A Country Christmas
Okay, so I think most people know I'm dating a Filipino named Ghay ("Guy"). He's great and I'm happy. So anyways, we went to his family's house for Christmas. I've met the family a few times before, so it wasn't a shocker or anything. The 
house is about 45 minutes north of El Nido and is a classical native-style house, as you can see. The inside was very sparse and clean. Now, let me just tell you the names of all Ghay's family: Father- Orlando, Mother-Normelita. His brothers and sisters, in descending order - Nolan, Nomer (Ghay's real name), Norie Jane, Nikko Keil, Norezel, Norellaine, and Nicole James. Yeaaaaaaaaah. Imagine my problem. Another problem - Filipinos always cut names in half, only pronouncing the last syllable. Half the time, I didn't even know they were SAYing a name! Example: I thought the dog's name was Roon for 4 days, and when I finally asked Ghay what that meant, he had no idea what I was talking about. The dog's name is actually Negron. WHAT?!?! Sure, ok.
Ghay's father is a rice farmer, so there were many fields and it was very picturesque. I had a nice time walking around and learning about how to grow rice - seriously, I had no idea it took so long and so much work! His father is in the fields 8-9 hours a day! I heard stories about camping in the mountain, and long hours spent catching wild chickens to sell to school mates for 150 pesos. Now that's country life, I'd say. The closest neighbor is an uncle. You can see the house, but it's perhaps 1/4 mile walk down the road.
It got interesting when I asked to use the bathroom. "Pee or poop?" Ghay asked. "What?! Why do you need to know?! Does it matter?!" Apparently, it does matter. The bathroom next to their house (maybe 50 feet away) is just a stone slab surrounding by a building. You pee on the rock and then use well water to wash it into the rice fields, because as Ghay says, "The rice wants your pee!" If you have to go #2, you have to walk over to his uncle's house, whose facilities are better prepared to accept all manner of things. Luckily I just needed the stone slab.
We spent the 23-27 in Lob Lob (the town) and it was very quiet. During the day we walked around and played cards and took naps. It was very acceptable to take a rest whenever you felt like, since there wasn't much to do! Yay, because I love to sleep! Sleeping: just a straw mat covering the bamboo floor. I got used to it after the first night. Ghay and I were put in one room- in fact, he kicked his sister out because he's older! Ha. So then you string up the mosquito net and light your torch when it gets dark. Oh yeah, they don't have power at the house, and no generator! The uncle next door has a generator though, so we went over there a few times for music or a movie.
One memorable morning I woke up to the mosquito net crashing down on me and a frenzied fluttering all around the room. "WHATS HAPPENING!?!" I shout, covering my face and head. "It's a chicken!" Ghay says. Lo and behold, a chicken had somehow come in through the window and was running around our 5"x 5" room like it had it's head cut off, but thank God, it was still all connected. Ghay chased it and threw it out the window. As we laid there in the following silence, I could only think of one thing to say: "Well, that's the first time that's ever happened in my life."
Christmas itself was a lazy affair. For Ghay's family, it isn't about presents or decorations. Thus, it almost seemed like an ordinary day, which was a little tough on me, because I love the pomp and circumstance of Christmas. I anxiously awaited a call from home, hoping beyong all hope that Dad had received my text message. It finally came at 4am!! I didn't mind though, it was so wonderful to hear everyone's voice. A wonderful present.
The next day I woke up and felt really sick. Turns out I had been drinking well water the whole time and it had finally caught up - traveller's diahrea!! Oh, and remember how the crapper was 1/4 mile away? Yeah, so every time I got the ole crampy cramps I had to struggle up that road, forcing Ghay to come with me to draw the water. After the 3rd visit, the uncle was like, Um are you sick? YES by God I AM! WOE WAS ME!! Definitely not the norm for eveyone within radius to know about the status of my bowels, but there wasn't much room for embarrassment. I finally felt well enough to get a jeep ride back to El Nido and purified water. I felt sick for a few days, but hey, at least I lost some weight. Ha.
Hated to end Christmas on a bad note, but all in all I had a good time!
house is about 45 minutes north of El Nido and is a classical native-style house, as you can see. The inside was very sparse and clean. Now, let me just tell you the names of all Ghay's family: Father- Orlando, Mother-Normelita. His brothers and sisters, in descending order - Nolan, Nomer (Ghay's real name), Norie Jane, Nikko Keil, Norezel, Norellaine, and Nicole James. Yeaaaaaaaaah. Imagine my problem. Another problem - Filipinos always cut names in half, only pronouncing the last syllable. Half the time, I didn't even know they were SAYing a name! Example: I thought the dog's name was Roon for 4 days, and when I finally asked Ghay what that meant, he had no idea what I was talking about. The dog's name is actually Negron. WHAT?!?! Sure, ok.
Ghay's father is a rice farmer, so there were many fields and it was very picturesque. I had a nice time walking around and learning about how to grow rice - seriously, I had no idea it took so long and so much work! His father is in the fields 8-9 hours a day! I heard stories about camping in the mountain, and long hours spent catching wild chickens to sell to school mates for 150 pesos. Now that's country life, I'd say. The closest neighbor is an uncle. You can see the house, but it's perhaps 1/4 mile walk down the road.
It got interesting when I asked to use the bathroom. "Pee or poop?" Ghay asked. "What?! Why do you need to know?! Does it matter?!" Apparently, it does matter. The bathroom next to their house (maybe 50 feet away) is just a stone slab surrounding by a building. You pee on the rock and then use well water to wash it into the rice fields, because as Ghay says, "The rice wants your pee!" If you have to go #2, you have to walk over to his uncle's house, whose facilities are better prepared to accept all manner of things. Luckily I just needed the stone slab.
We spent the 23-27 in Lob Lob (the town) and it was very quiet. During the day we walked around and played cards and took naps. It was very acceptable to take a rest whenever you felt like, since there wasn't much to do! Yay, because I love to sleep! Sleeping: just a straw mat covering the bamboo floor. I got used to it after the first night. Ghay and I were put in one room- in fact, he kicked his sister out because he's older! Ha. So then you string up the mosquito net and light your torch when it gets dark. Oh yeah, they don't have power at the house, and no generator! The uncle next door has a generator though, so we went over there a few times for music or a movie.
One memorable morning I woke up to the mosquito net crashing down on me and a frenzied fluttering all around the room. "WHATS HAPPENING!?!" I shout, covering my face and head. "It's a chicken!" Ghay says. Lo and behold, a chicken had somehow come in through the window and was running around our 5"x 5" room like it had it's head cut off, but thank God, it was still all connected. Ghay chased it and threw it out the window. As we laid there in the following silence, I could only think of one thing to say: "Well, that's the first time that's ever happened in my life."
Christmas itself was a lazy affair. For Ghay's family, it isn't about presents or decorations. Thus, it almost seemed like an ordinary day, which was a little tough on me, because I love the pomp and circumstance of Christmas. I anxiously awaited a call from home, hoping beyong all hope that Dad had received my text message. It finally came at 4am!! I didn't mind though, it was so wonderful to hear everyone's voice. A wonderful present.
The next day I woke up and felt really sick. Turns out I had been drinking well water the whole time and it had finally caught up - traveller's diahrea!! Oh, and remember how the crapper was 1/4 mile away? Yeah, so every time I got the ole crampy cramps I had to struggle up that road, forcing Ghay to come with me to draw the water. After the 3rd visit, the uncle was like, Um are you sick? YES by God I AM! WOE WAS ME!! Definitely not the norm for eveyone within radius to know about the status of my bowels, but there wasn't much room for embarrassment. I finally felt well enough to get a jeep ride back to El Nido and purified water. I felt sick for a few days, but hey, at least I lost some weight. Ha.
Hated to end Christmas on a bad note, but all in all I had a good time!
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