A few days have passed since I started writing about the stories my mother and grandmother have told me. Since then, I had the chance to sit down again with my mother for more of these. It is truly amazing how sharp my mother's memory is despite being 84 years old. She tells these stories with a great deal of fascinating details that you can't help but be the mesmerized audience. So here we go...
As a young couple who had just started their family, my grandfather was given the opportunity to go up north to Manila to study. The family stayed in the southern part of the Philippines. The separation was a big sacrifice for everyone involved. I guess my grandparents knew that this education would prove to be a boon to their family in the long run. It sure was. When my grandfather came home, he was now armed with the level of education which allowed him to become the principal of the school. By this time, both my grandparents were fully entrenched in the educational field. They were both teachers, with my grandfather having the additional position of principal. The family lived a comfortable life. They had maids to help with the household chores but my grandmother insisted that my mother and her 2 sisters learn how to do their chores along side the household help. This would turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the very near future.
World War II would soon turn my grandparents' lives upside down. At this point, my grandparents now had 4 children. My mother was the oldest at 11 years old. 2 sisters followed and they were 9 and 7. The youngest was my uncle who was 5 years old. My grandfather was recruited by the US Armed Forces. Staying put was not an option because that would put the whole family at the mercy of the unthinkable cruelty that the Japanese could inflict on them. So, along with a very kind male relative, the whole family moved way up in the mountains where they knew the enemy forces did not dare venture into. My grandfather had built a hut with an underground bunker of sorts to hide necessary items like sugar, salt and, surprisingly, soap. Both my grandmother and mother are meticulous about cleanliness. My mother told me that they were so high up in the mountains that the monkeys (and there were lots of them) were not dark but very light grey in color. My own logical unscientific explanation for this is that they were surrounded by so many tall trees that it was not difficult for these monkeys to stay in the shade and keep away from the burning rays of the sun. Some scientist somewhere will probably think this is the most insane explanation for the monkeys' color, but, at this point, all I care about is that my mother thinks it makes sense.
With no maids to help with the household chores, my mother and her 2 sisters along with my grandmother had to do all the work themselves. My grandfather was out fighting alongside the Americans. Being the oldest child meant that my mother was given the very important chore of cooking their meals. The 2 younger sisters always helped. Their experience of cooking at this young age made all 3 of them very good cooks later in life. My mother said that life was difficult at this time but they made the most of it and were surprisingly happy. She lovingly tells the story of how my grandfather carved small wooden poles that fit their tiny hands. These "long" poles were used to pound grains of rice (a process needed to take the husk out of the rice grains before you could cook the rice). A huge wooden "bowl" was also carved out of large tree trunk and this served as the container of the rice grains. The 3 young sisters would then pound the grains with their poles. Picture a mortar and pestle! Weren't they an incredibly resourceful bunch? Incredibly, there was no shortage of food. They had to make everything from scratch but there was an abundance of root crops, fruits, vegetables and, from time to time, fish and meat. Julia Child would be proud of them.
Laundry and hauling drinking water were 2 of the more difficult chores my mother and her 2 sisters had to do. According to my mother, they had to go up a mountain and then down that mountain and walk to the lake where they did all the laundry by hand. They dried the clothes over big rocks that were around this lake. I imagine that while they were waiting for the clothes to dry, they most likely swam and played in this lake like anyone their age would do. The clothes had to be dry as wet clothes would be way too heavy to be bringing back as they climbed up the mountain.
The war did not stop my grandparents from increasing the size of their family. 2 more children were born. My mother said she expressed her concerns about the work load of this growing family. She said her complaints were always given respectfully. Are you kidding me? I would have been livid and everyone within hearing distance would probably know it. It humors me to even think about my grandmother telling my mother that someday she too will understand her situation. And many years later, my mother would. After all, she herself had 8 children. Situation understood!
This was the kind of life my grandparents lived for the duration of the war. You know that saying "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger." is so true. This family endured the pain of war and came out of it a family with a solid foundation. I am quite certain that many families who have experienced war have had similar results. Part 3 will have more of mom's stories about what happens as the war comes to an end. Stay tuned.
As a young couple who had just started their family, my grandfather was given the opportunity to go up north to Manila to study. The family stayed in the southern part of the Philippines. The separation was a big sacrifice for everyone involved. I guess my grandparents knew that this education would prove to be a boon to their family in the long run. It sure was. When my grandfather came home, he was now armed with the level of education which allowed him to become the principal of the school. By this time, both my grandparents were fully entrenched in the educational field. They were both teachers, with my grandfather having the additional position of principal. The family lived a comfortable life. They had maids to help with the household chores but my grandmother insisted that my mother and her 2 sisters learn how to do their chores along side the household help. This would turn out to be a blessing in disguise in the very near future.
World War II would soon turn my grandparents' lives upside down. At this point, my grandparents now had 4 children. My mother was the oldest at 11 years old. 2 sisters followed and they were 9 and 7. The youngest was my uncle who was 5 years old. My grandfather was recruited by the US Armed Forces. Staying put was not an option because that would put the whole family at the mercy of the unthinkable cruelty that the Japanese could inflict on them. So, along with a very kind male relative, the whole family moved way up in the mountains where they knew the enemy forces did not dare venture into. My grandfather had built a hut with an underground bunker of sorts to hide necessary items like sugar, salt and, surprisingly, soap. Both my grandmother and mother are meticulous about cleanliness. My mother told me that they were so high up in the mountains that the monkeys (and there were lots of them) were not dark but very light grey in color. My own logical unscientific explanation for this is that they were surrounded by so many tall trees that it was not difficult for these monkeys to stay in the shade and keep away from the burning rays of the sun. Some scientist somewhere will probably think this is the most insane explanation for the monkeys' color, but, at this point, all I care about is that my mother thinks it makes sense.
With no maids to help with the household chores, my mother and her 2 sisters along with my grandmother had to do all the work themselves. My grandfather was out fighting alongside the Americans. Being the oldest child meant that my mother was given the very important chore of cooking their meals. The 2 younger sisters always helped. Their experience of cooking at this young age made all 3 of them very good cooks later in life. My mother said that life was difficult at this time but they made the most of it and were surprisingly happy. She lovingly tells the story of how my grandfather carved small wooden poles that fit their tiny hands. These "long" poles were used to pound grains of rice (a process needed to take the husk out of the rice grains before you could cook the rice). A huge wooden "bowl" was also carved out of large tree trunk and this served as the container of the rice grains. The 3 young sisters would then pound the grains with their poles. Picture a mortar and pestle! Weren't they an incredibly resourceful bunch? Incredibly, there was no shortage of food. They had to make everything from scratch but there was an abundance of root crops, fruits, vegetables and, from time to time, fish and meat. Julia Child would be proud of them.
Laundry and hauling drinking water were 2 of the more difficult chores my mother and her 2 sisters had to do. According to my mother, they had to go up a mountain and then down that mountain and walk to the lake where they did all the laundry by hand. They dried the clothes over big rocks that were around this lake. I imagine that while they were waiting for the clothes to dry, they most likely swam and played in this lake like anyone their age would do. The clothes had to be dry as wet clothes would be way too heavy to be bringing back as they climbed up the mountain.
The war did not stop my grandparents from increasing the size of their family. 2 more children were born. My mother said she expressed her concerns about the work load of this growing family. She said her complaints were always given respectfully. Are you kidding me? I would have been livid and everyone within hearing distance would probably know it. It humors me to even think about my grandmother telling my mother that someday she too will understand her situation. And many years later, my mother would. After all, she herself had 8 children. Situation understood!
This was the kind of life my grandparents lived for the duration of the war. You know that saying "What doesn't kill you will make you stronger." is so true. This family endured the pain of war and came out of it a family with a solid foundation. I am quite certain that many families who have experienced war have had similar results. Part 3 will have more of mom's stories about what happens as the war comes to an end. Stay tuned.
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