Temperature: 35 Degrees Celsius
Track of the day: "Come on get happy," Partridge Family
"I'm so excited to see Tita Mechie," Alecs says as we pass through the town of Pagbilao, some fifteen minutes from Lucena City, Alecs' home town, "I've really missed this place." Although our arrival here was supposed to be a secret, Tita Menchie (Alecs' aunt who helped raise him and his brother) had her suspicions and the cat is already out of the bag. It's Holy Week here in the Philippines and that means everyone and their dog is off work for a week to celebrate Easter. Upon boarding the bus Alecs and I were split up, me sitting in the front and Alecs standing midway down the aisle. "Mam try this," the driver says handing me some cookies he just purchased from a vendor, "you'll like it." Being the only non-Filipino person for miles 
around I am something of an attraction here and the driver gives me special attention for the duration of the trip. Alecs motions to me that it's almost time for us to get off and we prepare to brace for the midday heat. After checking into a hotel we quickly shower before catching a tricycle to Executive Village. As we round the corner I can actually hear Alecs' heart racing in his chest and the moment the tricycle comes to a stop he leaps from his seat heading straight for the gates of his childhood home. Tita Judy, the second eldest of Alecs' mothers family of eight is sitting on a stool just inside the gate and is the first to greet us. Hearing this, Tita Menchie comes running out from inside the house. "Alecs," she yells as she narrowly trips over two kids and a case of empty coca-cola bottles and finally barreling into his arms. The two of them stand at the entrance to the house hugging and laughing and a sudden wave of familiarity rushes through me and I can't help but smile. Tita Menchie kisses me and I mano (touch my forehead to the back of her hand for respect) Tita Judy before being beckoned into the kitchen to eat. Inside the kitchen we find one of Alecs' cousins - Ate Anna - along with her husband and four children, one of which is Alecs' godson (Joel). The family members all join together chatting away in Tagalog nearly a mile a minute and I cling to each work trying desperately to follow the conversation. I soon loose my concentration when Tita Menchie's 3-year old daughter Kristine and her cousin Bea round the corner carrying the tiniest and cutest puppy I've seen in a long time. I wait for several minutes, doing my best not to snatch the puppy from the children's hands and just as I am about to loose hop
e the kids set four-week old Jupiter down right beside me. Without missing a beat I lift the little ball of fur up and nearly smother him as I carry him all around the house not wanting to let go. Noticing how much I am enjoying the tiny puppy Ate Anna sends her eldest son out to the side of the house and he returns moments later with a three month old black Labrador. Alecs looks over at me knowing the dilemma I am now facing, which dog should I hold - Jupiter or this little guy. Unable to choose between dogs I decide to pick them both up and happily play with them until the family leaves a couple hours later. B.A, one of Alecs' many younger cousins here is on his way to the house and we wait outside on the street for him to arrive. I sit in a white chair outside playing with four week old Jupiter while Alecs goes in and out of Tita Menchie's attached sari-sari (convenience store), returning with chips, pops and candies each time. Just as Alecs opens his fourth bag of Cheese Rings (cheezies) a young man walks past up suspiciously quickly, with his head down. "Is that B.A.," I whisper to Alecs who shakes his head. "No, that's not B.A," he says returning to his bag of Sprite. As I am always right, something Alecs is still learning the man turns his head, a dopey grin on his face and walks towards us. "It is B.A. you moron," I say jumping up to greet him, puppy still in hand. The three of us sit under the dark night sky as children, dogs and the occasional motorbike pass
around I am something of an attraction here and the driver gives me special attention for the duration of the trip. Alecs motions to me that it's almost time for us to get off and we prepare to brace for the midday heat. After checking into a hotel we quickly shower before catching a tricycle to Executive Village. As we round the corner I can actually hear Alecs' heart racing in his chest and the moment the tricycle comes to a stop he leaps from his seat heading straight for the gates of his childhood home. Tita Judy, the second eldest of Alecs' mothers family of eight is sitting on a stool just inside the gate and is the first to greet us. Hearing this, Tita Menchie comes running out from inside the house. "Alecs," she yells as she narrowly trips over two kids and a case of empty coca-cola bottles and finally barreling into his arms. The two of them stand at the entrance to the house hugging and laughing and a sudden wave of familiarity rushes through me and I can't help but smile. Tita Menchie kisses me and I mano (touch my forehead to the back of her hand for respect) Tita Judy before being beckoned into the kitchen to eat. Inside the kitchen we find one of Alecs' cousins - Ate Anna - along with her husband and four children, one of which is Alecs' godson (Joel). The family members all join together chatting away in Tagalog nearly a mile a minute and I cling to each work trying desperately to follow the conversation. I soon loose my concentration when Tita Menchie's 3-year old daughter Kristine and her cousin Bea round the corner carrying the tiniest and cutest puppy I've seen in a long time. I wait for several minutes, doing my best not to snatch the puppy from the children's hands and just as I am about to loose hop
e the kids set four-week old Jupiter down right beside me. Without missing a beat I lift the little ball of fur up and nearly smother him as I carry him all around the house not wanting to let go. Noticing how much I am enjoying the tiny puppy Ate Anna sends her eldest son out to the side of the house and he returns moments later with a three month old black Labrador. Alecs looks over at me knowing the dilemma I am now facing, which dog should I hold - Jupiter or this little guy. Unable to choose between dogs I decide to pick them both up and happily play with them until the family leaves a couple hours later. B.A, one of Alecs' many younger cousins here is on his way to the house and we wait outside on the street for him to arrive. I sit in a white chair outside playing with four week old Jupiter while Alecs goes in and out of Tita Menchie's attached sari-sari (convenience store), returning with chips, pops and candies each time. Just as Alecs opens his fourth bag of Cheese Rings (cheezies) a young man walks past up suspiciously quickly, with his head down. "Is that B.A.," I whisper to Alecs who shakes his head. "No, that's not B.A," he says returning to his bag of Sprite. As I am always right, something Alecs is still learning the man turns his head, a dopey grin on his face and walks towards us. "It is B.A. you moron," I say jumping up to greet him, puppy still in hand. The three of us sit under the dark night sky as children, dogs and the occasional motorbike pass
by as we wait for Tita Menchie to return from the store. Moments later she returns with bags upon bags of groceries and beckons us in for yet another dinner. We all chat well into the night and when it comes time for us to head back to the hotel we sadly bid farewell already looking forward to returning in the morning."It's good Friday," I say to Alecs the next morning, "and I think it's going to be a really good Friday after all." We pack our backpacks, check-out and join Kuya Bong (another cousin) who drives us back to the house in Ate Anna's new car. Kuya Sherwin (who was more or less Alecs' brother growing up), his wife, son and brand new baby daughter Phoebe sit inside where yet another meal followed shortly by merienda (a not-so light snack) await us. Around dinner time Tita Menchie brings out Pluto, her six-month old puppy that has been hiding in the corner of his dog-run since we arrived. After feeding him
nearly an entire bag of chips I break Pluto out of his shell and now he's running around the street after me. Kristine, Tita Menchie's beautiful daughter is terrified of Pluto who usually barks viciously behind the fence, but after watching me play with him for hours she too has learned to love him. As the sun dips low in the sky the whole family sits outside where I set up a hammock for little Jupiter using my Cambodian Krama, Pluto snoozes peacefully beside me and Kristine and her many cousins run around the street while Alecs and his cousins laugh the night away. Kuya Sherwin decides to hit the sack and I follow suit, taking a quick and blissfully cold shower before crashing the moment my head hits the pillow."It's too early," Alecs whines the next morning as the house comes alive with the chatter of people. "It's your fault for not coming to bed until 2AM," I say packing our snorkeling gear, sunscreen and towels for the beach trip. After breakfast we all pile into two cars for the one
hour trip to Sariaya (another town) beach at one of the many resorts dotting the coast. The family rents out one of the many thatched roof huts where we set down our clothes, towels and of course food. However it soon becomes quite evident that we are in need of yet another hut to house all the tasty treats we brought with us. So after a few minutes we commandeer another hut across from ours and start moving over all the food. Among the multitude of food includes spaghetti, spaghetti sauce, pork stew, fried chicken, sinigang (sour soup), pancit hab-hab (noodles, beef and sauce), lechon kawali (roasted pig), whole fish, hot dogs and of course a plethora of rice. All this to feed 14 people - but i'm sure we could feed an army or five. Kuya Sherwin and B.A. leave a few mintes after arriving and return with several bags of chips as this was clearly not enough food for us all. "Alecs look look," I say pointing to the hut next to ours, "those people have more food than us and fewer people." Alecs laughs at me as he 
simultaneously takes a bite of his barbecued hot dog and a spoonful of rice. "That's how Filipino's are hun," he says. The young kids head to the pool while me, Alecs and his cousins make our way to the more than enticing beach. Diving into the ocean, we taste the salt-water on our lips and the boys commence being boys. "It's like watching whack-a-mole at the Stampede" I say under my breath as they dunk each other under the water one by one, trying unsuccessfully drag one another underneath. I stand there shaking my head at their silliness when a pair of hands grab my ankles and I too am pulled into this charade. "Oh you're going to pay for that Alecs," I say when we resurface already chasing after him through the water. The day continues on much like this, swimming, eating, some karaoke by Kuya Bong and Kuya Sherwin, eating, swimming eating and eating again. A few hours later the water level has dropped dramatically and we cannot find anything deeper than our knees. Everyone, including the kids heads to the beach and that's where the fun begins. Donning Alecs' snorkeling gear, Kuya Sherwin attempts the most unique looking flip
that any of us has ever seen and he everyone keeling over laughing. A warm feeling envelopes me, a feeling that can only come from being with family, and for the first time in a long time I feel at home. Like all good things though, this too ended but we weren't sad to head back to the house as everyone would still be there. Alecs and I haven't felt this at home and content since we left Canada and even thinking about our inevitable departure makes me feel an overwhelming sense of sadness, so for now I think it's better to live for today.Tomorrow we will visit more family in a town close by called Unisan.
Until next time so long,
Alecs and Meg in Lucena CityPs. Videos of Tito Noels house as well as Kuya Sherwin's attempts at underwater flips will be posted in the next 24 hours, so check back soon!
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