I can tell I'm Filipino because....

I pull the power cord from the outlet after each and every use; tv, electric fan, electric stove, etc. I use a basin to save water when washing my dishes and every time I meet someone I know on the street, my greeting is the standard: "Where are you going?" Yup. Typical. Nosy.

Anyway, I need to introduce you to my new crew. Here's Ace. Eight years ago, when my husband Don was still alive, Aces' mother was our housekeeper, but a week after Don died, I let her go because I was coming back to the US. She told me she was pregnant--father unknown. I gave her money for her delivery and this is who came out. When Ace was barely 2 years-old he was given to some distant relative because his mother was feeding only on cigarettes and Tanduay rhum. Ace grew up with that relative until 2 months ago, when he was returned to his mother because he was giving kids in school black eyes every chance he gets. And the school principal got tired of him visiting her every week.

He hangs around my crib during the day and I feed him and train him to learn to work, but he's hard on my throat; he doesn't respond to soft calls, he relates only to screaming calls, so I pass him on to work with Santino at my friend Tom's house. Him and Santino needs the firmness of a father figure, and plus, Tom and his wife pays them. I teach them to budget their money for their personal use like toothpaste and laundry detergent, which I am not subsidizing anymore.

This other boy is Nognog; you've seen him in my previous post. Father unknown, mother, lazy. He doesn't like to wear pants or shorts. When I take him to church, he grabs what he can find and wears them, then hurries home to take them off. Yesterday, while we were in the yard planting sweet corn, he rushed past me and told me he was going home to pee, then less than a minute later, he was back. "You've gone home and peed already?" "I peed but didn't go home, I just ran and kept peeing. So am done now." I wish my life is as simple as his.