Living like Ants

When I was young, I had always felt excitement and some kind of elation every time a typhoon would strike our province. I had this unusual and silly feeling for this calamity partly because typhoons are already an ordinary part of my life which I have lived with since I was born. Our province, Catanduanes, a small island located at central and eastern part of the Philippines is the most prone province to be hit by typhoons in our country. It is an entry point of typhoons that hit our country because of its location that faces the vast Pacific Ocean in which typhoons usually originate. And truly because of this unfortunate location, we experience the largest number of typhoons that hit our country more than any other provinces or regions in our country. Indeed, most of the strongest and most devastating typhoons that hit our country: the typhoon "Sening" with 280-300 kph/160 mph wind force in late 60s (I'm not yet born that time, so I’m not sure about the exact year), "Rosing" in 1995, 260-270 kph/150 mph and "Loleng" in 1998, 250-260 kph/140 mph and the latest supertyphoon "Reming" last December 1, 2007 at 280-310 Kph directly landed in our island.
Typhoons are truly a common experience for us and have become associated with the way people from our province live. This is true because these typhoons are almost always expected to come in the rainy season starting from September to December or the "ber" months and sometimes extending from January to summer time. It is very unusual if not a single typhoon visits our place in a year.
“Living like ants” – that’s the way I describe ourselves in that province. I remember when I was young when I would enjoy observing how ants would quickly rebuild their sand or clay dwellings every time I would enjoy ruining them. "We are not far from what they are doing" I would often say to myself each time I saw the sight of our neighbors as they rebuild or repair their torn houses a day after a typhoon hit us. I can see all the houses in front of our house and even our house to be almost blown up by the gushing winds of these typhoons, yet it will not take long for us to rebuild or repair our houses without any grudging or grumbling on why it happened to us. Instead, we are grateful that we are still alive and nobody was hurt. And that gratefulness will serve to be our energies and inspiration to work for whatever aftermath the typhoon had brought us. We would start gathering all the pieces of our house that were blown away or damaged; clear our yard of all the scattered debris of some of our neighbors’ houses, fallen branches, leaves and fruits of the trees or plants in our backyard like the rimas, papaya, ipil-ipil, coconut, guava, jackfruit, orange and kurumbot vines, horse radish (kalunggay), banana and many other various plants that suffered the natural calamity that had just passed.
Clearing our yard, for me is the most exciting and enjoying part of these typhoon times not only because I’m happy that the typhoon is over but also because I can have the chance to harvest the unripe bananas which are scattered in our yard and then request my mother or my father to cook “pinakll’o” (unripe kalibo banana cooked with coconut milk and sugar). Furthermore, my sisters and I can also enjoy eating unripe papaya as we prepare it with vinegar and salt (hinambull’ang hilaw na tapayas). Moreover, what causes me to really feel profound happiness is when our entire family would have to work together to clean our house and yard; do the tons of laundry as all our clothes, curtains and blankets were all drenched by rain and some sea waters brought by that recently passed calamity, and many other chores that our family cooperates to be done. These are actually to some, arduous activities and obligations to be carried out, but for me during those times, were precious memories worth treasuring.
Another reason why I feel excited and actually long for these typhoons is because before it actually hit us, there will be holidays from school. Our classes will be canceled and I can have the chance to enjoy the holiday with my friends or the company of my family. We could have the chance to savor the earth’s nature through its winds and strong waves of the Pacific Ocean which is just some 50 meters away from our house with its thundering sounds as its huge waves strike the already damaged seawalls. We would enjoy teasing the ocean to show us bigger waves by throwing stones in it. We would also enjoy challenging the winds by pushing our bodies against them, giving us opportunity to lean on this invisible nature that will amaze anybody who could see us, especially if they see us from a distance.
A few hours before a typhoon hits us, our mother gathers us and gives us jackets and hats or extra shirt to put on to our heads to shield us from cold or rain that she said may cause fevers or colds. “Magsull’-ot kamo kaini ta baad sall’uhuton ning ripot ang mga payo nyo” she would always say. And she would also prepare our stomachs with enough food which is usually an egg noodle sauted with sardines and one or two fried fish (pritong malughaw na binakall kila Nang Gimay) which she will divide us equally among us, six children while saying, “Magapasallamat na kamo kang kaunon tang ini ta ang ibang mga tawo dai ngani ning mga pigakaon.” (Be thankful that you have this meal, some people don’t have any food to eat).
Indeed, those foods are actually more than enough for us. We really have a very full stomach after eating those as we dip our individual small shares of that fish in a soy sauce and lemòn (calamansi) to add more flavor to it so that we can eat it with a bunchful of rice. “Dapat pirmi kamong handa, baging nakigera, magkusog man ang bagyo di basog ang mga tullak nyo” (You must always be prepared just like in a war. Though the typhoon will get stronger than what we expected, at least you’re full enough to face it) she would continue saying. Our father will also often cook a "ninatkan na kalunggay" (horse radish with coconut milk). Because he sees to it that those Horse radish plants that were grown in our lot's corners and fence will be trimmed down before the typhoon arrives (after the typhoon, leaves of those plants which are very delicious (for me) and nutritious to eat will no longer be of use). He would cook it with coconut milk and some dried fish or dried octopus which are some of his catch a few days ago from the sea (Because he is also an expert fisherman). Those horse radish (kalunggay) or egg noodles meal were an excellent menu before the arrival of typhoons. It gives us the stamina to stay fit and be prepared to that forthcoming natural disaster.
Truly, I have plenty of vivid recollections about our lives in our typhoon prone island province of Catanduanes as it continues to linger in my memories; memories and lessons that contributed to my view of life as I picture us to be “Living like ants.”
Oh! How I miss Catanduanes, my home province.
And of course…..typhoons!