New Friends, Old Friends

Although I'd been away from the Philippines for more than twenty years, I am still in awe at how some of our kababayans behave with their fellow countrymen, when outside the motherland.

Take for instance a neighbour I once had, many years ago. When I just moved into a new complex, this individual totally ignored me at the hallway, even though I gave her a smile. Then, one time, she spoke to me only because she needed help with her car. Third time, I knocked at her door because she left her keys hanging at the keyhole. This particular individual had been in Canada for maybe, forty years or so; that's why during our brief interaction, she never spoke in Tagalog. I found it odd. Even though she may not be fluent in Tagalog, and maybe, speaks another dialect, maybe she could have uttered simple phrases like,
" Mabuti," when I asked " Kumusta kayo?" If there had been other non-Tagalog speaking nationals around, say, in the elevator, I could have totally understood her want of speaking English all throughout the many floors we passed by. But no, it was just her and me.

The feeling of superiority of some old timers vs. newcomers still abounds among those who came to Canada fifty or sixty years ago. When I was relatively new here, I bumped into a lot of characters like my former neighbour. There was even a time, while I was shopping a local Filipino store, when I overheard someone saying to the merchant, " Me, I am one of the pioneers here in the Filipino community. When I came then, most of the Filipinos were nurses, but now, there are more nannies."

I find that senior citizens, those who had been petitioned by their daughters or sons, to be the most friendly. Whenever you meet them, they give you a ready smile and burst into easy conversation. One time, when I was volunteering in a non-profit value store, one such old man, meeting me for the first time, invited me to a salo salo at their house.

Maybe it is because senior citizens don't have to prove anything anymore; they're retired, receiving pension, and just enjoying the remaining years of their lives, while the younger ones need to tell others what kind of work they do, where they work, how much they earn, or what car they drive.

That's why when I come home to the Philippines for a visit, I'd always try to re-discover the old friendships which I had, because really, true, good friends are hard to come by.