Skip to main content

Welcome Home!


My thoughtful cousin sent me an email that said, "Welcome home!". This reminded me of the welcome I received at San Francisco airport from Customs examiners. I was randomly picked from hundreds of passengers who arrived from Tokyo earlier this week. My one small suitcase was carefully checked as well as my handbag and handcarry. I hadn't really bought anything while abroad except 2 almerez that my Mom and sister asked me to bring. I didn't know how to translate almerez into English but one of the examiners knew what I was describing with my hands. I was pounding my right hand against a make believe stone bowl. He said it's a mortar and pestle. I had a difficult time finding these as my sister asked for a white marble almerez, the best of which come from the island of Romblon. Luckily my resourceful tricycle driver found them in the market. He had to go back and look for another one as the first store had only one in stock. Problem is these weigh a ton and my luggage seemed ready to tip at any moment.

Back to the search. What I find most annoying with these searches is how items in my carefully packed suitcase are pulled out and I can't put them back neatly or at all. The zipper usually won't close anymore because everything is hastily repacked. No matter. Home is a short drive away.

Welcome home! Where is home? I recently read a book written by an Irish woman who devoted a chapter on "Home is where my toothbrush is". But I have a toothbrush in my car, my travel bag and in each of my two homes. When I was working, I had one in my desk drawer. Yet I didn't think the workplace was home. It's not that simple.

* * *
Photo by Rosario Charie Albar

Popular posts from this blog

The Art of Carlos Botong Francisco - Progress of Medicine in the Philippines

Pre-colonial period Pag-unlad ng Panggagamot sa Pilipinas (The Progress of Medicine in the Philippines) is a group of four large-scale paintings depicting healing practices in the Philippines from pre-colonial times to the modern period. Carlos Botong Francisco was commissioned in 1953 by  Dr. Agerico Sison who was then the director of Philippine General Hospital (PGH) together with   Dr. Eduardo Quisumbing of the National Museum, Dr. Florentino Herrera, Jr. and Dr. Constantino Manahan. These oil on canvas paintings measure 2.92 meters in height and 2.76 meters in width (9.71 ft x 8.92 ft) and were displayed at the main entrance hall of PGH for over five decades. Owing to its location, the artworks were in a state of "severe deterioration" at the beginning of the 21st century from exposure to heat, humidity, dirt, dust, smoke, insect stains, grime, termites and an oxidized synthetic resin used in an earlier restoration. These canvases were restored three times, the last was
Read more

Filipino Struggles in History - Carlos Botong Francisco

In 1968, Antonio Villegas (then Mayor of Manila), commissioned Carlos "Botong" Francisco to paint the history of Manila for Manila City Hall. The series of large scale paintings was called  Kasaysayan ng Maynila  (History of Manila).  The paintings deteriorated over time and no attempt was made to preserve these historical canvases until 2013 when Mayor Amado Lim sent them to the National Museum for extensive restoration. Four years later, in 2017, Mayor Joseph Ejercito Estrada and the Manila City Council signed an agreement with the National Museum to leave the paintings at the museum so they may reach a larger audience in exchange for museum grade reproductions to replace the originals. Kasaysayan ng Maynila was later renamed Filipino Struggles in History and is now on display at the Senate Hall of the National Museum . Carlos "Botong" Francisco died in March 1969, a few months after completing the paintings. He is one of the first Filipino modernists and
Read more

8 Heritage Houses of Iloilo

Lizares Mansion The province of Iloilo on the island of Panay has a rich trove of heritage houses, left over from the sugar industry boom in the 19th century. Iloilo also had the largest port in the Philippines at that time which facilitated the export of sugar to foreign shores and deposited money in the hands of the sugar barons. The barons dropped their earnings into the acquisition of properties in Negros and the construction of beautiful homes in Iloilo, many of which are located in the vicinity of the Jaro Cathedral. The Lizares Mansion was built in 1937 by Don Emiliano Lizares for his wife, Concepcion Gamboa and five children. The family fled to safety when World War II broke out and the house was occupied by the Japanese military. The family returned to the house after the war but left once again after the demise of Don Emiliano. It was sold to the Dominican order in the 1960s and was converted in 1978 to a private school, Angelicum School. The mansion now houses the
Read more