34 Filipino Signs

A friend of mine posted on my Facebook wall yesterday with this article, "34 Signs You Grew Up Filipino" ...

First, click that link to open a new window.  Then read it.  Then read my responses to each, below:

1. Yes! That is totally a normal breakfast. Although usually the rice is garlic fried rice.  Fried Spam is delicious!  My mom makes this like...at least once a month.

2.  Tapsilog! I don't know that I would call it my actual favorite breakfast, but I've only ever had it at Filipino fast food restaurants and it's pretty good.  I'm diggin' the garlic fried rice.

3. Ah, this sweet bread is called ensaymada.  It's crazy because it is sweet bread made sweeter with sugar and topped with cheese.  What's crazier is that this picture is taken from Gemmae Bake Shop, which I always pass by when I visit my family in Long Beach because they live down the street from it.

4. Who makes rice on the stove?! The only way to make rice is to use a rice cooker!  But mine aren't flowery--they are metal.

The more adorable one on the left is what I used my senior years of college!

5.  Banana ketchup is a must whenever I eat Filipino-style torta (basically, it's type of omelette) and lumpia.  It's sweet!  And yes, the spicy kind does have a nice kick to it.

6.  Maybe I don't have a hundred...but I do have a collection of tsinelas.

7. "Anak" means child, and yes...my mom still calls me that.  Though, I'm lucky and have retained my actual name.  I think it helps having another sibling because "anak" can be ambiguous when mom is yelling from downstairs that dinner is ready.

8. Actually...perhaps this is just my family...but I refer to lolo and lola as "tatay" and "nanay"...  Lolo = grandfather, lola = grandmother...but tatay = father and nanay = mother.  YOLO.  (that's not a Tagalog word)

9. "Mano po!"... touching the back of an elder's hand to your forehead is a sign of respect.  Anytime I would go visit family or godparents, it would be proper of me to ask for their hand, or "mano."

10. Tita = aunt, tito = uncle.  Yes, because my dad is 1 of 8 and my mom is 1 of 5.  That's a lot of titas and titos.  Also, it is totally legit to call my parents' close friends as titas and titos as well.  What an awkward revelation finding out that I'm not, in fact, related to some people I've known for a very long time.  But perhaps that's the beautiful aspect of Filipino tight-knittedness.

11. I have so many relatives in the Philippines that one giant cardboard box would not be enough.  The only times I ever see giant cardboard boxes is when traveling back to the Philippines.  Usually these boxes are filled with things to be given to relatives back in the mother land.  Or sometimes my grandparents visit home (PS, they live with me), they go for months at a time and end up with multiple giant boxes to bring back with them. Such as these:

Nanay (aka lola) is going to Canada and the Philippines this summer!

12. Yes, I do.  Patented Filipino attention-getters.

13. I think my grandmother points with her lips more than my mom...

14. I'm actually sad that my Thanksgiving doesn't look more Filipino.  My mom usually sticks to the regular Thanksgiving spread, but! ...she usually does some sort of Filipino dessert. :-)   Also, that picture...I wouldn't call that Thanksgiving but rather ... a normal Filipino party.  Like, just a normal gathering at someone's house will have that kind of spread.  Not even joking.

15. Actually, I just had pan de sal yesterday morning for breakfast...with peanut butter! Pan de sal is the most versatile dinner roll on the planet.  It's good for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...and can be filled with anything from cheese to fried Spam!  But not all pan de sal is created equal.  So that's why we import ours from Long Beach, CA at Betsy's Cake Center.

16. One time, we took a family trip to Las Vegas just to shop at a Seafood City supermarket.  But whenever that's inconvenient, usually the Asian grocery stores in the area suffices.  Where else can you get banana ketchup?!

17. Ah Goldilocks! It's a combination restaurant and bakery...and it's a chain.  Some of them have invaded the U.S.  Pretty good, but...I still think Betsy's (see 15) has better pan de sal.

18. Halo-halo is soooo good on a hot summer day.  It usually has various fruit jellies, fruits, mung beans, shaved ice, coconut, cream or condensed milk, and sometimes found with ice cream on top.  Basically, like its name suggests (translated), it is a mix of various sweet foods in a cold tasty treat. Yes, Goldilocks sells 'em!

19. Well, considering all my relatives don't live in Texas now...we usually have Pacquaio fight watching parties at my non-relative titas' and titos' houses.

20. Hmm, if I had a Filipino flag meant for hanging in a car...I totally would.  But nah...Rosaries hang from all of my family's rearview mirrors.

21. Maybe I'm too Texan, but I only call it "air-con" when I'm actually in the Philippines. Or perhaps when referring to my car's A/C.

22. I have never heard of this one. O_o

23. I was such a band nerd clarinetist in high school and somewhat in college.  My bro on the other hand is versed in piano, saxophone, flute, and clarinet.

24. Hmm, but I don't want to give away our secrets.  Actually, that's probably why we have a large collection of packet condiments so we don't need to spend as much on the actual bottles of whatever? Or maybe that's why my dad is quite the handyman so he doesn't need to hire professional help?

25. You had me at "adobo"  -swoon-.   Pork or chicken marinated in vinegar and soy sauce...with white steamed rice... sooooo goooooood.

26. Actually, my mom didn't know what to cook for breakfast when I saw that she busted out the cans of corned beef. Unsurprisingly, this is usually accompanied by garlic fried rice or pan de sal.

27. I'm pretty sure my dad has been using the same Taco Bell plastic silverware for when he brings his lunch...since like...10 years ago.  We did have a boba straw collection for a little while...

28. I think I am too Americanized to fully embrace my Filipino "kamayan" skills. "Kamayan" refers to eating with your hands.  Hmm...I usually see my parents go kamayan style when eating crustacean seafoods.

29. Oh. My. Gosh. It is a very dangerous thing whenever my (actual) titas get together. So much laughter and talking loudly.  It's also a dangerous thing whenever my mom gets together with my (non-relative) titas. So much randomly breaking out into line dancing and laughter and talking loudly. Totes cray.

30. Actually...I wouldn't limit to just family gatherings that end up with karaoke.  Pretty much any Filipino party/gathering that involves food and drinking...will probably end up in karaoke.  I must stress that we created the original Magic Mic.  And I'm not talking about a male stripper.

31. Guilty.

32. Actually, I feel like I'm not FOB enough. And that's probably why no one calls me FOB. :-(   ... FOB = fresh off the boat, usually in the derogatory sense

33. Ay nako, it is very late now while I'm trying to sulat this blog post! It's past midnight! Gi-gising ako in a few hours! #Taglish

34. Watching this video is like watching my Filipino life. Truth.

- JD

Stuff Catholic Guys Say

I find that I'm at a point where I have leveled up enough in Catholic nerdiness to appreciate these videos.  Yes, sometimes I do find myself saying Catholic things.

The second one features one of my friends with scapular problems!

Back to discerning because Audrey Assad is married...
- JD

7 Quick Takes (Vol 2.)

--- 1 ---

Last Saturday, I got to hang out with religious brothers and sisters, priests, and other Catholic friends.  I've mentioned The Shepherd's Cafe before, and that's where I went this past Saturday.  They usually host a vocations night on their yearly anniversaries.  This is where those who have chosen a religious vocation have a chance to talk about why they chose such a life.  Not only that, but since The Shepherd's Cafe typically features entertainment following spending a Holy Hour with Jesus, some of the religious/clergy performed as part of the entertainment!

Some seminarians performed a decent cover of the 4 Chord Song, and my consecrated friends in Regnum Christi performed a beautiful song.

A picture of the religious and Shepherd's Cafe volunteers

Lastly, this evening was the first time I saw my friend who's been away for the past several months helping out with an urban mission effort called Christ In The City.  She just recently got accepted to join the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate in New Bedford, MA.  And she was recognized at The Shepherd's Cafe for having made that decision.  Please pray for her as she enters into the religious life!

Gettin' recognized!

--- 2 ---

I'm grateful for the truth!  It just seems like nowadays, you can't really expect the media/news to give truthful news especially when they talk about Catholicism or things Catholics like.  I would give the benefit of the doubt and assume that reporters don't usually take the time to learn the truly Catholic viewpoint on things.  I mean, this topic deserves its own blog post, but I'm grateful not only for the truth, but for us taking the time during class to inform our Catholic students that the media sometimes puts forth an agenda with bias and partial truths and that we should not base our understanding of Catholic truth in such un-grounded "Catholic facts."

I had another #realtalk group gathering this week where we talked about truth some more and the dangers of relativism.  As a topic for a good case study, we applied the conversation to abortion in light of recent news (or lack thereof).

--- 3 ---

Sometimes I get so tired that not even two cups of coffee helps me stay awake.  Maybe I built up my tolerance?  Apparently the only thing that I find that helps is taking a nap or using one of those "energy" single-serve drink mix packets to wake me up.  So, confession: I'm cheap and go for the Wal-Mart brand ones.

Unfortunately...as tasty as they taste...they make me sick sometimes.  I must come up with a better solution and perhaps getting more hours of sleep is it. x_x

--- 4 ---

A recent tradition at my parish is to have a men's cold beverage night once a month.  This means going somewhere to grab some food and a cold, adult beverage.  I've gone to a few of them now and they're fun because it's a great way to just kick back and relax and just chill in good company.

Obviously, whenever you get a group of guys together, interesting conversations ensue.  But, not your stereotypical "oh here's a bunch of guys talking about guy stuff" conversations.  Yes, there were intros and "what do you do?"'s.  And yes, the Texas Rangers were playing and dominating according to about 10 TV's that were in the restaurant establishment. But, one of our men was a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal but now discerning to become a diocesan priest...and I'm pretty sure he was teaching some of the older men about Catholic things as well as telling his story about religious life.  I'm pretty sure that I was in a conversation about natural family planning for a good solid 15 minutes.  Apparently there's an NFP app (and others too)! And the guy sitting across from me teaches NFP with his wife!  While I couldn't relate since I'm not married like most of the guys present at the table...It's cool to hear the enthusiasm and success about NFP.  Something to look forward to, should I ever get to that point, haha.

--- 5 ---

I think I need a vacation.  For whatever reason, I haven't had a lot of time this past week to chillax.  And this weekend I seemed to have overbooked myself in things to do...so it's pretty much going to be an action-packed weekend starting Saturday morning.  And then Sunday is always busy because my parish literally becomes my second home.  Needless to say...I think I was stressed this past week in not being able to properly prepare for the busy weekend.

Jesus' words from the end of Matthew 11 come to mind...

"Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light." (NAB)

 Ah, maybe the reason I feel stressed is that I haven't devoted a lot of time resting in God this week....

--- 6 ---

I love how it is the beginning of May and we were totally enjoying nice, spring-into-summer weather and then all of a sudden...

BAM

...it gets super-ridiculously windy and cold within a day.  In fact, it'll hit close to freezing where I work and people are Instagramming their snowstorm pictures from other parts of the country.

I mean, I don't mind the cold...but...it's such an outlier in the recent average temperatures, ya know?  Roses in bloom, I was totally rockin' flip-flops last weekend, and I could actually walk from the parking lot to work without a jacket on.  Not so much today.

But while this brief cold spell is upon us...I have to discern which North Face jacket to wear... #firstworldproblems

--- 7 ---

It seemed like only yesterday when my parents and I helped moved my bro into his dorm room.  But now, he's about to wrap up finals and thus completing his freshman year. Wow. Though it doesn't really make me go "whoaaaa where has the time gone" simply because my brother has been home seemingly every weekend for the past several months.  He goes to college like 30 mins away and it's halfway between work and home for me.  I offered to take some of his stuff back home today, and I'm glad that full-sized keyboards fit in my car. Haha. 

And he'll be home for the summer starting next weekend!

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

- JD