Puerto Rico, Aruba, Curacao, Dominica & St. John

Living in the Midwest, my water experience and activities are limited to rivers and lake. Colors of Missouri and Mississippi rivers are nothing to rave about. Lakes offers some excitement , courtesy of resorts abutting on its shores , it's never the same though. Having lived the first 44 years of my life in an island part of an archipelago, I always equate water with the tropical seas , blue, expansive and endless. When my husband brought up the idea of a cruise, I jumped at the offer. Forget about the kitchen and bathroom renovations, it can wait. But my longing for the sea needs to me satiated.

Luggage packed like any woman would pack for a 7 day trip, as if she is packing for a month. Wardrobe, shoes, purse and accessories and still unsure if I covered all the checklists for the formal dinners and casual garbs. Should I bring 2 or 3 swimsuits, hmm, maybe 4 , I can't be photographed with the same attire all the time. What will my Facebook buddies would say, aarghhhhhhh. Manicure, pedicure, eyebrow waxed and a prayer that I can coach my rotund belly to coöperate with me to hide or move to Arizona for the time being . Why Arizona, in that way, my fat can be deported out of America with their new laws.

Trying to cut down on my food intake for the last 2 weeks, why you ask? To splurge on the food in the cruise, that is what my husband told me. I did not do it, i think i gained more weight avoiding foods.

Comments

Kermit and Mickey Mouse , Sad

I am a sucker for old fashion cartoons that I can proudly admit that I saw Snow white and the Seven Dwarfs more than I can count my fingers and toes; unabashedly cried when the great King Mufasa died and Simba tried to wake him up, commiserate with Miss Piggy in her unrequited love for Kermit and other emotional display of affection to these animated personalities that I won't mention for it will totally make me look beyond silly . I n May of 1990, the creator of the Muppets, Jim Henson died. I saw a tribute from the Disney artist of a drawing of Kermit the Frog being consoled by Mickey Mouse on the death of Kermit's creator. That drawing created an imprint on my mind the idea of raw sadness associated with death. Ironic that non living cartoon characters could invoke such cogent feeling in me, on issue of death. Here is the photo I am talking about: T here is a colored version of this but I was still digging up the Internet and up ...

It's Alive and Kicking in Chesterfield Missouri

Having lived the first 44 years of my life in a homogeneous society like the Philippines, racism was kind of a vague issue to me. But when I moved to United States and married an American , I was slowly introduced to this kind of order in America. I became an honorary black woman. I said that because I embraced not only him but also his "people" but still maintain my Filipino values and culture . Color blind as I am in my relationship with my husband and his family, I am was also aware of the ugly presence of discrimination and racism that lurks from time to time being a mixed couple - a black man and an Asian woman. My husband told me he was used to it and he understands why I was perplexed by it in considering the society where I came from. We suffered the curious looks, the disappointed looks, why I married a black man look, why did he marry an Asian look ,why did you take away our man look , maybe she just needs a green card look, y...

Bikining Itim Amidst the Grandeur of the Eiffel Tower

The last time I was in Paris, the European continent was sizzling due to the heatwave. Me and my travelling buddy took a side trip to Barcelona and Paris en route to attend a friend's wedding in London. We were supposed to represent our company's CEO in that wedding hence it's a freebie trip. My TB (travelling buddy) had relatives working in Spain and France so our accommodations were taken care of . As espoused by the queen of irony - Jessica Zafra of the impending world domination of Filipinos via diaspora - for wanna be globe trotters; start making lists of relatives to the nth degree of consanguinity living abroad or even people you are remotely related. You might need them if you ever caught the travel itch but can only spare for the airfare and pasalubong (presents/keepsake) or you will end up eating ramen all the time. Filipinos abroad still practice their genuine unequaled hospitality . When my ni...

The Convivial Gist

Search This Blog