I told my Lola, “Alis na po ako.” I was about to go back to Dubai.
“Apo…” she started, “Baka pagbalik mo sa Marso eh wala na ako.”
As to create a conversation and to show off to my lola that I was listening to every conversation we had, I told her, “La! Nasabi nyo na rin po yan noon!”
Only then did I realize the error that I did. Not. Daring. You. Lola!
No ‘Challenge Accepted’.
“Namura agad ako ni Lola,” I told Tem.
“Ano sabi?” she asked.
Earlier…
“La! Kamusta po?”
“Tumaba ang apo ko!” she exclaimed, “Lalong gumuwapo ang put@#$%na!”
“Bakit ho ba hindi kayo sumama kahapon?” Ate Mimi asked Lola Pinang why she didn’t come with to Tagaytay, a 45 minute drive from our place.
“Kasi iihi lang ako ng iihi,” Lola reasoned out, “Sa susunod na lakad na lang ako.”
“Pupunta po kami ng Laguna (Sta. Rosa),” ate Mimi told Lola.
“Ayun! Dun! Dun ako sasama,” Lola told Ate Mimi.
“Lola, ‘di po kayo pwede dun. Mas malayo po yun saka pupunta kaming perya (Enchanted Kingdom),” Laguna is more than an hour drive from Imus.
“Perya?” Lola wondered, “Bakit? Pyesta ba dun?”
“Ano iuuwi natin sa lola mo?” my friends asked when I told them to buy something for me to give to my grandmother.
“Kayo na bahala. Babae kayo. Alam nyo na dapat ‘yun,” I answered.
“Anti-aging kaya?” they asked.
“Ano ba!? Huli na ang lahat.”
Lola asked, “San ka pupunta?”
I acted as if I’m driving and screamed, “Lisensya!” We need to scream at her ear as her hearing is quite weak.
“Tanza?” she asked. She heard Tanza (Cavite) out of the word Lisensya.
“Tagaytay!” I answered.
“Ehersisyo?” she assumed I will be doing some exercise, since I was acting as if I’m driving.
“Opo!” I just said yes just to finish the conversation.
“Bakit? Bagay naman sa’yo ang mataba.”
“Nay! Akalain n’yong magiging US Immigrant kayo ano? Dati lang kayong namumulot ng sepilyo sa tabing dagat,” I told my nanay.
“Oo nga eh. Anak, i-kwento mo nga ‘yung kwento ko na ‘yun. Ilagay mo nga ‘yun sa blog-blog mong ‘yan,” Nanay suggested so here’s the story:
Little Cora was in Grade 4 when her teacher said, “Oh magkakaroon tayo ng exchange gift ha?” during the Christmas season that year.
Cora used to live only on nipa huts near the sea (This was the beach in Bacoor, Cavite. “Dating white sand ‘yan,” was what nanay always told us before the construction of the Coastal Road destroyed its beauty); hence, they were not well off. Aling Pinang (my lola) only sold fish in the market while Agaton (my late lolo) was a fisherman. Cora had more than 10 siblings and a Christmas exchange gift was too far to be seen in the horizon.
When her teacher announced this, she knew she could never afford an exchange gift.
Being the witty little girl that she was, she always noticed things washed up in the beach: slippers, plastic bags, used toothbrush among others.
Cora picked up nasty-looking-used-eradicating-toothbrushes and wrapped them in Christmas wrappers. Voila! Christmas gift!
A few days later, while Cora was enjoying her tsitsiriya (the exchange gift that she received), Pinang was called to the school and learned that the classmate who received Cora’s gift was crying badly. Waaahhhh!!! Bulok na toothbrush!!!!
My sister‘s nickname is cool, right? Tem. Simple and cute. Well it isn’t just Tem – it’s Tembol.
Who’s to blame? Lola Pinang! Lola Pinang who also gave the famous nicknames Richiepay to Ate Richie and Olay to Paula.
Tem was born Roxane (Rox-seyn) so Nanay decided to give her a ‘sosi’ nickname Shane (Rox-shane). But Lola Pinang, being the musically forward person that she is, sang a song – She-Shamebol Shamebol Shamebol…
And before we knew it, Shembol became her official nickname. Until evolution took its course and it became TEMBOL.
Nanay still regrets it, “Ewan ko ba d’yan sa lola n’yo! Walang ka-sosyal sosyal. Shane na naging Tembol pa!”
I told my maternal grandmother, “La! Alis na po ako. Balik na po akong Dubai,” with tears in my eyes.
I was expecting a goodbye message or afew words of wisdom but she said, “Yung kinuha bang litrato ng kaibigan mo sa akin kagabi eh ano ang itsura?”
I’ll miss my Lola P.
Lola Pinang’s Birthday is on May 3! It’s her 90th Birthday, so Nanay together with my aunts and uncles are planning a big party.
Tem called me up, “Kuya, birthday na ni lola.”
“Ay! Oo nga pala,” I recalled.
“Kakausapin ka na lang daw ni nanay sa gastos,” she told me, direct-to-the-point-ly.
“Ah…. Hindi muna ako tatawag,” I answered, “Mga May 5 na siguro ako tatawag sa Pinas.”
“Nay! Kuya ko! Nagtatago!!!”
Funny Side Up 