Weddings
So that was the most fun I've every had at a wedding. I just got back a few hours ago. I also never caught a bouquet before, which was sort of cool, though I've never been big on fighting for the bouquet. The highlight was taking a doctor's pants.
The wedding itself was the same as pretty much everyone I've been to. A catholic mass wedding with some traditions may be Filipino exclusive, but I wouldn't know. These are things like putting a veil over the couple and putting a loop of some pretty rope around them and later they light a candle together. My attention span was gone and the priest, a good family friend, was a bit dry, though at times funny.
The reception was at a nice hotel nearby. The host for the evening was bakla, tagalog for gay. My gaydar may be a bit broken, but I figured out this guy was gay before he picked up the mic. The same goes for the two guys that helped them later. He was awesome. He had a terrific voice and sang a few songs which cater to older Filipinos, like Sinatra, showtunes, etc. He spoke mostly in tagalog unfortuanately, but I could pick up enough that I was really amused. Occasionally my mom would translate a bit for me. After dinner and the singing, there was the standard cake cutting stuff and man of honor speech. Entertainment was mixed in with the host cracking jokes and making fun of people, like the female sponser who was unmarried. He poked fun at her asking why she wasn't marriend and he said oh she must be waiting to marry an American. I didn't recognize her until then. She's the lesbian in the family, well one of the two more open ones. We got along quite well after the first time we met at our provinces big annual fiesta. She's really close to the bride and her sisters (cousins of mine), which explains why she was one of the sponsors I guess. I hadn't actually seen a sponsored wedding before. Typically the ones I go to are more Americanized. But for a more traditional Filipino wedding, close family and friends will contribute money for the wedding and become a sponsor. I think this is usually the groom's family since he/they are supposed to pay for it, but the groom's family isn't as connected or afluent as the bride's.. The bride's immediate family isn't rich, but they're not hurting. Anyway we do have some well off family members.
The unmarried aunt turned out taking part in all of the single lady activities which was hilarious. I should point out she's 53. The first one was a musical chairs type game. The host went around finding 6 of the prettiest single girls. I was really flattered when he grabbed me up first. In situations where I'm very openly called beautiful I'm terribly uncomfortable. I always knew I have a hard time taking compliments. I'm flattered, but usually get unusually shy and embarassed. Anyway my very unconfidant walk to the stage arose some jibes from the host guy which were funny and only half in tagalog. He picked up the lesbian sponsor next, then and a few more girls that were pointed out. He almost grabbed a very attractive cousin of mine who was very much pregnant. Finding attractive single girls proved to be difficult becaue no girl was going to volunteer herself for that title, so he turned out grabbing a married girl too. The last girl he found was tall, even by American standards. I think she was a mestiza like me, and was really attractive. The guy asked if she was a model. Someone said outloud that she's an actress. We all sat in front on the stage. The game was to run and retrieve items from the audience and return and sit down in one of the remaining chairs. I guessed pretty quickly that we'd be retrieving articles from men, since he was trying to find pretty girls. The first item was a shoe. I was the only one to go to someone nearby. A guy sitting right in front of me. So I was the first one back. The gorgeous girl was the first one out. The guy that gave me his shoe was young and fairly attractive and was happy enough to oblige when I had to return to grab his belt and his jacket, and so each time I was the first one back. He refused to give me his sock though. Fortuanately another guy nearby had his shoe stolen in the first round so he was easy pickings for the sock. The last round was me and the married girl. The item we had to get was a pair of pants! My god! There are some pretty conservative Filipinos in the crowd. Hehe.. but Filipinos have an awesome sense of humor anyway. The problem I had though was who would actually take off their pants sober at a wedding reception!? I didn't really have any competition. I think the other girl briefly glanced around but wasn't really trying. By this time I was pretty into the game and I asked the half of the room I was working, mostly people I don't know, if noone was willing to give me their pants? To my surprise an older guy started to undo his belt. I was so shocked.. but was really glad, because I knew I would win the game. I helped him with his shoes. I assumed if a guy was willing to take off his pants he was probably wearing boxers.. but nope.. baggy tighty whiteys. I excitedly ran back to the stage and sat in the only chair. There was promise of a prize, a one way ticket to Iraq, but he changed his mind and said it was now a lifetime supply of iced tea.. haha if it was sweet tea that actually wouldn't have been a shitty prise for me.. but of course all that was a joke. So I returned to my table with no prize other than having won someone's pants.
I found out later in the evening that the guy who gave me his pants was a doctor. Hahah I took a doctor's pants.. Apparently he has a son in the Philippines who's a doctor. They're very wealthy, and own a hospital in the Philippines. He gave me his pants because he liked me and hoped I'd date his doctor son.. Hahah how odd is that. But funny thing is I'd consider dating a guy who's dad gave me his pants. Well except that I don't imagine I'd have much in common with a Philippines born, and almost definitely catholic, guy.
Catching the bouquet was amusing and meant I won both of the activities for the single girls, but after the silliness with the pants it didn't seem to matter much. I was never that big on gunning for a bouquet either. The first try was too short and comical aunt lunged for it on the ground, but it was decided that didn't count. Again a lack of volunteering single girls resulted in several not single girls including the very pregant one. They were on the right side and the second toss went straight at them, but they wouldn't pick it up. I thought that was hilarious, though the bride did not. The last tost the bride actually got fed up and through straight back at me and her sister and aunt crazy. I'm taller than all of them by at least 4 inches and it went straight over them into my hands. I can't catch to save my life usually.
After the official wedding craziness was the Samar province tradition of the Caracha money dance. The caracha is a province dance done at big parties. One of my cousins, the bride's sister did it. She's a great dancer, and was the first one I've seen that really made the dance look flattering with her swirling hand movements and hip sways. The guy that was her partner did these kneeling on one knee and hopping things I hadn't seen before and did this motion that was like ruffling the back of her skirt. It was pretty amusing. Apparently that was the real dance, which I hadn't seen before. Later the sponsors, a few at a time, would come out and also do the caracha, except usually they were taking a few steps to the right with hands swayed to the right and then the same to the left. That version wasn't as entertaining. Every time money was thrown around in singles and sometimes larger bills as seed money for the newly married couple to start their lives. When the bride and groom dance traditionally the money is pinned onto them, but this time they did it as their first dance together and people mostly just tossed the bills in the air. The uncles are so much fun to watch during this. They'll have a stack with $20-$50 in one dollar bills and flick them on their pants to make a neat noise and call attention to their stack of bills. Then they'll pull out one single at a time from the top and fling it in the air like it's nothing to them, until they've exhausted their stack. It's a very masculine sort of thing. Though the lesbian aunt was more fun to watch do it.
We danced until we were encouraged out after our time was up by stair down tactics by the staff. All of the dancing was done by female family members mostly with occasional older couples dancing to swing, rhumba or the like. Of course there was the obligatory wedding line dancing with my cousins, the sisters of the bride, all love.
The first reception was followed by a big Filipino reception at the family's house afterwards. It resulted in me getting very drunk after winning a beer chugging contest with the new favorite lesbian aunt and a cousin's boyfriend. The beer drinking contest winning was funny. My aunt was mad I stole her bouquet, and now I out drank her too. She told me I should get a PhD in Heineken and she gave me a new nickname "Big Winner". There's a lot of other craziness that happened there, but I'll save that for later.
Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!
The wedding itself was the same as pretty much everyone I've been to. A catholic mass wedding with some traditions may be Filipino exclusive, but I wouldn't know. These are things like putting a veil over the couple and putting a loop of some pretty rope around them and later they light a candle together. My attention span was gone and the priest, a good family friend, was a bit dry, though at times funny.
The reception was at a nice hotel nearby. The host for the evening was bakla, tagalog for gay. My gaydar may be a bit broken, but I figured out this guy was gay before he picked up the mic. The same goes for the two guys that helped them later. He was awesome. He had a terrific voice and sang a few songs which cater to older Filipinos, like Sinatra, showtunes, etc. He spoke mostly in tagalog unfortuanately, but I could pick up enough that I was really amused. Occasionally my mom would translate a bit for me. After dinner and the singing, there was the standard cake cutting stuff and man of honor speech. Entertainment was mixed in with the host cracking jokes and making fun of people, like the female sponser who was unmarried. He poked fun at her asking why she wasn't marriend and he said oh she must be waiting to marry an American. I didn't recognize her until then. She's the lesbian in the family, well one of the two more open ones. We got along quite well after the first time we met at our provinces big annual fiesta. She's really close to the bride and her sisters (cousins of mine), which explains why she was one of the sponsors I guess. I hadn't actually seen a sponsored wedding before. Typically the ones I go to are more Americanized. But for a more traditional Filipino wedding, close family and friends will contribute money for the wedding and become a sponsor. I think this is usually the groom's family since he/they are supposed to pay for it, but the groom's family isn't as connected or afluent as the bride's.. The bride's immediate family isn't rich, but they're not hurting. Anyway we do have some well off family members.
The unmarried aunt turned out taking part in all of the single lady activities which was hilarious. I should point out she's 53. The first one was a musical chairs type game. The host went around finding 6 of the prettiest single girls. I was really flattered when he grabbed me up first. In situations where I'm very openly called beautiful I'm terribly uncomfortable. I always knew I have a hard time taking compliments. I'm flattered, but usually get unusually shy and embarassed. Anyway my very unconfidant walk to the stage arose some jibes from the host guy which were funny and only half in tagalog. He picked up the lesbian sponsor next, then and a few more girls that were pointed out. He almost grabbed a very attractive cousin of mine who was very much pregnant. Finding attractive single girls proved to be difficult becaue no girl was going to volunteer herself for that title, so he turned out grabbing a married girl too. The last girl he found was tall, even by American standards. I think she was a mestiza like me, and was really attractive. The guy asked if she was a model. Someone said outloud that she's an actress. We all sat in front on the stage. The game was to run and retrieve items from the audience and return and sit down in one of the remaining chairs. I guessed pretty quickly that we'd be retrieving articles from men, since he was trying to find pretty girls. The first item was a shoe. I was the only one to go to someone nearby. A guy sitting right in front of me. So I was the first one back. The gorgeous girl was the first one out. The guy that gave me his shoe was young and fairly attractive and was happy enough to oblige when I had to return to grab his belt and his jacket, and so each time I was the first one back. He refused to give me his sock though. Fortuanately another guy nearby had his shoe stolen in the first round so he was easy pickings for the sock. The last round was me and the married girl. The item we had to get was a pair of pants! My god! There are some pretty conservative Filipinos in the crowd. Hehe.. but Filipinos have an awesome sense of humor anyway. The problem I had though was who would actually take off their pants sober at a wedding reception!? I didn't really have any competition. I think the other girl briefly glanced around but wasn't really trying. By this time I was pretty into the game and I asked the half of the room I was working, mostly people I don't know, if noone was willing to give me their pants? To my surprise an older guy started to undo his belt. I was so shocked.. but was really glad, because I knew I would win the game. I helped him with his shoes. I assumed if a guy was willing to take off his pants he was probably wearing boxers.. but nope.. baggy tighty whiteys. I excitedly ran back to the stage and sat in the only chair. There was promise of a prize, a one way ticket to Iraq, but he changed his mind and said it was now a lifetime supply of iced tea.. haha if it was sweet tea that actually wouldn't have been a shitty prise for me.. but of course all that was a joke. So I returned to my table with no prize other than having won someone's pants.
I found out later in the evening that the guy who gave me his pants was a doctor. Hahah I took a doctor's pants.. Apparently he has a son in the Philippines who's a doctor. They're very wealthy, and own a hospital in the Philippines. He gave me his pants because he liked me and hoped I'd date his doctor son.. Hahah how odd is that. But funny thing is I'd consider dating a guy who's dad gave me his pants. Well except that I don't imagine I'd have much in common with a Philippines born, and almost definitely catholic, guy.
Catching the bouquet was amusing and meant I won both of the activities for the single girls, but after the silliness with the pants it didn't seem to matter much. I was never that big on gunning for a bouquet either. The first try was too short and comical aunt lunged for it on the ground, but it was decided that didn't count. Again a lack of volunteering single girls resulted in several not single girls including the very pregant one. They were on the right side and the second toss went straight at them, but they wouldn't pick it up. I thought that was hilarious, though the bride did not. The last tost the bride actually got fed up and through straight back at me and her sister and aunt crazy. I'm taller than all of them by at least 4 inches and it went straight over them into my hands. I can't catch to save my life usually.
After the official wedding craziness was the Samar province tradition of the Caracha money dance. The caracha is a province dance done at big parties. One of my cousins, the bride's sister did it. She's a great dancer, and was the first one I've seen that really made the dance look flattering with her swirling hand movements and hip sways. The guy that was her partner did these kneeling on one knee and hopping things I hadn't seen before and did this motion that was like ruffling the back of her skirt. It was pretty amusing. Apparently that was the real dance, which I hadn't seen before. Later the sponsors, a few at a time, would come out and also do the caracha, except usually they were taking a few steps to the right with hands swayed to the right and then the same to the left. That version wasn't as entertaining. Every time money was thrown around in singles and sometimes larger bills as seed money for the newly married couple to start their lives. When the bride and groom dance traditionally the money is pinned onto them, but this time they did it as their first dance together and people mostly just tossed the bills in the air. The uncles are so much fun to watch during this. They'll have a stack with $20-$50 in one dollar bills and flick them on their pants to make a neat noise and call attention to their stack of bills. Then they'll pull out one single at a time from the top and fling it in the air like it's nothing to them, until they've exhausted their stack. It's a very masculine sort of thing. Though the lesbian aunt was more fun to watch do it.
We danced until we were encouraged out after our time was up by stair down tactics by the staff. All of the dancing was done by female family members mostly with occasional older couples dancing to swing, rhumba or the like. Of course there was the obligatory wedding line dancing with my cousins, the sisters of the bride, all love.
The first reception was followed by a big Filipino reception at the family's house afterwards. It resulted in me getting very drunk after winning a beer chugging contest with the new favorite lesbian aunt and a cousin's boyfriend. The beer drinking contest winning was funny. My aunt was mad I stole her bouquet, and now I out drank her too. She told me I should get a PhD in Heineken and she gave me a new nickname "Big Winner". There's a lot of other craziness that happened there, but I'll save that for later.
Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!