NEGROS ISLAND, WATER LEAK IN THE NIGHT, POPCORN, AND THE COLOR PURPLE

I don’t know why I will go in a streak of posting blog entries and then stop.   I would like to blame the kids and the ongoing activities around the house, but it isn’t always that.  Perhaps lethargy or apathy or a combination of both which has a tendency to slow or impede my creative process.  Still, with glass of ice water at my side, I will once again astound you with my inane paragraphs of life in the Philippines.

---

Okay, we all know that I live on the island of Negros and in the province of Negros Occidental.  I am confident you can pronounce the Occidental word without a problem, but Negros has its own uniqueness.  In American we would think it would be said the same way as Negro, but with an “s” added on, when in actuality, it is pronounced  Nᾱ - gro̅s.  The following is a brief description from Wikipedia:

Negros Island was originally called Buglas – an old Hiligaynon thought to mean "cut off." It is believed that Negros was once part of a greater mass of land, but was cut off by rising waters during the Ice Age. Among its earliest inhabitants were dark-skinned natives belonging to the Ati, one of several indigenous Negrito Ethnic Groups dispersed throughout Asia, who had a unique culture.

Thus, the Spaniards called the land Negros after the black natives they saw on their arrival on the island in April 1565.

Originally, the island was pretty much covered in jungle, but over the centuries, the tropical morass has been transformed into sugar cane and rice fields.  Thus today, except for some of the remote mountainous areas, it is all farmland.   

Another piece of trivia is that this island (broken into two provinces – Occidental and Oriental)  and is the third largest island in the Philippines, boasting a population of over 4.1 million inhabitants.  Giving you an idea as to its relative size, take this into consideration; the state of Iowa is ELEVEN TIMES larger than Negros but with only two-thirds the population!  Another thing, there is a language difference between those two provinces. While Illongo is spoken exclusively in Occidental province, Cebuano is the language spoken in Oriental (A good reason for having Tagalog as a national language).  Thus, my children can now speak Tagalog, Cebuano, Illongo, and English.  In fact at the dinner table they will speak Ceblongo, or a combination of the two languages within each sentence.  For me, it is confusing at best, but doesn’t seem to bother those youthful linguists at all. 

---

On a recent Sunday evening, Diana came to my room and told me she heard water running.  I walked to the kitchen and indeed heard

Before

a spraying sound coming from outside the house.  With flashlight in hand, I walked around to where the water entered the abode  Under the rocks, you could hear water leaking from an elbow connector

After

in the PVC pipe.  I searched, in vain, for a shut off valve, but as was typical, there was none.  Imagining the horror of an astronomically inflated water bill, I went to bed realizing that nothing would be done until morning.  

As the sun arose in the eastern sky, I went to the landlord’s and explained the situation.  He sent over his handyman and gave me a list of articles needed.  (the hardware store opens at 6:00 am here) I went there and procured elbows and one t-connector.  Now, the question I know that you are curious about is, how did we stop the water flow into the house.   Well, you just disconnect the water line from the meter!  Yep, just let all that water flow into the drainage ditch while you work on the plumbing.  

In the Philippines, when there are leaks or something doesn’t fit right, you don’t always change the connecter’s, you just get some rubber and bind it around the leak until the leaking stops.  You may chuckle at that notion, but it is how it’s done here.  A T-connector was leaking one day and the owner took rubber and kept wrapping it around the leak until it stopped (mostly).   Another thing, in Iowa water lines are buried at least four or more feet underground, whereas here, they are buried a few inches below ground level or (in many cases) just run atop the land. 

On this day, it appeared that I was going to be stuck with the bill, but it wasn’t too bad as the PVC pieces cost a little over a dollar and the plumber was less than four dollars.  Try to get service at that price in the states!

---

Popcorn Vendor in plaza during festival 2012

 Lately, we have been dining on microwave popcorn.  It is Jolly Time Butteriscious and actually costs a dollar a bag here, but still the kids love it.  They enjoy the fresh taste along with the buttery fingers as they grab the popped kernels out of the hot sack.  They do sell popcorn in the plaza during festivals, but it is pretty bland and has a stale taste/crunch to it.  Sometimes they will invite their friends over to share in their good fortune.  Watching the Three Stooges while munching on freshly popped corn is their idea of a perfect life.  

Toy Toy, Charissa Mae, Santiago, & Clarisse Baguio

However, I do recall the day (as a youth) when popcorn was popped in a pan, with a glob of lard, and a lot of pan shaking.  It was during those cold winter days when that corn tasted pretty good and warmed your belly against the frigid conditions without the four walls of my home in Iowa.  However, there were hazards associated with the process.  One evening, many decades ago, my brother Jerry and I decided to make a pan of corn for an evening snack.  He must have been perhaps ten years old while I was two years younger.  We lit the fire on the gas stove, then took a large spoon of that milky white lard out of its metal tin and slapped it into the pan.  Finally as the lard began to melt, we poured a good amount of popcorn seed into the liquefying grease.  It was fascinating to watch the kernels sizzle in the bottom of that oil filled container.  We were mesmerized as the individual kernels transformed from a dark brown to a light tan…that was until they started popping.   It wasn’t that we had not popped corn before, but for whatever reason, we did not place the lid on that pan.  Accordingly when the corn started popping, we were sprayed with droplets of burning lard!  My brother and I both attempted to brave the flying grease and get the lid on the pan, but it was to no avail.  I made the mistake of catching a flying corn in my hand, but that proved rather painful in its burning sensation.  Popcorn was on the stove, on the floor, and even as far as the kitchen table before enough filled the bottom of the pan that we could get a lid on.  A few kernels had stationed themselves around the flames of the burner and smelled pretty bad, but it was a memorable experience and one neither my brother nor I ever repeated again.

---

In the states, the color purple has been just that – PURPLE.  But here in the Philippines, it is called VIOLET.  If you say purple, they just give you that puzzled look.  The Filipinos will also say they are brown in skin color, but I prefer to call them “nicely tanned”.   Just imagine how many people in the states would give almost anything to have their shade.

Daryl Cleveland

02/18/2013