It's been an eventful past week. We have moved from the planning stages on our house to actual construction start. Backstory:
We bought 2 lots here in our subdivision, 120 square meters each. We engaged a contractor/foreman recommended highly by Joelet's dad and brother. Now, non-Filipino foreigners (i.e., me) cannot own land here. Period. But I need something to protect myself from unforeseen circumstances so we will consult an attorney to study options. I have heard of some doing a 90-year lease, for example, but also heard that might not be allowed. We shall see, Joelet is fully on board with this.
Cement work begins Bucket brigade
So construction begins on Joelet's birthday, 1/8, and good progress is being made. I would like to tell you about Padugo.
It is a concept that essentially helps ensure good fortune, the safety of the workers, appeasement of the spirits, whatever. You can read up on it at the link above but we did do the chicken sacrifice (they did it, I told her to call me when they were done with it). Note: the chickens were cooked and consumed by the crew. In addition, we did the coins (for prosperity in the house), cotton (for lighter burdens in life), rose petals for love in the house, salt is for expelling bad spirits, and of course the palm leaves and holy water we got from the church here for blessing/sanctifying. You can see Joelet and one of the workers placing these items in some of the corner posts in the video.
One of the workers helps us with the roses, salt
I learned early on that by commenting on "the crazy shit you people believe in" is rather, um, annoying to the folks here so I have avoided it ever since. The bottom line was that it was important to Joelet so that was good enough for me. Now, the fact that we have no running water in this subdivision is hampering things a bit. They have their own subterranean pump and it broke down. Parts are hard to come by, it's been 2 weeks and we are looking at a minimum of 1 more. Water is being provided by the local FD, thank goodness, so our basic needs are met. But the bulk of the concrete work on the house has already started and Joelet and foreman Mike have been scrambling to get deliveries of water there.
Winner, winner . . . Foreman Mike assists with cotton & coins Mike, Joelet, Abel discuss water delivery
I will provide updates here when there is significant progress or something interesting to say so stay tuned!
See the entire gallery here . Here in the P.I., a girl's 18th birthday is a Big Deal. A coming-out, it's called a Debut Party and the girl is the Debutante. For boys, it is their 21st. This night was all about Angel. We were invited by Angel's mother, Carmela (Elay, pronounced ELL-eye). You might remember Elay from a year ago when we were doing the Taal volcano refugee relief effort. We had to park a couple blocks away but ended up in front of the house Joelet used to live in. The street urchins quickly gathered around because a foreigner in these parts - especially a white foreigner - is a rarity, a curiosity. I snapped a shot of them after we got out of the truck: When we arrived at the venue (Pines & Palms - FB Link ), the music was too loud for me (ears & hearing not quite what they used to be), so I hoofed it back to the truck to get my ear plugs. Right away, there were my street buddies peppering me with questions, asking my name. I said let's get another...
Joelet's sister Joy Ann lives with us. We have cared for her daughter for 2.5 years now while she worked in Manila. Her daughter's name is Jann Zxavier, Zxandy (ZAHN-day) for short. A good kid, normal intelligence - perhaps a bit higher than average. But she is introverted, does not talk much. None of us are trained in such things but we try to give her opportunities to branch out without being overly pressuring. This Christmas Eve, we pooled our money together and bought a bunch of cheeseburgers from a Jollibee franchise here in Balayan. For my US folks, I put Jollibee a step and a half below McDonalds or Burger King, but the people here like it. We negotiated a bit of a discount and also procured fruity drinks and candy. At the barangay across town, preparing. Balayan is not a well-to-do town, to put it politely. And being sequestered during this covid period does not help. Kids who go to public school do not have the opportunity for online distance learning. The moms have to...
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