Wow. I just had a 4kg struggle with my luggage. Took me about an hour to get my Cebu Pacific ticket back to Manila (man, if there’s one thing that’s consistent with the Philippines…) because the other 3 people ahead of me had to redistribute their luggage from check-in to hand carry, and you know how Filipinos are with the pasalubong, everything’s in a plastic bag of sorts so you can see all the “supot” just being shuffled around like madness… (ok and I just saw a black-haired female Justin Bieber lookalike here at the airport Starbucks…) and well yeah. Then comes my bag… it was 4kgs overweight and I totally did not know that the minimum was 15kg, I thought I was already awesome for pulling off 19.4kg what with all of MY goodies and the extra clothes and shoes I got from my sister… and yes, the toiletries I kept having replenished from the hotel. Good thing I was able to stuff 2 pairs of 5-inch heels, my laundry, and the clothes I bought for my two babies all into this one small bowling bag. Unfortunately, while I was doing all that, I let the people behind me cut in line whilst I repacked NOT KNOWING there were actually seven of them checking in with CRAZY. ASS. pasalubong. I would’ve been helluh annoyed if it wasn’t so unbelievable to watch. And I had 3 hours to kill. And as of now, I have an hour and a half before boarding.
Goes to frikkin’ show why I’m not cut out for this ish. Made my spoiled ass miss having PR companies book my business flights, visas, hotels, and all that good stuff while I just had to show up on time.
But I digress.
I mean… this was my first out-of the-country vacay in a long time. Actually, my first real vacay really, not including all those business trips which aren’t really all that business-like as I always manage to have fun despite the work. And this was one trip where I actually kinda-sorta paid (thanks Mika, hehe) and booked by myself (cue huge-ass sigh – then again, I had my colleague Danee do most of the booking so I really don’t know what I’m complaining about.) Again, not cut out for this ish.
But whatever, right? I’m about to head home to
And let me just say…
I saw CNN.
WHAT THE F*CK DID WE DO THIS TIME?!!!!
Some down-in-a-rut cop takes a tour bus hostage and kills a bunch of hapless HK nationals???!!!
*sigh*
And to think… all the while I was in Thailand… all I could think about was just how awesome we are as a people (and ok, it wouldn’t be fair to let one man’s actions define an entire country, but there’s no denying that we all suffer as a whole when sh*t like this happens.)
But yeah.
Being away just made me contemplate on how frikkin’ amazing we are.
Like for one… and this is in random order:
We smell good. Fur. Realz. Like… it’s not even funny. I mean, sure, we’ve gotten close to some of our neighborhood sweaty “trabajadors” one time or another but hey, you know they just came from the smoldering heat and that’s excusable. But some people, and I’m not gonna name nationalities… man, they LOOKED clean. LOOKED fresh. But jeez louise. Copious amounts of Calvin Klein CANNOT mask the DISTINCT odor of a smelly, unscrubbed, deodorant-free body. I kid you not. Man, it seemed like it was just me cuz my sister couldn’t smell it but I just figured she already had an olfactory fatigue to it, being a flight attendant and all.
So keep it up, y’all. Rexona is the way to go.
Second.
We are so not a rude people. Ok sure there are some instances (from what Mika’s experienced) where the pinays think they’re all high and mighty just cuz they caught themselves a rich white guy from Europe or America or whatever and they get all snotty and bossy and what not. But other than that… we’re generally a very un-rude people. And I totally came up with this conclusion when I was shopping in Phuket. Now I hate shopping. But I don’t mind a good bargain. That’s why I only go as far as the department store. But real bargain shopping? Oh man. I can’t hack the whole making “tawad” bit cuz I feel bad doing it. Like… I don’t mind getting ripped off… so long as I don’t rob these folk of some sort of profit. But when I was shopping, people look like they’d bite your head off if you didn’t buy from them or if you didn’t like the price they gave you. Shit, you’d think they’d make you eat the calculator with the way they shove at you, saying shit like, “Ok you give me gooh price.” The whole frikkin thing stressed me out. And there was this one lady who tried to sell me this see-through blouse (similar to what my sister was wearing) so as to cover up the bikini-top I was walking around in. She kept telling me to put it on and I just snapped, “I’m at the beach, I don’t need it.” And then she said something like (at this point, I wasn’t trying to listen) I wasn’t at a beach and guys were looking. WELL LET THEM FUCKING LOOK, I think my bikini top was more appropriate than those fucking short black dresses and 4-inch pumps the local girls were wearing while they let their asses be pinched in public by their foreign meal ticket.
Woooozaaah.
And third.
We service with a motherf*cking smile. Seriously. We do. Most of the time, at least. And I dunno if it’s just how some nationalities are, but why do they seem like being nice is such a painful thing to do? I mean, I’m not as annoyed when the fastfood guys have attitude problems… Hell, I’d be mad too if I had to make Subway sandwiches all day (as that was my diet for most of the trip). But still, it would make the job a whole lot easier if you made a conscious effort to actually enjoy yourself. So if I ask you for a 6-inch Italian BMT on wheat bread, I suggest you fucking look like putting all that ham and salami and cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, black olives, mayo, and mustard IS GIVING YOU A FRIKKIN’ ORGASM. I might just smile back at your ass. (But then again, I smile back anyway. Cuz I’m Filipino… and I’m just nice that way.)
And lastly,
The fact that we have a firm grasp of the English language… it’s frikkin’ amazing. I mean c’mon, it’s the universal language (and no, I don’t know Chinese so I don’t count that)… and just being able to communicate effectively… you’ll realize just how much of a luxury it is nowadays to be understood. And it’s not being elitist at all to know how to speak in basic, survival English. I think if more countries really took the time out, maybe… we wouldn’t have all these wars. (Ok, I’m stretching it but hey, you never know.)
And there you have it… nothing about my actual trip, hahahaha! I’ll save that for when I get back to
It’s my 10th monthsary today. And a year ago today… was the very first time I met him… drunk as Hell, in Mika’s purple dress, asking for PYT, and trying to steal his hat… while making him take my phone number.
The makings of true love indeed. =P
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