Rahhal 1 Ray Rahhal Mr. Neuburger Eng.

Comp 101-132 8 September 2011 Narrative Essay The Trip to the Philippines One of the most interesting and impactful places in my life is Semal Island, the place of my birth in the Philippines. To be the honest, living in the Philippines would be a nightmare. Extreme heat, tons of mosquitos, and a severe lack of privacy are just a few of the elements that must be endured when trekking in such landscape. However, as distasteful as sum of elements that be, one thing I will always covet in my heart would be something I dont have much of in America- family. You see, all but one of my grandparents have passed on, and everyone on my fathers side of the family have long since expired with the exception of my uncle. Furthermore, the entirety of my mothers family resides blissfully in the heat-wave induced country only to be known as the Philippines. I was about the age of 12 when my family set out for the small island country. The two day plane ride was exhausting despite the commodities they all threw at us. But, I wasnt fazed one bit for the chance to visit another country (especially one of my birth) had attenuated all of my attention. I was ready to rock and roll, lock and load, take the cake, and make the grade; the world was my playground, and this new foreign land would bow to unending awesomeness! Or, so I thought. I nearly keeled over the minute I stepped out the plane and then actually did when I stepped out of the airport. For a kid having been conditioned in a cold and cloudy climate, this was horrible first impression for the nightmares that were to come and they did come.

Rahhal 2 The first relative we met had a white van waiting for us, not bad considering there werent many cars to be had in the area. We were whisked away to a small wooden house owned by one of my many aunts (my mom had about 12 siblings). There, we met a girl named Cathy and her sister Angela. My sister became quick friends with the girls, and while our parents became acquainted with one another, I whipped out my old brick Gameboy to occupy my time. Then, they came, two boys who would pester me for the weeks to come- John Paul II and JupJup. In fact, after we made some brief introductions they began to call me a loser for reasons I could not fathom. However, because we hardly even knew each other I just shrugged off the remark, smiled, and proclaimed, Thats nice. This is a tactic I would use every time I saw them, and slowly they began to drop their grudge against me. With soaring high temperatures and jet lag, I already had enough on my plate of troubles to make enemies. It wasnt long before we took a boat to another island where my grandmothers house lay in wake. This is where we resided for the coming months; the house was quite spacious being at two stories with very nice wooden floors and windowless windows. My grandmother was bedridden, very old, and she could not talk making communication difficult. However, faith seemed to guide her for surviving in these conditions was no easy feat. The only other person living in the house with us was my grandmas caretaker, Bee-Bing. We unpacked our baggage in a small guest room upstairs where all four of us slept together on a floor mat. But, I wasnt complaining, and in fact we all werent for it was there perched on the ceiling a tiny old air conditioner graced us with its presence, something we would covet each and every day. I was awoken the next morning to hear songs of a foreign language reverberating through the closed wooden door of our room; it was some weird techno pop music that actually didnt sound too bad. I quickly got dressed and woke up my sister. I opened the

Rahhal 3 door and immediately saw droves of people mingling in the living room, and an uppercut in the gut was delivered from the unreal temperature. Where the heck did all these people come from, and why was I wearing long sleeves? Apparently, such a sight would become a daily occurrence I would have to get used to.

It also wasn't long before I realized the showers here consisted of pumping cold water into buckets and dumping it onto yourself in a small confined bathroom with a crude pipe that served as a toilet. I was interested in how the people here lived differently than us, and while they had fewer commodities, the atmosphere was always very lax, until they came. It was a couple nights later when they came, the incessant buzzing of the elusive mosquitoes. They came in droves and their presence was always sporadic. No one was safe no matter what we used to fortify ourselves with. Well, someone at least got something from the whole ordeal; my dad would smoke as excuse saying how the smoke kept the mosquitoes at bay, but I for one could disprove such notion. I spent most of my days traveling to different locations and conversing with my wide roster of cousins. I didn't really expect that there would be so many. One such cousin, Renal, could usually be found lumbering around the big house we stayed at on random mornings. He came off as slightly crafty and devious, which he later demonstrated when he proposed to spray paint the house cat for no apparent reason, but his upbeat attitude big smile were always found plastered on his face. Uncle Timmy was perhaps my most favorite uncle, he was always drunk, but he was also an expert mechanic. He could get any scrap heap up and running even when he wasnt sober. I would usually talk to him about any topic I could think of, and he would respond with an intelligent or insightful answer, slurred speech and all.

Rahhal 4 Our daily meals consisted of a healthy diet of rice, pork, and Coke. On the contrary to what one might think, I lost weight from this trip, pork and Coke arent foods I would eat every day, but the rest of my cousins had no problem downing an entire pig and going in for more. I had a uncle named Dun-Dun who would show us around the single town on Semal Island. He was often silent, but he would usually crack a joke or make a witty remark whenever he spoke. Dun-Dun also owned a motorcycle and would always take me out for a spin whenever I asked. Overall, my trip was fun filled and dreadful. I could never grow accustomed to the elements that be, but my family made the trip worthwhile for me. I met so many relatives with such diverse personalities and kindness. I miss them and would like to one day see them come to America one day. That would be a sight to see. The trip brought a new spin on the word family for me. Our parting left me kind of empty inside; however, I know that I will see them again someday. Now that would be a day I would be looking forward to.