“Guarded Skepticism”…
One of the things about writing a blog is that many people (whom you generally never meet or know about) read about your daily life, thoughts and dreams and form opinions either rightly or wrongly.
Those of you who have been reading since I arrived in Manila will know that the transition hasn’t been the easiest…which even I have found strange given that I have lived so many places and moved country so many times…and enjoyed every one of those countries almost immediately!
However, I think finally things are beginning to fall into place and the realisation dawned last night….for me feeling ‘at home’ is more about the network of ‘services’ that I rely on to make life go a little more smoothly, it’s about having the right laundry…and about having a few people who ‘recognise me’….last night it ‘clicked’….
When I left work last night I knew I had no food at home and having not eaten at work decided to pop into the Dome café and pick up my ‘usual’ salad…as I walked in the door the waitress there who always looks after me just said ‘the usual’ (she knows that after work I am a woman of few words!)…so I nodded and went and planted myself at my ‘usual’ table (good heavens, I am a creature of habit!) where she put the Daily Inquirer on the table for me to read and left me to it…..
I left the café with my dinner and wandered over to the taxi queue…the guy who organises the queue knows where I am going ( no surprise there, I go there almost every night!) …and as I stand and watch one of the Rustan’s staff loading a lady’s shopping into the taxi…he turns to me and says “You must have no food in your house, you haven’t had a delivery for about 10 days!”…..how nice…he remembered when I last shopped there…and he proclaims to the world that, yes, I am the most disorganised person in the world!
Finally, as I went into my little refuge on Wack Wack Road the lady that runs the laundry shop in the building is leaving for home (finally…I think she works longer hours than me!!) ..as she passes me she says “I put your laundry at the reception, I know you can’t get home to pick it up before we close....you can pay next time you come in”…
So, the basic network is there and life will probably start to be a little smoother….
Friskodude describes my first seven months in Manila like this….
"After her first year of guarded skepticism, Madame Chiang seems to be warming up to the Philippines"
Possibly………
Those of you who have been reading since I arrived in Manila will know that the transition hasn’t been the easiest…which even I have found strange given that I have lived so many places and moved country so many times…and enjoyed every one of those countries almost immediately!
However, I think finally things are beginning to fall into place and the realisation dawned last night….for me feeling ‘at home’ is more about the network of ‘services’ that I rely on to make life go a little more smoothly, it’s about having the right laundry…and about having a few people who ‘recognise me’….last night it ‘clicked’….
When I left work last night I knew I had no food at home and having not eaten at work decided to pop into the Dome café and pick up my ‘usual’ salad…as I walked in the door the waitress there who always looks after me just said ‘the usual’ (she knows that after work I am a woman of few words!)…so I nodded and went and planted myself at my ‘usual’ table (good heavens, I am a creature of habit!) where she put the Daily Inquirer on the table for me to read and left me to it…..
I left the café with my dinner and wandered over to the taxi queue…the guy who organises the queue knows where I am going ( no surprise there, I go there almost every night!) …and as I stand and watch one of the Rustan’s staff loading a lady’s shopping into the taxi…he turns to me and says “You must have no food in your house, you haven’t had a delivery for about 10 days!”…..how nice…he remembered when I last shopped there…and he proclaims to the world that, yes, I am the most disorganised person in the world!
Finally, as I went into my little refuge on Wack Wack Road the lady that runs the laundry shop in the building is leaving for home (finally…I think she works longer hours than me!!) ..as she passes me she says “I put your laundry at the reception, I know you can’t get home to pick it up before we close....you can pay next time you come in”…
So, the basic network is there and life will probably start to be a little smoother….
Friskodude describes my first seven months in Manila like this….
"After her first year of guarded skepticism, Madame Chiang seems to be warming up to the Philippines"
Possibly………
posted by Madame Chiang at 8:49 am
3 Comments:
You do seem to be having a better time with it all, but your heart still seems to be back in Hong Kong and perhaps England, but also in the Middle East.
Yes...the Arab world and the desert is definitely calling!!!
Oh my god, there is really much worthwhile data in this post!
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