Someones' Recollections

Every night my husband and I were having a chat before going to bed especially when we just finished our dinner. Aside from family matters, he would always tell me stories about his past at my request and vice versa.

Whenever we have our meals together with the children he suddenly mentioned their life so difficult yet simple. That gave me an idea to document some of his memories. I was supposed to write mine but since I already shared my childhood experiences here, let me share with you some of my husband's recollections during his childhood in which until now he can still recall even the time has faded away.

I know every one of us has our own funny or sad memories of when we were still a child. I would love to hear some of yours too. I am only citing what my husband told me with some comical events, though I have numerous list of them. I know that your experiences are different from my husbands because he grows in a native village. I for one was amazed by his stories since we didn't grow in the same place. (Our hometown)

So, here it is.

Have you remembered the first time VHS players or television was introduced in your barrio or town? During those moments, the first time he experienced watching in front of the VHS player(the cartridge type), my husband at a young age was full of curiosity. He was curious how humans fit in that not-so-big box and even changing their locations and clothes. He wondered how they manage to do that. They even speak a unique language he can't understand. Together with his friends, their eyes full of amazement closely packed in front of the box silently captured by the images moving. They're all mutually understanding the actions and even laugh in the chorus when the actions look amusing.

Every day they collected bottles of Ginebra San Miguel (gin) in exchange for the film they are going to watch. The bottles worth ¢.50 for 4x4 while ¢.25 for the round post. They need to pay 2 pesos every session so instead of money they are going to use the bottles as an entrance fee for watching. So, if he was engrossed in playing and swimming in the river which one of his childhood hobbies from his memories too, he forgot to collect bottles. So, he has to suit himself peering outside the owner of the movie house and had to withstand the mosquito bites that is enjoying his innocent skin.

There were also times when he was sent by his mother on an errand and he stopped by the "place" and took the chance to peer in the wall and find out what are they watching and experience scoldings and beatings for taking too long to arrive in their house. That was so similar to mine when I was sent my mother to buy something in the store and I have to run fast and ran back again so that I can watch in our neighbours' window and estimate the time to arrive home.😅

Sometimes, as I imagine being in my husbands moments, I realized they were being tricked by the owner since they have to pay the same amount and watch the movie over and over again. The VHS tape needs to be bought or rented in town but the owner only changes after few weeks. My husband and his friends even memorized the scenes and instead of watching the movie, they were telling the next events instead which annoys the other people who just came to watch and haven't seen the movie.

Nowadays, you can watch various kinds of movies on Netflix, Youtube, or even download them from the internet. You can also watch television in the comfort of your homes anytime. But the feeling of contentment, excitement and joy in that simple thing before is far more enjoyable than today's experiences.

One story he told me regarding innocence during his childhood days was swimming in the river wearing nothing and is just normal. There is no malice for the kids like them may it be a girl or a boy.

Another was their curiosity towards foreigners that come to our barrio for a visit or just a common tourist who passed by our barangay and took some photos of our place. Together with my husband's companion they would ask for candies and any treats from them but with hesitation and pushing and picking who would speak out the words as a result of only saying the word "Kenji" for candy or "choklet" instead of chocolate in an intonation where you can't differentiate whether they were asking a question or a request and when the foreigners ask something from them they would only nod and say "yes, yes". 😅

He also remembered the moment when they saw a car on our highway for the first time that makes them ran away for fear that someone inside will be going to abduct them. Together they will shout warnings to their companions. They would hide under the tall grasses near the road. It started when their parents threatened them for the reason of preventing them from staying near the public road, they call the car "Auto". So when they saw a car, they would shout auto! auto is coming! the abductor is coming! then they would step back down the pathway that leads to the entrance of the village.

These past few years, abductors are said to be riding in vans or any vehicles with tinted windows. The news even went viral in social media all over the country by chain messages in messenger, by forwarded texts and sometimes netizens post it on Facebook for awareness. That was the time when lots of children got lost and were abducted and never found again. It was reported that the children were sold by human traffickers for their internals. Whenever my husband sees a familiar car that looks like the old model, it brings his memory back again especially the models from the 1990s. It's sad, that during those time, the situation was only a threat. He never realized it would become a reality today, so am I. There were fewer vehicles you can find here before. Unlike now that it infiltrated every corner of our road.

There was a time when his mother went to town, there was only one jeepney travelling from our village to town and he quickly hanged at the back of the jeepney. No matter how her mother tried to bring him down and prevented my husband to come with her, he still tightens his grips🤣

Clothes were so scarce before. Hubby remembered he only has few pairs of shirts and pants. He even went to school with his butts showing his behind because his pair of short pants were torn. He only had better clothes when some relatives working from a mining company came home and gave them second-hand clothes. That was so priceless that time already. His parents were both uneducated that they were having difficulty in providing their wants. As long as they ate 3 times a day or more is enough already.

In every meal where my husband's family joined together, hubby's dad would remind them to minimize their viand especially when it is meat. Having one kind of viand and one small size is enough. They can't have different kinds on their table as their father told them their intestines would rumble in their insides which they all believe.😅

Today seeing our children enjoying their meals with different kinds of dish, he would say, "you are all lucky you didn't experience what my life was before during mealtime".Indeed, before, they don't get hungry because life is simple at that time. You can pick vegetables anytime, wild or not in our surroundings and no luxuries to get you tempted to waste your money. No monthly bills to worry about. No loads since there were no gadgets. The only luxury that time was to go to the main town and try to have a cup of native coffee (Barako) and buy some bakery bread.

Coffeeshops are being replaced by modern food chains and cakes and pastry shops. But the aroma of the native coffee is still missed by many of our people so it is still included in the menus if you happened to visit our place.

Thinking of that bakery bread made me laugh. We were having our coffee one early morning when Hubby told me about one time he was with his playmates in the waiting shed alongside the national road towering our village when he was about 1o. They used to standby in their favourite spot in the old waiting shed and waited for our villagers who went to town. They were to carry goods the villagers purchased in the market and let the children carry it down to our village and as a salary or labour for the effort was a piece of the sliced cinnamon bread.🤣 But even so, they were so contented with what they received according to hubby since they don't always taste bread as they were poor and bread is like a gem those times.

Unlike in the city, where I grew up, we can choose whether we prefer per piece or bag of bakery goods, but my husband only these past 30 years I think, that he had tasted bread and that was at least thrice a year. 😢

Observing kids labour now, it is now in the form of money. Most of the time, my children always have more money than me.🤣They are involved in any sideline job from small task to much heavier ones.

Maybe some of you will say it's child labour or child abuse but NO. There is no such thing as child labour here because our children at a young age know how to earn their own money. Child abuse? still No. We are developing our children to become lazy if we don't let them free to find their labour and they find joy In doing it. In terms of carrying, we don't insist on allowing them to carry heavy loads, we see to it that their age is levelled to how heavy they are about to carry. They even keep coming you say No. They are the one who insists to take the task no matter how hard you decline and would find out falling for them just to shoo them away.

Youths at an age of 12 and above can earn $20 a day especially when there are newly constructed houses or store owners and hog growers (for feeds). Loads they were about to carry for labour are bags of cement, sand and gravel, lumbers iron bars in which they carry sometimes my partner especially when the hauliers are younger.

Whenever I am short of cash, I even loan from one of my children but I have to make sure I will pay for it when I have my husbands salary. Though I can ignore paying them, I need to maintain their trust so that in different matter they can also trust me.

Well, my husband is just a mere labourer. A driver/operator of a construction company. A typical work level of an uneducated man but with a great heart towards his children. Because of a difficult life, instead of going to school most of his batchmates would climb and hang over a guava tree because they don't have papers to bring to school. They would go to the forest and collect orchids and sold them to the soldiers who happened to have their detachment in our mounts to have something to buy for their slippers. They need to pound rice every morning and afternoon to have something to cook for the day. No mill house that time. Unlike today, we can buy rice by sack or let our rice grains be milled in the millhouse. I admire him for his dedication to provide for our needs even though he has an unusual temper. 😁

Though how difficult it was before, I am thinking I would like to experience it. it's a different experience to live in a province than in the city for me. 😁

I think that's enough for today, and let's call it a day!

Thank you for reading. Tasks are waiting ahead. 💕

>Xzeon<