WINDSOR REUNION July 6-9, 2017

The editors decided to deviate from the traditional day to day reporting of events. Instead, we invited the reunionistas to write a blog about highlights and most meaningful events to them. Five responded to the call and three were contributed by the editors Portia, Nina, and Enteng. Join us in reminiscing the memorable, humorous, gluttonous, and inspiring events during the Windsor reunion. Enjoy!

VROOM! VROOM! FOR FREDDIE

JIM’S BLOG

From the start (an Air Canada employee who after one look asked if I was a professor) to the end (the loving leave-taking at Freddie’s):

Day 1:  We were greeted by an amazing bag of goodies, a sumptuous (seven course) Chinese banquet, and the warmth of old friends.  

And if that was not enough, we were invited to Doris and Enteng’s room for a packet of empanadas and siopao. We tasted both, even though there was scant room in our persons. They were wonderful and it was exciting to know that the empanada recipe was kept in a vault by Freddie’s sister.

Day 2:  I awoke to torrential rain, thunder and lightning. Seen from the 14^th floor, it made me wonder how humans survived here long enough to build shelter. But they did. And then I found myself amazed that humans had built the huge structures I saw---and the structure I was in. It was a strange combination of wonder, fear, and detachment.

The storm ended and I calmed down before breakfast.

Highlights at breakfast: Enteng’s ponytail, and Dave and Sheila’s tie-dyed, love-beaded, head-banded appearance. Photographs were taken.

Winners of best costume award               Peace-loving Siamese twins

   

Highlights at brunch: the feast of Filipino food, and the lanzones.  

Highlights of the afternoon: the arrival of Freddie, the memorial service for departed teachers and classmates, and prayers for those who are ill.

Highlights of merienda: ginataan and suman.  

On reflection, it’s hard to believe how much we ate. Every meal was huge in variety and quantity. In the end, we were huge too. Amazingly, on the off-chance that we managed to get hungry before the merienda, granola bars from Norie and Roly were offered.

Dinner followed merienda with no time to brush our teeth. It was another triumph. Highlights included an entire roasted pig and dinuguan with puto. 

A graduation anniversary cake followed dinner as well.  

The sounds of the nineteen sixties filled the Philippine Center. While the band was setting up, the keyboard, operating on its own, beat out an electronic rhythm. Despite the total lack of a melodic line, several of the women moved to its beat in anticipation of the dancing to come. 

Then came the music. It was at least as loud as anything I heard in the sixties.

Day 3: We enjoyed the Frankenmuth museum. We learned about the difficulties faced by settlers in the Midwest. We learned that German-Americans endured great suspicion in the World Wars. We learned that the Bavarian village here began in 1957 as a plot to lure tourists.

We enjoyed a somewhat local wine and a local pastry (pasty). 

We dined at the largest restaurant on the planet.

But the great event of the day was the late-night confab in Doris and Enteng’s room. One by one, each couple told their origin story. Sweet na sweet.

Day 4: The final leave-taking (and final picture-taking) came at Freddie’s house. Surrounded by beach scenes, we vowed that there would be more meetings like this. We embraced each other once more and we pledged to return.

Marie's then Aura's very entertaining blogs came next and we know you will relish them too since it was mostly about food, food, food .

MARIE'S BLOG

July 6th .... BIG smiles and BIG hugs greeted us at the Lobby of the Best Western Plus Hotel. After dropping off our luggage in our room, we were treated to a super-delicious dinner at the New Kirin Chinese restaurant. Thank you MUCHO, MUCHO, MUCHO to Ate Ching and our wonderful Canada and Ohio hosts. 

  

The dinner was a far cry from the coffee, pretzel, and peanuts Mario and I had for breakfast and lunch that day. SO nice to have met Ate Ching and Ate Lydia - sisters of Freddie.

Ate Lydia and Ate Ching, Freddie’s sisters.
Ate Lydia (foreground) is UP High 1954.

July 7th - Freddie's Day

The Filipino Community Center in Windsor was very nice and quite spacious. Tables and chairs have all been arranged. Several food tables were filled - REALLY FILLED with food !!! The food was meant to be for lunch only, but it could very well be for merienda, dinner, and breakfast the following day!!!

AND the lanzones - out of this world!!! Ang tamis!!!

Lou brought some added decor for the ceiling. Thanks to our agile Rose Alvarez and Joy Salazar for having the courage and strength to climb up the ladder and hang these very pretty ceiling decorations.

Highlight of the day was when Freddie arrived with a big smile. Just like a big celebrity, he had people gathered around him. Mario and I were very touched and impressed by the closeness of his Windsor friends.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the Trivia game about Freddie. I learned quite a bit about him. For one thing, he has several aliases - the only one I can remember is Sonny. I also did not know that he played Varsity Basketball and his position was a forward. Of course, that motivated us (led by Merle) to sing "Push On U.P." Freddie said, Kahit na nilalampaso sila ng U.E., the U.P. cheerleaders continued to have lots of energy shouting Fight...Fight...U.P.!

Dinner was out of this world ... food kept on pouring in. They had to add more tables for the food. My digestive system was at "full speed" and was having a grand time. "DIET" was a four-letter word that night, and no one dared to utter it.

Rose settled very nicely on the sofa after dinner.... Pagod na pagod sa kakakain!

AURA'S BLOG

Our weekend in Windsor was so much fun from the moment we arrived until our departure. As soon as we arrived at the hotel, Ate Ching had already arranged for us to have siopaos, empanadas, and water for our merienda. Thursday evening was a lovely dinner at a Chinese restaurant hosted by Lou/Joy, Florence/Manny, and Enteng/Doris. Ate Ching selected the menu.

During our dinner, Lou handed each of us a bagful of souvenirs. Another bag of goodies sent by the Catiises were also distributed to us. Thank you, Lou and Joy, Norie and Roly, for thinking of us.

      The hats were in the bag of souvenirs. 

Ask Joy what NF means.

Friday was our big day with Freddie at the Filipino Community Center but he was not available until mid-afternoon. In the morning we managed to put up the decorations that Lou and Joy brought. Thanks to Rose who climbed up the ladder fearlessly to hang them on the ceiling. The men couldn't stop her from doing their job. Then the food started arriving. Food, glorious food! This is what I will never forget. Three banquets in one day! Piles and piles of food kept coming. So much food in front of our faces, from brunch, to afternoon merienda, to the big dinner, complete with lechon. Big plates of food in two rooms were full of delicious food! I couldn't believe it, and every time we go back to replenish our plates there will be new dishes added. I didn't know what to pick as I wanted to taste them all. 

                  FOOD! GLORIOUS FOOD!

Sounds sinful? Check out a Filipino cook book, and all those dishes were served to us, plus more non-Filipino food like lobster, duck, etc., etc., etc. Unbelievable! Then there was LANZONES! There must have been boxes of them because the serving plate never got empty. Merle pretended to have just 5 lanzoneses on her plate but if you look under her napkin there was a big bunch hidden there! There were all kinds of suman and we got so jealous when we saw that Portia managed to slip one suman in her purse for the next day's breakfast. Everyone's eye was on her suman. Now, why did I not think of that? I had a big purse myself!

Freddie's arrival was very emotionally exciting. There were no dry eyes in the room. Freddie, most especially, was in tears. He kissed us all and told each of us what he remembered of us from high school.

We sang and danced for him, played trivia game about him and we wore our Freddie face fan that I brought for picture taking. He was amazing because he was able to stay up until 11:30 that night. They said that was very unlike him because he always got so tired easily.

Saturday was a trip to Frankenmuth in Detroit. We aimlessly walked around just enjoying the view and the music. We had a wonderful dinner at a restaurant and were taken aback when Enteng announced that Jim and Portia would foot the bill. Our thanks to the Henles for their generosity. 

    Waiting for our world-famous chicken dinner

Back to our hotel, Enteng invited us to their room for a night cap (water and wine). This is when everyone had to reveal intimate meetings with their spouses. Lasing na lahat! Where do you think the Vroom Vroom came from? Just ask Nina as she can explain it.

Sunday was a dreary day for us all, especially for Freddie, as it culminated the event for which he waited for so long. We all went to his house and bonded with him a little longer. His living room, which is now his bedroom, is painted with a mural of the ocean complete with sailboats. And before we made our final goodbye, we raised our hands to bless Freddie with a prayer led by Paul. 

Enteng's blog proves that aging past 70 is so liberating.

ENTENG’S BLOG

Portia and Jim gifted me a bookmark from the Mark Twain House and Museum in Hartford, CT with a quote inscribed: "Before seventy we are merely respected, at best, and we have to behave all the time, or we lose that asset; but after seventy we are respected, esteemed, admired, revered, and don't have to behave unless we want to." 

Well, I took Mark Twain's insight to heart and didn't behave most of the time because I did not want to.

Like attempting to kiss Nelson on the lips to the gleeful delight of Merle. Nelson did admit he hadn’t been kissed by a guy with a ponytail before (except for Willie Nelson).

Like posing with two spouses of classmates fast asleep on chairs….

……..and planting a magnum bottle of Shiraz. Had too much to drink, children of the 60s?

Liked posing with Freddie masks made by Aura. Guess who are behind the masks.

Like chugging down wine from a bottle.

Aging past 70 is so liberating. I can be silly and still be respected.

PORTIA’S BLOG

Vroom! Vroom!

It was twilight when we crossed the bridge to Windsor at the end of our day in Frankenmuth.  Art and Rose suggested a walk along the river.  In the gloaming, Rose’s sensibility impelled her to take romantic photo shoots, instructing us in the ways of evoking romance.  

We then decided to postpone our walk, promising to reconvene in the hotel lobby after some freshening-up in our rooms. In the lobby, word came that Enteng and Doris were inviting us to their room for a night-cap. We postponed the walk again.

Reunionistas trickled into Room 1604:  Florence and Manny, Lou and Joy, Aura and Paul, Art and Rose, Nina, Jim and I. Sheilah and Dave had left in the morning. Marie and Mario had called it a night; Peter and Auxie, also, it seemed. Merle and Nelson were at a different hotel, the new Caesar’s Palace.

Imbibing wine and water, enjoying the few remaining precious lanzones, exchanging witticisms, luxuriating in the feeling of well-being in the cozy ambiance, reunionistas finally focussed on the ever fascinating questions:  How did you meet? When did you know? How long did the trip to the altar take?

Florence and Manny’s story was the first object of our curiosity because they had already been an item in our freshman year. Thrilling morsels of revelation were shared, two-by-two, except for Nina who had come to the reunion by herself.  (Dony stayed back home for a spur-of-the-moment, all-too-short visit of adorable grandchildren.) The last to tell her story, but the first in vivacious storytelling, Nina gave the Windsor reunion its meme, Vroom Vroom.

Dony’s sports car figured mightily in his courtship of Nina. Vroom Vroom evoked the car and the movie-like courtship: the persistent wooer, the reluctant object of affection, the three-month break-up which made the maiden realize she missed her boyfriend, the speedy reel to a happy ending. Dony had driven his sportscar every morning from Makati to Diliman on the off-chance of finding Nina for a bus to Makati; and then at the end of the day, drove back from Makati to Diliman, when the offer was accepted, followed by the lonely drive home back to Makati.

So Vroom Vroom for Freddie means we love you, Freddie. We traveled far and wide to be with you.  

NINA’S BLOG

Windsor turned out to be one of the most delightful and memorable short trips I have ever taken  ...a love trip to Windsor, a place I might not ever have visited if Freddie Bueno did not live there. He lives  in a place quite close to the hospital that gives the care he needs. Why not move to California, Freddie? I asked him once. Hindi puede, dito ang medical benefits ko.  But that 's not all and the only reason. He has  two caring Ates quite close to him and the love of a whole Filipino community that has known him over the years since he moved to this quaint little city in Ontario, Canada with strong French and UK influences. Ouellette, Pellisier, Langlois, and Marentette are among the very French sounding  thoroughfares we drove through and Windsor is surely named after a place in England. To  my surprise, I was taken by Windsor. I was captivated by Windsor and all the events that transpired there.                     

                

Immediately upon arrival, I loved that our hotel room looked out into the Detroit River which is straddled by a magnificent modern Detroit skyline on one side and the city of Windsor with a river walk on the other side from where we could appreciate the beautiful sunset everyday we were there.

It was always exciting to venture from one city to the other by taking either the Ambassador Bridge or the Detroit tunnel by showing your passport; just be sure not to carry fresh produce. It was a relief to know that cooked food like the delicious siopaos and empanadas Ate Ching  pa-baoned to us were okey to bring home through the border. Within a few exciting minutes, you could be either in the US or in Canada.            

             

I loved it that even before I came I had been designated a sleeping couch by the picture window by David and Sheila Krofcheck with co-planners Lou and Aura as soon as they knew I was traveling alone. What a delight it was bonding again with Sheila whom I met in our Core Class first year high school days and whom I  briefly saw again in Cerritos some ten or so years ago. She even brought a class photo. Then on the  last night after the Krofchceks were gone, Lou and Aura accompanied  me in the room. Then there was Ate Ching and Ate Lydia who knew all the answers and orchestrated the main events. I am sure this was the main reason that our Windsor reunion turned out to be real unforgettable, even phenomenal, logistics and planning wise. From the welcome Chinese dinner to the last day of our stay, where we all had bags of pabaon of siopao and empanadas, Ate Ching and Ate Lydia took care of us. Even now back in our homes, their CDs of the occasion prepared by a professional photographer for each of us, follow us, sent to us with their loving care.

           

I was amazed at the well-organized outpouring of love the Filipino community gave Freddie on what we called Freddie Bueno Day. There was this big hall in a self-standing building called the Filipino Community Center so well-decorated  and complete with a real music band with karaoke which could play the music of our time, the 60s! I had not heard Black is Black for some time now. That was the hottest dance music when  Dony and I were just getting to know each other. I almost  stood up to dance all by myself to that very catchy beat. The loud penetrating music by a really live band could not keep these dancing-est couples away from the floor!

Lunch and merienda apparently were just for us, the UP High school group. But after merienda time, all the other guests started to pour in. First in trickles,  later on in droves. Some of the guests had not seen Freddie for years, years when he was not socializing too much and just waiting, I guess, for him to open the door again, for they all came in, so eager and happy to see him and wish him well, most of them bringing more food. For dinner, it was another set of various Filipino food. And the guests kept bringing food, and desserts on top of the mountain of food already prepared by the two Ates. All the Filipino fare you could ever think of, every single one was there... The problem was how we could even just taste all that variety and volume . It was simply impossible.......As  for the sweet lanzones....which we all could not have enough of......it seemed they had an unlimited supply, too!!!   

                     

Everything, alas, must come to an end..... and so must this Windsor trip on the fourth day Sunday, July 9. The day before, we all planned to say good bye to Freddie. But first, goodbye Best Western Plus Riverfront hotel with its pleasant lobby and breakfast areas. I loved how the elevators opened into the lobby and you could see everyone coming down right away. We all arrived at Freddie's within a period of an hour or so, and we all fitted cozily in his main living quarters: a living room now converted into his bedroom surrounded by mural paintings on the wall of beach scenery including a woman in a bathing suit under an umbrella. 

He had a giant screen TV in a smaller room next to the living room where he obviously sat to watch TV when he was not in bed. 

We were all in high spirits - seeing Freddie remarkably looking good for someone who has been ailing from COPD for such a long time and still being able to converse and laugh with us. Peter /Auxie and Marie/Mario were able to share their stories on how they met, as a pahabol and in continuation of the previous night's activity in Enteng and Doris' room. And we laughed and took photos and selfies all together for some time. Then it was time to go, there was a plane or train to catch. And we all automatically held hands and started praying and singing hymns. There was glory in the place. Whatever sadness there was seemed to be assuaged and wiped away by our group prayers and benediction song and our very apparent concern and love for one another. 

        

As Mario, Marie and I took Paul to the train station to take his ride to Toronto, I was intrigued with this little train station, so clean and efficient with signs in French again. I imagined myself taking off from there to one of the cities in this vast country of Canada, perhaps Montreal and Quebec? 

            
There are all kinds of love in this world, according to F. Scott Fitzgerald, but never the same love twice. Whatever kind of love emanated from us and enveloped us at this reunion and during this trip, for each other, among each other, could not be denied. And we know Freddie felt it; because we all felt and knew it. The feeling I had for this city of Windsor perhaps was also some other kind of love. 

The Windsor trip was a complete success, and mission accomplished. Thank you to the organizers, the hosts, specifically Freddie our honoree, and his two Ates, and all the reunionistas and the guests. It accomplished all and even more than we expected and aspired for.   

FLORENCE’S BLOG

     

           RANDOM ACTS OF KINDNESS

I am sure there were a number of us who noticed how Jim, Portia's sweetheart, had to cover his ears to protect them from the blaring music coming from the stage of the FCC. But there was one person who took the time to go to Jim and invite him for a walk farther out of the center to give him a break from the very loud music and to catch up with each other.

In another instance, one of our reunionitas noticed one of our classmates seated alone, approached her to find out if she was ok or may need something.

In Frankenmuth, MI, since our ETA was noon, we decided to eat separately as we arrived. The group we were car pooling with met another in our group in the Visitor Center's parking lot and decided to walk together to look for an interesting place to eat. We found one and as we were ordering our meal, a classmate called and wanted to join us. One lady in our group thought to walk out of the restaurant to watch for them and flag them down. No need really because one of us texted the restaurant's address already..... but again a random act of kindness.

These and many more made our reunion get together special and unforgettable.

LOU'S BLOG

It is hard to isolate an incident/experience that happened during our reunion. To me everyday, every conversation, every happening  was special! The part I like most is that we have all grown closer not only socially, but spiritually. I like that we continue the tradition of praying for all our departed and our sick. Ate Ching and others had commented time and again, how unusual that our class have managed to care for each other regardless of the distance between us and the years that had passed since high school. I'm so happy that we are this way, not only our North American classmates, but those who are in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world. May we be blessed with many more reunions!