Things of Note

Friday, July 27, 2007

Things of note:

--Sari-sari stores. These are basically Filipino bodegas. “Sari-sari” means “variety-variety.” You can buy everything there: teeny packages of laundry detergent powder, little plastic baggies of toyo (soy sauce), packets of Dove whitening cream and shampoo, little baggies of fresh caught and chopped fish, and shelves and shelves crammed with tiny packets of everything. Most household items, packaged food products, and personal care items are sold in the smallest increments possible with only a few “full-sized” containers (what we see in the US). At first, I found this a little odd. But, I figured it out my first week here. People are poor; they can’t afford to buy an entire bottle of toyo or shampoo, so they buy enough for a meal, for one shower, for a week, for whatever they can afford for that day. Another thing: I went into a sari-sari store to buy some toilet paper (which, you must bring everyone in the Philippines if you want to use any) and saw a fridge containing glass coke bottles—the small, old school kind. I love Coke in glass bottles. I was so excited. And I was hoping there was Tagalog on the bottle so I could save it as a keepsake. I brought my toilet paper and bottle of Coke to the counter. The man behind the counter put my TP (one roll of course) into a plastic bag and then poured the entire contents of my Coke bottle into a smaller clear plastic sack.

I found out when I got back to the house and relayed my story that all sari-sari stores do that; the glass bottles are expensive and given back to the company (in this case Coke) to be recycled and sent back with filled with Coke.

While the details of a seemingly rundown Filipino bodega may seem mundane, I thought about what all of this meant. I thought about all I’ve been learning of Filipino History and it means for a people and a nation. Every history lecture, all of us reflect a Homeresque “D’oh!”—not at our own or anyone else’s stupidity—but at the seeming 29375865 times the Philippines and the Filipinos almost gained its independence or almost ousted an oppressive colonial and/or imperial power. There are so many stark ironies as well. Agoncillo, the first international affairs type of representative for the Philippines, sailed to the US and to Spain in an attempt to secure Filipino Independence. There was a crowd awaiting him when he arrived, but he disembarked completely unnoticed as those expecting to see him were waiting for a man in a loincloth. Agoncillo failed to garner any support abroad (really how could one lone man metaphorically clothed in loincloth defeat the McKinley’s White Male Burden and America’s burgeoning imperialism?) and sailed back to the Philippines on a ship called The Liberator, which consequently sank around the same time the US “fought and won” the Philippines from Spain.

D’oh!

See what I mean? There are so many moments like this.

Anyway, what does this have to do with the sari-sari store?

Filipinos, as seen through their history, culture, and what I have witnessed living here for the past 5 weeks, are intrepid, resilient, and resourceful. Filipinos, despite extreme poverty and lack of resources, will manage to feed visitors the best they have, will remain with smiles on their faces, will manage to laugh and joke. It sounds like I am “othering” or maybe generalizing to create this romantic idea, but no—Filipinos, I think, are much like Dolly Parton, y'know in Steel Magnolias—laughter through tears is their favorite emotion. We had an entire lecture (presented by my Tito Rofel) on theme of suffering and glory. In the Philippines, happiness hinges upon what is doled out by fate, natural disasters, famine, poverty, and oppressive governments--it comes in tiny increments, little packets; people take what they can get and make it work.

The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve had so many reflections like this; any cultural experience tells me something about my family and myself and this country. I don’t know if I am allowed to call it mine.

--Halaman (Plants)
Everywhere I look, I see plants that my parents had in my house during my childhood. I always assumed that they went to Home Depot or Lowe’s and picked out what they liked, or what was one sale. No. They picked out plants that reminded them of home.

The plants that my mother, father, and I planted in our backyard were all over Mt. Banahaw and are almost everywhere I look in Los Banos.

Every orchid, fern, non-flowering water lily, and bougainvillea I see makes me miss my father.

--Skin Whitening
…makes me so incredibly sad. I also saw a “nose elongating” contraption in the drugstore the other day.

--Koreano? O kalahati lang?
There are a lot of Koreans in the Philippines. They come to study English and live cheaply in the Philippines. They have much more money than the average Filipino. There a lot of Koreans in Los Banos. Many of the Filipino locals that I have spoken to reflect resentment and annoyance at this Korea presence due to obvious condescension and a feeling that “Koreans think that they’ve already bought us because they are here.”

People here, store clerks, dyip (jeepney) drivers, the man who cut my hair—think I am Korean. Or only half-Filipino. They are dubious when I tell them that my both my parents are indeed Filipino. I say, Taga-San Pablo ang tatay ko atsaka taga-Malolos ang nanay ko and then their eyebrows lift and the look a little happier to be speaking to me.

People don’t know what I am here as much as they don’t know in the States.

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There are many more things of notice, but as per usual: I’m beat. I have a massive exam on Monday, we’re preparing a big program for our teachers and our host families in Tadlak (a fishing community that we have been visiting since we’ve been in Laguna), and I am going to say good bye to my dad’s family here in Laguna because after Monday we begin our travel around the Philippines section of the trip. I don’t know how much more spotty my internet will be, but I will try.

To those of you I have been meaning to call: please be patient. I’m so busy and swamped and internet is so spotty.

love, love, love.