Vignette 14

Manila (I)

 

When mother, Austin and I arrived in Manila by ship from Yokohama in late September of 1951, the Filipino school year had already been in session for four months. The hottest months of "summer" in the tropical latitude is March through May. This was our third foreign country of residence in 4 years.

 

I was soon outfitted in a navy blue pleated skirt and white shirt uniform of St. Scholastica's Women's College run by German Catholic Benedictine Sisters. Many of the sisters had a German accent while the lay teachers had a Filipino accent. Unlike the charming French sisters, the German sisters were serious and strict. We were utterly quiet during classes and even in hallways at breaks or recess, there was only the sound of shuffling feet. We were allowed to converse with each other only outside the school building on the wide cool terraces or in the playground. During the first weeks of school, I could not understand any of the classes. My indistinct accent, neither American nor English, was also curious to my classmates. After the first days of curious probing and questions, I was pretty much ignored by the 120 Filipina classmates split into 3 sections.

 

Once I adjusted to the Tagalog tinged English, school work was not difficult, though I never learned the Filipino national language, Tagalog. Each year, I was permitted to limp through the Tagalog finals with a composition in Tagalog and obtained a complimentary passing grade of 75 for foreign students. In all the other classes, except Spanish, I would place among the top 3 in each subject which perhaps enabled the administration to overlook my static Tagalog but could not sufficiently compensate to put me on the honor roll.

Group Photo at St. Scholastica, 1953, about 13 years of age

At home, we all adjusted to the cramped 2 story duplex apartment comparable to the size of our Yokohama kitchen and upstairs servants quarters. A window was punched through the  wall between my narrow back bedroom that enjoyed the night cross breeze and my brother's small room, with an open doorway to my parents slightly larger room so that they could also relieve the stifling heat.

 

The tight living-dining room downstairs was furnished sparsely but the wood floor was scrupulously polished daily by our Filipina maid who balanced on one foot, using the other foot to vigorously scrub the floor with half a coconut husk. The oil from the coconut waxed the floor and the husk picked up the dirt; a most ingenious native invention. The maid slept under the small space underneath the staircase.

 

Father was picked up and delivered by the Embassy car pool. I would hitch a morning ride with our friendly landlord who lived next door in a bigger apartment with 5 children. Coming home I'd walk the 5 long blocks home for lunch and after school. Austin and I both became pretty tanned from the sun exposure.

 

About half a year after our settling in Manila, mother left for Japan again to check on her investment into a Chinese cuisine restaurant, named "福禄夀" for the Chinese elemental blessings of Fu Lu Shou meaning “Prosperity, Status and Longevity” . Fu Lu Shou was a partnership with 3 other women from the ROC mission including Cecilia Chiang. After a month, mother returned deflated that one of the 4 partners had defrauded the 3 of them and mother had lost all the savings we had accumulated in Japan. Cecilia later used the same name "福禄夀" Fu Lu Shou which she called “The Mandarin” for her small restaurant serving non-Cantonese food in San Francisco to legendary success. Auntie Cecilia born in 1920 has been celebrated in film, books and interviews since her scrappy struggle in 1957. Her son, Phillip would later build the "PF Chiang" empire of over 300 restaurants in 25 countries. My mother and Auntie Cecilia remained close friends through my mother’s long life. They were two indomitable women who had lost privilege, family, friends, country, everything in their young adulthood yet out of the desperate debacle, Auntie and my mother each achieved a unique success and legacy. 

Cecilia Chiang with me in General Chu Shi-ming's Hayama resort around 1949-50.

Without the housing household subsidy paid by the Occupied Japanese government, as well as an ROC government imposed 30% national hardship reduction in salary, my parents struggled to meet our daily needs. I had only one uniform which began to turn gray from the weekly washing and my 2 shirts grew tight as I grew wider and was mended under the arms. I enviously noticed my classmates, mostly from upper crust Filipino families, who wore crisp navy skirts and white shirts changed daily as they stepped out of or into their chauffeured limousines. Many of their last names I began to recognize from their father's prominence in the newspapers like Rojas, Ayala, Locsin, etc. One of my classmates, Marlene Dauden Marlene was a tawny beauty, and quietly sat in the back of the class. She was a mestiza, a mixed racial blend of European and Filipino bloodline. Marlene became one of the most celebrated and awarded Filipina film star.

 

Austin and my allowances were terminated and during recess I avoided the grounds around the kiosk where my classmates flocked to purchase their daily cold refreshments. Father would still occasionally proffer us a Classics Comics and my mother and my movie outings were maintained when I won a name-the-film contest in the Manila Times Newspaper and obtained a year of movie passes for 2 adults.  Mother would calculate from her careful budget ledger, what treats we could indulge in during a movie outing on the free passes. On these special outings mother would take us by public jeepney, converted military jeeps which cramped 6 passengers tightly on to 2 sideway benches, to the only air-conditioned restaurant in Manila and share a banana split or milk shake. I could see and hear mother clicking an abacus to keep a neat ledger of daily expenses down to the centavo, raising her head with a smile when her budget allowed a movie treat. 

 

Mother, herself, entered a contest - a writing contest in the Taipei newspaper with her first essay "初戀" “First Love”. Although mother did not win first prize due to the lack of political correctness in this romantic short story, according to the Taipei panel of judges, the small prize was encouraging and she followed with "永遠,永遠我的三弟"( “Forever and Ever My Third Brother”) about her younger brother who had died after mother left Beiping. In the meantime, she was invited to teach at 華僑中學( Overseas Chinese High School). Mother's course on Chinese History was especially popular with the students. Mother transposed the history lectures into a newspaper history series "我們的故事" (“Our Story”).  Yeh Man (葉曼) was slowly unfolding into a literary figure.

Mother's  students class (華僑中學高三) at around 1953 

An incident involving  a student at 華僑中學 the Overseas Chinese High School, by the name of Phillip Ang (Ang Cho-Kio  洪祖鉤) roused the press on Dec. 30, 1952. Ang had killed his girlfriend in Manila the week before, escaped to Cagayan Province north of Manila and on Dec. 30  hijacked a Philippine Airline plane, demanding that he be flown to Communist China in Amoy (廈門) . When the pilot and purser tried to dissuade him, Ang killed both of them and forced the co-pilot to take the PAL plane to Amoy with 6 other passengers on board. The co-pilot cleverly flew into the ROC airspace of Kinmen (金門) where an ROC jet soon appeared on his wing. The ROC jet flown by Capt Koo (顧上尉) force landed the PAL jet into the arms of the ROC military. This was the first air hijacking, called "skyjacking" back then, in the world. The pilot of the ROC jet, Capt Koo was hailed a hero by both countries and received with honors in Manila. I remember father taking us all to meet Capt. Koo, a tall, shy man who graciously allowed us to take commemorative photos with him next to his jet. Later, Col. Koo was the military attache at the ROC Embassy in Saudi Arabia with my father.

Capt Koo (顧鍾玨上尉), the ROC pilot hero who prevented the first

 skyjacking (hijacking) in history, with Mother, the 2 sons of Dr. IC Fang

(方頤積, the UN WHO chief) Frank and David, my brother and I, probably

 around 1953.

In 1954, my mother became pregnant and parents decided we could afford to move to bigger quarters with mother's added income from her teaching and writing. Mother took Austin and I to stay with some generous friends in Baguio (碧瑤), during the summer heat. Philip was born in Baguio and named 田之瑤.

 

We came back to Manila from Baguio to a spacious house shaded by tall guava trees in the front yard. Though it was not in the chic, wealthy, sentineled quarters of Manila, it was a reasonably safe middle class neighborhood guarded by 5' walls studded with broken class and metal barred doors and windows. We now had 2 maids plus a full time nanny for Philip. Mother’s income improved our family financial condition

 

 Meanwhile the ROC new embassy construction, carefully designed and planned for 2 years with the local Chinese community came to a halt. The new Chinese Embassy building had started with great enthusiasm but stalled, an uncompleted shambles on the grand Dewey Blvd facing Manila Bay when the infighting among the Overseas Chinese halted fundraising. Minister Chow decided to continue to hold office business in the embarrassing skeletal debris. Minister Chow’s strategy brought the feuding local Chinese together to “save face” for their embassy and put their differences aside to complete the construction. The embassy, in the Chinese palace style with glowing red lacquered pillars, sweeping staircase, curved rooflines became one of the handsomest buildings in Manila. Its grandeur was a source of pride to the community of one million Overseas Chinese (華僑).

 

Father was busily involved day and night with work or social events. Minister Chow Shu-kai(周書楷公使), whom we called Uncle Chow was similar in scholarship, perspectives and temperament with father enabling them to work hand in glove. It seemed the influential Chinese leaders (僑領) were pleased with the recall of the flamboyant Ambassador Chen Chih-Ping whom they regarded as more interested in socializing with the political bigwigs than in their community problems. I remember Ambassador Chen as an amiable, friendly, small sized man who entertained everyone well in his well appointed home and enjoyed a good laugh. Uncle Chow and father turned their full attention to the situation of growing anti-Chinese sentiments and Filipino nationalization of small retail shops. This effort coalesced the factions of the Chinese community who looked to the quiet diplomacy of the ROC embassy.  Minister Chow became charge d’affaires. Uncle Chow and his wife, Aunt Lily, often had us to their modest but comfortable home for dinner.  Uncle Chow and father seldom indulged in small talk during these after hours and continued their candid discussions on the challenges of easing the situation of the local Chinese. As the result of father's hard work, parents were welcomed into the homes of the influential Overseas Chinese leaders.

Family photo in Manila, 1955	Parents in Manila probably around early 1956

During a fire disaster in Chinatown around 1955, it was learned that the city firemen would not turn on the water hose unless they were paid. Desperate refugees from the fire had little cash or possessions on them. Consequently, many blocks of Chinese buildings were burned down. Mother was outraged and the very next morning organized an emergency relief effort for the residents and small businesses. Aside from the wealthy 華僑 Overseas Chinese businessmen, mother and father also became part of the Chinese literary and cultural community.  Though they did not entertain on the scale of Nagasaki and Yokohama, a trail of Chinese personages from Taiwan came through.

 

Dr. I.C. Fang, Pacific Regional Director of the UN WHO, and his wife Auntie Jeanne were especially good friends of my parents. Their son David who was about my age, attended one of the prestigious Catholic boys’ school De La Salle College which my brother also attended. Over 3 years, we grew up together and often listened to records or played canasta in the backroom when his parents entertained.

 

One evening, we were interrupted in our game to come out and meet one of Dr. Fang's guest at their intimate dinner party. Standing in front of the fireplace like a Napoleon was the actor who played Napoleon in "Desiree" - Marlon Brando! He was a compact man with intense brown eyes and a sensuous mouth. I was quite stunned when I was introduced to him and he took my hand in both his hands, leaned over and breathed softly with a slight smile "And how are you my dear?" Of course, I was speechless. Then he quizzically looked at me and asked "And how old are you, my dear?" I could barely blurt out "15." He suppressed a smile and said "Ahh, so young!" From that moment on, Marlon Brando became my favorite movie star despite his spreading abdomen, broken nose, and receding hairline. Forget about the idol of my generation,  James Dean!

馬尼拉之一

1951年9月，母親帶著我和弟弟乘船抵達馬尼拉，當地學校已經上課四個月了。他們在6月份開學，因為3月到5月是菲律賓夏季最熱的月份。我們家這次到菲律賓，是父親在四年之中調派的第三個國家。

我很快就穿上了海軍藍百褶裙和白襯衫上學，我的學校是德國天主教修女辦的聖史考拉斯提科女子學院 (St. Scholastica’s Women’s College)。絕大多數的修女有很重的德國腔，非修女的教師則是帶有菲律賓腔。這裡的老師和長崎學校那些溫柔迷人的法國修女很不同，德國老師嚴肅而且嚴厲，課堂上要求學生完全安靜，連下課也只聽到走廊上匆促的腳步聲，唯一能聊天的地方就是教室大樓外面寬敞的陽台或操場。剛開始上課時，我一點都聽不懂他們說的話，而我自己的腔調既不像美國人，也不像英國人，同學也聽不太懂。我的菲律賓同學大約有120人，分成三組，大家在頭幾天對我很好奇，東問西問，之後就沒什麼人理會我了。

我們住的是兩層的樓房，非常小，大概只有橫濱的廚房加上上面僕人住的地方那麼大而已。我和弟弟的房間都很小，牆上的一扇窗是兩房共用，靠著它，我在夜晚才能享受到涼爽的微風。父母親房間比較大，也只能靠著敞開的門，消除令人窒息的熱氣。

樓下的客餐廳也很小，家具不多，但是木頭地板亮晶晶的，因為家裡的菲律賓佣人每天用椰子殼擦拭。他們的一隻腳固定站好，另一隻腳踩住半邊的椰子殼拼命刷，椰子殼可以把灰塵帶上來，而油可以打亮地板，這是當地人極有創意的發明。這些佣人就睡在樓梯下面的地方。

大使館的車是共乘的，每天會來接父親，而我則是早上和中午搭房東的便車，他和五個小孩就住我們隔壁一棟比較大的公寓。下午放學我就得走很遠的路回家，而同學們都有司機開著私家車來接走。我好慶幸自己很不起眼，沒有同學會停下來順便載我一程。我和弟弟每天在大太陽底下走路回家，兩人的皮膚都曬得好黑。

在馬尼拉，我們少了盟國佔領軍政府的房屋津貼補助，加上在臺灣的中華民國政府因財政困難，而減少百分之三十的薪水，全家必須省吃儉用。我唯一的制服裙子重複清洗，顏色漸漸變成灰色，兩件襯衫則是 因為我長大長胖越來越緊，只好把想辦法把車邊放了，然後補上一點布。那時候很羨慕那些絕大多數都是家世背景高人一等的菲律賓同學，她們穿著亮麗的藍裙子，配上每天換洗的雪白襯衫，進出自家的大轎車。她們的姓氏都是赫赫有名的，父母都是報紙上常常出現的人物。

我和弟弟的零用錢沒了，下課時同學擠在賣冷飲的攤子，我總是刻意繞過那個地方。我們也不像以前那樣買書了，只有父親偶爾會拿本經典漫畫獎賞我們。還好我參加《馬尼拉時報》(Malina Times) 的猜電影名稱比賽，得到的獎品是免費看一年電影，而且是給兩個大人。於是我和母親帶著弟弟繼續我們的電影欣賞。母親精打細算，如果狀況許可，我們看完免費電影就去一家唯一有冷氣的餐廳，三人共享一份香蕉船或奶昔。有時我們走路到菲律賓特有的吉普尼 (jeepney) 車站，等候坐上由美國軍用吉普車改成的小車 (只有六名乘客面對面坐兩排)，然後轉搭又擠又破爛的公車。不過無論車子有多擠，總是有人讓位給母親和我，而弟弟永遠都坐在我們大腿上。菲律賓的男性非常有紳士風度，他們一定會讓座給女性。我去過許多國家，從沒在其他地方看到如此有騎士精神的文化——即使是西班牙也沒有。

在馬尼拉時，母親看報得知有散文比賽，因為有獎金，母親寫了她第一篇作品—初戀，拿到第二名。母親常常說她之所以開始寫散文，完全是「逼上梁山」。之後母親有了信心，繼續寫第二篇，「永遠，永遠我的三弟」，寫的是在北平剛剛過世的弟弟。後來她受邀到華僑中學教中國歷史，非常受學生歡迎，報社請她的授課內容編寫成「我們的故事」系列刊登，葉曼逐漸成了文壇的作家。

母親在僑中教書時曾發生一件大悲劇，1952年，她歷史課班上的學生洪祖鉤殺了馬尼拉的女友而被追緝，之後逃到卡加延省 (Cagayan)，一個星期之後，在12月30日搭上菲律賓航空客機，拿槍要求飛往廈門。正駕駛和一名空服員想制止他，卻被他當場開槍射死，之後他強迫副駕駛開往廈門，當時機上有其他六名乘客。副駕駛機警地開到金門上空，顧鍾玨上尉立刻駕機升空攔截。這是世界上第一起劫機事件，顧上尉因此獲得中菲兩國表揚，他到馬尼拉接受勳章時，父親還特地帶我們去見他。顧上尉高高的，有點靦腆，但是很大方地和我們在飛機旁邊一起合照。沒想到顧上尉後來成了中華民國駐沙烏地阿拉伯大使館的武官，那時候父親也在沙烏地阿拉伯。我的女兒去沙烏地阿拉伯一年期間，和顧上尉的女兒成了好朋友。

1955年母親懷孕，那時候母親教書和寫稿，對家裡經濟幫助不少，於是決定搬到比較大的房子住。母親就先帶著我和弟弟住到碧瑤朋友家，在山區一個避暑勝地。小弟就在碧瑤出生，所以他的名字叫田之瑤。

從碧瑤搬回市區的新房子寬敞多了，前院種了好多高大的番石榴樹，綠葉成蔭。我們那一帶都是中產階級，社區算是非常安全，五呎高牆環繞，牆上還黏有尖銳的碎玻璃，加上鐵門鐵窗，保護周到。那時候家裡請了兩名女佣，還有一位全職保母，負責照顧小弟。

當時父親的主管之一是周書楷公使，他中等身材，圓胖體型，相貌堂堂，金邊眼鏡下雙眼炯炯有神，感覺充滿智慧。周伯伯的學識、理念與父親相近，加上兩人勤奮、謙和的個性，所以共事非常愉快。當時面臨排華廢華法案，他們花費許多心力排解。周伯伯和伯母常常邀請我們去他們家，但是父親和周伯伯很少閒聊，他們的話題完全圍繞在如何消弭當地華僑與菲律賓之間錯綜複雜的誤會。

那時候，世界衛生組織 (WHO) 西太平洋地區 (Western Pacific Regional Office) 主任方頤積和他太太是父母最要好的朋友。而他們的兒子大衛和我相處甚歡，我們同齡，他和弟弟在同一個學校就讀。父母聚會聊天時，我和大衛就在後面的房間聽唱片或者玩一種叫做迦納斯塔 (canasta) 的橋牌。

有一次，我和大衛在打牌時被叫出去，要我們和方伯伯的客人見面打招呼。那個人站在壁爐旁邊，姿勢很像電影中的拿破崙，沒想到他居然就是在「拿破崙情史」(Desiree) 中飾演拿破崙的演員，馬龍白蘭度 (Marlon Brando)。他很結實，褐色的眼珠帶有熱切的神情，嘴唇很性感。大人把我介紹給他時，他把我伸出去要跟他握手的那隻手合在他的雙掌中，身體前傾過來，呼吸好輕，微微一笑，說:「親愛的，你好嗎?」。我當然是目瞪口呆，完全說不出話來。然後他試探地再問一句:「你幾歲啊?親愛的。」我好不容易擠出：「十五」。他忍住笑，回說：「好年輕！」從此以後，馬龍白蘭度成了我最喜愛的電影明星，儘管他後來肚子漸凸，髮際線後移，甚至鼻子被打斷，我對他的喜愛依舊不減。至於我那個年代最受歡迎的偶像詹姆士狄恩 (James Dean)，就算了吧！