"wow, I had no idea I had so much family in the U.S. I hope I get to meet you
all
some day."
Well, since I'm here, I may as well respond to Auntie Grace who just wrote to
me,
and at the same time, I can go ahead and fill you all in on who I am:
My name is Roland Aguado Palugod. I'm mestizo. My mother is from Spain and
her name is Ana. My father is Rolando Arcena Palugod, from Binakayan, Kawit,
Cavite (actually, I guess that went without saying). I'm the first child, only
son. I have one sister-Carolyn. Unfortunately, growing up, I was more in
touch with the Spanish side of heritage since I lived most of my life in
Europe. I still get excited and it's still a novelty to me when I see the name
Palugod and it's not one of my immediate family members. I know few Palugods
in the U.S. and even fewer in the Philippines. So, I guess this WWW is doing
us all a great service, me especially as it's giving me more opportunity to get
in touch with my Filipino bloodline. I speak Spanish fluently but very little
Tagalog; a smattering of words and a few sentences. I was one of the founding
members of the Filipino-American Student Association at my university and MC'd
and performed at several Cultural Nights. (I dance a mean Tinikling and don't
get
me started on my Maglalatik-nothing like smashing coconuts together)
I live in Washington, DC now and I moved here from Norfolk, Virginia about a
year ago. I work for PBS. My e-mail address is at my work. I'm currently
shopping for a home service and I'm using up my 50 hours at AOL but I'm not too
thrilled about the service. So, until I get something at home, just send
stuff
to my work.
Auntie Grace, (Is "Auntie" appropriate-I don't know if you're older than me)
I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever met any of your family. I've only been
to the Philippines twice and both times I was very young (I was still 0 the
first time I went). This is part of my quest to get acquainted with my rich
and
colourful Filipino heritage.
Ok, have I babbled on enough....? More information than you needed to know...?
Thanks
for baring with me.
Well, I hope those of you I haven't met will write me and tell me about
yourselves. If ever you're in the DC/Metro area, I hope we'll get to meet.
There
are a few Palugods here as well.
Until then, (I was gonna write something in Tagalog but I've drawn a complete
blank
on my extensive repertoir of tagalog vocabulary)
Roland
rpalugod@pbs.org