Kay's parents grew up within a few miles of each other, on Negros, under the slopes of Mount Canlaon. Their courtship was entirely traditional - her father serenaded her mother, singing with a guitar under her window ("balak") and spent a year drawing water, hewing wood and generally doing all the household tasks for her family ("paninilbihan") before his suit was accepted and they married. When they married, they decided to strike out and make a new farm for themselves. Land in Mindanao was free for the taking, so they moved to Zamboanga del Sur, cleared a plot of jungle, built a house and raised seven children, of whom Kay is the youngest. The story of the settlement of Mindanao is much like the settlement of the American Great Plains, only it happened in our time. Anyway, neither of her parents have NSO Birth Certificates and she has decided that they need them, so she is taking them back to Negros to get this sorted. Her father's birthday is in a few days' time, and I was surprised that she was flying back the day before. She said "Think about it!" and I remembered one of her other remarks, "In the Province, invite a dozen- and cook for fifty!" If she stayed for the birthday party, because everyone knows she has a "foreigner boyfriend" (probably a "Kano" and therefore as rich as Croesus) she would be expected to provide a "blow out" and pick up the bill.
