Transience Day 2: Resisting change.

Day 2. They say that Agkawayan (my mom's hometown) had changed a lot over the years.

But for me, it never changed.

When my mom was young, there was no electricity. My mom used gasera as a source of light, a de-uling flat iron to iron their clothes, and an abaniko fan to cool themselves and shoo the mosquitoes away. Water was taken from the deep well, so it was a very precious and scarce commodity. Everything was pretty simple, yet they never complained.

Today, electricity runs twenty-four hours in the entire barangay. The road is concrete and almost every inch of it is lighted with street lamps. The seashore is also "developed" -- it has a concrete pathway through which people would walk (I don't like it; I prefer to walk in the sand. But I do like the cottage and benches they built around the shore). Although there is hardly an internet connection, there is already one cellphone network signal, so it's not pretty bad. The only thing that never changed is the water system, but I don't think Nawasa will be able to reach an island like this.

There are lots of changes indeed. But the way I see it, this is still the Agkawayan that I visited and left ten years ago.

The townfolks are, as have always been, cheerful and kind to us. Some of them even remember who I am, although I do not remember them anymore. I find that really sweet and thoughtful. Think about it, it has been ten years and they still recognize me. At the same time, I feel so crappy for my memory gap.

While there have been a few newly-built houses and renovated ones, most houses never changed. When I look at the houses, especially at my grandparents', it was a familiar look. The church looked the same. The parish priest is even the same! He never left. (I thought dioceses have some sort of rotation of assignments, but maybe it's not the case for all.) The ocean also didn't change. What is even more surprising is that the forests are the same, hardly denuded by the people. Amazing.

The town changed, but it remained the same. This is already a different generation, but the culture and tradition of Agkawayan is pretty hard to change. And I wish it would never change. I wish to go back here two, five, ten years later, and still have this familiar feel that I am home.