welcome back to reality

we arrived back from the philippines friday evening, and would you believe i'm still jetlagged? how long does it take to shake this thing?!

we all had a splendid time! while the country itself is an interesting place to be in, i always tell people that the reason i have so much fun in the philippines, year after year, is because of my family that resides there. we only get to bond once a year, and it's always such good quality time. because my pinsans are quite shy, it always takes them a day or so to get warmed up. they are absolutely terrified at speaking english, and i can't very well speak tagalog save for one word exclamations (i.e. galing! social! ay nako!), so most of our conversations are in broken english and one word tagalog translations. it's funny that although language sometimes creates a barrier, the actions that take place between us speak loud and clear.

i have a few stories about our biyahe, but for now i leave you with one that was quite amusing.

while waiting to see my uncle who is the mayor of sorsogon (those are my pinsans you see in the beginning of the video), david and i happend to engage in a short conversation with one of the secretaries in the office at the municipal building. this is how it went:

male secretary: so, are you guys, like, from the states?
d&d: yes.
male secretary: like, born and raised?
d&d: yes.
male secretary: so, you guys are like, american?
d&d: umm, yes.
male secretary: wow, that's great!
d&d: (smiling)
male secretary: well, i really hope that when you get back to the states, you will vote for ramielle malubay. we're all voting here for the next american idol to be a filipina! (huge smile on his face.)
d&d: oh, yes, of course! (trying to hold in our laughter...)

it was really funny. i don't mean to poke fun at him, because in actuality it was rather cute that he would take the time to ask us to vote for a fellow filipino. talk about filipino pride!