Essay about Philippines: Mom’s family

William Perillo
English 11-2
Period 4
Vacation in the Philippines

This year’s vacation was an amazing experience I ever had. When my mom told me that we are going to the Philippines for the summer, the first thing I ask my mom was “Do they speak English?” and my mom answered me, “Of course they do.” Unfortunately, I cannot speak the Filipino language, but I can understand some of the words. My dad and I have never been in the Philippines, so it was a new experience for the both of us. We went there July 1st and came back on July 18th. My mom’s side of the family lives in the Philippines so it was going to be fun for her to see her family again after sixteen years, and my aunt also came with us. I was really excited to see all of my cousins, aunts, and uncles who I’ve never met before. We also brought some American goodies, like cookies, shoes, toys, candy, etc. as presents to my mom’s family. The weight limit for each package was fifty pounds, so we managed to bring four suitcases of clothes and four boxes of American goodies. When we got to the airport and put the luggage on the weighing scale, it was overweight, so we ended up unpacking the suitcases and my dad was so mad that he wants to throw all the presents to the garbage. I learned a lesson that when you travel, you have to make sure you weigh it first before you go to the airport. It was a nightmare, but then we finally got on the plane and the first flight was sixteen hours straight. I watched some really good movies; GI Joe 2, The Croods, Olympus Has Fallen, World War Z, Host, and the Big Bang Theory. I slept throughout half of those movies and I just played some games while eating my dinner. Sometimes, I get bored and I just try to walk back and forth in the isle. Then, we reached Taipeh, Taiwan and waited another three hours for the next flight. Finally, we arrived at Manila after a two hour flight. As soon as we got there, I was so relieved and happy that we made it, but I was so exhausted and eager to be home and have time to relax. My first impression of the Philippines is that it looks like Hawaii, only it is much cleaner in Hawaii than the Philippines. There is a lot of traffic on the roads, and drivers don’t follow the traffic signs and just go on their own way as if they own the road. People out of nowhere will just drive without even looking. I was really scared because I didn’t know if I’m close to my death. Most of the people are short, and have dark complexion, mainly because it is always summer there. I saw women with pots and bags on top of their heads and children with their pants falling down and wearing ripped up shirts. I felt bad for them because I don’t know if they could afford new clothes because they are poor. The buildings didn’t look the same as the ones in Connecticut, they were old, metal roof, no windows, and really dirty on the walls. But, there are some new tall buildings, but next to it are squatters that live next to the buildings, and they look like dirty and ugly houses. They looked like they just got built but they were never finished. I was sad to see the way people live in the streets, under the bridge, and in the river. We traveled an hour away south of Manila and where my mom’s family lived is totally different. The houses are nice, and clean, coconut trees, and the view of the mountains was breath taking. My mom and aunt were really happy to be back in their home country where they grew up and where they went to school. We finally arrived to my aunt’s house, where we are going to stay. It is located in the foot of the mountain. I met my aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and cousins, and we all ate together. They had a karaoke machine, a pool, and a small cottage surrounded by palm trees. I noticed that they had roosters next door and they crock in the morning which means it is time to get up. One day, we saw a small lizard on the

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