Maids ala filipinas

everytime i am out of the country, may it be europe or the united states, people tend to raise their eyebrows upon hearing that we have maids back home to tend to the kids and the cooking and cleaning. i have to explain to them that it is'nt what they're thinking, actually. first impression is that whoaaa! they must be earning big over there to be able afford "maids". things can be more complicated as that, you know. first of all, we don't pay them that much really, secondly, very often than not, these maids are'nt insured at all. no benefits and no assurance of how long they can even hold on to their jobs. they are mostly young lasses from the provinces seeking some future in manila. hoping that one day they might be able to come across their favorite stars in malls or restaurants where their employers would visit. the employer-maid realationship is quite different from the western countries though. if you put your maids into those black and white uniforms here back there some could just dress up casually. here some rich families offer maids a room, a car and sometimes more. in the philippines, the most you could give them are some hand-me-down clothes from some relative and they'd be jumping for joy. there are advantages and disadvantages though. a lot of these girls did'nt have any educational background and that would mean you have to teach them every little thing that has to be done inside your house. please note that in the provinces, they don't have certain amenities that we are so used to in the city. they burn wood to cook, some don't even have bathrooms. we had a maid we caught looking behind the radio (probably trying to see the little people behind who were singing). see, these things are new to some of them so you really got to go down to the very basic of everything to be able to teach them "how". and this process might take you some five years. after 2 years of teaching two of my maids how to cook german cuisine, french and chinese and how to set the table, what food should go to the freezer and what should go to the fridge, after teaching them how to say please and thank you, and good morninig and good night, they came to me one day asking permission to leave because some new neighbors who happen to be germans offered them more pay, grrrrr. and then there's this problem with the fact that everyting in that house is not their own, instead, they are the employers property whom they don't care about, they will never take good care of your things as you would take care of them. like my chromed furniture started to tarnish because after telling them to wipe it only with a dry cloth, they would still use wet rags for them. they would sweep lego blocks and throw them nito the dust bin. they won't bother picking them up, i tell you. so at the end you might wanna think twice and just do everything yourself.

"JULIO"

MY DAD JULIO, HE WAS QUITE A CHARACTER. HE IS ECCENTRIC IN MOST OF HIS WAYS. A DREAMER, I SHOULD SAY. HE WAS BORN THE FIRST OF THREE KIDS AND THE ONLY SON. I GUESS COMPARED TO MOST OF THE KIDS DURING HIS TIME AND... IN MANILA, I THINK HE IS QUITE PAMPERED. HIS DAD, MY GRANDPA, WAS QUITE A BIG EARNER AT THAT TIME WORKING FOR MANILA'S IRS, THAT'S WHY I GUESS THE FIRST SON SHOULD HAVE ALL WHAT HIS HEART DESIRED. IN THE 1930'S HE GOT A BRAND NEW IMPORTED BIKE FROM HIS DAD, I GUESS THE FIRST TO GET ONE IN OUR HOMETOWN. TOO BAD HE CRASHED WITH IT AND OUT OF FEAR SHE MIGHT LOSE HER ONLY SON, MY GRANDMA NEVER ALLOWED HIM TO RIDE A BIKE AGAIN. AT 14, HE GOT HIS OWN GUN. HE PURCHASED IMPORTED MAGAZINES, MOST OF THEM U.S. AND GERMAN MAGS. HE WAS SO OBSESSED WITH READING ABOUT GERMANY AND THE U.S. THAT HE WAS CONTENT WITH JUST LOOKING AT PICTURES WITHOUT UNDERSTANDING THE GERMAN LANGUAGE AT ALL. MOST OF HIS DAYS, YOU'LL FIND HIM ON HIS BED DEVOURING BOOK AFTER BOOK. HIS OBSESSION IN READING BROUGHT HIM A LOT KNOWLEDGE ABOUT ALMOST EVERYTHING INTERESTING. ONCE WHILE HANGING OUT IN A CAFE IN MANILA WHERE GERMANS USE TO MEET, HE HAD AN ARGUMENT WITH ONE OF THEM. THE GERMAN WAS TELLING HIM WHERE EXACTLY THE BISMARCK (GERMAN BATTLESHIP) SANK. MY DAD SAID HE WAS WRONG AND INSISTED THAT THE BISMARCK SANK NORTH OF IRELAND AND WEST OF BREST, FRANCE. THE GERMAN SAID THAT DAD CANNOT BE RIGHT BECAUSE IT'S HIS HISTORY AND HE SHOULD KNOW BETTER AND THAT MY DAD NEVER GOT OUT OF THE PHILIPPINES ANYWAY. THIS IRRITATED MY DAD SO MUCH THAT SENT HIM STORMING OUT OF THAT CAFE, RESEARCHED HIS BOOKS AND THEN WENT BACK THE FOLLOWING DAY CARRYING A BOOK WITH HIM THAT PROVED HE WAS RIGHT. (MORE TO COME)

"DINNERS"

WE WENT TO DENNY'S THE OTHER DAY AND HAD BREAKFAST. I WAS KINDA DISAPPOINTED, NOT BECAUSE OF THE FOOD, BUT BECAUSE OF THE PLACE. I FELL IN LOVE WITH THOSE ROADSIDE DINERS I HAVE SEEN IN A LOT OF U.S. MOVIES, THAT I WOULD WANNA REALLY BE IN ONE. SO WHAT I WAS EXPECTING WAS ACTUALLY IT SHOULD HAVE A BAR WITH 1 OR 2 DIFFERENT CAKES IN GLASS CAKE SERVERS. WAITRESSES IN APRONS AND A PEN AND A PAD. BURGERS THAT ARE HUGE AND ENORMOUS STRAWBERRY PARFAITS. I WANTED ONE WITH SEATS NEAR HUGE GLASS WINDOWS OVERLOOKING THE ROAD. THE BUILDING ITSELF SHOULD BE LIKE 1950'S ARCHITECTURE. IT SEEMS THAT NO MATTER WHERE WE GO, WE COULD'NT FIND ONE. MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE BEEN HERE IN THE 50'S. ALL THESE NOSTALGIA MIGHT BE BECAUSE I FELL IN LOVE WITH THOSE TIMES WHEN IT SEEMED SO CLEAN AND WHOLESOME. LIFE WAS EASY AND ENJOYABLE THAN AT PRESENT.