Egay's Piece from Genevaland
Stayed
Background music: The Shire theme
Bilbo voiceover: "Aherrmm… The third weekend of April in the year twenty-hundred and six by Julian-reckoning. Baranggay Servette, Genève, Suisse, Western Europe, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Sol System, Outer Spiral Arm, Milky Way. The Third Age of this world."
The sun was out and the streets were bare. Holy week 2006 was pretty much the same as past holy weeks. Not much to do, so Rose and I thought we'd do some spring cleaning. She did most of the cleaning, and I the springing, of things to play with, like my dust-covered guitar. It took a day and a half to rid our apartment of dust.
Elijah didn't even try to hide his boredom so we went to watch Dralion from Cirque de Soleil.
Bilbo voiceover: "Pinoyards have been living and working in the four farthings of Geneva for many decades now. Quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the Big Pale Folk - Western Europe being, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count. Pinoyards must seem of little importance, being neither renowned as great warriors (that title belongs to that terrible incarnation of European pride, their hooligans), nor counted among the very wise (this belongs to many UN managers whose highly specialized expertise is to watch over the shoulders of others who actually do the work)."
"In fact, it has been remarked by some that the Pinoyards' only real passion is for food."
It's been eight winters since we amalgamated into a barkada. We were all young then, working for different international orgs. I'd like to say that we were brought together by our love of poetry or such, but in truth, it was deeper than that. It was food.
Nevertheless, since we were young and mostly lost, poetry flowed out of our ears. In all our literary prowess, we named our group Club Trese (C13) after the building number of Nen's pad where we drafted our constitution gleaned from various international recipes. Sheer poetry.
Bilbo voiceover: "A rather unfair observation, as we have also developed a keen interest in the brewing of gossips, and the smoking of pipe-dreams. But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet, and good tilled earth. For all Pinoyards share a love of things that grow."
And did C13 grow. Both in number and in body mass index. We do not meet as often as before anymore, but when we do, it is always made sure that the food is overflowing and the gossip entertaining. The gossip is never bad though, for generally, we only talk about and make fun of ourselves.
So Easter Sunday, we were at the Hilarios to celebrate Yssa's birthday and Nen's graduation. Oh, and of course, Easter. We had our fill, while the kids had fun looking for chocolate eggs in the nearby park. The eggs were courtesy of the Laues who even came over from Zurich. You can take the food away from the girl, but you can't take the girl away from the food.
Bilbo voiceover: "And yes, no doubt, to others our ways seem quaint." "But today, of all days, it is brought home to me, it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life."
We spent a good deal of the day coming up with names for baby Borromeo. There was only one condition, that whether boy or girl, the name must start with F. They came up with quite an impressive list: Francesca, Franco, Flameboy, Filanji or Filangeeh, Feebee or Feebo, Facundo (nickname Fac U), Alessandro (what? oh okay, Falessandro, or F. Alessandro), etc.
Surprisingly, the Murillos didn't want us to name theirs. But ever so gracious, they accepted with not much resistance our decision to have merienda the following day, Easter Monday, in their beautiful new home.
Bilbo voiceover: "And so, life in Geneva goes on, very much as it has this past Age… full of its own comings and goings, with change coming slowly, if it comes at all."
They have a controversial theory, yet unproved, that the total body mass of C13 is conserved. When one gets less massive, another gets miraculously fatter. I'm starting to believe this. What goes around comes around. Darn, I just hope that it doesn't come around the waistular area all the time.
Bilbo voiceover: "For things are made to endure in Pinoyaume, passing from one generation to the next. There's always been a Pinoyard, living here under the sun. And there always will be."
Barney, that annoying purple dinogay, sure has a lot of wisdom. He says, meet new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold. I hope we keep our friends for long, and lose our waistlines before long.
Background music: The Shire theme
Bilbo voiceover: "Aherrmm… The third weekend of April in the year twenty-hundred and six by Julian-reckoning. Baranggay Servette, Genève, Suisse, Western Europe, Northern Hemisphere, Earth, Sol System, Outer Spiral Arm, Milky Way. The Third Age of this world."
The sun was out and the streets were bare. Holy week 2006 was pretty much the same as past holy weeks. Not much to do, so Rose and I thought we'd do some spring cleaning. She did most of the cleaning, and I the springing, of things to play with, like my dust-covered guitar. It took a day and a half to rid our apartment of dust.
Elijah didn't even try to hide his boredom so we went to watch Dralion from Cirque de Soleil.
Bilbo voiceover: "Pinoyards have been living and working in the four farthings of Geneva for many decades now. Quite content to ignore and be ignored by the world of the Big Pale Folk - Western Europe being, after all, full of strange creatures beyond count. Pinoyards must seem of little importance, being neither renowned as great warriors (that title belongs to that terrible incarnation of European pride, their hooligans), nor counted among the very wise (this belongs to many UN managers whose highly specialized expertise is to watch over the shoulders of others who actually do the work)."
"In fact, it has been remarked by some that the Pinoyards' only real passion is for food."
It's been eight winters since we amalgamated into a barkada. We were all young then, working for different international orgs. I'd like to say that we were brought together by our love of poetry or such, but in truth, it was deeper than that. It was food.
Nevertheless, since we were young and mostly lost, poetry flowed out of our ears. In all our literary prowess, we named our group Club Trese (C13) after the building number of Nen's pad where we drafted our constitution gleaned from various international recipes. Sheer poetry.
Bilbo voiceover: "A rather unfair observation, as we have also developed a keen interest in the brewing of gossips, and the smoking of pipe-dreams. But where our hearts truly lie is in peace and quiet, and good tilled earth. For all Pinoyards share a love of things that grow."
And did C13 grow. Both in number and in body mass index. We do not meet as often as before anymore, but when we do, it is always made sure that the food is overflowing and the gossip entertaining. The gossip is never bad though, for generally, we only talk about and make fun of ourselves.
So Easter Sunday, we were at the Hilarios to celebrate Yssa's birthday and Nen's graduation. Oh, and of course, Easter. We had our fill, while the kids had fun looking for chocolate eggs in the nearby park. The eggs were courtesy of the Laues who even came over from Zurich. You can take the food away from the girl, but you can't take the girl away from the food.
Bilbo voiceover: "And yes, no doubt, to others our ways seem quaint." "But today, of all days, it is brought home to me, it is no bad thing to celebrate a simple life."
We spent a good deal of the day coming up with names for baby Borromeo. There was only one condition, that whether boy or girl, the name must start with F. They came up with quite an impressive list: Francesca, Franco, Flameboy, Filanji or Filangeeh, Feebee or Feebo, Facundo (nickname Fac U), Alessandro (what? oh okay, Falessandro, or F. Alessandro), etc.
Surprisingly, the Murillos didn't want us to name theirs. But ever so gracious, they accepted with not much resistance our decision to have merienda the following day, Easter Monday, in their beautiful new home.
Bilbo voiceover: "And so, life in Geneva goes on, very much as it has this past Age… full of its own comings and goings, with change coming slowly, if it comes at all."
They have a controversial theory, yet unproved, that the total body mass of C13 is conserved. When one gets less massive, another gets miraculously fatter. I'm starting to believe this. What goes around comes around. Darn, I just hope that it doesn't come around the waistular area all the time.
Bilbo voiceover: "For things are made to endure in Pinoyaume, passing from one generation to the next. There's always been a Pinoyard, living here under the sun. And there always will be."
Barney, that annoying purple dinogay, sure has a lot of wisdom. He says, meet new friends and keep the old; one is silver and the other gold. I hope we keep our friends for long, and lose our waistlines before long.