Anyway, Susan was supposed to come first but she got delayed and we missed her message on the machine saying that and that she will be taking the bus na lang. When me and my daughter got back home, Jojo was already there and soon after Sarah called - So Jojo and I went to pick up Sarah - who happened to be in the same terminal as Susan - Thank God Jojo caught Susan's back as she was ready to get on the bus! After that we headed straight to La Guardia for Rosemarie.
10/24/03 Friday - Astrid and Carol came (Carol had such a bad cold - lost partially her voice and wasn't really feeling good - but still made it through) and then we all proceeded to the hotel with luggages in tow (Sarah had the biggest luggage).
Checked in at the Wellington Hotel and left to see Ground Zero and then to Chinatown for look-alike brand names (a funny thing happened in the hustle and bustle of Chinatown - Ipay met head-on her ex- sister in law! - that's like the chances of winning the lottery!) -
That evening Ching came and we all went to this 'Cafe Wha? club in the Village for a bite to eat and for the music which was highly recommended by Jojo's co-worker. The place was jampacked and the line was long - but we had reservations so we got in through the crowd. Anyway the first act was a stand up comedy by this guy who had S-E-X for his subject and guess what - being that we occupied a long table and we were all Asians - we became the butt of his jokes... you can just imagine Rosemarie and Carol's faces .... Music was great - the band and the singers were really worth paying for - anyway, (was there a time limit to the reservation since we left early) the line outside was like a a food line during the depression years.
Rosemarie and I decided to excuse ourselves and go to the the Flea Market in my neighborhood instead and just meet up with them at the broadway show. Then it turned out that the group decided to drop the show and just gto for more shopping at Macy's. I wanted to prepare some things to do some program for the sleepover - but my inlaws from Boston came and my plans were disrupted. Rosemarie and I drove to Jojo's house in Long Island and the fun begins... First I showed them our website and as I opened it with the school song - we all sung like drunken sailors and as I opened each page - oohs and aahs were in chorus and Ipay as kikay as ever vowed to send her most photogenic pictures for the website.
Then after that we all settled in our pajamas to watch the video tape that Fe gave me of me and Cala's visit in 2001. We all laughed hysterically watching Dra Fe and Kooch dance to the oldies music provided by me and Cala and we laughed even harder each time the camera focuses on Grace taking a bite - after bite - after bite - naka long playing na, hindi pa natapos ang pagkain ni Grace. (By the way, where is Grace? Anyway , Grace talaga oo...)
Then after all that riot and laughter, when everyone's quiet and gone to sleep (or so I thought) I could not contain myself and I just burst into laughter and Ching burst into laughter too - it started when one was snoring quietly - and long after - somebody joined in at another tempo - that was it - so Ching and I giggled ourselves to sleep that night - (there was one snorer who had a half note beat to her snore - each had her own tune and beat - amazing - it would have made Ms. Zurbano proud).
Lunch time was at Elisa's - who didn't make it to all the earlier events mentioned - anyway, we sang the whole time with the magic mike - Ipay sang impressively - (practisadong -practisado) Then it's time to leave again for Sarah's evening flight. Sarah must have prayed real hard coz we hit heavy traffic at the Lincoln Tunnel and got lost in the maze of Brooklyn streets.
That night - more singing at Sheila's with Hector, as lead singer, and that night - the 'Chuchua' girls was formed - me, Susan and Rosemarie. Susan was amazed at how many times Hector brings out an extra mike like it was coming out from his sleeves and more amazing when Hector transforms himself into the artist he is singing - he even did the narration in 'Are You LonesomeTOnight' - and everytime we'd be carried away with the song - he'd hush us as it was his solo part. - It was a riot.
The last to go was Ching who I drove to her friend in the city.
Sleeping together - eating together - singing together (that valderi tune is very contagious - one starts and automatically everyone joins with vim and vitality -'come join my happy song...' and remembering the good 'ol' times -
They all had the chance to visit and stay even for awhile in each host's humble abode - their first night and last night at Sheila's in Queens, Saturday sleep-over at Jojo's in Long Island and a brief visit to Elisa's at Jersey City in New Jersey.
What has changed? - nothing really changed much - except physically - the hairs became lighter - Rosemarie had brown hair, Astrid & Carol came in lighter... then Ching - the lightest. Other than those physical enhancements and cruel aging - worse for some (like me) , nothings really changed - Rosemarie & Ipay are still like the aso't pusa as they were before - Astrid and Carol are still the reserved prim and proper ladies as they were - and Ching - we have not really known the real Ching as she had a different group but she turned out like she was part of the barkada (as the reunion turned out to be a 'barkada' reunion) -
The attendees were - (in order of arrival) - Rosemarie, Sarah, Susan, Ipay, Astrid, Carol, Ching and us the hosts - Jojo, Sheila & Elisa) - and one no show- who said she was coming and never showed up, never called - you guessed it right.- some things really never change. Reunion favor was a pressed sugar maple fall leaf with incsciption of the reunion - and stuff from Fe's collection of souvenirs from her travels around the Philippines as a Health Auditor.