Lola Bats story 10: Nasaan ang pitaka ko?

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 once the food started arriving on our table! She must have been so worried!

After I've paid for dinner, we gave the receipt to Lola, jokingly asking her to pay for dinner.  She protested adamantly. Bakit ako?!? Kayo magbayad. May trabaho kayo. When prodded a bit more, she returned to her go-to debate ender with a sweet smile on her face: Ako'y bingi. 

We found it so hilarious especially because her wallet actually did not contain her money (that was already in safekeeping before we left the house). Her wallet only had her senior citizen card.

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
Read more

How MALDI-TOF-MS makes mycobacterium diagnosis faster and more accurate

The laboratory I work in has plenty of instruments that help us characterise and identify microorganisms causing diseases in patients. One of my current projects is to validate an instrument called "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer" (MALDI-TOF-MS) in identifying members of the Mycobacterium  species. Many of these organisms are opportunistic, meaning they only cause illnesses in people whose immune systems are not strong enough to fight infections. Mycobacterium leprae  is known for causing leprosy, but we cannot grow this bacterium in culture media, so we cannot isolate it. Mycobacterium tuberculosis  complex, on the other hand, is a group of several species of Mycobacterium  that causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death globally, second only to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Identifying the Mycobacterium species that has infected a patient is
Read more

a crash course on traditional Filipino houses

Image
On Dr Jose Rizal's birthday this year, I was back in historic Manila with Ate Bing, Ate Mary , and Manuel . But instead of visiting him, we opted to soak up on Philippine culture. Our first stop: the Cultural Center of the Philippines ' (CCP) Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino .  Aside from the musical instruments, I noticed the dioramas about Filipino homes. Filipinos living by the sea (the 'sea gypsies', Sama Dilaut or Badjao ) have boathouses; those who live in the mountains, like the Bagobos , have developed interconnected houses in the trees; Filipinos who live along the path of the strongest typhoon winds, such as the Ivatans , have developed houses of thick limestone walls; and people who live in calmer conditions used bamboo and nipa to construct their houses, like the lowlanders and the Agtas . Sama Dilaut 'lepa' and houses on stilts (in the background) Ivatan limestone house nipa hut Ifugao 'fale' Maranao '
Read more