Bacolod Day 3

Today was yet again another shopping day. We went to the new Gaisano mall in town and on a shopping spree with Tita Annalie's older boys, Nico and Anton. Jovi gave them some money and we went shopping. Addidas was the first destination, and since Jeremy also plays futbol (soccer), I was able to buy him some futbol pants and a shirt. The cool thing was Anton and Nico gave Jeremy their last year's futbol jerseys and pants from their high school, LaSalle, so that was very nice of them and I am sure Jeremy will enjoy them. We also brought along Raymund's children, Luigi, LeeAnn, and Lyka. Luigi though is a very quiet kid. He is the oldest grandchild of Tito Monet, and he is very quiet, a silent Giant. I call him a giant because physically he is a very large man child, about 6ft 3 and 200+lbs. By contrast, Joshua is only 6ft and about 170lbs. Lyka is a very beautiful 11 year old and LeeAnn is a cute cute preteen, maybe 7 or 8 years old. We also brought along Annalie's younger children, Marco, and Marty. I guess that as people get closer to 40 years old, they tend to have a second set of children if they can. More on the shopping later.

Last night was the final night of Tita Chita's viewing. I met quite a few Montero's during the course of the last few days as well as most all of the political types of Bacolod. The funny thing about Bacolod, and perhaps the Philippines is the diversity of the country. It really is socially (read economically) and racially stratified. Even during the viewings of the last few nights, there was another family mourning the loss of their patriach, the Kramer family. The story (just story) is that Kramer was a very handsome German who married into the Montilla family of Bacolod. I heard it has been five generations of Kramers on Negros. They are rich and are white. The clan members that I saw during the last few nights look like Americans, yet they speak fluent Illongo and adhere to the customs of Negros and Bacolod. It appears that they don't inter marry with the local Filipinos here on Negros, but marry into other prominent Spanish or other non natives. Though they are really considered native because they've been here for so long. Its an interesting study into the culture of the country.

One thing that I realized is my lack of culture with regard to things Filipino. I witnessed some interesting culture with regard to the Montero clan and the Kramer clan. I witnessed a lot of culture that I was devoid of growing up in America. Coming to Bacolod, I was able to learn a lot of more about the Montero clan. There is a lot of Montero's and most of them are big, especially the men. I figure that because they are also Spanish, they are like that. It is also interesting to witness the Novena prayer to the dead. We did two days in Los Angeles and four days in Bacolod. I am not a midnight person, so the first couple of days was difficult as I dozed off. The last night was easier because I conversed with RJ Montero. RJ lives in BF Homes PQUE and is a software development manager in Makati. Finally I was able to converse with a fellow nerd. We spoke the same language! That made the night go very fast and soon as I knew it, it was already closed to midnight.