415F Fatima St Cebu city
Landlord/Landlady: Mr & Mrs Mascarinas
Just a few blocks away from CIT, plus several Aloranons were already here for years, I couldn't think of a better place for a college freshman, like me.
Mr and Mrs Mascarinas were originally from Bohol.
They had three daughters: the eldest, married and no longer in the house, Ma'am Totchie and Ma'am Linda who were both unmarried and living with them.
They were assisted by an elderly woman, Nanay Olay and her adult son, Noy Nesio, who works for VECO, both also from Bohol, in managing the boarding house.
We were the most in number.
There were also folks from Oroquieta, Jimenez, Zambo Sur, Surigao, Agusan, and of course, Bohol.
The house looks like a ship (Mr Mascarinas loves to talk about the time he was a sailor, and of its perks), two levels, the third one is the "bridge" - ten of us Aloranons occupy it.
THE SETTING
We contribute for our food and take turns marketing and cooking.
For fish, we go to Pasil (Cebu City's main fishport), and for veges and other essentials, to Taboan Market, at Sanciangko Street.
We don't buy rice, our parents send us that with the money for school fees and supplies, food and other necessities and lodging, thru Aloranons or Misamisnon working aboard William Lines ships, Dona Magna, or some townfolks who from time-to-time go to the city typically for medical checkup.
DINING OUT!
First week of the month, right after we receive our monthly provisions, was always a good time for dining-out (manga-on sa gawas).
Our kitchen was at the ground floor and a part of it was an open space (no roof) and adjacent to it was a two-storey house that accepts only lady boarders or lodgers.
We want to impress the girls there, so we set the dining table up on that open space so the girls can and will have a good view of us with our just-steamed scented rice, fried bitter melon with egg, fried fish, vegetables and fruits.
We make loud noise, and even invite them to join us, making sure they will be watching us.
A week, maybe a little longer, and that's it!
Like "omang", we dine back to the invisible-from-the-girls part of the kitchen.
THE GOOD SAMARITANS!
There may be more, but I can only recall Linda, Nancy, Edna, Marilyn, Cecille... all are also from Mindanao, our saviour!
They give us rice, and lend us money (give, would be more appropriate because I don't remember paying them back!).
BOYS WILL BE BOYS!
We were teen-agers, noisy, loud, messy...
We pee from the windows, in the terrace, sing with reckless abandon - at nighttime - especially when inebriated.
Directly below us was Ma'am Totchie.
We only calm down when we hear her banging the ceiling from her room.
WE WALK A MILE FOR FRENCH BREAD (PAN FRANCAISE)!
Ideal Bakery (Idjal, according to our next-door neighbor in Aloran - from Mambaling, Cebu City), located several blocks from us, along C Padilla Street, in Carlock.
Early evening was a good time, not so hot, and not that many jeepneys plying the area.
PRE-UNLI TIMES
We can only afford a piece each, two, every once in a while.
Our boarding house had only one entrance, and most of the time, early evening was when our lady boardmates including the Good Samaritans, hang-out with their "visitors".
THE SOLUTION?
Some of us get in the house empty-handed, then go straight to our terrace, drop a basket tied to a rope to the guys below, bread in the basket, pull it up.
Then the rest of the gang get in the house, also empty-handed.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD!
Ma'am Totchie graduated from Cebu Normal School.
One day she asked me if I know a certain Miss Reyes, also from Aloran - she remembered.
While she was trying to describe her to me, I remembered Nang Monding (Raymunda Reyes-Agcol), also graduated from the same school.
That was the beginning of her fondly talking to me about their friendship and the good times they spent together as college students, whenever we run into each other in the house.
HOW I LOST WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN A BEAUTIFUL FRIENDSHIP