Just Jessica, in the Philippines: The Festive Time of Year

Whoah. Where do I even start? What a whirlwind of a month this past December was! And speaking of whirlwinds, for the past few days the weather has been just that. While the sky is dry as a bone, the winds have been blowing something fierce. As I write this today, on one of my days off, I find myself sitting at home, holed up in my room since it is one of the 2 places in my little nepa hut that actually has 4 walls (the other is the CR, the bathroom). For the Philippines, it is cold! I am bundled in long pants, one of my 2 long sleeve shirts, socks, a thin scarf, and a hat someone gave me from Baguio (where it is always “cold.”). Now, now, don’t start telling me what cold is; Yes, I know about the many feet of snow back home. But for this tropical paradise, Hot Damn, it sure is chilly lately.

Ok, well let me back up before I get swept away (Pun intended... hah hah...).

December. December in the Philippines is a useless month if you intend on following schedules and organized routines. It is impossible to do so, because December is a month for parties! Festivals, special events, and general relaxation are also accepted. If you fancy a party, then I apologize; December is in no way useless. As for routine, get lost!

Starting the week or two before Christmas, Grace Christian Mission (my center, for those of you who have been paying attention) began its parties. In fact, the week before Christmas GCM had at least one visitor every single day, who came to host parties for the kids. I lost track of how many present the kids accumulated (myself however, I am the proud new own of: a new umbrella, a water bottle, a coffee mug, a metal lunch tin, another coffee cup, a t shirt, a wallet, and various other trinkets). And while I also lost track of how many times we played “Paper Dance,” “Trip to Jerusalem,” or other Filipino games, I’m pretty sure it was a lot. Generally speaking, it was even fun for me. I mean, only a scrooge doesn’t like party games, and while I may be a Jew, I certainly am No Scrooge. See pictures below.

The real fun was saved, however, for GCM’s own Christmas Party and Family Day. Apparently every year we kill a pig. I must have missed it last year, but this year I was right on top of the action, from the tying of its feet, to the slitting of the throat (I stood back a safe 200 meters of course, just enough to hear the terrifying squeals but not see much of anything), to the shaving, and then the choppin-up and cleanin-out (also a safe distance for much of this...). Did you know that they wash out the intestines so they can cook them? All 20 or so feet of them. They hose out the half-digested poop, soap 'em up real well, and cook em. See photos.

As the festivities died down (the candles burned low) and the kids slowly started to trickle out and head home, my supervisor declared it time for the Staff Party. So, with the remaining children and families sated from food and game, we snuck upstairs to play our own games and be as silly as we wanted (since the door was locked). In fact, we even had an entire bottle of wine to drink amongst up 12! Now, while I did not admit my own ability to consume that entire bottle myself, I did enjoy a cup or two, and let myself get “wild” while we played out own “Trip to Jerusalem.” I received my 3rd coffee mug gift of the season, as well.

I have attached a video from one of our Christmas-time visitors: a troupe of Baklas (Filipino homosexuals) who sang and danced and provided a general vibe of entertainment. One of them was actually a contest on Philippines Got Talent (yeah, they have it here too) for his rendition of the Cabayo song. See my video clip, and also a clip from the show. Truly terrifying and Highly entertaining!!

So after the home-based festivities ended, I dragged myself 5 hours to Daang Bago, Dinalupihan, Bataan (former training site and home-away-from-home), to celebrate Christmas with the family. I arrived Christmas Eve, just in time for the first of a dozen feasts: pinaupong chicken, spaghetti, lumpia, barbeque, crispy pata, and my favorite, mango float. After church, we ate again. Then, after I took a nap until midnight, we ate again, a tradition called Noche Buena.

Christmas morning I was awaken, not by the sounds of children shouting for joy as they opened presents, nor the sound of Jingle Bells playing. Actually, I think it was probably the roosters that woke me up. Still in the Philippines. Once I had gotten myself out of bed, there was indeed the sound of delightful Christmas music blasting from Nanay’s stereo, and the tradition of Christmas eating began again. The air was festive, despite the growing sun and the palm trees, with a feeling of excitement. Not to mention, my host nephew CJ had already arrived with his new toy gun and was preparing to demolish the house. After a breakfast of champions—leftover chicken, lumpiar, barbeque, and spaghetti—we headed out for a culinary tour of Bataan.

Christmas in the Philippines certainly lacks the snow. It lacks the massive Hallmark tradition of gift-giving and spending and self-indulgence. It lacks Santa and reindeer, and there are very few ovens in which to roast a giant ham or turkey. In many ways, these silly things are what make Christmas in the U.S. feel like Christmas (this perspective, remember and take note, coming from a Jew). So what is Christmas here in the Philippines without snow, presents, Santa, and ham? Christmas revolves around visiting family and feeding them fried foods in huge quantities. There you have it.

Oh one last thing. A very interesting tradition here is that of Christmas caroling. Usually this means that during the weeks leading up to Christmas, poorer children go house to house singing jingles and Christmas songs, shaking tins filled with rocks, in dreams of getting money. On Christmas day, I observed an interesting twist to the caroling, which did not require singing at all. Children go house to house visiting neighbors and family (and many of the neighbors Are family). They give their blessing to their elders, eat a little, and then their elders give them money. My host nephew CJ accumulated over 2,000 pesos through this tradition—twenty pesos here, one hundred there, and suddenly he was richer than me....!

So in short, Christmas the second time around was certainly a great immersion into Filipino culture.

Next on my trip was to visit a friend in Puerto Gallera, on the big island of Mindoro, and then on to an unforgettable New Years on the Party Island of tiny Boracay. I’ll spare you the boring details, except to say that it was an epic celebration involving multiple dance parties at an open-roof club, in the pouring rain.

Happy very belated holidays to all!!!

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Random news and updates:

January through March, it seems, will be a very busy few months. We have a number of projects that we are working on here at GCM, and I am excited to get some real (maybe?) work done. Maybe. Our playground proposal was finally accepted through a different grant agency, so we are on our way to renovating that and then creating a therapeutic play program!!! That makes me very excited. It only took a year...

I attended the GCMTS high school field trip to Manila just a few weeks ago. As part of the trip, we went to the Manila Zoo. This was my second time at the zoo, and it seems that conditions there have not yet improved. Actually, it was pretty terrifying. I will explain this through a picture display, below.

Until the next time....