Antipolo, Rizal

Visiting the city of Antipolo, where my Dad grew up was one of my favourite highlights of the trip. We rekindled with family members and paid surprise visits right to their front doors, tears of joy and warm hugs always followed. This is where I discovered something about myself that I will take along with me every day. Growing up I never understood the origin of my last name because majority of Filipinos had surnames of Spanish descent. I was the only Ardidon heard of from where I grew up, apart from my brother, mother and father.

My loving aunt welcomed us into her beautiful home in Antipolo, where we spent a few nights after days out in the City. As we toured her incredible home enclosed by colossal white walls and carefully engraved fine art ceilings, I spot a plaque on the wall in her intricate lounge that reads "Ardidon Agency Christmas Party 2017 & 17 Years Anniversary Celebration." In this moment I felt a sense of nobility reading my last name with association to a successful and impactful business in the Philippines.

My aunt is one of my inspirations as she takes pride in her roles as a Mother, CEO of Philam Life Antipolo, and a successful and impactful business woman in the Philippines. Conversations initiated on the topic of her career, along with brain nourishing advice on the business industry and how she thrived into the proud woman she carries herself as today. Having this knowledge gives me the internal push to work hard for what I want, as I can view the inspiring results of hard work being paid off, right in front of my very eyes.

We toured through the Pinto Art Museum packed with alluring art by Filipino artists, and ancient artifacts tracing back to indigenous Philippine culture. This museum was home to Filipino neurologist and medical educator Joven Cuanang, who is a graduate from Harvard University and friend of my aunt and uncle’s.

The various white buildings on his property consisted of a wide range of art that was collected in the 1990’s, portraying the in-depth history of the Philippines and the tremendously Spanish influenced culture. The museum is surrounded by a 20000 square metre garden complex known as the Silangan Gardens - an ecological collection of plants, flowers and bird sanctuary. After sunset we drove to Cloud 9, where we caught the radiant view of Manila City in its entirety at night.

To end off our adventurous day thorough the city, my aunt and cousins took our family to a local bar and family favourite, Calleza Grill & Bar where we gathered in authentic Filipino style. Live entertainment from local musicians and vocalists, delicious bar food consisting of fried pork and spices, and buckets of ice cold San Mig. Little did I know, I would get tricked into performing in front of a crowed that night. My aunt slyly handed our waiter a small piece of paper with a song title written in pen and pointed at me. An experience to say the least, I told myself I would say yes to everything and I did just that. Regardless, I don’t regret it.