the people are so nosy when he goes
there, always wanting to know all about him, like he was so popular… haha but I
was like, um… you are the one walking to all these places to show me off. It
was so funny. It was a weird feeling of being called his daughter, which was
the first time I have been called someone’s daughter but it was also exciting
and it started to feel normal to me, it was a nice feeling that was new to me.
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| Family and Friends |
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| With my Cousin Lovely and Mandy at the Mall! |
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| Tricycle Rides |
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| Riding in the tricycle |
As the week went on we just took it easy
and hung out around the San Felipe area. Mandy and I wanted to do something
special for my family because they had been so wonderful to us, so we decided
to cook dinner for them. Mandy made mashed potatoes and green beans and I made
fried chicken (from scratch), my dad helped me make gravy. Others came over
that day so there was a big group of us. They made fish and other Filipino foods
so it was a weird clash of American and Filipino cuisine but it all turned out
good and I think they liked the foods we made. Mandy and I wanted to get out of
the city and explore a bit on our own so we went to a bigger city about an hour
away called Olangapo on Thursday. It was our first time travelling in the
Philippines on our own, because my family was very protective of us, which was
really sweet of them but it was also exciting to be able to figure out how to
get around on our own. Mandy and I went to the mall! The mall, I know that
sounds really boring but for me it was so exciting. I haven’t been to a REAL
mall in a year and half so being able to go there was so thrilling. The next
day Mandy and I ventured out to Olangapo again to go to the open market. We
wanted to get souvenirs for our family. We had a good time exploring and were
getting pretty good at getting around on Jeepneys and buses. We made it back
home in the afternoon and got my dad and Brian to take us to the beach to watch
the sunset. My dad and Brian probably thought we were crazy girls for wanting
to watch the sunset and take a ton of pictures but they were very good sports
and took us around town. That was the last night with them because the next day
we were traveling back to Manila and to take the plane back home. It was a bittersweet
night, it was fun being able to have a last meal with everyone and just spend
time with one another but it was also the last day.
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| Cooking with my Dad |
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| Olangapo Market |
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| With my Bestie |
My life is so wonderful; God has truly
blessed me so much. I could not have gone through this adventure without my
best friend Mandy. She really was my rock, comforter, friend, and I could not
have asked for a better person to come with me and experience this crazy/
awkward time. She is and will always be part of the family now, they are
expecting her to come back to visit now. Haha So in conclusion, the Philippines
was wonderful! It was so beautiful, warm, and is now a place I can call home. I
know that this trip was a God thing and just the beginning to what he has in
store for me and my family in the future. I will go back and visit again one
day with my sister and see all the people I have met and call family.
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