Happy Philippine Independence on June 12! Mabuhay Ang Pilipinas!

By: Christian & Maya Leighton

 

For the Philippine Independence celebration, I am sharing with you an essay about the Philippines which I wrote for a school assignment. Our teacher gave us an assignment to write about a country we want to write about and I chose the Philippines, my Lola’s amd Lolo’s country of origin, and also it’s part of my heritage. I also participated very recently at the Philippine Independence Week Committee’s Essay Writing Contest, and will also be sharing with you my essay on the topic given to us, whether I win or lose….

“I picked the country, the Philippines, because that’s where I’m partly from, as my Dad is half-Filipino-American. His Mom (who’s my grandmother) hailed from the Philippines and his Dad was an American. From what I’ve read and told, the Philippines is a very interesting small country located in the Southeast Asia, composed of more than 7,000 islands with majority of the people speaking English. It has beautiful tropical sceneries, exciting beaches with white sands, delicious fruits, and native exotic dishes. It is my dream to visit the Philippines one of these days because of my beautiful Filipino heritage.

The historical Philippine flag represents of who I am and I’m proud of that. The colors of the flag represents my personality also. The red stands for how strong I am and how I can fight for my rights, blue is for how I am loyal, and yellow represents how I am bright and happy and proud. The stars represent how I am, shining all day. 🙂

I want to go to the Philippines because of the food. I love their exotic food from pancit noodles to eggrolls to rice. I love the healthy side of their cooking using the coconut milk and oil and healthy vegetables. When you visit their home, you will find that their food is so flavorful and delicious! Filipino people like to watch you eat and like their food, if you are their guests. They like to do that because they want to see you enjoy their food. I become full whenever I eat so much of their food. They are like that. My Filipino family puts their heart and soul in their tasty food, Filipino style.

I want to go to the Philippines because of their unspoiled nature. In the Philippines, there are many forests and beaches. There are also beautiful animals everywhere like, birds, fishes, monkeys, and other native animals. Speaking of birds, there is a Philippine bird called Maya, like my name. The Philippine Maya is a very cute, colorful bird that sings nicely. That’s really cool. In that country, it’s really fascinating that you can experience different kinds of species and nature that you don’t see very often in this country, the USA.

In conclusion, I would like to go to the Philippines to trace my heritage, to enjoy the sceneries and the beaches, particularly the food, the tropical fruits, and native dishes, and experience the amazing hospitality of the beautiful, gorgeous, and hospitable people of the Philippines.”

Happy birthday to my Pa, Bobby Leighton, who keeps on telling us that he’s only 24 years old. Do you believe that?

Bobby’s Birthday treat at Benihana Restaurant Rosemont…

….and at P.S. Bangkok Chicago restaurant with Lola Veronica.

Photo shows the PIWC essayists who who partook during the May 16 Essay Writing Contest, together with the PIWC officers and chairpersons: They are (arranged alphabetically), Madelynne Anama, Seri Cho, Camille Anne Fajardo, Maya Leighton, Benjamin Lortie, David Rivas, Nicole Rivas, Christian Luciano, Joshua Patrick Ramos, and Reijhay Vargas.

From Makati, Philippines: Yohanna and Keilah Villanueva, are enjoying their Tub “swimming pool” to ward off the heat. Their Mom and Dad are Cheryl and Michael Castro, neice and nephew of Elsie Sy-Niebar and Vi Molina.

Vilma Molina and Elsie’s grandkids in Makati, Philippines: Yohanna celebrating her 4th birthday and her Baby Sis, Keilah’s first B-Day and baptism. Their parents are Sheryl and Mike Castro; grandma and grandpa are Regina and Roselo Villanueva.

From Brisbane, Australia Via Times Fan: Eva Maunders, Elsie Sy-Niebar & Vi Molina’s sister, are having fun with her grandkids, Vienna and Toban Maunders who’s celebrating his fourth Birthday, and 6- mos. old Baby Markus Molina.