I felt nostalgic when my family and I joined the millions of pilgrims who walked from Rotonda to UST for a chance to have a glimpse of Pope Francis last Sunday, January 18, 2015.
I asked Edmund to take a picture of me standing at the corner of Basilio and Espana Streets (my keyboard doesn’t have an ~ enye). That’s where Aileen and I saw Pope John Paul II on February 18, 19__.
And what were we doing there on that morning?
We lived there on weekdays.
Because we studied for many years at UST, Sampaloc became our comfort zone . Naturally, even after college, we still chose to rent an apartment around the university belt.
It was a two story apartment owned by an affluent family who owned several houses and apartments in the area. They also lived nearby. The husband was a retired judge and the wife was a retired UP professor.
I no longer remember how I found their apartment. The first one that we rented was the ground floor of a newly renovated house at the corner of Maceda Street and P. Florentino Street, one block away from Espana Boulevard.
My parents bought a nice maroon vinyl sofa, table and beds. I bought kalan and electric fan. Edmund, who was already my boyfriend for a few years, bought me a GE refrigerator. He was earning some money playing for Crispa Redmanizers (MICAA).
It was nice but very noisy due to the busy traffic along Maceda Street whole day and night.
Every time a truck passed by, the house shook. I couldn’t sleep at night, it was really loud.
The owner has a son living on the second floor. His house was fully air-conditioned. His window overlooked our kitchen. I could hear him snoring at night. Pandagdag pa sya sa ingay sa labas. But the advantage was that the cold air from his room escaped through his jalousie windows and flowed into our kitchen, kaya para kaming merong aircon din. Di ba warm air goes up, cold air comes down?
After I found out that they too owned the 3 door apartment in Basilio Street behind their main residence, I requested if we could move. The mother agreed of course kasi the rent was a lot higher. Magkano na nga ba yun? Tila nalimutan ko na, I was even paying in dollars kasi the money was coming from my brother, Kuya Lito, who was based in the US.
The exchange rate was pretty stable and I think P7 to a dollar. When the dollar started climbing, I thought we were paying beyond what we should so I decided to pay them in pesos instead. Nagalit yung babae. They wanted me to keep on paying in dollars and the same amount before the dollar appreciation. Very shrewd.
For our water and electric bills, her instruction was to give her the money and she would just be the one to pay Nawasa and Meralco. I didn’t have money yet at that time. I was selling boutique stuff and working at the same time but my income was minimal. I had to rely on my brother for payment of the rent. And I had to wait for my money to come together to pay for extras like utilities.
Admittedly, it was my fault. I was delayed in remitting the payment for the water. I think I was late for two weeks. Two weeks lang naman. I dropped off the envelope with the cash at her house around the corner. I gave it to her maid.
In an hour, she came crashing on our apartment door. She was outside banging the door open with her arms. Ang lakas ng sound, parang sinusuntok nya yung door. She was yelling and calling me. Before I could open the door, she kicked it open. Gulat na gulat ako. She was holding the envelope I dropped off at her house. She was furious. Nandidilat sya sa akin, she was so mad at me. Parang gusto akong palayasin sa apartment nila. All I could say was “sorry po, ako na lang ho ang pupunta sa Nawasa. Kala ko kasi sabi nyo sa inyo ibigay yung bayad”.
She said a mouthful but my memory kind a blocked that encounter”. I just remembered I was so afraid of her. Patay na siguro sya kasi matagal na iyun nangyari. No I didn’t strangle her. Baka she died of old age. That was 30 years ago.
Oh, I am beginning to feel bad right now for having experienced that kind of thing. Parang bigla akong nag se-self pity. Na e- emote pa ako, maluluha yata ako. Oh my God, naiiyak na ako. Time out.
