Down the Rabbit Hole

One of the more famous Philippine exports is Skyflakes , a wheat-based, salty cracker. It is one of my emergency food items: I typically have some stocked at home and in my handbag in case I become hungry (like in traffic jams). When there's no electricity and it's impractical to cook rice (because the leftover would spoil), I'd open a pack of Skyflakes and generously coat each cracker with Cheez Whiz... if I had a bottle of it within reach. Anyway, each time I spent more than two weeks outside the Philippines, I'd be elated to see boxes of Skyflakes inside Asian stores (particularly when in I was Australia and in the USA). Back then, I took it as a sign of homesickness. When I moved to California, I didn't miss Skyflakes because Mommy made sure that there's a steady supply in the house. Skyflakes is embedded in Filipino gastronomy as a snack, a panawid-gutom , that anyone who reacts positively upon seeing Skyflakes outside the Philippines must have spe...

One of the first things I had to do was to get my driver's license at the DMV. I had to take two tests before I could be granted the privilege to drive here. The first one was the knowledge test; the second one was the behind-the-wheel test. Knowledge test On the first day I arrived at the DMV, the queue was so long that I didn't have the time to take the test. However, I was allowed to process my paperwork (and pay the fee), take the vision test, and then have my photo taken. I just had to return another day to take the test. On test day itself, I was told that I didn't have to wait in line; I could directly go to the exam room. The technicians there remembered me because I was one of the last clients on my first visit. One of them was very encouraging and made sure that the examinees were relaxed before and during the exam. He also made sure that we understood the instructions before we took the test. I didn't realise immediately that the test was on a touc...

My first trip to Strawberry Hill , the island in the middle of Stow Lake, was not complete because we weren't able to walk around the island. The fog came in fast, abruptly pulling the temperature down. So when I saw my chance to visit it a few weeks later, I jumped on it.  It was a bright afternoon in the Golden Gate Park... not a cloud in sight. The lake was filled with water birds, turtles, and people on rowboats. Squirrels were busily foraging the path for fallen popcorn. It was an enjoyable walk. But I was really looking forward to see the hill's manmade waterfall. Huntington Falls, because it doesn't depend on rain for its water volume, had quite a steady stream of water feeding into Stow Lake despite the drought that California is experiencing. And unlike the other waterfalls I've visited before, the trip to Huntington Falls was just a walk in the park. There was no hiking involved at all. While I was reading about this waterfall, I learned that ...

I first heard about Crazy Rich Asians when the book got published but I never got around to reading it. Then, I learned that Kris Aquino was actually cast in the movie adaptation. That created a buzz in the Philippines because it's quite rare to find a Filipino in the cast of a Hollywood movie. Curious with the role Kris Aquino played, I decided that I wanted to see the movie. ... and then, the movie opened to rave reviews. So I went to the movies with my parents and Tita Babie to see what the excitement was all about. And being Asian who just moved to the Americas, I frankly couldn't relate to the people who had a lot of great opinions about Crazy Rich Asians. What I had, however, were eyeopeners. First, this movie is touted to be a movie that fulfils the demand for Asian-led movies. Perhaps this need is particularly true for the Americas (specifically in Hollywood). In Asia, there is certainly no shortage for movies with Asians portraying characters but there may be...

When Lola Bats was approaching her centennial year, her Christmas wish was to receive P100 cash gifts from each of her grandchildren. I didn't receive the memo so I ended up giving her a bigger amount when I got back to the Philippines from my Christmas trip to California (somehow, the cousins didn't tell me nor Kuya Jun-jun, so we ended up pitching in more).  Lola was so elated with her cash gifts that she kept telling us about it. Kuya Eldie, Richelle, and I asked her if she's willing to treat us to dinner in a restaurant. She said yes, so we (along with Mary Ann) went to Mandarin Palace to eat. On the way to the restaurant, Lola asked Richelle to hold her wallet for her.  In the restaurant, she started worrying about her wallet. She kept asking Nasaan ang pitaka ko? Perhaps, she was concerned that her money might go missing or she didn't have enough money to pay for all the food. We were all laughing because she asked to see her wallet every five minutes on...

I have been introduced to the works of Impressionist Claude Monet when I was taking up Humanities II, a course taught then by Dr Paul Zafaralla  in UPLB . Back then, we only had access to photos of the artworks we were studying. So when I learned that the Legion of Honour  housed some of the most extensive collections of European art from different periods, I wanted to go and visit. I particularly like Monet paintings when I first saw photos of them in college because what Monet painted was what I saw when I didn't wear my eyeglasses (back then). Everything I saw was just blurred without my glasses because I have myopia. It has since progressed so I see more splashes of colour than blurry images these days (the glasses help correct my eyesight).  Reading up on his style, I learned that Monet actually had cataracts when he was painting these landscapes on canvas. So these paintings probably show his view of the world when he was visually impaired. Wh...

Biboy and Barbara brought me along with them to Berkeley, where the Brazilian community celebrated Brazil's Independence Day and Lavagem , a cleansing ceremony.  What they didn't tell me was that the organisers actually closed down part of Hearst Ave for the street party. I was absolutely not in any mood to be in a huge dancing crowd because I was exhausted and I am not comfortable being in the midst of a crowd dancing. But because I didn't want to ruin their fun, I hung back and explored the sights instead... and learned a thing or two about this Brazilian cultural event. The way I see it, Brazil was Portugal's version of Spain's Mexico. Brazil and Mexico grew in rank and power to the point that their local governments operated with (in my opinion) minimum supervision from the centre of the empires. Hence, both countries already had relatively mature governments when they sought for independence. Which made me think about the Philippine case... the...