I was born into a transnational extended family. My father, the eldest among his siblings, married before his brother (younger by only a year), was drafted into the US Navy. As a consequence, slowly, the brother and his parents and seven other siblings eventually came to live in the United States. We, the family of...
Tag: family
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When I was an OFW, I got detained in Saudi
Thirty-six years ago, I left my wife Malou and our two young sons to take a job in Saudi Arabia. Back then I was called an “overseas contract worker” or OCW, a term that has since morphed into “overseas Filipino worker” or OFW. From a college teaching job in the Philippines, I became a supervisor...
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Piolo Pascual returns to the ‘teleserye’
Cinema is transforming, and actor-producer Piolo Pascual hopes that Filipino filmmakers are ready for the changes. Unlike the naysayers who predict the death of the cinema, Piolo would rather view recent developments in the film industry as a transformation. Developments in technology, the economy, and the attitudes and habits of the movie-going public are dictating...
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Running on that track
NEW YORK CITY—I played sikyo when I was growing up in the Philippines. Each time the captains of the opposing teams chose their players, I was the last to be called because apart from my small build I did not run fast enough. But I always insisted on joining the play, so that the captain...
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My babies forever and always
I remember a rainy afternoon. I was sitting next to the window, drinking hot chocolate as an alternative to coffee because I was pregnant with my fourth child. I stared outside and watched the raindrops falling to the ground. I could hear my three other children laughing and playing in the living room. On some...
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Family and Fossils: Million-year-old gifts from my wife and sisters
(Third of three parts) Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find, Family and fossils: My grandchild Meg and a treasure trove I have in my hand a fossil—the remains of an ancient creature called a trilobite. This animal-looking rock resulted when the trilobite was buried and minerals replaced its body parts....
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Family and fossils: My grandchild Meg and a treasure trove
(Second of two parts) First of two parts : Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find I found my second fossil—and a third, a fourth, in fact several shoe boxes full—practically at my doorstep. It was in the summer of 2003 when I was vacationing in Mandaue, the same summer my...
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Family and fossils: My cousin Isko and my first precious find
(First of two parts) I found my first fossil on a rocky shore in Catmon, a town an hour’s drive from Cebu City. My family and I were on a drive through the countryside north of the city: Liloan, Danao, Carmen, Catmon, Sogod … On the way back we stopped at the only decent public...
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Memory machine
So Lyra up and did what she said she had long planned. One evening last week she came home laughing and gleeful from a jaunt with a friend, toting a shiny black box marked “Motorino” and daring her sister and me: “Guess what! Guess what!” But I was distracted and annoyed by breaking news on...
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I remember my other mother
In a recent phone conversation with my mom, she mentioned my nanny, who lived with our family for almost 60 years before passing away in 2014. I told my mom—she is based in the United States; we speak daily—that we were both lucky to have been cared for by a remarkable woman who loved us...