Yum.
parties are big here: This one included the extended family, complete with cousins/ second cousins/ neighbors and even the help (we went with our cook, who has been with our family for 40 years. She was given a fancy blouse to wear by Dr. Angie, so she went inside, but the drivers weren't forgotten: They had their meals outside in a gazebo, so they could watch the cars and so they didn't have to dress up).
It's not just the affluent who hold parties:
Even our secretary borrowed our meeting hall for her baby's first birthday party, which was catered and had a karaoke machine for music.
sometimes parties (and for wakes and funerals!) hire a local band to play music.
but the middle class folks hire a Karaoke machines for parties: you rent them from a local vendor, and then after you eat, everyone can take turns at singing their favorite songs. (we even have a TV channel with Karaoke on our cable TV).
Parties like this not only are fun, but increase social cohesiveness and family ties.
And they provide work for a lot of people: stores that sell balloons and decorations, people who set up the decorations for you, the waiters and caterers, those who supply Lechon, and of course, those who rent you a karaoke machine.
There was a story in an American paper about buying kidneys in Manila (illegal, but hey, there are ways to get around the law). The reporter noted that one donor bought a karaoke machine with his profits. You could almost hear the reporter sniff his disapproval in the way he wrote the story, and of course the snowflakes making comments all echoed the same thing about wasting money on luxuries.
But of course it was not about luxuries: it was an investment so his family could support themselves.
You can rent the machine out to parties as a business, and since it is part time, it means you can do it as a side job and keep your job working as a tricycle driver etc. since if you are busy, hey one of the kids or relatives can deliver it to parties.
No comments:
Post a Comment