008 -- 05.21.22 -- To be Filipinos in Baltimore City pt.1

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While growing up my family did not have much. It was me, my sister, my mom, grandma, grandpa, and uncle living in a small townhouse in Baltimore City.

At the time it was the only place my family could afford when first living in America but it was our sanctuary. We were a proud small Filipino family.

 

My grandma would cook all the time (Her cooking was the best). She was captain in our family. Our matriarch. She made all the decisions and steered our little ship of a family wherever we went. She was also the family head chef. For the most part she prepared and cooked all our meals and damn I do miss those homemade Filipino meals. The pancit, adobo, beef-steak, menudo, lumpia, tortang, longanisa, EVERYTHING. She around this time prepared and cooked food at a local Filipino restaurant with another uncle of mine. They also used to sell food and barbecue in the yearly Filipino festival in Maryland. She was the leader of her pack.

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My grandpa would work all the time. He drove trucks around. To this day, I'll admit I never knew who he worked for or what he was delivering but I guess it never mattered cause it helped pay the bills. If he wasn't working he was looking through magazines, newspapers and typing in his typewriter. If not that he was watching TV. He also grew vegetables in our tiny backyard. He was a truly simple man. I would hear stories back in his younger days he would wear leather jackets and ride motorcycles around in the Philippines. He was that type of dude and in his older age he still carried that energy.

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My uncle as I remember as a kid stayed to himself mostly. He was always mysteriously in his bedroom or he would leave to play tennis and volleyball with his friends. He kept his life very privately. My sister and I one time got a chance to be in his bedroom. Being curious children, we accidentally unplugged his computer from his room and he got so annoyed by us. We never got to be in his room ever again since then. That was a good memory.

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Then there is my mom. A hardworking woman taking care of my sister and I, who are only a year and a couple months apart. She worked at a hospital to help put my sister and I through private school. My family was very big on the idea of my sister and I not going to public school. They all  wanted the best for us. My mom did everything in her power to give my sister and I the world. To make us happy and for us to not be sad or even think we were living an impoverished immigrant lifestyle. She didn't us to even perceive that. Even if it took taking extra shifts to take us to movies, to restaurants to eat at, buying us gifts, Chuck E. Cheese and other play-places like that, etc. My ma sacrificed her life for my sister and I when we were children. I will never forget it or take it for granted.

 

While growing up in that house my older sister was my only other friend really. She and I would run around the house finding ways to be mischievous together or just sit together. We would watch a lot of PBS on the TV together. On the rare occasions that we have cable for a little while, we would watch a lot of  Toonami. A lot of anime. A lot of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. Wherever my sister was at I was also at. I do remember this specific memory where we would play with our own toys. I took the heads off her 'My Little Pony" dolls and mix match them to other pony dolls. She was annoyed at the little brother hi-jinks I would do. For the most part however, we got along and never hated each other or really argued for that matter. I remember we would draw together a lot. She was always better at art than me and her drawing as a kid is what would eventually lead her to where she is today as an amazing artist.

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My dad was never in the picture. When I was born he divorced my mom and then eventually disowned my sister and I when we were kids. From what I know it was to get out of paying child support. He was never a topic in the house because it was damn near illegal to speak of him. He was like Voldemort. He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named. Never knew what he was up to. Never knew what kind of person he was besides the parts he's shown us. He would occasionally send us boxes of toys for us to have. One of those toys I will never forget was a Jar Jar Binks doll from Star Wars Episode 1. To be dramatic, that's when I knew he didn't care. If you know Star Wars lore, you know only if you know.

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End of part 1.

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- baatchoy.

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