I’ve always been open about my lack of understanding of my own language. My mother always insisted in speaking English around the house, therefore in time my spoken Tagalog has became a little rusty. Understandably it frustrates the hell out of me when my husband and children asks me to teach them how to speak Tagalog.
My husband having been well traveled have always taken interests in learning new languages, from Arabic, Cantonese , Japanese, Greek and Turkish. He has always amazed me with his passion in learning and understanding different cultures and I guess his curiosity and enthusiasm are only a couple of many qualities that fell in love with. As you can see, it’s only right for him to learn the language that his wife was born to. So you can imagine my frustration when he tries to persuade me to teach him the basics.
When I woke up this morning a faint muttering was coming from his office, somehow the sounds were familiar and I couldn’t help but put one ear on the door to hear what he was up to.
“Ang pusa” (the cat)
“Ang aso” (the dog)
” Ako ang lalake, hindi ang babae” (I’m a man not a woman)
“Nasaan ang dagat?” (where’s the beach)
*Oo” - Yes
“Hindi ko alam” - I don’t know
“Ako si Boy Bawang!” - I’m Garlic Boy!
Actually, the last one is something he learnt himself , and takes great pleasure in saying it to me, just to wind me up. He particularly likes saying it to my mother,and somehow she finds it hilarious.
David has decided to take it in his own hands and learn Tagalog through Rosetta Stone. He’s not the one to shine away from impressing me or my mother, she seems to be constantly observing him and his actions (I guess that the Filipina mothers way), and so far she can only find impressive qualities, you can imagine her delight when David starts to communicate to her in Tagalog. As she would say to me “Nakakatuwa si David” (or something along that line).
So, he’s been practicing and actually getting pretty good, I’m actually getting worried that he will be better than me by the end of this week. He always seems to amaze me the kind of things he comes out with, but his favourite phase at the moment would be;
“Ria, nasaan ang pitaka ko?”
Gotta love him eh?
Every culture has it superstitions, my mother particularly is a firm believer of these notions. These ways or superstitions are usually passed on from generations and even though I’ve grown up in the UK, these traditions are still embedded in me and sometimes can’t help but smile and think… why the hell did I believe that?!
Here are just some examples that my mother and grandmother use to tell me;
- You should never sleep with your head facing the door - until this day, it scares the beejeezus out of me, this is the position of death! (from what I can recall)
- Sleep with scissors next to you and some garlic when you’re pregnant – just in case a mananagal takes a shine to you.
- Don’t eat before bed time- you will never wake up. (I can confirm now folks that this is not true!)
- If you are walking through the bushes, forest or anywhere where there’s a sign of high vegetation you are meant to say “tabi po”- which means “Please excuse me I’m passing through”. This is the sign of respect for any fairies or dwarfs that might just be hanging around. After all you don’t want to step on anyones toes right?
- Never change your pillow covers in the evening – I never knew what this meant but until this day it still makes me think twice!
- A person who has big ears will live long - that’s me done for.
- If you drop a spoon on the floor – it means a female will be coming to visit you soon. If its a fork then it will be a male.
- Never play with your food - this will give you a stomach ache.
- Whistle to make the wind blow – I usually find that I only have to feed my husband a hot curry and this happens.
- If your palm becomes itchy usually means money is coming you way.
- Put a wet piece of paper on your forehead to cure hiccups- now, you can imagine how silly I might have looked every time I had hiccups and my mother decided to ‘cure’ me with this method.
So what did you used to believe in?
