My social location is constantly changing, being shaped by social structures, like my

social class, gender, occupation, and many other things like religion and ethnicity. This in, effect,
also shapes my habitus, which is how I perceive and respond socially to everything around me.
Understanding that I am not better than others, whether in intellect or how I conduct myself,
simply because I belong to a family that is more financially stable or capable, allowed me to not
only interact with Tita Allego and Kuya Johnny without assumptions or discrimination regarding
social class, but also to see them as simply people for me to socialize with and learn from.
Being aware of our differences in social location in terms of culture, especially in our religion and
beliefs, which I believe strongly affected Tita Allego’s habitus towards us in the online
kwentuhan sessions, drove me to be respectful of the beliefs and opinions she shared with us,
which were generally positive and helpful. As someone who grew up with access to various
perspectives, opinions, and beliefs on the internet, and is now equipped with the understanding
that these are often brought about by learned culture that others simply practice by sharing
these, I have become more accepting of others and how they express themselves. I was able to
apply these realizations in my interactions with Tita Allego in the online kwentuhan sessions, by
respecting her beliefs, how it’s okay for them be different than mine, and how both are simply a
result of the generations and the different cultures practiced in it that we were shared to us, that
we eventually turned to practice.

Despite all these, I feel that I failed to consider our social locations in terms of gender. As
I look back, I felt more comfortable talking with Tita Allego compared to Kuya Johnny, perhaps
because we shared the expectations society has for us because of being women. This lack of
understanding of our social locations in terms of gender, at the time, cost me to focus more on
Tita Allego than her husband, Kuya Johnny. But perhaps this could also be due to him not being
listed as part of the online kwentuhan sessions on the entrance ticket, or his lack of appearance
on the first online kwentuhan session. Lastly, being aware of the changes in my social location
because of living in different kinds of neighborhoods and being exposed to varying Filipino
cultures and habitus, I was able to utilize familiar words that I learned in understanding Tita
Allego and Kuya Johnny, and adjusted my vocabulary accordingly when interacting with them,
by improvising or changing the phrasing in some of my questions using words that they already
used before. Because of this, I was able to connect with them and understand the meaning
behind their words much better, compared to simply hearing what they are saying.