When we moved to Jersey City, her work was just as far, or actually maybe even farther. And I can't recall ever going back to work with her. One time though, I think in the summer, I think I did go with her but not to her work. She had met up with either old friends or relatives, and they lived close to where she worked.
I can't always tell about the Filipino adults we were acquainted with when I was growing up whether we were related because we have this custom of calling every adult as Aunt or Uncle. But my mom was kind of surprised to find Uncle Roi in the States. She apparently had not known where he and his wife were living.
I didn't go to camps in the summer. We weren't even aware of what camps were available in the city, or how much they cost. And we definitely could not afford to go away to vacations. So somehow, my mom had this idea that I could spend some time with my uncle. I believe I was to go to their apartment and he was to teach me how to draw or something.
So one day I went there. I'm not sure why he was home, whether he was off for the whole summer or he had the day off or worked night shifts, but I was under the impression that he spent the days, at least in the summer, in their apartment. His wife wasn't home so I assume she herself was working. And my mom left me there for the day, as she went off to work.
We kind of had a little chat at first, and then he asked if I wanted to watch TV. I think he did give me some paper and pens, but I just basically sat there all day watching. I remember getting a glimpse of "Mystery Science Theatre" before changing channels. They had cable and had HBO.
We actually didn't end up doing any art or drawing. I ended up sitting there by myself in the living room the whole time while he disappeared elsewhere. He didn't do anything bad to me or anything. On the contrary, he was more disinterested if anything. In retrospect, I feel like it was my mom kind of inviting herself or myself into their lives.
His wife seemed even more disinterested than my uncle. They were both nice enough, but especially for my aunt, she seemed to have a bit of an air that they were above us. Maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like she wanted nothing to do with us, and if not for the fact that they had known each other in the Philippines, they may not have entertained us at all.
In any case, my uncle had a bunch of tapes of movies he had recorded off HBO. He had labeled them all neatly and displayed them by the TV stand. He either offered to lend us some tapes or my mom simply asked to borrow them. We did end up taking one or two home. One of them was "Batman", if I remember correctly.
Now, if you didn't know how VHS tapes work, there's a little tab that you are supposed to pop off in order to protect it from recording. And if you wanted to record over the tape again, you would simply put tape over the hole where the tab used to be. So on one of those tapes, my uncle never popped the tab off. At some point, I mistakenly pressed the record button on the remote control. The VCR stopped playing the movie, and it immediately showed whatever channel it was tuned into and began recording it. I quickly pressed the stop button, but of course, there is that one or two seconds of disruption over the movie now.
I think this may have been at my friend Jackson's house. I think I wanted to show him "Batman" and brought over the tape there. Either that or I wanted to just watch or finish it and so I took it with me.
I felt bad about that mistake. I felt guilty about it for a long time, but I never said anything. Later on, my mom returned the tape, and I hoped my uncle would never find out. They never did say anything about it. I would hope if they did see it, they simply looked up when the movie was showing again and taped it again.
I didn't see much of my uncle and his wife after that. I'm not sure if it was related to the tape. But they ended up moving across the country to Seattle or something. And they never told us or anyone. When we did find out, I believe my mom was still able to contact them by phone or something. But I never did see them again.
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