affection?
We learned these Filipino tribes in school. Before Spain colonized the Philippines, she was a country with different tribal people. Up in the mountains of the north, they are called Igorots. There was another one called Manobo, and there are many others.
Needless to say, two of my friends - and I don't know how it happened, earned the nicknames Monobo and Torogi (Igorot spelled backwards).
Then we have another friend in our barkada whose grand father is from Ireland. She has the creamy light skin, honey-colored eyes and her hair has an auburn-light-brown cast to it from her Irish heritage - so we called her "Panis na gatas " or Spoiled Milk. To understand the reasoning behind it, Milk is to be Caucasian but she wasn't quite one, thus Spoiled Milk . Over time, we simply called her her "Panis" .
Then there was our other friend who has Scoliosis. Because of her back condition, her posture is somewhat...slouchy and occasionally, she would walk with a slouch with her neck extended forward - just a little. One of the movies that came out was Jurassic Park and there was that T- Rex. And for some reason, the T-Rex reminded us of her posture and so instead of calling T-Rex, we called her Jurassic.
Then there was me. They called me Mama-san. I just found out that it meant a teacher for Maiko or apprentice Geishas or something. But back then, I was dubbed as a "female pimp" (thus Mama-san) and Torogi, Manobo, Panis and Jurrasic were my "bitches" or "bugaw". :D
I have alot of very fond memories of my high school friends. We didn't have digital cameras back then and one of my friends Jurassic, brought her camera one time and we were happily striking poses on campus...
...she had her camera on a timer. I remember how she ran up to join us and we all stood there with smiles plastered on our faces and the camera wasn't flashing. So we unposed, unsmiled and got impatient. Frustrated, Jurassic walked up to her camera to check what was going on and then it clicked.
Without the instant gratification of the digital camera, I think we have to wait until the next day for the film to be developed or something. And when it did -it was classic. I wish I have a copy of this.
I want to say there were four us - myself, Jurassic, Torogi and Panis , I don't know where Manobo was or maybe she was in it too. But what the camera captured, in a way, captured a time when all we have to worry about was to graduate high school and get to a good college.
Our school uniform is tan in color with red accents. Our nautical collar are bordered in red. We have a silly red big bow on our neck line. Our sleeves are long and are cuffed in red. Our uniform is one piece that buttoned down from the the top to the hem - and to top it off, we also have a red belt.
So when we saw our photo, it looked like, for me at that time a rock album cover. Jurassic was at the dead center of the photograph from her waist up with a furrowed brow and she was staring straight into the camera. We were behind her but to her sides creating depth to a viewer you know. We were also angled out like wings to a butterfly and Jurrasic being the nexus :D. To the right of the photo was me, staring off in a distance, my eyes half open, my hands on my waist and my mouth in a straight line. To the left of the photo were Panis and Torogi. Panis was looking straight at the camera looking pissed and Torogi right behind her also looking at the camera and she was biting her lip.
To this day, I brings a smile to my face everytime I think about that photo. I hope to see it again. Those were the days. You know, back then you keep hearing about these songs like when you're grown up , this is when you look back and appreciate how simple and uncomplicated your life was - so true. So darn true.
This is an incomplete photo, my other cherished friends are not in it.
From left to right
Torogi, Jurrasic, Manobo and Mama-san :D
I miss these "bitches" :D
You meet friends as you walk through life but there are those who knew you as a girl...I better stop before I cry myself silly.
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