Tabo and Toilet Paper

As early as February, toilet papers have disappeared from store shelves together with alcohol and all kinds of sanitizers.

I don’t know why of all things, Americans cannot live without toilet papers. We’ve seen women fighting over this. They are so scared to run out of toilet papers.

We are running low on toilet paper but this doesn’t faze us, me in particular.
I grew up in the province of Rizal with no toilet paper in our house. People there use tabo, soap, and water. I don’t remember my mom buying toilet papers.

Plastic tabo

I was already in college when I discovered its usage. And when I started buying it I didn’t keep it in the toilet. It was on my dorm desk. I used it to remove cosmetics from my face. I also discovered its most important purpose. I used it to pad my bra to make my chest look bigger. I noticed that my female classmates eh ang uumbok ng dibdib. I thought by inserting rolls of tissue in my bra would do the trick. It didn’t. I found the tissue difficult to manage. I couldn’t keep it in place. It was flying over my face, sometimes hanging on my neck. One time one of my male classmates called my attention, “Annie, ano yung mahabang papel nakalawit sa likod mo?” I stopped padding my bra but I started padding my behind. I folded several yards and inserted it inside my underpants to make my pwet maumbok para kunwari sexy. I used the folded rolls to make my but look fuller. But the same thing happened, the folded tissue dangled under my skirt and would sometimes fall on the floor.