An incomplete guide to Filipino food terms

To those who have tried at least one or two Filipino dishes, read this to learn more!

An incomplete guide to Filipino food terms

Mission

I was never born rich or too poor without anything to eat but I had my share of making ends meet in order to reach the life I have always dreamt of. I was just lucky enough because I am an only child, I don’t have to support anyone in the family except my parents. I don’t know if this is a mission given to me by God because even without anyone depending on me, there are some other people who depends on me for support, in cash or in kind. I am not complaining but I am just amazed how fate turns and twist, whether officially assigned or not, God really has His own way of doing things.

Today, I was disappointed but thankful at the same time. Over the weekend my mom sent me a message about the condition of her sister who is an old maid; I would say she is my second mom. She looked after me when I was still a child. Mama was then busy working.

Mana, we fondly call her is not liked by many, especially the younger cousins, nieces and nephews and even some older ones. She has the habit of disciplining and she is really noisy literally, nagging on anything which she doesn’t like seeing or observing from our big bunch of family. But she is good in looking after us. She never complained about it. I guess she is happy taking care of us, all different generation of my family from babysitting, cooking, washing clothes, house-sitting, cleaning, etc.  the list could go on and on. Whether she has chosen to be single forever, I have no idea because I have never heard her or even mama telling us if she is happy or not about her status but I guess she gets her strength from all of us.

Like mana’s brothers and sisters, hypertension is a killer disease in the family. It runs in our blood. Mana was not spared. A couple of times her blood pressure shoots up, fortunately, she was cured and so life was back to normal. She has been going to a medical practitioner, a mid-wife, not a doctor. She believes that whatever prescription this midwife is giving is good because her hypertension is treated. Not that I doubt the ability of this midwife but there are certain limitations in her capacity and a doctor’s. Mana is so stubborn to consult a proper doctor but this is one of her characters, so be it. Over the weekend the family was alarmed. The noisy mana has been quiet and always sleepy. Today, she was taken to the hospital and the doctor said it was due to blood clot that her brain functioning is affected. This the reason for her quiet demeanor and drowsiness. Good enough she was taken to the hospital early, otherwise, it would have been too late and she would go back to senility at her age. Now, she has to maintain a couple of medicines which enormously cost a lot.

Going back to my question if this is my mission, I am just wondering how God put things together. I have a good job to keep mama and mana. There are two people now I have to spend money for medical maintenance. A big chunk of my salary would go to them, for the maintenance of their health. It’s payback time, I am thankful that God has blessed me with a job to support them. I am just praying that God will continue to bless me with wisdom and good health that would enable me to perform my job.

To all my cousins, nephews and nieces, whatever you have always keep in mind to share. In one way or another, mana has touched your life. Believe me, God will reward you a hundredfold.  

Hibernating

It's been almost a month now since my last post. I'm sure it's not about nothing to share or talk about. On a positive note, it might be because I have adjusted pretty quickly to my new living environment that includes friends, foods, places, etc. Nonetheless, everyday is a discovery and a promise that I would be catching up soon. Life has indeed been good these past few weeks except the stress I am having caused by my returned boxes to Ha Noi, Viet Nam. It's another story not really worth sharing but might give lessons to those travelers and movers like me.

For now, I'll park my fingers from ticking the keyboard as this is just an excuse to divert my attention away from serious stuff and making myself coffee. According to a friend on FB, I only have to take water as a cold therapy, no coffee or tea. Not a very good therapy considering how addicted I am to coffee.

Now, I have to go back to work.