Biography: My Favorite Vacation Memory

This is my first time back in the Philippines in about 10 years. Back in the province, life is very simple. I wake up around 5 a.m. (which is very different than my typical vacation wake=up time of 3 p.m.) and sleep around 9 p.m. I enjoy this type of lifestyle. Similar to every night, I go about my usual sleep routine. I sleep next to my lola (which means grandma) on the bed and my niece, aunt, and cousin sleep on the floor in the same room. My relatives are so kind that they would make sure that my immediate family and I got the beds. One night I suddenly felt my lola move. My lola is the stillest sleeper I know so I would be conscious of her movement so I can check up on her. As I am waking up I hear awful scream crying. I noticed that my 86 year-old lola is reaching for my 2 year-old niece who is wailing. My lola has 9 kids so I can see how alert she with taking care of babies. However, my lola has REALLY bad hearing. Her eardrums are almost completely broken, so I wondered how she heard Andrea (my niece). It is either God woke my lola up or I am a really deep sleeper. At this point, I am trying to grab my glasses. My eyesight is 800/10. That means my eyes are so bad that I am not part of of the 20 in "20/20" scale. What people with 20/20 vision can see in 10 800 feet, I can see in 10 feet. However, I could not find my glasses! I did not have time looking for them! I carry Andrea and I start to rock her. I look for my aunt and I could not find her. I look for my other aunt, but her location was unknown as well. I look for my sister. Of course, I could not find her either. Andrea is pointing at the kitchen. So I'm like oh she wants milk!! But she doesn't want milk after I gave her milk. She keeps saying "nameg." That is not a word in Tagalog, so I am very confused on what she means. She reaches for the freezer and tries to open it. I open the freezer door and she grabs a water-bottle from the freezer. She GULPS it down. I have never seen a 2-year-old chug water. Turns out she was meaning to say "lamig" which means cold, instead of "nameg." At this point. I. Still. Cannot. See. Clearly. I get closer to my lola who is trying fix up the house. I get as close to a clock as I can and see that it is 2 a.m. and I am so confused at where my family is. My lola is trying to turn on the electric fans, because we live in the province and most rooms do not have air-conditioning. Andrea is sweating so I can see why my lola was doing this. However, my lola did not have her cane. Then my lola pulls out the electric fan a little far where the cord is not resting on the floor. So at this point I'm thinking, "There is NO way I am going to have two year-old wailing and have my 86-year-old grandma trip over this cord while I cannot see clearly and I cannot find my family." So I  push back the electric fan and run, while carrying the toddler in my arms, and find my lola's cane. I gave it to my lola and told her to use it. FINALLY. Everyone is settled. My lola has her cane and stopped fixing the house at 2 a.m. and my niece stopped crying and chugging water. I bring them back to the room and lay my niece in the middle of me and my lola to prepare for bed again. All is well in the province.

Philippines (Image Source)

Note:
I used first-person in this story because I wanted to walk my audience through my experience. I wanted them to know my thoughts. I wanted them to feel the uncertainty that I felt as I experienced this memory. I also wanted to use present tense for this reason, because I wanted the audience to feel that worry I felt. I tried to tell a story that was fun and light-hearted looking back at it know, even if it was stressful during the moment. I feel like there are many moments like this in life - but if we look back at it with a good attitude, it can become some of our favorite memories.

Reading Notes: PDE Mahabharata, Part A

Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, Part A

By:Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore

• King Shantanu married Ganga. 
• Ganga was a goddess assuming human form, but King Shantanu thought she was fully human. 
• Ganga made the promise of casting her children into the Ganges river prior to assuming human form. 
• Fufilling her promise, Ganga threw each of her and King Shantanu's children into the river.
• Shantanu stayed silent as she did this to their first seven children; however, by the eighth child,l he became furious at Ganga for her action.
• Ganga left Shantanu with their eight child because Shantanu yelled at her.
• Ganga returned and gave back their son, Devavrata, to Shantanu.
• Shantanu later fell in love with Satyavati. 
• Satyavati was a human twin who was born from a fish. 
• She was born from King Uparichara, who was the King of Chedi, when he was flying through the sky and his semen fell into the river which was swallowed by a female fish. 
• A fisherman caught the fish and two children came forth - one boy and one girl.
• When this was presented to the king, the king only took the boy. The girl, Satyavati, stayed with the fisherman and his wife.
• Satyavati bore a child name Vyasa with the rishi Parashara. 
• However, the rishi with his powers made Satyavati virgin againm even after the birth of their child.
• Satyavati agreed to bore a child in order to have her fish smell replaced with a sweet fragrance. 
• Shantanu and Satyavati married and had two sons Chitrangada and Vichitravirya.
• Devavrata promised the father of Satyavati that he would not claim the throne after his father passed so that Satyavati's sons will become king. 
• Chitrangada died soon after he assumed throne.
• Vichitravirya assumed throne but needed to find a wife. 
• Devavrata found Vichitravirya three wives: Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika. 
• Amba left the kingdom to go to who she loved.
• Ambika had a blind son, Dhritarashtra.
• Ambalika had a pale son, Pandu.
• Pandu assumed throne.
• He had two wives, Kunti and Madri.
• Kunti bore a child that she sent into the river.
• Besides the son Kunti sent into the river, Pandu had 5 sons: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva. 
• Pandu died and Madri followed along.
• Dhritarashtra assumed throne and married Gandhari, who bore a hundred sons.
• Their eldest son, Duryodhana, was born terribly crying so men told Dhritarashtra to kill him for it was a bad sign and the boy will turn evil.
• The Pandavas (the five sons of Pandu) and Kauravas (decedents of Kuru) lived together in the kingdom but there was always tension between them. 
• Leader of the Pandavas: Bhima.
• Leader of the Kauravas: Duryodhana.
• Duryodhana poisoned Bhima.
• Bhima came back to life as the king of the nagas (or snakes).
• Drona and Drupada were best friends that drifted apart. 
• Drona was found by Bhishma to train the princes to fight and their fight would be agains Drupada.
• After, many wanted to be trained by Drona. 
• Drona welcomed everyone except Ekalavya, the son of the rajah of the robber Bhils.
• Tournament between Bhima and the Pandavas versus Duryodhana and the Kauravas.
• Drona with the princes fought Drupada.
• Arjuna captured Drupada which angered Duryodhana.
• Out of jealously Duryodhana planned on setting the palace on fire when the Pandavas and their mother was asleep.

This image is a cartoon representation of the jealousy Duryodhana has against Arjuna for capturing Drupada.

(Image Source)

Bibliography: Public Domain Edition of the Mahabharata, Part A Multiple Authors from Various Sources: Arnold, Besant, Devee, Dutt, Ganguli, Kincaid, Macfie, Mackenzie, Nivedita, Seeger, and Tagore