Po

December 13, 2006

Afraid that I will be left by the 8:30 am Greyhound bus to Las Vegas, I eagerly stood at the El Monte Station boarding area ready to jump on the bus as soon as its doors were opened. The bus driver was quicker than me. He went out before I could get in.

He checked my ticket and as he did so, asked me, “Pinoy ka ba?” Taken aback by such query so early in the morning (8:30 is very early for me as I usually wake up at past 11), I nodded and murmured a yes. Then I remembered that if he were Tagalog, the polite way of answering was to end it with a “po.” So I belatedly answered, “Opo.”

Being a Cebuano, the respectful language of saying “po” has always been very difficult for me when I lived in Manila. I knew the Tagalogs are quite anal about it. They could not understand that if we, people from the Visayas forget to attach the “po” we don’t mean to be disrespectful. We simply are not used to it. We show our respect by using polite words and a polite tone (although a number of non Visayan speaking people would think we are always quarreling among ourselves by the tone of our conversations).

After living in Manila for more than five years, I still have not gotten the hang of it and to be safe, I usually just smother my sentences with “pos” as I don’t know exactly where to place it in a phrase.

Now that I’m vacationing in the States, I never thought I would worry about that language difference here. Silly. Filipinos are seen in most parts of the world doing all sorts of work like my friendly bus driver so I still need to mind my “pos.”

Not so much of a bother really. Having a fellow Filipino on that bus took away my fears of not arriving at my destination. Las Vegas, here I come!

Christmas Trees

12 December 2006

When my cousin told me and our other cousin that we were buying a Christmas tree for their home, I was as thrilled as a child getting a surprise for the holidays. It was my first experience at choosing a live tree. Yeehah!


I tried to look around as if I knew what I was looking for. When the selection was narrowed down to two and my choice didn’t make it, I was not disappointed as I ordinarily would have been. I was just too happy having the chance to choose.




Happy holidays everyone and Merry Christmas gift!

Dream House

12 December 2006

The houses in Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, and Rolling Hills enamored me. Actually, it was the vision of the Pacific Ocean before these homes that charmed me. I was so busy looking to my left and to my right that my neck ached and I forgot to take pictures.

I was told the houses in Malibu which was six kilometers away from Sta. Monica where we took a break were mansions with the same calming sight of the waters.





Let’s take a break and dream. Or better yet, work to own one in this lifetime.

Queen Mary

11 December 2006

Ever seen a ship that has been here for more than 7 decades? Drop by Long Beach, California someday and take a tour of the Queen Mary. And while you are there, take time appreciating its surrounding views.

Let’s give credit to the City who bid $3.45 Million in 1967 to acquire the historic vessel.

The View Below

11 December 2006

The ocean offers a breathtaking world of its own. That is why I envy the guts of serious scuba divers. Their courage allows them the feast of the splendor of creation.

Thanks to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach and the kindness of my cousins Shounette and Egen, I touched and saw the wondrous colors and shapes of the living things that lay beneath our land.



I know nothing still beats the experience of swimming with them. But I am no Ariel and no matter, it’s still the same view for me.

Celebrity Homes Tour and Beyond

10 December 2006

I saw the homes of Tom Cruise, Simon Cowell, Charliz Therone, Jackie Chan, Sean Penn, and other stars living in Beverly Hills through a Celebrity Homes Tour package. I got a peek of their gates, garages, cars, some parts of their roofs and their pipes. Hurrah!

When my friend Angelo told me there was such a tour, I thought it meant really going inside their houses. How gullible could I be?

The tour included information on where some movies were shot, where movie stars hang out and where they were caught doing both the good and the bad.

I was wide-eyed absorbing all the facts and probably some fiction. Who knows if the tour guide made some of them up? Hehehe.

It was astounding looking at the million dollar homes in Beverly Hills and the million dollar chandeliers along Rodeo Drive. That’s fifty million pesos for the 20 hanging chandeliers courtesy of Baccarat.



The display blending so naturally on that ultra classy street would be ostentatious where I come from. But I’m betting a million dollars (from my lottery winnings) that some of our politicians’ houses back home have similar or more expensive décor.





P.S. Celebrity sighting: Usher getting out of his car going to a shop.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

10 December 2006

There is nothing spectacular about the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The naming of the stars along Hollywood Boulevard has always been portrayed on television with much fanfare. Thus, when some friends told me they were just ordinary stars along an ordinary street, I listened in disbelief. I convinced myself that there must be something extraordinary about them and that my friends were just being snobs.



Come December 10, 2006, the day I finally walked on the famed stars. It was an exciting star-filled occasion for me! Yet, I cannot help but admit I misjudged my friends. They were not being snobs, they were just being truthful.

But such observation does not stop me from taking a pose.