The first was a giant book with a shiny black cover, so heavy that I needed to set it down. I mouthed the title in big letters on the front, ASTRONOMY, and marveled at a picture I recognized as the Earth from outer space. The other book was a collection of fairy tales, made of thick shiny paper and full of color images. The third item was not a book but another box, and inside was a plastic contraption with a keyboard called a Speak & Spell, which began to talk when I turned it on. I squeezed into the empty cardboard box and rested my back against one of the walls to play for hours that afternoon, and for several days after, with the talking machine that predicted the wonder of America, while that box’s fragrance became embedded in my mind even after I couldn’t smell it anymore, and Nanay Coro finally convinced me to throw the container away.

My English learning sped up after I got that box of presents. I discovered the UHF channel that only showed American programs from the Angeles U.S. Army Base in Pampanga, the province next to us, and watched it all day even though I had to constantly adjust our metal TV antenna just to catch the grainy signal. I found a show called Jeopardy!, where contestants answered all sorts of questions I didn’t understand at first, but was able to piece together over time when I started watching it every day, facts about the U.S. Constitution, the capitals of the world, and great books I hoped to someday read.

Though even as my knowledge of English broadened, I still listened to Lea Salonga several times a week, as though her album bridged the world I came from and the one I looked forward to. I’d learned the whole tape by heart and sang songs from it throughout the day, including “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “Rainbow Connection,” whose melody I loved and which seemed more tangible to me because I saw rainbows often enough. I loved all the songs on the cassette, though I wasn’t as fond of “Thank You for the Music” as the others, its rhythms more complicated and confusing. I listened to it often enough, but because it was near the end, I was just as likely to skip it and fast-forward so I could turn the tape over and start from the beginning.