Nyuh Kuning

My mom calls this the Golden Coconut. The tree in the background has grown so much taller since we first moved in nearly three years ago, and golden yellow coconuts have hung heavy on it since last year.  I have always taken yellow ones like these for granted. How ignorant of me. I have also only recently learned that the 'macapuno' is NOT just an ice cream version of coconut, nor a gelatin but an actual variant of coconut. So much to learn.

Meanwhile, these golden "nuts" --the coconut nut is not really nut as a fun song (by Ryan Cayabyab?) reminds us--according to mom, the helper, and just yesterday, the village garden maintenance man, tastes just like the regular buko if not better.

I so enjoy cutting and pruning plants, and snuck out to trim a "mussaenda" hedge out front.  It wasn't really a good time considering I had other chores to do.  I was just wondering how to prune correctly to promote lush growth, when along came the gentle giant Mang P--- pedaling cheerfully on a bicycle. After answering my question he took the shears from me saying "let's level it off".  Well, I missed my cutting opportunity but it was good to have the job done and quick.  As might be obvious from my blogging abstention, I just have no time to leisurely cut/trim/rake/sweep/plant, or engage in whatever it is I think is real "gardening".

Then he noticed the coconuts and pulled one out for me. The beauty of this tree is that the coconuts hang low, no monkey-climbing up a tall tree.  However, "Pulling" is not so simple...it's more like twisting and tugging to harvest the darned thing.  I also have no idea how to know when a coconut is ripe!  He insisted on having me try the juice with my child, but of course I insisted he take more for he and his sidekick to take home.  Now I have to remind the actual woman who planted it---my landlord's caretaker--to get her coconuts.

Anyway, too many words again, when all I really need to say is the juice is really good and refreshing. I even enjoyed hacking away at the coconut (I had never before tried to open a coconut), trying not think about how on earth to open it without a knife.

And my kid? Her eyes bugged out seeing the open coconut; she invited me to "sit down and drink it 'geder mama, pink straw for you and green for me" and then actually, selfishly pushing me away to have most of the juice herself.  I'm so glad she loves her buko juice, and so grateful.  Imagine all the people in North America who are only just now grabbing for tetra-packs of "coconut water" after learning of its superior rehydration benefits.  Wish they could have it fresh.

Oh, the title...I could only think "Nyuh Kuning", which if I spelled it right, translates to Golden or Yellow Coconut in Bahasa Indonesia.  Nyuh Kuning happens to also be the barangay in Bali where the kid was conceived.  No wonder she's into buko.

Jesus is not dead

     Close to midnight, the sound of struggling English by both Filipina (because yes, there are foreign ones living large in Manila, I hear) prostitute and Korean man, the sounds of their moaning, giggling too, again.

     I tried to ignore it all, while working by the window again.  I felt different this time, empowered by today's service at church.  It is Good Friday,and today from 1:00-3:00pm we heard the "7 last words".  Afterwards, there was a mass, people kissed Jesus' feet, and many of us went on trying to have a reflective, meditative day.  Tonight I remembered what the priest said about battling the devil. We are confident, because we have God with us.  Did Jesus say don't get mad?

     I shut off my lights, lifted my window blinds noisily, and banged the windows shut.  This made the girl jump off the bed. Then, the man peered out, standing at the window's side. Ha! I banged the window with my palm hard. This time I felt cooler and calmer.

    What I really wanted to do was yell "Do you know what DAY this is????" and "YOU turn your aircon off, hang curtains, and shut YOUR windows, not me".
I realized I was the one suffering the stuffy room, I was the one getting upset. SO against my conscience's pleading, I checked again. They were gone!  I looked down and their car was gone too!  Hurray! I don't care if they were really due to leave anyway, I scared them off. They got the message.  And I didn't have to say a word.

     Thank you Jesus, I prayed.  Talking this way about Jesus is not something I do often.  I keep my faith to myself and I have my conversations privately.  But tonight I just felt its true power.

     I just met an old friend, who also longed for the very quiet, restful Good Fridays of the '70s and '80s..when we were kids.  Now, many shops and services remain open, people go swimming (forbidden by our mothers), make noise at 3pm (we had to be quiet and praying). All in the name of respecting that not everyone is Catholic or practicing.  I do feel winds blowing back to the time of veils and Latin mass...I'm not sure I would like that extreme, but how do we compromise? In Bali, there is one day in the year reserved for a celebration (which I forget) where EVERYTHING is shut down.  Regardless of the presence of tourists, there is no work, people stay indoors, and it gets dark as well.  The tourists are expected to respect this. I wonder if they do to this day.  I don't even want to think of the wasteland that is Boracay at this time.

    In Sta. Rosa, Mercury Drug was open, most other shops were closed.  There was still the usual traffic on the highway, though I did not venture further out to really check.

    That's because it's Good Friday, and I had planned on (not even going online) meditating and reflecting on the Passion of Christ.