Ever since I
came to the Philippines I have acquired a few titles. In the beginning it was “Hey Joe”. Everywhere I went, adults as well as
youngsters were always yelling that epithet. I found that they had actually
been taught that in elementary school.
The humorous thing was they yelled that to anyone who was Caucasian or
Black. It didn’t matter what country
they came from, it was just that those “foreigners” were not Filipinos and thus
identified with that catch-all phrase.
When I
returned here in 2010 and settled in Balamban, Cebu, the youth (and yes, the
adults too) would still yell “Hey Joe.” Let’s
face it, what else would they say, which gave me an idea. I was curious if the kids even bothered to
remember one foreigner from the next and thus I devised a plan. With the help of Diana (my housekeeper), she told
me if they yelled out “Hey Joe!” I should reply with, “Dili ako si Joe. Ako si George.” (No, my name is not Joe. My name is George). It was a steamy afternoon as I walked toward
the town market when three boys called out, “Hey Joe!” Well, I tried that phrase on the trio, and
they all laughed and then yelled, “Hey George!”
We waved to each other as I continued along the busy roadway toward
downtown.
I had only
done that a few times but suddenly all kinds of kids started calling me
“George.” I had seen other foreigners
pass and some of the youth would say “Hey Joe,” to them while with others they
would say nothing. For some unknown reason though, those children seemed to
like me and whenever I would stroll by, they would all call out, “HEY GEORGE!”
Then they would laugh and wave as I continued walking. As time went on, there was the occasional
“Hey Joe”, but most times it was George that came from their lips.
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| Taw Taw (left) with Coy Coy & his tootsie roll |
In Negros,
the children were different in some way.
They acted like the kids in Cebu, but for me they had TITLES. When I would walk to Julius’ house, the kids
would say “hi”, but not much else. Later
I found out they were talking about how big and tall I was. Then there was the little two year old
neighbor boy named Coy Coy. When he first saw me he
started to scream, “MOO MOO!” (Monster) and would run into his Grandmother’s
house. He would never come out when I
was visiting and no matter how hard they tried to verbally or physically coax
him, the harder he resisted. After seven
months, he would finally take tootsie rolls from me, but he would not stay and
still had to be pulled over to their house to receive his treats.
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| Three waiting for their treats on the road to Julius' |
Since I had
given out so many treats to so many kids in the “neighborhood”, most just called
me “Cano” (American) and a few close neighbors would call me “Tito Daryl”
(Uncle Daryl). If I was walking with my
little black candy bag (OK, I didn’t choose the color, it was convenient,
available and it holds a lot of tootsie rolls), I would hear the term “Cano”
being called out to the other kids before I ever got close. Then there would be
youngsters all lined up along the road waiting for their chewy morsel. I don’t know why, but I never did teach them
about George…yet.
Actually in
Negros, I got called George by adults more than kids. It’s probably because I said it more to
them. One fish vendor (of which I have
yet to learn his real name) would see me and call out “Maayong Aga George,”
(good morning George) and I would reply, “Maayong Aga Joe!” We would both wave and laugh as I continued
on my Cano way.
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| Tootsie Rolls weren't on her mind when I took a picture |
I suppose I
should talk about the term, “neighborhood”.
The boundary areas of a neighborhood can vary. In Owak, where Diana lives, it would be a
geographical settlement of houses (about twenty) with marshland on three sides
and the Visayan sea on the fourth. There
was one path which went through the marsh to the bamboo hamlet, or one could
take the highway to the beach, climb over the wall (or under it at low tide)
and take the scenic route. The boundaries of MY DEFINED NEIGHBORHOOD in Negros would
be the compound in which I live and I consider the neighbors around Julius’
house as part of it too. I think a neighborhood is as big as you desire. Some
are bigger in size than others, but they are a close knit group of families
sharing life (and sometimes Tanduay (rum) with one another.
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| Feline taking catnap outside the Restaruant |
One evening
I was walking back from the plaza (it was too dark to really see the traffic on
the highway clearly), and as I was walking down a quiet residential street I
suddenly heard a three year old boy yell, “Higanti! Higanti!” He then ran to the protective arms of his
papa. There was a group of adults sitting and chatting as I passed by. The pre-schooler kept saying “Higanti,”
quietly to his papa which only brought a roar of laughter from the crowd. His grandpa (lolo) told me that Higanti meant
GIANT. Since I was so tall and much
taller than the group seated there, I must have really been tall to that sprout
of a boy. From then on, whenever I passed
the little child’s house, if the parents, or housekeeper saw me, they would
tell the young tyke that the “giant” was walking past.
I am sure
that I will have other titles added to my name in the coming years, but the one
I have enjoyed the most is “Senior Citizen”.
I JUST LOVE
THAT CARD and also the many looks
when I hand it to them for my discount.
I have dined
at the Oasis quite a bit since my arrival in Himamaylan 
City. It is an open air restaurant along the national
highway. Their menu offers a selection
of several filling Filipino dishes with a Mango Shake included for only $2.50,
thus if I get lazy (which is probably far more than I would like to admit), I eat
there. I always knew there was a
basement underneath the structure, but never bothered to investigate. 
However one day there was a racket going on
by the steps and I thought I would sneak a peek to see what was down there. In the states, you
would have the water heater, water softener, furnace and assorted boxes, but at
this nice eatery they had a basement full of Tilapia fish. Now, I don’t mean giant fish tanks full of
them, but literally the entire basement area.
Scores of fish leisurely swam around in approximately nine inches of
fresh water. I had never seen them on
the menu and asked the owner what they did with them. She replied that they sold them locally. As far as I was concerned, it was the largest
indoor fish farm I had ever seen.
Somehow, in the states, there would have been some food safety issues
with that.
City. It is an open air restaurant along the national
highway. Their menu offers a selection
of several filling Filipino dishes with a Mango Shake included for only $2.50,
thus if I get lazy (which is probably far more than I would like to admit), I eat
there. I always knew there was a
basement underneath the structure, but never bothered to investigate. 
However one day there was a racket going on
by the steps and I thought I would sneak a peek to see what was down there. In the states, you
would have the water heater, water softener, furnace and assorted boxes, but at
this nice eatery they had a basement full of Tilapia fish. Now, I don’t mean giant fish tanks full of
them, but literally the entire basement area.
Scores of fish leisurely swam around in approximately nine inches of
fresh water. I had never seen them on
the menu and asked the owner what they did with them. She replied that they sold them locally. As far as I was concerned, it was the largest
indoor fish farm I had ever seen.
Somehow, in the states, there would have been some food safety issues
with that. 
