Parking Slot

Foothill Boulevard

La Crescenta

A cart was blocking half of the way in, when an elderly came out of the car beside the parking slot and took it away. She leaned towards me and said, “An old woman left it there.” I said, It’s all right, I understand.” She went back to her car, backed away and left. What a gracious old lady, I thought to myself. Then I brought the cart back in the store. “She didn’t get away with it, did she? The parking clerk said. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Well, she was the one who left the cart there…..”

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Nurse Beatriz

Managua
Nicaragua

Beatriz is from Nicaragua and today she was my nurse for medical exam. “When, I arrived, I had, zero English.” She said in a heavy accent. “Filipinos, are lucky, to learn, English, in school.” She now made a tourniquet on my right arm for TB test. The needle had to be inserted just underneath the skin but Beatriz did it a little too shallow the liquid oozed out in a spray to her scrub uniform. “Oh, I’m sorry, the medicine, jump out a little, just a little, we do it, again.... In Nicaragua, we, only speak, Spanish.... blah blah blah….” 
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Invisible Monkeys

Marinduque

South of Manila

This was a deserted mangrove-forest island fabled for hundreds of monkeys, and today we were going to give it a visit hoping the mischievous monkeys will show up as the local fishermen say they would. For food, we only brought rice. “We can just catch fish there for grilling.” they said. It sounded really exciting, and we did catch some fish, except that they were as big as our fingers. It turned out that all they want was drink booze. And the monkeys? One of the fishermen said, “It’s the first time ever - not one showed up!”

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It Floats!

Mactan Island

Philippines

“Are you sure it’s going to float?” I teased. He said, “Hai! Hai! Im sure, you’ll see.” For days on end, he cut lumber and planed and sanded then fitted the pieces together to make an outrigger speedboat, the smallest I’ve ever seen. Then he applied paint and sanded again. “Sanding again makes it smooth.” he said. Then he added more paint. “The small dimensions make it fit perfectly to the stern of my sailboat.” “A sailboat? For how much?” “It's a catamaran. I just made it.” “Are you a naval architect?” “Ah no, I just like sailing….”
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The Slap

Sete
South of France

“Jun what’s the name of the Vietnamese girl?” I said, “Phuc.” “How do you spell that?” “P-H-U-C” I said. “Can I ask her, how do you spell your name Phuc, F-U-C-K?” I said, “You wouldn’t dare man.” Oscar grinned and said, “Wanna bet?” “Ok 1 Euro, I said. So off he went to the dance floor and sashayed his way to Phuc. So there they were, taking turns shouting at each other’s ears, and he did ask the F-U-C-K question! As he grinned from ear to ear I tossed him the coin extremely disappointed he didn’t get the slap….
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Dracula

Transylvania

Romania, Eastern Europe

Harvard educated Dan is from Romania but works for prominent politicians in Washington D.C. We’ve worked together in the Philippines in 2010 for a candidate in the presidential election. As the campaign went full throttle we watched a newsflash featuring a pregnant woman allegedly blood-sucked dry by a witch with bat wings and flies with only its upper body. I said, “Dan, do you have monster stories like these in your country? “ He said, Are you serious? Haven’t you heard about Count Dracula? I replied, “Yes of course, so?” He said, “Well, Dracula was Romanian!”
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The Gift

Baseline

Cebu

Jo leafed through the Book of Quotations. Every now and then her eyes lit up. Feeling richly generous, I scribbled something on the inside cover before handing it back to her. Here, a keepsake, I said. I sensed just a hint of embarrassment as she beamed in delight to accept it. They say giving is it’s own reward, I think it is, and more - it’s the sense of abundance. And when the gift is received happily - absolute elation, a feeling like no other.
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Oil?

Shiraz

Persia (Iran)

Sepideh lives in Shiraz. She said in Farsi her name means before sunrise and that my name means sweetheart. "So am I a sweetheart?" She smiled and said, "Yes you are, because you always joke around to make me forget my country’s woes…." Woes? Persia is a proud country and rightly so. In its heyday, it controlled the world as much as the Romans did, and the Greeks did in their own time. It gave us Saadi and Rumi. "Now the world perceived my country as evil." She I said. "It’s uranium enrichment, right?" "No." She replied. "It’s oil."
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Fall Colors

Springtime
Glendale

Ah I just miss Autumn....
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Just Sayin

Freeport Area of Bataan
Mariveles

“It’s good for your singing voice.” Mom said as I whisked away ants floating in my glass of milk.

It was a rainy morning. I brought out the coffee and creamer, but somebody forgot to close the lid on the sugar container. As they started complaining, I heard myself echo what mother said many years ago. “Its good for your singing voice!” Yeah, yeah, they chorused. It’s a tall story meant to appease little kids, not whining adults. But somehow it made the ant-rich coffee bearable. And how do you think Mariah Carey got her singing voice ey? Just sayin….
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