Enlightenment through LUCE: Literary Understanding and Cultural Exposure (1)

The week of September 13-19, 2009 was a memorable one for Luce. In their school, they were celebrating Literary Week, with several activities lined up for the students. Outside the school, we have also other supplementary activities lined up for her.

On Sunday, Luce discovered that ebi tempura is her favorite Japanese food when Owwo treated her and her Tatta and Mommy at Teriyaki Boy Gateway Mall. Our lunch date was to celebrate Luce’s high grades in school for the first quarter. Luce ended up eating all the pieces in the to-share order, prompting Owwo to order another round of batter-wrapped prawns.

Monday for the Prep students saw them bringing their favored books to school, to create their “library” inside the classroom. Luce brought her “A Thirsty Sparrow” from Adarna books and a book adaptation of the movie “Up”. Last summer, she attended a storytelling session at the Filipinas Heritage Library featuring “A Thirsty Sparrow,” and we bought the book there as remembrance of her FHL experience. Earlier this month, we watched “Up.” The book was bought much ahead of the actual movie experience, to further practice her reading skills, and in anticipation of the “Up” movie date with us.

Tuesday, I learned from another Prep mommy that she was to read stories to the kids that afternoon. Storytelling being a craft close to my heart, I volunteered myself for the next day’s storytelling session. Besides, it will be another opportunity for me to show Luce how wonderful books are and how they can be appreciated further through group reading. How happy I was when Luce’s teacher confirmed that I will be their class’ storyteller the next day! I racked my mind for the appropriate book – with big enough pictures for all 20 Prep students to see, and with an interesting storyline to capture their attention! That night, Luce and I chose Eric Carle’s “A Very Hungry Caterpillar” with its added values of basic counting skills and of teaching young readers the significance of eating fruits and vegetables. As a back-up story, we chose “Slowly, slowly, slowly, goes the sloth,” also by Carle. The latter book was my surprise for Luce that night, as a reward for her finishing her Kumon Reading A-I level that afternoon.

Wednesday, Luce and I went to school together. She, with her schoolbag; I, with my bag containing Carle’s two books and Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” - the last book to keep me company while waiting for my time to go to the Prep Pace’s classroom to play storyteller. 5 Minutes to appointed time, I walked to Luce’s classroom, mentally practicing my spiel and introductory speech for each of the two books. The pride I saw in Luce’s eyes when I entered their room and later sat in front confirmed that my decision to volunteer will be a happy reading experience for her. Her wide smile was enough to boost my confidence to face a 20-strong Prep class, with their short attention span and hyperactive bodies and tongues and imagination. The next week, the school gave me a Certificate of Appreciation and a token image of Mary, Mother of Divine Providence. The teachers shouldn’t have bothered, since it was me who gained from the storytelling session. I got to show Luce how fun it is to read aloud and to introduce “Tita Faye” to her classmates.

Enlightenment through LUCE: Literary Understanding and Cultural Exposure (2)

Wednesday evening was another experience for Luce. From school, she changed from school uniform to a dainty dress (thanks, Uncle Keith, for the dress!), and off we went to the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Tatta had to drive carefully to transport us from Marikina to Manila, to rendezvous with Owwo for a night of music with Philippines’ own world-class pianist Cecil Licad and German cellist Alban Gerhard, with the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Her attention would dwindle in between pieces, but overall, Luce was appreciative of the show. During intermission, she got to request Alban to sign her program. He asked if Luce plays an instrument, and we told him she’d learn the piano soon. After the show, I was able to get their picture together. A few moments later, Luce approached Cecil fore autograph, and I only managed a candid shot of them, since Cecil was already deluged with fans and greeters. Earlier, Luce had fun with Cecil’s encore performances. “Ayan, ayan, lalabas ulit. Sabi na nga ba e. I told you!” she’d quip the four times Cecil came back onstage. A couple of years after watching a Snow White ballet and a year after a Cinderella musical, the CCP offered Luce another memorable cultural exposure to a little night of music.

Enlightenment through LUCE: Literary Understanding and Cultural Exposure (3)

Thursday was another exciting day at school. The day before, we learned a nice surprise from her Teacher Karen. Apparently, Luce was among the 5 representatives of Prep Pace for the Spelling Bee. They were to compete with 5 other students from the other Prep section, Gioia. Instead of her usual noon appearance at school, she had to be there in the morning for the contest. Come dismissal time, she shared, “Hindi ako nanalo, eh. Pero may prize ako!” and showed her pencil and eraser, apparently consolation prizes for the non-winners. She misspelled the 4th word, she said – shAwer instead of shOwer. Still, that was a fun experience!

Friday, they had a book picnic in school. Luce borrowed Ate Gaby’s little mermaid mat and brought her Eldar pillow and apple slices for snacks. They watched a video, read the books they brought earlier that week, and had fun fun fun!

Enlightenment through LUCE: Literary Understanding and Cultural Exposure (4)

Saturday, to cap a week of literary fun, Tatta and I brought Luce, with her Ate Gaby and Kuya Basil, to SMX at the SM Mall of Asia for the 2009 Manila International Book Fair. I told them, “You can choose any book that you want, as long as the price is within our budget.” Since we got our free tickets from being a member of OMF Literature’s Kaibigan card, we visited the OMF Lit first. We were just in time for a kiddie activity of drawing, in time for the book launch of Malu Ortiz’ “Spiritual Journey with my Special Child.” Her 22-year-old daughter, Clarissa, was sitting by a table, starting a draft of a new caricature. Apparently, the kids were told to draw portraits, and the author will choose several winners. I thought it was just an activity and not a contest. Nevertheless, the 3 kids joined-in. And what a fun surprise when Luce, and then Basil, eventually won their own free copies of the book, for their respective drawings! Later that afternoon, we went home happy, the kids with their new books and me with the thought that I exposed them further to books, perhaps my most favorite things on earth.

Enlightenment through LUCE: Literary Understanding and Cultural Exposure (5)

As a postscript experience to a week of cultural fun, Luce, with Owwo, Mommy Faye, and Auntie Liv, watched a Japanese English Rakugo last Sept 25. After a week of books and music, we capped the cultural experience with an hour of Japanese sit-down comedy by Rakugo master, Kaishi Katsura. Before typhoon Ondoy flooded Makati and the rest of Metro Manila and its environs, we flooded the lobby of the Ayala Museum with our laughter at the Japanese performing arts Rakugo, where Kaishi portrayed different roles minus the elaborate set and costume changes, dressed only in the Japanese outfit and armed only with a fan and a clothe for props. At the end, Luce had a picture taken with Kaishi, plus his signature on her program. “Parang sa CCP,” Luce remarked after we approached the Rakugo master.

Yes, literature could be understood and appreciated by 6-year-old Prep students. And by providing them cultural exposures, they can widen their horizons beyond the usual Disney cartoon.

On grandparenting and dominant female meerkats

“Mommy, huwag ka pang mamatay ha, para paglaki ko, makita mo pa ang baby ko.”

Luce and I were watching an Animal Planet program the other night when she blurted these words out. Meerkat Manor just started. The camera showed Daisy, a female meerkat, busy rescuing her cubs, in turns, out of a dig-hole.

I reached across the bed to hug Luce, kissed her right cheek, and assured her, “Oo naman, anak.”

At times, when the two of us talk about babies, I tell Luce, who’s turning 6 later this month, that it will be twenty or more years before she has one of her own. That she has to drink her nightly cups of milk first, study well first, grow older first, before she can be a Mommy herself. We haven’t gotten to the point yet when I have to graphically tell her how babies are made (6-8 more years, then I can explain the biology of it), but she knows how she came out of my womb.

But that night of meerkats and their cubs, it was the first time Luce and I talked about my possible role in her child’s life. She wants me to live through that, seeing her with her baby. I conjured up a beautiful picture of us three - Luce, her baby, and me. I haven’t thought yet how I want to be called by my grandchildren. Perhaps Nanang Faye, as is my mother (Nanang Vilma to Luce) and as was her mother before her (Nanang Atting to the Quitevis grandchildren).

Luce went back to watching the program, while I was left contemplating on being a Nanang when my turn comes. Memories flashed, of Tatang Louy and Nanang Atting, of Lolo Siles and Lola Aida, of the other Lolos and Lolas in my life.

Grandparents and grandchildren have a special bond. I should know. I grew up under the care of Tatang and Nanang. Aged 70 and 65 respectively, Tatang Louy and Nanang Atting took the challenge of rearing their 2-year-old granddaughter. Of course, Auntie Celing and Manang Iyyang did their share in my growth, but Tatang and Nanang served as my parents in Ilocos, since Mommy and Daddy were in far-away Manila.

Tatang would regale me with his stories at night, stories of his youth, of his travels, of his business experiences. He would vividly describe the hardships he had to endure as a poor boy in Naguilian - occasionally missing classes to help his Iniong Dalmas in the field or in the river, but still managing to graduate Salutatorian at the Camangaan Community School. At other times, Tatang will relive his travails as a worker overseas, long before the term “Overseas Filipino Worker” or “OFW” was coined – from his first experiences as a waterboy in a Hawaiian plantation, to his lost period as an “amuyong” in casinos in the mainland, to his inspired years as the Filipino houseboy of a German elderly couple in Chicago. He was such an enthusiastic storyteller, I grew up listening to his stories rather than spending much time in front of the television for the current shows or having my ears glued to the radio for the latest hits.

Nanang may not have been as good a storyteller as Tatang, but she showed me the importance of piety and civic-mindedness. On Sunday mornings, the two of us would go to Vigan, first to hear Mass at the Cathedral or at the Simbaan nga Bassit, and then to the market. Back in Naguilian, she and Tatang were regarded as Barangay elders whom the leaders approach for advise. I saw how involved Nanang was in the activities in Naguilian, and even in nearby Camangaan, the barangay where she originally hailed. As an active member of the Catholic Women’s League, Nanang ably showed me that an Ilocana can be a pious Catholic and a socially-oriented woman at the same time.

I may have grown up with my maternal grandparents, but I also have memories of my paternal grandparents, Lolo Siles and Lola Aida. When I was young, they were in places other than Ilocos Sur, where I was. But I had pictures with them, so we must have seen each other regularly. Then Lolo Siles left for the US, and Lola Aida stayed in Manila.

One of my early, if not my first, experiences with a balikbayan box was that one coming from Lolo. It contained a lot of clothes, and we were told to look into the contents and see if we like anything. The other kids were interested on converting the box into a makeshift house, or car, or whatever “toy” they could conjure up. However, I took interest in a 5-volume set of books, each containing stories in English, the pages filled with colored illustrations. I brought these books back home to Naguilian, to keep me company for years and years. There in Naguilian, they still lie, in my closet, waiting for me to give them new life. Soon, they will be given a new lease in life, along with my other childhood books from which I learned a lot of lessons. I have promised Luce that the next time we go home to Naguilian, we will take my books with me, as these will then be hers. And hopefully, she’ll enjoy them as much, if not much more, as I did.

While Lolo introduced me to books, Lola Aida showed me the beauty of keeping home and being a mother and lola. I knew she was a Teacher, but never saw her in a classroom setting. Instead, she was the loving Lola who would make me and my brother, Keith, feel comfortable in our occasional overnight stays at Sta. Mesa. I think I had my first taste of fresh pineapple, newly pared, from her dining table. One thing I’m sure of, I had my first read of Tagalog-language komiks from her weekly collection!

Years later, Lolo and Lola would be reunited in the States, and they will send us letters and cards. In these letters, they would tell us their stories, their memories. More often, it will be Lolo Siles who would primarily write, with his letters containing corrections on several errors, a spelling here, a grammar there. The corrections adding characters to the letters were likely made by Lola Aida, ever the teacher even in faraway America.

Lolo’s recurring theme in his stories will be his younger days back home in Narra, San Fernando, La Union. With unmasked pride, he’d boast how a young boy pasturing carabao in a farflung “away” or barrio would be able to rise from poverty and eventually become a School Superintendent. And boosted with the Flores brand of pride, he’d further write about his machismo for being able to get a Teacher for a second wife, despite his being a widower with two young boys. Lolo’s stories would have been awe-inspiring, bordering on greatness, if not for Lola’s properly-situated asides in the borders of their letters.

Come to think of it, both my grandfathers were great storytellers! One finished grade seven while the other became a School Superintendent, yet both possessed the ability to sustain magic in sharing the stories of their youth. And both my grandmothers proved to be their able partners, co-equals in raising their respective families. Three of them may have gone to heaven, and Lola Aida coping with her Alzheimer’s in the States, but their memories are always in my heart.

I am fortunate that I grew up in a three-generation household and was exposed to the wisdom of my grandparents. I try to simulate this with Luce, by letting her spend time with her Nanay Mancing, Nanang Vilma, and Owwo Ely, creating memories which, I hope, she’ll remember as she grows older. And when my time comes to be a grandparent to her child, I will make it a point to give them memorable moments to cherish long before I’m gone.

Meerkat Manor shows a colony of meerkats headed by a dominant female. In that night’s particular episode, the dominant female was a meerkat other than Daisy. Thus, she was faced with the problem of taking care of her cubs, marked unwanted by the colony for being the cubs of a female other than the dominant one. At the end of the episode, divided between rearing her two rescued cubs on her own or surviving the harsh Kalahari desert with her colony, Daisy chose survival over maternal instincts.

“Naiwan ang babies niya? Bakit naman? Kawawa naman. Bad ba siya?” Luce asked me, unable to grasp that a mother would leave her babies on their own.

“Ganyan ang ilang animals,” I tell her, hugging her at the same time. “Pero tao tayo, iba tayo.”

I will be there when Luce has her own baby. And Luce's baby and I will share that special bond between grandparent and grandchild.

My Mahal, Luce's Tatta

(Note: I wrote this piece last July 2004 but missed posting it. Now that I am reviving Luce's blog, it seems right to include it here before I post new pieces. Luce loves her Tatta so much, much more than anybody else, including me. It is a fact I have come to accept.)

I am never short of memories of and with my husband, Rolly. Ever since he entered my life, it has been full of snapshots of memorable events, most of which had been life-changing.

The most memorable one, however, stands out for two reasons: it is quite recent, and I wasn't there to witness it.

Last June 29, my husband and I brought our baby, Luce Domini, to her doctor since she has had coughs and fever since the day before. I then left them together, with Luce not her usual bubbly self. Later that day, I received a text message from Rolly, saying that he had Luce admitted to the hospital. Being the mother that I am, I immediately called him, wanting the full details. And full details my husband gave me!

He was giving Luce a sponge bath, my husband said, when our daughter suddenly shivered and rolled-over her eyes, with her lips and face turning blue. Rolly immediately brought Luce out of our room, washing her nape with tap water, while requesting for a tricycle pronto. All the while, I learned later from housemates, he was saying, "Luce, huwag naman, huwag naman."

At the hospital, Luce was immediately attended to. There was my daughter, whose fever the doctor and nurses tried to bring down, and my husband, who was being looked at curiously by the staff. It was a dramatic sequence worthy of being included in E.R., the hospital drama on TV. My baby turned out okay, and it was only then when my husband realized how he was: barefoot and wearing his house clothes. No wonder people were looking at him.

I laughed when he told me this. (Of course, I already had the temerity to laugh since my baby's condition was already stable at that time.) So very Rolly, so much his style of fatherhood to our Luce: raw, unpretentious, no frills, to the point. He did not care how he looked, what mattered most was that our baby's condition be stabilized the soonest possible time.

Luce is really a strong force in our relationship. My other treasured memory happened 10 months and two days before the above incident. I had just given birth to Luce two days before (a month and four days before my due date), and we are hoping to go home together the following day. Rolly and I were left alone in my room, with Luce staying at the nursery. An hour or so earlier, I held our baby for the first time in my arms. Luce seemed so small, weighing just 2.0 kgs. I cried as I hugged her, with my mother and husband looking at us inside the nursery.
Later, I was to share the feeling with Rolly. I was so overwhelmed with our baby, and so was he, although he had not had the privilege to hold her yet. That night was a landmark night in our marriage.

Our childbirth experience had been something for the books. I say "our" even if childbirth is a woman's biological role, for my husband had been with me all throughout: from the first ultrasound confirming my pregnancy, to my monthly prenatal visits to my doctor, to the time when I had to have bedrest due to low amniotic fluid level, to the time I had to be hospitalized for rehydration, to the time I had to deliver via cesarean operation. Too bad he was not with me inside the operating room.

That landmark night, my husband and I bonded together, really bonded together, opening our hearts to one another. It was to be our last night together as husband and wife alone; for the next night and the nights after that, we have also become father and mother to our daughter, Luce Domini.

A lifetime is not enough to make memories with my husband. Hopefully, our memories will continue to live in our daughter's lifetime, and even beyond.

Hand-in-hand, Luce and Nanang Vilma can explore the world together.

(photo taken in early 2004)

Unforgettable Moment with my Mom

Motherhood is a significant milestone in a woman's life; not only because she becomes a parent to her newborn but also because she realizes how good, how great, her own mother is.

"We're going to have a baby," was how I relayed the news to my Mommy, Vilma Quitevis Flores. The "we" does not solely signify my husband and me as parents of the unborn child. It encompasses Mommy, as well. At 53 years, she's going to have a baby, too!

Mommy has been asking for a grandchild for quite some time. Looking back, I think it became more frequent after she turned 50. She doesn't want to look like a grandmother when she becomes a grandmother, she'd say. When I turned 30, she'd comment that she already had 3 kids when she was that age.

Well, she started early, my Mom. Married at 21, had her first child at 22 (that's me!); her only son at 23; and, yes, her second daughter at 30. She passed the bar and became a lawyer after that. Mommy then started a career in housing, besides her other career at home.

When Mommy introduced me to the concept of women's movement, I found it easy to accept the progressive idea of an empowered woman. For my mother is one example: having a career outside the house, away from the bed and the hearth; and at the same time, attending to our needs at home (cooking, waking us up in the mornings, reminding to drink our vitamins and to eat breakfast, among others).

Thus, when I became a wife, and later, a mother myself, I knew things will turn out okay. At times, when I would seem to be overwhelmed with the responsibilities, Mommy is there to give her support. "I understand." "Don't give up." "I've been there, I know." Words of comfort from a woman who have had them all.

Mommy once told me that one's expenses will always increase through the years, as she grows from being an individual to being a part of her own family. But she should not lose hope, my Mommy said, for her means will grow with her expenses. Maybe this was my mother's way of saying I have to continuously strive in life to meet my growing needs.

My pregnancy drew Mommy and I closer to each other. When my baby girl, Luce Domini, came into the picture, my unforgettable moment with my Mom began. As surely as every landmark event Luce achieves would make us thrilled and proud, every moment Mommy, Nanang Vilma to Luce, and I now share as mothers both would make me appreciate her more and more.

Motherhood has been an eye-opening experience for me. Aside from gaining a baby, I also achieved a better perspective of my mother. Life, indeed, is so good.