Because I Said So
By Boots Ma. Garcia-Sison
WHAT TYPHOON EMONG DESTROYED IN BOLINAO
I was in Bolinao, Pangasinan for a long weekend. The drive took eight hours, but it was the last hour that was the most stressful, because aside from the fact that we have been cooped up in the car for almost the whole day already, my son had been barking
“Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? ” ---- non-stop, for the last twenty minutes. At his 500th “Are we there yet, “ I came close to snapping. Till I noticed that we were driving past a not so pretty sight.
Our car passed more than a dozen houses with no rooftops. Two or three houses were still standing but bereft of walls and ceilings. Big trees have been uprooted and countless coconut trees were shorn of their branches and leaves. What happened here? was the question my husband and I dared not voice out, so as not to infect our son with our growing discomfort.
The less intrepid would have turned back, and would have charged the whole trip, especially the booking’s full payment to experience.
But intrepid is my husband’s middle name. Rolling down his window, he asked a local how far it was to our resort and I was even surprised when the man cheerfully told us, just two more kilometers. So we pushed on. In light of everything we have just seen, I wondered how the resort we were headed for could still live up to its name that literally means “the door to the sun.”
When we arrived, it was 530 pm in the afternoon. We had left the city at 930 that morning. Worse, it started to rain.
But then, the downpour lightened into a soft drizzle, and left a mist over the whole place that then slowly revealed to us its beauty.
How surprising to find a piece of Mediterranean inspired heaven at the westernmost tip of Pangasinan. A dip in the pool easily washed away the exhaustion of the road trip. The people were especially warm, and the accommodations pleasing. For the entire 3 day holiday, we were surrounded by nature. The foliage was a sea of green, the sky cerulean, the beach soft beige, and the waters, shades lighter than sapphire. Serenity lives here, I thought. But reality took a bite every time we passed a cabana that used to be the game room. To say the least, it needed a rehab, and fast. I realized that this place was not spared after all, by whatever caused the wrecked homes we saw the first day we arrived.
To their credit, not one of the service staff made us feel the effects of the disaster they just survived. They were all cheery and welcoming. In fact, talking to the resort’s people was especially easy. Given that all Filipinos after all are a most hospitable lot---we readily smile and accept friendship with no qualms or misgivings--- still, the
resort’s people had more than the usual eagerness to please and serve. They readily explained why the road we passed was littered with toppled trees and roof-less shelters.
May cyclone po na dumaan dito, the girls at the resort’s café told us. First time po nagka-cyclone dito. But now they can talk about it, even joke about the experience easily. How their own walk- in guests were stranded for two days and how the cyclone literally wiped out the nightlife in this resort town, starting with the newly constructed restaurant at their beach. And how they have to go on without electricity to this date, far longer than they expected.
I know firsthand how it is to survive a typhoon, more so a cyclone. It is a life changing experience. While it’s happening, you literally feel that you can’t do anything about it, that you’re completely in the hands of God. The cyclone that descended on this community raged on for hours. As one of the staff told us, the cyclone stopped suddenly, and for the next few moments, the people of this resort community rejoiced that the worst was over. Only they rejoiced too soon , for the winds started howling again, and continued whipping past at the speed of over 150 kph for another hour or so. The wind not only whistled, the sound was like that a plane droning on and on. I can imagine them all praying for it to stop, and hoping that what was whizzing outside their walls was not the sound of their own rooftops , walls or ceilings.
In its wake, typhoon Emong left people dead, livelihoods demolished and homes in shambles. Can you imagine how stunned these people felt in the aftermath of this devastation?
I can. It’s how I felt when my family went through the same thing. But what hit us was Milenyo, and it happened in 2006.
I still remember what time it was when the rains poured and the wind started its own eerie dirge. It was a few minutes past eleven and the sky roof over my kitchen was the first victim, flying off noisily, only God knows where. I clambered on top of the kitchen counter and tried to nail a tarapal over the opening. But the wind whipped past and along with it flew the tarapal.
The rest happened so fast. Before I knew it, one of the help was shouting---illogically I realized even then, that “Mam, mam, pumapasok na po ang dagat !!!” Dagat ? How can that be, my rational brain asked, but then I realized that at the sight of that roaring flood water, the maid must have thought that the whole of Manila Bay was now flash flooding our village.
I had to wade through flood waters to deposit my son in our neighbor’s house.
I had to do everything because my husband was out of the country. Then the lines went dead and along with it, the electricity. With my cel phone drenched, I had no way of communicating with the outside world.
By some miracle I found an extra cel fone , only to discover that it had no load whatsoever, and I had to text my friend Gina who passed me 500 pesos worth.
With that load I was able to call my sister, the police, friends of the family and everybody else I thought would be able to come and help us.
When I saw that my house was completely submerged in a foot of dark flood water, I had to fight the urge to rant and rave. This thing can’t be happening to me, in this village, right in this house that was a gift from my in-law and my husband. I had to accept the truth that for the first time in my life, our house has been flooded and our properties destroyed. Before the sight of all the photo albums and picture frames swimming around overwhelmed me , before the realization that family tapes of my son’s childhood were soaked with water and dirt, and before I started counting the time, effort and money that went into the computers destroyed and the DVD players and the TVs and the other appliances and fixtures, I had to tell myself to look past this already, to realize that all these are just stuff. What’s done can no longer be undone . I should just let go.
I have let go. I am sure now too that I had lost less , so much less than some of the people of Bolinao who suffered from that cyclone.
On the day we left, the gamehouse of the beach resort has been fully restored. A sure sign that Bolinao has started rebuilding already.
It is resoluteness that started people rebuilding and recreating a new life. This is the resoluteness of a survivor…of one who has gone to hell and back, and lived to tell the tale. This is the kind of resolve that even a typhoon cannot destroy. It’s what I had , and it’s something I have in common with Bolinao and its people.
I know what will help put Bolinao back on its feet will be the generosity of friends and family, and the kindness of strangers. That was how it was for me, and they too will have such blessings. But more than anything else, the resoluteness enables and empowers them… to fully let go…to live through the disaster, move on, and believe and trust that by God’s grace, life can be beautiful again.
BOOTS MA. GARCIA SISON IS A WIFE, MOTHER, SOCCER GROUPIE, ADVERTISING DIRECTOR & WRITER , MORE ON SOME DAYS THAN OTHERS. IT WAS HER ELEVEN YEAR OLD SON WHO THOUGHT OF HER COLUMN’S NAME. FOR COMMENTS , TEXT 09178411062.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
THE JOwLLIJEEP & THE JOwllibag
Because I Said So
By Boots Ma. Garcia-Sison
LONG LIVE THE JOwLLIJEEP AND THE JOwLLIBAG
Even as more restaurants, cafes and canteens rise in Makati, a great majority of the working population is unmindful and unaffected by their birth.
And no wonder, for the ordinary office worker’s engine still has to run on the same amount of gas--- meaning his pocketbook is still lined with the same budget as last year’s and the year before that--- so you can’t expect him to even glance at new menus with prices that are twice what he’s accustomed to paying.
Obviously, the ones who can afford the tonier places where a person’s bill can cost anywhere from P200.00 upwards will not feel alluded to.( how did I decide that P200 is already expensive ? Well, I simply asked the working girls in the office ---they answered in unison that forking P200 for their midday meal is already too much). I also don’t include the Baon Gang (like myself) who bring packed lunches from home, whether to save their lunch money or simply because they can’t stand not eating their own home cooked meal.
I refer in general to them who are full fledged sometime, one time, or full time patrons of the aluminum colored carinderia on wheels, fondly referred to as the Jowllijeep, and their offerings for take out, nicknamed Jowllibags.
You and I know what the etymology of these names are. The reason they sound familiar, is yes, it’s because we all know who and what they were named after. Filipinos are famed for their puns after all.( The addition of the letter “w” is entirely my own whimsy, in tribute to an officemate’s fondness for pronouncing every word with an “o” with a long “o” (e.g., sowsyal, towgeh, lowmpyah)). All these little monickers are just an expression of the populace’s love affair with these wonderful lifesavers.
Their loyal patrons know these Jowllijeeps and their Jowllibags like the back of their hands.
In fact, to my surprise, after talking to my some-time patron friend Awie, I learned that not all Jowllijeeps are created equal. Awie insists that some Jowllibags are tastier than others. How do you know, I asked him, when you have baon everyday?
You only need to eat it once to know better, he wisely points out.
That opened my eyes to the many other finer points of dining, Jowllijeep style.
Jowlijeeps offer comfort food. A typical outlet offers a very familiar menu. On any given day , chances are they will have rice and adobo, fried chicken, pancit canton, pancit bihon, tocino, liempo, longganisa, fried daing na bangus---all served hot, dripping in vegetable fat and more often than not, real greasy good. You can also expect lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang toge, lumpiang prito, pinakbet, menudo, sinigang, tinola and nilaga and sometimes even kaldereta and pochero.
But no, Virginia, they do not serve sushi and cheesecake in Jowllijeeps. And don’t ask for pasta, you dork, ask for spaghetti and you’ll get it, just don’t be alarmed at how orangey its tomato sauce color is.
Here’s another tip : when you order a Jowllijeep pochero, don’t expect the pochero your mom used to cook for you. The whole business philosophy behind an average Jowllijeep and Jowllibag’s offering is for each dish to look, smell and taste JUST enough like the one we’re familiar with . Everything should JUST be within an inch of the real thing. Let’s use pochero again as an example. The pochero of a regular Jowlijeep has just enough, but never too much, of the required distinguishing ingredients. So you can expect just a token or two of diced carrots and potatoes perhaps, and just enough tomato sauce in there and beef morsels, just so this Jowllijeep version can get away with calling itself pochero.
If a Jowllijeep pochero does not fulfill this very rigid taste test, then that Jowllijeep in question can kiss their patrons goodbye, for working people want value for their hard earned money. They will not hesitate to bring their patronage somewhere else, and in the case of the Jowllijeep patron, to the next Jowllijeep just a few paces down the street.
But again, some Jowllijeeps are better than others. Meaning, their food tastes great, and you won’t care that they cut corners somewhere in the ingredients list or that their food color is on the lurid side.. Once a Jowllijeep has earned a patron’s loyalty, such patrons will defend its cuisine to the death. Do not try to cast aspersions on their dishes, for their loyalists will not stop until they have the last word with you. They will extol the deliciousness of their favorite dish and honor the others they particularly delight with. But in the end, if you refuse to be convinced, in your face will they hurl a statement of such undeniable , incontestible truth, the ultimate argument that will shut you up.
Ano bang nirereklamo mo eh forty pesos lang to? Helllow????
Hello indeed.
A Jowllijeep is very accommodating. You can choose to eat sitting down, standing up or take out (when you choose take out, that ‘s when the Jowllibags come into play). In fact, whether your Jowllijeep is standing next to the street gutter, or to the creek that crosses various Makati streets, you can expect a horde of customers patiently waiting in line to get their orders. Or probably already starting on their next course, standing up.
Para diretso sa tyan, as another Jowlijeep patron-friend told me.
A Jowllijeep can sustain you , from breakfast till dinner, and even your snacks in between. For alongside the huge vats of ulam and kanin are baskets hanging by the counter window, containing snack and junk food of almost every kind. You can also have coffee, soda, an energy drink and juices and iced tea in can, tetra or doypack. And as for dessert , they have jars of candy and chocnut, gum and freshly cut pineapple, and some other fruits in season. If you know how to pick ‘em, you can definitely come away with the sweetest and choicest cuts.
And Jowllijeeps are the most dependable food outlets around. You can depend on them to cook banana cue or camote cue every afternoon in time for merienda,and to have pancit palabok , that orangey colored spaghetti and guinatan . And whatever the weather or time of day, and whether there is a rally for the administration (or against it ), whatever is happening in Makati or even in Malacanang, it will not rock the Jowllijeep establishment. You can expect the Jowllijeep dining experience to go on, the same way you can expect to find a stalwart of every Jowllijeep hanging from its little corner….a little icon that no self-respecting Jowllijeep can be found without : that cigarette lighter tied to a string right where a smoker-patron can spot it, without arousing the desire in that same patron to pocket that cigarette lighter. Reassuringly, there has been no rash and rush of thefts anyway involving cigarette lighters in our Jowllijeeps, even if a piece of string is the only deterrent to the commission of such a crime.
The mother in me had to wonder aloud to my officemate though. How clean is the food offered by these establishments?
My resource person and friend Awie scratched the back of his head. After all, he’s only bought pineapple from these Jowlijeeps, and you can count on one hand the number of times he’s bought ulam from them.(he’s more a member of the Baon Gang like me). But then, he does know everybody in the office who is a Jowllijeep patron, and he points them out, real people I know who have many times indulged in partaking of Jowllibags from Jowllijeeps.
Eh, buhay pa naman kami lahat hanggang ngayon.
What can you say to that?
Now, for the best kept secret on Jowlijeeps in Makati. The one that offers the best liempo, in huge , generous portions for the same reasonable price of forty pesos…. is the Jowllijeep standing on T- - - - - - - - Street. Awie held out both his hands to show me how big that liempo is supposed to be , and I must admit that I gasped in amazement. He also swears they’re really lip smacking good.
My baon bag will take the day off then tomorrow. Race you to that particular Jowllijeep.
I intend to take my liempo out with a Jowllibag. Be sure to leave that cigarette lighter hanging where you found it. Or else you’d be banned by the Society of Jowllijeep Patrons forever and ever, amen.
BOOTS MA. GARCIA SISON IS A WIFE, MOTHER, SOCCER GROUPIE AND ADVERTISING DIRECTOR AND WRITER, MORE ON SOME DAYS THAN OTHERS. IT WAS HER ELEVEN YEAR OLD SON WHO THOUGHT OF HER COLUMN’S NAME. FOR COMMENTS, TEXT 09205355053/09178411062.
By Boots Ma. Garcia-Sison
LONG LIVE THE JOwLLIJEEP AND THE JOwLLIBAG
Even as more restaurants, cafes and canteens rise in Makati, a great majority of the working population is unmindful and unaffected by their birth.
And no wonder, for the ordinary office worker’s engine still has to run on the same amount of gas--- meaning his pocketbook is still lined with the same budget as last year’s and the year before that--- so you can’t expect him to even glance at new menus with prices that are twice what he’s accustomed to paying.
Obviously, the ones who can afford the tonier places where a person’s bill can cost anywhere from P200.00 upwards will not feel alluded to.( how did I decide that P200 is already expensive ? Well, I simply asked the working girls in the office ---they answered in unison that forking P200 for their midday meal is already too much). I also don’t include the Baon Gang (like myself) who bring packed lunches from home, whether to save their lunch money or simply because they can’t stand not eating their own home cooked meal.
I refer in general to them who are full fledged sometime, one time, or full time patrons of the aluminum colored carinderia on wheels, fondly referred to as the Jowllijeep, and their offerings for take out, nicknamed Jowllibags.
You and I know what the etymology of these names are. The reason they sound familiar, is yes, it’s because we all know who and what they were named after. Filipinos are famed for their puns after all.( The addition of the letter “w” is entirely my own whimsy, in tribute to an officemate’s fondness for pronouncing every word with an “o” with a long “o” (e.g., sowsyal, towgeh, lowmpyah)). All these little monickers are just an expression of the populace’s love affair with these wonderful lifesavers.
Their loyal patrons know these Jowllijeeps and their Jowllibags like the back of their hands.
In fact, to my surprise, after talking to my some-time patron friend Awie, I learned that not all Jowllijeeps are created equal. Awie insists that some Jowllibags are tastier than others. How do you know, I asked him, when you have baon everyday?
You only need to eat it once to know better, he wisely points out.
That opened my eyes to the many other finer points of dining, Jowllijeep style.
Jowlijeeps offer comfort food. A typical outlet offers a very familiar menu. On any given day , chances are they will have rice and adobo, fried chicken, pancit canton, pancit bihon, tocino, liempo, longganisa, fried daing na bangus---all served hot, dripping in vegetable fat and more often than not, real greasy good. You can also expect lumpiang shanghai, lumpiang toge, lumpiang prito, pinakbet, menudo, sinigang, tinola and nilaga and sometimes even kaldereta and pochero.
But no, Virginia, they do not serve sushi and cheesecake in Jowllijeeps. And don’t ask for pasta, you dork, ask for spaghetti and you’ll get it, just don’t be alarmed at how orangey its tomato sauce color is.
Here’s another tip : when you order a Jowllijeep pochero, don’t expect the pochero your mom used to cook for you. The whole business philosophy behind an average Jowllijeep and Jowllibag’s offering is for each dish to look, smell and taste JUST enough like the one we’re familiar with . Everything should JUST be within an inch of the real thing. Let’s use pochero again as an example. The pochero of a regular Jowlijeep has just enough, but never too much, of the required distinguishing ingredients. So you can expect just a token or two of diced carrots and potatoes perhaps, and just enough tomato sauce in there and beef morsels, just so this Jowllijeep version can get away with calling itself pochero.
If a Jowllijeep pochero does not fulfill this very rigid taste test, then that Jowllijeep in question can kiss their patrons goodbye, for working people want value for their hard earned money. They will not hesitate to bring their patronage somewhere else, and in the case of the Jowllijeep patron, to the next Jowllijeep just a few paces down the street.
But again, some Jowllijeeps are better than others. Meaning, their food tastes great, and you won’t care that they cut corners somewhere in the ingredients list or that their food color is on the lurid side.. Once a Jowllijeep has earned a patron’s loyalty, such patrons will defend its cuisine to the death. Do not try to cast aspersions on their dishes, for their loyalists will not stop until they have the last word with you. They will extol the deliciousness of their favorite dish and honor the others they particularly delight with. But in the end, if you refuse to be convinced, in your face will they hurl a statement of such undeniable , incontestible truth, the ultimate argument that will shut you up.
Ano bang nirereklamo mo eh forty pesos lang to? Helllow????
Hello indeed.
A Jowllijeep is very accommodating. You can choose to eat sitting down, standing up or take out (when you choose take out, that ‘s when the Jowllibags come into play). In fact, whether your Jowllijeep is standing next to the street gutter, or to the creek that crosses various Makati streets, you can expect a horde of customers patiently waiting in line to get their orders. Or probably already starting on their next course, standing up.
Para diretso sa tyan, as another Jowlijeep patron-friend told me.
A Jowllijeep can sustain you , from breakfast till dinner, and even your snacks in between. For alongside the huge vats of ulam and kanin are baskets hanging by the counter window, containing snack and junk food of almost every kind. You can also have coffee, soda, an energy drink and juices and iced tea in can, tetra or doypack. And as for dessert , they have jars of candy and chocnut, gum and freshly cut pineapple, and some other fruits in season. If you know how to pick ‘em, you can definitely come away with the sweetest and choicest cuts.
And Jowllijeeps are the most dependable food outlets around. You can depend on them to cook banana cue or camote cue every afternoon in time for merienda,and to have pancit palabok , that orangey colored spaghetti and guinatan . And whatever the weather or time of day, and whether there is a rally for the administration (or against it ), whatever is happening in Makati or even in Malacanang, it will not rock the Jowllijeep establishment. You can expect the Jowllijeep dining experience to go on, the same way you can expect to find a stalwart of every Jowllijeep hanging from its little corner….a little icon that no self-respecting Jowllijeep can be found without : that cigarette lighter tied to a string right where a smoker-patron can spot it, without arousing the desire in that same patron to pocket that cigarette lighter. Reassuringly, there has been no rash and rush of thefts anyway involving cigarette lighters in our Jowllijeeps, even if a piece of string is the only deterrent to the commission of such a crime.
The mother in me had to wonder aloud to my officemate though. How clean is the food offered by these establishments?
My resource person and friend Awie scratched the back of his head. After all, he’s only bought pineapple from these Jowlijeeps, and you can count on one hand the number of times he’s bought ulam from them.(he’s more a member of the Baon Gang like me). But then, he does know everybody in the office who is a Jowllijeep patron, and he points them out, real people I know who have many times indulged in partaking of Jowllibags from Jowllijeeps.
Eh, buhay pa naman kami lahat hanggang ngayon.
What can you say to that?
Now, for the best kept secret on Jowlijeeps in Makati. The one that offers the best liempo, in huge , generous portions for the same reasonable price of forty pesos…. is the Jowllijeep standing on T- - - - - - - - Street. Awie held out both his hands to show me how big that liempo is supposed to be , and I must admit that I gasped in amazement. He also swears they’re really lip smacking good.
My baon bag will take the day off then tomorrow. Race you to that particular Jowllijeep.
I intend to take my liempo out with a Jowllibag. Be sure to leave that cigarette lighter hanging where you found it. Or else you’d be banned by the Society of Jowllijeep Patrons forever and ever, amen.
BOOTS MA. GARCIA SISON IS A WIFE, MOTHER, SOCCER GROUPIE AND ADVERTISING DIRECTOR AND WRITER, MORE ON SOME DAYS THAN OTHERS. IT WAS HER ELEVEN YEAR OLD SON WHO THOUGHT OF HER COLUMN’S NAME. FOR COMMENTS, TEXT 09205355053/09178411062.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)