When I was a new arrival in Manila, a few of the people that I met, expressed the rather dampening view that Manila had not much to offer by way of entertainment and things to do. But with the passage of time I discovered that there were many things to do, places to visit and people to meet.
One entertaining evening was spent while watching the play Joy Luck Club in the company of a bit of a Joy Luck club itself! Amy Tan's collection of short stories, The Joy Luck Club was beautifully bound together in the stage show by the Philippines repertory theatre. I have seen a play there once before, an adaptation of Little Women which was excellent in itself. Many of the actors from that play were also present in this one. Joy Luck Club is based on the stories of Chinese immigrants who came to live in the US after the Japanese started bombing China. Many of them arrived with nothing, unable even to speak the language. They built their lives from scratch, worked hard to give their children a better life and tried to uphold the traditions of their own country. As is inevitable in this situation there builds up a big gap between first generation immigrants and their children. Joy Luck club is an informal group that is established amongst friends and continued in San Francisco.
We ourselves had a bit of the Joy Luck club in Manila. We had all washed up on the shores of the NAIA "international" airport and although we were not refugees but we did land up in a place where we had no connections, no shared history, nothing. I am referring to the expat population there. But soon we built up a life. Jobs, book clubs, Diwali celebrations, karaoke groups, lifelong friendships and a few disagreements too. We got engaged and entangled in our respective social groups; felt happy to be included and sad to be left out. Within the two years that I was there me and my family built up a whole lifetime of memories.
One entertaining evening was spent while watching the play Joy Luck Club in the company of a bit of a Joy Luck club itself! Amy Tan's collection of short stories, The Joy Luck Club was beautifully bound together in the stage show by the Philippines repertory theatre. I have seen a play there once before, an adaptation of Little Women which was excellent in itself. Many of the actors from that play were also present in this one. Joy Luck Club is based on the stories of Chinese immigrants who came to live in the US after the Japanese started bombing China. Many of them arrived with nothing, unable even to speak the language. They built their lives from scratch, worked hard to give their children a better life and tried to uphold the traditions of their own country. As is inevitable in this situation there builds up a big gap between first generation immigrants and their children. Joy Luck club is an informal group that is established amongst friends and continued in San Francisco.
We ourselves had a bit of the Joy Luck club in Manila. We had all washed up on the shores of the NAIA "international" airport and although we were not refugees but we did land up in a place where we had no connections, no shared history, nothing. I am referring to the expat population there. But soon we built up a life. Jobs, book clubs, Diwali celebrations, karaoke groups, lifelong friendships and a few disagreements too. We got engaged and entangled in our respective social groups; felt happy to be included and sad to be left out. Within the two years that I was there me and my family built up a whole lifetime of memories.
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