Turban legend entails the hardships that Filipino experiences when they are far away from their families. It shows the longing of Filipinos all around the globe. Just because a person works abroad doesn't mean they wanted it. It is because they need it.

14. born in Manila, is a
Filipino American poet,
novelist, and
playwright. He earned
a bachelor's degree
from the University of
Hawaii in Honolulu.

15. He is the recipient of a Japan-
United States Friendship
Commission, a winner of a
National Endowment for the
Arts creative writing fellowship
in poetry (2001), and was a
Fulbright Foundation Senior
Lecturer/Researcher in the
Philippines (2005-2006).

16. He was a Distinguished Visiting
Professor in Creative Writing at
the University of Hawaii and
University of Miami.

17. TURBAN
LEGEND
BY: R ZAMORA LINMARK

18. By the time Vince arrives at the
Philippine Airlines departures
terminal, it is
already bustling with restless
souls who, with their balikbayan
boxes, have transformed the
terminal into a warehouse, as if
they’re returning to the
motherland on a cargo ship
rather than Asia’s first airline
carrier.

19. Comedians use these durable
cardboard boxes as materials
for their Filipino-flavored jokes.
“How is the balikbayan box like
American Express to Filipinos?
Because they never leave home
without it.”

20. Everywhere Vince turns are
boxes, boxes, and. more boxes.
Boxes secured by electrical
tape and ropes. Boxes with
drawstring covers made from
canvas or tarp. Boxes lined up
like a fortified wall behind
check-in counters or convoying
on squeaky conveyor belts of x-
ray machines.

21. Boxes blocking the Mabuhay
Express lane for first-and
business-class passengers.
Boxes stacked up on carts right
beside coach passengers
standing in queues that are
straight only at their starting
points before branching out to
form more-or converge with
other-lines, bottlenecking as
they near the ticket counter.

22. Boxes that ought to be the
Philippines’ exhibit at the next
World’s Fair, Vince tells himself
as he navigates his cartload of
Louis Vuitton bags in and out of
the maze. An exhibit that should
take place none other than here,
at the Honolulu International
Airport, he laughs, as he
imagines an entire terminal
buried in the Filipinos’ most
popular-and preferred-pieces of
luggage.

23. With a balikbayan boa Filipinos
can pack cans of Hormel corned
beef, Libby’s Vienna sausage,
Folgers, and SPAM; perfume
samples; new or hand-me-down
designer jeans; travel-sized
bottles of shampoo, conditioner,
and body lotion gleaned from
Las Vegas hotels; and
appliances marked with first-
world labels

24. that, as anyone who’s been to
the Philippines knows, can
easily be purchased at Duty
Free right outside the airport or
from any of the crypt-like malls
that are so gargantuan they’re a
metropolis unto themselves.

25. Filipinos will even throw
themselves into these boxes, as
was the case of the overseas
contract worker in Dubai. The
man, an engineer was so
homesick that, unable to afford
the ticket-most of his earnings
went to cover his living
expenses and the rest to his
wife and children

26. -he talked his roommate, who
was homebound for the
holidays, into checking him in.
He paid for the excess baggage
fee, which still came out
cheaper than a round-trip
airfare. En route to Manila, he
died from hypothermia.

27. Vince, who had heard the story
from his older sister Jing, didn’t
buy it. There were too many
loopholes, too many
unanswered questions, like
wouldn’t an x-ray machine in the
Middle East detect a Filipino
man curled up inside a box? He
simply dismissed it as a “turban
legend.”

28. “You’re missing the point
brother,” Jing said. “It’s not the
mechanics that matter. It’s
about drama. The extremes a
Filipino will go to just to be back
home for Christmas with his
family.”

30. QUESTIONS
Why do Filipinos Love balikbayan
boxes?
Filipinos love balikbayan boxes because for them it means
that it is the love of the sender through the “pasalubong” or
gift, where it contains many things like appliances, clothes,
perfume, shampoos and many other things that are branded
and came from America or any other country.

31. QUESTIONS
Why do you think the boxes
symbolize? Why do they seem to be
more important than their contents?
it symbolizes as love for the family and friends. Balikbayan
seems to be important than their contents because it means
to the Filipinos that you will always remember them even
though you are very far from each other.

32. QUESTIONS
When the narrator notes the Filipino-
ness of the balikbayan boxes, what
does he feel toward his fellow
Filipinos?
The author feels proud towards his fellow Filipino. In this
story he shows that we shouldn’t be ashamed of being a
Filipino Citizen because he elevated the good attitude of
Filipino towards culture and family even in a small things like
remembering them through balikbayan boxes.

33. QUESTIONS
What does the airport symbolize?
The airport symbolize as a “warehouse” or storage of the
Balikbayan boxes. Because in the phrase “Everywhere Vince
turns are boxes, boxes and more boxes.” The author describe
the setting of the airport like a storage or warehouse.

34. QUESTIONS
What do you think is the real message
behind the anecdote or the “turban
legend”?
The real message of the anecdote is that Filipinos will always
love their families by remembering them. Through that
balikbayan boxes, it can say that love will always prevails
even though you are far away from each other.

35. QUESTIONS
Do you think that Filipinos who live or
work abroad suffer from
homesickness? Explain your answer.

36. QUESTIONS
The author luggage is Louis Vuitton.
How does that help characterize the
narrator?
Louis Vuitton is a Brand name of a Bags that cost or worth a
half to one million pesos and because of that “Louis Vuitton”
word, it helps to characterize the narrator as a wealthy man.

37. QUESTIONS
Do you think when the Filipinos are
abroad, they are proud of being a
Filipino? Why or why not?

38. QUESTIONS
The title “Turban Legend” is a play on
words to a phrase “urban legend”.
What does “urban legend” mean? Why
was it change to “Turban Legend”?

39. QUESTIONS
In Meriam Webster Dictionary, Urban legend is a story about
an unusual event or occurrence that many people believe is
true but that is not true.
It is change to turban legend because the anecdote is said to
be true about Filipinos about balikbayan boxes but because
of story of Jing that has many loopholes or unexplained
things it makes the anecdote unbelievable and looks like an
urban legend.

40. QUESTIONS
What is the significance of the story?
The importance or essence of the story is that in the Filipino
culture, Family are the most important thing on earth that
should always be remembered even though you are miles
away from them. The things in the balikbayan boxes that are
expensive is not only a “gift” but it represents the love of the
sender to their family.