I was having another one of those chats with RJ Ledesma so he could give me a free copy of his new book. He was promoting his new book which will officially be launched in February 7 2008 at 6:00 PM National Bookstore at Rockwell with special guest readings by Tim Tayag, Mo Twister, Giselle Sanchez, Jojo Alejar and Gary Lising.
RJ LEDESMA has been living many parallel lives, all of which converge into one universe. It’s either that or he’s schizophrenic. Still unsure if he has ADHD, RJ used to hawk an orange soft drink in the late eighties, was a one-time college professor in Public Speaking and Economics at his alma mater, De La Salle University-Manila, worked as a brand manager for a multinational company, and was a frenetic television host for ABS-CBN’s Magandang Umaga Bayan Weekends.[Slushpile Walker]
RJ was so kind to not just send me over a copy, but to run a contest as well for my readers! All you need to do is leave a comment on this blog post answering the question,
“What is the most important thing you learned from your yaya?”
The best answer wins a signed copy of RJ’s new book Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me: RJ’s Imaginary Guide to Whine and Women. This contest is only open to residents in Manila and will be judged by RJ Ledesma himself. Comment entries will be accepted till February 6 2008. Please make sure you leave a legit email address on your comment form.
Although I’m obviously disqualified from this contest, the most important thing I learned from my yaya is that if I don’t go inside the house before 8:00 pm, the mumu will come and tie my intestines to a tree, then eat me. With lechon sauce.
Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me:
RJ Ledesma’s Imaginary Guide to Whine and Women
SRP: P295.00
Nota Bene A “yaya” is sort of like a babysitter but with a closer relationship to the immediate family. It is cultural for young kids in the Philippines to have grown up with a yaya.
25 replies on “RJ Ledesma’s Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me: A CONTEST!”
“What is the most important thing you learned from your yaya?â€
How to be a bitch. LOL!
Did your Yaya by chance happen to watch Braveheart? Or is well versed in Ancient torture techniques. Nice touch with the Lechon Sauce.
One of the things I learned from my yaya was the five minute rule when it comes to fallen food.
And another is that it is never to late to be a fan of Tagalog movies and teleseryes – like Marimar 🙂
How to appreciate the bold and the beautiful of noontime variety shows!
“always drink yor tru-orange juice like that boy in the tb.”
if you don’t put medicine/band-aid on a cut/flesh wound, a train will come out of it 😀
I had a yaya till I was in high school! Argghhh! But my most unforgettable yaya was Yaya Mely and she taught me how to climb the aratiles tree… she forgot to tell me that I’m a girl and not a boy and I hated it when boys approached me, kala ko kasi di kami talo! Well… eventually I realized I’m a girl and not a boy. :p
If you blow balloons, you will get beke.
If I don’t follow what my yaya says, her evil twin will come and kill me. And when I don’t listen, she will hide, then re-emerge with an evil look on her face, and say, “Sabi ng kapatid ko may masamang bata daw dito.”
My yaya taught me about “malasakit”. She loved me as she did her own child, with all her heart. Because of her, I felt that everyone around me, in different professions, worked because they loved what they were doing. It was never about the money. I never did feel that from that way she devoted herself to raising me as my second mom.
The most important thing that my yaya told me is human babies are made just like what the dogs are doing. lol
That if I wait long enough, somebody else will have to clean up my s***t.
that one morning ill wake up on a treetop if i dont let them get the parasites off my hair. :))
“What is the most important thing you learned from your yaya?â€
It is NOT LEARNING to eat veggies, always have Royal (Coke) every meal, and forgetting to take my vitamins and medicines on a daily basis 🙂
I learned to appreciate the bisayah version of most English words & phrases.
If you swallow some grape seeds accidentally, they will eventually grow in your tummy and your hair will turn into grape vines 😀
Pwede bang sumali mga OFW? Nasa hanoi kasi ako e.. Kung hindi, ok lang, saling-pusa na lang…
The most important thing my yaya taught me was indirectly/subconsciously taught to me. Actually, I didn’t have a real yaya. Growing up in a middle-class family, we had a stay-in “katulong” who also became my yaya because I was still very young at that time and she took care of me. I will always remember the times she came to my aid in the toilet whenever I called out to her and said, “Ate Terry, tapos na…”
To be honest, I tried calling her “yaya” once but my Dad immediately made it clear to me that she is not my yaya. Apparently, for my Dad, having a yaya was only for the upper-class members of our society.
Seriously though, I’d like to share with you what I learned from my “yaya-yayahan” Ate Terry. I remember asking my Ate Terry why she left her province to work as a katulong in Metro Manila. She told me that even though her work as a katulong was hard, her life in Metro Manila was still better than her life in her hometown. She said that in her province, there was hardly any money to earn and her work there was much harder than her work as a household helper. She added that she was paid relatively well in Metro Manila and because of this, she can send money back to her parents and siblings in the province.
In a way, our katulongs and yayas from the provinces were the first Overseas Contract Workers. They were the ones who taught our generation that it’s okay to leave your native land to find a better life somewhere else. And while you’re away, be sure to send money home to your family and hope that someday, you can save enough and come back home.
my “ma-ma” taught me that yayas can love you like you were their own. and that you miss them more than you miss your own parents. i was 9 when she left me to get married. i felt like no one else in the world would ever be my “kakampi”. i felt abandoned and unloved. by the time i was 36 and married, i went to iloilo with my wife and took a week off work to seek her out in her hometown of pototan, iloilo. it was a long trip from the city and i was excited to see her and swap stories with her and reminisce the days when our family lived in quezon city. sadly, i learned from her relatives that she had passed away five years prior. again, i cried like i did when i was 9 and she left me to get married. she had left me again to join her husband who passed away a year before she did.
some important lessons that i remember from our yaya:
– how to fake sleeping in the afternoon (when she comes to check if you’re really asleep, have your eyes and mouth slightly open, and not really clamped shut so you look really asleep!)
– toothpaste is poisonous and you will die immediately after so don’t eat it!
– what the term “gwapa,” “dako” and what private parts are called in bisaya. hehe
My yaya taught me how to speak (and curse) in Bicolano: “Dae ako tatau mag-Bicol,” “Uda lu’g ugma,” “Guano kadi?,” and most importantly, “Buray ni ta mo!”
Cool contest Jayvs! 🙂
My yaya taught me how to make coffee with bigas and a palayok. Woohoo.
My yaya made me appreciate Tony Falcon movies. Awesome stuff man, I actually believed that shit–like when Agent X44 killed a guy by throwing a bullet at him.
My yaya, who is from Cebu, tells me, “Always study hard, always clean your study area and always get someone else to tutor you in English.”
[…] tiny cupcakes above were from RJ Ledesma’s book launch. Check out the DIY yaya kit aka. press […]
[…] entry to RJ Ledesma’s book launch contest! She wins a free copy of RJ’s new book, ‘Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me.’ Since Yapi is currently in China I received the prize on her behalf and will figure out a way to […]
Congratulations to Yapi for winning the competition! 🙂
[…] That’s RJ’s yaya on the banner, from his latest book release, Lies My Yaya Should Have Told Me. Over the past three years, there were columns I’ve written […]