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FIRST TIME.  Eddy and Helen (not their real names) who had been living in the US for many years brought their 10-year-old daughter to Cebu to let her experience the Christmas holidays here for the first time. She enjoyed the Christmas atmosphere, including the nightlife and the malling (the shopping malls in Cebu are bigger than those in their place in Kentucky, according to Eddy).

NEW YEAR. Then came the New Year's eve celebration. Bursting and exploding of firecrackers all around their home in Lahug scared the 10-year-old girl...so scared she trembled ("nagkurog," Eddy said). Eddy and Helen had to rush the girl to distant hotel where they kept her in a sound-proofed room until the next morning. Eddy told our Ear informer: "Grabe ang buto-buto, mura'g gubat." He said it was different when he was still living here.