Immersion

I owe this blog tons and tons of stories I haven’t shared since I wasn’t able to write entries for a long long (long) time now. Here’s an attempt to make up for those times.

Immersion

I was a bit hesitant at first to join the immersion because I was afraid of leaving the comforts that I have here in the city. But then I also thought that this would be a perfect opportunity for me to have some rest (even for a short while), leave my demanding student life and have a glimpse at the life of what we call the indigenous people. Besides that, this experience would definitely satisfy my thirst for new experiences.

Our bus left for Zambales around 5 am. Our group consists of me, Charmie, Mon Mon, Sab, Jun, and Oz. There were two other groups belonging to other Theo classes. Our OSCI formator is kuya Ubit (pronounced as Obet). He really looks like Angel (Machuca) because of his long black hair neatly tied at the back with the beard (and mustache ?). We were supposed to meet at 4 am at the bus station but our group arrived late (we came from Charmie’s house except Jun). On our way to the bus station, I noticed that I had two missed calls from an unknown number. When we arrived at the bus station (everybody was already there and because we were late, we missed the bus), kuya Ubit asked “Sino si Joan?”. Then of course I raised my hand not knowing the reason why he’s looking for me. Then he finally said, “ba’t di mo sinasagot phone mo?” Then I just answered, “naka-silent po kasi”. :) When we got off the bus, the journey wasn’t over. We had to cross the river! :)

When we hear the word aeta, we often think of short, dark-skinned people who still wear G-strings etc. But when we finally met them, those aetas living at Maporak Zambales were wearing the same clothes we wear (shirt, shorts, etc). Some have kinky hair while some have straight hairs. I felt that they were no different from us. I felt that I was just having a vacation in a beautiful paradise. The rivers were really clean and beautiful. We actually bathe at the river! :) We went to the mountains and pull out the weeds growing in what they call Ateneo area (part of the mountain where they plant coffee, banana, mango etc. wherein the fruits will be for Ateneans as a sign of gratitude for their help in the community). We went to the fields and planted rice! :) We also had tutorials with the kids in the area. During the community night, we were fortunate to see their courtship and war dances. The aetas were really nice and very accommodating people.

During the 2 ½ immersion days, I stayed with Nanay Siping (Josefina). She’s an old widow who has 10 children but only Kuya Jesus is staying with her since the others have their own families. Some of her children live near to her house. I wasn’t able to talk that much to Kuya Jesus since he’s always at work (in the resort near their community) but he was also nice. Nanay Siping was really like a mother to me. She calls me “anak” and she always look after me. It was just really sad that she had fever when I left for Manila.

I never really liked eating vegetables plus I am really choosy when it comes to food. But because we we’re supposed to really immerse ourselves in the area, I ate malunggay na parang nilaga. Malunggay leaves were boiled with alamang and salt. I also ate small clams which were also boiled. I ate some unknown leaves with sardines. Most of all, I ate kawayan, as in bamboo! Nanay Siping told me those kawayan were those young bamboos. Then this were sliced into small pieces and boiled (?).

I really had fun during the immersion. Even though my skin got darker (although some people may disagree), it was really worth it. This thing’s for sure: I will I definitely go back one of these days. :)