Ellen Lising-Barcelona and I agreed to meet at the Glen Park BART Station and have our host, Erick Luna, pick us up to go to their house. It was a beautiful warm Saturday morning in the city of San Francisco. At exactly 11:30 AM, I got off the train station and a few minutes later, I saw Ellen with a cheerful smile on her face. I immediately called Erick to let him know that we’re waiting at the train station.
Not a few minutes had passed and we heard Erick honking at us from the side of the street. His house wasn’t that far from the station. As soon as we reached his house, which sits at the top of the hill, his charming wife greeted and welcomed us. I suddenly felt the warm hospitality that Filipinos are very famous for. Erick introduced us to his wife and sons – who by the way are bigger than him but Erick doesn’t look like he is older.
By that time, the climate in San Francisco was getting hotter and Erick and I had to take off our shirts to cool off. As we waited for the lunch to be ready, we wondered if Rick Gutierrez and Carole Pasay-Ferrer were coming over. Erick turned his stereo on to give some ambience to our conversation. You can tell how old we are as we started singing along the lyrics of Danny’s Song, Don’t Give Up On Us, Changes by Black Sabbath and the likes. As if my hair started growing gray but who cares as long as we’re having fun.
Soon the food was ready and Erick’s family surprised us with a whole sleuth of Filipinos dishes – pancit canton, kare-kare, baked tahong, fried chicken and other foods that I don’t know what’s called but surely looks and taste delicious. There were also different kinds of diced fruits on the table. I couldn’t figure out which one to eat first. Can’t compute! Danger, Danger Robinson! Courteous Ellen also brought dessert to share with us. It had some marshmallows, nuts, creamy stuff and its ‘green’. Sure taste good though. As we try to figure out what it was, Erick called it ‘toothpaste’. Go figure! While we were gobbling the food like there’s no tomorrow, we were still wondering where the heck were Carole and Rick. Oh well, that’s more food for us!
Around 2:30 PM, Carole and her husband Clarion arrived from Oakland. While they were eating, we continued talking about the never dying stories about each other, the folks back home and a special girl that everybody’s wondering where to find her. Last thing I heard is she’s in New Jersey. The focus shifted to Ellen and how much she misses her family. As Ellen talked about her family, Erick kept shouting, “Tissue! Tissue!” Erick and I took each others turn to try to get the emotions out of her but she stood still and all composed – a very strong woman.
Like in any Filipino occasion, the event wouldn’t be complete until the fat lady sings. In our case, each one had their turn on the videoke to sing their hearts out. That brought shivers up my spine and wondered how the neighbors felt about our singing. For some unknown reason, they made me sing for the first time. It must be the dessert that Ellen brought.
It was another successful gathering. We all parted taking a piece of each other’s warm friendship. In a place we called our second home, it made us feel that we are not alone. For us, this is our way of keeping our Filipino spirit alive. Thanks to our wonderful hosts for welcoming us to their home.
Here are a few photos of our gathering:
