Just before Christmas, I went to St. Ambrose Church in Wall to write a story about the first Filipino Christmas mass (8 days-worth) they were having this year. Although the service was beautiful, I was stressing at the end of the service, because aside from the songs being sung in Tagalog, it was not much different than other Christmas services I have been to...
When the group invited me to join them in the fellowship hall after the service, I was elated. First, because I never give up an opportunity to try new, delicious foods, but also because I knew I would have more opportunity to talk to people for the story.
The people were very gracious, and made sure they filled my plate with all different kinds of foods, brought me a drink, and two people brought me bowls of soup! They were so excited that someone from the Standard-Times was there to write a story, they kept me talking for several minutes after my plate was put in front of me.
One of the ladies was telling me that the hospitality I was being shown is common in Filipino tradition.
"No matter how poor the family is," she said, guests are always given the best of the best."
She continued talking as I was taking notes.
"And no Filipino will ever eat before their guests eat first."
I wrote that down, then realized what she said. I looked up, and the other 5-6 people at the table were all looking at me, smiling.
I realized then, that they were waiting for me to eat, before they did! I quickly obliged. I was so glad that I did, too- the food was delicious!
Luckily for me, once they started eating, they continued talking. They were so welcoming, and very willing to give me plenty of information for the story. After some concern in the beginning, it ended up being one of my favorite stories of the month!
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